#(( i just have to get motivated enough to start that revival ))

[just-bendy]

will we get to see clone 65 at some point? i do get curious on what his personality's like

speaking of clones are their any Alice clones? we know theirs's at least two boris

No, yer not gonna see 65 anytime soon because he's dead like the rest of 'em. Not sure why ya wanna meet him though, I remember him bein' a real creep. He wouldn't stop starin' at us with those freaky eyes!

And yes there's other Alice and Boris clones like I've said before. All Alice and Boris clones have their own names, like how Barry is called Barry and not Boris #115. Why our Alice is called Alice and why our Boris is called Boris was decided by us and Henry. I took the name and role of "Bendy" because I was the only one left, and Alice and Boris got their role because they were chosen ta be them.

(( thinking of giving the alice role to another alice tho and changing this one's name to something else.... i'm most likely not gonna do it but it's a thought ))

[utilitycaster]

The thing that gets me abt the framework of downfall and the way Ludinus(and some ppl in the tags who seemingly are trying really hard to roleplay Ludinus) read it is that they're like "look at how the gods meddled and laid low to destroy this bastion of human achievement, they had no right and should have let themselves be systematically exterminated/have the world burn instead" when. Setting aside the revelation that the gods who struck down Aeor made themselves mortal to do it-- as in, they were on the exact playing fields of humans when they made their move and it wasn't some huge peacocking of power against upstart humans to strike them out of the sky-- the Divergence is going to happen. We KNOW the Divergence is going to happen. The gods are going to create the divine gate and remove any chance that they can ever do something like this again. "Blaugh, look at them meddle and plot-" and? Whatever they do, we know that the sun will shine once more. Melora, as brutal as she is as the starved Asha, will plant a tree of hope in the most destroyed wastes of Wildemount. And they will ensure that the suffering they wrought in the calamity, in Aeor, can never ever repeat the same way they had done it. Which is a HELL of a lot more than can be said for Ludinus who is actively reviving every cycle he can

first off "some ppl in the tags who seemingly are trying really hard to roleplay Ludinus" took me OUT so thank you for that.

I just reblogged a post with a quote from Cooldown that I think is really relevant in understanding the whole story of the gods and how we got to this point but like, just to summarize (and debunk a few things, hopefully) from the beginning of the episode to the end re: the life of the gods:

Gods (possibly aspects of the Luxon?) crash-landed on Exandria BECAUSE of what is all but outright said to be Predathos.

As far as I can tell, no deals were made between the gods and the Titans. The only person who has said this from what I can tell is Asmodeus, who I would not consider a reliable source of truth. Or rather: one might have been made but there's no corroboration that I know of.

They created the people of Exandria and sealed away Predathos both prior to the Schism

The Schism occurred when the Titans decided to attack the people (which to be clear - the people had been there for long enough to build that weird ruin on Ruidus with a portal, like, I would love to know what prompted the fight of the Schism since it had pretty clearly been millennia of coexistence).

The Betrayers decided the move was to leave and start over, and the Primes felt that was a dereliction of duty to the people. That's what the quote is about - it's about the fact that Erathis's motivation for being a Prime Deity isn't "mortals are my blorbos!" it's "we have an obligation to our creations" and more generally that the Prime Deities are invested in their domains for the overall good of Exandria but not necessarily the specific good of Aeor. (Taliesin follows it up with (as Melora) "You'd have to tear me from this fucking planet" w/r/t the idea that you cannot, in fact, destroy your bad first draft simply because it would be more convenient to you.)

Betrayers get sealed, unsealed, events of EXU Calamity occur (notably: the titans are all dead. you can fight about whether this was just or right later but they're gone and killing other people won't bring them back; the titans are largely used as a pearl-clutching prop by people with no arguments that are perhaps actually relevant to the current situation), and perhaps 50 or 60 years into the conflict the gods call a truce re: Aeor's Obtenebrator and commit to decades of living as mortals (and therefore limiting themselves considerably)

And so here we are

And I think this really gets to the point. Because ultimately, the argument in favor of leaving Aeor be is "when someone points a gun at you, lay down and die" and the argument in favor of the Betrayers is "when someone tells you to abandon your (living) obligations for them, do so." The former is despairing and nihilistic and the latter selfish and, well, a betrayal.

There is something profoundly nihilistic about Ludinus, for all he talks about freeing people and a better world. He's destroyed a city of innocents. He's indoctrinated hundreds if not thousands of people and many of them have died in his service; he's the architect of an empire and many wars in its name and is actively working with a second one. He's been killing fey and he's even physically given himself over to the cause. There is no crime or sin people attribute to the gods that he has not done himself in measures beyond nearly every other mortal. Like, I really think he's at a point where he just is unwilling to "lose" even though he has a friendless life and a legacy of violence and has destabilized the entire world and the weave of magic itself. I think he has to believe there's something on this Occultus Thalamus for him because if there isn't, he, like the Prime Deities, probably can't just pick up and start over. All he has left is to give in to just letting the world burn in the hopes that at least he gets the satisfaction of what he hates burning with him.

Basically, sounds like a rough time to try to roleplay him in the tags.

Something else you (and others) bring up is that amid all the "history is written by the victors" the story of Aeor and of the gods has actually painted them as far harsher. The story doesn't say that they were first chased to Exandria unwillingly and did not come in conquest; the story, as this post notes, evokes vast divine might striking down a city from the heavens and not like, living in fragile mortal forms during one of the most dangerous times in history and arguing amongst each other over how they can save both themselves and Aeor and if that's even possible. Like, even if you see the gods as the victors of this story rather than simply the survivors, the "unedited" version of the story makes them far more sympathetic.

You also mention the Divine Gate and that's a really interesting thing to me because the existing status quo of Exandria is actually remarkably nascent if you think about it. The Founding had gods, titans, and mortals. Post Schism had the Prime deities and mortals (and it is worth noting this is when the people of Exandria became the most technologically advanced; you want to talk about the Titans and Betrayers, you need to cover that the price of the wonders of the Age of Arcanum was that they were not present). Calamity had all the gods and mortals again, and the current era is the first where the gods are behind the gate. It's kind of a compromise between all the things that have tried to destroy one another - Betrayers and Primes are separated but all are free within their realms and can indirectly contact mortals; technically, so can Predathos. None can directly be on Exandria. Is it ideal? No. It's a compromise, and the sealed can become unsealed (which, consistently, goes very badly) but it's the option that doesn't involve the total annihilation of anyone. Ludinus seeks, by setting off this horrible cycle again, to undo that fragile imperfect compromise with a goal of wholesale slaughter. He provides no option for the gods other than "die by my hand" when even some of the gods were desperately trying to find other options for Aeor as of a day prior to its destruction. He's simply wallowed in his trauma for centuries, becoming colder and more unfeeling and less empathetic and more arrogant than the gods he accuses of the same flaws.

[opbackgrounds]

The Romanticism of One Piece II: Fairy Tales

Part I Part III AO3

“I long to see the blue flower” --Novalis

In 1812, brothers Wihelm and Jacob Grimm published their first volume of fairy tales. The book was not initially meant to be read as purely children’s stories, but as a collection of tales they felt reflected German culture. They weren’t alone in their study of folk culture and stories, as interest revived throughout the Romantic period, particularly in Germany.

Later editions of the Grimm’s fairy tales, however, were changed to be more suitable for younger audiences. There was something about the stories that captured the mind of a child, and the expansion of children as their own demographic to be catered to encouraged publishers to specifically produce works for younger audiences. I feel like CS Lewis said it best while defending his own use of fairy tales, “He [the person reading fairy tales] does not despise real woods because he has read of enchanted woods: the reading makes all real woods a little enchanted”. The Romantics of this era were themselves enchanted by the power of these stories, and utilized them to great effect in their works.

Romanticism gets its name from the medieval ballads that were popular during the time period, themselves written in the romantic languages. Artists drew heavily from a mythologized past for their paintings, and writers such as Goethe and Novalis wrote literary fairy tales of their own inventions, drawing upon allegory and metaphor to express their philosophical ideals. In 1813 Percy Bysshe Shelly wrote a revolutionary and radical tract in the form of a poem and fairy tale, named after and heavily featuring Queen Mab. These men, along with the Brothers Grimm followed a tradition set by the “discovery” of Ossian, an epic poem that presented itself as the Gaelic equivalent of the Iliad or Odyssey, but was largely an invention of the poet James Macpherson.

One Piece is chalk-full of allusions to fairytale and myth. The manga opens with the grand execution of Gold Roger, his final words the sort of promise that you could easily see becoming a campfire story today, a whispered rumor and legend of impossible treasure for any person brave enough to go looking for it. 

Oda starts leaning into real-world myth as early as chapter 23 with Usopp’s introduction, his name in part derived from the Greek storyteller Aesop and the plot a loose retelling of the Boy Who Cried Wolf, with his trademark nose being a clear reference to Pinocchio. 

When looking at One Piece’s use of real-world myth and story, the thing that strikes me is how often Oda will borrow from the iconography of a story without simply rehashing it. Just about every major arc borrows in some way from real world children’s tales, but you’d be hard pressed to call Oda’s usage derivative. Even with the broad pool of references Oda draws from, the manga never would have lasted as long as it has if he’d just copied from the stories we’ve all heard since childhood. 

For example, on Drum Island Chopper is a clear reference to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Much like the Syrup Village before it, it draws directly on the themes of the original work, ostracization and rejection being primary motivators when developing Chopper’s arc. 

But more than that, Hiliruk is introduced entering his unwitting patient’s houses through the chimney, just like Santa Claus, and Chopper’s repeated journeys up and down the mountain using the island’s rope system while pulling a sleigh is clearly borrowing from the iconography of Christmas. But you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who would call Drum Island a Christmas story, even though it’s set on an appropriately wintery environment. 

There are more examples. Laboon eating the Straw Hat’s ship could be seen as a reference to Moby Dick, Pinocchio, or the biblical story of Jonah, yet Reverse Mountain doesn’t share themes with any of those stories outside of the use of a mythical whale. The Skypiea Saga kicks off with the introduction of shadowy “giants”, before moving to a treasure hunt while befriending a young girl who plays a harp, and ends with the felling of a giant beanstalk. But does anyone really think of Skypiea as a retelling of Jack and the Giant Beanstalk?

