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tkomptgoedluv · 19 hours ago

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tear you apart.

grumpycafeworkervampire! joost x f! reader

tags: dead dove do not eat, f! reader, internetcafe & vampire au, very much the ‘he hates everyone but her’ trope, even more so the ‘who did this to you?’ trope, reader’s boyfriend is an asshole and deserves everything he gets, joostie has a crush and it’s bad, light stalking, hurt angst and comfort all in one, all characters are dutch and speak in dutch but dialogue is written in english for obvious reasons.

word count: 5,040.

warnings: descriptions of an un-specific mental illness, cheating, descriptions of self harm, mentions of & scenes of DV, violence, gore, rpf.

notes: hello!! thank you guys so much for waiting on this even though it’s been over a month since we all lost our minds a little over vampire joost. i’m very proud of this one, even if the ending is kind of rushed, and i may or may not have already planned out parts 2 & 3 as well so please lemme know if you want a series out of this! (if you don’t say yes then juno might kill you btw). this fic also comes with a MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNING so please read at your own risk and stay safe!

love you all lots — enjoy!! 💋

── ⋆⋅ ♰ ⋅⋆ ──

the whole point of joost setting up his little internet cafe was that he needed something simple, for a while. something quiet, something normal. he needed to get away from his life with the band, and away from all of the blood and guts that came right along with it. for once, he wanted to be invisible.

that’s what the cafe was supposed to do for him; become an escape, of sorts. he wanted to spend all day, everyday, sat behind that desk of his, with earphones in his ears and a magazine in his hands. if someone needed help with one of the computers or something, then he’d do so, but only with a roll of his eyes and a scowl on his face. anything more than that and he’d flip them off, flash his fangs at them maybe, and laugh as they’d run out the door, screaming.

he didn’t want to talk to these people, his customers — a lot of them he actually couldn’t stand. they were messy and far too loud for his liking, always leaving their rubbish on the floor and shouting at each other. but at the very least they were simple, so he could handle teaching them how to find youtube and cleaning up after them if it meant that they’d all leave him alone. besides, he still had his ways of disposing of the ones that just wouldn’t behave themselves.

but then you had to come along, didn’t you?

you, with your big sad eyes and your soft, soft smile that was such a rarity to see. this plan of his, you were ruining it and you didn’t even know it.

joost could never admit it to himself, but he was a little infatuated with you. all you ever did was just sit in the corner, as far away from everyone else as you could possibly get, and stare at the computer screen until your eyes would grow too heavy. it made you such a stark contrast to the rest of them that joost couldn’t help but feel something towards you, even if he wouldn’t show it.

he found himself quickly learning your routine, making a note of how you only ever came in at night, no earlier than nine o’clock, and always left before the early hours of the morning. he had no choice but to notice how you always had the same heartbroken look on your face, with red-rimmed eyes and a frown pulling down at your lips. and he could never ignore how you only ever seemed to wear clothes that were at least a few sizes too big for you, always drowning in the fabric of old hoodies and sweatpants.

all of these little things that he couldn’t stop himself from knowing about you…well it was all a little bit weird, wasn’t it? because joost, he was yet to speak to you, to even acknowledge you, really. only when your back was turned would he ever dare to glance in your direction, and even then it was quick, only ever from the corner of his eye.

whatever this was, this thing joost had for you, it was starting to blur the lines between a normal, human crush and borderline stalking. that was why no matter what, it could never be anything more than just a few glances here and there. no matter what, he had to stay away.

joost wanted simple, and you just weren’t that.

but like all of his other plans, you had to go and ruin that one too, because then you started to smell.

not of anything bad, of course, just of blood. and to joost, everyone smelt like blood to some extent; it was one of the many consequences of his particular…lifestyle. he should’ve been used to it by then. the sweet, sweet smell of you shouldn’t have almost knocked him off of his chair when you walked in that day.

at first he just assumed it was nature taking its course; you were a girl after all, and it explained the constant grimace on your face. but after a week, the smell hadn’t gone away — now four months later, it was still there. if anything, it was only getting stronger.

like tonight, there you were, sat in your usual spot right by the window, and joost could smell it. he could barely concentrate on reading his magazine the way it was making his head spin and his heart race. for a human,

a scent like that wasn’t normal; despite his better judgment, joost found himself worrying about you.

even more so when you started to cry at your desk.

your head was down and your hands were hiding your face, muffling the sound. no one else around you could hear it, they were too engrossed in playing their silly little video games to really notice. but joost wasn’t like them, was he? he could hear it. he could hear it over the sound of a ‘SUM 41’ song playing on full blast in his ears, in fact.

it made him freeze in his seat, his hands grip the pages of his ‘SPICE’ magazine a little too tightly. then he looked over at you only because he knew that you wouldn’t see it, and caught a glimpse of your shoulders shaking slightly. the sight alone made his eyebrows crease and his knuckles turn white, but it was your small gasp of breath that made him growl.

everyone’s head turned at the sound as the click-clacking of the keyboards ceased, and suddenly joost had sixteen pairs of eyes all staring at him. the only one that hadn’t looked up was you, who merely flinched at the sudden noise as you finally lowered your hands, only to wipe your nose and go back to staring at your computer screen.

in slow movements, joost slammed his magazine down and kicked his feet up off of his desk, muttering a low ‘we’re closing, everyone get out.’ with a cigarette still hanging from his lips. when nobody moved he rose from his chair and stubbed out his cig into his garfield-shaped ashtray, his jaw clenched and eyes narrowed.

that was all it took to get everyone up, shoving their shit into their pockets, and heading out the door. you went to stand as well, having already pulled your hood well up over your head in preparation for the hard-falling rain outside. but you stopped when you heard the guy at the reception desk clear his throat not just once but twice, his attention only on you as everybody else made their exits.

“not you, grey hoodie. you stay.”

joost could hear a ringing in his ears from how silent the room became once the last person had left, the cafe door swinging shut behind them, it’s sign now reading ‘closed: come again soon!”

there was a certain…hesitation behind the way that he moved closer to you. behind the way that he grabbed a new cigarette from his pack, letting it dangle between his lips as he pulled up a chair next to you. the absolute last thing that he wanted was to wind up scaring you, somehow, even if the look on your face told him that you already were.

joost could see you shaking, could see all of the tears welling up in your eyes no matter how many times you tried to blink them away. he could hear your heart hammering away inside your chest, the rush of warm blood inside your veins. for once, maybe for even the first time, joost was starting to regret having the reputation that he did.

“i know i’m not exactly known for my ‘outstanding customer service’, but i just want to make sure that you’re okay.” he paused only to take a drag of his cigarette, the ash falling down and dirtying the denim of his jeans. “are you okay?”

no, you really weren’t.

without a word you turned away to press the ‘on’ button of your computer screen, its cold, blue light casting a dark shadow across your face. it showed him exactly what you had been looking at before you’d tried to leave, having forgotten to properly log out first. whilst the receptionist leaned forward and squinted at the screen, you let your head hang low to hide the fresh tears that burned along your waterline.

you’d been scrolling through facebook rather aimlessly when you came across the picture. at first, you thought that it was just an old one someone had reshared simply for nostalgia sake; one of those ‘on this day five years ago’ type things. then you had seen that it had only been posted an hour ago, so you tried convincing yourself that it wasn’t actually him in the photo — even though he’d been tagged in the fucking thing.

whether you could accept it or not, it was very much him. it was him sucking on the neck of your best friend, at a party he insisted that you couldn’t go to.

“what exactly am i looking at here?”

but to joost, it was just a picture of what he guessed was a house party. the girls were half dressed, the guys were clutching onto their beer cans, and nobody in sight looked sober. not exactly something worth crying over, he thought.

“that’s uh, that’s my boyfriend right there…and that’s my best friend next to him.”

he didn’t say anything for a minute; he didn’t really know what to say. joost just kept glancing back and forth between you and the computer screen, with his lips ever so slightly parted and the cigarette between his fingertips long forgotten about. he understood it now, and couldn’t blame you for any of the tears running down your cheeks anymore.

“for what it’s worth, i’m sorry. dude’s a fucking scumbag for doing that to you.”

you merely chuckled, the laugh coming out all dry and hoarse. “you have no idea.”

it was a small comment, maybe just your own way of saying ‘yeah, i know’, but something about your choice of words made joost frown. he didn’t like the gut feeling it gave him, nor did he like the way he saw you flinch again, this time at the way he raised his hand, though only to toss his now burnt-out cigarette into the bin.

it was making him think, making him realise that, that definitely wasn’t the first time you’d reacted to something so minuscule like that. how even the slightest of movements normally had you ducking your head and cowering, with your shoulders all bunched up by your ears. and it was making him wonder if there was maybe another reason behind the clothes that you wore, besides how you just ran a little colder than the average person.

the crease in joost’s eyebrows deepened as he swivelled his seat more to face you rather than the computer, and rested a careful hand on your knee. as you looked up, he swapped his frown for a smile that you just about managed to mirror.

“i’m here if you wanna talk about anything, okay? i’m joost.”

when you told him your name back, he acted as though he hadn’t know what it was already.

the sudden ringing of your phone cut through the soft silence like a jagged knife, the sound of your shitty, pirated ‘AFI’ ringtone bringing a genuine smile to joost’s face as he got up to walk away. it was merely a formality at this point, stepping away to give someone a bit of ‘privacy’ whilst they took a phone call. joost could be all the way across the street and he’d still hear it, whether he was trying to or not.

although admittedly, this was one he was purposefully trying to eavesdrop on. he caught a glimpse of the caller ID — saw the bright red love heart next to the name ‘levi’. since it matched the name tagged in the photos, it was a safe assumption to presume it was the boyfriend calling.

he hoped to hear the guy grovel, begging on his knees for your forgiveness or at the very least offering you some kind of explanation. anything to prove this gut feeling of his wrong. but even the shouting from the other end of the line made joost wince, his palms starting to sweat as he began tidying up the other desks.

it started out as just pure name calling, accusing you of facebook-stalking his friends and not trusting him, that you were ‘fucking crazy’ and a ‘stupid little bitch’. then it became about how he’d already made it clear that you weren’t to go to the cafe tonight, not under any circumstances, and he could see online that you were.

joost really did try to busy himself, tried to grit his teeth and bear with what he was hearing this asshole scream at you. he wasn’t supposed to have been listening, anyway. he was supposed to have been staying away, like he was always meant to.

but he just couldn’t take it though, could he? he couldn’t handle hearing this boyfriend of yours threaten to beat you black and blue, and not for the first time this week. he had to storm across the room and snatch the phone right out of your hands, flipping it shut to disconnect the call. honestly, he probably would’ve smashed the fucking thing had you not taken it back from him and slipped it into your trouser pocket.

