#I also want to live in that parallel reality where I did not have to endure RBR's ugly colour combo on the podium almost every race weekend

[academyofbrokenhearts]

mv0's clowndom is really out there saying that the RB18 wasn't a dominating car when it won 17 out of 22 races and it was on the podium after every single race except Bahrain and Interlagos

[bbygirl-aemond]

I can't believe they had Alicent give Aegon up after everything she put him through. I hate it here

i know a lot of people are very angry about this and maybe it's just that i find anger to be an exhausting and unproductive emotion generally but i'm not really mad about it in the same way? i know rhaenyra says the "son for a son" line, which makes sense for how rhaenyra is viewing things, but i saw parallels with helaena's choice in how it wasn't really a choice. helaena and jaehaera are, at this point, the only ones alicent can save. and even then, accepting this is no easy task for alicent.

i'm not a huge fan of the "alicent only put aegon on the throne because viserys said so" thing, so let's set that aside and just focus on what has happened this season, since aegon's coronation, that could have brought alicent to this point.

first, aemond has gone off the rails and alicent strongly suspects that he is the one who burned aegon. this has majorly weakened the green's position; their most important player is not reliable and they've lost one of their four dragons. this has also created a sense of danger in the red keep, especially in light of aemond's burning of sharp point. aemond has demonstrated a pattern of hurting easy targets when he feels angry and alicent has reason to fear for aegon's life, but also for hers and helaena's and even jaehaera's.

second, remember that orwyle and larys are rehabilitating aegon in secret to avoid aemond coming after him to finish the job. we as the audience know that aegon has woken up, and is walking around again, and is making progress. alicent does not know this. for all she knows, he's barely woken up and will probably live but is not really making progress in his recovery. i'm not saying that alicent wants to mercy kill him, because she does first try to find a way to spare his life, but from her perspective aegon is still very much out of the picture when it comes to the war efforts.

lastly, rhaenyra has added three dragons to her cause. this is the most significant thing and is something i think most people who are upset aren't giving enough weight to. seasmoke and silverwing are both large adult dragons, and vermithor is a massive dragon who rivals vhagar. alicent is here to surrender to rhaenyra because at this point she very understandably does not see a possibility where she and her family win.

all of these things happened after alicent crowned aegon and are things she could not have anticipated. so alicent is looking ahead at two futures. both of them are futures in which her son does not sit the throne because rhaenyra has won. in the first future, the one that would come to pass if alicent does nothing, rhaenyra uses her dragon power to take the throne by force. thousands of soldiers and smallfolk die, and aemond probably kills aegon before rhaenyra can even get to him, and alicent's whole family dies, and rhaenyra gets her throne anyways. in the second future, the one alicent is trying to make a reality, rhaenyra is let into king's landing and assumes the throne. the soldiers and smallfolk are largely spared, and alicent is able to save the female members of her family.

alicent did not choose to throw aegon under the bus after years of forcing him to assume the throne. she put him on the throne, yes, but now she and her family are basically guaranteed to lose in her eyes after the events of this season, so she is trying to salvage what she can. and even still, even knowing that there is no true way to spare aegon, she wants to. the part where she tries to justify keeping aegon alive is the pure denial of a mother who does not want to accept that there is no way to get her son out of this alive. she is faced with the same false choice helaena was: save your daughter, or save no one. of course she makes the same choice. of course she saves the only one she can still save.

[zeravmeta]

don quixote fgo is just so good, he is such a hopeful character and i absolutely think he's the standout from traum

what really strikes me about him is that traum is a story dedicated to broken ideals and unfulfilled dreams: the major players of each faction are all characters with failed ambitions and who wage war against panhuman history to achieve those dreams. kriemhild wants revenge on siegfried even after killing hagen, komstantinos wants to remake his old empire, johanna abhors that she is a living fictional character and wants to become a real person, all the nameless servants from each faction are dedicated to rebel not only because of zhang jue's influence but because they all, in some form, had unfinished business, dreams they never fulfilled. this even extends to moriarty himself, a younger version who's fixated on defeating holmes because his older version could not, and he follows through on it because he did not really understand the value of his own nemesis, a fact that ultimately left him defeated no matter how much he tried to control fate. All of these characters refused to face the reality of their failures, and honestly don quixote was the most guilty of this

he was originally a servant summoned in the atlantean lostbelt, and genuinely did try to rally heroes, but as he saw these legendary figures he adored be struck down he lost hope. it wasn't just that he was afraid, it was that the heroes around himself had given up even before him, a craven old man.

the thing is though that the reason don quixote and sancho ran is antithetical to the reasons that the other servants ran: they did it specifically to survive. sancho was able to convince don quixote to leave because she reminded him that it wasn't wrong or evil to want to live, and this was only possible because don quixote, despite being a servant, still thinks of himself as being human. even though he consciously understands himself as being a servant, his way of thinking and reasoning is undeniably that of a normal human

A big part of his too is that traum is also a singularity in which the names of heroic spirits have lost their meaning: the sheer volume of servants means that there is no singular standout hero, sure, but when kriemhild killed the lancer who was about to declare his name she called him merely a foot soldier because said name was worthless, in traum there is only the endless war of people slaughtering each other, and ironically a unifying peace in that.

names are the linchpins of heroic spirits: servants aren't the ghosts of dead people, they're the manifestations of what those legends meant to humanity, all codified by the names they carry. servants have to name themselves and have names for their noble phantasms which directly identify them because they are literal living legends. Yet in traum, those names and legends and meanings become all but worthless in the face of endless war as armies of these protectors of humanity are reduced to mere foot soldiers. there is a similar parallel to this when vlad goes to the righteous realm, and as he sees the army gathered he finds it entirely lacking because it's fully composed of singular standout heroes who are all used to essentially being the main character and thus cant function as a unit. Traum is a world where being a hero has no meaning.

but i think that's also why don quixote declares himself against konstantinos and challenged him: in this moment, he reclaimed the value of being a knight who fights for his ideals, that of a true hero

konstantinos throughout traum is presented as equally a legendary figure as charlemagne is, and yet his reason for fighting is incredibly simple: he's in love with johanna and wants to make her real to panhuman history, and to this end he'll continue the war in traum as needed for that end. kriemhild has an equal but opposite reason rooted in the same thing: love. she wants revenge against siegfried for having gone through with hagens plan, for not letting her in to his pain, he was too much of a hero for everyone that it led him to sacrificing himself even if it would hurt her. konstantinos wanted to be the perfect knight, and kriemhild wanted to get revenge against her own knight for being too perfect.

The thing is, despite their insistence on traum being the cruel reality of a war, both of them were holding onto rather idealized, almost romanticized versions of what a knight should be.

konstantinos knows and declares don quixote as being likely the most famous knight to have ever lived, but he dismisses him as a threat when actually fighting him. When he's about to finish him, he tells don quixote that he has to face reality as he's about to die. However, the story of don quixote was always that of an old man whom lost himself to his fantasies of chivalry and knightly idealism, and despite the troubles he caused still continued to fight for what he believed was honorable. Even if he had returned to reality in the end, there was still meaning to the outright silly journey of an old man knight long past the age of chivalry, of the old man who, despite his fear, still chose to rally an army and fight for the world he felt he had failed.

what traum needed was someone who did good not as a hero but as a human. almost every knightly character in fate carries grand ideals as to why they are knights, but the only requirement to BE a knight and a hero is the simple desire to do good for others, and don quixote is fittingly the most famous knight in the world because he's utterly obsessed with the great chivalric legends of old, yet still strived to do good in the way normal people do.

it's why charlie finds him so inspiring, as well

for all the non-extella link players, charlemagne as we see him in fgo is actually the fictionalized version of him from the tales of the paladins of charlemagne and not the actual karl der Große. He's even more fictionalized than johanna and don quixote himself, because while johanna might have been an erroneous account and don quixote a story book character, charlemagne is a full on sensationalized re-imagining of an already real person. but even if he may be a fictionalized person, what he represents is what matters the most, the same with any heroic spirit, which is why charlemagne considers johanna just as real and why the actual karl der Große saw fit to send him to traum

at the center of traum we ultimately find wakamori, who despite seeming cruel and mysterious throughout the entire plot, has shown multiple times that he's essentially trying to fill in bigger shoes than he can: He's obsessed with defeating sherlock and presenting himself as the ultimate evil, but he's still green at the end of the day, and I think this is in part what leads him to somewhat even respect don quixote

when he tries to taunt don quixote, he does so with the assumption that much like himself, don quixote is attempting to play the part he represents most: don quixote is surely trying to be the greatest most idealized version of a knight, the same way wakamori is trying to be the perfected version of himself, the true evil mastermind whom can finally defeat sherlock. But don quixote flat out tells him that conflict and even life itself has always had no inherent meaning nor any inherent roles to play, so much in the same way that he has no special value to his life tied to being a knight, wakamori's own value is not tied specifically to that of being sherlock holmes' greatest evil rival. There's a surprising empathy in this exchange I feel, because don quixote understands wakamori immediately where it took sherlock the entire story: there's nothing wrong with being a little delusional, but you have to treat them with respect.

wakamori ultimately fails because he believed that defeating sherlock would finally give value to james moriarty as the ultimate villain, unaware that sherlock holmes is the defining equal to james moriarty. there is no purpose to a story with an evil mastermind that doesn't have an equally great hero trying to stop him, and wakamori failing to understand that his own value as such is not diminished by not having ever defeated holmes is what ruins him: He didn't respect the story he was so enthralled by. shinjuku showcased a similar dynamic, but the difference between shinjuku and traum is that the older moriarty very much understood what it would take to succeed, and that would be to become the protagonist of the story, rather than the ultimate final boss.

the stories of knights and heroes and monsters and spurned loves and great detectives and evil masterminds are all in part defined by the meanings that people derive from them, from the ordinary good that they can inspire first and foremost. And even though don quixote may have been a craven old man who eventually gave up chivalry, he still tried to live a good life and do good the way any ordinary person would.

