#I would have had so many issues otherwise

[lolazoel]

As a german with grandparents who lived during WW2 i can confirm, this is what happened. And it's precisely what's happening again, it started by giving the public an enemy, someone to fear because the economy is messed up and living isn't easy.

Back then Hitler gave the germans many enemies: Jews, queer people, work unions, immigrants, Sinthi and Roma, communists, socialists, the mentally ill, the disabled, scientist, historians, authors, i can go on.

And now let's see what Trump did! He gave the americans an enemy to blame the economic situation on: queer people, immigrants, work unions, refugees, Mexicans, Native Americans, scientists, historians, authors, communists and socialists, the disabled and the mentally ill. Probably more that i can't remember right now.

Now, a man of Trump's age should be educated on why WW2 happened and why it left no winners despite germany and its allies surrendering to the US, UK, France and the UDSSR. The issue is, I believe he knows. And he knows that wars are good for the economy. They have the consequences of a redestribution of land because some who fell in the war leave property without an owner or a will. It means that resources used for the public can now be spent otherwise, like making old men with lots of money richer. It means a baby boom because sad people make bad decisions like sleeping around. And it means that the tangerine man with his tiny Richard can get emergency powers to stay in power longer.

The biggest issue? I can see the same happening in Germany too. Like we didn't learn from our mistakes. And I see men in power directing it all. A while ago Elon Musk, you know, the Nazi, met with Alice Weidel, a german politician and probably most hypocritical person i am aware of (she lives in Switzerland, has a wife from I believe Srilanka who wears a hijab, has adopted children, yet claims not to be queer and supports a party against immigrants, queer people, rainbow families, and muslims). Ever since I got notifications on Twitter about what Alice Weidel thinks. I had to block and report her to stop the notifications. I have no interests that she posts about. No, this is manufactured, herding more people into the arms of the extreme right wing.

And you want to know the worst part? The worst part is that the greater population will do nothing to stop this. Even if they don't actively support this change in society, until they are proclaimed the enemy they will stand aside and watch, because until it is them they won't care. And when it is them, there won't be anyone left willing to stand up for them.

Is there any hope left? When it is obvious war is coming given how countries scramble to isolate themselves until they become dependent on resources from others and willing to fight for those? When red buttons, launch codes, are so easily accessible and ready to cause the extinction of life on earth at a moment's notice? We are lucky that we won't have to fear a-weapons immediately, although b and c weapons are definitely going to be used (ABC weapons are Atomic, Biological, Chemical). It will be a war for resources, no need to taint those with radiation. We are lucky, because those who would have to use those weapons are in our generation, millenials and gen-z, people who grew up in a time where a connection to everywhere at once became the norm. People reluctant to fight and kill innocents.

So we can pray. And we can educate ourselves and each other. And we can stand up to protect each other. Because if enough people oppose the ruling class this will not become WW3, the war of resources, it will become a revolution, be it inspired by the french or the americans. Because one thing Germany did very well in the last century. We broke down the wall dividing east and west, parting friends and families. So let the german 80s and 90s inspire you, not the 30s and 40s. Unite.

Yo, correct me if I am wrong please, but didn't Hitler rise to power because he promised to fix the German economy and people really liked that so they looked past everything else he was doing??? Like exactly what's happening in America right now???

So many people said they voted for Trump, put a truly evil person in power, because he said he'd fix the economy, and a little voice in my head is going, "Isn't that what happened with fucking Hitler??"

But I've seen no one point that out so maybe I'm miss remembering???????

[genevawrenn]

I am still brainstorming about The Secret League of Alchemists [tr!Sneeg, tr!Clown & tr!Ros] after today's streams [Ros & Sneeg have VODs] cause there are simply so many good points that happened and that conversation played out exactly how I would have wanted it to. From both a character and creator POV, well-fucking-done.

Alright, onto this ramble [from now on I will be talking about character unless I specify].

First of all, I am so fucking glad Sneeg was the one to notice the fact Ros left Yellow and had the tough conversation about what happened with her. Up until that point, at least from the VODs I have seen, Ros has only really known his silly, bantering side, I am not sure she even really trusted him to be venerable up until today when she took a chance and I am so happy she did. She watched him and Clown drive each other insane and had issues differentiating between their tones if they were serious or not but I think she finally understands how Sneeg acts when he is locked in on something.

Because he handled everything BEAUTIFULLY.

He took the time to sit down and listen to her, asking thought provoking questions as he tries to narrow down the motivation of their opposition. Checking with their comfort before giving them the respect of privacy and taking them to somewhere no one would follow, allowing them to speak freely and without judgement. Speaking straight up of what he was witness too, backing them up whenever they needed yet giving the respect to make the decisions they have to.

I absolutely ADORE the fact Clown also showed up, and without second guessing anything about the subject content and immediately locks in, takomg the time to listen to his obviously hurting friend. The fact he tries to talk about Sneeg's machine upon his arrival on the mushroom island and Sneeg refuses for the conversation to be deflected, instead forcing the subject back to the one he wished to focus on and its so masterfully well done.

Clown and Sneeg have surprised me the most, I think, loyalty wise. The Kingdom of Fools was a unity of misfits who became family forced together through gathering materials and protecting against attacks from all fronts. They have become an inseparable trio who has now proved they have one another's backs, alongside Foolish, as that's who they believe the core of the Kingdom is. They are willing to tackle issues head on together, refusing to let anyone stumble and fighting at their side until the bitter end.

Clown, Sneeg, Ros and Foolish have become united through circumstances and family through loyalty, only hoping for the best for the fellow members of their Kingdom.

I love how Sneeg describes Ros as being the castle, the centerpiece of their faction. She started the foundations to give them shelter and fought back each exhausting time it has been threatened. She is the origin, the keystone, the bloody heart of the Kingdom of Fools gilded in gold and royal purples. She was the interim Queen when Foolish fell, immediately accepted and backed up by the rest of the Fools.

I think after Foolish sacrificed himself it brought a lot into perspective for the remaining members, and Sneeg made his choice of who he would stand by in times of chaos. He found a warrior-in-arms with Clown who despite all their bickering, both would protect each others backs without question.

