#(somebody: do you have a hero complex or some shit)

[fishymedic]

thinking about how he probably didn't have an patch/anything outspoken that screamed 'street medic' to his attire *slight safety precaution where try to balance being an sign of aid and not becoming a target etc (aside you know the supplies in his bag/preventative precautions depending on the circumstances) but that act 2-into post act 3 it becomes more an recognizable thing.

[forwards-beckon-rebound]

just finished watching under the red hood and oh boy i have some thoughts.

warning: spoilers for utrh the movie obviously, a very long and not particularly coherent rant, i have not read the comic yet because i heard jason gets treated even worse in it but i’ll probably get around to it soon

first of all, i didn’t realize how violent it was, especially considering it’s a kids show. not only that but how callously jason just kills people. like i was aware but i kind of assumed that he did it when it was necessary. but sometimes he kills people when he could just incapacitate them. i think it adds another layer of complexity to his character, like i see why he’s an anti-hero bordering on villain to some people and not just a misunderstood hero.

not that i don’t stand by his points about killing the joker, but i do understand why bruce wasn’t exactly eager to welcome him back with open arms (i still think he could be a better father though).

ON THE SUBJECT OF BRUCE AS A FATHER. it physically pains me to hear him never acknowledge jason as his son. jason’s always his soldier, his partner, his fault. thank god jason never heard the shit bruce said because i would rage if i were him. you can’t call somebody your partner if you don’t see them as your equal. and how could jason be his equal? he was a child. at best he is his son. at worst he is his ward. either way, no child wants to hear that they’re a mistake. not their death, not the way they were raised or trained. just their whole existence. like thanks bruce, you really know how to make amends with your children.

and on that topic, there’s this theme of like oh was jason always destined to be a criminal? like was there truly nothing bruce could’ve done to stop him? it literally broke my heart when jason said maybe he was always the monster under the mask, like to hear him give up on himself like that made me want to cry. i hate this idea of this life being his fate. especially since bruce was like oh yeah he was stealing my car tires, he was raised to be a criminal and all that. i don’t think the writers meant it in that way but for a billionaire who also breaks the law to say that a child who grew up poor was always meant to be a criminal rubs me the wrong way. like i don’t think he has the moral high ground to say some of the things he says because jason did make a point when he talked about how joker has killed way too many people for batman to let him go.

anyways, do i think murder is wrong and what jason did was reprehensible? yes, although the becoming crime lord thing to control it in gotham was very smart. but is it so bad that he couldn’t have just come home? gotten therapy and had a semi normal life again? gotten to kill the joker as a little treat? no. he was like, what, 18 or 19 during the movie? and also traumatized and in desperate need of therapy? i’m not excusing his actions but when you grow up fighting these violent criminals and also being tortured and killed by one, it certainly blurs the lines. so i understand, and i think there is still redemption for him.

and the real villain of the story is the gotham criminal justice system for never doing anything about crime alley or keeping people like the joker from breaking out of arkham every week.

[sabre-tooth]

Tell me, Marvel. Tell me why you have to do this.

Tell me why you have to take a character who will, next year, have 50 YEARS of character development and strip absolutely all of the nuance and complexity out of him and boil him down to LOL IRREDEEMABLE MASS MURDERER FOR FUNSIES.

Tell me why you had to derail a perfectly good plot with Sabretooth becoming a leader figure to the mutant exiles to instead, him and a bunch of AU variants coming to kill all the mutants on Krakoa for literally no reason.

We have been through this. SO MANY. Times before and I think this is the worst fucking one. At least you used to let this man have some kind of motivation.

And Sabretooth was NEVER nothing but a fucking irredeemable mass murder. No matter what that SHITHEAD CHARLES XAVIER had to say about it.

When Sabretooth first appeared he was written as a sassy, savage and smart international assassin and killer for hire.

Then we found out that he had brain damage from military programming. This man is literally a fucking disabled war veteran. 

And you know what?? The worst fucking retcon that Marvel ever pulled was years ago. When they started ignoring that Sabretooth DIDN'T kill Silver Fox. 

He didn't kill her!! He and Logan didn't even have a poisonous history until Project X used brainwashing to turn them against one another!

And after finding all that out, when started to become an unhinged killer with no motivation and no joy he SOUGHT HELP FOR THAT. He tried to fucking medicate himself because it was too much! and when the medication wasn't working he sought help from the X-Men and they locked him up and told him he was irredeemable.

And after that he got used as a fucking government slave again! They put him in a shock collar and they enslaved him as their own attack dog.

And when he broke out of that control??? He fucking went after Weapon X to fuck THEM over!!! And he went back to doing hired assassin shit. He's not just a fucking pointless monster who has no motivation and kills for no reason. He kills for money. He kills for fun sometimes. But that's not everything of who he is and I'm tired of him having everything stripped from him.

The Madripoor arc where he was a crime boss hanging out with Mystique and in charge of the dark hand, that shit was great! That's how you use Sabretooth as a villain! He killed Wolverine then!!! HE KILLED WOLVERINE.

And then later, AFTER everybody got zapped with the "morality reverse" after he changed back, Sabretooth still decided to give being a hero a try. And he was good at it!! He was an excellent "Anti-hero" somebody to hang around all the other light side paladin and remind them that killing their enemies is EASY.

We could have had that for years. We could still have that. That was only 2017.

But no. BUT NO.

You retcon the whole god damn universe take away literally all of his character development STICK HIM IN A HOLE FOR YEARS, then promise us maybe MAYBE we'll get Sabretooth and The Exiles.

AND NOW THIS.

I HAVE FUCKING HAD ENOUGH MARVEL.

There are good ways to use sabretooth as a villain and this shit ain't it.

[x-neurotoxin-x]

I'll take the bait. Can you give us some headcanons about Dabi's did?

Yaaay! Somebody took the bait!

Okay, so, like, my hcs around this can vary a lot depending on the concept I'm using in the fic or whatever but I've gone over briefly in other posts how Touya would meet criteria for dissociative identity disorder given he went through a huge amount of trauma and abuse throughout early childhood and continued suffering trauma after trauma with basically zero support system or healthy coping mechanisms well into adolescence and adulthood, on top of a separation from his identity and a lack of bodily autonomy.

Default headcanons are usually:

He's very separated from the majority of his system and usually isn't aware he's a system, having a lot of amenisa and black out switches.

"Touya" being an alter still very much in a child-like mental state maturity wise, holding a lot of his childhood trauma and unhealthy attachments to abusers or unsafe people like his Father.

"Dabi" being an alter that falls more under a protector role with some persecutory traits who developed mainly to help Touya survive on the street, tends to be critical towards Touya and is more untrusting and closed off emotionally.

Other than Dabi and Touya, most of his other alters don't have names, mostly due to him being very disconnected from his system as a whole and being dehumanized and/or dehumanizing himself

Having several other alters that serve other purposes, including alters that'll engage in self harm or purposely put him in dangerous situations, sexual protectors and trauma holders, persecutors that reenact abuse or normalize it, and gatekeepers that keep things hidden from certain alters.

He as a system struggles a lot with delusions and psychosis so tends to dismiss a lot of stuff pointing to him being a system by either denying or downplaying things as him being "crazy" or thinking of them as "ghosts or demons."

Now, if I incorporate other hcs into it - like the ones surrounding csa and religious abuse, or the hcs surrounding ujiko/afo shit with dehumanization and deeper medical and psychiatric abuse, then there's further ways I can take these headcanons.

(Tw: I touch in csa, sa, ramcoa and hc-did here so if those are triggering subjects for you read with caution)

A lot of times I think of him with Highly Complex DiD, and a programmed system due to organized and prolonged abuse.

This headcanon I usually tie to the Ujiko hcs, and that he already had DiD before that and Ujiko took advantage of it and programmed other alters into him through torture, dehumanization.

Alternatively, I have a few hcs about Touya being trafficked and exploited by his parents and the hero commission, and them using organized abuse to cause him to dissociate and form alters - whether to use him as a hero for the hero society and later abandoning him when he can't meet standards, or for exploitive, sexual reasons after he was no longer useful as a hero, like basically using him for that instead.

Some of these alters reinforce whatever was being forced into him, and justify and normalize what was done to him. Others block out certain information and keep the main system from knowing and remembering too much.

In that case, being polyfragmented and having a large alter count, splitting off regularly.

These alters making it ironically easier for him to survive on the street because those alters will front to either a) use a fight response and kill, b) a fawn response and get himself out of bad situations by basically doing whatever's asked of him, or c) using survival tactics that might be triggering for him like fighting, prostitution, etc in order to be able to get by without burdening the rest of the system or main hosts.