My favorite of these has to be Alabasta, since I see so few people pick up on it. The entire climax of the arc involves a devilish crocodile, a man with a hook for a hand, a ticking clock, and the imposing presence of a giant clock tower that looks suspiciously like Big Ben in a setting otherwise influenced by Egyptian archeology. Why or how Oda decided to mix Peter Pan with his epic tale of friendship and betrayal amidst a war on a desert island is beyond me, but he did. 

These examples aren’t only found pre-timeskip. I saw people able to guess who would live and die during Wano based solely on how closely Oda was following various Japanese fables, with broad plot elements being based on the famous story of Momotaro.

Of course, Oda doesn’t limit himself to fairy tale and myth. He frequently draws from history and pop culture at large, or, at least, the pop culture of his youth. Sanji’s design is based on Reservoir Dogs. All the Admirals share a face with Japanese actors. Thriller Bark is named after and directly homages—more than once!--Michael Jackson. Somehow you can have music video references sitting next to yokai, Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, and the Island of Dr. Moreau without cognitive dissonance, because that’s just how Oda writes. The Tree of Knowledge (the ‘of good and evil’ is implied) can coexist with Adam and Eve—which here are also trees—which can in turn overlap with Yggdrasil. The biblical ark Noah can exist in the same island as the Flying Dutchman, while the most biblically-coded of all the sagas can have an ark of its own while drawing many of its names and iconography from Eastern religions such as Shinto and Buddhism. That’s not when it’s drawing on Meso- and Native American iconography and religion instead. And somehow…somehow…it all gels together with the stories of El Dorado and Jack and the Giant Beanstalk.

Once one starts going down the rabbit hole of references and homage it becomes hard to stop. The interweaving of so many references, both obvious and not, while still maintaining an original plot boggles the mind. How Oda got the idea to mix Alice and Wonderland, Power Rangers, Aladdin, and fascist iconography while also turning Sanji into a Disney Princess is beyond me, and in my opinion, a large part of his creative genius. 

But the question remains…why? Why reference Santa Claus on Drum, or Jack and the Giant Beanstalk in Skypiea? Some allusions make sense with the surrounding story, but others seem to be placed at random just because Oda could. 

I think the answer falls back to the Romanticism of One Piece. Oda has said in many different interviews that he writes with an audience of children in mind, particularly young boys. By pulling from the stories of childhood he creates a frame of reference, and because Oda draws from a wide pool of sources that frame of reference can have a more universal appeal, fitting with his world-spanning, swashbuckling adventure. I was never told the story of Momotaro, but I know about the Boy who Cried Wolf. My grasp of Norse mythology is shaky at best, but I recognize the image of a reindeer pulling a sleigh through the night sky. 

As I’ll get into later, the Romantics were obsessed with the innocence and experience of childhood. That was one of the reasons they were drawn so much to fairy tales. To them, stories that were spread amongst the common folk were the most pure form of culture, and it was from these stories that they strove to create a shared identity. 

One Piece is a world-spanning tale, and the stories it references reflect that. But for as different as culture can be from country to country, or island to island, there’s a shared humanity in the stories we tell. A fairy tale will always feel like a fairy tale, whether it’s from Japan or Germany. And by immersing itself in these memories of childhood, Oda carves himself a place amongst these ancient stories 

Marking the end of One Piece’s prologue, chapter 100 draws back from the immediate story to call attention to its own internal myth. Utilizing some Oda boxes quoting Gold Roger, the narrator writes, “These things cannot be stopped. An inherited strength of will, one’s dreams, and the ebb and flow of ages. As long as people hunger for freedom, these things will always exist”.

The name of chapter 100? The Legend Begins. 

This isn't a coincidence. The Grand Line in particular is described in-universe as a land of fairy tales. The Little Garden and Elbaf arcs start with quotes from the explorer Louis Arnot. The cover of Brag Men, where these quotes come from, labels the book romantic fiction. Oda revealed in the SBS for volume 42 that the stories within the book are so outrageous and unbelievable to ordinary people that they’re believed to be untrue, much like the story of Noland the Liar. 

And yet, these are the stories that Luffy goes chasing after. 

Now, I could send an age quibbling over the difference between a myth, a legend, and a fairy tale, but in the case of One Piece there’s enough overlap to be irrelevant. One Piece draws upon fairy tales because in many ways it is a fairy tale. It’s easy to imagine the entire story being told from Usopp’s perspective as he sits around the fire, telling his tale to a wide-eyed audience of children. Whether he’s telling the truth or not doesn’t matter, because it feels true, and for the first time the woods start to feel enchanted. And perhaps it’s that spark of magic that’s enough to stir the imagination of the next generation of dreamers to go out on adventures of their own, no matter how absurd and impossible. 

[hexite-nightmares]

My very unorganized thoughts on S2 of Arcane but only about Viktor

Alright I finally had time to think and write everything down so here we go. I want to preface that I have been weary about this season ever since I watched the act 1 leaks. Mainly because it was very clear he was never going to be a machine, and they didn't give him enough screen time to develop his motivations into ACT 3 Viktor being convincing enough

LET'S START WITH THE FALSE PROPHET VIKTOR

Alright so he has about 11 minutes ish of screentime. Aside from the glaring issue of Jayce reviving him and not destroying the hexcore, taking away agency from a disabled character. It was clearly a false prophet situation, but it was so fucking confusing on whether he could feel like a regular human, if he was under the Hexcore's control which makes the agency issue worse or just jaded. He all of a sudden starts speaking like he's reading Deuteronomy passages ?? We don't know for sure if he's aware that he's basically creating a hive mind now, did he start his plans of making everyone into one right here? Sky seems to encourage him to do this, what does she know about it since shes been in the hexcore ALONE for a little longer? (writers didnt confirm whether it was the real her or not) . Act 1 Viktor's issues are mostly about agency, and a seeming full abandonment of his identity as a scientist, his personality does a full 180. He doesn’t seem to question that the object that revived him and killed Sky is giving him healing powers, but he’s angry at Jayce so we have no clue if he’s being controlled or not.

The show doesn't seem to care to spend time with him bc Isha and Ambessa I guess.

Anyways lets move on to not even act 2, but ep 6, his only episode in this act.

I had huge gripes with this episode, mainly because whatever the fuck was going on with Viktor trying to "keep" Vander's humanity, when he clearly was taking it away from everyone he touched, does he actually believe what he's saying or is he under the Hexcore's control still?. Obviously the glaring issues of Sky being there without any actual input, they're cosmic friends I guess but with very generic lines, and the fandom has to fill in the blanks with whatever Amanda Overton feels like saying about Sky in the moment(if we don't see it in the show I don't take it as her development, sorry). So Viktor builds Colloidal silver drinking Joshua tree and ppl think it's fucking Eden, Jinx calls him a Machine Herald when there's NO SIGN OF MACHINERY JUST PURPLE MAGICAL METAL LOOKING FLESH. We get a whole ass different realm with no explanation other than, oh yeah Viktor is inside there. Jayce comes in and almost kills him. The only option there is at this point is for Singed to start his MH era. The choice of becoming MH is nonexistent now, other people have to jumpstart things for him. I know some people interprete this commune as Viktor achieving his dreams, thinking he was being himself, that he was in paradise with Sky and.. that wasn’t the case for me.. it was extremely sinister. Worst part of this Act, is that MH was seemingly a damn trial experiment for Orianna.

BONUS:

So it seems that Christian Linke has confirmed Sky was the hexcore using its influence to manipulate viktor into the glorious evolution. He said it was meant to be as a misdirect. So to everyone who got dunked on here for “wanting to be spoonfed” or “not reading into it deep enough” for thinking he was being mind controlled, you were right about it being the hexcore. Viktor has been confirmed to have no agency until episode 9 I guess. He also mentioned Viktor’s goal was getting the most power/influence… we never saw a fucking glimpse of this in season one I’m sorry.

ACT 3

First awful problem here is obviously Singed having to jumpstart things. Viktor is aware for his choice of whatever is happening with the egg thing. Yet....there's still no sign of machinery. We get a scene where Sky fucking dies again, he refers to her as Ms Young, which im guessing is a parallel to the other time he dismissed her in S1. But of course we get the double fridging in the show, cuz making female characters just for the sake of advancing her crush's plot line is sooo amazing. Here lies sky, the character who is barely a character. Well after that we get the sequence of his transformation and we get that butt ugly mask. His personality does another huge change again. So we know the hexcore is not influencing him anymore as the hexcore completed its goal of the glorious evolution.. so I guess viktor really does think this is the right way?

A huge issue I have again, is the lack of agency. In this particular scene Jayce goes "My partner died in this room" yeah..Viktor didn't fully choose to become this right? it all started with Jayce using the hexcore on him, it’s been manipulating him the whole ass season…Kinda wish there was some sort of acknowledgement from Jayce that he’s basically the catalyst of this.

He gets his laser because...fanservice. There's no way he went all the way to the lab and magically attached it to himself just to cut off a wall. He keeps going on that choice is false, but a few minutes before he said he’d evolve all of those willing?

In the cosmos, beautiful sequence. I don’t love Jayce’s dialogue choices(about his disease) here and then it all being about viktor hating himself.. since the hexcore was leading to all of this, his motivation for it all being self hatred feels a bit eh. The sequence is beautiful and Jayce and Viktor destroying the anomaly with the rune shard is nice, that part was cute. But then they kinda disappear and we only know that viktor is alive so far, no clue about Jayce. The sequence is touching towards the end and I’m a sucker for characters finding each other in every timeline/universe but it can’t make up for all the other things that are bothering me. This seems to be the one time Viktor has some sort of agency I guess.

Then obviously the worst part that will bother me forever. The thing that made me almost slam my laptop shut

This retcon is just awful I shouldn’t even have to say why, it makes things fucking weird and it’s frankly stupid. Also viktor can’t rock a beard like that.

Anyways this is very disorganized, fuck you riot I felt like an insane former this whole time but I was right.

[thewertsearch]

Anonymous asked: You: "Wow Homestuck is my favorite comic ever! Kanaya is the best :)" Hussie: "LOL, LMAO" @morganwick asked: (Try not to think about the idea that the conversation future Jade alluded to where Kanaya got the password was the one with past Jade that immediately followed that conversation, and that Jade is waiting for a password from Kanaya that'll never come…) @bladekindeyewear asked: [...] regarding the password Jade said earlier she had been patiently waiting for… unfortunately, I think we saw Jade give her said password just before the walkaround… and in hindsight, it’s quite a regrettable one. “GG: the password is…………… GG: CROOOOOOOOOOOAK”

I had the same chilling thought over the weekend.