"You are the Kingdom, The entirety of the Kingdom was built around a structure you made, willingly."

Perfect guards for their Kingdom, otherwise known as Ros, the Royal Architect. She is the foundations, the structures and the walls who will save her people despite the weather that batters her and the sieges that befall her fortifications.

But like hell she is facing it alone, especially now.

She created a safe space for her people to gather and build their future, now in her times of strife two of the people who earned her respect stepped up to protect her when she stumbled.

I haven't watched much of Clown's content, or Ros before this world but now I want to know so much more.

Because I see the reputation Clown wears like a comfortable, worn sweater, totally confident with what his ruthless nature has bought him. But even someone so terrifying can hide a soft heart, and Ros has clearly earned the terrifying pvper's friendship.

Simply by being herself and building a home, people gathered to inhabit it and now are willing to go through hell and high water to save their safe space. Two of the server's most feared have made their stance known, at the side of the personification of everything their Kingdom stands for.

Its beautiful poetry watching the one who nutured malice instead of love get his just desserts, and I am eagerly awaiting their King's return but I trust in the core trio who has kept this Kingdom afloat week after week.

They are strongest together, and today proved that in so many ways. I adore and love this trio, and hope this open communication remains a habit between them, because knowing they can come to one another without judgement and be reassured of their worth.

Sneeg made sure to have emphasis that Ros has an incredible amount of worth to the Kingdom even beyond the castle she built, because she is the keystone who united them and holds them all together.

Oh my Secret League of Alchemists, though I did not know you before I am delighted to make your acquaintance now. One of my favourite tropes is scary souls who have a soft spot for those they care for, I hope it continues long into the future because they cooked a whole meal and then some with each and every action from today's story.

Bravo. Give me more.

[anthurak]

"I'd like to hear him out..."

(credit to @phuezo for the awesome art XD)

So here’s a fun little AU concept for the past couple months since Mastermind aired and people started throwing around ‘What if Charlie (or Lucifer) was at Blitzo’s trial?’ ideas:

What if Vaggie didn’t (entirely) lose her wings to Lute’s attack? Meaning that Charlie actually KNOWS that Vaggie is an angel from the beginning. And leading to Vaggie not hiding her identity by pretending to be a sinner and instead be generally open about her past as an angel and exorcist. Which I think could have some rather interesting ripple effects.

Now I realize it might be a bit headscratching how ‘Vaggie doesn’t lose her wings’ leads to ‘Charlie (and Vaggie) showing up at Blitzo’s trial’, but hear me out.

First off, I think the ‘How’ of this divergence is actually pretty easy to imagine; instead of ripping her wings off, Lute decides to inflict a different kind of sadistic torture on Vaggie. Terribly maiming her wings to prevent her from flying, but still leaving her wings to make it clear just what she is. Basically, Lute and Adam fully expect Vaggie to be torn apart by vengeful demons.

But in true dramatically ironic fashion, Vaggie is NOT found by the ‘evil, terrible demons’ that Lute and Adam (and even Vaggie herself) were expecting, but by Charlie Morningstar. And I think we can all agree that Vaggie happening to have a pair of angel wings would NOT meaningfully change Charlie’s reaction to finding her in the slightest.*

Charlie still basically falls for Vaggie at first sight, takes her in and patches her up and gives her a home. And in this version, after it becomes clear that Vaggie’s wings aren’t healing, Charlie also calls in a favor from Uncle Ozzie to design some cool cybernetics/prosthetics to give Vaggie full wing-functionality back. And after a while, Charlie and Vaggie fall in love and start dating just like they did in canon, possibly even sooner/stronger given that Vaggie doesn’t have the specter of hiding who she is from Charlie hanging over her in this version.

And this is where we get to one of those interesting ripple-effects of this change.

Because I think it is VERY likely (as in, I imagine we’ll actually see this come up in the actual show) that Charlie’s belief in sinner-redemption and drive to help sinners in large part came from Vaggie. Specifically in that Charlie believed that Vaggie was a sinner. As in, Charlie falling in love with someone who she thought was a sinner was a MAJOR factor in Charlie believing that sinners could be redeemed and general drive to help them.

Now obviously I’m not suggesting that Vaggie was the only reason or that Charlie wouldn’t care about the sinners otherwise. At the same time, I think it’s a bit ridiculous to assume that Charlie believing the woman she loves was a sinner all that time wasn’t a major contributor to her motivation in ‘making a hotel to redeem sinners’. Or that Charlie knowing Vaggie WASN’T a sinner from the beginning couldn’t put her on a different path…

Basically, this version of events with Charlie falling in love with ‘Vaggie the fallen angel/former exorcist’ instead of ‘Vaggie the human sinner’ ends up rippling out to lead Charlie to focus not on the problems of the human sinners, but rather the problems faced by the hellborn demons.

Say for example; because Charlie knows that Vaggie is an angel, and thus almost certainly NOT bound to the Pride Ring, the pair end up taking a few trips/dates to see the other rings. Particularly given that Vaggie already know Asmodeus.

But in the process of these trips, Charlie starts noticing many of the issues faced by the hellborn demons. Many of which she doesn’t remember from back when her father was running things…

Basically this ties into another theory I’ve had since Mastermind that a lot of the societal issues we see in Helluva Boss are the result of, or at least have been heavily exacerbated by, Lucifer’s long ABSENCE from ruling thanks to his centuries-long depressed isolation. Something that I think Mastermind pretty heavily hints at given everything we see from Satan in that episode. And that at some point, Hazbin Hotel is going to show Charlie having to DEAL with many of these issues as part of her arc of growing into a leader and future ruler of Hell.

And in this version of events, instead of being drawn to wanting to help the human sinners, Charlie is drawn to wanting to help the hellborn demons. Basically, since her father clearly isn’t doing his job, perhaps SHE should step up and try doing it instead?

And of course, Vaggie is right at her side through ALL of this. In fact, she may even be a bit more gung-ho about it, given that it probably feels to her a bit more feasible than ‘redeeming sinners’.