“tell me he didn’t mean that.”

you weren’t given a chance to scold him for his eavesdropping, even though you weren’t entirely sure how he was able to hear your conversation in the first place. joost was already staring you down, his arms crossed and chest heaving as he towered over you. you could almost feel the anger he radiated; see the darkening of his eyes and flare of his nostrils.

it was no wonder that you couldn’t look at him; you didn’t have the guts to.

“tell me he doesn’t fucking hit you.”

you couldn’t.

you couldn’t lie to him like that. you weren’t quite sure why, you were lying to everybody else in your life about it. he wasn’t the first to ask you that kind of question, and he wouldn’t be the last, either. but you just didn’t have it in you to try and feed him the same old bullshit that you always fed anyone else that asks you about it. chances were, he wouldn’t have believed it anyway.

so instead, you showed him. still with your eyes focused on the wall behind him, you peeled off that god-awful hoodie and let it fall to the floor, leaving you to shiver in a thin, white t-shirt. it exposed each and every single one of the bruises that levi had given you, both old and new, as well as those half-a-dozen little cuts that you’d given yourself.

you felt joost’s fingertips trail along every single one of the marks, gently brushing along the skin of your arms and only stopping once he reached your wrists. he hesitated then, though only because he didn’t want to hurt you anymore than you already had yourself. it was with such a delicate hold that he took your arms in his hands, turning them over in the light just so that he could see it all a little easier.

“this wasn’t him, was it?”

you already knew what he was referring to and so you shook your head, still too scared to meet his eyes. if you had, you would’ve seen his own tears welling up in his.

this was what he had been smelling. all those spots of blood pooling underneath your skin, slowly turning into bruises. the thin, red lines that ran up and down each one of your arms; some old and scabbed over, some not. all of it, every single mark, was why he could always smell so much blood on you.

joost didn’t even know he still knew how to cry, it had been so long. he hadn’t shed a tear in years; not since way before the…change. and you were the reason that streak was broken now, because he soon found himself dropping your arms to wipe the wet from his face, further smudging the dark eyeliner around his eyes.

“fuck, okay, we’re gonna…there’s a pull-out bed in the back, we’re gonna make you a bed for the night — for as long as you need. you’re not going back there.”

he was pacing around as he rambled, wiping the snot from his nose as he did so. by the time you’d pulled your hoodie back on he had a whole plan laid out for you, the kind that had you moving into the cafe, sleeping in the staff room, never to see your boyfriend again.

it was getting harder and harder to believe that this was the same guy that you’d heard so many horror stories about. all the gossip, the whispers, the rumours, they all painted joost out to be some kind of monster. yet here he was in tears over you, doing laps of the room with his hands pulling at his hair in a panic, all because he knew your secret now. knew that you’d been dealing with enough monsters of your own to know that he wasn’t one.

“why do you care, joost?” your voice betrayed you as you spoke because with each word it waivered, coming out all cracked and broken until you could barely say anything at all. “you don’t know me.”

“i do! i mean, i know enough to know that a guy like that is gonna fucking kill you one day and that can’t happen, okay? it can’t. do you understand that?”

in a moment of weakness he made his way back over to you and placed his hands on either side of your face, gently tilting your head up so you had no choice but to look at him. under the warm, yellow lights of the cafe you could see every ounce of fear in his eyes, feel the shake in his hands as he tucked loose strands of hair behind your ears.

“i’m sorry. i know that this is a lot and you don’t really know me like that but i need you to trust me, liefde. i’m gonna keep you safe, i promise.”

just like that, every single one of those little promises that he’d made himself about staying away from you, gone.

you found yourself nodding before you’d really even given a thought to what it was you were actually agreeing to. just as long as joost kept looking at you like that, you’d probably agree to anything.

“okay, okay, that’s good. just…stay here, alright? i’ll be right back.”

you blinked, and you were alone.

the staff room door was open ajar now, with a dimmer, yellow light spilling out. there was a lot of faint rustling around; a few little bangs and crashes followed by some muffled swearing. besides that and the rain hitting against the cafe windows, it was silent — almost eerily so.

it gave you the space to actually try to understand what it was that was happening. joost was back there setting up that bed for you, turning the cafe's staff room into a makeshift bedroom, just as he promised. you wouldn’t be going home tonight, not tomorrow, maybe not ever. as for levi? it was hard to wrap your head around the fact that you weren’t ever going to see him again.

you took a seat back at your desk, closing each one of your tabs and logging out of whatever websites that you needed to. myspace, youtube, facebook; you had to stop and stare when that fucking picture popped up again.

calling her your best friend was a stretch, she was always more his friend than she ever was yours, but still, it stung. besides joost now, she was the only one who knew your secret, who’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time and seen him hit you so hard it knocked you clean off your feet. she still convinced you to stay, giving you the exact same excuses for it that levi did.

he was always stressed and going through something that you just wouldn’t understand, and you were always the one making him feel worse, so it really couldn’t be his fault then, could it?

you were just about to close that very last tab, the cursor hovering over the big red ‘x’ in the top right-hand corner, when the front door swung back open. the sudden ding of the electronic doorbell made you jump, as did the bang of the door frame slamming against the wall. you heard his voice before you saw him standing there on the worn-out welcome mat, soaking wet and seething.

“i fucking knew you were here.”

levi.

even from where you were sitting you could smell the alcohol on him, see the glazed-over look in his bloodshot eyes. peaking out from the collar of his jacket were small, dark hickies dotted all across his neck and there was a faint smudge of pink smeared across his bottom lip. he hadn’t even had the decency to clean himself up, to wipe the last speck of her literal fucking lipstick from off of his face.

“you little fucking bitch, what did i say to you, huh? i told you to stay home. why is it that you can’t ever fucking listen?”

“i’m not doing this with you, levi.”

he laughed at what you said, more so chuckled, darkly underneath his breath. he always found it funny when you tried to talk back to him, refusing to do whatever it was he demanded or throwing back any of his endless insults right back at him. it didn’t happen often because when it did, you’d pay for it.

“oh yeah? you’re not gonna ‘do’ this with me? who the fuck do you think you are to say that to me?” when you didn’t say anything else and turned away from him, deciding to instead face the now black screen of your computer, he continued. “cmon, get the fuck up, we’re going home.”

you didn’t move. you focused on your breathing, focused on the feeling of the grey cotton between your fingers as you played with the fraying threads of your hoodie’s sleeves.

“i’m not talking to myself here. i said get up!”

levi’s voice bellowed from all the way across the room and you could’ve sworn that it made the keyboards shake. still, you stayed exactly where you were, making it clear to him that you weren’t going to be going anywhere tonight — especially not home, especially not with him.

being ignored like this was almost worse than anything you could’ve possibly said back to him. you've never done that before, never tried to disobey him quite so outrightly. you had always been one to break as soon as he’d raise his voice, a shadow of a smirk curling the corners of his lips as he’d dare you to say whatever it was again.

only this time, you weren’t saying anything at all, and he really didn’t like that.

his strides over to you were so quick that you didn’t have any time at all to react before you were being yanked out of your seat and dragged back over to the door. you were tripping over all of the other chairs as you tried to pull your arm free, begging for him to stop and to let you go whilst he dug his nails deeper into the flesh of your forearm.

it hadn’t even occurred to you that the background noise of joost moving furniture around couldn’t be heard anymore, that the staff room door was no longer closed ajar and instead now wide open. it hadn’t even occurred to you, not until levi was being teared away from you, leaving behind a small rip in your hoodie and faint claw marks in your skin.

from where you were standing now, you couldn’t see much anymore. tall, broad shoulders became the barrier that separated you from levi, keeping you hidden away from him. you weren’t sure how long joost had been back there listening, how he was able to intervene so quickly or how he had the strength to toss your boyfriend almost to the other side of the room. you were just grateful for it, for him, and tightly clutched onto one of his arms so that he couldn’t disappear on you again.

“woah, what the fuck is this? who the fuck are you?”

levi had knocked into a couple of desks as he stumbled but eventually found his footing, his leather jacket hanging off of his shoulders from where joost had yanked at it. he shrugged it back on, eyes glued onto and glaring at the man you were cowering behind. neither of you expected him to start laughing like how he did, a deep, bitter chuckle that somehow made the air around you feel colder.

“so this is what she’s been doing here all this time, huh? been fucking around with some freak behind my back?”

“get out.”

there was no laughter in joost’s voice, no humour peaking through the cracks of his expression. there was only a silent begging behind his anger, a slight pleading in his words because joost already knew how this would end if levi didn’t turn on his heel and run.

but levi just wasn’t one to listen, was he?

instead he made a beeline for what was now your bedroom, supposedly, with no regard for the ‘staff only’ sign that was stuck to the door. without even taking a full step inside he could see the sofa bed that had been pulled out for you, decorated with scattered cushions and a messed up, old white duvet. it didn’t matter that it actually wasn’t what it looked like, because he’d already made his mind up and seeing that was all the ‘proof’ that he needed.

so levi wasn’t laughing anymore as he slowly turned around, now in a position where you were in his full view. he could see how you had yourself wrapped around joost’s arm, almost hugging it, and was starting to shrink under his gaze. he stared you both down for a moment before he locked eyes with you, his teeth gritted and jaw twitching.

