#I AM CLEARLY INSANE

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

Day 2: Fire/Ice

Prompt list

 Pt. 2 of The Empire of Samadhi AU

Pt. 1 | Pt.2 (you are here) | Pt. 3

(This is day 2 of the Monkie Destiny Challenge Prompt Month October 2023)

Wordcount: 4k (this one got away from me a little)

Summary: Red Son is the son of an old empire, Mei is the daughter of a new one. Red Son, consumed by fire, was put into an induced stasis sleep to stop the world from burning until his family can find a way to safely remove the fire. They find a way but he never wakes up. Hundreds of years later he awakes to discover his power resides within another as she stares at him with wide eyes on fire. 

Red Son and Mei set off on a journey to separate the Fire from its current vessel. They travel through the desolate wasteland that was once both their homes. In the ashes, Fire meets Ice once again.

They started towards the fire at dawn. 

Red Son attempted to think his own thoughts, but it was difficult to do with The Dragon King of the West’s descendant’s incessant chattering in his ear. 

300 years. 

He had been trapped, slumbering without end for 300 years. He was in turmoil. Of course he was in turmoil, why wouldn’t he be? He had been trapped, his Father’s Empire was gone, replaced by the Empire of the West Sea, a part of which had been practically vaporized by fire--his fire that someone else was wielding as their own. 

I will return for you, his father had said. 

Liar, Red Son wanted to snarl. 

They took his fire and they left him buried underground in a tomb of their making. They were likely dead. 

And this descendant of the Dragon of the West.. Wouldn’t. Stop. Talking. 

“Would you shut up for five minutes,” he finally snapped at her.

She beamed at him. “Nope!�� Then off she went, chattering again like she was determined to talk him into insanity. 

“I can’t wait to melt the flesh from your bones,” he snarled. 

“Sure, sure,” said Mei lightly. “When do you think we’ll get to your fancy temple?” 

“If you’ve given me the right information, we should be there within a week,” Red Son told her. If he had his fire he could be there in no less than two days, but this idiot had no idea how to wield it and he wasn’t about to give her an idea on how lest she get attached. 

“Sounds good, Mr. The Demon.” 

“Your highness would suit me just fine.” 

“HA!” said Mei. “No.” She then changed the subject back to some nonsense Red Son wouldn’t admit to not understanding. 

If Red Son could, he would have burned her hair off. 

He dragged his hand down his face with a long sound, something between a groan and a sigh. Maybe both at once. He watched her as she walked, then glanced at the fire in the distance. 

The Demon of Samadhi…

He wouldn’t deny it had a certain ring to it. A title accurate to his greatness and power. He supposed the Emperor of Samdhi would have suited him better, but he could adjust that later. Later, when he dominated the current empire. It was in shambles due to the fires anyway, it wouldn’t be too difficult to take over once he retrieved his fire from its current vessel. And he would create an Empire far greater than Father and Mother ever managed. 

“Hey, Mr. Grumpy Face,” Mei said, tearing him out of his thoughts abruptly. 

“What?” he snapped. 

“Fire can be blue right?” 

“Of course it can,” he snorted. “My fire is blue when its at its hottest-” 

“Ohhh okay cool,” Mei said, interrupting him and ignoring his explanation completely to his annoyance. She was staring at something. “Good to know then.” 

“What are you looking at?” he seethed, coming up beside her, following her gaze until his eyes fell on what had caught her attention. 

There was a line of blue in the distance. It… seemed to be moving, but not as was common with a forest fire. Red Son may have been thrust into a new world, but it was not so new that he could not recognize fire when he saw it. And this was not fire. 

And it was getting bigger. 

“Dragon girl,” he said. “That is not fire.” 

“Oh,” said Mei. “I didn’t think it was.” Her voice was more tense than before. 

Red Son turned his head to her. The rings hovering above her head had lit up, deep red flames flickering dangerously with each breath she took. He glanced down to see her hands clenched at her sides. 

“A friend of yours?” Red Son asked, dryly. 

Steam came from her eyes, startling him a bit. 

“I don’t know,” she whispered. 

He blinked. Then scoffed. “Pull yourself together then. If we’re to battle whatever that thing is, you will have to handle it until I’m able to retrieve my fire.” 

