#Childe was fun just throwing him into the narrative I get it now

[grapejuicefilledpools]

✨End of Fontaine’s(SPOILERS FOR THAT)✨

It’s in the notes I’m tired. I liked the story hurray to past intuition being correct. Will visit the lore Reddit l8r.

[tonguetiedraven]

What did I miss about Jeremiah? Why is he bad?

Okay! There's a lot of little things to look for, but you have to look for them because most of Jeremiah's scenes aren't front and center but they are important.

Jeremiah was part of Section Thirteen, and he was typically near Shemihaza or Lucifer.

Full thing under the cut! I'll try and make it short ;)

Specifically, he was by Lucifer's side on the Blue Night, and more than that, he saw what Lucifer did to Satan. Saw the way Lucifer destroyed Satan's vessel and did it at a time to make sure Satan thought it was a betrayal from Yuri.

(Chapter 115 for that.)

He appears quite uncomfortable to be here too, lol.

He then, and this is the more important part for how he is what he is, sees Lucifer go a bit supernova as his own vessel just throws in the towel. (Lucifer's powers always dramatically weaken his vessel. They're simply too much for a human vessel.)

Jeremiah is the guy in the top left corner growing a small tree-like thing to save himself from the bright light and power.

At this point chapter 115 cuts back to the exorcism and the twins birth and it's not until 118 that we get back to the Lucifer&Jeremiah plotline.

Lucifer is essentially a husk of a vessel and Jeremiah is following him in a state of growing distress. Lucifer is already spinning a false narrative about what happened to Satan and is showing he's done with this operation -- this is when the Illuminati properly starts in my opinion. The Illuminati as we now know it. It's rather implied it was an organization before Section Thirteen joined forces with it, and then became its own thing again after.

But back on point:

Jeremiah is chasing Lucifer who is becoming less and less vessel and more and more his pure state. The state he would crystalize into if he stayed. It's also a powerful form and seems to somewhat enthrall anyone who looks too long.

Jeremiah begs him stop what he's doing because if he fully reveals himself a lot of innocent clone children (and Rick!) in this area will be painfully killed. That leads us to this moment

Jeremiah goes tree mode again to protect himself and Lucifer supernovas. Rick dies painfully, but Arthur, who Rick was using his own body to protect, does not. He withstands the light and steps further into it.

He is also very obviously a Lucifer clone and we know that at this point. So we don't want these two connecting or interacting because withstanding the light means he'd probably be a prime vessel candidate.

Importantly, Jeremiah sees specifically that it was Arthur, and Jeremiah knows all about the Section Thirteen stuff.

Cut to chapter 119. Lucifer has been sent back to Gehenna, forced to by Mephisto and Shemihaza double teaming him. Jeremiah would not have seen all of that happen because Mephisto froze time. Probably. It's always possible Mephisto let him in that bubble.

Regardless, they chop him free (which cracks me up so much xD) and we get a shot of him with his hair down which is fun and rare.

And Jeremiah sees that Arthur survived. The only one that did. The child who saw Lucifer's light and withstood it. And we are very pointedly shown both of them, further connecting them in our minds.

We then move onto a tremendously important scene. Lucifer's ashes were to be purified and disposed of in this ark. It was a task only the Grigori Agency, Mephisto, Arthur, and Shemihaza knew about. It was vitally important for them to do this, and in chapter 119, we see that the task was not completed.

The party meant to do it were slaughtered by someone with plant powers. Someone who knew what they were doing and brought the remains to Drac Dragulescu.

The fingers point heavily to Jeremiah.

Now this could realistically be one of three people. Possibly four, but I think two of them far more unlikely.

Hilkiah Uzai Jeremiah Uzai Shiyumi Moriyama (Shiemi's mom) Ilya Hazai

I find Hilkiah and Ilya unlikely, but they're still possibilities. Shiyumi fits the profile very well and would cause some serious dramatic upheaval in plot if it was her, but I think the most likely and most implied is Jeremiah. Why?

Because in chapter 121, back in the current time we see him with Shiemi, escorting her to the training grounds Mephisto has set up so she can get a few years of training in a matter of hours. Jeremiah is leading this entire thing and through the entire Shiemi&Jeremiah interactions, he is creepy. He looms and always has this pleasant smile and is always a little off.

But it's this moment as he sends her off into the door to her training garden.

And specifically the next panel.

And really, that would do it entirely for me, but that's not all there is. Nope. Jeremiah has some other things that really put him in the likely a BIG traitor category.

One, 111 when he's chatting with a very vulnerable Arthur after Arthur has just learned he's likely a clone, or so Lewin and Lewin's research insists.

Note how this scene is set up. Arthur and his tiny fangs haven't even really said anything about what he's struggling with. Not about his identity or anything, but Jeremiah who knows the entirety of his actual story immediately feeds him what is clearly a well practiced lie.

He immediately reinforces that lie and will proceed in the following panels to manipulate Arthur into thinking Lewin crazy and obsessed and that only the Uzais know the real truth and only they can be trusted, all while reinforcing that Arthur is unique and special.

You only see Jeremiah's disdain in one panel here, and it's when Jeremiah isn't looking at him. I also can't help but notice the immense similarity between that face grab and intense staring and the way Lucifer grabs Yukio. Just ick.

This is carefully worded and deliberate and very likely not the first time that Jeremiah has done this careful dance of manipulation. He is both testing memory and reinforcing the lies and reinforcing Arthur's mistrust in Lewin.

He does something similar with Shiemi in 114, but I believe more to test if she does remember, because Shiemi has forgotten something tremendously important.

Also side not that Artemis is really close to Artemisia which is a plant used for a lot of purifying things. I'd also take anything Jeremiah says with a grain of salt, but we have seen Shiemi's mother wearing that rose in the past.

Now this could just come of as an older man doting on the young heir in a older uncle sort of way, but there is a distinct air of unease to me that makes it not fit. It's clear he knows her more than she knows him, and it would sound like he'd be surprised not to be recognized by her -- especially after chapter 157 where we learn Shiemi spent the first few years of her life with them all.

But this moment

Tells me no. He isn't surprised. In fact, if you think he killed Ilya, it reads a lot like a threat, even if Shiemi doesn't understand what it's about.

I am so proud of you Shiemi. Those stranger danger instincts are firing on all cylinders. Trust those instincts, girl. Tell that creepy older man to get his hands off you.

Jeremiah just looms so creepily! It's fantastically done.

Then there's chapter 131 and how well he fits the chin and hair of that memory person in the garden

He fits it. Even better with the next panels.

Uncle. A title someone like Jeremiah could easily hold to a little Shiemi. And the order to smile while looking at her dead father. Evil and creepy and manipulative and with all the wording about being a failure.

If this is right I despise this man.

Finally, and horrifyingly for everyone:

(Chapter 152) Jeremiah is the one informing the world about what is happening. He is the face of True Cross during the current battle. He is the one spinning the narrative and if he is a follower of Lucifer, that is a terrible place to let him be.

[rynnthefangirl]

https://www.tumblr.com/very-straight-blog/760265762145452032/i-decided-to-summarize-all-the-statements-about?source=share

I didn't read the book, so all these things were really just rumors?

Yes, this post is accurate. Aegon is a rapist in the show, but in the book we don’t know. A strange thing about this fandom is the way that the book and show canon are blended together, with some things from the show being taken as defining aspects of a character despite them not being explicitly true in the book (or even being directly contradictory to the book). Other examples include Alicent being a child bride and Aemond being a bully victim. That being said, Aegon being a rapist is a pretty reasonable jump to make, given that he was known to sexually harass serving girls. So Team Black will frequently call Aegon a rapist because it is canon in the show and consistent with both his show and book characterizations. The other points are all accurate, there are some nasty rumors about Aegon, but nothing confirmed.

*Getting into spoilers now if you don’t know the later events of the book*

No worries though, Aegon is still very much a piece of shit in the book! In truth, him being a rapist is pretty far down on my list of reasons why I hate him. There are plenty of other things in the book to despise Aegon for! Usurping the throne, celebrating Luke’s murder by throwing a feast, murdering all the rat catchers in the red keep, traumatizing his 10 year old nephew and then ordering him to be mutilated, etc). I think the death of Maester Gerardys is a good demonstration of book!Aegons cruelty:

Mind you, this was not an enemy combatant or Lord, this was a maester who was only doing his job (and seemed to have been a pretty good dude, he defended Addam and Nettles from Rhaenyra’s suspicions and offered Aegon II milk of the poppy to ease his pain after Moondancer burned him). Aegon could have simply had him imprisoned or beheaded. Instead he gave him a sadistic and torturous death for really no other reason than just to be cruel. Idk to me that is as bad an act as raping Dyanna was in the show.