And that's such a genuinely hopeful and kind sentiment to tie to the concept of knightly ideals: you don't have to be grand to be a hero, and you don't even have to be a hero to inspire others.

[movedtoadifferentspace]

i shifted last night for the first time in 2 years. . .

MOVED TO @kodtheshiftinggodd !

📌 — QUICK RUNDOWN OF MY SHIFTING JOURNEY

umm so i started on shifttok ( unfortunately) back in like november of 2021, i was shifting to naruto. during like 2021-2022 i had experienced a lot of shifts, ranging from weird realities i didn’t plan on going to, only being there for a few moments, not realizing i was there even though i was there for over an hour, and literally shifting while doing dishes. 🧍

sometime in like the summer of 2022 i stopped shifting doing to being in a relationship with this really cringy dude… who like thought i would disappear out of thin air… if i shifted… ( and some shifttok drama that i got brought into, that’s a whole other story if you wanna hear that, the rundown is i got randomly outcasted bc i had BPD and autistic traits ( literally what they said ) ) yeah not my finer moment. anyways, i also just lost a lot of motivation for it. i still hated this reality but i don’t know, shifting just, idk. it took me just a few months ago to realize that the shifttok mean girls who outcasted me, made me feel like i didn’t deserve to shift in some way. ( when i realized that, i realized how fucking stupid that was )

and so i’ve been really reevaluating my journey, spent a lot of time of shiftblr instead of shifttok, even started my own discord to get rid of misinfo!!! which by the way shiftblr has helped me change my mindset SO MUCH! like i’ve been literally a ghost on here but i adore ya’ll so much !!and basically i feel really confident about shifting. i’ve shifted every time i tried, even though it was a very short shift, i have been practicing manifestation, LOA, & meditation and yeah here we are !

🐇 — THE SHIFT ITSELF

so i read something last night on shiftblr, it’ll be linked here, i already was/am in the mindset of “if i try to shift i’m going to fucking shift” like it doesn’t matter to me anymore, i’m doing it. instead of trying every night, i’ve been focused on trying on weekends when i have no responsibilities and such. though throughout this week i have been practicing my meditation/reaching the void state. SO i saw that post and honestly… i wasn’t really like looking to shift, it was a very impromptu thing. i put on a subliminal [ the one i used ] and i went to bed. i was thinking about one my alt realities a better cr though i hate the term better cr where i live in Oregon, and I am a tattoo apprentice, Levi Ackerman from AOT is the one I am apprenticing for. this is really based on me learning how to tattoo and not having to spend time with the AOT cast while also fighting titans and save the world. while that is great, I wanted something chill SO YEAH. I fell asleep to thinking about that… and I shifted. not to that reality but a weird parallel/version of it?

I did this with my first ever shift too. it was almost like a dreamlike reality, but only subtly. soooo I did reality checks.. and it for sure wasn’t a dream. I lived in the apartment above the shop ( which isn’t what i scripted ) and I went down and just went to work with Levi, Hange, and Zeke. I was really on edge though, like “omg i shifted” “i’m literally talking to Levi wtf” like i had no time to process or ground myself so i ended up coming back. but yeah. that’s what happened and i’m determined to get to this ALT reality. ( not in a rushed way, but a ‘i know im going to get there soon’ way )

anyways, that’s my first ever shiftblr post ahhh xxxx

creds to @jolynesmom for their post that i found

ALSO ANY TIPS WILL BE WONDERFUL, i’m literally always looking for things to improve my journey <3 or new things to try at least

happy shifting <3

[realvicoba]

Gon and Meruem acted as foils to each other during the chimera ant arc.

Typically, we get to see the main villain and the hero fight, but these two never once met— and yet the way they've been written gave us an interesting dynamic without the need for a meeting.

The monster expressing his humanity,

And the human expressing his monstrosity.

But what if I were to say that the beginning of Meruem's character arc with Komugi parallel's Killua's more than it does Gon's?

Both expressed shock at the other's triumph, shock that they somehow bested them.

How can this normal human who is, by all means, weaker than me, do something so incredible?

Just like how Komugi gives Meruem a new perspective on what strength and worth is, Gon does so for Killua. There is more that goes into an individual's worth than their physical strength. And alongside that, they introduced connection into their lives.

But by the time the chimera ant arc begins, the parallels shift.

Gon is the King.

I believe something a little different and interesting happens here— Killua becomes Pitou, just as much as he is Komugi, and Komugi can also represent what Kite is for Gon.

It's a bit confusing! But let's start from the easy one. Gon-Meruem and Killua-Komugi.

Komugi finds her worth in Meruem. Gungi to them is what nen is to Gon and Killua, something they both advance at together— something they have talent in and share. Komugi believes her worth and life's meaning was meeting Meruem, while she also pulls Meruem into a reasonable reality; she's his voice of reason, forcing him to think objectively without the looming responsibility of being "king".

Killua finds his worth in Gon. He saved him, he lit the path for him to progress in this world and helped turn his past traumas into a source of mental strength. In turn, he's Gon's voice of reason, anchoring him into reality and being there to calm his rage.

Both Killua and Komugi wonder if they're even worth being in their "king's" presence, if they're worth that connection. Is it okay if I stay by your side? Am I even worthy? Despite being such a useless person who can't even begin to shine as brightly as you do?

And the biggest difference is that Meruem's complete obsession is on Komugi, unlike Gon's focus being on Kite.

And here's where the dynamic begins to shift. Meruem grows more gentle, his love more blinding. While Gon grows a little colder, his rage being what blinds him.

Meruem and Komugi went on to do what Killua had wanted to— dying by each other's sides.

Him and Gon though? Their focuses don't match. Gon was completely focused on vengeance, and Killua, who loved him to the point of selflessness, did everything in his power to support his "king."

Like Pitou who put himself in a vulnerable situation to protect someone who is important to the person he loves most.

Killua's biggest fear was Gon losing himself at the knowledge of Kite's death. In the end, he felt completely powerless.

It's a little tragic, in a way. Killua failed to do what both Komugi and Pitou could for their most beloved. He could only save Gon with Alluka's help, and that was all after the worst came to pass.

I also find this page very interesting!!

I don't think Killua ever expected himself to protect something weaker than he is either, at least not at the start of the story. And when he did, he started taking an almost maternal role while protecting those he loves (supporting Gon and practically adopting Alluka).

I love the parallels between them. The things they say and do, their positions and roles, and their feelings— they all match. And in the end, it's the humans who are the most imperfect, failing at so much yet ending up the victors.

But failure is what helps Killua grow.

Meruem, Komugi and Pitou die.

Gon, Kite and Killua survive.

While Gon's mostly back at square one with some new trauma and some suicidal thoughts, Killua's at a stage of his life where he's starting to believe that there is more to his worth and importance than he initially thought, that he can live to protect others while simultaneously living for himself.

Komugi and Meruem had nothing before them in life, but Gon and Killua do. They are more than lovers on their deathbeds.

[stupendousstudenttyrant]

If I was making a rowdyruff spin off, Here would be the episodes:

If I was making a rowdyruff boys spin off here would be the episodes.

(So premise, RRB actually have a room in MOJO and Him's house but most of the time MOJO and Him forget that they even exist so they live on the streets.

When they are not breaking in other ppl's home, they live inside the woods with their tents.)

(These episodes are in no specific orders just ideas)

My interpretation of the RRB is that personality wise their opposites to their counterparts but they sometimes parallel each other in terms of experiences.Like Bubbles and Boomer getting bullied/teased by their siblings, But they go about in two different ways.

FAMILY REUNION- In this Episode, HIM receives a call from his parents and they are having a family Reunion in the underworld (a.k.a. Hell). And Him takes the boys with them to see their grandparents.

I also added in a Lil rReunion.

Him: where's Boomer? Butch: Probably upstairs Brushing his hair so can be the scariest boy at the Reunion. Boomer: I'm gonna be the scariest boy at the reunion.

Him's real name is Lucifer but His Mom calls him "Luci" for short. Him's sister, Is called Lilith, But she goes by Lily.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL -

The boys go to school, At pokey oaks kindergarten.

Boomer is canonically isn't afraid of cockroaches like Bubbles. So when he sees one he just picks it up. So in my headcanon, I made Butch unafraid of spiders.

The PpGs find them to be really weird.

Bubbles: Boomer is so weird, He picked up a roach from the ground. Gross.

Buttercup: Butch is the weirdest one, He picked up a huge hairy spider from the ground. That's not normal.

Blossom: Brick is the weirdest one, He thinks reading is for sissies!

ROWDY GANG - Basically the RRB meet the Gang green gang. And thinks their cool. Snake and Brick compliement each other's hats. Butch looks up to Ace. And Boomer hangs around big Billy. Ace and Brick think alike, Snake and Boomer can relate each other because their leader like smacking them alot whenever they talk. And Butch gets along with Glubber.

TWISTED BROTHER - (inspired by twisted sister), this episode has two ways:

-The boys find out how they are made and decided to recreate another brother to outnumber the girls. This Brother is named Bat, everything goes well and dandy until Bat realizes that his brothers are complete losers and try to take over the RRB by overthrowing Brick. It doesn't work, And it ends with The RRB being forced to kill their brother. (Cuz if he didn't they would have killed them)

Second way this goes, Is that they meet a sick kid with a terminal illness. He's name is Bat, They threatened to beat him up, Until Bat says "Go ahead, I'm gonna anyways" and they decided not to beat him up. Because they didn't want to beat up a sick kid with a terminal illness.

In this story, Bat is a human kid, who is hospital bound, His Parents both died in a car accident and he is stuck at the hospital for the rest of his life waiting to die. Until, He meets the RRB and becomes friends with them. He envies their freedom to do anything they want and go anywhere they want.

They stole the chemical x from the professor lab And gave Bat superpowers.

Anyway, The RRB and Bat end up going to this island to cause some mischief, They meet a villain who almost kills them. Bat saves them and they fly back to Townsville.