“But-” Mei started. 

“But nothing,” Red Son snapped, folding his arms. “You have my fire. You will fight.” 

“I-I can’t,” Mei said, looking down at her hands, her voice small. “I don’t… I can’t.” 

“Of course you can’t,” Red Son scoffed. “Did you think it would be easy to control my fire, that I spent nearly twenty years of my life creating? You don’t need to control it. Just aim it in the direction of your opponent and my fire will do the rest.” 

“N-no,” Mei choked out. “You don’t understand, I can't.” 

Red Son rolled his eyes. “And why is that, peasant?” 

“It’s Mk.” 

“Who in this blasted world is Mk-?” 

Ice exploded in front of them.

The sheer force of impact from it blasted them backwards a good twenty feet. The second impact that came from Red Son’s landing on his back knocked the breath out of him and left him with the taste of ash in his mouth when it kicked up a large amount of it. He coughed and pushed himself to sit up, glancing back at what had hit them. 

Mei sat just a few feet ahead looking up at someone. 

“You idiot!” Red Son coughed. “Destroy them already!” 

“Oh my, Xiǎojiāo,” came a sickly sweet voice that sent chills down Red Son’s spine. “You seem to have made another friend.” 

It took him a moment to see where the voice was coming from. An older woman. Not old but not exactly young either. She was ghostly pale with white hair. She had an ageless sort of appearance and her eyes were what had him on edge. They were empty pools of cold black. 

“Dragon girl, just kill these fools already,” he spat, brushing himself off as he stood up. “We have places to be.” 

Mei didn’t respond so he glanced her way and found she had not moved from her seat amongst the ash and dirt and was still staring up at the person looming over her. The fire on the rings grew larger, reflecting the anguish of their current vessel, but they did not touch the figure. 

“What is wrong with you?” Red Son snapped. 

“Oh, what a funny one you are,” the white lady giggled. It was annoying. “You must be new. I do wonder how you managed to survive so close to the fire.” 

Red Son scoffed. “Fire does not scare me, Witch.” 

Her smile sharpened. “My words… always wasted on you mere mortals. Is that any way to address the savior of this new land?” 

Red Son threw back his head and laughed. It was a shrieking cackle he’d practiced in front of the mirror when he was young and in front of his enemies when he was older. It was carefully crafted until it grated on their spines and sent hot and cold flashes through them until they sweat.  

“You?” he snorted. “New? Witch, this land is old. Older than her and older than you. You are no savior. You are no ruler. I will be the ruler of this pathetic world, and you are nothing but ashes under my feet.” 

“Such arrogance… How unfortunate you did not die with the rest of them.” 

“Dragon girl, if you could please incinerate this witch-” 

He realized Mei still wasn’t paying him any attention. For the first time he bothered to get a good look at what had her on her knees. 

Blue eyes were the first thing he noticed. Fully blue. From the whites of this young man's eyes to his pupils they were engulfed in a glowing, empty blue. His head was tilted down at Mei, but it was clear he was seeing nothing. His clothes were in dull blues and whites, perfectly pressed, a mix between what looked like the armor of a warrior and the clothes of a servant. He looked startlingly pristine, like a life-sized doll, he would have looked nearly perfect were it not for the burns stretching across his skin. 

Steam rose from Mei’s eyes as she kneeled at his feet. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. 

Red Son pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course he was stuck with someone who felt bad for burning people. Of course his fire’s vessel was going to be absolutely useless. 

“Dragon Girl!” he snapped loudly. 

She jolted and glanced at him. Her expression as anguished as the fire above her had warned him of.  

“Pull yourself together,” he hissed. “If you want to stop this fire you’ve created you'll burn this woman to ashes so we can move on before the rest of your precious empire is burned to the ground.” 

“I can’t,” she said again, brokenly repeating herself. “He’s my friend.” 

Red Son scoffed. “Not anymore it seems.” 

“Oh you foolish boy,” the white lady said. “You do not know these children at all.” 

“Call me boy again and I will kill you myself.” 