In this case, that's also why I hc he isn't aware he's a system, certain alters erase and block off that knowledge from him.

Again I haven't actually gotten into the system dabi hcs in fics like I'd like to, and honestly gotta explore it more in later fics if I can find interesting concepts to work it into (suggestions or prompt ideas would be highly appreciated btw 👀).

[britts-galaxy-brain]

(Different Anon) That’s exactly what I think too. Lily’s an extremely self-absorbed, narcissistic person, and it’s the most likely case that she gets off on doing the most horrific shit imaginable and still having an audience that will fucking support her no matter what. It’s a classic power fantasy, but LO is living it in real life. It’s actually a very interesting parallel that you can draw between her real life and what she glorifies/valorizes in the stories that she writes and enjoys. A lot of them are all about characters doing the most terrible, vile things somebody could do, but being treated as some sort of HERO for doing it, instead of the villain. Most of what Lily finds heroic in stories is brutal violence, creepy sexual behavior, and extremely abusive people coercing their partners into thinking exactly the same way they do. And while normally I would say that writing about something doesn’t mean you endorse it, in LO’s case specifically I think this is a pretty clear reflection of what she would REALLY like to do in real life. And the power trip that she gets off on when she’s able to do cruel, abusive things in real life, without anybody around her standing up to her cruelty.

Lily is also somebody who very obviously doesn’t like separating fiction from reality, and puts a MASSIVE fucking emphasis herself on writers always needing to have very complex, deeply personal reasons for putting ANYTHING into a story (just like LO herself does), so there’s that to

You nailed it. Lily writes wish-fulfillment, so she very much is one of those people who writes in her fiction what she would actually do irl if she could get away with it.

That's why it frustrates me when people insist we're taking fiction too seriously. Normally I'd agree, but once you start comparing things Lily actually believes and the things she's actually done to her fanfictions and sockpuppets, you start to realize she really is Like That and she really is dangerous.

[turtlemagnum]

i definitely feel like in a fictional apocalypse scenario, trying to spare a known shithead (e.g. a raider) who shows no signs of wanting to reform isn't actually nonviolent, it's allowing greater violence to happen to others that you could've prevented; it's like a far less complex trolley problem where the 1 person you'd need to switch the tracks to put the other 5 people there on purpose. this leads to what i'd argue is one of the bigger problems with fist of the north star: ken's irresponsible passivity

from what i've seen, this was definitely far more of a problem earlier on (mostly before the final fight with shin). even later on as it has been, sometimes ken will do nothing when the villain's about to fucking murder somebody, and i get that from a narrative standpoint it's to sacrifice a no-name to make ken that much more righteous in his anger, but it feels kind of fucking obnoxious when our hero's just standing there doing jack shit.

i will say, though, this has absolutely gotten a lot better as the series has progressed. and i think this sorta coincides with ken becoming more... ruthless? is probably the best word for it, and i mean it in the best way possible. he still absolutely keeps that tenderness and kindness intact, and i think that's definitely a core part of his character (which is a good thing, imo), but it definitely feels like he has less reservations about going all out, y'know? it actually leads to some extremely funny moments, made all the better with ken's deadpan autism delivery (i laughed so fucking hard when he whacked the old man stuck to the Totally Not Goku's Power Pole into the dirt and said "could you please guide me without the commentary?", like the fact that he was so polite and straight-faced about bashing a man against the dirt makes it so much more funny to me)

i definitely feel like fist of the north star, as well as pretty much any other well written series with an absurdly overpowered protagonist, has to be treated a bit like a superman story. the thing that makes a good superman story interesting isn't if The Guy Himself is gonna get hurt, fucking of course not, he's goddamn superman; it's the people he has to protect you have to worry about. that's why the best thing to do with a protagonist with godly powers is to give them loved ones and honestly just a general appreciation for all life, y'know? it gives you stakes, and even if it's a no-name to you, the fact that any life getting snuffed out would affect the protagonist deeply is what makes you yourself care, at least if done right. but i think fist of the north star kinda moves a bit beyond this in a kind of beautiful way

when ken's fighting jagi, there's that moment when jagi's monologuing about how he went so far out of his way to fuck up ken's life personally, and ken just fucking loses it. and he gives his own little monologue as the blows land, he mentions all the people he didn't know that jagi hurt, he mentions how much yuria and shin hurt because of him, and he pauses for a moment. he pauses, clearly hesitant to say what comes next, but you just know he's about to say exactly what he did: that he's angry for how he himself has suffered because of the bullshit jagi pulled. and there's something deeply cathartic about a self-sacrificing paragon of a hero admitting that they've been hurt too, and that they're not just doing something for the sake of others for once in their life. he still fully keeps others in his heart and mind, but he finally lets himself matter as well, and i think that's beautiful

[reasonoptional]

Hey how's it going, handsome?

Can you put together your top 5 Sanderson's oeuvres? Can be top 7, if needed, but no more than 10. Okay, 15 tops.

Or bette

This is hard to answer, because I just love his stuff the Cosmere so much. First, why the cross-out?

The Alcatraz series didn't make much of an impact. I suppose it would have been so much better if I had read them in 8th grade, but he hadn't written them then. I mean they're funny, but it's just not my thing (plus, my mom was a librarian, and she's definitely not into world domination. That I know of)

Same for the Cytoverse series, I suppose. I really did like one aspect of it (the humans' position in the universe, won't get more spoilerful than that), but on the whole, reading it when younger is better.

But now on to the stuff I did like and read several times, in order:

Warbreaker: the first book of his that I've read, and a great intro to the wider Cosmere, even if you don't know what that is. The one thing that struck me from the beginning was how scientifically it approaches magic, without lessening it. All the characters are sympathetic and multidimensional, even the psycho murderers. Plus, the god Lightsong is one of my favorite characters ever, up there with Sam Vimes from the Discworld. Gotta love a god who's skeptical of his own religion.

Elantris: Hooked on the first page, and the premise is fantastic: there is a city where (certain) people live like gods, surrounded by light and harmony and power, forever. And then ten years ago it all went to shit, and now Raoden needs to fix it, while his intended wife has no idea he's dead (it's complicated), and the militant religion from the neighborhood empire is stirring up a whole new batch of shit.

I had written several paragraphs about each of the Mistborn series (The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages) but then decided that it's too spoilery, so I'll just put the whole first series as a whole: an evil power threatened the world, and a hero rose up to challenge it. He failed, and now, a thousand years later, the bad guy is still emperor of the planet. A crew of magically empowered thieves decide to rob him. Features well-rounded, fucked-in-the-head characters, a complex magic system, two more magic systems in the sequels because of course it does, warring gods, shape shifters, and a surprisingly tender love story.

Yes, we've had Mistborn, but what about second Mistborn? Well, Sanderson has got us covered, v with the Wax and Wayne series (The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, The Bands of Mourning, The Lost Metal): three hundred years after the conclusion of the first series, most of the characters have become mythological/religious figures, and the world has progressed technologically, so where the first one was fantasy-standard medieval(-ish), the second is roughly Victorian-level, with the protagonist Wax (a descendant of one of the original heist crew) being a law keeper out in the wilds and a less-than-perfect gentleman in the city. Since the world's deity situation changed, it follows that we get a brand new magic system. As per the norm, great characters (including a very well written and well-treated neurodivergent one), more secrets, more immortal shapeshifters (Soonie pups are this world's Teddy bears, inspired by a dog-shaped one from the first series (who is still around and amused by the toys)) and also there's Wayne, who according to Sanderson was not written; he just showed up one day, stole a hat and started making bad jokes.

Mistborn: Secret History answers up some of the questions the first two series pose, and clarifies very little. But we do get to see the Lord Ruler being condescending post-mortem, and somebody gets punched in a very satisfying manner.

Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell: admittedly I read this only because of the title, but it was worth it: an exploration of what kind of people live in a grim world, where the souls of the dead wander about mindlessly... until you break the Simple Rules, and then they kill you. Strong female protagonist, gloomy world building.

Sixth of the Dusk: a story about colonialism from the native perspective, about self-reliance as an individual and as a people, and the toll it takes to live in symbiosis with a telepathic bird. Confirmed to take place late in the game, as the colonizers came in magically powered starships from the planet Mistborn takes place on.