“you fucking whore, you’re so fucking dead -”

he’d charged at you with one hand balled up into a fist and the other stretched out, a single finger pointing right at you. you jumped back and away from joost, your arms up and shielding your head as you turned away and readied yourself to feel it. a hard knee to the stomach, a sharp pull at your hair, something.

you only moved again when you heard a small whimper; an impossibly pathetic sound that you’d never heard before, but one that only levi could have made. you lowered your arms and raised your head, and immediately crashed into the desk behind you, choking on a cry that became lodged in your throat.

joost; sweet, misunderstood joost had his hand plunged inside levi’s chest, his fingers wrapped around and squeezing at his heart. those once soft blue eyes of his were now a deep, glowing shade of red, and as he grinned, you caught a glimpse of two long, sharp fangs. blood stained his lips and dribbled down his chin as he took a chunk out of levi’s neck, swallowing down every last piece of flesh and spitting out the odd little bone.

and he started to moan into it with each large gulp that he took, becoming so lost in the pleasure of it all that for just a moment, he seemed to forget that you were there. it had just been so long since he’d last indulged like this — feeling that warm rush of blood slide down the back of his throat, the heavy pulse of his prey slowly growing weaker and weaker.

joost didn’t stop until whatever was left of levi’s head was in one hand and his still heart was in the other, his body already turning cold at his feet. he easily could have stayed there for a little while longer, gone in for seconds and thirds perhaps, when he finally hears you. he hears you choking on your tears, on the single breath that you were holding.

you hadn’t been able to look away even though you had so desperately wanted to; you could feel the image of levi standing there all helpless, his mouth bobbing up and down as he tried so hard to scream out, burning into your eyes.

“liefde?…”

his voice was so gentle, sounding almost frightened, and yet you still jumped when joost finally spoke. he was just standing there staring at you, eyes all wide, with blood smeared across his face and splattered across his button-up shirt. even as he stood above the body parts of your boyfriend, joost somehow looked small now, like a dog that had been found chained to a fence for a few too many days.

for every step that he tried to take towards you, you took another five back, carefully inching your way closer and closer towards the front door as you did so. you could see it start to click in his head, the welling up of tears in his eyes as he glanced back and forth between you and the door.

“no no no, please, please don’t do that. i’m sorry, i’m so so sorry. please, i’m not gonna hurt you, please don’t go.”

joost took another step forward and you shrieked, bumping hard into the wall behind you, scraping your elbow against the brick. you hadn’t needed to say anything after that, hadn’t needed to beg for him to let you go because you watched him recoil, his hands held up in surrender.

you took one last look at levi, at what was left of him.

“fuck, i didn’t…i’m so sorry, liefde.”

and you ran, without ever looking back.

#joost klein #joost klein x reader #joost klein x f!reader #luvvergirlwrites

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sorry-not-feeling-it-right-now · 20 hours ago

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One thing about Smitten is that he is quite good at recognising the emotions of others, but this part of him is highly overlooked because of, well, his unhealthy attachment towards to princess. The only time he’s shown that part of his character is in the Thorn chapter, where he recognises the pain and self hatred Thorn has for herself and is 100 percent on team cutting her free from her bindings. He’s not even mad at Oppy siding with killing the Princess at all, as he just quickly forgives him and be like “oh water under the bridge”. With how protective he is over the Princess you’d think he’d be more angry at him, but he isn’t. Which is very interesting to me. One of the ways you can get Smitten in the Thorn route (aside from flirting) is to by recognise that the two of you are putting yourself in a cycle of pain, and then handing her the weapon (symbolising your trust) despite that, logically, you’d know that you would be stabbed. And yet he did that anyway.

The differences of the two versions of Smittens in HEA and Thorn lies in how much you know about the Princess. In Thorn, he’s seen how we’ve hurt her. He’s seen how much it had changed her, turning her into someone who is bitter and untrusting. So with he intention to redeem himself and to show that he is apologetic for what we’ve done, he gave her the implement (aka letting down his walls). For HEA however, he literally just met her. To get to HEA, he recognises that the Princess is upset with your decision of wanting the stay in the cabin forever. But because he(and by extension Quiet) fears being alone in an unfamiliar environment he pushes those doubts aside in order to make the both of you happy.

Both Smitten and Broken are emotionally open people, except when one sees the other upset his first instinct is to lift them back up and gently remind them that they’re worthy of love and kindness, while the other would sit down quietly with the other and listen to their woes.

(Reminds me of a fic that @/writingdevil wrote… it’s a poly fic between Smitten Broken and Oppy. Go read it. It’s really sweet)

I am on the team of “Smitten can become better if we just get him away from the Princess for a little while”. While his love and devotion for her is genuine, his fear of being alone that leads to his unhealthy need to please her and make her happy is. Something. Actually a lot of the Voices need some time out away from the Princess.

#Not me talking about them like they’re people #instead of just perspectives #I just want them to be happy ok #and develop into a person who is more complex and multifaceted #oughhhhh found family voice flock save me #slay the princess #black tabby games #stp #stp voices #slay the princess insight #voice of the smitten #stp voice of the smitten #stp smitten

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knuckle · 2 days ago

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On Helly R's fate and the tragedy of becoming Helena

As someone who does enjoy tragedy, the most interesting direction, and the one I feel the narrative supports is for Helly to eventually become Helena and for this to be a tragedy. "But wait," you might ask, "Isn't it narratively satisfying to delve into nurture vs. nature, and to explore Helly as a good and kind person, also to highlight the practices of the cult of Eagan? Wouldn't it be most satisfying to see her take control or possibly reintegrate with Helena in a way that preserves her morals and convictions?"

I will say no, I feel like this is wish fulfillment in the exact same way the racist segment of the fandom thought Gemma being alive was wish fulfillment. The practice and process of the severance procedure is meant to be horrific and terrifying. Due to the complexity of the brain implant, I find it personally difficult to think that severance can last without complications for a person's entire life. This would eventually turn into reintegration; I feel the neat "tuck away the other person" narrative is not one that can or should last. Knowing how much the brain chips can be messed with, I truly believe the best ending of the show ends in everyone reintegrating and the end of all severance. Where the innies all get to live on as memories of a person together.

We already know that the sadness and emotions of the innies/outies takes its toll on whatever personality is currently awake. Due to this, I believe even seemingly completely opposed personalities like Helena and Helly are actually just two ways the same personality manifests. Because of that, I believe the most narratively satisfying outcome (to me) is for Helly to essentially become the questioning/rebellious and moral phase that many conservatives had when they were younger. She will not disappear but those facets of her personality are part of what informs Helena as a person.

The process of losing a friend from your youth who came from a privileged background to the allure of power and prestige is something that's not depicted enough in media - at least not with characters we're meant to root for as much as Helly. I find that the fandom is generally in denial to a degree about Helena's privilege because they see her as just a victim. I've even seen comparisons of Helly and Gemma's situation when of course they are not the same. Lumon will never kill Helly, will never do anything to physically endanger her because she is ultimately their future.

It is the same as children who are born into wealthy families - they may face abuse, but it is not the same level as the people they have privilege over. So in this case, what happens if Helly and Helena reintegrate - whose morality would dominate, and whose memories and experiences would feel less important? I cannot help but feel that it would become a "phase" to Helly, that she would still find that despite the personal costs or her past experiences, she would believe in being part of a greater purpose and having a grand influence - because she would also have Helena's memories. If she does not "die" when she reintegrates to still make the choice to side with power, and for that choice to make sense. We have already seen Helly is willing to make great sacrifices if she believes in a mission, with all of Helena's years of perspective, would she believe in that same mission?

She would have the opposite arc of Milchick, who is (hopefully) coming to realize that Lumon oppresses and controls him as well, that he does not ultimately agree with its mission, that he is being used, and being treated in a racist way despite probably being like Ms. Cobel, indoctrinated into Lumon. If we want a woman to break free of Lumon, Cobel has far less privilege than Helena, has been used and disposed of. Helena is a billionaire heiress who ultimately has much more power and much more invested in Lumon than either of them. How should she be the one to break from it?

Personally, I feel this is a much more interesting story of loss than the one the fandom at large had wanted to tell with Gemma. We have seen the "I am a white man, and I must learn to healthily cope with the dead wife" fridging trope over and over again in media. We have seen the disposable woman of color make way for the white woman. How often have we seen: "This person was a good person who I loved, who would sacrifice for me. They were born into privilege. And they had an opportunity - a faraway school, moving out from their parents, or even being severed - where they seemed like they would go in a different direction, but the allure of capitalism and power ultimately turned that person into our enemy. It's not completely her fault, it's the fault of the world, but I have to mourn who they were and fight who they have chosen to be?" As Mark has said, Helly and Helena are like each other. As Irving said, the difference (for now) is that Helly is not cruel.

In the end, I believe because Lumon has been aware of Mark and Gemma's relationship at least since they visited the fertility clinic because a Lumon doctor was there, and then tore them apart at a time that would emotionally devastate both of them. Helena knew this. Helena locked Gemma in a basement, sexually assaulted Mark under false pretenses (possibly to get herself pregnant), perhaps Lumon ensnared the both of them with the specific purpose of finding the people who could psychologically fulfill the Cold Harbor experiment. As a fan of the show who still believes in bold choices and tragedy, I believe Helly being the one who is getting a tragic ending is the best way to resolve this love triangle rather than killing Gemma or Mark - the "death" of Helly would not be a true death, but rather the death of who she was without Helena's experiences once she is reintegrated. Helena would be a more tragic character, who feels conflict, empathy, whose ideas of the innies as subhuman may even be gone, but ultimately chooses her legacy and power. And the tragedy is that those who once loved her must accept that this is her choice.

This probably feeds into the petty shipping wars that led to the misogynistic (and racist) fan perceptions of Gemma, but since the framework of comparing their roles has been so prevalent in the fandom, I feel it must be addressed this way.

#Helena Eagan #Helly R #Severance #Gemma Scout #markgemma #I guess #long post

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thebestpartofwakingup · 3 days ago

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Most modern-au fanfic writers across fandoms tend to use the modern setting as a way to askew the conflicts inherent to the setting of the canon story, often overall reducing the AMOUNT of conflict occurring rather than just lowering the stakes

And I kind of feel like MGS is weirdly unexplored ground for fixing this common fandom problem? Like there are so many elements of so many characters that range from neutral – heroic within the specific setting and conflicts of the MGS games but would immediately become huge sources of drama in a “normal” setting

Or, put more simply,

I CANNOT believe with all the normal-setting MGS aus that have been written NOBODY has written one centering on the scandal of the Boss’s THREE SECRET FAMILIES

ESPECIALLY with the amount of modern-MGS aus ive seen that are SO desperate to get away from accidentally making Bosselot real actual incest.

Give me teenage Hal showing up at the door step of the most unstable batshit man in America a la Bojack Horseman season 4.