While flying back to Townsville, Brick notices Bat is flying a little slow compared to them. Bat mentions he feels queezy and Brick gives Bat a piggyback ride back to the hospital. While flying, Bat closes his eyes and never woke up. Brick and his brothers think that Bat fell asleep so they put him to bed at the hospital. But little did they did know "I feel little queezy" was going to be Bat's last words.

In the end the boys, Find out that Bat has died and they blame themselves because they think the chemical X made him worst. But in reality, Bat died cuz of his illness and his final days were the best days of his life because of the RRB.

SUPERVILLAIN FRIENDS - (inspired by Super friends) where the boys meet Todd. Who has asthma and needs an inhaler to breathe. He is also a troublemaker. And likes doing graffiti and stealing things (although he steals out of extreme poverty). The RRB become friends with Todd after almost killing him. Because he had asthma attack and Boomer refused to give back his inhaler until they realize that he was serious and really needed that inhaler. They become friends, Todd teaches them how to play tag and gave him a home from his home town. Slugsville.

SLUGSVILLE- Slugsville is a small town of poverty. Filled with outcasts, Drug addicts, violence and sorta like the "The hood" of Townsville. It's where Todd is lives. He's family is very poor, everyone in the town is poor. But they are all good ppl with their own flaws. (And they will eventually find a home and someone who cares about there)

Also, Unlike Townsville citizens who tend to be pretty useless, Slugsville citizens fight along side with RRB despite the odds. They defend their hometown and the boys. And is sometimes very reckless. But they work together. (Both Todd and Brick are leaders).

BAXTER-One of the kids in slugsville is name Baxter, And He likes to build stuff and weapons out junk he finds in the junkyard. And desperately wants to be part of the RRB. (Baxter is the princess of the RRB, Where Princess Morebucks could pay people to build her stuff. Baxter as a kid who grow up with no money, Can only build his inventions with things that he already have from the junkyard.)

Similar to Blossom vs Morebucks, it's Brick is Baxter, Although Baxter's defeat was more brutal. At some point Baxter, Started his own group called the junkyard kids. With his friend in slugsville, Only, For Brick to takeover the group and call himself king.

He also is a bit of people pleaser and admires Brick alot despite him being jerk. Brick most of the time tell him if they can use his inventions, He could join the RRB. (But Brick allowed him to join despite all that).

BUTCHERCRUSH - Butch gets a crush on Sedusa, and Sedusa uses this into her advantage. (It's like Buttercrush, But the only difference is that HIM gets involved, Tells Butch that loving ppl is for sissies) And uses his experience with Sedusa as proof for why love and crushes are the worst and he shouldn't have them.Basically 🤷‍♀️

And Ace gets a Lil jealous of Butch and the attention he receives from sedusa.

HARD TRUTH- The rowdyruff boys meet Dick Hardly, who does the same as he did to the ppg. Except the Rowdyruff boys are easier targets. Since Noone cares about them or love them. So they could die and Noone know.

(Gang green gang, Todd, and Slugsville citizens to the rescue)

PRISON BREAK- The PPG use antidote X on the boys and send them to jail mainly for something minor. However, There was mix up with the paper work and the boys got sent to "DarkRidge prison" which is a prison out of Townsville. And is made for the adults. (It's where psychopaths and evil villains go). Anyway, they several ppl including the gang green gang, sedusa, femme fatal and MOJO. They can't escape because they can't use their powers. (So they have to use other ways to escape)

And this episode is where they discovered where they are made out of, Because during the escape they get cornered in a bathroom. That's when MOJO saw a toilet, smelled and declared it was Chemical X and explain to the boys this what they were made out of. The boys are a little disgusted but the gang green gang and the other criminals. Forces them to get inside the toilet of chemical x, To get their powers back and fight the guards. They succeeded.

FUTURE DILEMMA - but this just an episode for fun. The RRB split up and go their own separate ways. Fast forward to the future Brick becomes a Ruler, Butch becomes a Billionaire, and Boomer goes to school to become a doctor and works as a cashier. And is in alot of student debt.

Boomer works at a gas station as a cashier, lives in crappy small apartment, and survives out of cups noodles and is medical student. Becoming a doctor to proof his brothers wrong. That he is not as dumb as he looks. (He also occasionally visits Mojo)

But reunite with his brothers, It's Huge slap in the face.

Butch becomes a Billionaire and occasionally sends MOJO tons of money for his inventions. Travels around the world, Donates to charity, Especially to homeless kids, Since he was a homeless kid himself. And owns several Car companies.

And Brick becomes a God/King/cult leader, Created an entire country where people worshipped and praise Him. He calls his country Brickstons, And the people who worshipped are called Brickstonians. They're usually dressed in traditional clothing. Wearing Robes and jewelries. He also stole Chemical X, Giving his people powers and making strong. He also stole antidote X, Having his people (the ones who are smart) create handcuffs for Superhuman where they can't use their powers when they are arrested.

And Brick even told stories about himself (where 90% of it are lies) and it's called" The Adventures of Brick The Great" where it follows Brick the Great's Journey, as the "chosen onec, With his Brother Boomer The Lame and The Butch The Idiot. Fighting his greatest enemy of all, Blossom The Demon Witch and her sisters. Yeah Blossom is depicted as the devil in story. But he was 5 years old when he wrote that entire "origin" story.

(Blossom is also a scientist who went and study the island of Brickston. Only to get captured by Brickstonians.) (I should create an AU where Brick does become a Ruler of a country)

Anyways, That pisses Boomer off because their lives are way more interesting than his. It isn't their actual future since they go back In time and never split up.

[huiiiooo]

Hi, I already made a post about this but I decided to make a more elaborate post on the subject

as we know after failing to steal One For All from Banjo and En, All for one realized that he would need a greater will than the user and his predecessors to steal the OFA, as he could not, he proceeded to find a Suitable Successor/Receptacle with enough will to steal the One for all

Due to the Connection with All Might, the Shimura family was the main sieve of All for one, but it was not the only one, as we know Garaki had several Orphanages and All for one probably Evaluated and tested possible Vessels there, including Number Six

This shows that even though he was working at Tenko, he was never the Only Possibility, because that doesn't suit someone who is always planning all the variables.

but he didn't limit it to Garaki or Shimuras, as shown with his experiment with Touya Todoroki

as All for one was coincidentally already at the mountain that day, it is possible that he used "Forced Activation" to cause the Fire, These three Shigaraki, Dabi and Number Six all have their hatred shaped based on some kind of heroic obsession.

What if this was also the case for Izuku Midoriya, but perhaps this would be a slightly more complex Experiment because of this because of this he was secondary, it would be an even more ambitious Vessel, since All for one would play a little with the Quirk Singularity, and your own genetics by having a child with someone from the fourth generation, the first generation that demonstrated the concrete Signs

the goal was not only to create an All for one with the ability to Hold the complex Quirks of the future, but also combined with Inko's Quirk it would be able to Steal Quirks without the need for direct touch, as it is already difficult to copy the All for one in a perfect and functional way, it is impossible to create something even more powerful in the laboratory

to avoid attracting attention All for one blocked his son's Quirk at birth, just as he removed the Tenko factor

Just as he encouraged heroic desires in Number Six and Shigaraki, the same would be done with Izuku, being from birth imbued with heroism and All Might, all so that when he saw himself Quirkless, society and reality would crush that dream, transformed into hatred and resentment, creating the will necessary to Steal One For All, he knew Izuku would be bullied (Maybe he even encouraged this behavior)

In order for the child to be monitored more closely and by a specialist, All for one asked The Tsubasa Family (Garaki's pseudonym) to move close to where he placed the Midoriyas

interestingly Koga (AFO Construction Site) Musutafu and Jakku Hospital then connected in a triangle close to each other, for easy accessibility to AFO and Garaki

and both families knew each other, little Tsubasa played with Izuku and Katsuki, and Izuku's mother knew Tsubasa's mother, probably that's why they went to Garaki since the families were already friends

Tsubasa was eventually transformed into Nomu for reasons currently unknown.

However, the Bullying did not have the expected effect and did not generate in Izuku the hatred and resentment that AFO wanted and neededIzuku was too good, he didn't create a grudge, he didn't get that hatred for society that Tomura got, which made Shigaraki Tomura the suitable Vessel for All for one, which made all for one leave this family adventure aside and focus on Tomura, leaving an automatic network sending money under the banner of a "Hisashi working overseas"

Maybe the reason AFO categorizes Izuku as Useless, and criticizes Yoichi for trusting him with the OFA is because he didn't become a Suitable Vessel and didn't live up to expectations, almost a parallel to Dabi, right?

Maybe he left it to use Izuku's Quirk when it was really necessary in the future

[vidavalor]

The kiss, the Book of Life and the fly...

I've not seen anyone talk about this in this way so here's a fun theory of sorts for you... one that might make the kiss hurt less, even?!?!

More under the big cutty thing...

So the threat of erasure from The Book of Life looms large, right? The Metatron's plan honestly looks like he was delaying Michael's Book of Life erasure plan for Aziraphale until he could lure Aziraphale away from Crowley and up to Heaven, which makes sense because Crowley is powerful and can raise the dead and all that, yes? Ok, so, because Aziraphale is in some major, major trouble here... let's presume this happens. Let's presume that all the foreshadowing of Aziraphale winding up getting some of Gabriel's plot from their paralleling happens and Aziraphale is stripped of memories and erased from existence. Slight problem here being...

...Good Omens largely cannot exist without Aziraphale and obviously Aziraphale is going to have to come back, correct? So how does he? Well, how did Gabriel? If you say "the fly", you are obviously correct but look a little deeper at what the fly actually *is*... it's literally *Beezelbub*.

It's not some random fly-- it's part of Beez's body/essence/whatever you want to call what demons have. Beez literally gives Gabriel their body and Gabriel chooses to hide his whole self there-- chooses the fly to keep himself safe and to stay with/get to be with Beez on some level, no matter what happened to him. Gabriel got to make conscious choices about all of this because he had a plan and got to try to enact one out. Aziraphale does not.