Yes, it's very possible that Kanaya closed her password loop in her very next conversation, which means the timeline doesn't actually require her to be resurrected. This removes the main piece of evidence I had that she's coming back - but even so, I still don't think she's gone for good.

What it boils down to, basically, is that Kanaya still has a lot to do.

First of all, her arc surrounding the survival of her race is still unresolved. Sure, someone like Karkat or fellow Space girl Jade could pick up the baton, but this arc isn't theirs. Jade has no personal investment in it, and Karkat, while obviously motivated to save his species, isn't connected to the Matriorb or Mother Grub the way Kanaya is. This revival plotline is hers, and right now, it's dangling like a loose thread.

If that was the only narrative issue, I could look past it - but it's not.

Guys, this was her last conversation with Rose. And I'm sorry, but I just don't believe that one of the longest-running ships in the comic would end here. Kanaya's romantic arc with Rose is really just getting started, and their last conversation really doesn't scan as a goodbye, even in retrospect.

Like, sure, these last words would be kind of ironic, but is this really how you close the door on one of the most kickass compelling relationships we have? Rosemary deserves a better death than this.

Speaking of which...

This is how we're disposing of Kanaya? With an (admittedly kind of funny) SBaHJ reference?

Bro, a significantly less important character, gets a dramatic death pose, framed by one of Karkat's best lines, and Kanaya - Kanaya Fucking Maryam - gets a sparkly Hope wand and a meme? I'm calling bullshit.

Now, Homestuck is more than happy to give its characters undignified deaths. Tavros certainly got one - but Tavros also died at the end of an intense, dramatic flash animation, and his murder served as the culmination of the Vriska/Tavros arc we've been following since early Hivebent. Tavros died without dignity, but the narrative weight of his death was enormous.

Kanaya died in the middle of multiple character arcs, in a manner that lacked dignity or narrative weight. She was essentially collateral damage to an unrelated feud between Eridan and Feferi. She died like a secondary character, and she's not.

I'm self-aware enough to admit that this is partially wishful thinking. It's not like I'm an unbiased observer - Kanaya is my favorite character, and I dug deep into the comic for evidence that her death doesn't make sense. But, that said - her death doesn't make sense. My narrative instincts are telling me that Kanaya is coming back - I just don't know how.

[gilverrwrites]

Dumping some stagnant WIPs that I’d love to revive in the hopes that some feedback/interaction might reignite my fire for them. Or at least show them the light of day they might never see otherwise.

Ft. (in order) PT!Dick Grayson, Nightwing, The Riddler, Two-Face, Harvey Bullock, Leatherface, and Jason Voorhees.

Colour co-ordinated for ease of navigation. Some of these are really short and sweet, some are whole-ass first chapters to potential series. Comments appreciated!

Untitled, PT!Dick Grayson/civilian reader, undecided

Nobody ever showed to the 2PM class. He’d meant to take it off the schedule since he spent most of them unofficially working on Nightwing business. Then you started showing up.

The first time he’d been in the back, hunched over his computer in nothing but his boots and boxers.

“Hello?” Your melodic voice chimed through the building, and he scrambled to find work out appropriate clothes, hopping his way to the front of house as he tied the laces of his sneakers. “Anyone here?”

As he pushed through the doors, he was mentally juggling how to get rid of you. It would be scammy of him to under or over work you in an attempt to put you off of coming back. Maybe he’d just tell you the class of cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances? But then he saw you.

Blue Bird: Missing, Nightwing/villain reader, multi chapter slow burn

Nightwing had been a part of your life, at least your life of crime, for as long as you could remember. Since you were teens fighting on opposite sides of the law. While he wasn’t your target tonight, he was in the way. He hadn’t been responsible for you latest stint at Blackgate.

It didn’t take a detective to know that the saftest course of action would be to lay low, to hide out until his patrolling took him a safe enough distance away for you to act without his alerting him. The smart part of you knew this, the petty part of you didn’t care.

“Stay still, I promise I wont look.” You instruct, closing your eyes as you paw at his mask until it comes off into your hands. His comms needed to be shut down, ensuring none of his bat or bird friends could come to his rescue and interfere with your plans.

With caution, you turn your back to him and begin to play with the tiny buttons and notches until you’re satisfied that you’ve turned it off. Shutting down his comms. You’re expecting a witty retort, something flirty about you missing out on his good looks, but nothing comes, and you don’t have time to wait.

“See, I kept my promise.” You continue as you turn back to him, eyes shut once more as you secure the mask back to the space over his eyes. When you look at him again, you find yourself struck with more curiosity than expected. You wouldn’t break the unspoken rule, you’d keep to your promise, but being so close to exposing him really has you wondering how he looks uncovered. What colour his eyes are. Blue, dark blue, you bet. He’d be cheesy enough to match his suit to his eyes.

“So, what’s your end game here, sweetheart?” He looks up at you expectantly, smirking in a way that’s far to smug for his position.

“Why? You gonna talk me down? I already told you, power bottom…” A gust of cold wind blows against you, pushing a piece of dark hair against his face and you brush it back, savouring its softness without even thinking. When you realise what you’re doing you tighten your grip and tug his head back against the post, saving face. At least you would be saving face if he didn’t let out an inexplicably lewd moan that made you suck in an audible breath. Theres an awkward pause between you both before you distract by continuing your answer to his question “This isn’t about you, you just got caught in the crosshairs.”

“Crosshairs of what battle?” He asks, and maybe he’s entitled to know, given that he’ll be sat on his ass, and undeniably inconvenienced by all this, but he’d put you in the same situation many times. Yes, his motivations were far more just than yours, but that meant nothing to you.

“It’s need to know bird boy.” You poke his nose, before finally stepping back, reassessing your surroundings, noting your next step before leaving him with a wave and a final shout; “And you don’t need to know.”

That should have been that last time you’d seen him, for that night anyway. But when you’d reached Nygma’s hideout, it was empty. It didn’t make sense. Your sources were reliable, you’d staked it out the night before. He’s been there, his henchmen had been there, boxes full of stupid trophies and half-built robots had been there, and now they were gone. The old mill factory was wiped clean, you were fuming. You’d called your informant to no avail. Reached out to some old contacts, who couldn’t help you. Tracked across the city, checking out his other known safehouses, all of which empty.

Now, just over two hours later you were climbing your way back up to the top the Gotham Bank. Nightwing would probably be gone by now. His radio silence alerting one of his birdbuddies that he’s need a save, and there’d almost certainly be a tracker in his suit. You were just checking in on him. Not because you care. Just because, if he was still where you’d left him, maybe you could set him free and cool him off. He couldn’t, and wouldn’t help with your predicament, but tracking down The Riddler would be a whole lot easier without Nightwing on the war path to put you back behind bars.

Per your suspicions, when you reach the roof, it’s empty. It’s not safe to linger, to return to the crime scene for too long, so you ready yourself to take off again. It’s when you’re stepping onto the ledge that you spot it. Something shiny and green, glinting in the corner of your eye. Upon closer inspection you release it’s a coin, made of some kind of green bottle, with a question mark engraved onto it, sitting right where Nightwing had been just a few hours earlier, and above it, a note, duct tape to the pole which read:

Blue Bird: Missing Want it back? Bring your coins, To the racetrack.

Well fuck.  

Patterns, The Riddler/henchman reader, Multi chapter successor to Stockholm Syndrome

Eat, sleep, repeat. Lather, rinse, repeat. You’d be tracking target number 1 for 9 days, and besides a lonely weekend filled with racking up credit card debt at T.J.Maxx, and failed attempts at home cooking, it had been the SAME THING, every, single, day.

Pursing your lips, you lean back against the driver’s seat and let out a long sigh. You glance back up at the targets window before checking the time again. 10:01PM

You tap your fingers against the wheel before pulling out your phone. Ed is notoriously bad at picking up, (also notoriously bitter, if you don’t answer on the first ring) but you didn’t want to call it a night without checking in with him. He's your boss after all.

Dialling his current burner number and hitting loudspeaker, you sink down in your seat, studiying the cars roof as you wait for it to ring out.

“Hello?” You shoot back up. Startled by his answering on the 4th ring. Guess there’s a first time for anything.

“Oh…. Ed, hey, hi.” You stammer, trying to find your bearings again. “Um, so, riddle for you?”

“A riddle for me?” He scoffs, amused. maybe you're delusional but there seems to be a warmth in his tone. “This should be good.”

“Yeah, um, so…. If you're a child, you know me well, and when you're old I'll be your hell. I'm often felt but rarely shown. I'll drive you mad if you're alone.”

“Is the target sleeping now?”

“You didn’t answer the riddle!”

“Because it was an insult.” He scorns you before repeating. “Is the target sleeping?”

“Yeah. She crashes at about this time most nights.” You state factually. Trying not to let his sharpness get to you.

“Well….” He seems to hesitate. You hear what sounds like the click of this tongue, something rustling on his line. “If you’re bored, come see me.”

“At this time of night?” You begin to tease. “Ed, what will people think?”

Your joking might have been more convincing if it wasn’t punctuated by the sound of your engine starting before you proceed to speed down the road.

“I think a better question might be, ‘what are you thinking’?”

It wasn’t fair that you had started this line of conversation, but he was the one making you flushed. Especially since he wasn’t even there. In his presence you can blame it on his proximity, his scene, the intensity of his gaze when he’s focused solely on you for once, but he wasn’t here, and you had nothing to blame but your big fat crush on him. The silver lining at least was that he couldn’t see what he had done to you.

“I’m thinking….” You hesitated, unsure how to get him back. “I’m thinking, I’ll be there in 10.”

You hang up. He's sure to chew you out for that later, but it was worth it. You could just picture the tantrum he was having right now, leg stamping, and arms crossed. Probably muttering to himself, coming up with a sly comeback for then you arrived.

You’d been working for The Riddler for 6 and a half months now, and while he knew exactly how to use your infatuation with him to keep your moral compass spinning, you were slowly learning how to push his buttons right back.

Later

15 minutes later you lean against his desk, watching intently as he scans through your notes.

You watch greedily as his blue eyes bore into each word, deft fingers flipping through the pages, watch the way he stuck out his soft lower lip, still pouting at your earlier antics.

“So, what do you want with her anyway?” You try so spark a conversation.

“You’ve been monitoring her for almost two weeks.” He replies, refusing to look up at you. “Haven’t you figured it out yet?”