So many MGS characters canonically use the military and war and patriotism to ignore and get away from all the other mounting problems, chaos, and drama. Lean into that. Cobra Unit even breaks apart after WW2 specifically because the Boss and the Sorrow get SO into patriotism for OPPOSITE world powers. And then she — the same woman who could NOT bring herself in 10+ years to tell a GROWN MAN she is PROFESSIONALLY responsible for that SANTA CLAUS is NOT REAL — KILLS HER EX on his immediate request. That is not a peaceful relationship - widow pipeline you writers think it is. A neat end to one relationship to set the foundation for a future, equally peaceful, lesbian relationship. The Sorrow wasn’t even DEAD yet when she and Strangelove met. She KNOWS he can talk to ghosts. This castle of cards was NEVER stable and you, fanfic writers, want ME to believe that pulling the table cloth out from under that castle would make it better??

You think between making lattes at the coffee shop Ocelot is not be inundated with texts and phone calls and emails about how his parents are not abiding by their restraining orders, court mandated drug checks, and psychiatric evaluations? How far do you think veteran benefits go? Imagine how much worse that situation gets if you divorce the military from it entirely because that woman got the codename “Joy” from the sheer euphoria she expressed from *killing people with her bare hands* she essentially invented the concept of *punching people to death* you remove her from a military context?? You think that version of Ocelot is having a simple and peaceful life at the flower shop? You think he’s not being asked to put up bail?

Rule 1 of Revolver Ocelot is he is the way he is because he is the WORST IMAGINABLE combination of “nature” AND “nurture” you think that changes outside of the military? My man is getting his ass kicked by hereditary BPD on BOTH sides.

#mgs #metal gear solid #revolver ocelot #the boss

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fernsnailz · 16 hours ago

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Hi, I saw your Metal Sonic comic dub and I thought it was amazing. I was wondering, but what does Metal's outfit represent? I know Trans culture is prevalent in comics these days, but as a boy I used to think longskirts were neat, like a Samurai's Hakama or the worn, long cloak of a wanderer.

glad you liked it! the intent of that comic (good future) is that metal is transgender and that outfit is an expression of her beginning to display her new identity. though i do like the comparison to a hakama, my design intention was to portray metal casually wearing a pleated long skirt.

overall, the outfit is meant to be a representation of the choices she's allowed to make for herself now and the help she's received since eggman died. most importantly, it's meant to show a new starting point for the character rather than an ending.

i wrote a bit about my intent behind the pieces of that outfit that i put under the readmore here since it's a little long 🛝

i chose the skirt for a number of reasons (shorthand for showing metal is trans without explicitly saying it, practicality of what a robot could actually wear, etc), but tbh it's mostly meant to be reminiscent of neo metal sonic's design. neo metal sonic's look is really interesting to me because it shows that, when previously allowed the ability to choose what he looks like, THIS is what metal sonic goes with:

neo's waist piece isn't really a skirt, but that element of a long, flowing fabric piece always really stuck with me. it's meant to be intimidating and make neo seem even larger than he actually is, but there's also a certain elegance to it i really like. a skirt was a logical neighbor of this design to me, so i ran with it - a flowing skirt shows that metal is a bit more loose and subject to change, but also fills out her silhouette and shows that she's much fuller as a person now. there's a certain presence and comfort to it that neo was simply performing, but metal truly feels now.

the other two pieces of the outfit are also important! the shirt and the sweater metal wears in good future are actually pieces of clothing you can find elsewhere in born to fail.

the sweater you can find within good future, where belle is actively giving it to metal. but the shirt piece is a little harder to spot - it's actually intended to be amy's shirt that she wears in the comic i made about her and metal.

it's a pretty generic button down and i also didn't color it similarly so tbh i would be surprised if anyone has ever picked that one up LMFAO

the element of choice is the most important thematic piece of metal's outfit, but i also wanted to show that the help she's received over the past year is incredibly valuable as well. though good future makes it clear she isn't entirely sure how she feels about living alongside these people yet, a lot of them have still chosen to reach out and help her.

like. this is my thought process here: metal realizes she wants to wear clothes for whatever reason. what's she gonna do? go to a STORE? most of the world still sees metal as eggman's ultimate killing machine and would kick her out the mall with a broom. so for now, she receives hand-me-downs from her sorta-kinda-friends - at least, from the ones that actually wear clothes at all. which is pretty much just belle and amy.

overall though, this outfit is intended to feel just a little off - not wrong, but more like a first draft. it's only been a year since eggman died, and metal is still in the process of even learning how to BE a person so like. she's still figuring the whole gender thing out lol. but it's ok because she's rocking that shit anyway

also i do have another design of metal a few years after the events of this comic! i wanted to explore what she looked like once she really settled into her new self, and drew inspiration from various punk and goth (specifically cybergoth i think? sorry everyone who knows more about fashion than me i'm bad at subcultures) fashions.

but yeah erm. long story short: shes trans and figuring shit out 👍

#asks #born to fail

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swimming-karyss · 13 hours ago

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What are your views and/or analysis on Sabo and Luffy's brotherly bond. After seeing your analysis on Sabo's loneliness, connection, and affection, it makes me wonder how Sabo views Luffy after he regained his memory. Also, I wonder how Sabo is reacting to Luffy's knew look in his wanted poster let alone what happened in Egghead.

Hello! Thanks for the ask!!

well, I hadn't yet focused on their relationship well enough to write an analysis but I do have plenty of thoughts c:

Frankly, their relationship is fascinating, as it is between all the asl brothers! Especially because both of them really have spent more time with Ace than each other. They've really known each other for around a year. So both Luffy and Sabo's attitude towards their bond speaks a lot about their character!

Luffy is unwavering as always, that year was like a whole lifetime for him - but even if it wasn't, it still wouldn't have mattered to him. Because as we've seen with Bon-chan, for Luffy the bonds with people he cherishes are not based on the time spent with the person! Despite Porchemy's words, Luffy still had faith in Sabo, even when Ace started to waver. And 12 years later, that hadn't changed! The first thing he did after recognizing Sabo is jump into his arms, and he didn't doubt Sabo for even a second when the news about king Kobra's assassination came.

Sabo's the one who always doubts. He never intended to share his secret as a child, and he didn't expect Luffy to accept him as an adult. Sabo loves Luffy more than himself, but he still doesn't let him close - not showing his feelings during the reunion, and refusing to talk to Luffy before leaving. (this is also a reflection of his issues, as he's once again unable to be vulnerable). Sabo makes a goal to himself - to be able to protect Luffy, because he failed to be there to save Ace, even if he has to go against his duties. And now his duty is put into direct conflict with Luffy's dream - to reach the one piece, so now he has to choose between his loyalty to Dragon&revolution and his love for his brother.

Also, we've seen that reuniting with Sabo actually helped Luffy cope with Ace's death better! He doesn't burst into tears or blame himself when talking about Ace in Wano, unlike Dressrosa. (And then meeting Yamato&Tama also let him heal) Though we've yet to see Sabo's coping with loss, but he certainly is doing worse than Luffy: he wasn't even able to talk about Ace to Fujitora! (getting vulnerable and honest about his emotions would've actually killed him🥺do you really want such fate for him🥺it's waaaay better to suppress everything anyway🥺)

So, I think we're going to see their relationship develop more in the future (hopefully)! (good thing he's going to go to see him soon to relay king Kobra's message, right? right? Oda please when)

And as to post-Egghead: they're now in very similar positions! Both are accused of murder they didn't commit. But we hadn't seen the revs' reaction to the news yet. In Sabo's case, Luffy had unwavering faith in him, while Dragon had his doubts. In Luffy's case, we don't know anything about Sabo&Dragon's reaction. I doubt either of them would believe the newspaper, given their line of work, but Vegapunk was a dear friend of Dragon's, so I'm still really curious...

And now that we've done with the more serious stuff, allow me to lean into my delusions a little (the part below is not necessary to read↓)

Sabo used to be a lot like a fairytale princess, a damsel in distress. I mean, he was raised with the main goal to be married to a person of a higher status! And his story was also similar to the fairytale plots: he was kept in the tower(their mansion), was 'stolen' by a dragon (in two ways!) and he even has golden locks to match.

To begin with, he traded his life for his brothers' and was taken back to the Goa kingdom by his father. In a way he was removed from the world of the living (the jungle) into the world of the dead (cold&monotonous Goa Kingdom) (with the Gray Terminal serving as a sort of border, as things that end up there also are in a state between life and death: the junk is thrown away by the nobles, but still has use for the people living there, who are also considered (by the nobles) less than human) In fairytales the abduction of someone, and the consequential saving by the hero, is a very common plot.

"Death comes when the person's soul is stolen by someone. Healing and reviving the dead is seen similarly: their soul needs to be stolen back and put into place."

And here comes the problem: Luffy, while being the protagonist, is not a hero. And without a hero, a princess also cannot be saved. So Sabo attempts to run away himself, to defy his fate, to break his deal with his father and his promise (to set sail at 17) to his brothers. And he fails. And he dies again. This time it's another cliche plot - a princess is stolen by a dragon. Sabo was 'killed', his identity erased by a celestial dragon, and physically taken away by Monkey D. Dragon. (it is rather funny to me)

And after the 12 years he still remains dead. We don't see his face, nor do we hear his name. And at this point into the story comes a Hero - Lucy, the hero of Dressrosa, and an identity, that Luffy once again rejects. But it is the one that Sabo adopts to fight in the Coliseum! And he fights for the fire. Fire is life, it's cleansing, it's rebirth. (And most importantly, it's the remnants of his brother's soul) And only after he obtains the flames and literally brings the light of the sun to the underworld (y'know the factory under them) we finally see his face and he gives us his name. And now he's alive for the world too: as his identity as the chief of staff has been brought to light, and even the RA becomes more proactive.

Luffy isn't a hero, and he couldn't bring Sabo back to life, so Sabo did it himself for Luffy's sake.