Aziraphale has been fooled into going to Heaven believing that The Metatron wants him to get to work as the new archangel but, in reality, the plan is to restart armageddon and end all life on earth. It's time for war and Aziraphale is probably inevitably going to get Book of Life'd at some point. They keep foreshadowing it and they also have parallels to it with Crowley unable to remember much pre-Fall, Aziraphale's discorporation and the Madame Tracy plot in S1, and other moments. So if Aziraphale gets erased from existence from being taken out of The Book of Life, he somehow has to *still in exist in some way*, theoretically, to be brought back... which would seem to not make sense as he was just erased, yes?

It cannot be as simple as Crowley snapping Mr. Brown of Brown's World of Carpets back into existence. Mr. Brown was a human who existed and was killed. Crowley brought him back to life. But an angel erased from The Book of Life is then a being who never existed, right? It's not resurrection; it'd be creation, which might be the one thing Crowley cannot do because you could argue only God could. So *some part of Aziraphale must still exist* for Crowley to use to bring him back, right? There has to be an Ineffable Husbands version of Beez's fly... and there is. We've already seen it.

Just like how the fly was Beez, Aziraphale remains alive within Crowley... but how? When?

Crowley's never offered that to Aziraphale, has he?

Oh, hasn't he just, though?

For the record, I'm not saying that Crowley is suddenly going to have a Madame Tracy plot where he's like possessed by Aziraphale lol. I *am* saying that Madame Tracy as a vessel for Aziraphale's essence, Beez's fly, and the S1 Crowley and Aziraphale body swap... all of these things together foreshadow how Aziraphale survives erasure from existence. Plus, this hilarious bit below from S1 that'll seem even funnier in retrospect...

...as here is Aziraphale in S1, in a state of semi-non-existence, in search of a body to live in long enough to try to stop the end of the world and he says to Crowley...

An angel and a demon... probably explode. Except... it's the opposite... and S2 illustrates that. In S2, they perform a miracle together and they do have immense power but it doesn't cause destruction. It protects Gabriel. At the end of the season, they kiss-- a paralleling of sorts to the shared miracle but also to other aspects of shared form. It's not possession, like Aziraphale and Madame Tracy (and like Adam's eventual separation of them/reviving of Aziraphale) and it's not the body swap at the end of S1 and it's not even quite as much yet of a sexual metaphor as 'you can find all of Gabriel's essence-- hook, line and sinker-- in a literal part of Beezelbub'... but all of those things foreshadow and suggest that Aziraphale might actually survive his trip up to Heaven because of the kiss that's literally breaking us all in pieces right now.

Because of Crowley loving him, really.

I'm not saying that Crowley intentionally set out to do this but even unintentionally, he could have opened a kind of container for Aziraphale equivalent to Beez's fly, which would then mean that Aziraphale is alive in S3... in the memories and essence of the being he loves and who loves him. Aziraphale cannot be fully erased by Heaven permanently because he's quite literally *a part of* Crowley now.

It was just (again) like Agnes said-- they were playing with fire and would need to choose their faces wisely.

[thenarwhalgal]

Watched ride the cyclone for the first time recently. Wanted to touch on something I found interesting— namely! Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg! Resident gifted kid of Uranium!

She’s a difficult character to like, right? With how she treats everybody else around her and especially Constance, it’s really difficult to defend most of her actions throughout the musical. Luckily, that’s not what I’m doing. Instead, I want to give my thoughts on her, which I don’t think is a particularly new perspective but shut up I wanna talk about it okay?

Okay. So… here’s the thing I find really interesting about her. Ocean has no sense of self. Correction, she does have one main thing that she does know about herself, she is ‘the most successful girl in town.’ Where everybody else (besides Jane and we’ll get to how Jane and Ocean mirror each other in a second), gets a marker of how they act, Constance is the nicest, Ricky is the most imaginative, Mischa the angriest, Noel the most romantic. She’s the most successful. It’s not a facet of her personality, it’s a result. It’s an expectation. It’s external. It’s not a part of her it’s how everybody sees her. The very thing everybody else gets to break out of but she’s stuck in because she only has what everybody else sees her as.

She doesn’t have an internal self. Which is why where everybody else (again: except Jane) gets a song exploring their personal feelings, dreams, and realities… Ocean gets a song not about herself, but about her comparison to everybody else. She is the one who wants to win the competition the most, the one who needs to live again, but she can’t explain why because she doesn’t actually know. All she knows is that she’s the most successful. (Side note: The most successful would win the competition so if she loses… well there goes everything she likes about herself. This is why winning it is not just something she wants… it’s something she needs. She again, has nothing else. This will come back later in her parallels with Jane)

It’s common for kids who grew up in abusive households (as we know she did) to not properly develop a sense of self, and often they can look for that internal validation in external expectations or successes. What is Ocean if she isn’t the most successful person in town?

Basically, give her a few more years alive and when she realizes the same thing every traumatized gifted kid eventually realizes— that you will reach a point at which you begin to fail and your need to be perfect will reach a breaking point because nobody can keep up that level of perfection forever— she will inevitably fall apart and experience the worst case of burnout ever in the history of Uranium.

It’s also interesting to see how and why Ocean chooses Jane. She comments at the end that Karnak knew she could never choose herself. I’ve seen a lot of people assume if given the choice at the beginning she would have voted for herself but I don’t buy that. Ocean knows she could never have voted for herself and she says that straight, her original plan was to get Karnak (the almighty being/weird novelty machine) to pick her, then to get everybody else to vote for her. Both of these outcomes leave the choice in everybody else, because if it was her choice she couldn’t have done it. Because again, her own internal self does not exist, it is based on external success. So it only works if everybody else says she’s the best pick. Success and validation do not exist within her. This is why she’s so flabbergasted by how Ricky could concede. She assumes everybody else has nothing else besides winning either. When in fact the whole point of the musical is that they all do have dreams and wants and desires and internal worlds… except her… and Jane.

Jane Doe is… without a better term and also ignoring everything in this musical other than Ocean’s perspective… her worst nightmare. Being forgotten, not amounting to anything. Having neither an internal self or an external effect. If we consider Ocean to be the protagonist of RTC, Jane plays her direct foil. They are both empty inside, Ocean just has the illusion of personhood and ‘success’ to hide that fact behind… a name. It’s actually kind of interesting how throughout the play, Ocean discovers how much her own life she’s missed or disregarded, while Jane is the one to get a name (Savannah with the greenest eyes). One discovering their internal sense of validation with the other getting their external title. Ocean has to choose Jane because Jane shows her that she infact had her own life to be happy with all along, she didn’t need success, she didn’t need the validation of her peers because she had a life all along that she was ignoring. Jane doesn’t. Jane’s her foil because she shows Ocean the part of herself she missed, the thing she has that separates her from Jane Doe. That makes Jane Doe the only real choice to be brought back to life. Having had a life at all.

Anyway! I just think she’s interesting is all.

[vampiresareqt]

WHY Iñaki HAS BEEN Luffy SINCE THE BEGINNING!!!

A summarised history of Iñaki Godoy Jasso and his parallels to Monkey D. Luffy

I'm sure Iñaki tried to keep his composure so hard. (Our Cry Baby) But on his way home he broke down in tears and laughter (Such a Joyful boy)

Just to make this video even stronger; Iñaki's goals as a child were to make people laugh and to use his genuine smile to make others smile. He CRAVES freedom too!

And at one point he even wanted to become a competitive eater, 'cause HE LOVES FOOD!

REACHING HIS GOALS

Source: [x]

How much did he want to reach his goals? He was once bailed on by one of his partners in a play where he had the role of the mischievously grinning Cheshire Cat (Also fitting wtf) He was like 8???

And while he was panicking at first, he improvised his way out of it, saw the smiles and laughter of the crowd and DID NOT WANT TO GIVE UP. He felt the freedom of acting and expression and the joy of seeing people laugh. He literally said he wanted to continue acting CAUSE OF FREEDOM!!!

He later pursued comedy, 'cause of his love of cheering people up...

If you don't really remember the significance of "freedom" when it comes to Luffy,

"Sometimes, an honest smile is more than enough."

He values smiling and making others smile. And just like Iñaki, one of Luffy's key assets is his wide smile! So when Iñaki did his research on Luffy he didn't want to make it too complicated at first. He narrowed him down to that smile we love and aimed to perfect it. And of course, as the smiley person he is it came naturally.

This also kinda parallels Luffy's "Don't care about the story, just get me to do something." mindset. In this case, Iñaki going for an audition kind of blind, then simplifying Luffy's character and then building on it with 100% determination is so reminiscent of our boy. He ended up appreciating and admiring Oda-Sensei so much after getting involved. And making him laugh came naturally to him as well.

Helping people is important!

He loves doing charity things. Especially knowing his little sister endured a lot of hardships, he as a young child did a campaign against bullying and to raise awareness... "The Jasso-Godoy Family are the group leaders of CAP Grupo Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico and their own non-profit!!!"

"Mia is beautiful the way she is. Any way she is, I'd still love her. If there is someone at school... or anywhere, be nice to them, okay? I am her brother."

Watch the heartwarming video below!

He is very flexible in ways he can do so many things, versatility, but also physically, he loves jumping around and doing tricks and even when he gets hurt he smiles, cause he learned from it and had fun...

In this video he is introducing himself and talking about his versatility. Saying "Whatever you want me to do, I'll be at your service." So if you have goals in your movie or show, he will do his utmost best to make it a reality.

Hope I translated it correctly...

Always a Pirate

He has also always had something with the sea and pirates... Foreshadowing

In the same TikTok he was talking about his mischief he showed us a pic of him as a kid, where he is wearing a pirate themed Spongebob T-Shirt. EVEN THE POSE IS VERY LUFFY!