This all leads to Charlie pushing herself not so much into ‘replacing’ her father outright as ‘ruler’ of Hell, but rather starting to assume a kind of regency position. Not full-on ‘ruling’ (yet), but still starting to assume some of the roles and duties that her father has been neglecting for a couple hundred years.

And the fun thing is that nobody is really able to stop Charlie from doing any of this. After all, she IS the princess and heir apparent of the Morningstars, meaning she is well within her rights to assume a number of roles of her father. Particularly as Charlie makes it very clear that she is not trying to outright supplant her father, but is simply assuming duties that he’s been neglecting. To the point of keeping the title of ‘Princess’, or maybe ‘Princess Regent’.

Sure, some/most/all of the Goetia/other nobility might not like a lot of the ideas and goals Charlie is talking about, such as ‘Maybe the Imps, Hellhounds, etc AREN’T actually lesser and born to serve the nobility and shouldn’t be treated as such’, but there also isn’t really anything they can do to STOP her or remove her from her new position. After all, the only one with the authority truly above Charlie’s is Lucifer himself.**

And the nobles who do make a scene and/or pitch a hissy fit about Charlie’s ‘radical ideas’ tend to find themselves at the business-end of her girlfriend’s spear, sword or divinely-mailed fist. Really, in this situation Vaggie is a pretty big fucking deal all on her own, being a fallen angel and all. Certainly NOBODY is going to be judging Charlie on her choice of romantic partner. Well, maybe some sinners might judge her for dating a former exorcist, but any Hellborn demons, even the Goetia? No fucking way. Really, people would probably be making comments on how Charlie is taking after her mother.

Heck, even in the short time since Charlie started this endeavor, Vaggie’s probably earned her own title or two. ‘Blade of the Morningstar’? ‘Wings of the Princess’?

Of course it’s also worth noting that there are still some pretty hard limits to what Charlie can accomplish in terms of fixing/reforming the issues of hellish society, at least in the short term. She can’t just snap her fingers and fix classism or completely wipe out the Goetia’s authority (or the Goetia themselves). Particularly as Charlie doesn’t have the ultimate overriding authority of her father. Realistically, Charlie’s authority as Princess/Regent only just supersedes that of any of the Sins, and while that might put her above effectively ANY other one person in Hell, it also doesn’t give her absolute ‘do anything I want’ authority either. Not to mention that this is still Charlie we’re talking about, who in this timeline is still only JUST getting use to throwing her authorial weight around.

But at the same time, again there really isn’t anything anyone can do to fully STOP Charlie from doing anything either. Meaning that in the short time since assuming her new role as regent, say about a year or two, Charlie has already started making small but noticeable changes and ripples to Hell’s society.

Which brings us to this new version of Mastermind, with Charlie and Vaggie making a surprise appearance at Blitzo’s trial and Charlie actually wanting to hear the imp out. This leads to a number of other fun changes including but not limited to:

Charlie invoking both ‘Princess Regent Authority’ and ‘Favorite Niece Privileges’ to get all of the Sins voting on her side to hear Blitzo out and override literally all of the Goetia royalty.

Andy-the-not-actually-a-sister-fucker pitching a hissy fit over this and getting choke-slammed and almost speared by Vaggie.

Blitzo still finding a way to fuck up this golden opportunity by running his mouth. Because this is still Blitzo we’re talking about, and giving him a chance to talk is ALSO giving him a chance to dig himself into a deeper hole.

Stolas choosing the exact worst (and funniest) moment to dramatically burst in with his big, dramatic ‘sacrifice myself for the man I love via song number’ gambit, which actually only makes things worse/wackier when Charlie starts asking pertinent questions.

Andy pitching more hissy fits as his plans continue to unravel and getting repeatedly chokeslammed and/or kicked in the dick by Vaggie.

Striker getting dragged back in when it becomes clear there are a LOT of holes in his story, only to constantly flip-flop on his story because he can’t figure out which authority figure(s) he should be selling-out-to/kissing-up-to in order to save his own skin.

Charlie, Vaggie and even Satan becoming ever more flabbergasted as it becomes clear that the suspect (Blitzo), prosecution (Andre), defense (Stolas) and witness (Striker) in this trial are in fact ALL complete fucking idiots.

--

*Admittedly I do have one other possible change in mind to help reinforce this: rather than a sinner child, Vaggie actually spares an imp kid, or perhaps a sinner child and their imp kid best friend. Which leads to the imp kid actually leading Charlie to the injured Vaggie and also telling her that this angel actually helped them and got hurt doing so.*** Which again serves to reinforce just how wrong Adam and Lute and much of heaven are about demons.

** And if you’re going to ask ‘Why doesn’t Charlie just go to her dad directly and get him to do his job?’, remember that Charlie had to be practically dragged kicking and screaming by her girlfriend into calling up Lucifer for help in Hazbin. I think it’s pretty clear that pre-Hazbin, if Charlie can get what she’s after without getting her dad involved, she is ABSOLUTELY going to do it.

*** Also this hypothetical imp kid doesn’t actually show up again and DOES in fact have a living family, meaning that NO, Charlie and Vaggie DON’T ADOPT THEM. Because I KNOW that is exactly what some of you started thinking when I mentioned an unattended child in relative proximity to our heroines.

--

And of course, once again HUGE thanks to @phuezo for the awesome art of Charlie and Vaggie XD

[suzukiblu]

WIP excerpt for lottie behind the cut; “a pocketful of Kons”. Rewrote/added-to/edited the first few paragraphs of this scene, so including the adjusted intro in here too. content warnings: Cassie is a teenage girl with anxiety/self-worth issues who is not old enough to understand why her mom is so concerned about the idea of "Superman" being her soulmate and therefore has some, like, somewhat unhealthy/concerning thought processes about how she should BE Superman's soulmate. (( chrono || non-chrono ))

Cassie’s never actually been to the Watchtower before, and it’s maybe a little embarrassing how cool she can’t help thinking it all is. Cas seems to think it’s pretty cool too–which makes sense, since it’s technically his first time here too and on top of that also a pretty important place to Superman–and keeps zipping ahead and around curiously and then back to her again and again. Sometimes he takes Odie with him, but mostly he gets excited and forgets to. 