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: another love story, with pleasant characters, intricate world building (twice), complex plot that Painter doesn't know is supposed to have a bad ending. Brando Sando stated that he wanted to write about having a bullshit 9-to-5 job in a magical universe, and this was the result. Features Design, a lovely young lady who is neither young nor a lady, and everybody seems surprised by it (despite the fact that she repeatedly points out she is not human)

And the best for last, the Stormlight Archive (The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Oathbringer, The Rhythm of War, and not soon enough Wind and Truth). A huge series, almost halfway done, and huge in scope and complexity. Dozens of viewpoint characters, none of whom is mentally fine (with one exception, but Adolin is also getting his trauma in future books, mark my words). Incredible world building (again), complex magic system (again), several plots going on at the same time (again), less-than-perfect deities (again), and an interesting exploration of gender roles, not in the way you imagine (oh you like reading? You're either a woman or a pervert). The main point of the series so far seems to be that magic will solve problems, but you have to solve your problems yourself. Oh, and Shardblades are confirmed to exist because Sanderson wanted big-ass anime swords.

White Sand and The Dark One are both graphic novel series, but I haven't read them yet. But they're probably very good.

As for the non-Cosmere works, The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England is hilarious (and scifi).

[edit the next day] I completely forgot about the Reckoners series, which should tell you everything you need to know about my feelings towards it.

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 267, Replies Part 2

1) “Oh look at that Endeavor doll. Oh boy, I don`t remember if we already saw something about Hawks truly being a fan of him from such a young age, but boy I don`t think Endeavor would approve of this, even though he also was with his own program to groom a kid into becoming a “very special hero” and all that.”-It’s complex, but Endeavour, even at his worst, wouldn’t exactly have been ok with a young talented kid getting turned into a government wetwork man. That said, it’s also implied that he genuinely has no idea that Hawks was ever his fan, even when they met as pro heroes, making the parallels to his own ‘training’ with Shoto darkly ironic. If it was his kid, then he had more of a say in the matter, but if it was somebody else’s child, then he’d have objected to it swiftly. 2) “Yeah, that much I`m definitely sure we haven`t seen anything about. I don`t remember Hawks saying that he was inspired by endeavor on becoming a hero, he only gave that bullshit about heroes not having to work.”- That was his stated goal, but personally, he always held a quiet admiration for the ‘hero’ Endeavour, without actually knowing the man underneath. Clearly, that was also part of the reason why he proposed they work together, so he could learn more about his childhood idol. 3) “Oh you poor thing, you had no idea of the darkness that light was obfuscating. Holy hell, if only you knew the monster you unknowingly admired…”- Ironically, Hawks, who is a master at obfuscating his true intentions and personality, likewise admired a man who had some hidden secrets in his private life, and both men were completely oblivious to the parallels. 4) “don`t bother Hawks, Horikoshi wouldn`t reveal if the theories are right or wrong that easily. He`s gonna give some cryptic clue and fuck off, like he usually has done so far.”- Or he will reveal something, but still leave the readers in the actual dark about what it is. Certainly put a lot of fuel on the theorising about Dabi on initial release, I can tell you that. 5) “…

now hold the fuck on there

is this for real? Is horikoshi really doing this?

Now that`s just dishonest with us. Not cool Hori.”- You got your answers, not his fault if you can’t hear them. 6) “Oh, right, didn`t the doctor said it would take around 15 minutes for them to be 100% up and running? I don`t remember the exact time, but even so, the fight is giving them the chance to warm up, and dear god, are they closer than ever to getting to full power.”- They’ve shaken off the lethargy, and with that, Mirko’s own time limit- that she can still keep fighting despite the blood loss from her crushed limb – has more or less run out. Her slim advantage just went up in smoke. 7) “What is it girl? Getting ready to get serious? Gonna really obliterate them before you bleed to death? What`s your plan? What does an one-winged angel form of a rabbit even look like?”- If she can’t kill them, she’ll at least accomplish her objective before they kill her. 8) “But yeah, the doc. I don`t even remember where he went after Mirko almost snapped him in half with a kick. Was he trying to wake Shigaraki? I think he was. Also, when is Shiggy gonna wake from his nap-nap?”- If Mirko has her way, never. 9) “MIRKO PLEASE

DON`T

I KNOW WHAT YOU`RE PLANNING

YOU ALREADY LOST AN ARM

DON`T PULL THAT THING FROM YOUR LEG WITH A KICK OR I SWEAR TO GOD-“- If he had succeeded in pulling Mirko’s leg off, she’d have tried again with the other one. Lost that? She’d have tried again with the stumps. 10) “OH SHIT, IS THAT A FLAME BEHIND THE NOMU? DID ENDEAVOR GOT HERE?

ALSO, LOOK AT THAT, DABI IS BACKING DOWN, SEEMS LIKE TOKOYAMI MANAGED TO GET THERE ON TIME”-Sometime, a lone hero just isn’t skilled enough to save the day on their own. It’s for times like that, they have allies who can help support them when they need it most.  (MHA ch 257) 11) “see, even Tokoyami realized you fucked up the future by saying that out-loud. Now he`ll just move a bit away from you on the couch, in hope that this tempting of fate won`t befall him as well. “- Alas, it seems that he was too close and caught a bit of that ‘doom magnet’ luck there, because he’s now facing a decisively insane killer alone with zero backup and moreover, one whose quirk has an elemental advantage over his own…  (MHA ch 259) 12) “Alright, now its time to get things started. Last time we had the Heroes returning from their rapture, and getting ready for the showtime, which, of course, won`t be pretty. Yeah, I`m already counting on a few of them not coming back- looking at you Tokoyami.”- You even somehow picked up on the potential ‘Roast Chicken’ jokes to go with Tokoyami’s situation, as he prepares to join his mentor in the deep fryer….  (MHA ch 265) 13) “Oh, let`s just say…. a little bird told them about it… wink wink.

A bird that is about to become a rotisserie chicken I`m afraid, but we`ll burn that bridge when we get to it.”-  So, when you said a ‘little bird’, did you mean Hawks or Tokoyami? Together, they do make one whole bird after all…

14) “Stain would be so fucking pissed at all this. Villains killing heroes and other innocent people not because they want to fix a broken system, but because they want to be the ones on top of it all. If he ever escapes he`s gonna have a lot of new names on his kill list before he goes back to murdering heroes.”-

“Look upon your work, ye mighty, and despair…”

The price of setting out to change things is that the changes you create are most likely not the ones you envisioned. @thelreads

[subjecta5newtella]

I’m not in a true tmr mental state so I’ll probably do a lot of linking back to posts I made when I was, but Somebody’s gotta make a minho post and as a certified minho analyst I’ll go ahead and do it. movie minho….I love him and he’s a beautiful man but I don’t feel like he has a ton going on. he’s the hot girl he’s the action hero he’s the end goal for tdc but he’s largely sidelined so I don’t feel like he gets to have a tonnnn of interiority. (see the white boy summer rant here if you care about book vs movie minho lmao). book minho fascinates me though because I think he grows tremendously as a character and I think he has a lot of complexity to him.

book minho still has that degree of cool badass action hero to him, and I think he’s brave in some situations (you do have to be brave to be a runner obviously) but I also think he’s a character who deals with a lot of fear in interesting ways. I think he sublimates a lot of that into humor—“if I don’t see you on the other side, remember that I love you” and “I bet you cried every night missing me” come to mind as manifestations of his very real fear of losing thomas (as well as being spectacular thominho moments). I also think his anger comes from the fear of things he can’t control. I’ve already said this better here and in the fic linked in the post so I won’t try to restate it worse, but it fascinates me.

in terms of arc I think his journey towards being an incredibly loyal character is a really good one. he goes from running away when other people are in danger (the night in the maze) to being completely unwilling to abandon his friends even when it puts him in danger himself (the scene with newt at the crank palace).

also I really wish this had been fleshed out more after the first book but I like his capability to be manipulative. aim high hit low scene my beloved. like yeah it’s fun when he beats the shit out of people but I think there’s a lot to be said for the kind of cleverness that enables him to get what he wants in that scene.

I also just really enjoy his dynamics with other characters, specifically thomas and newt. the newt and minho bickering in tst means so much to me both because it’s entertaining and because it reveals a lot about their leadership styles and what the group needs from a leader in different situations (more on that here). he can be a challenging character to learn to write on more than a surface level because he does have the aforementioned complexities, but once you get the hang of him, it’s really fun to set him loose on those dynamics.

anyway. tldr. this post

so, we've know one another for some time now, tmr geeks. tell me, who is your favourite character and why? i need to know and understand it so bad it hurts— and be as LENGTHY as you want, confess your secrets, i love it.

[knowlessman]

just start watching a new anime season at 1 am knowless, that's a normal person thing to do. (bnha s5e1-e6)

(recap, prominence burn) yeah that's gonna do the ole ozone a frighten. I think exxon-mobil is jealous -- oh yeah I forgot mineta was in this show. that was nice while it lasted.