#hes a princess TO ME #and also a knight and a dragon #← more delusions which I don't have enough foundation to explain #sabo #one piece #monkey d luffy #karyss' rambling #also fun fact #some of the 'child of a higher status is hidden and confined' plot comes from #trying to hide them from the sun #(it's more complicated than that but I still hadn't finished that book)

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akkpipitphattana · 2 days ago

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i haven’t fully decided how i feel about lottie’s death yet because i’m a big believer in actually seeing the finished product before determining if choices work for me or not (though simone kessel’s reaction has certainly not been promising) but i will say that thematically, it makes so much sense to me that nat and lottie are the first two to die (after travis of course) because they’re both characters that found purpose in the wilderness.

i personally do not think that any of the adult characters are making it out of this show alive, and like i know people have gripes with the fact that they killed off a character that struggled with addiction and another that struggled with mental illness one after another and while i understand those complaints, when we actually think about the ways those things exist in the story, it make sense that they’re the first to die.

because the reasons nat struggled with addiction have a lot to do with the trauma she suffered from their months in the wilderness and specifically the fact that she felt she lost her purpose when she left. she wasn’t a hunter anymore, she didn’t have her community anymore. and with lottie, she started a whole cult because she wanted to feel the sense of leadership and guidance she did when they were out there. despite her mental illness, she never felt crazy when they were out there even if they WERE all going crazy.

none of them ever TRULY left the wilderness when they got rescued and the trauma clearly sticks with all of them in different ways. but if we’re talking about who was still out there the MOST in their minds, it was nat and lottie. so of course they’re the first ones to die.

#also this is just making me wish we got more about adult travis but im sure well also figure out how much it does end up effecting him later #yellowjackets #lottienat #natalie scatorccio #lottie matthews #my analysis #mine

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zomboivex · 3 days ago

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Vexting’s Official (Unofficial) Tier-List of the TKD Cast

I’ll break down my reasonings below the cut.

S-Tier

For me, these are characters that steal the scene whenever they’re in it, for me. I live, breathe, and eat this character up.

Rui Mizuki - is it really a surprise that Rui is at the very top? He has stolen my heart the first time I laid my eyes upon him. There’s something about a blond man that has ties to a deadly touch that just gets me (hello Prosciutto). But- in all honesty, I just love how deep and complex he feels, to me. He’s profoundly tragic all while masking it with an air of being overly friendly and helpful. I could honestly write an entire dissertation of this character (and I plan to). But I’ll save that for another day.

Leo Kurosagi - A polarizing character for many. I do think he gets a lot of hate compared to other equally offending characters. But aside from that, I really actually enjoy Leo. Sure, he’s an ass at times. But he really strikes me as someone who is so deeply insecure but refusing to let others know any of his weaknesses so he comes across as an asshole. He DOES do assholeish things. He reminds me a lot of younger me, as well. So biased. And yeah- I was a shit person. But growth, ya know? Anyways. Leo does have redeeming qualities. He does try to help Alan and look out for him (when he refuses to give the original copy of the case file but made a copy to give) as well as trying to make sure Tohma doesn’t take advantage of him. Not to mention making a literal app for Sho’s food truck. He DOES care. He shows it in his own way. And yeah, he’s a prick. But ya know- I just don’t see him as the worst offender (‘realistic’ or not).

Ren Shiranami - Ren is unironically fucking FUNNY. Dude is trapped in a clown world. Forced to wear the most atrocious outfits while trying to just keep to himself. He’s really trying to keep out of things and I love that for him. Also his SSR standard is my favorite standard. And he’s beyond expressive. I just love this guy.

A-Tier

This category are characters I greatly enjoy for one reason or another. They don’t quite make the cut into the S rank for one flaw or other. But, they’re still pretty solid in my eyes.

Ed Hart - He fucking cracks me up. I’m not into the whole vampire trope thing but he subverted my expectations by being the most cringe crackpot theorist I’ve ever laid eyes upon. I adore and despise him at the same time. He’s only not higher simply because it’s Ed. He just- can’t go any higher.

Yuri Isami - This newest chapter really bumped him up to top 5 territory for me. I love me an overconfident guy who’s clearly overcompensating. I won’t say anything else. But iykyk. He really shot up from like C-Tier to A-Tier.

Haru Sagara - Haru is fucking hilarious and he bounces well off of Ren. He zips about and is unapologetically a nuisance to all. Though, sorry Haru, you stay in A-Tier because you do have a few things that kinda make me go ‘hmmmmm’ for a second. And I can’t put my finger on why, just yet.

Ritsu Shinjo - One-track minded and really stuck in a single line of thinking. He’s hilariously wrong and doesn’t even realize it. I mean he’s not ALWAYS wrong, obviously. But- the fact that he’s so over-confident to the point of ignoring anything else anyone says kills me. A-Tier if only because of association with Taiga. And also his pretentious hand on chest pose that he has all the time in (most) of his cards. Get outta here ya failure.

B-Tier

These characters are one I feel positively towards but I don’t think too much on them. They’re ones that I do enjoy seeing but I don’t get beyond excited when they pop up. Still, it’s an enjoyable time, all the same.

Haku Kusanagi - I’m feeling positive about Haku but there’s still not enough there for me to push him up or down. I do like what I’m seeing, though. And I love his warding card with Rui. It’s hands down my favorite card in the entire game. In fact, I love his dynamic with Rui so far and I really hope we get to see more of them together. He’s- very similar to Rui, I feel. Only slightly different. But that’s a topic for another day.

Zenji Kotodama - Good god. First of all, he has the literal best SSR character card in the entire game. IYKYK. That shit EATS. In fact, Zenji EATS. He’s a fun character with enough tragedy to balance him out. I would feel so safe and included around Zenji and he’s honestly a great guy with killer fashion. I adore him. He’s only lower because I do want to see more of him. Truly. More dynamics. I want to hear what others thought of him before he passed.

Jiro Kirisaki - Jiro is growing on me and may see some upwards movement in the future. He’s interesting enough to keep me invested but doesn’t seem to also hog up screen time, either. He’s a solid balance of being there and present and impactful but also- not in your face about it. I am so curious about him. And because there’s a LOT of mystery there, I’m keeping him here for now. But I have a feeling he’ll see some upwards movement on this list.

Sho Haizano - Sho and I would 100% throw hands. But then we’d both laugh it off, I think. He’s a bit too passive for my liking. But I can respect a man with a good truck and passion for food. As a fellow food man, myself. Sho, you’re solid there. But wash that bandana, please. He’d be higher. But- again- his passive nature makes it hard for me to place him higher than he is.

Alan Mido - Alan is a comfortable character. He’s comfortably there. But the lack of information makes it hard to place him higher, for me. I do imagine he gives some of the best hugs, though. I feel like I need an Alan hug in my life. Truly.

C-Tier

Characters placed here are ones I feel a little indifferent towards or feel a bit annoyed if they’re on the screen (depending on the context). But they’re not irredeemable in my eyes. Just characters that I personally can’t rank higher at this time.

Kaito Fuji - Kaito, you have been ALL over this list, haven’t you? From A-Tier to D-Tier to slowly moving comfortably towards the middle. He has some amazing screen time. And has two really sick fucking cards. But the constant on-screen screaming KILLS him for me. I don’t mind the boy failure aspect. I think it has its charms. But I actually have to mute my game because of him.

Romeo Lucci - Romeo, you’re really only so low because of exposure exhaustion. You’re everywhere. He has his charms, for sure. I can see why he’s appealing to some. He cracks me the fuck up because he’s so exasperated. I’m just- also kinda sick of seeing his face is all. One day, I’m sure you’ll shoot up higher.

Jin Kamurai - Jin was solid D-Tier for a while for me but after doing my character study of him, he’s been slowly going up. I don’t care for his character trope. The cold/callous CEO(esque) son who actually has a soft spot for those he cares about. Ehhh not my type. He tries too hard to be hard and it’s- kinda lame. But- I also like this pathetic side of him that’s untrusting and afraid of being betrayed again. He has some interesting aspects so we’ll see where he winds up on this list in the future.

Lyca Colt - Lyca isn’t BAD. Per say. But I’m not a fan, at all, of his werewolf form. It just- looks stupid. It looks BAD. And I can appreciate that others like him. But that really took me out. In a negative way. Now. Lyca has some sweet traits about him. And I do teeter on liking him and hating him. So he has a chance.

Subaru Kagami - I do not trust this fucker at all. I would hate him in real life, too. He sets off alarms in my head. I know he’s an actor and it’s not really a surprise that he’s putting on an act. But something about him makes me feel physically nauseous. He’s not in D-Tier if only because he does have some nice interactions and I bet he’s a pretty crier.

D-Tier

If I placed a character here, it’s because there’s just something I greatly dislike about this character. It is a personal opinion. I don’t hate them. But until the game gives me a reason to move them up, they remain here.

Tohma Ishibashi - I can see the appeal of him to others. But he comes across as so slimy. I also just cannot take anyone serious who has their monocle pierced to their fucking ear. Or even just wears a monocle. Okay cartoon ass villain.

Lucas Errant - Stale bread. He’s the ‘safe’ option. And- again, I see why people see the appeal in him. He has cute moments. But I just find him to be a scene drainer. Anytime he’s on screen I suddenly feel myself losing interest in the game.

Towa Otonashi - Towa is interesting. I’ll give him that. But he also comes across as the type to really idealize what romance is. He just gives me major ick vibes. I do look forward to learning more about him, though. And he is very cute. It’s just that personality kinda kills it for me. Anyone who has an idealized version of someone else instead of seeing them as a person with flaws feels extremely just….. gross to me.

Taiga Hoshibami - I understand why people like him. People like unhinged bad boys who give no fucks. And good for them. Not my cup of tea. But my biggest issue with Taiga is exposure exhaustion. I’m so fucking sick of seeing his face to the point that every time I do see him I roll my eyes and find my mood instantly decrease. They better do something actually interesting with him soon because I’m really getting sick of him.