In one of his Insta posts, while he was on his 80 day trip around the Caribbean he posted an even older pic of him and his sister Mia WEARING PIRATE OUTFITS.

I immediately said he bares a striking resemblance to young Luffy smiling.

UNCANNY!!!

So in the end...

Even without mentioning any of these childhood things Iñaki experienced before finding One Piece. Just that short audition clip made Oda laugh instantly and overwhelmed Oda with Luffy vibes. JUST FROM IÑAKI'S GENUINE ENERGY!!!!!

So people saying Oda's Haki predicted Iñaki is like... I could kinda believe that. Or maybe the reason why the Live Action did not start production till about 4 years later, is because we had to wait for Iñaki to grow up to the same age as Luffy, 17, for Oda to meet the person who best represents his beloved main character.

[amxrany]

!! CHAPTER 7 / DIASOMNIA ARC SPOILERS !!

One more part before all of this suffering ends (Part 5):

We now go to Sebek, Yuu and Grim who are journeying through the darkness to save Silver. Ok something happens while this goes on, Sebek thought Yuu was holding his hand until he looks and sees that it was a blob of darkness 😂

Ok going back we see more memories in Sebek's segment, we see Lilia taking in Sebek as a pupil when Baul requests Lilia to train him (Baul actually sees Sebek's dad as weak, but still wants his grandson to get a good education), Sebek training with Lilia for the first time, Malleus teaching Sebek and Silver on how to use their magic and a lot more childhood memories

We also see a memory of Lilia talking about his old admission letter, which he tore up and threw away; but Leverne found it and pieced it back together. In which Grim says "oh if Meleanor was a scary woman then Leverne must be a "kind" man then?" (Crowley is not beating the Leverne allegations, but I'm just thinking about Lilia also loving Leverne, and if it turns out Leverne is Crowley. I will laugh so hard like how did bro score a baddie like Meleanor). We also see Malleus receive his admission letter from NRC, and this is where we find out that Sebek's older brother is an NRC alumni

They then find Silver, who is currently getting swallowed by his darkness and for this portion I found someone who translated Sebek's speech to Silver (which I really recommend to read for more info) since I will just summarize everything. But here Sebek forces Silver to wake up using his Unique Magic "Living Bolt", they don't really explain what it does but from what I'm seeing, it turns Sebek into lightning, which allows him to summon powerful waves of static

Sebek tries to talk Silver out of it, but Silver is still stubborn, thinking that Malleus and Lilia wouldn't love him after the whole thing (which shows the amount of self hatred and lack of self-identity Silver has for himself)

After that doesn't work, Sebek resorts to them fighting, which results to him losing. Silver thinks Sebek intentionally lost but Sebek uses it as a way to smack Silver back into reality, saying that Silver has his strength because of Lilia and if he wasn't loved then he would have grown up with nothing. Sebek also tells Silver that despite everything, he chose to continue fighting; and it was Lilia who raised him to be that kind of man. He wanted to show to Silver that Lilia always loved him, even after everything 🥹

That's when Silver fully snaps back into reality, he remembers his dream of serving Malleus and making Lilia proud, and Sebek tells him to never go against those words (THE FUCKING PARALLELS I CANNOT)

When I tell you guys this part made my SilBek heart soar, cuz Sebek was literally going through hell and back just to save Silver and smack back to reality, just like Silver did to him in the previous update

The group lands back in the Corridor of Dreams falling into Lilia's dream, but not before seeing the Knight of Dawn, smiling at them...

This is honestly funny because if you take it out of context it's literally just this meme:

But that's all for the Part 5 update, boi that was a rollercoaster of emotions. This will be feeding us good for awhile and I'll fix the masterlist in awhile.

But thanks for reading 🩵

Previous: Part 4

[virtualstarrr]

Revolutionary Girl Utena and Neon Genesis Evangelion: Parallels Between Characters and Their Relationships

PREFACE: I wrote this a few years ago and never published it; I was around 15 and I don't think everything I said was entirely accurate, however I do feel like I made connections between these two shows that I haven't seen many talk about, so I'm gonna post it. If anything I say is off, feel free to correct me!

Anyway:

Something I've realized while rewatching Neon Genesis Evangelion is how similar Rei and Gendo's dynamic is to Akio and Anthy's in Revolutionary Girl Utena. Here are some characters and dynamics that I thought were similar, most of them revolving around the characters' connections to Anthy or Rei:

Asuka and Nanami as Antagonists

Anthy and Rei both have very quiet personalities. Both are stoic and appear off-putting to others around them. The characters Asuka and Nanami similarly hold disdain for Rei/Anthy and berate them for being weird.

Nanami harbors jealousy towards Anthy after seeing her in a relationship with her brother. Even though she resents her, the two are both in similar incestuous relationships. Anthy's situation could be a reflection of what could happen to Nanami if she took her relationship with Toga too far. But luckily Nanami realizes that she never really had feelings for her brother, and that she just wanted his validation. But before Nanami realizes all that, she acts as an antagonist to Anthy. She's constantly bullying her, and calling her out for her "weird" behavior. Asuka is similar with Rei. She's not necessarily jealous of Rei but she does project her insecurities on Rei, just look at the elevator scene. She calls Rei a doll for being subservient to Gendo, but she herself is afraid of becoming one. Nanami and Asuka, on the surface, couldn't be any more different than Anthy and Rei, but in reality Anthy and Rei represent a lot of the Nanami and Asuka's insecurities, or reflect the situations they're in.

Gendo and Akio, Both Abusers

Anthy and Rei are both extremely loyal to Akio and Gendo. Throughout each series, they are used to attain Akio/Gendo's goals, with Gendo's being to reunite with Yui and Akio's to maintain power over everyone in Ohtori. Because of how reliant Gendo and Akio's plans are on Rei/Anthy, they both get to know a lot about what's going on behind the scenes in the story, where other characters may not.

Akio and Gendo are very similar to each other, too.

Akio is able to manipulate people using sex. He even sexually assaults Anthy. Anthy endures Akio's abuse for so long that she's scared of leaving him; what if she escapes and finds that the world outside Ohtori is even more cruel?

Like Akio, Gendo also uses sex to control the women around him. He takes advantage of both Akagi and Ritsuko, disposing of them when he no longer needs them, just like Rei fears he will do to her when her use runs out.

Rei exists to obey Gendo. She's a clone, made to serve his desires. Rei wants to leave Gendo, she wants to die but he needs her to achieve Human Instrumentality. All she knows is to be obedient to Gendo, so she continues to follow his orders without considering her own feelings.

Anthy and Rei are cursed to serve Akio and Gendo, and though both dislike their situations, they see no hope of escaping. Not until Utena and Shinji step into their lives.

Utena and Shinji, the Protagonists

Utena spends the whole series selfishly playing the role of the prince, but once she begins to understand Anthy's situation, she is able to give up princehood and inspire Anthy to leave Akio. Utena doesn't save Anthy, but she gives her the courage to leave her situation, to decide for herself that she wants to leave.

Shinji shows interest in Rei's feelings. He encourages her to express herself, and tells her to smile. While Gendo sees Rei as a disposable clone, Shinji cares about her in a way Gendo never did. He wants her to be happy. While Shinji's motives are still selfish (with Shinji failing to understand Rei, just as Utena still treats Anthy as an object in her attempt to "save her" through the duels), he still shows more concern for her than she's ever experienced from anyone else.

[The scene where Shinji tells Rei to smile visually reminds me of RGU's finale. Shinji looks down on Rei, just as Utena does Anthy. Shinji tries to pull Rei out of the entry plug (the duty she's bound to— being a pilot, being Gendo's servant), as Utena tries to pull Anthy out of her coffin (trapped with Akio, the revolving system of capitalism and patriarchy, as well as literally being stuck in the cycle of abuse).]

Rei chooses to sacrifice herself, and after her death is replaced by her clone Rei 3. Rei 3 carries Rei 2's emotions but doesn't understand them at first. In the End of Evangelion, when Gendo tries to use Rei to start the Third Impact, she rejects him and chooses to start the Third Impact on her own will. (Possibly because of Shinji's influence).

Gendo and Akio Again

I think the similarities in these scenes are interesting.

Gendo stands over Rei as Akio stands over Anthy— each man exerting power over these girls. Gendo reaches down to grope Rei, trying to control her, and Anthy reaches up towards Akio to comfort him; Akio is using his emotions to manipulate and maintain his control over Anthy.

The lighting in these shots is similar. I don't know how either Anno or Ikuhara meant for the colors used in these scenes to be interpreted. I can only give my interpretation. Red is predominant, especially in the shot from Evangelion. A color that can represent passion. Perhaps this is Gendo's passion for power, for Yui, for eternity? Love and romance are often represented by red, and that includes lust. The red background could show Gendo's lust for Yui— literally in the sense that he's attracted to her as her partner— but most importantly, in the sense that he lusts after her, he desires to return to her. This lust extends to Rei, Gendo's recreation of Yui as well as a vehicle to which he can use to reunite with Yui. [Note: it's implied that Gendo sexually abused Rei, which isn't surprising considering she's a clone of Yui and the way he uses sex to control and manipulate. In the scene pictured above, he gropes Rei's breast— this is right before Rei rejects Gendo and takes the form of Lilith.]

Not only does red represent lust, but also power. It's a bold color, dominating both of these shots. It contributes to the sense of control Gendo and Akio have over Rei and Anthy. Red is used in this context often in Utena. The character Touga manipulates the girls around him in a similar fashion as Akio and Gendo (while also being manipulated by Akio). He manipulates Utena and his sister Nanami, taking advantage of their affection for him (both girls later realizing they never felt for Touga romantically). And Touga's red hair color, like other characters in Utena, signifies this power he holds.

In the RGU shot, red mainly covers Akio. Yellow is also prominent, centering around Anthy. Yellow is most often associated with Nanami in Utena, who represents jealousy— as I mentioned earlier, in her relationship with Anthy—, as well as Nanami's innocence, and perhaps ignorance.