Your brows scrunch together as you think back, racking your brain for anything remotely remarkable about the woman you’d been tailing. She was pretty, sure, but besides that she didn’t really seem to have anything going for her. Dead end job, no real friends, no romantic prospects, just her and her cat.

Not totally unlike yourself 7 months ago.

You briefly study Ed’s fave for any form of a giveaway, but his nose remains buried in your notes. With a shrug you conceded.

“I give up. What is it?”

Almost immediately Ed’s face began to morph. The corners of his lips curving into a coy smile, his eyes sparkle as he finally looks up at you.

“It’s her blood.” He answers, finally closing your notebook and unceremoniously letting it fall onto his desk.

“Her blood?” you quiz, more confused than ever. “What? Is she like a metahuman or something?”

“Oh no.” He says, making no attempt to conceal the amusement in his voice.

His fingers brush against your own as he locks his hands around your wrist. A jolt shoots up your body, but you push it down, steadying yourself to his touch.

You watch as he flips your arm around, baring your wrist to him. Gently he runs his fingers along your veins. “It’s blue. Her blood is blue. A member of the Finnish royal family, attempting to live like common people. Do whatever common people do.”

“Right.” Your voice shakes more than you would have liked. Even the smallest of touches from him are enough to melt your brain. “And what do you want with her? Money? O-“

Your questions were silenced as Ed brings your wrist to his face. Briefly pressing it to his nose and inhaling with a satisfied smile.

“Come now, Dear.” He silences you with the soft brush of his lips against your skin. You suck in a breath, fingers digging into the wood beneath you as you watch. Your concerns were long gone as he looks up at you, his studious gaze locked onto you as he pressed another, firmer kiss inches above the last. “I already gave you my word, did I not?”

In lieu of a response, a breathy moan escape your lips. Ed is clearly pleased with your response to his affection. Standing from his chair, he continued pressing progressively fevered kisses up your arm, over the curve of your shoulder, into the crevice of your collar.

His gloved hands gently cupped the curve of your hips. His fingers traced circles against your body as they dip lower, and lower until they're hooked under your knees. He plants one deep, open-mouthed kiss against your jaw as he pries your legs apart.

“Did I not, give you my word?” He pushes, his breath brushing against your ear. The feel of his lips curving into a smug smile that tickles your skin.

Flustered, but determined not to turn into a total puddle, you stroke your hand up his spine, thread your fingers into his hair, and direct his face to yours. Heads together, noses brushing, you answer; “yes.”

“Yes?” He raises one brow at you. His hands climb back up your thighs until they’re kneading at your asscheeks before pulling you closer. Your legs lock around his waist as you feel the pressure of his tented trousers press against you centre.

“Oh, yes.” Your exclaim again, arching your back to press yourself deeper against him.

You close the gap before he can. You didn’t miss the way his eyes widened before they fluttered closed. You may have initiated but it takes no time at all for Ed to take control. Your jaw grows slack at the pressure building between you legs, and Ed wastes no time taking advantage. His tongue shamelessly diving between your lips, filling your senses with the taste of him.

As soon as it starts, the moment is over. He breaks away to the sound of his phone ringing. Eyes never leaving yours as he brings it to his ear. Trust him to start answering his phone promptly when its least convenient for your.

“Speak.” He orders. His shoulders lean back, one hand resting on his hip as he mindlessly continues grinding against you. Desperate to keep him close you reach out to him, running your fingers up his chest, incidentally untucking his shirt.

“What?!” His outburst makes you jump. Abruptly, he pulls away from you completely. “Are you a complete and utter moron? How could you let this happen?”

With him now out of reach, all you can do is sit and watch patiently. You'd hate to be on the receiving end of it, but you have to admit, Edward can be really sexy when he was angry. Lean muscles taut; jaw clenched. You’d never admit that to him though, his ego is already 3 sizes to large.

So lost in your ill-advised admiration you almost didn’t notice when he gestures to you. Gloved hands waved in you face until you nod to express your attention. He points over at the pitiful stack of junk you call a desk, huddled in the corning of his office.

Hopping off his work bench you make your way over to it, looking over at Edward for further guidance. In response he lifts two fingers. You raise the file for target number 2 and waved it at him. He nods back at you and gives you a thumbs up, before waving you to the door.

“I cannot believe this. I swear if you want a job done….”

Was he dismissing you? What could possibly be going on that he could shrug you off so indifferently?

Some people have all the luck [Part 2], Two-Face, smut CWs: Dubious consent, alcohol

The trip from the bar to wherever this is had been a blur. You vaguely remember complaining about your tired feet getting wet in the dreary Gotham weather. Two-Face laugh at you then, pulled you closer and told you; “Don’t worry about it, Doll.”

Then there had been a car, an old, classy one. The streetlights blurred by the rain on the windows. At some point he’d carried you, bridal style through somewhere old and dusty. You just remember old hanging light fixtures dangling from a high ceiling. There’s been voices, muffled snickering until Harv had barked at them, something loud and authoritative. A little bit sexy.

Now you were here, legs dangling off the edge of a desk. The wallpaper is peeling. Diplomas and newspaper clippings hang on the wall in broken, lopsided frames. Harvey is pouring something amber coloured into a tumbler, whiskey, probably, he seems like a whiskey drinker.

With the imposing thought in mind that this might be your last chance, you ask him for a drink of your own.

“Nah.” He looks smug as he approaches. He downs the two-finger pour in one, faces contorting as it slides down his throat. Then he’s standing before you, guiding your legs open, making space for him to stand between him. You’re not sure which is more unnerving, the ease in which he touches and directs your body, or your willingness to allow it. As he speaks again, you catch a whiff of his breath, definitely whiskey. “You’ve had enough, if you’re gonna pass out tonight, it’s gonna be because of us.”

He probably means torture, but the idea of him fucking you unconscious sends a wave of arousal to your already heated core.

---

Allowing you zero time to get good look at, he sinks the tip between your folds, pumping the wetness along his length before lining himself up with your entrance. You suck in a breath as he penetrates you, bottoming out with one hard thrust, stretching your walls around his noticeably thick girth. The sheer size of him pushing against every inch of your insides stings, makes you throw your head back with an aching moan.

No sooner do you look away before his grabs your face with his scarred hand, nails dig into your skin as he compels you to look into his face. He whistles, short and sweet before ordering; “Eyes on us, hon.”

His scolding has you twitching around him, having allowed you a grace period to adjust to his size.

“Yes.” You nod, not trusting your mouth to coherently say anything else.

“Good girl.”

Untitled, Harvey Bullock, fluff

If you see something, no you didn’t. That’s number one unspoken rule of Gotham.

But after witnessing what happened to the poor boy, you just couldn’t stay quiet. Now the city was punishing you by having your witness statement be taken by the hottest cop the GCPD had to offer. Sure, he was rough around edges, scruffy beard, beer belly and an Irish American accent to die for. He was definitely a drunk, that much was evident from the hint of whisky on his breath but damn if that didn’t add to his bruiser charm.

Untitled, [DBD] Leatherface, Horror & smut – partly inspired by that scene from TCM2 CWs: Mentions of gore

How long would this go on for? Until he was finished? Until he grew bored of you? And then what? He could drive his saw straight into within second, the sound of him revving its engine would serve as your only warning before he mutilated you, before he swung forward and carved your body in two. It's not as if you could just take off right now. He had you completely cornered. Not just geographically, but physically – leather face is 6'3 and jacked. A single flinch in a direction he didn't like and he could have you pinned, sawed, and quartered in second.

(Re-)Learning to swim, Jason Voorhees, Fluff CWs: Captivity, mentions of violence

Taking a deep breath, you creep deeper into the lake, submerging yourself up to your waist. The water looks so peaceful and calm. Before Jason, water had been your one true love. Swimming had given you an escape from the trials of everyday life.

Jason was the opposite, and you completely understood why. You're heart clenched at the thought of it. Even before you'd come to know and love him, you'd felt compassion for his story. Jason didn't deserve what happened to him. Blood hadn't been spilt that day but it stained the hands of the incompetent counsellor that night. Water it seemed had always been his foe. He drowned here in one life, was chained and trapped beneath its waves in another.

You understood why he avoided it. He was always vigilant of it, he had traps and weapons to take down anyone who tried swim to sail away from him without having to venture to deep, but walking beside the Lake, taking a boat out, or simply swimming in it, was never something you could get him to agree to during the small times the two of you had the area to yourselves.

So, you were going to do it alone. You were reclaiming a part of yourself, doing something just for you.

It was late May, a few weeks before police did their final searches, ticking the last few boxes before they let counsellors in to start setting up camp. You waited until Jason left to do his own rounds before slipping out into the darkness. He wouldn't have let you go if you'd told him your plan. He'd have crossed his arms and shaken his head at you. If that failed he's have held you, crushing you in his loving embrace as a way of begging you not to go, not to the Lake, to dangerous, and you would have caved. Listening to his sad hums, looking into his pleading eyes would have swayed you to stay home.

You had to wait until he left. No doubt he'd know, he seems to have some kind of connection to the camp and its goings on. He'll know where you've been and what you've been doing and he'll watch you even closer, but it needed to be done.

[bleue-flora]

Tbh Im just thinking of something that im really curious and doesnt let me asleep. What was cdream planing to do once he was inside the prison? Bc if it was just contain the revival book then...why he had the plan to not stay too long in there? cpunz kinda implies the plan was meeting soon after cdream was imprisionated when they reunited post prison break. So what was his plan? the little we see of cdream in prison before he kills ctommy was him just passing around the cell and getting bored and starting to be starved by csam. Was it a plan to united the server, stay imprisoned a few weeks and then come out acting as if he changed? well that'd make sense, also could explain why he insisted so much in that he changed or leave forever even with people he and everyone knew wouldnt buy that at all like ctommy or csam after ctechno escape. But that stills makes me uneasy bc he didnt try that much. He didnt try to act like he was "reformed"(meaning as what the server expected to him to act if he reformed not in a way saying imprisoment is a was okay or acceptable way to help someone), he tells ctommy he burned the books when ctommy asked him to write novels as a way to say sorry.

Im just thinking what was he planned to do inside the prison? just stay there and rot for an indeterminaded amount of time? idk if the "contain the revival book" as his only motive fits bc then why he seemed to have planned with cpunz to meet soon and also planned that cranboo explodes tnt to trap a visitor with him? And the "trying to act as if he changed" while it makes more sense to me, it also doesnt convince me 100% for what I just said. Maybe a combination of the two? it could be, a person can have multiple reasons to do something. But idk, what do you think was cdream plan once he was inside the prison?