“I can’t,” Mei choked again. “He’s my best friend-” 

Red Son groaned. “You and your sentimentality.” He stormed over to her. Mei did nothing to resist as he grabbed her arm and dragged her to her feet, his fire licking across his arm harmlessly. “If you’re going to be this useless in fighting, how do you expect to win?” 

Mei shook her head. She wouldn’t look at him so he grabbed her face and forcefully turned it to him. 

“Hey-” she choked and he ignored her. 

Quiet and hushed so the woman wouldn’t hear him, he spoke. “If you want to free your friend you will burn him.” 

Mei gaped at him. “Killing him is not freeing-!” 

“You’re not listening,” Red Son hissed, tightening his grip. “Mine is the fire of Samadhi. It requires focus and calm to wield, it is cleansing. If you control it properly you can burn her out of him. Do you understand?” 

Mei’s eyes were wide. “You mean…I can save him?” 

Red Son released her face with a scoff. He folded his arms across his chest. “If you want to call it that.” 

Mei didn’t seem to hear him at all, talking to herself more than him now. “I can save him.” 

“Yes, yes-” 

She grabbed his face with both her hands, cutting him off and startling him. His cheeks were squished and he flailed, unable to escape her crushing grip. 

“How do I do it?” 

Red Son choked. “Let go of me you peasant-” 

“How do I do it?” she said again, fire flickering in her eyes, something dangerous and almost rageful, an insanity he recognized all too well seeing in reflections before mirrors melted before him. 

“That’s enough of that,” the white lady said, sounding bored. 

The young man lunged. 

Red Son had only had a moment to choke out a warning. 

Mei, with reflexes that rivaled his own, shoved him by his face into the ground and threw herself out of the way. 

Once again, he was greeted with the taste of ash and dust on his tongue. 

“Kill him,” Red Son heard the white lady say as he coughed. His head shot up in time to see empty blue eyes and a fist headed straight for him. 

Red Son sunk his hand into the dusty ashy ground, gripping any non-melted pebbles and dirt and ash he could and threw it with all his might into the young man's eyes and rolled out of the way. 

The young man landed where Red Son had been a moment before, with his arm over his eyes. No pained sound escaped him, but it was clear the sensation of ash and dirt in his eyes was unpleasant. 

“Careful!” Mei cried out at him, a flicker of fury in her voice. “You’ll hurt him!” 

Red Son spluttered. “He’s the one trying to kill me-” 

“Just tell me how to save him!” Mei yelled at him, flames covering her until she was completely engulfed. 

“Just grab him!” Red Son yelled back. 

“I’ll burn him!” 

“That’s the point!” 

He sidestepped a punch that the young man blindly threw at him. He wasn’t exactly slow, and Red Son was no longer exactly fast, but he at least had the upper hand due to temporarily blinding his opponent. He grabbed his wrist tightly before throwing him at the white lady who was standing just above them upon her throne of ice. Her eyes widened in alarm and she moved out of the way, so fast Red Son nearly didn’t see it. 

Mei’s friend crashed into the ice. 

“CAREFUL,” Mei roared. 

“SHUT UP,” Red Son roared back. 

It was clear the white lady didn’t want Red Son to tell Mei how to free her friend from her grasp. If Mei wasn’t holding back like a fool for her friend, the witch would have been incinerated by now and she knew it. The lady wasn’t giving Red Son any openings to explain the effort and focus required for such a task of burning away possession. 

He growled in annoyance. There was one thing she couldn’t stop. But he wasn't sure it would work. Still, he lunged to grab Mei’s wrist. 

The moment their skin made contact the ice and ashes around them vanished.

Red Son sat on the floor, his legs crossed and his fingers intertwined, shoulders relaxed and posture straight. His breathing was steady and he could feel his fire rising and falling with it. It burned through every part of his flames flickering across his skin. 

It found the curses left on him by those he had destroyed, whispered in their last breaths of life, promises of hauntings and revenge, and wishes of a restless existence pushed upon him before he’d silenced them for good.  

His fire burned away influences from the last few weeks, the souls of those that he destroyed that were still clinging to him were wiped from his skin and banished from their haunting into the underworld. 

The curses floated away like embers and ashes. 

A little bit of himself burned away with them. 