Despite being accurate, the original post just rubs me the wrong way. Pointing out that Dyanna was the only known instance of show Aegon raping someone? 1. As if him being a rapist isn’t so bad if he only did it once. 2. Aegon doesn’t even seem to see his actions as wrong in the show, to him it was just harmless fun. Am I really expected to believe that is the one and only time a spoiled and lustful Prince like Aegon decided to have “fun” with one of the serving girls?

Also framing this as a “Team Black” issue, as if Team Green isn’t constantly misrepresenting stuff from the book to fit their narrative. There are many of examples of this, but my two favorites:

1. “Rhaenyra saw herself as the exception to women ruling and robbed other women of their inheritance to give to their brothers”

- In reference to the Rosby and Stokeworth situation. This is blatantly false, Rosby and Stokeworth’s daughters were never their fathers’ heirs. It was Corlys who called Rhaenyra’s situation an exception, not because she is special and different than other women, but because her father named her heir. Rhaenyra’s whole succession ideology is based on the right of lords to choose their successors, and she upheld exactly that, refusing to usurp others’ inheritance against their lord fathers’ will as the Greens had done to her.

2. “Aegon II showed Rhaenyra’s son mercy and named him heir because he cared more about preserving House Targaryen’s future than he did the Greens vs Blacks conflict”

-Egregiously false and disingenuous. Aegon’s “mercy” to his nephew was wanting to give him a choice between castration and spending his life at the Wall. It was Corlys who insisted Aegon the Younger be named heir and engaged to Jaehaera. Aegon II did not want this, he specifically said “my sisters line must end”, but he couldn’t afford to lose Corlys’ support. It was Larys who convinced him to agree to Corlys’ demands. How did he convince him? Why by telling him that Aegon the Younger would never actually marry Jaehaera or become king, they’d just lie to Corlys and when their position was strong enough they could betray and kill him, and then castrate or exile Rhaenyra’s 10 year old son as Aegon II originally wanted to. Aegon’s “mercy” for his nephew was of the same flavor as Cersei and Joffrey’s “mercy” for Sansa.

Sorry lol, this was a long response for what was a simple ask, I just love trash talking that POS usurper.😅

TLDR; yes these are only rumors in the book and Aegon being a rapist is only strictly canon in the show. But it is not inconsistent with his book characterization, and book!Aegon is in fact still an incredibly despicable person even if you assume none of these rumors are true.

[pursued-by-the-squid]

a chapter two days in a row WE’RE BEING FED SO WELL

we interacted with hyunju for like 30 seconds and i’m ready to ditch the boys and elope with herrrrrr

inho you evil little ratman i thought we were all about equality!!! choice!!! opportunity!!! it’s so fun to see him abandon his philosophy in 5 seconds flat when he sees his crush kiss someone else (🤝)

i have to be honest i was not expecting the 457 reveal and it just reinforces that inho is a little liar and is willing to change the rules to get back at gihun + prove he’s in control

I’M SO MAD AT THE CONSENT FORM THING HGRJSHSJ !!! i mean inho has done some awful things but this???? i need to see him lose.

picking gihun’s voice out of a crowd of 450 people we’re currently witnessing unprecedented levels of simping back with more at 7 as the situation progresses

✋ gihun let us speak ‼️ i promise manhandling and shouting at us will not change the situation we are in

the juxtaposition between reader and jungbae got me a lil bit like jungbae knows gihun but he doesn’t know him while reader knows gihun but doesn’t really know him (let’s all pretend this makes as much sense written down as it does in my head 😌)

that bit about “he’ll do anything he can to keep you safe. you just hope that fate agrees with him.” fate sitting in his fancy leather chair sipping whiskey and giggling to himself while people are massacred on a tv screen in front of him LMAO

need to reiterate i HATE inho for the consent form thing mf i will find u faster than junho did in season 1

on the one hand inho saving reader by not having them shot for moving during RLGL (i’m assuming this is what he meant?) is him breaking the rules again but i can’t help thinking it’s almost like reader isn’t even a real player to him because they didn’t go through the same process to get there as everyone else + didn’t sign the form so the rules don’t apply to them?? and therefore him “saving” them is just keeping it fair (as in reader shouldn’t be killed for violating the rules bc they didn’t agree to them??) idk just a little thought i had but literally who knows what goes on inside that man’s head

he’s so jealouuuuussssss he wants to be gihun so bad and he hates him and what he represents at the same time i’m eating it up. ‘oh this man has a living (ex-)wife and a child and he had a mother who took care of him and now he has the person i like and he doesn’t appreciate any of it the way i would? if i were in his shoes i could do his life so much better than he did it. 🚨that’s why he deserves to suffer🚨’

gihun and inho are so alike why are they both watching reader sleep (they should just get over their differences and team up it’s embarrassing at this point)

inho before he realised he was definitely freaky like that:

need reader to meet frontman and for him to be like ‘this is the skin (mask) of a killer bella’

ITS GONNA HIT SO HARD WHEN WE FIND OUT WHO PLAYER 001 ACTUALLY IS GANSBDJABAJSB I’M BUZZING THINKING ABOUT IT

THANK YOU THANK TOU THANK YOU FOR ACTUALLY SACRIFICING SLEEP TO WRITE THIS FOR US I HOPE U KNOW HOW TALENTED YOU ARE !!!!!😩💖🩷💞🎀💥💖💕💖

AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OURBONESMCCOY MY BELOVED YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD EVERY TIME

⬆️ this is literally you, me, and a.a passing around our thoughts about in-ho/reader/gi-hun & i love it

anywhomst, your messages are always a delight and so exciting to read thru bc you always pick up on the little details i throw in!! possibly my FAVORITE part of this chapter was exploring in-ho's choices. like, he literally haunts the narrative. even when he's not around, he's there watching or his actions have shaped what's currently going on, and i just 😫 i LOVE exploring that!!

and what makes that even more fun is the fact that he doesn't even realize he's got a crush. he may know that you are a weakness for him, but he's determined to put up emotional distance between you and claim that this is all professional interest & a way of self-protection even tho seeing you kiss gi-hun made him SO CRAZY JEALOUS 📢📢📢 he's an idiot, your honor, and i adore him

also yeah, he made some uh questionable choices here (the consent form was fucking dirty and i acknowledge that, but it was a fun little twist right??). ALSO YEAH YOUR MEME 🤣🤣🤣 I'M FUCKING DYING DUDE, THAT'S EXACTLY IT. WHAT DO U MEAN YOU'RE WILLING TO SHOOT SOMEONE POINT BLANK IN THE HEAD BUT WATCHING A YOUNG COLLEGE STUDENT UNDRESS IN THEIR ROOM IS WHERE YOU DRAW THE LINE (he still has his morals okay)

btw i loveeeeeeeeeeee your thoughts on how he's excusing all this, i honestly hadn't even thought of it that way!! but i like that take on his justification, it's so very yummy 🦗🦗 i was thinking he's gotten to the point where he's so sick of gi-hun & so desperate for control now that his affections for you have unmoored him, that he's like "no fuck this guy i'm breaking my own rules bc who's gonna stop me, at least i can finally end this once and for all"

OH ALSO ALSO YOUR LITTLE BIT ABOUT READER AND JUNG-BAE, RAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAHYEAHYEAH THAT'S SO EXACTLY IT, YOU EXPLAIN IT SO SUCCINCTLY !!!!!! READER KNOWS THE MAN GI-HUN HAS BECOME TO THE POINT OF ALMOST INSTANT UNDERSTANDING AND RECOGNITION, BUT HAS NO IDEA THE SWEETPEA HE USED TO BE. WHILE JUNG-BAE KNOWS THE GOOFY GAMBLER OF SSANMUN-DONG AND HAS NO CLUE WHAT IT IS THAT GI-HUN HAS BECOME 😭😭😭😭😭 AGONY (also being able to recognize his voice in a crowd, tell me ur obsessed without telling me)

aahhhhhhh bestie thank you so much for the lovely message, it always brightens my day and i love getting to essentially talk shop about my thoughts and scream along with you !!!! ❣️💌❣️

[buggiewritesthings]

Chart Seven -> Songbirds and Ocean Tides

TW: PTSD, trauma, alcohol use, suicidal ideation (implied), sexual exploitation (implied), grief, death of a child (mentioned), mental health struggles, coercion, profanity.