"emergency drill, hypothetical villains have infiltrated ua grounds" hypothetical villains you say? they let gentle thief out of jail that early?

"About 80% of the human population -" have taken and failed the hero course and become shitty villains about it, yes, we know

ooh, new opening… I think? or maybe it's just been that long. -- shinso! it's shinso the homestuck! yo, it's all of class B! there's the dark souls helmet person, and the geico caveman, and the goomba girl (who apparently does have mushroom powers, judging from the outfit)! -- does shinso have attack ribbons like Eraser Head now? huh

(character intros) didn't realize heroes needed a special adjective in addition to their hero name

part of yaoyorozu's costume includes a book? an encyclopedia of some kind, I guess. in case she has to do physics-y problem-solving stuff on the job and create complex rigs. neat.

aoyama definitely doesn't have the kneepad lasers and stuff he did in the movie. maybe he gets 'em this season? maybe I or whatever site I got the watch order from was completely wrong about when to watch it? who knows

oh shit it's 2-D, y'all are fucked

just realized, I don't think we know what Hado's quirk is. (eh, more likely I just forgot)

pffft bakugo still couldn't figure out a name 'XD "if you won't let me call myself God Explosion Murder I will turn to face god and walk backwards into hell" -- welp, amajiki's dead. gorillaz needs a new lead -- wait did bakugo actually just kill him

(fucking marvel after credits scene) "that's the same pose all might did, isn't it" "no, I used my left arm, it's different" frowny man in a nutshell I guess -- also dancing boy's here, how about that

"episode 2: vestiges" after code vein that word is never not gonna make me think of spiky red crystals that put you in long-winded it's-a-small-world-ass memory lane dealies. so annoying they made you walk through them when they could just be cutscenes. at least when fallout 4 did the same exact thing, you could activate specific things in the scenes for additional lore.

"I heard you killed Snatch" I don't remember him either, but with a hero name like that, I could miss him more

"that's a bad scar." …ohhhhhhh shiiiiit 'XDDD damn, last time I remember this "oh-shit-somebody-just-waved-the-flag-at-the-bull" feeling was reading that one bit in, uhhhhhhhh I think it was the second Inheritance Trilogy book. …I don't interact with stories that do that very often okay, most stories that do that are probably too traumatic for my tastes

oh yeah, the thing with the Avatar spirits. the Allvatar spirits. -- (all for one showing off) "this one longing to be thinner, this one wants to get the girl and I help them! yes I do" -- "vestiges of the previous owners" wait so this is literally like the vestiges from code vein then

…I thought shinso was in class B? eh, idfk

…lolwtf it's capture the flag but the flags are the players, this is wild

oh so asui can turn invisible now. she just… can do that. fancy.

k so shiozaki is poison ivy. I remember her vs kaminari being funny, but I forget why. could be she used feminine wiles, he doesn't make that hard to do -- is shiozaki's hero costume white robes because something something crown of thorns something something jesus, or am I reading too much into it

…bahahahahaha 'XD THAT's how shinso's quirk works! I forgot! they just gave him a voice changer!

"you used me as a decoy… what a sinful act" okay I was right about the jesus thing then. "now I must whip you" o-kay, potential weewoo tier then

(flashback to like the first ua invasion) …huh. froppy mentioned the toxic mucus thing way back then. also they are 100% gonna make her use that stomach thing someday and everybody is going to regret it

come to think of it, eraser head mentoring shinso does make a lot of sense. both of them have quirks whose only application involves taking agency away from other people, so there would've been an assumption that they must either be a hero or a villain. both chose hero, but still can't escape the correlation and the fear that other people would have of them.

ditto's costume (a fancy suit, it looks like) is pretty stupid for a guy who might have to accommodate for who knows what kind of new quirk on the fly. what if he needs to be able to grow wings or other limbs? what if he has to create materials out from his skin? he needs a teenage-sized version of Jack-Jack's onesie. "I didn't know the baby's powers, so I covered the basics."

okay so tokoyami and this kuroiro guy is a ship that just builds itself, huh -- (dark shadow's glitching out) "what is it? what's going on?" disagreeing with something he ate -- aw, kuroiro doesn't have a hero name yet… come to that, I forget what tokoyami's is

(flashback) "if you're not even letting me do anything, why did you pick me?" "we're birds of a feather." okay no yeah this hawks guy sucks

(tokoyami flying) deku: "it's as simple as columbus's egg idea!" columbus had an idea? wonder who he stole that from. … "an apocryphal story in which columbus, on being told that finding a new trade route was inevitable and no great accomplishment, challenged his critics to make an egg stand on its tip. columbus did it himself by tapping the egg on the table to flatten the tip." so, allegedly, columbus cheated in order to justify talking his stupid ass up. also the story's a ripoff of an earlier story about an architect, so that answers my follow-up question.

…and do these mushrooms, like, do anything? granted, they foil hagukure's invisibility and that's pretty neat, and I guess they give cover for kuroiro, but unless they also do cool weird shit they seem more like a nuisance to clean up after than anything else.

and how did they even find out kuroiro can control dark shadow without meeting tokoyami?

aoyama's hero name sucks

the mushrooms really don't do anything then. they aren't poisonous, they don't, idk, mind-control people or sap energy, they can't even grow really big…

kunikida wishes he had yaoyorozu's brains

"hey DM, I can cast Create Mushrooms targeting the space inside his lungs, right?" ah k so they do do anything at all

wait damn that was six episodes? uh, yeah, guess I'd better give it a rest

[zumpietoo]

Gee, Snorty....that IS petty, but not “delightfully” so....just snidely, juvenilely and pathetically soo....seriously, that embodies “dog in the manger”......

And, LBR, the reason is supremely simple (and immature) selfish, “If I can’t get my way, nobody can”, etc....

And, again, I hate Barfie, I’m quite confident they won’t be endgame....but I’m similarly confident Jabi will be....and Jizzy definitely won’t be....

Ummm.....so, again, you actually have no issue with Jabi, even think we’re fine, etc....buuuut....you still want them split because it would piss off Barfies? Who we hate, too? Gross.

Also, not like they’re Jughead fans or ever were.....they, like you in shipping VD, only support it cuz they think if the person is “taken care of” and ignore that still doesn’t remotely guarantee their ship.....

No, dude, even with the trailer flipping them off, all you Jizzy/VD stans have been completely delusional and endlessly insisting you’d get your way.....oh when you are screaming raged fueled rants at RAS. etc....

Bottom line: Barfies are assholes, so are you. But at least Barfies do currently have a canon ship. You do not and never will again....

Oh good lord, again, “save the writing”----dude, it’s a fucking goofy TeeVee show, in its final season. Irrelevant....and completely incorrect. Actually, that isn’t remotely Barfie, nor is either “safe”, considering what they actually are together are icky, fascist elitists....

Jug doesn’t “use”Tabitha, the entire reason they work is because she actually gets him and loves him....and doesn’t take credit for his accomplishments or him for granted. And you could maybe argue this was Tabs in mid season five (tho I’d moar say she simply saw in him what he really was and looked past the booze, inspiring him to become that person again)....and NONE of these things are remotely bad things, anyway....or, actually, “safe”. Jizzy, in fact, were toxic and her “love” nearly destroyed him.

Being your best selves isn’t the “safe” choice, it’s the positive choice....

Sense to YOU, a biased shipper who seems to not actually watch the show....

A) Douchie doesn’t have a “hero complex”, he’s a dick who likes attention/again, credit for the accomplishments of others (it’s actually something he shares with Slizzy)....and, again, a fascist thug.

B) Slizzy seemingly has and has moved past that. Also, turns out her “darkness” is a combo of sexual impulsivity and, again, a fascist, jackbooted thug.

C) Jug’s already “grappled” with that.....Slizzy’s and Douchie’s betrayal was why and he’s been clean and sober for quite some time. Part of what helped was somebody actually caring about him and putting him first for once.

D) Tabi has that, as well....and her plot was never, exclusively about being Jughead’s GF.....tho, at least you’re a Slizzystan who actually admits that was why Erinn was cast. However, the one defining her thusly is your racist ass.

Ummm....this is YOUR version and what you’re saying is, “anything but my fanfic”, which is bullshit....and typical GG bullshit at that.

And, again, you clearly don’t actually watch, noobie sock....

Ummm.....

Love how you’re not only a stupid, lying, noobie sock, STILL, Snorty....buuutttm you’re, once again, a disgustingly racist one. At least your juvenile anon is only somewhat so, versus your raging version....