-Cleo

That is The question isn’t it -Why put himself in prison?

And the thing is I can’t really give you a definitive answer because we just don’t know. There are lots of variables and we just don’t have enough data to determine the answer, especially when we don’t even get his pov or get to see 80% of his lore. The best I can give you is my theory on why I personally think he did it, which I have talked about [here], based on the information we do have and assuming he’s not completely crazy, and is following some form of logical plan, however flawed…

For starters, one of the things we do reasonably know based on the amount of times it comes up including the finale is his larger desire and motivation - "Always the goal has just been that it's all one united server, that everybody follows the same rules, there's no countries there's no, you know, any of this it's just one giant like family." [clip], “I want everyone to live and be happy together” forever [clip], (after spending time in Dream’s head we get Tommy saying) “You just want things to be simple.” [clip] and then of course -> “I just don’t want to ever be alone.” [clip]

That’s the base line - Dream does not want to be alone, he craves community and family, a world where everyone is happy and together.

So keeping that in mind, for starters I don’t think he did it to “contain the revival book” and honestly I’m not even sure where that reasoning came from, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it and it really doesn’t even work as you point out, one reason being that Dream’s stay was meant to be temporary.

I also don’t think the reasoning of uniting the server works either because for starters the whole server isn’t even present for his arrest and the ones who are there weren’t necessarily big enemies before that. Besides technically he already did a better job uniting people against him during Doomsday. Now maybe that was a side bonus or goal but I don’t think it’s the main reasoning.

But yes, I do think it was a means to be seen as reformed or less of a threat by the server. I go into some of that reasoning in my other post. I think it was about providing a pathway to him not being enemy number 1 anymore. Because people had been rallying against him even in a time of mostly peace with the biggest example being L’manberg planning to assassinate him in cold blood in the Green Festival. Everyone was against him, even his friends and everyone lived in such fear and hatred of him no one would even hear him out. I mean I think the dethronement conversation is a great example of this (I provide a good bit of transcript in this [post]). Everything he said was seen as unreasonable and malicious and he was left alone with no way to mend these relationships. Everyone wanted him dead, but he didn’t want to die and while he could just leave to protect himself, we know he didn’t want to be alone, so instead his made a plan to a path of him being redeemed in the eyes of the server.

That was the plan right. Everyone defeats their villain, gets their revenge, but instead of him ending up dead like they wanted he is alive in prison and now that he’s stripped of his power, fear is more removed allowing for relationships. No longer is he this unstoppable evil overseer but just a person. Or so was I think his intention. They would keep him in there for a bit, realize not everything is his fault, that he isn’t this big evil tyrant, get their satisfied comeuppance and then people would let him out. Consider Bad’s reaction to visiting Dream [post] - he’s done bad things but he deserves better than to suffer - that is a whole different reaction than the person willing to have him murdered completely - dead forever - by Tommy a few days prior.

Anyways, if that was his goal, then why didn’t he try to act reformed upon his escape? Well… that was his original plan. By the time he escapes he has spent months being starved, isolated, and tortured, his mental stability ain’t exactly top notch at that point and based on those things even happening in the first place, his belief that people would think he’s reformed or allow him back into society has likely been squashed. Clearly, he didn’t think his previous friends would torture, starve, threaten to kill him if he ever leaves, even try to kill him when he’s already locked up. He underestimated their hatred and fear of him, so I doubt he had much faith at all for them to even let him have a chance to be “reformed” or just not wanna kill him at that point, since again most of the people he’s interacted with up until he escaped wanted him dead or promised to kill him.

However, I do think there was still that underlying hope. You can hear that hope bleed out of his voice in his conversation with Sapnap as he goes from trying to reason with Sapnap as an old friend even with the offer to start over, to sounding just as insane and malevolent as he did with Tommy [clip] -> [clip] -> [clip]. He tries so hard to avoid the fight that Sapnap is setting him up for, he tries so hard for them just to not be enemies. But him escaping prison is evidence for Sapnap that Dream is still hostile and even the torture is not a good enough reasoning for that escape to be anything but proof of his violent ways. And you can hear the switch in his voice the moment he realizes the only way people listen to him is if he’s the villain they see him as, if he finds their weakness and exploits it, threatening to destroy something they love (sound familiar doesn’t it?…)

As for his encounter with Tommy, after spending time with him in prison and then Tommy trying to kill him while he was in prison, I don’t think he thought there was any world where they weren’t enemies. Tommy already proved himself to be hostile and he, despite his fear of Dream, even came to get the weapons and confront Dream in the exile area, knowing Dream was going there, proving to still be an active threat. And what does a rattle snake do when a threat appears? They rattle, they rattle make themselves appear big, they make the threat afraid and send the threat away. And that is what I believe Dream is doing with Tommy in that confrontation. He’s making him afraid, so Tommy will be too scared to come after him. I don’t think he ever intended to make good on his threats, because honestly, there are other people on his priority list to get revenge and make suffer. And he’s saying the same things he said in the finale, we know was staged, about how he’s targeting Tommy specifically and Tommy being the main fun to torment on the server.

Now this plan does end up backfiring a bit because the moment Tommy returns home he immediately starts to form a group to go after and kill Dream, fortifying Tubbo’s house to serve as a base and gathering gear… etc. It’s because of that, that I think he leaves the creepy disc in Tommy’s basement, to make him more afraid so he’s too scared to come after him… so to me I’m not sure we can say he didn’t try to act reformed, I don’t think he was given the chance. Even with people like Foolish, who doesn’t even know him, he’s on rocky terms with. It doesn’t seem to matter what he does after prison, he can mind his own business - lock himself away and not bother anyone for months or go through with his threats and they’ll still wait outside his door to kill him and sneak into his house in the middle of the night to slit his throat. Hell even if he had done as Techno had and built a cottage in the middle of nowhere, I bet people still would have come after him. He’s Dream after all…

So Dream is clearly dancing on the edges of insanity and unable to gain any credit of change from people after prison, but as you point out, what about in prison. He sure didn’t seem to go out of his way to act reformed in prison and that was before the torture so does that mean this theory of him trying to be “reformed” in the eyes of the server isn’t his goal? Well no, not necessarily. As I’ve already mentioned, we can see the way he acts with Bad is very pitiful and making himself seem small and unthreatening to be let out, and we see him apologize to Tommy in his first visit and such. This though doesn’t appear to last long, but I think that is because he was experiencing lots of isolation, and not isolation that can be distracted from with like watching a movie or something (because he has nothing) - isolation without really anything to quell it. If you’ve watched videos relating to isolation or know much about it then you’ll know that it tanks mental health real fast. Therefore Dream’s insanity sets in fast. Leading to his desperation for human contact, so then instead of acting all good and getting reformed and paying for his crimes and being remorseful and such, he starts acting out like throwing himself into lava and burning the clocks just so Sam has to come visit him. His misbehavior then I think is a symptom and consequence of the prison conditions not necessarily part of his plan. He also calls it a prank so he probably didn’t think it’d go that much against his plans of seeming better, but clearly Sam doesn’t seem to appreciate his pranks and starts becoming more hostile and such, which shouldn’t suprise us given Sam’s behavior in the prison even early on. In addition, even Sam’s response to Ponk in the tour of the prison and what he says to Bad later about using food as a means to get information, I’d say it’s fair to assume that Sam’s intense demeanor likely started early on, meaning I think Dream’s food was being withheld early on, before the dropper was added. And that’s besides the fact that going from eating steak to a few raw potato’s would be a huge food reduction and cause issues anyways. So even before things get real bad, Dream’s mental stability is dropping real fast and you can see it from each visit he gets. There is genuine mental decline there even if Dream does also seem to use it to his advantage. I mean who knows what Sam did for Dream to stop talking altogether in protest in Sapnap’s visit… bare in mind too, if we look at the timelines Exile only lasted 9 days, countries only last a month or two, things went really fast so it’s not unreasonable for Dream to think his sentence would be short. But then “forever” is being thrown around even by his own friend and that’s when he probably realizes his plan is falling apart.

So by the time, Tommy visits again Dream is not in an optimistic and good mental state. Plus if I remember right, I believe Tommy said he’d visit a lot and even suggested being his like “therapist” but then didn’t come back until a month later on Feb 21st. So maybe Dream wrote the books but in his frustrating of being left alone and Tommy not coming back, ended up burning them.

In other words, I think originally the plan was for people to come visit and talk to him and see that he’s not such a bad guy and that his punishment has been sufficient to then be let out. But things fall apart fast. Isolation and boredom starts to set in, food starts to be limited, and people don’t visit. He just didn’t want to be alone -> and now is left entirely alone.

Then his plan to trap Tommy happens likely way later then it was supposed to because I doubt he expected it to be a month before Tommy returns, and he aims to make some form of amends however minuscule or least have them learn to cohabitate, but that doesn’t go to plan at all, in fact Tommy calls him names and bickers and whines the whole time and 9 days later after Dream expresses his love for the cat, Tommy kills it as well as starts doubting the existence of the Revive Book (the only reason they left him alive in the first place). So after spending weeks in boredom, isolation with low levels of food, and after over the week that was supposed to happen (based on the prison waiver signed) of listening to Tommy bitch and dealing with his punching and calling him names, and even while experiencing the terrible conditions still being adamant that Dream deserves this, Dream beats his head in in a fit of mania. And that I doubt was planned either, and certainly helps ruin his bigger plan.