This victory tour is fucking humiliating. I feel like a fucking Muppet; the capitols hand up my proverbial ass – with how they pull the strings just so. Each district is the same. Smile, try not to throw up as I gargle capitol balls. I used to hate Finnick for it, Haymitch too. I understand them now, more than I ever could’ve imagined. It’s not because they want this. We victors don’t want this. It's still crazy that it's we – not them now. I’m no longer the covey songbird from twelve, I am officially caged. Trapped in an invisible box made of glass, tantalizingly giving me a view of what could’ve been, while hitting the proverbial glass each time I attempt to bust. I understand more than ever now why Haymitch drinks. I join him on occasion. When the memories become too much. When I hear that little voice tell me not to cry, when I see flashes of her score. When she eats that gummy. It’s looped over and over and over. I don’t eat. Sleep evades me. My saving grace is Finnick. He writes to me often and over these weeks I’m realizing that we’re friends. Our friendship is not just for them. It’s real. I’m going to be in her district soon. Four. I'll see her parents, but I’ll see him too. Finnick. I need to know what the letters can’t say. Do they still sell him? No one has tried with me but honestly, I care more about him than I do about me. 

 I’ve learned many things on this victory tour, but I learn it all behind the scenes. How much whiskey to drink to be sober yet not present. How much liquid a flask needs to contain to get through the marionette speeches where I justify the deaths of the children to the faces of their own parents. Classics I have re-learned from my own father, beer before liquor you’ve never been sicker. Liquor before beer, you’re in the clear. I prefer honey whiskey. Like Haymitch, I keep a fridge filled with it, for the tougher moments but I have yet to stoop to his level. No, that is something about myself I will never let the Capitol or Snow take.  

Before all of this I wondered who I would be after I survived, if I ever did. I’m Haymitch with a great pair of knockers, with only slight alcoholic tendencies. Effie has become like my own mother, she certainly mothers me more than my own mom ever did. I still see the half assed Mother's Day card in her makeup box I made her back in district eight. Haymitch is complicated. Some days he’s a father, other days the fun older brother. We toe a line, but he’s the only positive role model I ever had. Him and Effie are slowly becoming my family, and I do love them, in ways I never thought myself capable of ever loving anyone. That is one of the few things that arena never took from me. My ability to love.  

The train passes through and for the first time ever, I see a real ocean. The water looks like Finnick's eyes, I need to remember to tell him, if I see him at this stop. I flop into the train cushions the same way I did when I first stepped on, only now I have a glass of whiskey in my hand. Haymitch sits across from me and smirks. What does he want? 

“What?” He shakes his head 

“Some things never change. You sat like that the first time we met.” I smile at the memory of it despite myself. Even though the arena put me through hell and back, I am grateful for the family I have made from it.  

“Guess I did, now look at me, belle of the motherfucking ball” I snort, letting my eyes crinkle at the thought of it. They dress me more conservatively than when I was a tribute now that I am a ‘kept woman’. The Capitol needs me to be a good role model after all, and the whore they had me originally casted as no longer fits that narrative.  

“You know they will want you to marry that boy” I look at him quizzically 

“We are in love” Haymitch gets as serious as I have ever seen him 

“We don’t lie to each other songbird. Look I know you’re pretending to love him. Or maybe you do who knows. You both need to be okay with knowing that this is the rest of your life. The interviews, the fake smiles. They want a ring on your left hand alongside a baby in your belly songbird. That’s all you’re good for now songbird. I see you as more, and so does Effie but to them – Ceaser and the audience, you are a doll they get to play with in real time. A world and story book come to life. You are not your own anymore. Just remember that as we get to her stop. Remember who you are fighting to protect and what the moments of rebellion will cost you.” I’m left to stew alone with my thoughts. I know what he means. Make it real. Make it so real even you can’t tell. Sometimes he tells me about them. Louella Mccoy. His dove. His Lenore. I know he’s terrified to lose me too, how he lost Maysilee Donner or Wyatt Callow. He has suffered so much and yet I am here. I have suffered my own loss. Yet here he is. Two fucked up people who have found family in each other.  

The pen I’m holding glides effortlessly across the page as I write my own letter. God, I’ll never get over the way I address him as love, even though these letters are private, nothing ever is in the capitol. We should leak a letter. I’ll tell him in person. I smile to myself as I slink back to the faux comforts of my capitol issued mattress. I’m going to need all the comfort I can get; the next stop is district four. Amala's parents. I feel the ghost of her little hand in mine as I drift off in a restless sleep.   

[smoked-salmon-official]

my ass got paramount plus so yk what that means MORE EARTHSPARK AU VICKY

im currnetly dying of a disease called ES vicky brainrot so feel free to slide into my inbox and talk about it w me [pls pls pls pls pls]

i promise the whole long thing is worth a read i had sm fun writing it

-megatron and optimus tell vicky that they are going to have some fucking FUN and they gotta go w mo, robby, thrash, and twitch to dot's nature center or whatever the fuck its called. vicky really doesnt want to go but their dads are trying so hard to undoom them from the narrative and yea people pleaser so they go

-unfortunately vicky is yet another cybertronian [war criminal too] that megs and oppy conveniently forgot to mention to ghost

-victory gets caught up in the ghost shenanigans as well and end up hiding and then making an escape w the others

-its actually fun being like a little kid again, it reminds them of when they snuck around bot and con bases just havin fun w bee and hot rod

-when they fall into the holographic pit trap vicky is like im not fucking paid enough for this. but actually when optimus's silhouette falls over them they throw themself in front of the kids almost instinctively... found family moment

-okay imagine how mortified vicky is for their dad to catch them in the glorified glue trap w these losers

-okay now OP is panicking a bit bc while he does care about the new bots and needs to hide them ofc, he absolutely cannot and will not let anyone else get their hands on his kid, not when hes failed them so many times already. he thought that sticking them on the farm would keep vicky out of trouble, but clearly not... OP moves wildly between treating vicky like a child who cant defend themself and a dangerous war criminal/decepticon, but yeah he does genuinely love them

-vicky is not thrilled about being stuck in their dads trailer with a bunch of arguing kids. however, they do try to calm the situation down to literally no fucking avail

-OP is playing it cool but hes terrified of anyone taking vicky away from him - again [never mind the fact that HE sent them away to the fuck ass found family barn]

-vicky is like dying laughing hearing OP give his dead pan scripted ghost speech

-the kids go off gallivanting in the ghost HQ and vicky follows them because cmon man they love fucking shit up. they wander into... oh shit. megatron's training room set to fucking unicron level 14 (i had a laugh at this)

-vicky is having the time of their life right now. like genuinely they love sparring ! they love fighting ! and theyre killing it bc they learned to fight from lockdown and scourge and pretty much trained w the djd until they were so exhausted they couldnt walk. [and also homerotic sparring sessions with vos ofc]

-there's a brief moment of pain though, twitch's double swords remind vicky of their own swords, a gift from the DJD. they lost them somewhere during the earth final battle. it's okay though, they still have their built in swords from ya boy lockdown

-upstairs, OP is like "lets go get our kids !" and dot's like "OURS ??? THE WEIRD HUMVEE DUDE LIVING IN MY BARN IS YOUR FUCKING KID???"

-op's like ... yea ... dots like dont fucking tell me megatrons the other parent. OP's like boy do i have news for you

-the kids ask vicky where they learned to fight like that and they just kinda look away bc. sad. [their friends from space are who knows where, tarn is dead, and the rest of the DJD is holed up in peaceful tyranny 2 bc its too dangerous for them. and they stay on earth for vicky, even though it sucks for them]

-when dot hugs mo and robby OP does the same w vicky omg its so sweet. while OP worries for them and doesn't want them getting into anymore danger [just wants a quiet life for them where they can both learn to be better and heal], he's glad that vicky's able to get up to some childish misadventures and chaos every once in awhile

-on their way out, vicky sees all the cons locked up and ... technically, they suppose they're a bot now, but these are their people ! megatron abandoned the cons, but vicky sure wont ! and it just hurts them that theres no one to fight for the cons on earth who just want a hom etoo

[codenamesazanka]

There was that joke in the fandom about Horikoshi looking through fanfics to see what theories to make canon like the "Dabi being Touya" or "the UA traitor" (even tho most of those were just stuff hinted at in the canon before hand). Since we're doing the whole "sharing memories" bit, the one fanfic trope he can definitely throw in the manga right now is the "Spinner tells Shigaraki he used to have a tail that got cut off by bullies"

Is that a popular trope? Enough to be a thing Horikoshi would pick up on. I don't think it's anywhere near the same level as 'Dabi is the lost Todoroki son' and 'UA Traitor is _____'… but it would be interesting if Spinner Tail Trauma is made canon.