Also....

Ummm....no, they aren’t....other than the actors want to work again. And only Cole’s being classy about shit, per usual. And you’ve already been outed as a Cole hater (and hating Erinn, cuz racist cuntbag)----also, then that should apply to the showrunners, even if you disagree....and, maybe accept you aren’t getting your fucking way.

[vrisrezis]

Hi! I hope you're having a nice night or day. May I request the bnha class 1-a characters you write for + the types of people they'd hate to be around? Basically just the people they can't stand, whether it's platonically or romantically. Thank you!

(Some manga spoilers in shoji and aoyamas part)

Izuku can stand mean people, if the treatment he received from kacchan for so long is anything to go by. But you’d have to be a special kind of mean, the kinda mean that doesn’t come from a place of some form of mistreatment, or some inferiority complex, or even because you just don’t know any better. He cannot stand people that will just pick on others for the sake of it. In his eyes, kacchan is a good person, even if he was a bit cruel in his younger days. But he hates a person that’s clearly terrible, through and through, and there’s no true reason behind it, you’re just straight up terrible. Like a comic book villain with no character depth, just straight up, no morales, just a terrible human being.

Kacchan can’t stand people he sees as weak. As he grows, his idea of weak changes. Nowadays, he can’t stand somebody who talks big and then cowers when it comes to a fight, or has the audacity to look down on others when they’re as pathetic as a koalas entire fucking existence is. (I fucking hate koalas holy shit.) Hes no stranger to putting up a front for other people, but he’s still real about who he is and he hates anyone that plays pretend for the world. He does not hide behind a facade, even if he can’t be honest about how he feels, even if he has to act tough, he’s not a liar about who he truly is and what his ideals are. He hates somebody that is too ashamed of themselves to be honest about who they truly are. Because to him, that’s fear. And to him, letting fear control you like that, to that point, is weakness.

Shoto can’t stand people that are inconsiderate and selfish. The reason he adores his class so much is because he sees the good in everyone, their kindness, their selflessness, how considerate they are of eachother, even bakugou is in his own way. But somebody that simply doesn’t care for anyone but themselves reminds him all too well about why his family fell apart to begin with, because his father was selfish and far too focused on himself and what he wanted. If you tend to be selfish but show remorse for it, and are trying to be better, he wouldn’t mind you so much. He minds people that are unapologetically selfish and simply don’t care for others. To him, it’s a dangerous trait for anyone to have.

Ejirou hates anyone that isn’t an honest person, compulsive liars annoy him and he can’t stand being around somebody he can’t trust. Ejirou is an honest guy, and is pretty much an open book. So he doesn’t understand how people could ever pride themselves in being fake. It’s completely foreign to him and he’ll never understand. He doesn’t mind small lies, and it’s not like he’s gonna deny lies all together but he can’t trust somebody who consistently lies about things. Important things or even things that don’t matter, if it’s constant he doesn’t like it, simply put.

Denki hates being around people that are overly snobby. He really can’t stand being around overly confident rich kids (bakugou doesn’t count because he isn’t snobby lol). It’s not like he minds his rich friends, he likes em! Maybe he’s a little jealous but that’s all! But he really can’t stand somebody snobby and judge-mental just because people happen to have less than you or whatever the reason may be for your bitchiness. He doesn’t mind somebody that’s bitchy, he deals with bakugou on a everyday basis. However, he does mind somebody that’s bitchy just because they happen to be rich and often brag about the money they have.

Sero cannot stand people that prey on the weak in order to make themselves feel better. How pathetic do you have to be? Honestly, nothing makes him more angry and it’s partially why he wants to be a pro hero so much. He wants to protect others from the likes of people that abuse their power and pick on those in weaker positions. He wants to be a person high in power, but for the good reasons. He would despise bakugou in junior high, but at the same time he is all for people changing and becoming better people. Seeing you first hand be a shit person to the “weak” would seriously piss him off.

Ochako hates people that simply revel in hatred, who enjoy it. She thinks it’s sad, people like that probably don’t have much going for them and don’t have much to enjoy in life if they enjoy hating others and others hating them. While she may sympathize with you she still can’t stand you, and everything it is you stand for. She can’t be around somebody that brings drama everywhere they go and is always itching for a fight, or to hurt other peoples feelings. It’s so attention seeking it’s embarrassing. If she didn’t feel so bad for you, she’d tell you off a lot more.

Mina can’t find it in her to hate most people, but she will say she cannot stand people that are… well… sadistic. Even in a sexual manner and even if it’s a consensual thing she just… hates it. Like way more than the average person. She thinks you’re horrible.. so HORRIBLE for enjoying peoples suffering and while that’s how most people would feel she has a special hatred for people like that and it makes her stomach turn and it makes her feel so unpleasant, even if it’s just bullying and poking fun, if you enjoy doing that so much, for the sake of just seeing somebody cry it sickens her.

Momo can’t stand people with next to no manners. The kinda people that would pick their nose in a public space, those kinda people just disgust her. A lot more petty than everyone else on this list but she was raised a certain way and she just can’t believe that some people aren’t the same? Most people on this list would find it gross but not enough to hate them, but momo finds herself really being unable to be your friend because who does that so openly? She doesn’t even hate bakugou like that, and he’s rude as hell. She doesn’t even mind him that much but even she can get annoyed with some of the conversations she overhears him have. She’s not a snob or anything, she just values politeness a lot.

Jirou can’t stand people that make fun of people for their interests. A personal thing she’s always hated, she used to always get made fun of for wanting to be a pro, whilst having a passion for music. It’s caused her to have some issues with it herself, so she just hates anyone that makes fun of people for enjoying something they love. They’re not doing anything wrong! It’s not a crime to have a hobby. She understands criticisms of different things people enjoy, but shitting on somebody for their interests isn’t rocking at all, in her opinion.

Tsu can’t stand people that don’t listen. If it’s an accident, she can get over it cause she knows it’s not their fault, but if it’s because you clearly don’t care and it’s on purpose it can be upsetting because it’s clear you don’t care about how she feels or what she has to say. This is a pretty standard thing to hate in a person, but she hates it especially. She hates being ignored in general, so this is a bit more than just a pet peeve and she’s not against dropping you rather quickly over it either.

Tokoyami can’t stand people that act kind but secretly are just snobby assholes. The audacity you have to act like you care for others, when in reality you’re simply using them for your own benefit. The audacity you have to act kind, and when somebody realizes it? You act like a victim? Truly annoying. He hates people like that and he’s not one to shy away from calling you out on that shit either. He can never get over it, how can somebody be like that? The hawks situation, with twice really eats him up inside. Somebody he idolized so much, could he really be like that. Could he? Was he just pretending to be a carefree bird, or was he just so carefree he didn’t even care if he murdered a man? Things like this keep him up at night.

Shoji hates people that discriminate against others. Of course, everyone on this list does but naturally he has a special distain for it, as somebody that’s been hurt and discriminated against for his appearance. He will hold a special hatred for you, especially if you’re in UA with him. How could somebody aim to be a hero but be … like that?

Aoyama would hate somebody with villainous traits to them. Perhaps it’s because it reminds him of who he is. That he’s no better than a villain himself. Even if this wasn’t something he desired. He can’t stand being around people that use and abuse others. It just upsets him to his very core.

iida hates people that seek vengeance. It’s obvious why. He hates those that are vengeful, constantly looking for fights, even for the sake of others. It’s even worse if you’re being self righteous about it. It just reminds him of what he thinks is the worst mistake he ever made. He sees himself. He hates it so much it hurts to describe. So he finds himself constantly trying to change you, fix you. He knows it’s wrong though, you are who you are. He just happens to hate who you are.

Ojirou is a chill guy, you’ll find it’s very hard for him to hate people. But he hates people that are just… annoying. You’d have to be a special kinda annoying. The type to be overly two faced and talking shit about everyone you meet. Like a middle schooler. It’s just so tiring and draining to be around somebody so negative and he can’t stand it. But what he hates even more is that he’s acting like what he hates too. Because at the end of the day he acts nice, when he secretly hates your guts.

[as-above-is-moving]

@valiant-au-save-slot-a

There was a lot that Riot wanted to say as Crowley spoke, but he kept his mouth clamped shut. Part of him wanted to tell the hero how wrong he was; that there was no need to be embarrassed or ashamed, no need to beat himself up or hold himself to such insane standards.

But Riot knew better. Riot felt the exact same way.