He opened his eyes. 

Mei gasped, tearing her arm away from him again. 

“What was that?” She demanded.  

“Don’t ask stupid questions,” Red Son snapped. “You should know what to do now, so burn them.”

Mei glanced down at her hands. 

Red Son glanced at where her friend was pulling himself up from the ice. 

“What have you done?” the white lady demanded. 

“Nothing,” Red Son grinned, baring his teeth at her. “I simply gave a quick lesson.” 

He could feel when Mei inhaled next to him. His fire reacting and growing brighter. Red Son could feel it steady. 

“Kill him,” the white lady ordered Mei’s friend, her voice tinged with more urgency than before. 

Red Son simply stood, arms folded smugly, watching Mei’s friend grow closer in his charge. 

Mei moved in front of him just before he reached him, intercepting her friend and wrapping her arms and her flames around him. 

The screaming started. 

It was a familiar sound to Red Son, but likely not to the current vessel of his fire. 

“Keep it together, Dragon Girl!” Red Son shouted at her through the noise of the crackling flames that engulfed the entire area. 

The white lady and the young man screamed in a chorus of agony.  

Red Son could feel Mei’s determination faltering, the flames flickering and threatening to dig into her friend's flesh on their own.

“I am not your coach, Dragon Girl,” Red Son yelled. “Either do it or don’t, you fool! Pick one!” 

“Shut up!” Mei shouted back. 

“Don’t speak to me like that-” 

He felt when something clicked into place. It was enough to startle him into silence. 

Mei exhaled. 

The fire around her flickered. Her eyes were squeezed shut with concentration. The fire was loud and roaring. 

Red Son watched in surprise as it flickered from red to green. 

“How-” 

There was an explosion of light and flame. The white lady was blasted backwards. Red Son shielded his eyes, the green flame feeling different than the red, unfamiliar. Not his. 

What was she doing to his fire? 

The flames died down. Slowly they lashed and fluttered until they faded and the only fire left was over Mei’s head on the rings. His fire’s prison. 

Mei held her now limp friend in her arms. She slowly sunk to her knees and hugged him to her chest, hunched over him and gripping tightly. 

“Did-did it work?” she choked out. 

Red Son approached with a scoff. “Of course it did. It's my fire.” He grit his teeth a bit for a moment. Then he glanced up to see that the white woman and the ice that had once surrounded them was nowhere to be found. Evaporated by the fire likely. He didn't bother wondering who she was or how she was associated with his fire's vessel. It was none of his concern. Satisfied they wouldn’t be seeing her again, he turned back to Mei who remained hunched over her friend. 

“Dramatic,” he sneered. “Embracing him wasn’t necessary, you know. It would have worked just as well if you’d just stepped on his head.” 

Mei gave him an annoyed, almost threatening look, hugging her friend's head to her chest. “If you touch him I’ll-” 

“Why would I want to touch that,” Red Son snorted. “Your little friend is nothing to me. I only care about retrieving my fire.” 

“Right,” Mei said. She glanced down at her friend. Her face softened. Red Son hadn’t realized it could do that. “I’ve got you, Mk. You’re okay.” 

Red Son rolled his eyes. “Let’s get moving. We don’t have time to stand around.” 

‘But Mk-” 

“What are you too weak to carry him? He looks like he weighs less than a child.” 

“If he’s hurt I don’t want to move him,” Mei snapped at him. 

“The only thing that’s likely hurting him is how tightly you’re holding him right now. You’re practically crushing the insect.” 

That at least made her lighten her grip on the poor unconscious fool. 

“He’s not an insect,” Mei scowled. “He’s my friend.” 

“Right, sure,” Red Son snorted. “Whatever you say. Why don’t you pick up your friend so we can get a move on?” 

Mei glanced down at Mk. She was quiet for a moment. 

Red Son tapped his foot impatiently. 

“I don’t want to hurt him,” she finally said, her voice quiet. 

Red Son growled. He didn’t have time for this. “Fine then,” he said. “I’ll meet you at the temple. You can stay here and mope and cry and embrace your pathetic friend. I am not carrying him just because you’re too weak to control my fire.” 

Mei looked at him. 