He'd gotten really excited when Cassie'd changed into her costume before they'd come up here, but she's still kind of flustered about that particular experience so like, she's maybe just . . . not gonna think about it right now. 

He'd been really, really excited, though. She doesn't think anybody's ever been so happy to see her version of Wonder Girl, even people whose lives she was, like, actively saving at the time. 

Diana gives Cas a thoughtful look while he’s following the elevator buttons as they light up from floor to floor, but doesn’t say anything about it. 

“I spoke with Zatanna when I called in earlier,” she says instead as they step out of the elevator, and Cassie feels increasingly embarrassed about . . . literally everything, basically. How many people exactly did Diana tell about Cas? And how many of those people are gonna be here and want to ask her questions about him, possibly at the same time?

She’s not, like–Cas is her Pocket; she’s not ashamed of him. 

She is super, super embarrassed about the idea of Zatanna and Black Canary and Green Arrow and the Flash and every single Green Lantern and probably, like, Batman all asking her why Superman’s her soulmate. Like–definitely that sounds embarrassing. 

Or life-alteringly mortifying, at least. 

“Uh, did she . . . say anything?” Cassie asks awkwardly, not really sure why Diana mentioned that anyway. “Like, um–about . . . Superman, or whatever.” 

“She informed me of the fact that he appears to have returned to Metropolis, of course, but also that he has made no attempt to contact the League,” Diana says. “Nor anyone else he might've been expected to.” 

Cassie . . . blinks. Who else would he even . . . ? 

Well–probably Supergirl, she guesses. She doesn't think Supergirl's in the League or anything. But otherwise, well . . . it's not like there's all that many people running around with the “S” on or anything. Like, it's really just the two of them, right? 

And if his first soulmate isn't dead–like, he'd want to see her, obviously. 

Or maybe Diana means, like–her. 

Superman has to have a Pocket of her too, after all, and if hers showed up in costume like Cas did . . . well, it's not like she'd be that hard to find. Especially not for Superman. With how fast he is, he could've been in Gateway about five seconds after deciding he wanted to be in Gateway. So like, if he had wanted to . . . 

Cassie feels a little–weird about that, for some reason. Like . . . a little freaked-out, maybe. She doesn't know why; he's her soulmate. There's nothing to get freaked-out by. Even if he's probably the greatest hero of the sector after Diana and basically everyone not a supervillain idolizes and adores and trusts him and he’s, like–he's Superman, and she's . . . 

Well. She's definitely not Wonder Woman, if nothing else. Or Troia, either. She's just kind of . . . here, maybe. Like–by comparison and all, she means. 

Cassie thinks about how cold and empty Superman’s face had looked on the feed from Metropolis and feels a little weirder, and still doesn't know why. Which–she needs to, like–stop that, obviously. Needs to step up here. If Superman needs her, she can't be weird around him. Whether his other soulmate's dead or not, whatever's wrong with him is clearly really wrong. 

Just–his face. He’d looked so . . . 

She just needs to not get–weird, or anxious, or whatever about that. She just needs to be, like–just needs to figure out what he needs, and how to be that. That’s all. Like, what if he had come looking for her and she’d gotten freaked-out on him? How would that help him? He literally got beat to death in front of the whole world by a monster nobody else could take out, and his other soulmate might be dead, and his face looked like that, and . . . 

She just needs to figure out how to be what he needs. That’s just, like–that’s obviously what she has to do. She has to figure it out, and then she has to be it. 

She doesn’t understand why her mom’s so upset that someone actually needs her, for once. 

“Uh . . . so do they think that’s, like . . . a bad sign, then?” she asks, a little awkward. She’s heard a few million weird ways that people in the community “died” or un-died, and plenty of them weren’t really, like . . . necessarily benevolent ones, she guesses would be the best way to describe it. “Like do they think he’s got amnesia or something? Or like, did he not even actually die, or did he only just come back, or–I dunno, was he only gone so long because somebody just had his body locked up somewhere or–?” 

Cas makes a weird sound she’s never heard a Pocket make before, and she–blinks, and looks over towards him reflexively. He zips over and hovers over her shoulder, tugging insistently at the long ends of her wig and making the sound again. It’s sort of . . . 

It doesn’t sound like he’s singing, but it’s . . . musical, sort of. 

Diana tilts her head and gives Cas another thoughtful look. 

“Cas?” Cassie asks, frowning at him. “What’s . . . wrong?” 

She’s not actually sure something’s wrong, but the musical sound is–weird, kinda. Like, it’s sort of cute, but also she’s just never heard any Pocket make it before. Like, not even on TV or in a movie or anything. 

Is it a Kryptonian thing, maybe? Or is it because of whatever made Superman’s face look so–empty? 

“Wondy!” Cas protests. “Wondy Wondy!” 

“Um . . .” Cassie trails off, not sure what he’s upset about or if he actually is upset, or is just trying to tell her something. He looks kind of upset, now, but more in a frustrated way than anything else. 

Cas makes an indignant face, his cheeks puffing out in–frustration, maybe? annoyance?–and yanks at her wig again, this time hard enough to tug at the clips in her hair and nearly pull it crooked. Cassie reflexively grabs the other side to tug it back down, and Cas makes the musical sound again, louder. 

It actually doesn’t even really sound like a sound a person would make. More like something, like . . . maybe more like something an instrument would. 

Odie churrs inquisitively, and Cas lets go of her wig, scowls at her, and then zips over to Diana’s shoulder instead and throws himself at Odie, who wraps an arm around his shoulders and lets him burrow in against his side and very obviously sulk there like a grumpy little kid. 

. . . yeah, Cassie has literally zero clue what to take from that behavior.

[darklightsworld]

So, about the new BeruBara movie in detail. I rushed to watch it, because the visitor present was the above genga copy <333 Pretty amazing, because even the exhibition last summer did not have genga copies in the goods corner (aside from the very expensive ones). In this sense I consider the price of the ticket well spent. It is shrunken to A4 (from B4), so I can even use it in class. Until now I only had a B4 original and several B5/A3 copies, and it isn't convenient to bring those to the uni. Anyway, I hope they will announce the week 3 present soon. I'm not so keen on the Fersen-Antoinette genga next week, but I would get that if the others aren't genga anymore.