What kind of hypocritic blowhard would he be to tell someone else how to feel? To say how and when you should deal with your trauma? And god, the amount of trauma this guy must be carrying--being enlisted as a soldier since he was 16, and having experience in the field under his belt before that? The mechanical arm and leg told gruesome stories on their own in the seams and glint of the light against the shiny surface. It was almost poetic; a metaphor for the life lead by Crow in the public eye versus the complex mechanisms that lie underneath.

Riot let the silence sit for a little while with them after Crowley was done talking. He stared at his food, fiddling with the wrapping's edge as he planned his next words. There was no advice he could give. No solutions or fixes. That pissed him off, too.

"...You said it yerself. You were a kid." Riot peeled more of the wrapping away. "There ain't any shame in still bein' fucked up over somethin' like that. I lost track of 'ow many times me an' my mum were targeted jus' cuz of who my dad was. 'Spose that comes with the territory of hero work, innit? One second yer holdin' yer mum's hand, and the next yer wakin' up in a dark room handcuffed to a pole with a muzzle on yer face."

Perhaps taking a bite after dropping THAT little nugget of his past wasn't the best time to do so, but Riot was still taking one--and talking with his mouth full again.

"What I'm trynna say is, that shit would mess anybody up. That shit doesn't make ye any less of a successful person. An' i'm not jus' talkin' about hero work--fuckin' lookat'cha; two limbs down and fucked in the head, but still standin'! That's gotta count fer somethin'."

Riot swallowed the food in his mouth and put the wrap down, finally looking over at Crow. His expression was less intense, and more gentle. It almost looked odd, to not see a scowl on his face.

"Dealin' with that kinda burden--I know 'ow hard that shit is. An' you've been carryin' it since ye were jus' a 'alf pint. The fact that you've taken the steps t'try an' prepare yerself from freezin' up like that at all? Fuckin' brilliant. Give yerself some credit--There's no disgrace in hurtin'. An' if the hurtin' gets t'be too much t' 'andle on yer own? Ye get somebody to help ye carry the weight fer a lil' bit. I know it's easier said than done, but..." Riot scooped the wrap back up to take another bite. He was looking in the direction of his food, but his eye was looking somewhere else entirely.

"...it 'elps. Even if it's only fer a minute."

He shakes his head, unveiling his wrap. He'd glanced up at Riot while he set to demolishing his late lunch, narrowing his eyes slightly at the familiar glinting of metal in the guy's maw. Part of him wants to ask about it, but does he reaaaally want to admit to staring his coworker in the mouth while he ate? That's one social cue he can follow! Not doing fucking that (yet).

Crowley lets out a breathy chuff at Riot's comments about his engineering prowess, "Man, I must look real out of it for you to be trying to pay me compliments like that. They can be better. There's always room to improve. Always need to improve."

There was a part of the kingdom defender that was glad that Riot didn't pry too far into his personal files. It doesn't have much documented about his personal life, but what little he can figure can be gleaned from it starts painting an unpleasant picture when the pieces are shuffled into place. Though, there's plenty of unpleasant notes Riot could've made when reading over Crow's statistics. Kingdom Tier Defender title held for 7 years, meaning they placed him at the top of this kingdom's personal command at just 19. That he'd been previously part of the demolition department before he'd been selected for the elite squad at 18. How he'd been a kingdom sanctioned hero since he was 16. The fact that he's actually been involved in hero work since he was a child (special permission to sidekick via his father's sanctioning). And then on top of that, the sheer number of successful missions crammed into the decade he's been on the ground seems ridiculous. Where would he have had the time for it all?! The writeups for working way too much overtime answer that.

With that amount of experience and exposure under his armor, it's no wonder he seems to be beating himself up for stopping dead in the middle of a high-stakes situation. What would cause someone like that to shut down so instantly? Crowley knows Riot is too smart for his own good and he'd rather be honest with someone he's going to be working with rather than make up excuses and pretending it didn't happen. That'd make him a liability again, and he simply cannot allow that.

"No, no... It doesn't happen a lot. I have safeguards and precautions in place to avoid that embarrassing display from happening regularly," He sighs thumbing the paper around his unbitten wrap, letting his fake, higher-pitched tone drop from his voice as he continued, "It's... Not easy for me to talk about my personal life, so sorry for keeping it short. There was a villain attack twelve years ago that involved a bombing at a theater where my family and I were attending. It probably only happened because we were attending. 97 dead, 143 injured, 16 missing, it all happened within ten minutes of curtains rising."

He doesn't have to tell Riot what an evacuation of a tragedy like that would've looked like. They're both in the same line of work, they know how ugly it can get... But the details of that day cling to the folds of his brain like hot tar. The wrap is placed down onto the table so Crow could rest his crossed forearms on the table, keeping his left one held closer to his body, "We lost... A lot that day. And now every time there's an unexpected blast that I can hear outright, everything shifts from what's actually in front of me. Heh... What a disgrace, no amount of exposure or experience since has changed that. I always just slide back to being a little kid. Some kingdom defender, huh?"

@as-above-rp

[phoenixyfriend]

The Guy in the Chair and the Guy in Spandex

(Read on AO3)

Ned Leeds has always harbored some small fantasy of being Super.

He’s not, probably. He’s not a mutant, and he doesn’t have a powered suit or superspy training. He’s just Ned Leeds, high school senior and future computer engineer. He thinks that, if he does well enough at MIT, he can probably end up as somebody’s Guy In The Chair, which would be totally awesome.

In pursuit of this goal, he spends a lot of his free time coding. The things he codes aren’t the most complex or super, really, but learning to do mods for video games is still practice. When he’s really lucky, he gets to use the school’s 3D printer to make the kinds of tools that he think the superspy kind of heroes might use. He’s not exactly great at it yet—that kind of thing is proprietary, and he needs classes on the topic before he can actually do anything like that—but it’s fun.

MJ’s been encouraging him. He’s pretty sure she thinks it’s kind of dumb, but she doesn’t say so. This is incredibly nice, for MJ.

Lola keeps telling him he’s got magic in him, and it comes out in his coding, but he prefers to think it’s the hard work and endless practice. He’s a nerd, and he’s proud of that.

It’s just that sometimes… it feels like there might be more.

--

Ned doesn’t initially pay much attention to Peter Parker. The guy is just one of Michelle’s customers. He’s about their age, and seems to be in a shitty enough life situation that it’s notable, but he’s just some guy. The only reason Ned really notices the dude is that he probably has a crush on Michelle, and it’s kind of Ned’s job, as her best friend, to scope the guy out a bit.

Unfortunately, Peter Parker apparently has no internet presence. There isn’t even an out-of-date Facebook account or anything. Parker just… doesn’t seem to exist. It might be a fake name. It probably is. That’s not actually a big deal, though. Giving strangers the wrong name in places like donut shops isn’t sketchy.

Ned vaguely notes it when Parker starts working for a lawyer. MJ mentions it, and the job shift means that Parker is now wearing a button-down instead of pizza delivery clothes. He doesn’t come in smelling vaguely of grease and tomato paste anymore. He drops by a little more often than he did, and sometimes gets a donut instead of just coffee. It’s a good sign, Ned thinks, but also not really his business.

Except then MJ catches his attention, and does the wide eyes that mean ‘do what I say, or I’m going to lecture you about it later.’ Ned does as she says, because his best friend is kind of intimidating, before he processes what she’s even trying to tell him to do. She’s jerking her head and doing the ‘pay attention’ expression, and Ned follows the gesture to… Parker.

The guy looks beat to shit.

Exhausted. Bruised, both under the eyes and across the cheek. Raw-red knuckles and an angry cut on his temple that Ned really hopes isn’t going to get infected.

“Go talk to Ned,” he hears his best friend order a boy who might as well be a stranger.

“Um, that’s not—I mean, I—that’s—”

“He’s bored and I’ve got customers. You’re both loser nerds, it’ll be fine.”

Why the hell does Parker look like he’s going to cry at that? Yeah, it’s an insult, but it’s not a particularly intense one, and MJ had even insulted Ned in the same breath. It’s chill.

Parker glances at Ned and, on the spur of the moment, Ned flips MJ off. She returns the gesture, fake surprise across her face.

Parker looks torn between laughing and fleeing.

Maybe there’s an issue with his home life or something.

Ned is legitimately surprised, if only a little, when Parker actually does as suggested and joins him at the counter. He looks nervous. He won’t meet Ned’s eyes.

“So, how’d that happen?” Ned asks, waving vaguely at Parker’s face. He already sort of knows, because he’s overheard Parker talk about living in a rough area before, and people usually take that as a neutral topic. It’s New York. Fights happen.

Parker meets his eyes, blinking like a stunned lemming. “Uh—what?”