#tokyo debunker #tdb #tkdb #literally this is just my opinion #vexisshootingtheshit

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uhohbestie · 20 hours ago

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omahgod haaaiiii! happy three pronged fork day!

it is I, the live slug reaction microsoft paint doodles guy, here with the long promised part two, and lord mercy its been like a month,,, i've spent the past week and a half adding just-one-more-last-bit-this-time-its-the-last-one-for-sure-definitely and thinking of a new one at work the very next day,, BUT i am out of the dungeon now so here you have it!!

here's to me spending solid two months of my life pacing to and fro at work compiling mental essays and Making Up Scenarios tm with your characters and generally rotating them,,,, twas an experience for certain and i thank you for every point of psychic damage i was dealt <3

i tried every know-how i could think of to improve the resolution situation, and ended up just cutting it into pieces so im sorry if its a bit confusing to read (it's hectic but it works so i can't complain)

big picture for to know where things are

tip: you do gotta read the big picture left side (they are vaguely divided by the grey lines) top to bottom and then the right side for it to be chronological (more or less)

and the small bits for better resolution

i already wrote most of the things i had to say in the picture itself, so all i'll say is my soul yearns for pearl and lizzie (and Tilly) adventures extravaganza spinoff ): i have somehow so far convinced myself while reading that we would for sure get to see them within the fic that i had to doublecheck that i didn't miss a chapter on accident,,, oopsie

ps. this is where i would put my essay on how you've managed not only to show a character going through the 'ol stages of grief (scar when grian got bit) but also make the reader (or me at least, idk im gullible) go through them. ever since i figured out that Main Characters Don't Die at some point as a kid, i have never once sweated about "damn what if the writers actually do it this time?? what of blorbo dead foreal forever???" ,,, that was until i read TAMN. you took your SWEET TIME keeping us on scar pov for so long i sincerely started worrying that you actually did it you bastards. "no.. they wouldn't… they can't!" i thought to myself, but then the chapters went on and on, and Scar and Pops managed to almost get themselves killed yet again, adventures not showing any signs of stopping. and the pesky bristling brit, with whom i have a complicated relationship not unlike the one between a Sportsteam that sucks ass and their last remaining, bitter, but loyal shit-talking fan, is nowhere to be seen. i was head in hands sitting on the edge of my bed waxing poetics about how The Narrative forces the reader through the character's thought process and Long Live Indie Writing for being able to afford to break tropes and expectations n all that and then Grian's disHEVELED ASS ROLLS OUTA BUSHES AND I WAS LIKE i kNEW THOSE SONS A BITCHES WERE SCHEEMING, NEVER TRUST A WRITER!!! ! …i'm fairly impressionable audience if you couldn't tell

,anyhow this was one of the several bits rotating in my head for the past while, i hope you're proud of what you've accomplished -_- (/j/lh you really really should be <3) yeah anyway this is where i would put my essay on all that if i knew how to write one!

(if i open my mouth on the topic of the residents of the hermit commune we would be here all day, so all i'll say is i won't announce my descent into madness, but there will be signs)

on that note, be good be good to each other and don't forget to brush your teeth before bed

pps. i missed my duolingo writing this :( just another one of gods little jokes

ppps. i think you should poll the public someday on the subject of people's perception of Joel's fate in the end, would be curious to see how optimistic (or not) the folks are feeling

YES. YES!!!!! PART TWO OMG YOU'VE SPOILED US. YESSSSSSS.

Oh my goodness there's so much to wade into there. I was starting to pick out my favourite parts but realised i was highlighting every drawing, but here are my FAVOURITE favourites:

I love love love hearing ppl's opinions on the Redwood compound (AND POPS!!!! POPS AND SCAR BEST FRIENDS FOREVER [until... they're abruptly not anymore. um. ummmmmm....]) Poor exhausted Ren. Poor munched up Joel. Poor every-day-I'm-more-tired-than-the-last Etho. (Also, clasping your hands in mine, I promise you we will write about Pearl and Lizzie. I promise we will not leave you hanging.)

I'm genuinely truly deeply so happy you enjoyed TAMN, and absolutely adored reading (and seeing!) your journey as you read it. Especially the parts where we convincingly pulled off Grian Death(tm). Thank you for sharing with us :') aaaaa TAMN <3 <3 <3

Your poll idea is genius btw. We gotta do this. We GOTTA. - 🔒

#TAMN fanart #3handedsword #AAA LOCK AND I WERE GENUINELY SO EXCITED TO SEE THIS IN OUR INBOX #your doodled reactions PLUS everything you wrote in your ask alongside it GOD WHAT A TREAT #between lock and i we'd just be quoting the whole thing if we pointed out our individuals faves AND YET #I STILL NEED TO SHOUT OUT SOME PARTS LMAO #first off the 'dont be suspicious dont be suspicious' had me rioting AHAHAHAHA i read it in that perfect sing-song way #and then I WAS SOOO PLEASED you knew the condi/SCU reference >:D #'stuck with my ex 30 day challenge' EXCEPTIONAL #AND THE BIT WITH GRIAN AND BIG B DKJHDSFSDFLJ 'need to lock in' OVER AND OVER WHILE B IS JUST LIKE 'dude WHY' 😂😂😭😂😭😭#EVERY PART OF THIS IS INCREDIBLE #THANK YOU SOOOOO SO MUCH AHAHAHA -- 🔑

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thekingwhereitallends · 10 hours ago

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You know back when it was just released, i had no interest in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier because of the premise and the look of Captain America attire on John Walker. Never did i ever know i would be watching for the same John Walker that killed my excitement.

I found out he is hated and seen as a prick, but when i watch the series i figure that John actually is nothing like that. He is humble about his accomplishments and comes to rescue Bucky and Sam numerous times. Hell, the first time John and Lemar come to assist Sam and Bucky, the veteran duo never return back to support them considering the possiblity that they might get killed by Super Soldier Terrorist Group. Even then, John offers them a ride and they still do not trust him at all. John gets Bucky out of the prison and asks for his (and Sam's) guidance, but they continue to stomp on his nerves. Bucky has the audacity to bring up the fact John that "things are getting a little intense for you."

I am like "f*** you, man. I would be pissed off if everyone treats me like i am a scum while i try my best to help them and keep manners.", and I am a huge fan of Bucky but all this mini-series does is character assassination. Realistically, you would expect at least Sam to reason with and try to support John (it is his job to treat soldiers dealing with PTSD), but no.

And when he is mourning the murder of his friend and going through an inner turmoul?

Sam and Bucky arrive.

John tells them they must go to hospital to have their injuries treated.

HE IS STILL GIVING THEM BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT AND WORRIES ABOUT THEM😭

Do they try to comfort him?

Hell no.

They just say they want the shield.

And that makes John go berserk.

Bucky surely was dreaming to beat John into a pulp for no sane reason.

Bucky and Sam go all out against him. They never look so strong against flagsmashers at all.

Yes, shatter the arm of the man who saved you multiples times because heroes do that. Sam and Bucky acted like petty, immature adults throughout the show whenever they were around John.

People then use this scene:

And mention how it exists to serve the purpose of the beginning of a redemption arc for John Walker. What the hell did John ever do to need that? Executing a goddamn villain whose hands was stained with blood of innocent citizens that he blew up with help of Carli? John has always strives to save people and make them feel safe, and in the last episode he throws away the shield to do that. Never give up and do not listen to politicians, even after that they stripped him of his rank and forced him to a retirement in spite of all his sacrifices. This is what they reward a hero who earned three badges of excellence, which is an impossible in the modern era if you think about how the most one would get in a world war was two.

The protagonists instead focus on Flagsmasher who have no problem with taking innocent lives as long as they deem it "important" and helpful in fulfilling their goal which was so vague yet sounded like death for half the population of earth.

In the end, John benefits the most from this show as he has a nearly-complete character arc. He feels real, and is complex enough to deserve a solo movie of his own. He proves himself worthy as a hero who is capable of overcoming his demons, and make the best decision in heat of battle just as his late friend said. Even after the whole world discriminated against him and oppressed him.

I would give him a hug. But lord knows he deserves so much better than that.

Nothing but love and respect for John Walker.

The Best Phase 4 Character.

I am looking forward to watch Thunderbolts primarily for him, and then Bucky.

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marzipanilla · 2 days ago

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Partying on the could have beens and quietly sobbing into a red solo cup while staring into a corner waiting for the AUs to kick in...

Jasper: I am a TOOL-

Steven: Yeah you are : )

J: .. I am meant to be wielded in battle...

Connie just having to be like, Steven are you aware that ... ? Yeah, yeah I am. Ignore her, lets go on a walk show me your campus.

Yeah idk what Debbie and Aunt May would do but the vibes would be immaculate. dude. Peter getting hired as Mark's science tutor : ) Peter and Mark having one relationship, Invincible and Spidey having another, them slowly realizing who the other is (lbr Peter would figure it out idk if Mark would lol) Peter just hearing about Nolan but never meeting him bc he's always busy until one day Debbie invites him and Aunt May to dinner and Nolan is there and Peter is just internally screaming the whole time as his spidey senses go off. Debbie hearing that Peter is into photography and mentioning her husband got into it recently lol

Now I'm thinking about Art, JJ and Nolan on a fishing trip and it being just the most fucked up time ever for everyone xD Like not even supervillain attack type shit, just genuine mundane awful awkwardness and weird vibes off everyone. JJ instantly clocking Art is somehow involved w criminal elements/suspicious how a tailor in a strip mall is so financially secure... Nolan thinking everyone being hostile is Just Totally Normal behavior. Art being a bit of a shit to JJ, maybe he likes Spidey, appreciates someone who put so much detail and complexity into their costume, wishes he could chat w them etc..

The world conquering stops for one petty ass vendetta xD God what would the inciting incident between Omni-Man and Spider-man even be...

S1 had so many revisions and additions and changes and it made the narrative more solid but kept all the important beats!! they could have done that for S3!! stop just following the comic I effing beg show. What happened to your willingness to move things around??? Give plot points to other characters so they would have stuff to do ??

Bruh. Debbie confronting Powerplex and that being how she publicly reveals who her family is, YES then it being a very valid fucking concern for everybody because now The Public knows! (tho I will never not give the narrative shit for trying to say it is a ~dramatic thing she told Paul when only three ppl in the entire world apparently have civilian identities and literally anyone who actually wants to kill Mark already knows who he is and where he lives.. like.. there is 0 drama there bc it is so irrelevant. Mark didn't even think it was fucking weird that space aliens knew his name, but you're going to give your mom shit for saying something that you revealed on your own five seconds after the fact while walking through the door in your damn uniform? get your fucking priorities in order..)

And then it's not villains who come after them! It's heroes and wounded ppl like Powerplex who just want suffering when there is no justice! And then it's the villains who just want to appease Omni-Man who are keeping them safe. Eat your heart out on that moral clusterfuck Mark. Cecil losing his mind as this all out brawl erupts.

Oliver just being like, ah so there is no morality just who keeps whoever I care about safe! And Mark being like what?? no!! and Debbie being like, at the end of the day, yeah : /

I'm working it into something bc I realized another thing about Oliver's speech about his ~wonderful father that annoyed me- and it's that Nolan has never apologized. And I want so badly for someone to bring that point up, so it's getting integrated into a larger story. 'Cause yeah you can dream about a world of forgiveness kid, but that man has literally not done anything to combat the horrors. you cannot give him credit for something he has not done. still bitter he magically deleted two months of total city wide destruction and loss of life and devastation from his memory. Even if he waved it all away as the other viltrumites fault, fucking acknowledge that happening!!!