This was the good, now onto the bad. It was bad, I was oscillating between cringing and secondhand embarrassment for a good part of the movie. One of the reasons in kind of subjective, but the bigger reasons are objective. First about the subjective: I don't like musicals. I already suspected from the trailer that they might go into that direction, because the theme song screams "musical song™️." That song is so bad too, and it also showcases the typical "let's throw English phrases into the lyrics, because they sound cool" attitude. But the thing is, Berubara takes place in France ^^; Anyway, I guess they might have gone into this direction, because Berubara has been a longstanding success with Takarazuka. Also something I'm not touching with a ten-foot pole. I'm not sure how Takarazuka fans liked the movie, but from an anime perspective, it was weird. This isn't Disney, anime rarely crosses over into musical, and even those instances aren't successful (I don't mean idol series, that's something else). Even this movie isn't actually a full-fledged musical, often it's like image/character songs sung by the cast added for certain reasons. This latter is also questionable, not all of the cast are nice to listen to... (see singer vs. seiyuu made to sing). The opening/theme song resurfaces more than once, and it becomes ridiculous when the uprising Parisians start to sing the same song used to welcome Antoinette in the beginning in a different arrangement. The song inserts are often used to rush through or gloss over things, but I will come back to this later. The symbolism used in some of these scenes is a mess too: art nouveau motifs for a rococo story... or the underwater imagery ^^;;;

Now, about the objective faults. This is not a well-made anime:

Visually, there are some/several money shots, but otherwise the sakuga is a lackluster. They clearly did not have enough money to make it movie quality. The visual style of the manga is old-fashioned, seen as kind of cheesy, and it has its fair share of parodies. It was a question whether the anime can honor this style without turning into its own parody. I don't think it always succeeded, hence my secondhand embarrassment. The musical parts also used a lot of bank shots in the name of "memories," so I guess those were also meant to save money.

The biggest issue is, however, the narrative. You could already see in the trailer that they would cover the whole story. Seeing that Berubara is a 10+ volume long series with 30+ years passing in the story, the movie was... ambitious, to say the least. Unfortunately the movie did not succeed to make it a coherent story. I blame the director too, because even though I think such a approach was bound to fail, it could have been better even among these circumstances.

The movie feels like a summary, or maybe a highlights reel, and I'm afraid it isn't understandable to those who don't know the story beforehand. Quite often the scenes are disjointed without any transition. Many subplots are only visually mentioned, and not even spoken about: the Dubarry issue appears during an image song, the gambling-Polignac-necklace affair during a narration (not mentioned by name), Jeanne does not appear. Rosalie appears in one scene, Bernard as well. Bernard gets named, but you may wonder why, because he does not become important for the plot. Robespierre is a single image too. I think they could have completely erased these, if they were reducing them to these mentions. They kind of feel like sending a message to fans that yeah, we know there's more to the story, but we don't have time to deal with them, so here, have some bullet points. I would have preferred a coherent plot instead... Btw, he noble thief plot is erased, André loses his vision in a different way. Girodelle asking for Oscar's hand seems so out of the blue, like, who were you again? ^^; Fersen is also dropped after they get together with Antoinette (except for a moment mentioned below). It is really bewildering.

As a fan you know what happens in-between, but if you don't know the story, it is difficult to understand the whys and hows. Btw, one of the worst gloss-overs is the Oscar in a dress scene (see above genga). Based on the movie it is already difficult to see where those feeling came from, but when she starts to dance with Fersen it turns into an image song of the four mains, and the unsuspecting viewer has no idea what happened there ^^;;; As mentioned, the musical parts had many repetitions, and with so little time to unfold any plot, they felt a waste of the little available time.

The characters feel very superficial because of rushing through the plot. If you don't know the story, you can only ask why this or that happened. Like, when did Oscar develop feeling for Fersen? And then for André? And so on. There is no show, only tell, and often not even that. Antoinette also loses later character development, and seems to be the selfish queen the French people paint her as. The plot starts to become more coherent after Oscar leaves the court, but even though there is character development for her, most of the political issues that influence her earn barely a mention. So yeah, superficial.

The story ends at the storm of the Bastille (iykyk), and the rest of the history is only narrated in etching style. I would have loved anime style illustrations.

These were the main issues I can remember off the top of my head. I think making a single movie out of this long story was an impossible undertaking to begin with, but it also could have been way better than this. More money for quality animation would have been necessary, also a coherent plot with more nuanced characters.

[thetempleofthemasaigoddess]

Their shared bliss

Roronoa Zoro x reader. NSFW!!

This fic is the last in a trilogy that also includes His fourth sword and Her sweet peach.

*****

Toc-toc.

“Zoro, it’s me. Open up.”

Silence.

Toc-toc.

“Come on, I know you’re in there. We need to talk, open the door.”

Silence.

TOC-TOC.

Silence.

Sigh. 

“Zoro, don’t be a child. You’ve been avoiding me for three days; why don’t you come out, so we can… discuss what happened?”

Huff.

“It’s fine; it’s not like I wanted you to say it back if you… if you don’t feel it. Leave me be for a while, (name)...”

“I think what happened is already perfectly clear.”

“You… caught me off guard! I’m sorry!”

Absolutely not, you think. Avoiding you was relatively easy while the Merry remained at the harbour of the latest town your crew had reached, since Zoro could simply walk away every time you approached and tried to talk to him and spend the day wandering around the island or sulking at some bar; but now that you have sailed and are surrounded by the vastness of the sea, the only way he could keep you away would be barricading himself in the boys’ cabin, whatever complaint the others may have.

Also, his attitude might cause more problems that he’s trying to solve. Naturally, Zoro has the right to his privacy and no one, not even his partner -who you are proud to say you are, and have been for the last four months- can force him to share what he’d rather keep to himself. On the other hand, you know well that ignoring an issue rarely solves or makes it go away, and couples who do not discuss sources of tension or disagreement are often short-lived, which is obviously an option you want to avoid. 