Red Son folded his arms across his chest. “No.” 

A slow, almost frightening smile spread across her face. 

Red Son would sooner cut off his own hand than let anyone find out about this. 

Mei’s friend was drooling on his shoulder. His face was partially squished against Red Son’s and his arms were limp over his shoulders. Red Son’s arms were under his thighs to keep him from slipping off his back, and Mei was prancing ahead happily, weightless and without a freezing human backpack snoring in her ear. 

“I hate you,” said Red Son. “I hate you so much. I’m going to burn you both until not even your ashes exist in this world.” 

Mei completely ignored him, humming to herself as she skipped forward, swinging her arms. The rings hovered above her, a dangerous heavy air around them in contrast to her light playful gait. 

“I could drop him,” Red Son threatened. “I could throw him into a ditch.” 

“You won’t,” Mei said lightly, not even bothering to look back at him.

Red Son seethed for the rest of the walk. 

He did drop Mk when the sun started to set and his legs were strained and shaking. He released him and let him crumple to the ground unceremoniously before announcing they would stop there for the night. As it turned out, 300 years of inactivity had done a number on his physique, even with the spells freezing him in time. Something that likely would not have been a problem if he still had his fire. 

Mei bounded back to them, far too chipper for someone who’d had a heavy depressed air only a few hours prior. 

There wasn’t much to set up for a camp. There was nothing to burn, nothing to put up, only ash and dirt to lay in for softness and heavy smoke above them as a cover. 

“He’s cold,” Mei said, after Red Son had sat down with a long groan. 

“Of course he’s cold,” Red Son scoffed. “He was surrounded by ice. Not to mention being possessed. Don’t you know how anything works?”

Mei ignored him in favor of pulling her friend close and wrapping her arms around him so he was half sitting on her lap, apparently assigning herself a designated blanket.

“Can you hold him tonight?” Mei asked. 

Red Son choked. If he still had his fire his hair would have been alight instantly. “No! Why on earth would I-?” 

“I want to make sure he stays warm.” 

“So you hold him,” Red Son snapped. Outrage made him seeth. The very idea--

“I don’t want to accidentally burn him while I’m asleep,” Mei confessed quietly. She brushed some tangled hair out of her friends’ face in what Red Son could only think to describe as a tender manner. “Nightmares ‘n stuff.” 

Her actions were soft and gentle and it felt like something that should have been happening in private rather than in front of someone else. 

Red Son turned his head away with a disgusted sound. “Why don’t you keep your affection private. I didn’t know he was your betrothed.” 

Mei was startled. “What?” She shook her head furiously, as though shaking something out of her ears. “What? Gross? No? We’re not- Mk’s my best friend, we’re not courting.” 

Red Son glanced back at her, skeptically. 

“We’re not,” she said firmly, almost aggressively, hugging Mk close as if to protect him from Red Son’s observation. 

“Right,” Red Son said, sarcastically. “Silly me. Of course you’re not. That’s why you’re practically kissing him.” 

“Dude,” Mei said. “Stop. You’re being gross.” 

“You’re being gross. Save your embracing and touching for when you’re in private, or better yet for when you’re in the afterlife where I can’t see it after I incinerate you both.” 

“I’m just holding him, dude,” Mei scowled. “There’s nothing wrong with holding your friends.” 

“Is this etiquette now?” Red Son scoffed. “You are all disgusting.” 

Mei blinked. Then she laughed. “Ohhh, got it. You’re a grandpa.” 

Red Son bristled. “What?” 

“You’re a grandpa,” Mei repeated. “Old school, back-in-my-day, public displays of affection aren’t proper, neither are displays of affection between close friends, family or anyone at all in general.” 

Red Son, for some reason, felt his face heat up. “You,” Red Son said, “don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Sure, old man,” Mei snickered. She snuggled, pulling Mk even closer and resting her chin on top of his head. Making eye contact with him, she pressed her nose into her friend's hair. 

It was an intimate action, it was inappropriate. 

Red Son’s face exploded with heat and he stood up. “What is wrong with you-” 

“Relax,” Mei laughed. She hugged Mk, shaking with laughter hard enough that tears started to creep from her eyes. “Please, I’m just messing with you. Man. You’re funny aren’t you? Big ol’ scary Demon of Samadhi, afraid of a little affection.” 