The Oliver thing is so weird bc I feel like the show is playing him as much more childish and human than they ever bothered w in the comic, while still trying to hold on to the very alien ideology he expressed in the comic (tho that fell so flat and was so flimsy for me I will never like the little shit heel lol) and its just like ?? I feel like the show is just trying to be 'look how cute he is! you shouldnt hate him cause hes cute!' and im just over here like you had a thousand ways to make him a layered character and ignored all of them. If you wont put the effort in I will continue to see 'plot device' in a trenchcoat insisting that its a fully fledged character please let them in to the deeper narrative and I'm just like, scram until you can justify your existence through character motivation.

I used to be totally fine with the Debbie dating narrative bc it kinda got to show her moving on (I do not believe Paul had nearly this much interaction w everyone in the comic, but Debbie is also barely in the comic so...) and I was worried if they didn't show her at least making the attempt they would fall into a 'she's just waiting for Nolan to return' narrative which also would have been awful. But now I'm just like why must I suffer this. what is happening. I think there is no way out and the writers would have done something stupid with her no matter what. Cause her just being happily single and doing other shit w her life would have been great! But seeing how couple obsessed the narrative is you know some motherfucker would have been like 'ah but isn't there a man shaped hole in your life?? clearly you are incomplete'. and that would piss me off more than her stupid relationship w Paul.

Let her be a bit of a dick to Oliver. let her get more aggressively competitive at work and piss off her coworkers. let her have fucked up villain friends. let her still struggle w drinking. I honestly wanted her to get in a drunk driving incident in S2 where someone died that way all the Graysons could have killed people under various circumstances lol Let her life be messy and motivated by her choices !! she can be an important voice of reason and pillar of morality and belief and still fuck up !! as bitter as I think she could get I do think she is an intensely change is possible oriented person (again I think she got into some stupid human level nonsense when she was younger and that motivates her belief in reform) I just want to see her living her life and not being an accessory to someone else's !!

While I'm not too familiar with the DCU- your batfam meta posts are intiguing- so in transfering some of the broader strokes from them- I think you tackling a 'Mark isn't Nolan's biological son' fic would be fascinating. Sort of a step to the side of the 'what if Mark never got his powers' fic that sometimes pop up in the fandom

OOOOOO chewing on this currently, hm, the much a distinct flavor of exactly what you’re talking about, but the potential for more family drama depending on WHO knows. Does Mark know?? Is he waiting every day only to be crushed? Does he confused non-Debbie features with Nolan’s? I suppose I’m not the most enthusiastic about non-power AUs, but I think there’s something very fun to explore about Mark having to settle with, if he knows all his life, he will never have powers? I think the trajectory of his dreams will obviously shift, I can see him still having that distinct fatherly idolization, but perhaps embraces being useful to the GDA? Cecil’s number one intern—only intern—curtesy of nepotism, ha! There is something tickling me about Mark taking the Robin Route/Role for the Teen Team in terms of having no powers, just insane skills, BUT there’s something way more delicious about intern Mark when s1e01 happens and Mark tries snooping around to find out the truth about what happened to his Dad.

I wonder if, with Mark having a whole another father, if they’re more or less distant relationship, depending on WHEN Nolan entered Mark’s life? Like if Debbie met Nolan later for this, or just for fun, they dated once, separated (Mark being born during then), then they happened to stumble into each others lives again and Mark’s already been born, anywhere from tween to teenager so there’s a gap in how close they are. I feel like one important aspect of the whole Family Drama is how close they’re supposed to be, a functional, loving family turned upside down? So I wonder what more distance does. I wonder how Nolan copes when his family is entirely human and he can’t project onto Mark.

I love thinking about these, omg.

#invincible chatter #god we got like a tiny bit of expressed grief in the first half of s2 #then it all just fell back into- everyone is an accessory to nolans problems #NO they should be making their own problems actually

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ikamigami · 3 hours ago

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DOCTOR HARLEY SAWYER IS ALIVE?

I know many of you think that Doctor is dead and the way he tried to convince us that Poppy is not as good as she may seem was just a desparate attempt to persuade us not to kill him. It could be this but it definitely didn't come from fear.

Doctor never showed fear even when he was threatened by Prototype. He actually never seemed to be scared of experiments even if it was reckless for staff and guards to go to them alone. He's not only egotistic but acts as if his experiments is what will save humanity. He seems to actually believe that this is true hence why he says something along the lines that if he isn't in the right what was the meaning of all of this? All the experiments, all the sacrifices would be for nothing. Also in his secret recording he said that he gives kids a purpose they wouldn't have normally. There's more to that recording but I'll talk about it in a different post.

Anyway, people could say that Doctor was desparate to show us that his mind is too important that his knowledge is too precious to lose. And even if this fits his character it contradicts with what was happening in his boss fight. People were surprised with how little damage Doctor's robots were causing to us. It almost looks like he didn't want to kill us. But why if he knew that we will kill him? Definitely not because he wanted to die like I saw a few people speculated. It wouldn't fit his character at all.

People think that he died blinded by his ego which could make sense if it wasn't for a fact that he saw what we're capable of and he didn't do his best to stop us from killing him.

The big advantage that Doc has is his intellect. We can see how good at observation he is. Harley was able to predict that Poppy will betray us and that our attempts to help will be fruitless. Everything Doctor told us was in reference of what was yet to come. And his last line drives the point home. "You saved no one."

Then again you could say that if Harley was played by higher-ups why he couldn't be played by us as well? The thing is that Sawyer is more than likely the most intelligent character in Poppy verse. Throughout whole ARG and even more in chapter 4 it was pointed out to us time and time again that Harley Sawyer is a genius. Hence why Elliot Ludwig felt bad about throwing Harley out from Young Geniuses Program and hence why higher-ups didn't kill him but put his mind into a computer.

So how Harley Sawyer ended up like that if he's such a genius? Well I think that he didn't expect them to turn him into one of experiments cause he knew that more than likely he'd lose his genius and he knew that Leith would never allow this to happen. Hence why Harley assumed his safe. But the thing is that they didn't turn him into a regular toy but put his mind into a computer.

But thanks to the fact that Doctor had his intellect still intact it meant that he's still the same genius he always was.

Now there's one thing that stood out to me but I didn't see people ever talking about which is how Prototype was able to do the Hour of joy without a help of someone who had access to things. Just like the warden at prison told Harley. Some people speculated it was Stella but I doubt that. Doctor said it was Prototype but the way he said his name sounded as if Harley knew about the Hour of joy way before.

I know that Doctor didn't have any access to anything before obtaining omni-hand but he still could see things but without having a way to do things. What if he was able to find a way to communicate with Prototype via monitors? We all assumed that Prototype was tampering with tapes and all but what if it was Harley actually? At that time we assumed it was Prototype cause we didn't know about Doctor yet. Also I don't know if any of you remember how Elliot's face was blocked or blurred on tapes? I think that Harley did that because he couldn't stand looking at Elliot's face. It's obvious as day that he hates Elliot with passion.

Another thing is that we know that Harley had something against Playtime Co. before he was turned into a computer due to Elliot's betrayal. It wouldn't be surprising if he wouldn't mind if the rest of higher-ups and rest of lab scientists would die because the only thing that was important for him was his intellect. As long as he'd survive nothing else mattered. And when he got betrayed by higher-ups I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to lead to their downfall.

But let's get to the point of this post. How Harley could still be alive? The most obvious hint is that he said his last line after we fried his brain which shouldn't be possibile.

Another thing is if he was digitalized in some way already why wouldn't he be able to transfer his consciousness into another device? He's a genius. He knows a lot about neurosurgery. I saw a few people saying that maybe Doctor transferred himself to omni-hand. It may sound crazy but he could transfer himself into the omni-chip. It makes sense when you consider that the last thing we used omni-hand for was opening labs which is a location Prototype didn't want Harley in. Which is some coincidence, huh? Also some people including myself heard Sawyer's laugh in the distance at the end of chapter.

My bold statement is that it'll turn out that Doctor outsmarted Prototype. Thanks to us he'll end up in labs just like he wanted and plus it'll be against Prototype's wishes.

I saw many theories about how Prototype wants to use us and he lured us to the labs but honestly I doubt that. I think that Doctor is the one who lured us to labs. Why I think so? It's because Prototype wanted us dead. We survived thanks to Kissy. But it's clear as day that Prototype wanted to get rid of us. It'd be too convoluted of a plan if he set up explosives and hoped that we'd survive the explosion. Also let's not forget that Prototype as Ollie in chapter 3 said that we "chose our side" and he sounded not so much amused by that. Which in my opinion is good as confirmation that he wanted to get rid of us but after he tricked us to do the dirty work for him.

Another bold statement of mine is I think that Doctor is the one who wanted us to end up down in the labs. He knew what we were able to survive. He tested us. We passed. Thanks to that he knew that we'll survive whatever Prototype had set up for us. And Doctor's line "It appears you are every bit what the Prototype fears." is confirmation of that. Harley knew Prototype would try to get rid of us sooner or later hence why he wanted to test us.

After all Sawyer's alliance with Prototype was weak which is confirmed by what Sawyer said during his boss battle - "I'll bury myself so far down that no one will ever find me. Not you. Not The Prototype. Not anyone."

This leads me to believe that Doctor wanted to fake his death not so much to trick us but to trick Prototype.

And even if Harley was even more limited by Prototype and the latter didn't inform Sawyer about most of his plans it only shows how much more of a genius Doctor is if he was able to deduce what Prototype will use us and how Poppy will act. After all he knew that Poppy will betray us.

Which leads to another important implication. If Harley knew or was able to deduce what will happen that Poppy will betray us that we'll fail that we'll take omni-chip which killed him why the hell he let that happen? And if he didn't trust Prototype why he basically let Prototype to kill him? Because Prototype also wanted us to take omni-chip so he could make a bomb out of the generator in Safe Haven. And most likely Prototype knew taking omni-chip would kill Sawyer. And Sawyer is too smart to not connect the dots so why he let it happen? That's why I think that Doctor wants Prototype to think that he got rid of him by faking his own death.

All of the things I pointed out lead me to believe that Harley Sawyer is alive and probably we helped him get to the labs.