Akio holds control over his Anthy, his victim. Her innocence is highlighted in this scene— she's not ignorant to what's going on, nor is she innocent in that sense. She's informed of and contributes to Akio's system. However, she finds herself trapped in this system, making her Akio's victim. In this sense the innocence in her attempt to comfort him contrasts his desire for power. He knows what he's doing. He cries fake tears. In the climax of RGU, Akio weaponizes his emotions in an attempt to get Anthy to stay. The colors emphasize Akio's power and Anthy's lack of agency in comparison.

Akio is trying to maintain his power over Anthy through these false tears.

Conclusion

Ultimately Gendo and Akio fail to maintain their control. Anthy breaks out of Akio's system, and Rei becomes Lilith on her own accord. It doesn't completely end their goals. Akio's system is still maintained for the rest who chose not to leave, and Gendo is able to reunite with Yui during the Third Impact— even if it is a false perception of her. But their initial plans fall apart, and the characters they've been attempting to manipulate are eventually able to escape. This doesn't just apply to Rei and Anthy, but also the other protagonists— the pilots whom Nerv abuses for their goals, and Utena and any of the other characters who find the courage to leave Ohtori. Evangelion focuses on Shinji's monologue primarily, but the show's message inspires the audience, and by extension the other characters, to live a fulfilling life despite everything. Utena and Anthy both escape Ohtori, but the possibility is there for any of the other characters that question Ohtori (a larger representation of abuse, capitalism, patriarchy, and systems that bind us) to escape as well. Ultimately these characters, these people, these systems don't have as much control as they project onto others. They influence so many aspects of life, but it's not impossible to defy them.

Ok, I've just been incoherently rambling so maybe this post has no point, but hopefully it makes SOME sense. Maybe, maybe you can see what I mean by all of (or at least any of) this. Sorry if this makes zero sense and means nothing. That is, if anyone does see this. But hopefully some enjoy my ramblings

[sp-ud]

I'm trying to imagine what other Showfall Media shows are like.

Like, it seems like the section ran by the Puzzler is probably often a part of it, as he mentions doing this for 30 years and it's likely the Showfall employees who played his Rats are the ones who built the memorial to him.

Which I think means that the Puzzler is an example of what a 'sucessful' character becomes. I mean, just look at how Hetch describes what would happen if the audience chose "live".

"Rescripted, repurposed, and recast." But how'd he get a role as a mastermind who was aware of the behind the scenes? Well of we take what Hetch says about how the show usually goes...

It sounds like Hetch often uses this "reality breaking" as a theme in his scripts, and perhaps it depended on how a character reacted to their reality being shattered if Hetch would deem them worthy or not.

It's not really clear what counts as "being worthy" but I'd imagine it counts as being entertaining, both to Hetch and the Audience... and maybe the Founder? The Founder's motives are super unclear, why does he want these shows? Why did he decide to test this world's Audience in a new experiment like this? Why did he give Hetch this role? How did he-

Ahem. That seems like a different rabbit hole for another time, maybe once we get more Generation 0 stuff (as it's been hinted to be about the origins? Of the Founder). Let's get back to what this might mean for what the usual show Hetch would run could be like.

It definitely involes horrific games and the characters reality slowly breaking around them. But I get the feeling Hetch and Showfall are rarely so explicitly involved in this.

And I think this might be because they werent broadcasting to any of their usual Audiences, they were testing this world for the first time. An Audience who has no idea who or what Showfall Media is.

I'd imagine whatever usual Audience Showfall broadcasts to, is probably either

a) from a world where real people dying for the sake of entertainment is fine, maybe not everyone enjoys it or think it's morally okay, but enough people like it and it's not illegal to watch people literally get physically and psychologically tortured on TV

b) are under the impression it's also fake. They still see the whole "reality breaking" things. But it's presented as completely fictional, maybe Showfall even let's the more successful characters live semi-normal lives in their off-time to give the full illusion all these people are really just actors.

c) a world that's not even remotely parallel to our own in any form, maybe not even inhabited by humans. After all, Hetch makes references to the fact he runs this show for years far longer than a natural human lifespan

d) all of the above separately, we are being told we're getting a viewpoint into infinity. And Hetch clearly has all the time in the world to make any kind of show he wants, as long as it fulfills the purpose the Founder have him.

And ah shit now that I'm reading this again I just noticed they refer to our world as "one of the few we can entertain". Nope not unpacking that here, I still only gave 3 possibilities and when compared to literally "infinity" that still falls under "one of the few".

[moonspirit]

hello, i’m back, i was just wondering what you think eren said to the others in the paths. we saw armins and mikasas but not the other scouts/warriors. you’re pretty much the only writer on tumblr that doesn’t intimidate me so i asked you 👍 (your wife needs to be tied to a tree)

Hello again behyuu xD But please! Don't fear clouds, she's just a smol smol! Go befriend her!

But this is a really interesting question; I've thought about it a few times, and more along the likes of: "what is the kind of relationship Eren shares with these people?"

(Edit; this became incredibly long 🥲)

I think there are people Eren would and wouldn't have talked to, really. In the latter category falls Levi, imo. But that takes off on another tangent entirely, so for now we'll stick to the rest.

To Reiner, I like to believe Eren would've shown him an alternate reality of what happened in Liberio, perhaps one where he doesn't transform, and instead has a long conversation with him where both of them are offered something akin to "forgiveness" by one another.

These two are parallels to each other in that mutual sense of crippling guilt that came with carrying out the destruction of each other's homelands, not out of hatred, but simply because they needed to do it, in order to achieve something bigger. Reiner, because he wanted to fix his family and become an honorary Marleyan to rid himself of the shame. Eren, because his "peaceful world" for lack of a better word, was turned upside down and trampled upon - though in the end, it was just his selfish and violent nature that set him off on this path. Reiner and Eren understand each other in a way that others don't - neither wanted to do what they did. But they did do it, and that sin will simply be too massive to contain. But Reiner lives despite not wanting to, and Eren dies despite not wanting to, and they are split into two different worlds by the end.

Tl;dr - They talk about how, in another world, where maybe there aren't titans, Eren would've continued to admire Reiner as he did before Trost. And Reiner would cry. End of story.

With Pieck, I hc that the conversation would've been short. Pieck is a very interesting character, imo, because she's literally the most grounded of all the scouts and warriors. She owes no allegiance to Marley, nor Paradis, doesn't have an ulterior motive and is basically stuck watching the doomed world from the ground. There is no solution for her - she as an Eldian will be used by Marley and killed in Paradis - she's literally the only character who understands this from the very beginning. That said, her impression of Eren is, simply put, that of an immature child running riot (incidentally, this is also what Levi probably thinks). If we take into account the fact that her first meeting with Eren was one where she tried to fool him by channelling her (fake) solidarity with Paradis and rejecting her Marleyan upbringing, what lies between these two characters is the anger of being born on different sides of the wall. Eren's actions also resulted in Pieck losing pretty much everybody she knows. As such, I believe what could've transpired between them in the paths, would've been an apology from Eren for destroying Liberio, for killing Udo and Zofia, and telling her maybe, that had these suffocating walls between them never existed, perhaps they would've been peaceful strangers, passing by on the streets now and then.

With Jean and Connie, the conversation would've been very difficult. Sasha. How do you talk about Sasha and forgiveness in the same sentence? So Eren was tortured by his fate, by having to see everything play out as he'd seen it, without any change, and Sasha's death was one of the many terrible consequences - doesn't negate the fact that it still happened only because he "chose" this path. All the people in the 104th truly have an incredibly tight bond - it is what makes it all the more painful knowing that Eren drifted away until he had to be killed by the very same group of people. I like to imagine Jean and Connie beat him up, really. Among the many female characters in SnK, Sasha was someone with an incredibly pure soul - she cared about people and food and fun - and her death was catastrophic. Eren's selfishness caused it, there's no other way to put it. There's also the dynamic between Jean and Eren - that love-hate rivalry that was so sad to see end. And so I want to believe Jean and Connie just keep pummeling him until they're all tired and they stare at the sunset, reminiscing on all the times Eren was a reckless piece of shit.

Falco and Gabi then. The former will honestly carry the guilt of ferrying Mr. Kruger's letters to and fro, during Eren's homeless era. In this respect, I like to think that Eren will tell him not to carry it, to blame it all on him, because he's the one that lied and made him do it. What can possibly be worse than willingly inflicting guilt on a child as young as he once was? Let Eren be cool for once, and offer this reassurance. How Falco deals with it as he grows up, is another story. As for Gabi - the textbook example of brainwashing, she is a splitting image of Eren in so many ways. Eren however, did not allow himself to find the acceptance that Gabi did. And so perhaps what he tells her, is that he's glad. Glad that she joined the alliance to stop him. It's enough that there's one Eren in the world.

Who's left?

Ah. Annie.

This is honestly very interesting to me because, first of all, I just know that the minute Eren opens his mouth in Paths, Annie's knee is going to dislocate his jaw. She has not one iota of sympathy for this pathetic loser causing so much trouble, making her fight when she didn't want to, but because he dragged his dearest friend (and her future husband ffs) into the chaos. He wasn't. Letting. Her. Be. In. Peace. Oh she's going to snap a few bones and put them in a blender, I know it, I know it!

But jokes aside! Annie and Eren are also, a bit similar in some respects. Both are selfish, incredibly so, it's only that their end goals are vastly different in scale. At the same time, they are also both people who care for their loved ones, even if they don't openly show it. They see themselves as monsters, but are loved by the people around them nevertheless. Annie never really had anything like a real childhood, and the concept of having friends was something unnecessary and foreign in her terrible upbringing. I really think that it was only in Paradis that she found comfort, some warmth, what food tastes like when shared with people that treated her more or less the same as anybody else, and so learned to open up (very slightly). But still having a wall around her to keep potential threats at bay and to conserve her energy, it must've felt quite special when Eren appreciated her fighting skills and even took them to heart, making an effort to learn for himself. At a time when she probably prided herself on her strength and fighting prowess alone and nothing else, that could've been incredibly validating.