Though at this late stage, I don't know if I want it, to be honest! If it's a memory, it's angst fuel to develop characters other than Spinner - guy wouldn't even be there for it. It would a real iffy choice to show something deeply personal and traumatic that happened to Spinner, something so unjust, without Spinner there—and really only for the benefit of the contrived connection between Shigaraki and Deku.

I guess because Spinner is still unaccounted for, he can still show up so it doesn't have to be just a memory, but. Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. HeroAca resolutions are less about the victims and what they're owed, and more about how cool and merciful the Heroes are for saving them. This would be that, but even more so, and infinitely worse.

Plus, it would make the heteromorph riot mini-arc even more of a mess. Not to say there's levels of suffering that can be compared, but in-universe and in story, Shoji is kinda framed as having been worst off - his parents weren't heteromorphic like him, he got bashed in the face with a rake and was heavily scarred for life after he saved a girl from drowning, then he even has to wear a mask to prevent people from thinking he's resentful for being the victim of a hate crime. All that, but he came out of it with a strong and golden moral core, ready to be a great and inspirational Hero who protects the status quo.

Shoji's positioned as being in the right: here was a kid who suffered terribly, but he still managed to overcome the odds and be a Good Person, who thought deeply about the Right Way to end discrimination and is putting it into action (which is being a model minority). So what's everyone else's excuse?

Meanwhile, Spinner's backstory is that he only gets sprayed with pesticides, succumbs to being a NEET hikikomori, and goes running off to join terrorists without a single original thought in his head. For the narrative to work, he needs to be the selfish, hypocritical loser who didn't try hard enough to overcome his hardships that were comparatively mild.

If Spinner was revealed to have a tail cut off by bullies, the bnha balance of heteromorphic good and evil would collapse. A young boy's classmates mutilates him as the apex of heteromorphobic bullying, and the victim was left to languish as a high school dropout shut-in? That's not something that can be fixed by waiting out generations (just wait for the adults to die! their mindset would go with them—oh, but the perpetrators are the new generation…) or having the victim change their behavior (there's just no excuse for chopping off a child's body part). That reveals something much darker in the fabric of society that Heroes' plucky 'work-harder! plus ultra!' optimism are unequiped to handle.

At the very least, it's something that "Stop holding a grudge" and "Sorry for not realizing earlier" (as the rando hero tells the PLF guy in Chapter 373) and "Shine bright until your torments feel ashamed" are utterly insufficient and unconvincing in resolving. Not quite as inspirational, you know?

I'm sorry anon! I know you were asking as a joke, offering a fun idea. And I do like it! I'm still not opposed to Spinner having that canon backstory if the writing around it was to suddenly radically change the story and expand it by 300 more chapters to fix everything. I still love the idea that Spinner had a tail. I just took it too seriously and overthought it. My apologies. Thanks for the ask.

[abysskeeper]

What is that draws you to Ruby x Oscar? (I mean it on a 'pls infodump me' vibe.)

I enjoy committing to the bit of less popular ships in RWBY and suffering the consequences

@flytehwire Ok, seriously, to answer this properly I need to explain something about myself. When I am looking for character pairings, I am looking for, in order of importance: 1. Harmonious themes and rhetoric, 2. Character interactions, and 3. Other, extenuating factors. While other factors can sometimes determine how I view a pairing (romantic/platonic/friend/familial/etc) and character interactions can override the thematic element, I am primarily looking for those sweet, sweet story beats.

So, when you give me two kids carrying the weight of massive legacies they feel they have to fulfill, stepping into leadership roles neither were prepared for, and throw in a smattering of identity issues to boot? Yeah, I'm hooked 100%. These two are important to each other on a base narrative level, before even considering we see they're important to each other in their interactions throughout the show. Their arcs mirror each other, but are different enough that they compliment each other and are not going through the exact same thing.

By which I mean, both are struggling with the very same things listed above, but slightly to the left of each other to make them different enough that it makes them both unique and interesting in their own rights. For sake of time and ease of answering, I'm not going to fully cite my sources, but it became increasingly apparent (especially through v9) that Ruby's whole issue is attempting to follow the legacies of those from before her, starting with the general, Hunter/Huntress ideal and the heroes of stories in the early volumes, and then moving over to the SEWs and her mother in the later volumes. A lot of untangling in this personal arc for her revolves around reconciling the fairy tales she believed in and what is being asked of her in reality, and then determining who she is and what she stands for when it becomes apparent those ideals are more lofty dreams and reality is much more complicated. In essence, Ruby's arc is finding who she was when stripped of everything she believed as a child, and we saw that exactly throughout v9 ("What are you?" // "What is a Huntress?" ultimately boil down to "Who is Ruby Rose?")

Oscar, conversely, I would argue, already had some sense of who he was at the start. Sure, he may have wanted more and was unable to voice exactly what "more" was, but he's young...who honestly knew what they wanted to do with their life when they were 14? Regardless, his arc is less about asking who he is and is more about the fear of losing himself entirely now that he's part of the Ozcarnation line--and thus, it's also more about proving who he is to the world around him as everyone else assumes he's just another copy/paste of Oz. Oscar had to have a strong handle of his own identity at the start simply in order to beat the "he's just Ozpin" allegations, which he eventually did do (with some help from Oz's disappearing act).

And that isn't to say that there aren't echoes of each other's themes as well. Ruby very much does lose herself and must reassert who she is at her core (most evident in v9, but definitely starting in v7). Oscar very much does have to figure out who he is in the Ozcarnation line and how he specifically wants to handle situations (most prominent in the "Her name...is Jinn" decision in v6 and his actions through v7, but also metatextually hinted at when he talks to Ironwood at the end of v7 holding himself and acting like Ozpin, and then getting shot, and then in v8 when he tries to act like Ozma and Salem directly calls him out. It's almost like fate is punishing him because he's supposed to think and act like Oscar, and not try to be those who came before him...). And I think ultimately that's what makes them fun for me, they revolve around this overarching theme of identity in the face of legacies and destinies and leadership and each take a piece to compliment the other.

Of course, that doesn't mean they have to be romantic. And that's correct, they don't! Full transparency, I honestly wasn't fully onboard with Rosegarden until the end of v7/start of v8. Oscar's blush at getting rescued was the first time I felt fully vindicated over a ship, but the ending of v7 is really the beginning for the end of me I think. It was at that point where it became apparent their themes were merging and then splitting off again into the projected trajectories they're on now. And, in terms of interaction, throughout v7 and v8, Ruby and Oscar are shown repeatedly to be in sync with each other and trusting each other (even when they don't necessarily agree with each other!) All of those moments for me boiled down to one single, striking fact: because of what they're going through and how similar each struggle was, Ruby and Oscar to me are the only two characters in the show who could understand each other on a deeper level.

(And as an aside, the release of 'Until the End' and 'Fear' being the last two songs of that volume, and clearly being a Ruby song and an Oscar song respectively, completely altered my brain chemistry. That's a separate 3k essay, but the call and response between 'Fear's' "Who will you see there in the darkness? // When no one is watching who will you be? When you're afraid and everything changes will you see a stranger? // Feel proud or betrayed?" vs 'Until the End's' "I promise I’ll be here until...Our story has been told // 'Til our bodies break down every door // 'Til we find what we’ve been looking for // And stare with pride into the face of fear // In our finest hour, I’ll be standing here // And should we fall to darkness // This power, I will harness // I promise I’ll be here until the end" just does things to me on a personal level).

Others come close. Jaune and Weiss both have similar arcs about breaking legacies as well (Weiss with her family and Jaune with...presumably his family, if not his personal views on what he should be and on his promises to Pyrrha), but they're both on a far more personal and less world-shaping level than Ruby and Oscar. Blake as well, with reclaiming her identity, but that as well is a little more personal and also more about regaining what was "stolen" by Adam, so to speak, than finding herself altogether. And Penny is more about learning everything altogether and learning about who she can and cannot trust more than about who she is at her core. And, as an aside, I am a multi-shipper. I do like several of these pairings with Ruby, and Oscar and Penny is an utterly fascinating concept to me.