I wish more people focused on Doctor because he has more to offer than it may seem. But many gave up on his character due to how they were disappointed in his boss battle. I think that it was intentional on Mob Game's part to make Doctor seem to be not as dangerous as he actually is. I also heard that one of CEOs (Zach maybe) said that Sawyer is the scariest character in Poppy. We didn't see too much of it hence why I think there's more to his character than it may seem.

Also it's impossible for a genius like Doctor to die so easily and also if he did so it'd look like he let us kill him and let to be played by Prototype which doesn't fit his character at all.

And let's be honest why would Harley survivng be impossible with rules of pseudo-science?

#poppy playtime #ppt #ppt 4 #doctor harley sawyer #ppt doctor #ppt theory #ppt prototype #ppt poppy #ppt elliot ludwig #ppt player #harley sawyer #dr harley sawyer

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polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup · 2 days ago

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Everything about the battle at yokohama was Amazing, I love all of your thoughts and world building in pez dispenser. If you have time (and feel like it), could you explain ‘this entire sub-analysis on Idaten’s internal culture and how it intersects with broader heroics standards’. (i was ENRAPTURED by your hero economic analysis)

ps. when i saw in the tags about how the class just. broke down. and asked for their parents, it was like sucker punch to the face, i couldn’t imagine how the actual heroes felt when they saw them. if the public saw that side of class 2a, would they lay off? probably not, but damn. your world building and ideas are just. so good

So my decision about Idaten and its subculture actually hinges on one question about canon: Why did Stain go after Tensei?

Stain was all about attacking people who had committed some kind of perceived failing of heroics. But Tensei seems to be legitimately above the board. He didn’t seem to engage too heavily in the consumerist culture around heroics. He did good work. He was a good hero. So what about him made Stain decide to go after him?

I didn’t want it to be an “IDK he thinks all heroes but all might is fake” thing because 1) that cheapens the character and 2) it doesn’t match what canon shows. Don’t get me wrong, he was a lunatic who thought he needed to kill a fucking kid over his extremist ideals, but he let Izuku go the second Izuku established he conformed to his moral system.

Stain kills when he perceives a reason to. That doesn’t mean he’s always right. But he needs an excuse first.

I decided that there was one detail about Idaten that would be his most likely motive: the number of sidekicks he had.

Tensei is canonically taking up his parents’ mantle. This is a family business he’s heavily suited to and excels at. He has working beneath him a much higher than average number of sidekicks. And we know from canon that he’s not the type to take advantage of his team. Fuck, he seems to emphasize taking care of his team and working together above all else.

But we know that from canon. Stain doesn’t. What he sees, from the outside, is a young hero who took over his parents’ agency and is bolstering his own career on the backs of his sidekicks, which is what so many heroes were doing at that time.

Because stain is an extremist. He doesn’t once consider that maybe Tensei is the exception to the rule. He didn’t think to ask the sidekicks who he was, in a way, taking action on behalf of what they thought of Tensei.

Which is consistent with his character. It took him less than five minutes to decide “yeah I need to put down this grief stricken fifteen year old boy” do you????

Iida becomes the kind of hero that meets his ideals. Stain would have killed him the first time Iida gave him a reason. He’s shown to not always be right or do due diligence to determine if someone is even consistent with his crazy fucking moral system. He was just wrong when he went after Tensei.

And a big reason why he was wrong is because Idaten, as a culture, is far from the typical agency experience. It’s just that no one knows this, because Idaten is shown to be all about maintain a strong and confident facade. It’s not releasing its fucking employment contracts. The public only gets the calm, in control demeanor of the team. It doesn’t see how the sausage is made.

Do you know that millionaire ceo who realized his employees lives sucked and voluntarily took a huge pay cut so that way he could raise all of their salaries to a huge degree and the company as a whole got much, much better because the workers cared about it now and they made more profits and his salary eventually increased too as the company improved and all of his employees loved him? And he published the results thinking maybe other ceos would follow them after it was proven to make their companies more successful? And literally not one single one of them did?

Yeah that’s Idaten.

We talked in the earlier post about how heroics culture, for the most part, is abusive and built on the backs of sidekicks who are being widely taken advantage of. Idaten just… isn’t. Their compensation is incredibly fair and above board. People get credited for busts based on who was in charge of that particular bust or went above and beyond. They genuinely take care of their team, which is consistent with how Tensei seems to treat his team in canon.

For the most part, the sidekicks don’t want to even leave Idaten and become big name heroes themselves. They are all so genuinely happy and fulfilled that most of them happily spend their whole career as a sidekick.

But that’s the exception, and not the rule. And from the outside, Stain saw another sidekick farm propping up a pretend hero.

Which is one of the reasons why all of the Idaten sidekicks got together to hunt him down like a sick dog when he escaped. Tensei was babygirl to them and Stain hurt babygirl. He besmirched babygirl’s name over something he didn’t even do. Tensei didn’t even coordinate that mission the sidekicks made a group chat without him and went out to kick that fucking guy’s ass.

Idaten is a model of what heroics could be if it wasn’t focused on self profit and promotion. It made sacrifices to be this way. But it resulted in a team of excellent heroes who are all able to focus on protecting society without going home and feeling like they got fucked.

Stain has this mental image of heroes who should be helpful and good and save everyone without any personal incentive. But when you’re breaking your fucking back and going home to a shit apartment while your boss does 3 hours of work per day and has five houses, you start to ask yourself why you have to fucked for society to be safe. The sidekicks’ “greed” took the blame for the meltdown with Tartarus, but really, people should have been pointing fingers at every single agency head who refused to treat them fairly.

Idaten is this sparkling model of a business that is incredibly successful because the company heads are actually fair and good. They are the exception. And they are operating within a system where many of the other agencies are treating their talent like disposable cogs in a machine. The system needs to be regulated to force everyone else to act like Idaten—Idaten’s independent success is not a sign that the system works on its own.

As to your second question—no. The world saw little snapshots of Class 2A melting down in the aftermath and it got traded around like every other moment. Someone took a picture of the moment I talked about with Iida just sitting on the curb and crying when his brother’s men came to relieve him of command, and it was just another famous picture of many on the internet do that incident.

It was just—a horrifically public event. All of the kids had to be hospitalized in the aftermath. The world knew that. Izuku took a hit during his big fight with Mirio against the major villain team. He got stabbed, and it was poisoned. He knew from the villain’s history that the poison they produced was slow acting, though, so he quietly took Todoroki aside, had him cauterize the wound, and kept fighting until more heroes came. There’s a fuck ton of photos of him lying down on the sidewalk with his head in Todoroki’s lap in terrible shape waiting for the ambulance to come get him. And the world took that as a “Look At How Strong He Is, All Might Reborn, He Fought All Night With That Terrible Wound And He Still Prevailed” not “wow, that actual child had to fight for hours through the night not knowing if he’d live long enough to make it to a hospital.” Which is like. What happened. Izuku didn’t tell anyone but Todoroki that he took the hit. They both knew that if he didn’t get the antidote in time, he was dead. And they also both knew that there was no way he was going to be able to have even a shot at a hospital until morning, so they just had to keep going.

The world also took that as fuel for the ongoing ship war around Izuku and Todoroki, that they are only marginally aware of. Which like. Would not be comforting, that that’s what they took from a picture where both of them were legitimately afraid that Izuku was going to die.

The world knew they were young. They knew they were a bunch of amazing kids who had done something spectacular. To a lesser extent, they knew that those kids struggled in the aftermath. But that was never going to save them from the media machine. The fact that this fell to kids who visibly struggled in the aftermath was picked apart and used as a bat to hit opponents with in the debates that followed.

The picture of Iida crying on the curb with his brother’s sidekicks around him is considered one of the seminal photos documenting modern Japan’s heroics. It is the kind of thing that is probably going to end up in a textbook down the line.

Iida hates that photo. He hates that he had one moment of vulnerability in the aftermath when he managed to keep it together the entire rest of the event, and people still pass it around like a trading card. He had worked so, so hard not to lose it, and right when he thought it was safe to, it got posted on the internet.

When Iida sat on the curb and started crying, he was barely standing. He was injured himself. Momo had a tremendous fight that left her in terrible shape, and everyone was afraid that she was not going to make it. Izuku had just revealed, by the way, guys, This Happened, and now everyone was afraid he wasn’t going to make it. Bakugou was like two days out of the medically induced coma Uraraka put him in when this happened and apparently the doctor’s warnings that he could only be on light work was a hard requirement because he was completely non responsive for the since the fighting stopped and now everyone was afraid he wasn’t going to make it. The entire class was concussed, exhausted, and wanted their parents.

And he just really, really wanted his brother. He wanted his big brother to come in as the hero he had always admired, sit down with him, and tell him it was over. That he did good, and he could rest now. His brother’s sidekicks were the closest second available to him.

That picture made Iida feel like he had failed. He hadn’t held it together, and he hadn’t had the same strong facade as his brother always did. His anguish became another thing for the world to chew on. And that was true for all of those kids at that fight.

#pez dispenser debris #the medias never going to be easy on them #they will be righteously angry on their behalf don’t get me wrong #but the media is not going to get together and say ‘you know what? let’s respect these kids privacy. we won’t post these photos’ which is #what they wanted #like it was just bad #Mina had a breakdown in the hospital because she couldn’t get the blood out of her fur #Yagi had to hold her while she cried #kirishima called his moms sobbing because he was GAY and had a BOYFRIEND and what if they had to put his boyfriend BACK IN THE MEDICALLY #INDUCED COMA. Uraraka really struggled because she called her parents trying not to cry and was wondering if maybe she could go visit or #they could come visit her but she’s fine if they can’t she knows it’s expensive and things are tight right now. Tensei sent out an Idaten #assistant to personally arrange and pay for their travel and set them all up in a rented house for a few days so Uraraka could be close to #her friends but have her parents and he never said a word about it. Iida’s friends had taken such good care of his brother that Tensei did #what he could to take care of them.#but the kids struggled. they had a huge amount of guilt and self doubt over the calls they made in the field because maybe they could have #been better heroes. but they had been the best heroes they could have possibly been expected to be #shinsou DIDNT ask for his parents in the aftermath and just sort of sat silently in his hospital bed staring at the wall and it’s what made #Aizawa realize he couldn’t go back to the foster home again. UA took custody Shinsou still hasn’t told his classmates because he’s worried #they’d ask questions. shouto also didn’t ask for his parents and it made Aizawa Stress over why and how it fit in with his other concerns.

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