“I am not afraid,” Red Son hissed. “You- you--ugh! Whatever.” He stormed off a good distance away before sitting down with his back turned to the lunatic he was stuck with until he could get his fire back. 

Mei giggled on and off for a while. He could hear her shift now and again, making his ears burn for some reason when he was provided with the visual of her adjusting Mk, making sure he was comfortable and warm in her arms. 

It was disgusting. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to hold him-” 

“SHUT UP!” 

Mei laughed.

| beginning | next |

[yoshiintheweb]

I surrended my life to the sims 4 werewolves. I've been playing my little silly family of woof woofs for a solid week without a day lost. I created this save a way back when the pack lunched, bc I am nothing if not a werewolf fan. And now my first sim is the leader of the werewolf hippie pack. His wife is a cool explorer from the punk rebels pack. They are not soulmates and they do not care at this point (they used to be stressed that they fight fate or some bullshit). The two Townie from the punk pack are married and soulmates. I don't know when it happened. Also hey guy is hella buff and he got that buff that quickly that i didn't realized that he didn't started builded like a bread of a man like a three days ago i think. The main vampire from the vampire pack is a friend of werewolves the same goes for the NB wizard, the Bi vampire and some meremaids. They all meet my sims in the bar in the werewolf town. My main sim and his hot wife have 4 children together at this point, bc they just want them and who am I to say no to more woof woofs to play with. Thier first born is actually a human, and his fighting for his life. I have great plan for him involving being stupid as heck. His also a theater kid. Then they had twins, both werewolves. The older twin got the trait of being better at werewolf stuff, her twin brother did not so now, she is the chosen one and he gets bullied (canonically the game said so). The youngest is a very calm toddler that i have no plans for her just yet. Way back when my first sim was still alone, he took in a runaway teenager and she is still living with them. Now she's a young adult with a job as an independent book writer and she recently won the lottery so now they are fucking rich. That's important bc i don't like rabbit hole jobs but i would go bonkers if they had non rabbit hole ones, so to this they they lives of thing they farm and find themselves and never got past 20 000 simoleons. And now suddenly they got one million more and I move them into bigger one (to this day they lives in this one 20x15 lot with little starter shack but i stacked a second floor on that then eventually changed the house entirely, and then changed that one too, cuz i run out of space bc they had twins 💀 it was stacked. For a bit i had 8 Sims loving in a house on a 20x15 lot do you know how TINY it is, but then the dog died and thing didn't get better she really didn't take that much space, miss her she was a good dog, my sims adopted her off thier backyard just bc her name was Luna and i though it would be funny if a bunch of werewolves had a dog named Luna). This gameplay made me realize that i miss the memory book from the sims 3 (my first sim had sucha a long journey and i would love to see it in the format of photo book). But at the same time i do not want to play sims 3 bc as much as i loved that gamed, the werewolves, my main occults right now, are so shitty there, straight from Teen Wolf. And i do not want to deal with teen wolf wannabees.

[sweetestofchaos]

As a writer, I hate how long it takes to jump back into a story that I haven't worked on in a while. Like when I'm there, I'm in the zone and writing for days. But the moment I take a break...it will take 2-3 business months for me to get back into the groove of writing that story.

Not to mention, I have notes all over the place. Some in my notes on my phone, others in a notebook hand written and a few in a doc...like come on. And the amount of times I have to reread a single chapter is insane. I know what I wrote, why am I rereading?! And then I reread the chapter and I'm like, 'huh? why don't i remember that?'

I hate it here. Someone come and finish all my fics for me!

[elbdot]

Previous | Next

WOW Gladion, very reliable, love that we finally got through to you, fwiends forever am I right 🫠

WE'RE BACK with a MEGA UPLOAD that was too big for one post so I had to part it in two, see you guys in a week with the second part (and the Webtoons update!) OR you can read the whole thing on my Patreon early! 👍

Patreon - And thank you guys so much for your patience for this update!! :D ☺️💖 It took AGES because of the backgrounds...