The reason why Ruby and Oscar come out on top for me is because at the end of the day, they're still the only two who can understand and empathize with each other on the deepest level. They're the two that appear to be entirely in sync with each other. And they're also the two currently slated to be running the show in the next generation. And if there's one thing I love more than seeing my power couple ships completely in love, it's seeing those two characters entirely and implicitly understanding and trusting each other.

This is of course glossing over a lot too. Their scenes together are often pretty striking: the dojo scene in v5 (Oscar admitting he's scared, Ruby for the first time really opening up about Penny and Pyrrha at The Fall of Beacon), the cane scene in v6 (Ruby being the only one to comfort Oscar and reaffirm that he isn't Oz), Oscar's panic during the fight with Cordo, like...every scene they had in v7, Oscar's blush in v8 and the almost hug that wasn't, and of course, THE scene in v9 (and another 3k essay could be written on why that had to be Oscar, though most of the starting points on my opinion for that are above). They also have some other dichotomies going on in their rhetoric, with the silver/gold symbolism and the sun/moon symbolism; and the extra info in the show with the "Warrior in the Woods" fairy tale and Oscar's allusion to the Little Prince. But several other people have written far better analyses on those than I could ever do currently, and this is getting long enough as is.

But yeah, tl;dr thematically and rhetorically complimentary kids just trying to do their best, figure themselves out, and save the world? Yeah, I wanna see them cuddle and comfort and rely on each other in the way they only can with the other.

[nerdstify]

I'm writing a Death Note story and need help with the middle. Send your ideas via DMs, comments, or asks. If I like them, I might even draw them! Also open to Death Note art requests. Share any Death Note-related ideas and I'll see what I can do.

(and in this case comments too!)

Start and end of the fic under the cut:

God, the rain was gorgeous. L wasn’t usually one to remark or note on the beauty of people; people did things and said things that he couldn’t understand. They hurt and killed and lied; and for what? For only themselves. But the world- the non-people part of the world- was utterly beautiful. L knew why the rain fell. It brought the plants to life. And even though sometimes it felt like nature didn’t have a purpose- like destructive typhoons and hurricanes- he at least understood that these catastrophes weren’t self-serving. The rain had no greed or selfishness; nothing to gain, and so the chaos was out of its control. The rain was always his favourite, grey and rhythmic and cool. Any beauty he saw in a human was simply a reflection of the beauty of the rain. Watari, cool and graceful and methodical as himself, nurturing lost children like they were plants below his sky. Soichiro, stoic and sturdy, creating a calm and intentional rhythm for L to think to. These people and others he had admired for sharing the qualities of the rain he loved, but there was one more. A conundrum that L couldn’t quite place.

Start:

Light Yagami. Not just the rain, but a monsoon. He was endless and unrelenting. No matter how many challenges you gave him, he dodged and weaved until the rainwater had flooded every crack in the moulding and invaded your basement. L wasn’t fond of people getting into his basement. He wasn’t cool and stoic and calm, but he came with a surging heat and a blinding sun and a furious intensity. L was almost sure he was Kira, because like Light, like the monsoon, Kira barely seemed human to him. He didn’t seem to be killing for personal or even corporate gain. Kira had convinced himself and the world that he killed for righteous reasons; for saving the good in humanity, but L couldn’t believe that. Kira killed because like Light, like the monsoon, he simply couldn’t stop.

He had never before been so attracted to a person, yet so repelled. If Light contained a duality and, say, Kira was a north magnet, and Light was a south– then L was north. There was nothing his heart, mind, and the deepest parts of his very soul craved more than a friend- or so he told himself- like Light.

But Light was Kira.

Wasn’t he?

Ending:

He knew it. Of course Light was Kira. There was no way around it. L was doomed by this narrative of friendship he had written for himself. Light was so perfect that L couldn’t have beared to lose him. So charming that the barely human, hardly affectionate, happily lonely L had warmed to him. Welcomed him. Shown him the smallest, quietest parts of himself. But Light was barely human too; becoming less and less by the day. And as L grew more and more attached, Light grew further away. A part of him had known from the very beginning how he would die. It wasn’t a slip-up in safety or privacy, it wasn’t a miscalculation, or a misjudgement of character- in fact he had judged Light perfectly from the very beginning. It was trust that had killed him.

His first, his best and worst friend, using him even now. No doubt faking his grief towards the task force. Or perhaps the grief was real. Despite it all, L couldn’t help but clutch onto the glimmer of hope he kept locked tightly in his ribcage, as the light faded from his eyes, that he could still mean something to Light, despite using him and throwing him aside.

Like he did Misa. Like he would his father and Sayu. Like he did his own soul. Like he did everyone once they stopped being fun to play with. L laughed weakly. Kira really was a child.

He had always known he would die right here, in task force headquarters, where he was supposed to be safe, and at Light’s hand, who was supposed to be his equal. He had imagined dying with a subtle smirk, Light finally incriminated, and a successor lined up to catch him. But in his ideations of death, not once had it occurred to him that it might hurt so much.

The grief, the guilt, the regret, and most of all the gaping wound that Light created, ripping into him with his bare hands and clawing at the insides of his chest, twisting a knife right into his gut as he pretended to care that he was gone.

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 212 Rundown

Arcane: So after the breakup with Cait Vi has basically become an emo rock singer that punches stuff which to be fair is only a couple steps away from what she was before but it just seems weird that THIS is what makes her reinvent herself and go off the deep end and not all the trauma and shit she went through in her backstory, like to be fair we don’t really get to see her immediate reaction after everyone died so maybe she went through something even worse but the changed appearance seems to narratively be saying “I’m a different person now” while her changes during the backstory showed her to basically be the same just older and more jaded, idk I’ll try to stop harping on the Cait/Vi relationship pacing but it still feels weird that she’s taking it so much harder than the rest of the shit she’s been through. Either way Jinx stops by to stop her before she goes to an H.I.M. concert and tells her Vander’s alive, kinda convenient that just when shit’s at its darkest a good portion of that dark shit gets undone. Meanwhile Cait’s using her CSI vision to figure out wtf was up with the backstory werewolf man that killed all her stormtroopers and set free a raving band of Harley Quinn cosplayers. She and Ambessa go bad cop bad cop on Viktor’s old partner guy since he’s the only one left in jail and it just strikes me how much of a crutch Ambessa is to kind of keep Cait from being wholly unlikeable like it’s clear they’re doing some madness of King Lear stuff with Cait here and showing her slide into totalitarianism but it also feels like they want to keep her from shouldering all the blame for her character arc so they keep Ambessa close by since she’s an inherently hatable character and casts plausible deniability about how much Cait’s being manipulated into being harsher idk I just feel like Cait’s villain arc would be more fun if they committed to it a little more but at the end of the day I guess they may be trying to keep the window for redemption propped open a little and Ambessa is that windowstop. Mel is not having a good time being kidnapped by the Utena cultists but she found her long-lost brother so I guess it evens out. Vi and Jinx get into it and come to a mutual agreement they are both damaged motherfuckers and Vi gets to see Jinx’s character growth with Oliver Twist child which is kinda cheap honestly, just throwing a cute kid in for character development but they make up for it by having Jinx acknowledge trying to do everything alone in the backstory is what got everyone killed and Vi deserves to be included in whatever they can do to help Vander, that’s legitimately a great character moment and very fluid growth. Ambessa lets the doctor out because anyone that can create methods for committing war crimes is okay by her and it turns out he was the one that created Venom because he has a Mr. Freeze style thing with trying to cure his daughter… just getting all the Batman villain tropes in there. Meanwhile turns out Ambessa had an affair with an Utena Cultist and now one of her children is magic and it just so happens Mel’s starting to see runes and her brother is fake and she’s in the Utena Matrix so yeah things escalated quickly there. Vi and Jinx finally meet up with WereVander and he’s really pissy because the doctor’s calling him to show off to Ambessa so Jinx convinces Vi to not fight him and in a really nice bit of character development for once in her life Vi solves a problem without punching it first and we get a nice little prequel story flashback about her mom. So yeah the moment of the group family hug is a little sappy but it’s so sweet not even the manipulative pop music can ruin it. And last but not least Viktor has Jesus-healed the bitchy council member and started a full cult of magical technology but Jayce is back with a rugged Thor Endgame look and is not having any more magical Dr. Manhattan bullshit on his watch and fucking murders the guy to stop the spread of this stuff.