So what was he planning to do in prison? I think be visited. I think write notes and letters to people and such. I don’t think it was about being reformed or redeemed per say or that Dream believed he needed that (though a fair argument could be made that that was part of it) but about just not being enemies. In an ideal situation he’d become friends again with people, but I think he’d have settled for just being seen as some guy again and not having everyone trying to kill him. Like how Bad didn’t become his friend during prison or after but isn’t necessarily actively seeking him out to kill him. Dream just didn’t want to be alone and I personally think the only way he saw a way to not be was to put himself in prison to be let out by the server when they were ready to not want to just kill him… but as it turns out they never stopped wanting to kill him, they were only held back by the knowledge of a book he had. And instead of going from big bad villain to just some guy, he became nothing more than a book instead. Instead of gaining friends to not be alone, his friends became his enemies and he was left to rot completely alone… and after almost an entire year of suffering, he’s still enemy number 1, he’s still hunted down like a dog, they still want to kill him. Only this time, instead of stabbing him in the back at a festival, they make a deal with god just to kill him and break into his house in the night to kill him. In the end, if his plan was to be let out and let back into society as no longer the enemy, then his plan failed so spectacularly. And whether there was a moment specifically in prison or out where his plan became no longer feasible or whether it was unrealistic from the very start remains unclear. Though you could make an argument for each, I’d say both are probably true… I think it was perhaps the only option at least in Dream’s mind to have his family back and yet I also think it was probably damned to fail from its very conception…

[dailynoodlezz24]

Ok, i had the thought (since i love werewolves and vampire stuff, liches, all that-- I blame Skyrim and its unhealthy amount of beautiful mods-- and Dungeon Meshi just seems so perfect about it with its races and stuff) what if Marcille's a dhampir, basically a human vampire crossbreed, who seeks to become fully vampiric in order to be able to sire in lieu of the dungeon lord/universal longevity plot. (Spoilers: she still doesn't get it in the end lmao) Falin is a longtime friend of hers through a backstory I still haven't made up yet, and Marcille's introduced as a new addition to the main cast, who are a party of hikers (or for some sort of venturing activity). Month in, Falin's gone and had herself eaten by some weird dog described in only folklore, which Laios would later excitedly incite as a "lycanthrope". (They tried to call emergencies for a missing person, but they came up with nothing. Everyone thinks Laios is going insane when he concludes that the sight they saw after Falin became officially missing, blood trails and offly wolfish tracks fading off to somewhere, was the work of a wolfman, or a werewolf, and suggested going to search for Falin themselves. Namari and Toshiro leave promptly) Chillchuck and Marcille stay with him, one determined with his navigational skills and the other fully believing in this supernatural theory. They decide it's best they start camping in the forest, deeper and closer to the wilderness, prompting them the idea: hunt for their share. Which may or may not be illegal :shrug They meet Senshi, one hell of a wildchef man. (Marcille's total disgust with the idea of eating out in the wild stems from the fact she doesn't want to survive off of squirrels again. But this food is pretty good, and she's eating other animals than small rodents this time. Chillchuck just doesn't want to hear about the weird ass facts about how skinwalkers might be related to humans and their horrific hunting tendencies while eating.) The deeper they go, the more strange and bizarre this forest becomes. First normal, unassuming, then the ravens start speaking and the rabbits have horns. And if you peer into it close enough, your eyes might just find company in where the campfire doesn't reach. So on and so on, they find Falin's bones in the corpse of the creature, and suddenly there's a little guy with white hair and crazed, purple eyes(thistle), who beats them all off with a stick(not actually lmao). Last they see is Falin's remains being reanimated with the dripping blood of the stranger. (Marcille had tried in desperate attempt to revive Falin with her own blood/bite, but to no avail, revealing herself in the process. The only thing she can note is the awful taste of something doglike, aka the lycanthrope disease circulating in Falin's bones-- since they were chomped before she died RIP.) Now they're against a highly aggressive abomination under the servitude of someone out to get them. And the opps are on them(canaries) Now I'm just thinking abt whether or not to make Marcille also a werepyre? Considering it would make sense for her to also get her human-half infected into something "full-fledged" in the way she hadn't intended, and still come up without the ability to sire(she wants to make a cauldron for company, a cauldron being like a vampire made family, due to the same motives of keeping her loved ones). Thank you for reading my ramblings, I am brimming with ideas for this AU.

[delusinaldreamer19]

After receiving some interaction with this post I made about my feelings on the Undertaker, I wanted to clarify some of the things I said. And give, you know, actual points + evidence for why I don’t like him.

I’ll start by rephrasing that very point. It’s not that I don’t like him as a character, it’s that I think he’s evil. Maybe one of the most evil characters in the series.

@abybweisse left a comment on my post saying how Yana had specified that UT wasn’t the main villain of the story. I agree. But whether or not he’s the main villain of the story doesn’t take away from how evil his actions are.

I’m just going to go ahead and get the main point across, or my main reason for “hating him” ig.

He needed r!Ciel’s body in order to revive him. In order to retrieve his corpse from the sight of the sacrifice, he needed to have known where it was. In order to retrieve r!Ciel’s body before the place fully burned down after being set ablaze by Ciel & Seb, he would have needed to be there when it was happening.

Remember this panel?

There are numourus theory’s abt it, but I personally believe it’s UT.

Case and point, he must have known that the twins where being held captive by the cult. Whether or not he knew about all the ways they were being abused is kind of irrelevant—I feel that seeing them in the cage would be enough to know they were being harmed.

This biggest thing about him that I just can’t get past is why didn’t he intervene?

Your telling me that the same person who said “I can’t bare to lose another Phantomhive” just sat by and watched as one of these Phantomhives he supposedly cares so much about was murdered right before his eyes? It’s just doesn’t sit right with me.

I’m halfway to believing that he specifically waited for r!ciel (and prob o!ciel) to die so that he could do the whole reanimated corpse thing. But I’m not convinced that will be the main payoff of his actions within the series.

Speaking of his actions…yeah I’m not done.

What is the point of him essentially ruining o!Ciel’s life? Seriously. Framing him for the sapphire music hall incidents, kicking him out of his own home, stripping him of everything he has aside from Seb and his servants. Like- why? What does that do to further his goals (whatever they may be)?

I feel like he could have kept the whole reviving r!ciel thing more…idk personal? Privet? Like revealing to only o!ciel that he’d done that.

And why revive Doll if not to specifically torment o!ciel with a ghost of his past? Or at least to have some sort of negative effect on him?

There are so many questions about the UT, and while we don’t have the answers for them yet, the questions themselves paint him in a very bad light.

Yes, he had some sort of relationship to Claudia. Yes, he cried over the picture of Vincent. He may care about the Phantomhives in some manner, but I can’t help but feel that he doesn’t care about o!ciel. He may have had a few lines that suggest otherwise, but is actions have spoken very loudly through this series.

If I had to put it into a theory, I’d say I think his main reason for doing all of this is that he just want to pit a real human (o!ciel) against one of his reanimated creations (r!ciel) to see which will come out on top. His whole thing has always been laughter and entertainment.

But that’s just the impression I’ve gotten from thinking about the Undertaker and trying to piece his actions together. Do I think this is the real motivation that Yana has in store for him? No. But I just can’t seem to get past it.

[skyfcx]

yo yo yo! howza'bout an update?

howdy, long time no see and all that. it's currently almost 3 am est at the time of starting this post, so if you're looking to read this, just expect a real stream of consciousness type post.

first, let's address tumblr stuff! i've been absent for a good bit, and... i think it's going to stay like that for quite some time. if i'm being honest, the desire to write on tumblr has been at an all-time low as of late. the only ping i've gotten has been for tails and rosalina, and that's really just because those two are forever characters and that desire will never properly vanish. but for rping in general? i think i'll be taking quite the hiatus.

now i'm not putting up the deuces and vanishing forever! i'm still having creative thoughts, just not in the rping direction. if i were to post anything, it would probably be some more fanfiction-type stories featuring my ocs and the adventures i've been plotting out for them. so. short stories, i suppose! i could see myself reviving my extremely short-lived personal blog and posting some things there if i ever got the motivation to sit down and actually write something more bookish.

though with all of that said, this is probably a mighty see you soon on the tumblr front. i still check my main blogs and i am available on discord even though i've been pretty shit at responding to messages, totally my fault to those i've kinda lowkey ghosted. but i'm gonna be real quiet going forward. hugs and kisses to the lot of you, though. i see everyone still having fun every single day. just imagine an image of me giving a thumbs up superimposed on the sky. that's the vibe.

now, personal life stuff! gender is still weird but i think i'm starting to get a handle on it. after properly being mistaken as a female in public for the first time, i think i'm comfortable enough to upgrade my he/him to a he/she/they! still have. no idea if boy or girl or both or neither, but in terms of pronouns? i dont mind being a him because that's what i've been all my life, she feels very good because that means im being viewed as feminine-presenting, and they is honestly just the most accurate nine times outta ten. tbh the only thing i know for sure is that i dont want to be masculine-presenting. i can be male, but i refuse to be masculine, lmao.

also, i got new glasses! they're more rounded and really help the feminine look, i think. i've been catching myself smiling more at my reflection whenever i see myself in the mirror with them on, so the change has been really positive already. i'm in a place where i wanna experiment with my clothes and see how me i can truly feel like.

oh! and im not sure if i've mentioned it, but i've moved to a far more comfortable place with my girlfriend!!! she's trans, her family was super accepting of her, and now they're super accepting of me wearing the sorts of clothes i like! so i've been far more willing to test out the sorts of clothes i wear now that i dont have to worry about being found out. so...

yknow. all in all? i'm doing real good over here, gang. despite the radio silence. perhaps sometime in the future i'll pop back in with some sorta blog to get goofy on the dash with yall again. or maybe i'll actually write short stories and post those to their own blog! whatever it is, i just wanted to pop in at. three at night. and share my thoughts in the form of a life update. life's been good on the macro. we will work on the micro, but the overview makes me quite happy when i step back and look at it.