It’s your fault if Zoro is hurting, and his reaction is, all things considered, more than fair given what you did. You didn’t want to hurt him, quite the opposite in fact, but you did, after he had had the courage to open his heart to you, and there’s nothing you wouldn’t do now to make things right… to make him see how much you care for him and feel lucky to have him by your side. 

 “I know you’re still there.” Zoro calls from behind the door “Go away, (name).”

“I will, if you really want me to; I’ll respect your decision, whatever it is. But please, Zoro, give me the chance to talk, only for a moment. Haven’t we promised each other we would always listen when one of us wanted to share something with the other? Five minutes, that’s all I ask, and then…” you force yourself to swallow, suddenly more afraid than you have ever been in any of the many battles you have fought alongside your friends “... and then we can break up, if this is what you want.”

You wait, biting your lip, at once anxious and afraid of the answer you might receive, and finally steps are walked across the cabin, the key turns in the lock, and a moment later the door opens, revealing the tense, but also vaguely perplexed, face of the future strongest swordsman in the world. “Why would I want to break up?”

“What? Of course not!” you exclaim, nonplussed “Zoro, is this why you’ve been avoiding me? Because you thought I’d tell you it’s over, let’s never speak again?”

“Well, I don’t know, I…”

“I thought you’d want to.”

“Well, I was hoping we could remain friends, but…”

“Oh… oh, you dummy!”

You throw your arms around him, holding Zoro tight as if you feared being swept away from the waves; you kiss his cheek, relieved to feel his arms close around your waist. Zoro closes the door behind you before you both walk to the bed.

I love you. This is the brief, full of meaning but deceptively innocuous phrase that caused so much trouble for you and your partner, three simple words that threatened to destroy all you had started to build together. It was Zoro who uttered them, as you lay together on a blanket on the otherwise deserted deck, a couple of empty beer bottles by your side and more stars in the sky above you than you had ever seen. 

You had spent several minutes making out, mouths and hands moving on each other���s bodies as the symphony of your moans filled the air, but the next half an hour had been even more intense and sweet; Zoro’s arm draped around your back, your cheek resting against his shoulder, your hearts beating as one, the feeling that the world had disappeared beyond the two of you.

And then he told you he loved you, and you reacted in a way that had Zoro, a man who had never backed down from a fight, stomp away with the same determination and speed of a death row inmate who had found the prison’s gate open, deaf to your calls and requests to stop and let me explain, dammit!

All things considered you really can’t blame him for having avoided you.

“I really don’t want to break up with you, Zoro.” you murmur, taking his hands in yours “And to be honest, your words made me happy; very much so. It’s just…”

“You don’t have to justify yourself; or to say something you don’t feel.”

“I know; it’s just… well, talking about feelings has always been a little difficult for me…”

Before you can elaborate, Zoro has taken you in his arms, a hand resting on your hair. “It’s alright, you don’t have to explain.” he mumbles “Damn… I made a big deal out of nothing, didn’t I? I shouldn’t have avoided you, and it’s fine if you just need… some time…”

I just want to know you’ll fall in love with me sooner or later. It doesn’t matter if it takes you years, or decades, I just need to know one day you’ll tell me. This is what you perceive as the real meaning behind his words, and what Zoro feels unable to say; in short, what he feared. Four months after your official relationship started, discussing his feelings is still something your partner struggles with, and you can’t imagine the amount of courage -something he normally owns in large quantities, as long as it requires facing a whole Marine platoon alone or risking his life when he’s already gravely wounded; the situation is different here- it took him to confess his love to you. 

And yet, you couldn’t say it back. Damn, you feel like the worst of women!

“Do you want to break up?” you ask, lifting your gaze to meet his and forcing yourself to utter the words; losing Zoro would break your heart, but you don’t want to force him into a relationship that leaves him unsatisfied “I don’t want to lose you, but if you’d rather take some time…”

Zoro hurries to shake his head. “Hey, hey… no pressure, alright? I’m happy being with you, and if you’re happy with me, I think we can leave things as they are now.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course; now come here, I have missed you.”

You share a long kiss, then Zoro moves his swords away from the bed so that you can lie on it together, your legs intertwined; you rest your cheek against his shoulder, closing your eyes to focus on the pleasant sensation of his calloused fingers running through your hair. 

“You make me very happy, you know?” you murmur after a while; relief has filled your heart, as well as joy and a small amount of guilt, because you couldn’t give your partner what he deserves - and what he needs “Happier than I remember ever being.”

“I’m doing nothing.”

“You’re being yourself, Zoro; believe me, that’s all I need.”

You feel his laugh rumble in the firm chest under you. “No effort required, then.” 

“Ah, ah, ah…”

You spend a few minutes enjoying each other’s presence, the gentle lull of the ship surrounding you, as you reflect that for those last three long days you have seriously feared you were going to lose him, a realization that filled you with fear and guilt. It’s perfectly normal if a person’s feelings take longer than another’s to develop, but Zoro is a wonderful partner: caring, passionate, faithful, and while this is his first relationship, he’s doing his best to treat you right, even seeking advice from Robin and Nami about things a woman would appreciate.

And yet, you couldn’t say those three small words back to him - and not because you don’t feel the same, quite the opposite. It’s stupid, because that person is long gone and he hurt you too much in the past for you to let him still influence your life, but you can’t help it…

Lost in your thoughts as you are, it takes you a while to notice the change the contact with your body has operated on Zoro’s - namely, the erection now pressing against your belly. 

“Hmm, what do we have here…?”

“It’s not my fault!” Zoro protests, an adorable blush spreading on his face “We have been apart for three days… and you are wearing shorts, your legs are naked…”

You have been together -in practice if not officially- for months, and have fooled around so many times you have lost count, and Zoro still gets embarrassed when he has to acknowledge the effect each of you has on the other; it’s sweet, as well as something you occasionally like to tease him about. Like now…

“I know; and I have missed you very much.” you murmur, moving your hips against his so that Zoro can feel what you are doing but not find any relief in it; a moment later your hand has slipped under the hem of his shirt, tracing the firm muscles of his chest “Every moment, especially at night.”