SAO Alternative: We continue the trend of hopping around to other secondary team while Llenn’s team cruises through the shallow water on a truck. This is framed as Karen watching recordings after the tournament’s over and that’s kind of a weird framing device given we didn’t need that for last episode’s perspective change but whatever. SHINC fights a bunch of guys with the sci-fi laser guns I think got shown off in SAO at one point but they like… suck real bad, they’re so lame SHINC basically just stands there and lets them bounce off their shields before picking them off from a distance with anti-tank weapons and drawing more teams to the slaughter with the flare thing beret guy has been touting to everyone. Memento Mori does some cool tactical shit in the forest and I think they’re my favorite team just like on aesthetics because they’re so fucking edgy I love them. The Machine Gun Bros actually make some headway by Dawn of the Deading their way through the city with some custom shopping cart turrets and the fucking campers from last time get what they deserve and are stuck on top of a flooded building waiting to drown. Once only six teams are left the new special rule is announced and we just got a little bit of Werewolf game in here because one member from each remaining team gets to go to the final area to become the Final Boss team and betray their current team because you really didn’t think we were gonna end this without Llenn/Pito rematch did you? And of course Pito is the betrayer for Llenn’s team, kinda would’ve thought it’d be interesting if Llenn herself was the betrayer and she had to be the final boss for her own friends, mix up the perspective and have her mix it up with a new team of the other betrayers instead of her established dynamic with M and Fuka but it still mixes things up well enough.

Trigun: It’s a Meryl spotlight episode as she and Milly discuss her estranged family and basically step in on a confrontation for Vash before he gets out the ol’ city destroying arm and like yeah they probably should be intervening more often before he gets into shit, that is kinda what they’re supposed to be doing. Turns out the guy they topped is the son of the two people he was threatening, hired by a bad guy to threaten them into selling off their very lucrative fertile land share since the rest of the planet looks like Satan’s litter box. The colorful villains they have this time of a giant mom and her spokesperson hot daughter hurling their rock-shaped siblings is kinda funny, like they kinda write themselves into a corner with there being now way Meryl and Milly can beat them but it does go along with the family theming. The bad guy eventually just gives up and decides to shoot everyone and let god sort it out, there’s a whole subplot about the deed being hidden in the son’s family portrait but like this world doesn’t seem to be terrible concerned with land title ownership so I’m wondering why it’s such a big deal, I guess he’s gonna do business on it and needs official documentation to make it legit. Still Meryl takes what she’s learned about family and gives a Fast and Furious speech and shoots down one of the brothers except not really because it was Vash in secret because they can’t let her just have the moment. Like I like that Meryl believes she did it and gets the confidence from it but I kinda woulda liked it better if she legit just did make a miracle shot and they played up how improbable it was but shit can’t get done without the main character I guess. Still the dad gives Meryl a nice speech about how she shouldn’t be afraid to talk to her parents because if she’s proud of the life she lives then they’ll be proud of it too and that’s a really nice sentiment.  

Revolutionary Girl Utena: So… Nanami laid an egg. Get ready for the stupidest shit you’ve ever heard in your life. I mean it’s very clearly a decorated/Faberge egg and of course she didn’t fucking lay an egg but it would not be the weirdest thing to happen in this show. It’s kind of an interesting little character study where she’s very protective of the egg but also terrified of anyone discovering she laid it, and then when Miki tells her some mammals (platypuses) lay eggs, she takes it to mean girls lay eggs all the time because she’s the stupidest fucking person on the planet. She even develops a complex that maybe everyone else has been laying eggs all along and she’s a late bloomer and there’s a metaphor for puberty in there somewhere. She’s convinced Juri’s popping bowling ball-sized eggs out of her hoo-ha because again she’s the dumbest fucking person on the planet, even if she thinks there’s a conspiracy to not mention people laying eggs around her, she seems convinced her egg will hatch into something and like… if that were the case wouldn’t there be little chicks everywhere or does she just think this is how babies are made and Juri’s a mom like twenty times over? She brings it to Touga and he is rightly embarrassed of her but also tells her she can’t be a lesbian and like look around bro everyone around you is a lesbian or gay have you looked in the fucking mirror? So Nanami decides to abandon her egg in the woods but has an honest crisis of conscience and comes back for it before it can become part of Sayonji’s omelet, Still she has a dream that it turns into an alien monster and destroys the city and wakes up with it broken, so the options are either she rolled over on it in her sleep or it hatched. The implication with the stinger is that it’s… Chu Chu’s egg? Either he comes into Nanami’s bed to sleep with her and just lays fucking eggs there and one of them broke ir or the even more disturbing possibility that Chu Chu’s species only lives for like a couple weeks and dies and reincarnates from an egg every so often and this is a new Chu Chu, which is somewhat supported by Utena and Anthy’s gay reincarnation bedroom talk, either way Chu Chu’s fucking with Nanami for kicks which is understandable.  

[tanejineri]

HEADS UP!!!

This drawing contains mild gore and limb dislocation on a victim of a fall accident. It is not intended for children or those who are queasy about that sort of thing. There's a dove inside, don't eat it!

Now that those who don't wish to consume this are gone, ahem.

If you wish to make this experience better (or worse for yourself), have some background music! This is what I listened to as I drew all this. If I lose my reputation or people unfollow me IDC this shit was fun even if I myself wanted to throw up.

Anyway, good luck in there soldier.

"The General is Dead"

or is he? [cue moon men by jake chudnow]

did you know im ambitious? im sure you guys could tell by this point im a man with high ego big plans that never get done. welcome to big plan i will never get done number 20 million, a mixed media ao3 creative writing fanfiction that'd probably kill a small animal if it were to try and break it down using its brain

this is just a snippet of a scene i want to have executed possibly. switches from a chaotic writing style to this very solid moment to let you just like. sit in silence and stillness for just a mere moment before it devolves back into the oddities that is this childs mind

obviously if you played the game this scene is for the aftermath of the thunder tower incident, where his ass slipped on a banana peel. the events in this story play out a bit differently, so things arent exactly as you would expect. this is a major turning point in the narrative for cl

in general i dont think people fully process how horrible a fall accident really is, and i wanted to encapsulate that in this drawing. the trauma behind witnessing it, the way the blood slowly pools out of the skull, i wanted to really encapsulate the trauma behind it by mixing a sort of realistic style with the planned generic style of the work

you'll also notice that cl's design is different here. i change his design whenever im writing him for specific concepts or such, if i consider it derivative off of my canon then it gets its own design

the speech bubble is empty because im gonna be using this for testing more css+html tricks in ao3 bcs thats genuinely so fun i highly recommend getting into html + css its an interesting experience

ok thats all the rambling uh sorry you had to see this sorry i have the balls to post this, and if you ignored the warnings and really werent considering your own sanity then thats on you bud LOL ok ciao

[littlemissidontcare]

Someone asked me what I think over a message, wondering if it's PR or not. So, to me, there are two options: 1. PR Relationship: This whole thing feels orchestrated from the jump. Remember when the backlash about him traveling during the pandemic hit hard? Fans were pissed, tabloids were eating it up. Cue AW swooping in, and suddenly we’ve got a new "couple" plastered everywhere. Classic damage control move. I wouldn’t be surprised if CAA cooked this up to salvage his public image and soften the blow from the pandemic debacle with Ale. Plus, it’s not just about who AW is, but what she represents: a distraction, something to shift the narrative back to him being "desirable" or “in demand.” Now, as for his behavior—like the whole “I’ve got two dogs right now” comment—doesn’t that sound like someone who knows there’s an expiration date? It’s like he’s counting down until he’s contractually free. He’s probably walking on eggshells because of the legalities. Contracts like these aren’t just for fun; there’s serious money, reputation, and even penalties tied up in them. Ending things too soon? That could come with a major financial hit or even worse—scandal that he just doesn’t want to deal with. 2. Real Relationship: If this is legit, it’s toxic as hell. I mean, AW constantly tries to make herself part of his public narrative, even when he’s saying he's private. From the DeuxMoi debacle (the whole liking posts without being tagged) to the weird moments like sharing pics of his shoes during his big Sundance premiere… that’s not something a truly “private” person would do. It’s almost like she’s trying to tether herself to him, no matter how much distance he tries to put between them in public. And then there’s his hypocrisy. Let’s not pretend he’s an innocent angel here. He shades people who are obsessed with social media, fillers, botox, Ozempic, and the external validation they seek—but AW is literally the poster child for that lifestyle. He’s walking contradictions at this point. If they’re genuinely in love, why does he seem to be throwing so much passive-aggressive shade? No loving relationship looks like this. Real couples don’t pull this kind of weird public bait-and-switch, especially when one partner claims to be so intensely private. The constant pap walks scream "staged." Real private celebs avoid this kind of attention like the plague, and the fact that he’s participating in these pap strolls makes his whole “I value my privacy” mantra feel hollow. And don’t even get me started on the family pap strolls—those just ooze with PR stench. We’ve seen legit private celebs, and trust me, you don’t see their every move in glossy magazines or gossip columns. In conclusion: whether it's PR or real, neither option paints them in a good light. Either it’s a strategic ploy for buzz, or it’s a genuine, messy, hypocritical relationship with no real respect on either side.