[tsuki--sora]

helloo i was wondering if u have any tips on how to start learning how to draw?? i’m gonna try it for the nth time and force myself to not give up and since i absolutely LOVE ur art i was hoping you could help me?? thank you in advance and have a happy new year 🥰

omggg i just saw this :O!! i havent been around here so i didnt see :C but anyway!!! im not sure what advice or tips to give tbh so ill just share some things that helped me 🙇

knowing what im drawing (basically...using reference lol ) u might've seen this tip a lot but its true 😆 think of it as like... training wheels on a bike AHSAHSAHHA u use training wheels for some time until u can be good enough to ride a bike without them or something like that.... its the same with using reference. u have to know and get familiar with what an object looks like first before you're able to draw without it and with confidence. tbh i dont always do this bcos sometimes i just wanna mindlessly draw ykno 😔 and thats okay as well!!! just remember that reference is very helpful when u hit a dead end with ur artwork :D also learn from real life!! look around u! sometimes id stare at something and nod in understanding. ----------------------------------

draw what u love <33 honestly, i only got back into drawing when i went down the vtuber hole a few years ago LMAO i would draw vox akuma eveyday 🙂‍↕️ and then my love for one piece got revived so now i draw my favorite characters every chance i can get bcos its all i can think abt!!! its honestly a good motivator. ----------------------------------

accepting and learning from mistakes ive always struggled with perfectionism and that really took my enjoyment and love for creating🥹 and that also stopped me from experimenting and exploring coz id always think that it wont come out as i hoped it would. SOOOO for the past 2-3 years i think?? i make it a habit to STOP ✋ being super critical when i see or make a mistake. the perspective is wrong? noted. the anatomy looks wonky? okay!! i let them exist in my artworks bcos how would i even know where to improve in if i dont know what it is 😅 i also make sure to keep those errors in mind so i know what areas i should be working on. u can always correct them on ur next work!! and the next!! again and again!!! its never-ending! ure always improving, always learning. ---------------------------------

i also have a board of artworks and styles that i really really like and i look at them when i need inspiration hahaha sometimes u just have to scroll thru pinterest for hours and draw nothing lol

personally, i think one doesnt have to draw everyday to be good. i mean, you can if u want to! but u might burn out fast if u force urself to draw everyday. just.. pace yourself. remember to rest and be good to yourself as well :))

thats all i can think of right now. i feel like i could share more but im just not good with words or explaining things. forgive me 😔🙇 our experiences may differ and what helped me may not be of use to u,,, but i hope this can help u even juuuuust a bit :"D be proud of every piece u make. u worked hard on it after all <33

(also sharing my art throughout the years!)

[deception-united]

hiiii, i'm sorry if this is a bother but can i ask for advice from a fellow writer? it's not about writing a story, but more so just me burning myself out because of it, and i have no idea why.

for a good while, i've been wanting to find the "perfect" first project; i first planned on writing, animating and uploading a movie series online and it's like my "dream project/story", if that made sense? but, lately, i've been getting more and more desperate to have another project before this, for credentials and for me to get a little bit better at everything before working on the movie series.

no matter what i do, i can't seem to find a good enough "first project". i look at the story concepts / universes i scrapped, revive them, work on them for a little bit, before eventually bring unsatisfied and throwing it back in the trash, or at least just "on hold". i tend to work quicker and have more passion for a story if i get very attached to the characters, which i noticed tends to happen over time. but my patience is wearing thin and the fact that i'm stuck is catching up to me.

you don't have to answer this, but i'd appreciate any advice. thank you ^^,

Hi! This is a struggle I think I can safely say every creator goes through—the phases of feeling stuck or unsatisfied with their work, and losing interest in the story as time goes on. I've gone through it myself, and was in that cycle for the longest time: I'd come up with a vague idea for a novel, or a character I wanted to make the protagonist in a new story, and spontaneously start writing it without much planning or thought. And as you can imagine (or as you're experiencing, it seems like), that led to me abandoning all of them at some point or another. One I nearly finished, but I left it and came back a while later and was so immensely disgusted that I deemed it irreparable and turned my back on that, too.

Of course, what worked for me might not be helpful at all for you, but what I think is most important is just to focus on one thing at a time. Easier said than done, I'm aware. But flitting from one project to the next, trying to find the one that you'll have the most passion for, just doesn't work out very well. If what you're planning for your "dream project" that you mentioned is a movie series, and you have that all figured out, you may want to start with a novel that you can then base the movies off of. This could help you get a better idea of the characters, plot, and overall storyline so that the movies you plan to create in the future will have everything worked out already.

But maybe you feel that doing so will then make your passion for the movie series wane—that, after spending so much time and effort into writing that, you won't have the motivation to start over with a narrative you're already so familiar with. You mentioned you work better when you're attached to the characters, so that may be a good place to start. Don't think about the plot or worldbuilding yet—just focus on the characters. Everything else can come after. You know your creative process better than anyone, and this may not work for you at all. It likely wouldn't for me. But sometimes, it can help to start off with that and build upon it with time. Allowing yourself time to play and experiment without any pressure or specific goal in mind can lead to renewed passion and enthusiasm.

Another option is co-writing. Again, doesn't work for everyone, but working with others can provide new perspectives and generally make the process more enjoyable. Writing with someone else may help to increase your motivation and encourage you to hold yourself accountable, and can lead to brainstorming sessions that spark new ideas and solutions to problems you might be facing alone. It allows for the sharing of skills and strengths, making the project potentially stronger and more well-rounded. Collaborating on a project can also lighten the load, making it less overwhelming. Finding a writing partner who shares your vision or complements your style can lead to work that neither of you might have created on your own.

In any case, allow yourself to create something imperfect. I hate to say it, but even if the process of creating is flawed or the end result is despicable, the lessons you learn from it are valuable, and instrumental once you're ready to take up your dream project. Think of this, your first project, as a stepping stone rather than a definitive work.

So sorry for the late reply, and I hope this helped. Best of luck ❤

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[nym-wibbly]

a big, soft, comfortable, comforting, private hug where they have time to get comfy and close their eyes and start to feel self-conscious but hold on tighter until it passes and feel each other's warmth and safety and they're just Home

adksksknft! But ngl I expected more porn?

I do tend to say it with porn, no? ;) These two have a history of gorgeous, meaningful hugs when it matters though. That and the profound-bond eyesex they seem relentlessly unaware of doing from the moment they meet.

As a fanwriter, I'm at a loss with "Destiel", I have to admit - the sheer weight of their backstory is intimidating. I'd love to use my smut toolkit to wrestle my way to understanding Dean and Cas as characters, as a romantic/sexual pairing, hell, as a phenomenon of modern fandom culture, but I doubt there's much left to add to all the Cas/Dean smut that's been written over the past 15 years. I'm way late to the Supernatural party. I'm so late they're talking "revival"! The stats on AO3 are mind-boggling for this pairing alone.

The hug post got me thinking about their finale smut potential and motivations, though!

Would their post-finale reunion go the smut route right away? Depends how smutty/romantic one's interpretation of their backstory is, I think. If I load a headcanon where they've already been lovers in the past, or wished they were but put it on hold, then yep, they'd be straight in there with the cinematic kiss the second they get enough eye-contact to reassure them that everything's okay between them. Don't come knockin' when Heaven's a-rockin'.

I sort of love that if I take the show at face value they're messier than that, though - that the show didn't give them a real-life-isn't-like-that cosy wrapup, just this lifechanging bond played out over 12 long seasons that even they struggle to categorise and rationalise, and probably couldn't explain on paper if their lives depended on it. They've both worked so hard to find their common ground, to accommodate each other's unique ways of being difficult, broken, and beautiful - but they're both pretty obtuse about the implications. I reckon they at least need a good run-up, and some actual, on-topic conversations in a no-stress environment before tearing each other's heavenly garments asunder, post-finale.

Cas loves Dean, and said so with (what he genuinely thought were) his final words, passionate and uncompromising and pure of intent, but what does monogamous love of a human mean to a fallen angel who's shown little sign of carnality or domesticity in his quest to adapt to humanity's ways and get comfortable with human emotions? He wanted something more than the closeness they had already by season 14/15, so bad you could spot him yearning at 300ft, but what? What exactly would his wish-fulfilment look like? Does he even know himself? What's Cas' #destiel headcanon? I'm open to it being happy and fulfilling human life-parter type sex, naturally, but also to it being... something other? Something so alien to humanity that he's sure Dean can't follow him there?

Dean loves Cas, less and less obliquely as the series progresses, but it's not a love he knows how to deal with. He goes with "brother" because that's the tidiest mental compartment he can find for the intensity of this bond, I think, and because blood family is always his frame of reference for everything that matters most to him. He grows more comfortable with it as Cas becomes easier to talk with, more emotionally articulate and outwardly human, but he also seems increasingly mystified by how to respond to it - something too big to ever get dealt with while they're so busy putting out apocalyptic fires and, you know, dying all the time.

I reckon Dean took Cas' love confession at face value, that it devastated and humbled him, that he wasn't anywhere near ready to hear it said aloud; that hearing it as 'goodbye, I'm dying for you' was one of the cruelest personal blows he's ever taken; that he understood Cas didn't need him to do or say anything in return at that moment, but must regret that he didn't speak his mind sooner; that everything else Cas said to him in those few minutes caused such a profound shift in his understanding of himself that he's got a lot of quiet thinking to do before he's back on an even keel and ready to act decisively about his relationship with anyone else. Dean's typically slow at processing things he can't wrap his head around instantly, things that leave him feeling exposed, and... well... he didn't get much time after that.

I keep warily eyeing that weirdly amorphous and dreamlike Heaven they ended up in, too, with its optional passage of time and sense of... emptiness. Especially having seen how antsy Dean looked about the deal in The Winchesters. Can he even play by Jack's hands-off rules up there?

I'd hate for a belatedly vicious plot punchline to sneak up on the happy couple while they were blissed out and off guard from making the nekky love in a heavenly sunny meadow full of bees or whatever, screwing their way towards happily-ever-after, but that's the way my brain seems to be leaning on the finale's picture of Heaven. My guard is up, my suspicion's aroused, so anything I write to consummate their relationship, set post-finale, would get tangled up in that less attractive puzzle.

I felt the fandom's howling wilderness of pain in 2020 and I don't want to make it WORSE by pitching in now with unnecessarily angsty smutfeels, y'know? I'm all about the character-building angst and hope never to change, but even I think these two deserve an uncomplicated, happy sex life - if for no other reason than cosmic compensation for all they've sacrificed and all the times they got hit, stabbed, or dead - by this point in the story.

[alelx2194]

Okay I rarely post anything in general, but the latest 100YQ chap gave me enough of a nascent hope to motivate me.

So we got a new set of Oracion Seis this chap, somewhat obviously based on the OG FT ones. You have Racer, Brain, Cobra and Angel equivalents to the very least.

Now I dunno if the two on the left match anyone in particular. Could be the big guy is Hoteye cause Hoteye is big. Could be he's big cause Midnight had an illusion form. Not really the point of the post though.

(as an aside they could just be the equivalent of the original OS spread, Brain and Cobra fit, while Angel "fits" in the sense she's the girl. Bird guy only really fits the Angel thing cause of the feathers in the first place. Still leaves Hoteye and Midnight vague lol)

The Brain equivalent is a little bit too much of an equivalent. AKA he might actually be the original, revived as a demon.

So that opens up the gates for a very interesting matchup. See, Brain and a certain main character originated from the same arc.

In a way, Brain and Zero's actions are what caused Wendy's guild to vanish, as well as her to start her growth as a person and fighter.