Zoro gulps. “(name)...”

“I have tried doing it by myself, but it wasn’t the same; it wasn’t as good as having you there with me would have been. Maybe we should make up for lost time…”

Your partner groans, a clear sign of the effect that your words are having on him; your hand drifts downwards until it rests on the front of his trousers, where his hard member is already begging to be touched and kissed like it deserves. And who are you to deny it?

You meet Zoro’s eyes; he’s smiling, even though he’s trying to hide it by biting his lip. “May I?” you murmur, despite everything determined to know he’s comfortable with it and wants it as much as you do “It’s fine if you’d rather just stay and cuddle a bit.”

“Then… alright. I-I mean, I’d really like that.”

“No, it’s fine.” Zoro rushes to answer; then: “Can we cuddle some more later?”

“Of course.”

“Then…”

You move slowly as you sit on your knees between the legs Zoro has quickly spread for you; you bend to kiss him again, and help him take off your shirt before doing the same with his. You like feeling Zoro’s hands on your naked skin, the touch firm but gentle, and he knows it all too well, given the swiftness with which he takes off your bra and starts massaging your breasts, tearing a moan from your lips.

“You are more beautiful every time I see you.” Zoro says, and then he looks away, as if embarrassed by his own words; you smile, touched.

“Let me take care of you, baby.”

You can feel Zoro hold his breath as you kiss your way down his body, from his sweet, hungry mouth to his muscled chest, until you reach his waist, and the more and more evident turgor tenting the fabric under it. You linger for a moment, and Zoro groans, his fingers running through your hair.

“Please…”

You smile into his kiss and untie his belt; Zoro lifts his hips, allowing you to free him from the rest of his clothes. His naked body, strong and virile, modeled by years of hard training and aroused by the promise of your shared pleasure, is a sight that feels more breath-taking every time you get to admire it, so much that you take a minute to just look at him. Every inch of Zoro’s body is lovely and perfect, from his strong hands and handsome smile to the many small wounds and scars littered across his skin, but your eyes can’t help focusing on the beautiful, hard member your partner has already started pumping, a proud smirk on his lips; seeing him touching himself never fails to have an effect on you, and he knows it all too well. 

Warmth is pooling between your thighs, a nameless, hungry beast rearing its head in your stomach and demanding to be satiated. Maybe, once you’re done, you’ll ask Zoro to return the favour, since he’s not the only one who has missed the other in the last three days, but now you want to focus on him… to prove your partner that even though you’re unable to confess your feelings like he deserves, there’s nothing you wouldn’t do for him, and you know how lucky -how blessed- you are to call him yours.

“Let me.” you murmur, and your partner happily lets you take over, looking avidly as you start caressing his erection, pumping it, and then quickly lowering your mouth to it.

Sucking Zoro off is heaven; he fills your mouth as if he were made for it, your tongue naturally finding the spots along the column to stimulate, the acrid but pleasant taste filling your senses. You keep touching him, your hands moving on the rest of his beautiful, powerful body, whose strength no enemy -well, bar one- could hope to match and whose warmth and tenderness only you were gifted; you want to make it clear that all of him is perfect and beautiful and deserving to be worshipped.

All of him, from all of you.

“You alright?” Zoro murmurs, propping himself on his elbow to meet your eyes after you’ve stopped sucking him off “(name)? You don’t have to go on if…”

“No, I’m fine; it’s just… I was thinking…” you begin, and then you stop, biting your lip as you search for the right words, and the courage to utter them. You have no reason to feel awkward, since you’re reasonably sure Zoro will appreciate your offer; still, you can feel yourself blushing hard “Do you… do you want to do it?”

“Do it?”

“Yes. Since we’re here, we could have sex, if you want.”

It’s probably the most awkward, not to mention unsexy, way you could have put it, and you have ample time to regret opening your mouth -to speak, at least- while Zoro blinks, and then swallows. “Are-are you serious?”

“Yeah, of course. I mean, we have been together for a while, we are comfortable with each other… but I know we have never really talked about it, so if you want to wait…”

“I don’t.”

“Are you sure? Because really, it’s not a problem if… “

Zoro grins. “(name), you can’t tell a man you want to have sex and then propose you don’t.” he points out “Of course I want to, I’ve wanted to for a long time.”

Thrilled, even though your unexpected shyness hasn’t dissipated fully, you stand to quickly remove the rest of your clothes, your sandals and shorts discarded to the floor before you return to the bed; you’re about to lie down, when Zoro sits up.

“Let me.” he murmurs, quiet and almost reverent as he reaches towards your hips, and a moment later he has freed you from your panties; your partner gulps, and you let his hand pull you to the bed once more.

A situation like this, both of you naked at the same time, has already occurred before, you and Zoro almost competing in who could make the other come first, but this feels different, this is different, and your heart is pounding with something that is both pure joy and almost crippling anxiety. You grin as you take his erection in your hand once more to pump it, making Zoro groan.

“A couple months?”

“Do I… need to put something on?” he asks, making a valiant effort to speak coherently.

“You have them?”

“I do; I bought them a couple months ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yes.” Zoro admits, and now he’s not just blushing; his face looks literally on fire “I had hoped we… well, we’d do it soon.”

“You could have told me. Zoro, you need to understand that talking to your partner is not only natural; it’s necessary. I can’t read your mind, and if there’s something you want or that worries you, I can’t know unless you tell me, and secrets and misunderstandings are often harmful for a couple, like you’ve already seen.” 

“It’s fine. Anyway, I don’t think we need anything.” you explain; your trusted contraceptive implant, which you got from your local doctor years ago before you took to the sea, protects you from unwanted pregnancies, and your monthly check-ups with Chopper ensure that neither you nor Zoro have to worry about sexually transmitted infections “But if I have to take you I’ll need some help first.”