Reposted my ask from @notafunkiller so the person who asked me can read my take :)

[swallowtail-ageha]

Now Miquella for the character meme:)

Super late LOL but yesterday i was so exhausted that i had been forced to go to sleep at a normalish hour

Favorite thing about them his in game arc. I was always in the party of "he was a well intentioned person who is gonna go thru a damnation arc" in the dlc and did it deliciously deliver. I am absolutely obsessed with how his crosses imply what he was feeling like during his whole journey in the lands of shadow (ex the i throw away my fears bit)

Least favorite thing about them the promised consort radahn stuff it just makes him BORING i get yadda yadda parallels w marika n godfrey but also. Sometimes parallels arent enough especially when you're retconning established lore

Favorite line "here i abandon my love" its just so aaaagh. Thats the moment where he became doomed! Like. Aaagh. That's his Despair Event Horizon. He threw away what he never should have thrown because he thought it was the only way to make things work

brOTP if seen in a non-incestuous way, with malenia. Otherwise as i've already said wasnt a father figure but he did Care. And miquella cared back with the whole eclypse plan. Recently i really also like the idea of possible messmer and miquella interactions. He'd 100% be disgusted at him as a person but also i feel like he'd leverage his little brother status against him. Fun dynamic heh. Maybe also miquella and leda i dont think he was particularly close to her but also he did take pity on her and tried to Help in his way

OTP malmiq obv for the same reasons listed in the malenia answer i am soo normal about them (lying). Partial to mohgmiq

nOTP i.. surprisingly enough? Don't have them with him? Like yeah promised consort radahn pisses me off fundamentally on a narrative level but the dynamic in a vacuum is interesting and i actually like fanarts of it lol. I think in general he's a character who can bounce off really well with several different dynamics so i am not against any type of ship involving him

Random headcanon he's actually a really skilled gardener! It's a hobby he had since he was a really small child. His favourite plant is foxglove

Unpopular opinion i really really dislike the idea that he charmed mohg before getting coccooned. It just. Really doesnt make sense to me? Timeline and character wise? I also hate when people say that he was evil all along and call him a griffith refefence no. Learn to read something outside of berserk which btw you're also grossly misinterpreting

Song i associate with them Notos by the oh hellos! Something something abandoning all of your important things in order to become Something Greater and then feeling desolated in the aftermath

Favorite picture of them uuuh the statue with him and malenia getting hugged by godwyn. The fact that there are so many of them up in the haligtree is. Sobs

[memorydragon]

Po Yun characters rated by swag

Yan Xie: 0/10 He thinks he's a natural 20, but actually has none. As one of the characters said, "Don't listen to him. He's a dumbass." This is magnified after cohabitation with Jiang Ting, because he becomes a domesticated dumbass who is completely whipped. The narrative goes on about how he's a stereotypical alpha male, but this man can't survive a blind date to save his life. The author very correctly decided criminal investigators have no swag at all and wrote a novel about it. He grows on you like a fungus, but still has zero swag. That said, do not get in a fight with him. He will win.

Jiang Ting: Could have swag. He's intelligent, able to analyze details in moments, and elegant. Then he starts to eat and any swag he might have had evaporates. He was married to his work and highly stressed and traumatized from being a triple agent and it shows. 3/10, though I'm tempted to bump it to four for the way he straight up murders both Yan Xie and Bu Chonghua via text message. Professor Jiang is growing into swag by virtue of finally having free time and accepting his moronsexuality in the second book. That might be generous though considering he's still terrorized by his mother-in-law. I adore him, but his swag will always be low.

Jin Jie: He's a professional assassin and it shows. That said, he's also a professional lackey. 6/10, defeated by the protag plot halo, and it was honestly hilarious how Jiang Ting was constantly throwing him under the bus.

Qin Chuan: *extremely grudgingly* He has swag. That said, I'm 100% with Jiang Ting on this. Do not listen to Yan Xie. He has swag, but he's also a little bitch (no sexual connotation on this phrase btw, that's entirely directed at his personality). 7/10, someone please punch him in the face.

Wen Shao: Now here we have a man with swag. He oozes swag that Yan Xie wishes he had. He has opinions on ballet, plays Lana Del Ray songs on the violin like an emo child, and murders teenagers to recreate an important childhood memory with Jiang Ting. He grew up a drug lord with money and poker card code names, and kisses the bloody knuckles of his Red Queen reverently. 12/10, probably would be 14 if the manhua had been able to continue and we got more of him with long hair.

Han Xiaomei: Our favorite baby intern has absolutely no swag. She's an intern at the criminal investigation unit. She's the lowest on the totem pole, barely showers and sleeps when there's a case just like the rest of the team, and cowers when superiors yell at her. I watched her grow up to a young police woman who could sass back at Yan Xie in the final arc with tears in my eyes. The character growth was incredibly moving. 1/10, because she still has no swag.

Yang Mei: In front of Jiang Ting, she is a meek and breedable. When Jiang Ting isn't looking at her, she's a police informant who runs her own ktv, is perfectly put together and her wardrobe costs more than a cop could make in their career. She has swag. She can and will bitch Yan Xie out, fight like a hell cat, save her love rival's life (only because it was Jiang Ting asking though, otherwise she'd still probably save Yan Xie, but she'd never let him forget it), and turn the love rival into the greatest brotp of the novel. 9/10, because Jiang Ting canonly swears to never take both her and Yan Xie on errands together again. Unfortunately for her, no amount of swag will make the man she's in love with less gay or moronosexual.

Ma Xiang: Good at his job, comfortable in his masculinity. Is willing to be gay for 10 minutes if Yan Xie shares his dinner. No real swag on his own, but he's a fun comedic aside most times. 1/10, because he throws up at gruesome murder scenes and thought a curling iron was a sex toy.

Bu Chonghua: Now here we finally have a main protagonist with swag. Someone had to have swag in the novel, and he pulls it off. As Yan Xie's straight-laced little cousin, he's got a temper and authority to match. He may be a trauma kitten, but he is very good at his job and earned his position. He will literally walk through fire and water to show his devotion to Wu Yu. 6/10, because he's also a menace (absolutely related to Yan Xie, no doubt) and a bit bitchy at times. I love him, your honor.

Wu Yu: here's where the swag gets complicated. As Wu Yu, he is meek and mild mannered, no ambition, and very little confidence. This trauma kitten has no swag. He throws up at the mere taste of meat. He just wants to earn enough money to run away from life and never be bothered again. He loves reading and just wants books. People want to feed him, he looks that pathetic. 0/10 but he gets a point or two when he enters the illegal boxing ring for extra money.

As Painter, his swag jumps to 7/10. He's in prison, he's inflitrating various drug rings, he's the pretty boy, and if you try to take advantage he will cut your arm off with a machete. He has no nickname, just a number. Do not cross him. Jin Jie even calls him ge.

As REDACTED, this trauma kitten will end you. He will fight you with his bare hands and tear you apart. He can only be calmed and turned back into Wu Yu by a person he has marked as 'safe'. If you see him jump from any story higher than one, you're not the one who will survive the encounter. When not in murder form, he pretends to be slow and meek. He's a lackey, and he just wants to live someplace poppies don't grow. Yes, I'm Normal about that. 4/10, please just wrap this trauma kitten up in a blanket and feed him fish and chocolates.