“You get mugged?” Ned tries to clarify. “You’re kinda banged up.”

“Oh! Yeah, um, sorta?” Parker looks away again. “I was on my way home and some guys were harassing these girls in club clothes and I tried to step in to distract them while the girls got a Lyft. Wasn’t planning on having it turn into a fight, but…”

“Dude, that’s so cool,” Ned enthuses. “Like a little hero moment, right?”

Parker flushes. He also goes pale. It’s a very strange and uncomfortable look, sickly and unpleasant. “Not really? I mean, the second people started throwing punches, the bouncer noticed and finally got involved. I barely got a hit in.”

Ned isn’t sure if that’s true. Parker’s definitely spindly enough that Ned can see him not doing too hot in a fight, but something tells him it’s more complicated than that. “Still cool that you helped them out, though.”

“Yeah, I’m—I mean I guess?” Parker just really does not stop stuttering. “It’s not, uh, not a huge deal or anything.”

Ned tries to think of something to say. He’s got nothing.

“So I hear they’re completely reworking the sequel trilogy now that everything’s mostly settled from the Blip,” Parker says, and just like that, they’re off.

(Continue on AO3)

[melo-yello]

💤Can’t Sleep💤 w/ 💥🪨KiriBaku🪨💥 HeadCanons

Pairing(s): KiriBaku X black!reader, Eijirou Kirishima X Katsuki Bakugou X black!reader

A/N: fluff and ANGST. Like lots of ANGST. I had a rough week and honestly not very much sleep. What can I say. Sue me, I wanna hug and somebody to watch a movie with.

💤💥🪨 Lay on your stomach opening and closing your eyes as you try and convince yourself to sleep. Kirishima snores softly with an arm around Bakugou’s waist. He’s been pretty stressed lately so he gets to be middle spoon. Baku in turn has an arm draped over your shoulders.

💤💥🪨 The soft and peaceful looks on the boys’ faces are nothing but safe and warm and reassuring . Yet here you are unavailable to close your eyes long enough to drift off to sleep. Each time you close your eyes your heart attempts to tear a whole through your chest. The dim red light of the clock reads 2:56 as you slip out of Baku’s embrace for a glass of water

💤💥🪨 You settle on Jasmine tea instead. Quietly pulling a the kettle from the cabinet and turning on the tap just before placing it on the stove. You busy yourself in your phone in order to banish any form of thought from your head. Soon just blankly browsing through TikToks as you wait for the water to boil

💤💥🪨 The hair on the back of your neck stands at attention as you hear heavy footsteps and the creaking of the bedroom door. Short angry grumbles are traded with deep groggy grunts as the footsteps close in on your position. You glance up to see the time is now 3:22 and you hear the kettle whistling for the first. Mostly likely what woke your boyfriends to begin with. You scowl at the kettle.

💤💥🪨 “fuck you.” you curse under your breath snatching up the kettle to quiet it’s shouting as the two set of red eyes fix on you in the dim light of kitchen. Kiri’s long red hair pulled back into a messy plat, and Baku’s fluffy ash blonde sticking out in all directions except for the right side flatten to the side of his skull

💤💥🪨 “Oí, Chuchu Soul, do you have any idea what time it is?!!” Baku squints tiredly placing a hand on his hip. “That’s actually a good one.” You giggle surprised by his creativity. “I know right?! And they used to call him uncreative.” Kirishima smirks between a yawn. “ Well?” Bakugou’s features don’t change. More likely mad that he’s awake at this ungodly hour than anything else. “Was it another panic attack, Pebble?” Kiri questions walking to rest his hand on your lower back. You don’t acknowledge his soft gesture and busy yourself with pouring the newly hot water into your large mug with it’s awaiting tea bag.

💤💥🪨 “Run that shit back, Eiji?!? When was this?” Bakugou’s foggy apathetic sleepiness raises to concerned confusion . You curse under your breath for the third time tonight. Kiri racks his tired brain for an explanations as he trades tired glances between the temperamental blonde and the vaguely suspicious one blowing at tea. “Pebble you didn’t tell him about Friday Night?” He frowns looking down at you. “...i forgot...” you whisper sipping the overly hot tea and burning your tongue. Hell you wouldn’t have told him either, but he was right beside you when it happened.

💤💥🪨 That Friday night. You couldn’t speak. You stood in a dark room. Small and cramped. No windows. No doors. Just glowing ink on one wall in barely legiable font. Prove It. As soon as you touched the lettering it went blood red and the water began to pool at your feet. You begin to lose your composure trying to find an exit. In seconds the water is at your waist. Then your neck. Then the ceiling. Like that you’re choking and sputtering trying to find. The walls go translucent. Larger than life figures with unmistakable silhouettes and Pro hero customs hold your box in each hand. You bang tight fists to gain their attention. Your blood mixes with the water and you could barely breath. You thrashed across the sheets desperately trying to snatch yourself from your current nightmare. Suddenly Kiri shaking you awake and he’s coaching you into breathing again.

💤💥🪨 The memory of utter helplessness washes over you all over again. You sigh in frustration as tears pool at the corner of your eyes. “Come here, Pebs.”

💤💥🪨 Without another word, Kiri scoops you up bridal style and takes a seat on the couch placing you in his lap. Baku takes the seat next to him gently taking the hot tea from your trembling hands. You hadn’t even realized they were shaking until you touched his steady ones. “Babes, we hafta talk about this. Including Friday, this makes 3 days of shitty sleep. That’s not good or sustainable, Knucklehead.” Bakugou sighs placing the mug on the coffee table before wiping away a tear rolling down your cheek.

💤💥🪨 “It’s not like I don’t wanna do better, Kats. Eiji. I’m just...” you trail off mid explanation. You clasp fingers over your soft lips. Opening twice to speak, but only croaks come out. You try very hard to find a tangible reason for your reluctance to sleep, but there were none. Kiri squeezes your shoulders reassuringly and plants a gentle kiss on the top of your bonnet.

💤💥🪨 “We know you’re trying, love. It’s ok to be scared sometimes. Even the resident hardass, Katsuki still gets nightmares.” Kiri offers doing his best to let you ride these feelings out while comforting you as well. “Yea.”Baku’s grip tightens at the mention of his own nightmares before leaning his head on your legs

💤💥🪨 “I just can’t trust it ok! It’s scary. I’m panicking in sleep now?!! I’m only getting worse and now I crying about. FUCK! I’m just a scared bitchy crybaby who can’t sleep.” You sigh overwhelmed by all the physical closeness and their consistent and unwavering support. You mentally kick yourself for the not realizing sooner that you trusted them enough to hurt like this in front of them. There’s something that unnerves you about that. Tears streaming at full force at this piont

💤💥🪨Kiri holds you firmly to chest tucking your shaking form under his chin. Baku moves to wrap an embrace overlapping Kiri’s arms. “Just let it all out, Babygirl.” He hums leaning his head on your shoulder. Your chest tightens and your fingers curl into angry fists. Suddenly your frighteningly fierce temper rears it’s ugly head.

💤💥🪨 “No no no NO! Stop It! STOP ACTING SO NICE! STOP ACTING LIKE I DESRVE THIS! BE DISAPPOINTED! BE UPSET!! TELL ME TO TRY HARDER! TELL ME TO TAKE BETTER CARE OF MYSELF! TELL ME IT’S EASY! REALLY EASY! BE ANGRY I’M FUCKING IT ALL UP! BLAME ME! I BLAME ME! I blame me... I blame me for not being...better.” You fume trying to push them away. You do your best to squirm out of their gentle comfort and tender embrace your lovers have you wrapped in. Neither one of your boys moves. “No way, Pebs.” Kirishima says resolutely. “Not a fucking chance, Teddy.” Bakugou nods with the same unchanging confidence. The rage in your chest melts as fat tears and roll down your brown cheeks.

💤💥🪨 A heaving and broken sob racks your entire body as you fall apart in their arms. Anger subsides into terrified uncertainty and overwhelming futility settles in its place. Tears and mucus flood down your face and soak Kiri’s t-shirt. Sniffles from above draws you out of the dark thoughts swarming around you. Surely enough tears drip slowly down Kiri’s cheeks. Instinctively you cup his face with trembling hands. “...Sorry.. I’ll be strong...just gimme a sec” he mutters as his broad shoulders slump and he moves to bat away the falling droplets. Bakugou grabs his hand and kisses it while wiping the red head’s face. “Eijirou, you don’t have to. Not right now” You sputter between choppy breaths.