She didn't hate Eren. She thought of him as a moron, but she didn't hate him. She didn't really hate anybody, the way Eren also never "truly" hated anybody. They were just forced at each other's throats by his choice. We have to remember that Eren also didn't find it easy to accept that Annie was the FT. He did really look up to her and admire her.

I like to think he understood her dedication to sticking to her mission, not as being loyal to Marley, but for a reason more personal (not sure if he could've known about her father, post gaining his future memories..?) and that, that in itself, isn't wrong. Eren's selfishness also stems from an incredibly personal desire after all.

So what would they talk about? Maybe he'd tell her she should continue to be selfish. Because her desires, unlike his own, are harmless. And also drop hints about how his, um, his best friend Armin, is very smart and also very hot and maybe she'd like to... Um... Idk? <3

Whew 🥲

Edit2: I forgot Historia. Idk, considering she'd just given birth and was probably conked out with exhaustion, it's nice to think he'd have just watched her holding her baby, sadly, whispered "You're free" and then disappeared.

[natalisdragon]

IS THERE ANY ADULT?

I have released some ideas on Twitter lately, but when I realized that there was a common thread, it seemed like a good idea to put them together to organize them better(and maybe expand a little).

The way Bucchigiri approaches the "adult world" is something to say the least curious when you think about it. The gangs seem to be in their own reality, where everything related seems relatively distant. However, what is striking is that despite this, the anime doesn't completely rule them out, it recognizes their influence on their daily lives, and not only that, but also the great importance of adult guidance, with Arajin and Matakara being a clear example of this

Arajin was raised by his mother (we have no information regarding his father) who we can see has always been there for him, giving him her love and guidance, which we see by how she bequeaths him her cooking skills, a curious mix between independence and giving love/affection, key elements to mature as a person (being serious/Honki in a way)

But in the case of Matakara, everything indicates that he was a child raised by another (Mitsukuni) and that inevitably creates a gap between him and other kids his age, especially having grown up in a house where both brothers never felt comfortable, which is easy to notice by their desire to get out of there.

There is something I want to make clear, so far, it doesn't seem that the relationship between the Asamine brothers and their relatives was conflictive or hostile , but some tension can be felt, so I cannot assume that they had bad intentions, but it doesn't seem they did a lot to make both children feel welcome and safe, which can be seen in several details, such as the little (or no) interaction between them and Matakara

Or how, unlike Arajin, his lunches are not homemade, but bought and although it may not seem like it, this says a lot, because both houses are also family businesses in which they have to serve several clients, from what it seems to me that this parallelism is intentional and to make us see that despite coming from similar backgrounds, the treatment that Arajin and Matakara receive from the adults they live with is very different.

This is when food "speaks" in Bucchigiri, because it translates not only as affection, but also warmth of home, therefore, safety(There's already an analysis of this specific topic for those who may be interested). It's an interesting way to telling us (along with his oppressive room) that Matakara never had that while growing up.

Because no matter how hard Mitsukuni tried, he wasn't a father, not even an adult, he was another child, one who must also have his own scars after everything that happened, someone who was trying to play a role for which he was clearly not prepared. The fact that he doesn't know how to cook is a good way to represent it, because it's a skill linked to independence and therefore to adulthood.

In fact, it is very curious that Arajin is coincidentally the only one of all the young characters who knows how to cook, because something similar happens with Mahoro, who cooks for her brother who is in the hospital, but it is evident that she is not good at it, which which could indicate (at least based on what has already been said) that she has not had that guidance from the adults around her either.

However, we still have something else to address, we have already seen that even if it's subtle, Bucchigiri doesn't rule out the importance of adults as guiding figures, but just as this is pointed out, a line is also crossed, making it very clear to us that although There are adults like Yayako or Ken who can be trusted, there are also those who take advantage of young people, doing a lot of damage in the process.

Let's not forget the police officer who was trying to distribute drugs using members of Minato kai and probably other kids in the area, a situation for which Mitsukuni had to assume the consequences of taking the lead and putting a stop to it with his own hands, having to leave his brother behind in the process(reminding us of the harsh reality that exists in Honki city in the process).

And of course Ichiya is not spared, we are talking about someone who took advantage of an emotionally unstable teenager in his most vulnerable state to achieve his revenge against Senya, subjecting him to manipulation and emotional abuse, also using Matakara's pain as basically fuel. Situation that would have had the worst possible outcome if it weren't for Arajin managing to save his friend in time, but removing the supernatural factor, not all young people in real life are so lucky.

But leaving that aside, I think that both "genies" do something important, showing that adults are not perfect and that in a certain way they have not finished "growing" at all, in the sense that they are people who can still learn, commit mistakes, that can hide things from you, even if their intentions are not bad at all(Senya) or understand that their bad actions may have a root (Ichiya). Something quite curious, because like being Honki, maturity/adulthood is something that is sometimes diffuse and not entirely clear.

Although it wasn't the main theme, and it is certainly somewhat in the background, the "adult world" in Bucchigiri is still present throughout the anime in various details if you pay attention. There are still some things left, Mitsukuni and Ken seem to me to be characters that should be talked about separately, because their role as young adults seems to function as a kind of midpoint between the "world of gangs" and the "adult world", as well as maturity and the sense of duty, that is a key element for both.

[alkeneater]

virtual insanity (E!2080 drabble) 😵

ughhhh wellll just saying ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE and i'm not a good writer so i wrote this because this idea was scratchin my head from inside and i wanted to get rid of it 💙

also this fic is not that angsty as i thought it's going to be, it's KINDA FUNNY TO ME I was laughing my ass off when i translated this shit

okay enjoy if you wanna <3 and yeah Jamiroquai reference 😁

“Are you a loser? A loser that doesn’t have any friends? Your life seems boring and full of disappointments? Not anymore if you purchase a VR-headset by Parallel! The organic design and convenient shape will allow you to spend hours in virtual worlds, and the augmented reality mode will embellish your miserable life!“

“That commercial again…” Joan heard familiar sounds as she walked past the room where Confucius was slowly scrolling through FlipFlop™ on his Holoband™. “Can’t you just block it? Adblock was invented a long time ago. You're into this stuff, aren't you?”

“Joan, you don’t get it!” Confucius jumped up from the sofa and approached the girl. “Thanks to commercials I can easily decide where to spend my money!”

“I wish I had your problems. But your purchases often turn out to be useless.”

“What makes you think that?”

“That laser can opener has been in the closet for a month and no one uses it. We don't even eat canned food!”

“Hey, I saw Gandhi using it!”

“He used this thing to shoot at the drones.”

Confucius thought about it and stared at the floor. Joan was about to go on with her business, but suddenly the guy exclaimed:

“But my next purchase will definitely appeal to everyone! You'll see!”

He did finger guns, expecting support from the girl, but she sighed heavily and went away. 

A couple of days later, a drone with a small box arrives at the door of the house. Confucius quickly runs to take the package.

“Everyone over here! This day has come!!!”

“You bought chips?” Gandhi, smiling broadly, ran to his friend's call. 

“Hollywood's calling me?!” Harriet exclaimed from the kitchen. 

“The shadow government's been destroyed?!” Abe looked out from the second floor.

“You stopped ordering shit from AnyExpress?” Joan crossed her arms and went to the front door.

“Better, better, better! I bought us a VR-headset!” Confucius clutched the box to his chest as if it was his own son, “This thing is going to change our lives!” 

The clones looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Only Gandhi remained in a good mood, who always liked Confucius's purchases. 

When Confucius quickly adjusted the headset (which did not require much skill and knowledge, the design turned out to be quite simple even for an ordinary user), he started testing it. The others watched the process with interest, except for Joan, who was skeptical about technology, and Topher, who preferred to be away from the whole team. Confucius looked very funny: wearing a glowing blue headset, gloves and anklets, he moved awkwardly around the room and talked to himself. But from his perspective, it looked like an exciting game. After removing this thing from his head, he turned to the clones and exclaimed:

“This is fire! You should all try it!!”

“Can I be next?? Please?!” Gandhi ran up to the device, wanting to try it out as soon as possible. 

Abe and JFK were sitting next to each other on the couch.

“It looks fun, but I'm not sure I'll use it often,” Abe mumbled as he watched Gandhi running around the room with his new toy. 

“You're just a bore, this thing, err-ehh, it looks great. I would love to play some VR games right now!“ Kennedy was already interested and was waiting for his turn.

“That’s right, you can play any game on this baby!” Confucius squeezed in between them, “I'm sure you'll all find a use for it.”

“What use can I find for this thing? I don't really like videogames.”

“That's because, ehhh, he sucks at videogames,” JFK jokingly whispered to Confucius. 

“Well, let's just say this headset is capable of simulating anything, just write a couple of commands. Even the gen Epsilon can do this,” Confucius rolled his eyes and grinned. 

“Actually, we are the gen Epsilon,” Harriet was standing next to him, leaning on the coffee table, “Are you saying it can simulate anything?”

“Anything!”

“Even... hmm... the interior of the palace from the fifth episode of the eighth seas-”

“YEAH!” Confucius did not even listen to the end, being sure that his purchase was capable of anything and even more. 

“I don't know…” Abe looked at the window, “I like our reality too. I have real friends here, a real life. They are much better than this artificial one. Yeah, Gandhi?” he turned towards his friend.

“GUYS, I'M IN OUTER SPACE RIGHT NOW! HOLY SHIT, I'M A DRAGON, RAHH! DON'T DISCONNECT ME, IT'S THE BEST THING EVER!!!”

Abe frowned. Apparently, he is really a bore, since he does not understand the delights of this device. 

***

For the next few days, everything in the shelter-house was the same as always: the clones went outside to look for their friends, sometimes fought with the shadow police and quite often spent time at home in each other's company, enjoying free will. After 16 years of prison-like regime, every hour of free time felt like a two-month vacation in Hawaii. 