[bookinit02]

even if loki and mobius’s relationship isn’t, or never is romantic, i still love how important it is just for loki to have a friend. a real friend, someone who he feels comfortable casually touching and approaching when one or both of them is in a bad mood. someone who he can sit in comfortable silence with, someone who he knows how to read, someone who knows exactly how to read him in return. this is loki, who grew up alone and unwanted, who constantly competed with his brother because he never felt like he belonged, who learned how to close himself off from everyone else in the world. who learned how to be prickly, defensive, evil, because no one ever saw him as anything else. because he was told his birthright was to die as a child, and that he should be lucky he gets to beg for scraps at odin’s table.

this is loki, who’s never been friends with anyone who didn’t want something from him. who’s never been real friends with anyone at all. and for the first time, we get to see him just existing. comfortable with another person, laughing with another person, sharing his thoughts and feelings with another person like he hasn’t been alone for his entire life. and it’s really, really nice.

[shitpostingkats]

Alabasta Ace is so funny.

Like the strawhats keep commenting that Ace is so polite and restrained compared to Luffy but like. This dude drags himself out of the ocean just to thank them for looking after his brother and offer to help wash dishes. Mans asks "Are these guys bothering you?" and proceeds to blow up an entire fleet with his bare hands. He trips over himself to make sure all of Luffy's crew likes him and no, really, you don't mind that he's a weirdo???? That we, I mean he, are feral little insane guys who take up space and emotional labor and are kind hard to handle? Really???? Cool cool cool hey just a reminder I can help out with anything that needs doing. I got lost in the desert but donnut worry in the 0.6 seconds since you last saw me I have somehow acquired water and provisions for several weeks. Don't ask me how!

Peak oldest sibling behavior.

[greenconverses]

again i say to you

if this man would just let the percy series mature and dig deeper into the emotional arcs he presents in chalice and wrath instead of hopping from one kooky adventure to the next and undermining any story depth with fart and piss jokes and blatant flagging to the disney+ audience, we could have had a very good set of stories on our hands

but NO

percy's rage issues, grief, trauma, and just the general angst of being an older teenager on the cusp of a huge life change are all there and every time the story touches them, it's like RR gets electrocuted and told to get back to Conflict Free Therapy Speak zone before things get too messy

additionally, the third act upping the stakes to Oh Shit We're Gonna Die doesn't work if we already know 1) everyone lives and 2) PERCY GETS INTO COLLEGE at the end of this. the whole point of the series has already been decided!! there are no stakes with your main plot or any of the bullshit mini quests! the opportunity to go for a deep dive character book is there and waiting and ready

but NOOOOOOOOO

gotta make sure all of our main characters have been peed on instead, it's fine

[casualavocados]

You should stay away from me. I'm no longer with the gang. I didn't agree. Our boss already agreed four years ago. Pull over and let me out of the car. I'm your boss!

KISEKI: DEAR TO ME Ep. 01 / Ep. 09

[iamhereinthebg]

The clock keepers deserve to have the full shaded promo art for their volume 🙏🙏

Edit: I HAVE THEM ALL!!!

[amanitacurses]

Sparkler

[charmac]

I think getting railed by Mac would give Dennis a new perspective that doesn’t change who he is and is consistent with his characterisation... Just a thought tho.

[witherbythesword]

if the theory of sam reich being replaced by .. evil wizard dalton reich (and i cant believe i am partaking in this discurse) is true..

i've seen some people asking the question about what those childhood tapes mean. Well i am one of the ancient ones that owned vhs tapes and you know you could replace whats stored on those tapes with overwriting it with new material but it would slowly degrade the quality as the magnetic tape the information is stored on isn't necessarly made to be re-recorded on indefinetly which would also explain the degrading quality of the gamechanger episode.

So my theory is that dalton reich wants to erase sam from history and to do this he is slowly erasing any proof that could hint on sam and dalton being two different people. One thing he appearantly needed to do is overwrite these old vhs tapes of sams childhood.

[reinvent-and-believe]

[imperceiveable]

[skidcd-megamix]

Noisette and the noise (can you tell which one I’m a fan of????)

[doggogills-but-worse]

shout out to podcasts making me cry at work