💤💥🪨 His usually unwavering features muddy with insecurity. A fairly uncommon expression for someone so death defyingly optimistic and confident. “But it’s what I’m good at. If I can’t be strong for the people I love most then what good am I?” He retorts apathetically tightening his grip as the tears still trickle. You slink an arm around his hips, and place your face to his chest. “Bullshit. You’re plenty strong enough for us, Eijirou. Stop being so hard headed!” Bakugou raves putting a hand behind his neck and his forehead against his for emphasis before continuing, “You’re allowed to feel more than one thing. You are complex and unique and fearless and fearful all in one. You’re human, Eiji. It’s ok.”

💤💥🪨 “Katsuki, you’re so compassionate and kind.” You hum softly and absentmindedly almost. You don’t know why this observation came but it just feels right. Eiji smiles leaning in the blonde’s embrace. “Honestly Kats, you love remarkably deep and painfully unselfishly. Thank you.” Kiri hums kissing his cheek and you do the same. Hot little tears rest at the corners of his dark red eyes. Most of the public thinks he’s some kind of angry asshole devoid of any softer emotions. Comments on your relationship often criticized Katsuki for snagging partners ‘much nicer than he deserved’. And just like that you are scooting over to make room for Bakugou in Kiri’s lap. 

💤💥🪨 “Such a shitty little week.” Baku sighs with misty eyes. There’s a small comfort in the collective collapse washing over the three of you. All of you holding the hurt from the others in hopes it would just fizzle away like a bad dream. It didn’t. You sob, Kiri sniffles, and Baku lets two hot tear slip from his glassy eyes. None of you break contact with each other. Your fingers linked with Kiri and Baku’s in the opposite hand. A head glued affectionately onto the red head’s broad shoulder. After what seems like a lifetime and you can’t cry anymore and feeling a surprising amount of relief sinks onto you, you clear your throat.

💤💥🪨 “Wanna watch How to Train a Dragon?” You rasp with tired and strained vocal chords. “I’ll get the popcorn.” Kiri sighs kissing each of you on the cheek as he ushers you both out of his lap. He sashays into the kitchen to find a bowl and the popcorn. Baku stands handing you your cool tea as he grabs the remote. Flipping decisively through Amazon Prime, he queues up the movie as he settles onto the far side of the couch to lay out fully. You sip contently tucking your knees to your chest so you can press the soles of your feet into his. “That tickles.” Bakugou deadpans wiggling his own toes. Soft giggles flutter out of your chest.

💤💥🪨 Kiri strolls back in the room with two large bowls of popcorn and a blanket on each arm. He bows presenting them to their proper owners. Movie theater butter for Baku and kettle corn for you two to share. You sit your now empty mug on the coffee table as Kiri retakes his original spot and you settle comfortably into his lap cocooning you both in a cozy weighted blanket. Baku draped in a light throw typically the first to complain about being hot. The DreamWorks title sequence floats across the screen, and wave of peacefulness falls over the tired trio. Less then five minutes in, you and Bakugou snore quietly as Kiri’s heavy eyelids fight to watch the next couple scenes

[bkdkology]

A Katsuki Meta

Howdy, I am back on my shit again after Atsushi’s twitter post of Horikoshi’s drafts made me cry for two hours and sleep for three.

Let’s get to it!

While there is obvious symbolism in this draft of Katsuki letting go of his past self, you have to appreciate just how much planning has been dedicated to this series, and how Horikoshi has managed to take a character that could’ve strictly followed a checklist of stereotypes for a hot headed, short tempered deuteragonist and build him to become just as complex and important as the protagonist.

He kept true to the promise he made when the chapter releases were still in the single digits:

Katsuki’s character is one of the easiest to mishandle. He was introduced as a bully, and maintained an explosively vile personality throughout a good chunk of the series. His most obvious traits are the marks of a FOIL to Deku, and he could have well stayed that way and still ended up becoming a good pro, with the usual AHA moment that a deuteragonist like him experiences: a moment where he learns that power isn’t everything.

Except he didn’t have a moment, he had several. He was kidnapped, tossed around, ripped to shreds, challenged, loved, trusted, admired, understood and practically reborn. The fact that he’s managed to stay true to himself after everything means he always had the makings of a great hero in him.

I wouldn’t say I’m a person who’s particularly capable of insane and correct deep level thinking, and on top of that I’m INCREDIBLY EASY to impress. For me it’s like:

You know how Earth needed to be at the exact distance it is from the sun and have the perfect atmosphere to create life? Katsuki’s story is much like that.

If anyone else but Deku had been telling the story, if Deku hadn’t been as persistent, strong willed, and caring as he is, and if everything that happened to Katsuki didn’t happen in the exact order and manner it did, he wouldn’t have been as great as he is now. And while that’s simple enough to say, it’s truly such a beautiful thing to bear witness to.

We’re 300 chapters and nearly 6 years into MHA and we’ve seen.

Katsuki go from refusing to work with others to becoming a great team leader.

His focus has always been on one thing: victory. In almost every situation, he’s had his eye on the win. It wasn’t always the case when Deku was involved, because Deku was so different from him in a way that made him feel threatened. And it’s something that has most likely been on his mind for a long time.

He’s become more comfortable with his vision since his fight with Deku, and it was probably liberating in an emotional sense too. His fight with Deku didn’t just realign and solidify his own views on life, but made him more accepting of himself and absolved him of some of his heaviest insecurities.

Katsuki letting go of his superiority complex to better himself.

In the days leading up to his fight with Deku, he was also fighting an internal battle for “being the reason behind All Might’s end.”

I wouldn’t argue that he was feeling guilty. While it was surely part of it, it shouldn’t be minimized to only guilt. The expressions on his face throughout the fight were incredible, he was angry, frustrated, confused, scared, quite clearly as he claimed, he just didn’t know what the hell he should do, so he fought.

By the time he interned at Endeavor’s agency, he was already well aware that he had faults, which is a huge step for him, and he was beginning the process of pinpointing those faults.

His unwillingness to work with Deku dissolves

After reaching a certain point in the manga, it’s become hard for me to imagine a time when Katsuki full on rejected Deku. In the first few volumes Katsuki got worse before he got better. He was in a comfortable position bullying Deku in middle school, but when he started to experience failure, when he witnessed Deku becoming stronger at a faster rate than him, he couldn’t even enjoy the fact that he was going to school where his favorite role model was teaching.

Now, after everything, Katsuki was opening up to Deku. They started training together to help Deku gain control of OFA. And not just that, Katsuki was invested in the long term. While he shared the secret of OFA with Deku long before anyone else found out about it, he later started to shoulder some of the weight too, and he was good at it.

He called small might out for keeping secrets from Deku, claiming Deku trusted him with his life, but he wasn’t as easily convinced, pointing out a detail in the descriptions of the past users that might’ve gone over Deku’s head. He’s always been brilliant, but now he’s using that brilliance to actively try to become involved with Deku’s burden.

He’s changed in obvious ways, but in subtle ones too.

After so much time, this panel is still really hard to look at. If you’ve ever suffered at the hands of bullies, you probably feel like there’s little satisfaction in their story even though so much has changed between them, there’s still a long way to go, there’s still a huge piece missing. Deku is way too forgiving, I don’t think he ever held anything against Katsuki for the way he treated him in the past. Katsuki is still hard with words, since the last time he bullied Deku, he has never said anything he doesn’t mean.

Katsuki has never been the type to lie. He doesn’t beat around the bush, he doesn’t pretend to be somebody he’s not, and while that part of him hasn’t changed, the way in which he delivers has. His heart has changed, and while I don’t recall a moment where he hasn’t been able to live up to his big claims, his confidence has changed from being used to mask his insecurity, to a healthier confidence that can lead, support, protect, and save.

To think that this moment is the moment that solidified Katsuki’s path to greatness, the fact that his capabilities and brilliance have always made his future bright, he’s gone above and beyond his own expectations of the world and how it works. In the world of scientific journals, there is always a gap in the knowledge of the scientific community, a gap in the understanding of how the world works. When you find that gap, something incredible happens.

He let go of the past. Katsuki, who envisioned a life where he made it big because he knew he could. Katsuki, who was always self driven. Katsuki, who loves the taste of victory. Katsuki, who categorized the world and people around him in terms of power. Katsuki, who believed only the powerful could become strong.

Deku was the one thing in his life that didn’t fit in his picture of the world. To him, his understanding of how the world worked was defined by the strong, the weak, the good and the bad. He couldn’t understand how empathy and vulnerability could make someone strong.

I’m really excited to see where Katsuki goes from here. There’s still so much for him to discover, and he’s so, so close to the end stage of his metamorphosis.