One day, after another grueling battle, the “Old School” returned home very battered and tired, and barely dragging their feet, most of them immediately went to bed. However, Abe was the only one who felt uneasy. Even anxious. He really needed someone to talk to and vent his emotions after a brutal fight. But Joan and Cleo were not in the mood for heart-to-heart conversations, Gandhi was sleeping like a log, and JFK was lying next to him. 

“John, are you asleep?” Abe looked into the bedroom on the second floor, which for some reason had a lot of beds. Perhaps the previous owners of the house had many children. 

“Ehh... yes.”

“I just wanted to…”

“Bro, I’ll, err-uhh, die if I don’t sleep!”

“...talk.”

“Later, okay?!” Kennedy growled, and Abe closed the door softly with a guilty expression on his face.

It’s not the first time he’s been left alone with his thoughts.

He trudged into the room, where Confucius was currently playing with his headset. Lincoln plopped down on his favorite blue couch and looked sadly at the window, not noticing his friend. He could still hear his conversations with one ear.

“...You have the wisdom of generations, bro. You're absolutely right, I will do that! See you later!” a smile appeared on Confucius' face and he took off the headset. 

“Who were you talking to?”

“Me? My clonefather, of course!”

Lincoln raised an eyebrow and turned to his friend in disbelief:

“How's that?”

“Dude, did you forget? This thing can do absolutely anything! I was just chatting with my clonefather in virtual reality. However, these technologies are not really new, teenagers were doing something like that 60 years ago.”

“Can I, well... do it too?” Abe’s eyes lit up. 

“Of course! Jump in, I'll introduce you quickly,” he beckoned him closer. 

Abe couldn't help but smile. Can he finally see the one who inspired him all his life? Talk to him, feel his presence? It all sounded like something unreal. 

However, it was unreal.

Abe felt the soft ear pads, the gloves clinging to his palms, and heard the anklets snap on his legs. Everything turned blue in his eyes, only the silhouette of Confucius was visible, he was waving his hands and explaining something. At first, Lincoln felt anxious, but after a short briefing, he got used to the device and finally entered commands so that the image he had wanted to see for so long appeared in front of him. Confucius nodded and left the clone alone with his virtual ancestor.

“Is-Is that you? Mr. President?” 

Abe could see a large empty space in front of his eyes, with a tall figure wearing a top hat. A familiar silhouette came closer: 

“Just call me Lincoln. It's good to see you, son.”

The guy was confused, not knowing what to do next. It wasn't every day that he got to talk to someone whose DNA he inherited. And the man with the thick beard continued to squint his eyes and smile good-naturedly. 

“I, I, I just wanted to talk to you. Can I? I promise I'll be brief.” 

Abraham nodded. The clone looked around and realized that he had forgotten to generate the location, decided not to bother and chose something from the “recommended” section built into the device. The space blinked and after a moment both found themselves in a wooden cabin in the middle of the forest, with some furniture inside and a fireplace burning. 

“Reminds me of the days of my youth... I used to live in a cabin like this,” the man sighed and sat down on a bench near the window.

Abe sat down next to him, still not believing what was happening to him. He has long been used to the weight of the headset on his head, he has stopped feeling the gloves, he has completely immersed himself in this charming virtual world.

“I, I, I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I?” the clone came to his senses.

“I know your name, Abe. You are…”

“I'm your clone. A copy. Genetic or something.” 

“Interesting.”

The guy sighed and still decided to interrupt this awkward conversation to finally get to the point.

“There's so much I'd like to discuss with you, but I don't know where to start.… I'm always so anxious and scared, and I don't even know who to talk to about it. I would like to become a great leader like you. You probably weren't afraid of anything and knew how to do everything. And I'm just... a nobody.”

“Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm sure you'll have a great future.”

Abe looked down at the wooden floor: 

“If that future ever comes at all” 

***

It's been a long time since Lincoln put on the headset. “Old school” had already had time to rest, Harriet and the other girls had watched all sorts of TV shows, and the guys had discussed every topic in the world. Gandhi was eagerly waiting for his turn to play with the headset. Kennedy, who was already beginning to worry about his buddy immersed in virtual reality, was waiting as well. He decided to visit Abe again and went into his room without knocking.

“Are you done? We're already tired of, err-ehh, waiting for you! How long has it been? One hour? Two?”

Abe continued to sit on the floor and mumble something under his breath, clearly talking to someone who was not in this room. JFK was so irritated, his hands involuntarily clenched into fists. 

“I'm, ehh, talking to you!” he raised his voice, causing his friend to flinch. 

“Uh, John? I'm sorry, I just-just a couple more minutes, I need to talk to Abraham Lincoln…” 

“You said the same thing about 30 minutes ago!” 

“The conversation got a little long, that's okay!” 

“You're out of your mind…”

Kennedy sighed so heavily he could be heard on the first floor. He sat down next to Abe on the floor and waited, unwittingly eavesdropping on what the clone was saying.

“Huh, yeah, that sounds so much like me. I worry a lot too...”

“Sometimes I feel lonely…”

“I'll never be like you, I'm just a loser. That's what I've always been told...”

After a couple minutes, John began to realize what Abe was talking to his virtual interlocutor about. He's just sharing his feelings, pouring his heart out. He just needed a little attention. 

“Yeah? Sometimes I feel like no one can really hear me...” 

John placed his palm on Abe's palm, squeezing it a little. He tried to feign indifference, but he barely succeeded in hiding the emotion with which he listened to his friend's voice. The tall guy, on the other hand, barely reacted and continued to talk loudly to the void. What Kennedy wanted more than anything right now was what Abe and his virtual clonefather had. Mutual support. 

“I am so lucky to be able to talk to you right now, I am so honored!”

After sitting like that for a few more minutes, he gently releases his hand and gets back on his feet. 

“Okay, I'm, ehh, gonna go.” 

There was no response. 

Kennedy returned to his friends on the first floor.

“Is he done yet?” Gandhi crossed his arms and frowned. 

“I don't like it,” Joan added, “it's too bad for him.” 

Confucius waved his hand:

“It's perfectly safe! I know you don't like all this innovation, but that's no reason to-”

“You know, let's just leave him alone. Why don't we go to the, ehh, pizzeria? Confucius, it's on you!” JFK feigned indifference, wanting to change the subject as soon as possible.

“Oh yes, let's go!” the others replied almost in unison.

The door slammed, and the house was empty. Only a voice from a room on the second floor broke the silence.

***

It took a few more hours before everyone returned home after a delicious dinner at the pizzeria. John was so engrossed in conversations with his friends and the delicious food that he almost forgot about what was waiting for him at home. 

He was the first one inside, turned on the light and hurried into Abe's room. What he saw made him fearful for a split second: Lincoln was lying on the floor, pale, but still barely audibly talking.

“Yeah... I don't know…”

“Abe?! What the hell?!” Kennedy instantly dropped down beside his friend and lifted his head, “Do you even take breaks from this shit?!” 

“Maybe… Huh…” 

JFK really didn't want to do that, but he slapped Abe’s face. One earpiece shifted and now Abe could clearly hear what was happening in his reality. 

“Ouch. That hurts,” Lincoln rubbed his cheek with the palm and tried to fix his earpiece, “Technical problems, I'll be right back…”

“No, you won’t! Take it off already! Ehhh, come on!” he started pulling the headset off.

“No, WAIT!” Abe began grasping at the device as if his life depended on it, “Please, don’t, I'm not finished! I’m fine, I swear!”

“FINE?!” he pulled it harder in his direction, “I found you on the floor, pale, mumbling something to yourself. You look like a zombie!” 

Abe was already losing his grip, so he put his hands down and let it happen. 

“Goodbye, clonefather. Sorry that…”

The headset finally slips off the clone's soaked head and falls to the floor. John saw Abe’s red eyes, his forehead wet with sweat, his hair messy, his skin paler than usual, dark circles under his eyes. It's a terrible sight.

“…I didn't finish,” Abe said softly.

“Holy shit, you're really, ehh, nuts.”

Lincoln tried to avoid eye contact while JFK stared shocked at his friend. 

“You're crazy, Abe, you're really crazy.” 

“What? Me?” 

“Do you know how long you've been sitting here?!” 

“A c-couple hours?... We just got back from a m-mission?” 

“That was LAST NIGHT!” 

“Last… what?”

Tears welled up in Abe's eyes. Either from the fact that his eyes hurt or from the realization. Or maybe he missed his toy. 

“You know you can always talk to me, right?” Kennedy started shaking him by the shoulders to keep him from passing out right in his arms. 

“But you all were so tired, I didn't want to disturb you…”

“Look, if talking to me saves you from that, uhhh, wire shit, then sleep can wait.” 

“John, it wasn't just wire shit, my clonefather was there... The real one…” 

“He's not real, you stupid! YOU are real and WE are real.” 

Abe lay down on the carpet, JFK sat down next to him and began gently removing his gloves and other stuff. 

“You're such a bore…” Abe smirked tiredly.

Kennedy furrowed his eyebrows, but really couldn't even be mad at him. 

“And you're an idiot.”

Both of them were so nervous they laughed, which made John fall to the floor next to Abe. 

“And you said you wouldn't even use that thing! You're Not So Honest Abe! Haha!”

“Haha, indeed!” 

“Guys,” a familiar voice sounded nearby, “Are you both crazy?” 

Joan, Confucius and Gandhi had been standing in the doorway for the last five minutes and had seen the culmination of everything that had happened. The guys looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. 

“Looks like it! Pure virtual insanity,” Abe chuckled.

“Oh, it's just like that old song!” Confucius said.

John got on his feet and reached out to Abe:

“Come on, ehh, let's talk.”

Abe caught his arm and stood up.

“Maybe next time? I'm really sleepy…” he looked at him guiltily. 

JFK nodded.

“Okay, just don't give me that look. You know I wouldn't trade you for, err-ehh, virtual reality, bro.” 

“I believe you.”