I mean, plenty of other people helped her in that journey in more positive ways. Natsu, Gajeel, Jellal, Erza, and so on. But Brain/Zero is ultimately what forces Wendy to grow up before she should.

And. With him revived. We get a chance for a very interesting matchup.

Give me Wendy vs Zero 2.0 Mashima. You already feed Natsu three fights per arc. Surely Wendy can fight a big boss once per series. I wouldn't mind a team effort. Just let her have this. Will it probably be awfully mismatched? Will it require some little sillyness to be resolved? Is Zero perhaps a bit too old news for anything too exciting even with demonic stuff? Probably. It is that kind of series after all. Natsu ain't no stranger to absolute shenanigans.

Will it be cool to see? Honestly, I don't know. It is however a very interesting idea, at least to me.

Plus I wanna get Wendy's

equivalent of this

Now, one could fairly argue Wendy already got that moment. And that Zero is similar amounts "That bad guy in front of me" as Ezel. Plus she's probably over him by now. Still, I think it could be her best option for something that's not mostly gags. Cause Hiro does seem to have an issue with making her fights mostly gags in 100YQ. >.>

Anyway this is way more than I usually post ever, have a nice day if you actually bothered with my silly little post.

[bloom-agreste-cheng]

Why did they want to be a fairy?

I had a thought last night I wanted to share. I was just asking myself why did each Winx end up at Alfea. Each must have had her reasons, right? So I thought I’d dive into what we know and maybe headcanon some stuff. This will get long so there’s more under the cut.

Bloom is the easiest. She discovers she’s an alien fairy after living on earth until 16 years old. And she’s been obsessed with fairies (rightly so) since it’s her nature. But as we go on with her journey, she discovered so much more about herself than intended. Now, because she came into her powers later than her friends, she feels a bit like an outsider, an imposter, so she’s trying her hardest to prove she belongs. She aces Alfea’s exams, saves the magic dimension, gets her charmix, Enchantix (without saving anyone from her planet and I will not accept any bitching about that on my blog) and then she literally becomes the restorer of Domino (fuck Sky for taking that away from her.) You gotta applaud her will and her strength. This girl is practically God with her Dragon Flame. She’s fairy Jesus come to revive and reign upon domino. She would be revered as more than a queen upon Domino’s restoration. Bloom’s journey is what we follow… but what about the others? What do we know about them?

I thought I’d do Stella next because I think she and Bloom have the most clear cut reasons. Also they have the strongest motivation: to prove themselves. Bloom feels she needs to prove she belongs and Stella has to prove she’s more than what she appears. First off she’s a pretty blonde party princess and probably has a reputation which people would assume is because of her divorced parents and may say she’s doing this for attention. She even got expelled from Alfea her first year. So the odds are stacked against her. But what we love about this princess is that she’s fierce and does not give up. She came back and worked her butt off with support from her new besties and guess what? SHE FUCKING DID IT AND SAVED THE UNIVERSE WITH HER BESTIES. I can’t remember which TikTok I saw said it but they wrote that Stella’s Enchantix looks so good like it had something to prove. And hell yeah it does. Girl worked her ass off and she deserves to look good for it. Just like Harmonix is Musa’s transformation, Enchantix was Stella’s. I think she came to Alfea out of a genuine desire to help others and she did say she wanted to start with her parents, but deep down I know this is a girl who wants to prove she’s capable of more than what she seems to be.

Aisha/ Layla, I’m bumping her with Stella. Mostly because there is something mirroring with these two and their motivations are more similar than you think. I mean they’re both princesses, with duties and responsibilities behind them. While we know Stella loves her planet and clearly cares enough to fight for its rightful monarch to not be associated with villains like Valtor, Aisha we have seen is willing to die for her country. Stella seemed to have been raised to love her planet, Aisha was raised to rule hers. I mean Aisha’s giving warrior queen vibes. I think she came to Alfea as safe space to grow into her powers and to gain more friends especially after a lonely childhood on Andros. Her friend Anne moves away suddenly and she’s had to play rebel princess and learned to fight. I have a feeling she argued her way into learning how to rule. But I do think her parents trust her so much that they let her do what she wants because they’ve groomed her to be queen one day. And Nabu isn’t even a prince so I know they’re not looking for a male ruler. Their daughter is more than capable. But anyways, I think she went to Alfea to make new friends, maybe learn more about her powers than she came with the sages and mages of Andros but also wants to prove further that she’s a capable queen.

Flora and Tecna I have lumped together too. Mostly because I’m getting the feel that they came from both affluent families in high standing cause they from planets linked directly to their powers (nature and technology respectively) and were probably on their way to becoming the next biochemistry expert and tehcnomagic advisor or something (I’m guessing.) I am sure Linphea and Zenith have top schools for natural studies and technological development and innovation, but then they learned they were fairies and that opened up a whole new world they could explore. It just happened to be a stroke of luck that they found themselves at Alfea with other girls and fairy Jesus and found themselves bringing back to life a dead planet and becoming more powerful fairies than they ever dreamed. Also Flora did say that she loved to learn in episode 3 when Bloom asked why did they come to Alfea. Flora said she wanted to be a fairy and to learn. And I’m sure Tecna is the same. These two are the biggest nerds of the bunch which is why I’m so sure they’re just here to learn. And I just know their parents are well off enough to send them to best fairy school in Magix.

Now… Musa was the one I couldn’t quite crack. With the details I know of her life I could only grasp at straws as to why she’d wanna be a fairy. Ok,we know her mother died young and her father barely had money to afford doctors and care. So I thought she grew up poor but when I saw her dad in season 2, they don’t seem completely run down or struggling. I mean Musa had a fabulous ball dress and Ho-Boe wore a snazzy suit to Musa’s concert so they don’t seem like they’re struggling. And Musa never mentioned being at Alfea on a scholarship which I still think it’s possible. I mean in the English dubs, I hear she’s a straight A student. It’s a headcanon I’ve had before but I don’t have any real support to back it up. Anyway, I think Alfea is a ground for personal discovery as well as magical which is why she was allowed to host a concert in season two. It sounds on par for her own development, personal and magical. It’s possible Alfea isn’t just marketed as a school for fairies but also aids in the students personal development whether or not they’re going to become royal or guardian fairy, super scientists or they happen to be fairy Jesus. I think Alfea was an opportunity Musa saw to do some soul searching as to who she wanted to become. It was an even bigger stroke of luck she got into Alfea at the same time as the other Winx because she found herself in the biggest destiny she never could have imagined doing; restoring a dead planet. She got a group of best friends and realising her music dreams as a bonus. Anyway, Musa was the biggest wild card here. I couldn’t think of a more concrete reason for her to come to Alfea and become a fairy besides soul searching. What does that mean to her, why a fairy of music especially with her mother dying during a performance? So many questions.

And very few answers especially for the girlies Iginio Straffi did not bother fleshing out further. Just some thoughts and ideas I’d share. If I had the energy, I’d make longer analyses of each girl. They’re so fascinating to me. These are the thoughts I have at 3 AM.

[ilektrasteam]

A few (possibly?) controversial takes that I have regarding boku dake ga inai machi (mainly rhe manga), starting from lukewarm to more hot takes:

1. This story is way deeper than people give it credit for, and while there are flaws in the writing, I think there's tons of themes that are sadly not talked at all by fans, such as childhood trauma, depression, existentialism and religion.

2. The story should be labeled thriller or suspense instead of mystery. One of the main complaints I hear from people who watched the anime is that it doesn't try to be a mystery at all.

3. Kayo is not a shallow character. She is a traumatized child. Also enough with the "she is just a plot device and does nothing, only to leave the cast". She is an abused 12 year old, she should not be getting involved in solving a serial killing case.

4. Kayo not ending up with satoru is great. I will never forgive the anime for trying to push a romance narrative. Not only is it a great subversion of the "hero gets the girl trope", but it's also incredibly creepy. It doesn't matter that satoru is biologically a child. There's several scenes that point out that he still has the experiences and viewpoint of an adult.

5. If this series had a different audience, it'd be appreciated way more. Sorry, but most if not all mainstream anime have such an "in your face" storytelling, that it doesn't promote thoughtfulness. All people I've seen criticize the anime always have the exact same takes, like "the story is very childish, the killer is predictable, the implied romance is not endgame". While even mainstream anime I personally consider shallow are capable of complicated theming too, the fast pace, overacting and loud sense of humor doesn't leave room for the audience to sit down and process the undertones of the plot. Erased (the anime) has a different energy. The characters don't have exaggerated expressions and despite it being a drama and thriller series, the atmosphere is visibly calmer and cozy. It's not about a grand adventure. Most of the scenes are about every day life. If it was a western cartoon it would probably have better perception because 1) plenty cartoon fans love overanalyzing and 2) unlike adult shows, they are more forgiving of the more "kiddy" aspects of the story (power of friendship and all).

6. After reading some of Kei Sanbe's other and more recent works, I feel more confident to say this:

Yashiro is an underrated villain and is a great antithesis to satoru. Also I genuinely don't think he is a pedo, despite it being a fairly popular consensus. I interpret their relationship as a toxic found family one. It's even stated that satoru views him as a father figure. While yashiro's crimes ARE messed up, there hasn't been any implication that the motive was pedophilia.

Both are pushed to depression and emotional detachment through childhood trauma (satoru with survivor's guilt and feeling responsible for the deaths of kayo and hiromi, with yuuki being accused)(yashiro and the dangerous household he grew up in). Both cannot connect with other people, a common trauma trait. Both tried to find thrill or enthusiasm for life to cope with depression and/or emotional constipation, but they used different means: satoru by helping others, reconnecting with his mother and forming friendships, yashiro through risk taking, scheming and killing. I wish their dynamic was explored a bit more, I think there's potential there. Satoru seems like yashiro's foil to me.

And this is not the first time Kei has written about an unhealthy, complicated (PLATONIC) relationship of villain parent-son.

Yashiro is the only one who believes satoru's revival, while satoru is the first person to see through him and survive. I'll step on english teacher grounds of overanalyzing here, but I see the whole spice thing as a metaphor for the spider, just not sure what metaphor exactly. Satoru and spice survived hell, which may give hope to yashiro he has a chance too. Or maybe spice and satoru ARE the spider. Or maybe spice and the children are hell dwellers, while satoru is the spider who saved them. Or- okay I will stop.

I'm open to discusssion or different opinions, in fact, I encourage it, just please be respectful about it. What I love about fiction is the different interpretations people can form