Shark: After my glowing review of the first book's main villain, you would think Shark has swag. He has negative swag, however. He's a crypto bro who wants to drag Painter into life and death situations but won't commit to the homoerotism of it. The fact his web handle is shark and his dark web site is the Mariana trench is an insult to both. He acts cool and edgy but nothing can change the fact he'd be all over nfts if the book was written today. -5/10, he's got absolutely nothing on the King of Spades.

Liao Gang: like, he tries. He's decent at his job, but he's not amazing. Will need Wu Yu to back him up to solve major cases, which stresses Wu Yu out because that means he has to speak up. 1/10

Meng Zheng: This is a woman with brass balls. She's the only female police officer in the unit, is late 30s, early 40s, and is called their police beauty because she's the only one. Also, because she would totally win if you say she looks over thirty and she decides to take you out. 7/10, very valid for wanting to be a honey pot because the police would fund her looking sexy, even if she twists her ankle because she hasn't worn heels since before she was pregnant. She's a milf and will forcibly drag poor interns to her level.

Song Hui: No swag. She's interning because of her crush and is a terrified kitten. She just wants to marry rich and be cute. Meng-jie forces feminism on her. After REDACTED, she grows to 1/10 because she doesn't want to let Meng-jie down. Saves the protags, the entire operation, and sees at the blood on her hands that has already been washed away. Great character development, but currently still no swag. She might get some eventually, because she has potential, which, honestly, is more than Han Xiaomei can say.

Song Ping: He's the older gen cop who you still don't want to mess with. Not related to Bu Chonghua by blood, but you can tell exactly who raised the trauma kitten after his parents were killed. 8/10, though you won't know why until the very end.

Lin Zheng: So weirdly, he probably has swag in his usual work. Considering 90% of the time we see him is with Wu Yu, however, he has none. He thinks Painter killed his friend and all he did was complain to the higher ups about it. 2/10, if he'd been a bit more proactive half of his plot line could have been avoided. Also, Jiang Ting says he has Chuan vibes, which makes me want to punch him in the face on principle. I trust Jiang Ting's judgment.

Cai Lin: Fills the same comedic relief in Tun Hai as Ma Xiang did in Po Yun. We love him, but 1/10, he's terrified of maggots and eats ice cream that's from the forensic department freezer.

And finally, the old and beautiful Zeng Cui Cui: If you couldn't tell by her title, Mother Yan has swag. When she feels threatened by Wu Yu's swag, her response is to bling like no one has blinged before and terrifies him with how much money she spent. Jiang Ting knows better than to argue with her. She bought "A Study of the Legal Aspects of Gay Marriage" after her son turned 30 and still couldn't find a girl willing to marry him. She also locked Bu Chonghua out and essentially kidnapped Wu Yu in the back of her trunk when she thought Wu Yu was being forced into the relationship. 10/10, because she sends her sons-in-laws long underwear and they better wear it in the winter or they will regret it.

[ezrabridgerwrites]

[charlie/ripley] “you’ll always regret it if you don’t.”

“That’s so much pressure!” Ripley whined, as if she hadn’t dragged Charlie into her apartment as soon as she heard the buzzer with the sole demand that he help her come to a decision. Fortunately for Ripley, Charlie was patient with her. While he might have thought that their night would end up with her sweat-slick and writhing against him, he’d instead been condemned to an evening of Ripley pacing back and forth across her apartment and occasionally propping her chin on her arms to stare at Jonesy through his tank as if her axolotl held all the answers she needed.

The invitation had come yesterday morning, throwing Ripley into nearly forty-eight hours of turmoil. As a child, horror conventions had been fun and exciting and another excuse for her to ransack the kitchen for all the corn syrup she needed to perfect her Carrie White cosplay. She’d wander around the booths, hand enveloped by her father’s much larger one as he was stopped time and time again by yet another fan who wanted to take a photograph with him. It would give Ripley time to look at all the vintage and hand-made memorabilia on display, although sometimes a fan would recognise her and request her to be in the picture as well.

She hadn’t been to a convention in years though, and certainly not as a speaker. But Daniel Mendoza had a legacy that she was supposed to inherit and yet she couldn’t bring herself to accept that she was the right person to carry it on.

“It sounds so stupid but…” she trailed off, suddenly feeling self-conscious as she eventually sat down opposite Charlie, perching on the edge of the coffee table while he lazed on the sofa and polished off the remaining pizza she hadn’t been able to touch.

The man in front of her had stripped her bare more times than she could count by now. He’d made her feel things no other man had ever been able to and there were little boundaries that she had with him now, but this was the most naked she’d ever felt in front of him, and the closest she thought she’d ever been to presenting an uglier side of herself.

“Is it bad that I don’t want to share my dad with them?” she said eventually.

The cult of Daniel Mendoza, as that was what the internet and various Reddit rabbit holes she’d fallen down had called it, had loved her father with a ferocity that Ripley had been able to pick up on from the get-go. But sometimes she had to wonder if they loved him the way consumers loved a product. She’d seen the forum threads, knew that when the mourning period had passed, fans had swooped in and began theorising on his unfinished movie and how they could find the answers. And that’s when her name had started cropping up. Perhaps Daniel Mendoza’s daughter held the key to all their unanswered questions.

Ripley had slowly been piecing the movie together, decoding her father’s manic scribblings and letting the narrative unfold before her, but why did everyone else think that they were entitled to it as well?

But her father had wanted to share that story with the world, he’d just never had the chance to. Ripley would be selfish if she kept it to herself, all because she felt it was the only part of her dad she still got to keep.

Sighing to herself, she leaned forward and unthinkingly swiped her thumb against the corner of Charlie’s mouth, cleaning off the smudge of tomato sauce that had been left there. Slowly dropping her hand, she felt herself reach a new level of nervous that she had never felt with Charlie before. Charlie, who grinned like he knew the world had to see it to feel better. Charlie, who had sat with the cap of a highlighter clenched between his teeth as he read over her college applications. Charlie, who’d allowed her to take from him way more than she could give and still stuck around anyway. It would be miserable of her to ask for another thing from him, but she couldn’t think of anyone else she’d feel more comfortable with.

“Would you come with me? Maybe?” she asked, timidness taking over as she displayed that first-day shyness Charlie had probably assumed would be long gone by now. Pressing her palms together and sandwiching them between her knees, she blushed as she admitted, “It’d make me feel calmer if you were there.”

After all, her father was never going to get the chance to meet Charlie and acknowledging why that devastated her so much would prompt a conversation she wasn’t ready to have with herself just yet. But this? Asking Charlie to step into her dad’s world for a bit? It felt close enough.

[azuresins]

I found your blog by the ppl answering to the poison theory, and I gotta say I actually like it a lot.

I admit the moment we saw R!Ciel I immediately didn't trust him, so I appreciate I wasn't the only one to narrow his eyes at him lmfao.

On the other side, I do find ridiculous that ppl get so upset about a theory, like is not canon and we all just having fun, why are ppl so upset? It's just a drawing, calm down

Thank you so much, for saying this. 💙 Forgive this ramble, I think some people just...got really emotional about this, and I do understand. I do. I was prepared for the possibility, but some people also reacted very... very strange, and said things that they thought would be some big 'own' or 'slam dunk' kind of 'gotcha!!' and I was just. .... Okay???? And some of the things that were brought up only convinced me further and did the opposite for me, like... One of them being that "young children would never ever do that, period!" And I'm like... yes... yes the fuck, they would, they have, and they do! Weren't children eating tidepods for fun, five years ago? They do it on purpose and on accident all the time for a variety of reasons. They disobey and ignore warnings, all the time. There's 'choking hazards' and 'poison warning' and 'toxic hazard! keep out of reach of children!' labels absolutely... Everywhere?... For a reason. Now throw in the fact he's an extremely intelligent child with mysterious (possibly non-human) lineage and has been taught how to cook and measure, and has been known to sneak cough-drops and food in the middle of the night completely undetected, and can operate a victorian stove. Nothing definitive, has been confirmed in canon but to me, that is behavior that is worth paying attention to, narratively??? I think some people are going to naturally feel very emotional about the subject matters, but I have to say it's very, very weird... How quick people immediately assumed the worst possible things about me, why should I have to disclose any experiences I may-or-may-not have, mental illnesses I myself may or may not have.... Why should I have to disclose personal information in order to justify a theory I wrote (I don't, the answer is I don't. No one does! It's a very weird 😵‍💫 thing to assume and ask of a stranger). Ah thank you again! 💙