“Gladly…”

You kiss passionately as you lie on the bed together. You can feel Zoro’s heart pound against your chest as his hand slips from your shoulder to your hip and then between your legs. His fingertips brush against your core, making you jolt; Zoro meets your eyes, suddenly tense, but what he sees in your gaze must reassure him because he slowly cups you, gently massaging that part of you that today he’ll know like he has never done before.

“You’re wet.” he murmurs, almost awed, and you find yourself smiling.

“I’ve been wet for a while, baby; and the fault is all yours.”

What he wants at the moment is kiss you, which he does, avidly to the point you are almost struggling to breathe, your arms locked around his broad shoulders, while his fingers play with your core, gentle and vaguely awkward at first, but then he finds that tiny part of you that has been screaming for him, and you feel his smile into the kiss as he adds pressure, his weight pushing you against the mattress. You pant, the pressure in your stomach mounting quickly, and you want to tell him to slow down, because you have all the time and you want to focus on him first, make sure that he is… he is…

“Do you… err, should I use my mouth or…?”

“”Whatever you’re more comfortable with.” you invite him; you’re thrilled, happy and excited for a moment you know you’ll remember forever, but this is Zoro’s first time, and you want it to be perfect for him, special and intense beyond his wildest dreams “Do whatever you want with me, and I’ll tell you when I feel ready.”

“Shiiit…!”

You come, your scream suffocated by Zoro’s mouth pressed on yours, your body writhing under his. “Oh, God.” you pant, and he laughs, unashamedly proud of himself.

“Good?”

“And I thought you were wet before.” he comments, and then he raises his hand to his face and licks it “You think you’re ready for me, baby?”

You don’t answer - you physically can’t, since you’re still catching your breath. Zoro grins, and then kisses you again, soft and gentle; soon, his fingers are on you again, caressing you until they find your entrance. 

“Good.”

Several minutes pass like in a dream while Zoro makes sure you’re ready to take him. Not wanting to just receive his affection without reciprocating, you keep touching and kissing him, murmuring how handsome he is, how good he is making you feel, and how lucky you are to be his. You have completely lost track of time, unable to know whether you’ve been alone in the cabin for ten minutes or two hours; the world outside that tiny room has disappeared, and nothing matters anymore - nothing except you, and Zoro, and the moment you’re about to share. 

His erection is pressing against your core, a firm reminder of your partner’s needs, and no matter how pleasant it is to just lie on the bed and let him worship you like no deity in history has ever been, he deserves to be taken care of as well. You still don’t trust yourself to speak, so you rest your hands on his shoulders to gently push him back, and Zoro lets you straddle him, his beautifully hard member pressed against your stomach. 

“Is this alright?” you murmur “I can let you be on top, if you want.”

“I think you better do it, since you’re the only one between us who knows what we are doing.” Zoro points out, his hands already cupping your waist. Acknowledging his complete lack of experience in matters of sex is something your partner usually struggles with, no matter how many times you’ve tried to convince him he has nothing to prove, but right now he doesn’t seem to mind… quite the opposite, in fact “I like having you like this.”

“You look very nice from up here too.”

So nice, in fact, that for a full minute all you can do is look at him, marvelling in a beauty that goes well beyond his smile, or the firm muscles you have caressed so many times before. He’s perfect, a man who cared nothing for love before the two of you stumbled into it, but who is brave and generous and kind, and who has chosen you, of all the people he has met and known, to share this part of him.

You, who had sworn off love, and had come to consider it nothing more than a source of shame, something to avoid in order to protect yourself. How could you deserve such a gift? Have you really earned it? Are you worthy of it, or will you ever be?

Zoro looks at you; he can see how tense you suddenly are, and he’s about to tell you it’s fine if you want to stop, or take a moment, but he doesn’t have the time before - 

“I love you.” you murmur; you’ve never been so scared, but you want to do it now, rather than in ten minutes when Zoro might think you’re letting your emotions speak for you and say things you are not completely, deeply convinced of “Zoro, I love you so much.”

“(name)...”

“I’m sorry if I couldn’t tell you before; I’ve been cruel and a coward, but I do. I love you, with all my heart, and I am so glad I get to tell you.”

You hold your breath, absurdly convinced something terrible is going to happen, a seaquake or a meteorite destroying the ship, or Zoro laughing in your face or suddenly realising he’d be better off single - which makes no sense, since he confessed his feelings first, but at the moment rational thought has completely escaped you. Already regretting your words, you’re about to stand and run away, even naked as you are, but Zoro, thank God, instinctively realises what you need.

He sits up, and holds you in his arms. “Thank you.” he murmurs softly, and you nod, eyes downcast “It made me really happy. You make me really happy.”

“I do?”

“Of course you do. Do you, err, still want to…?”

You hurry to reassure him that yes, of course you still want to, and as it happens you like this new position even more than the previous one, since it allows you to keep kissing Zoro as you have sex, and kiss him is exactly what you do, the fingers of one hand running through his green hair as the other holds his erection to help you find the right position… just the right point to…

“Oh, God…”

“Zoro…”

And then you’re impaling yourself on him, slowly lowering yourself on your partner’s hard member as your wet entrance swallows it; it hurts, just a little, because Zoro is more than well-endowed and you haven’t been with anyone in a long time, but it’s sweet, intense, and absolutely amazing, all of it, from Zoro’s strong hands kneading the soft flesh of your buttocks to his voice, whispering your name in a neverending litany of moans.

Soon you’ve taken him fully inside you. “You feel amazing.” you murmur, your forehead resting against his, and Zoro grins “So warm… so hard and so big…”

“Shit, (name)...!”

You like the way he’s saying your name, you quickly decide, and you wouldn’t mind hearing him scream it. “Lie down for me, baby.” you tell him “No, keep holding me; I like it.”

You lower yourself on Zoro, your arms pressed on the mattress near his head. You share a look, both of your hearts overflowing with an emotion so special and so intense there is no name that could describe it; you smile, filling your eyes with the joy on Zoro’s handsome face… and then you move, arching your hips in a way that has your partner scream. “Fuuuck…!”

“Good?” you ask with a grin, and nod is all Zoro can do, breathless as he realises what happened and a huge grin opens on his handsome face.

“We’re making love.” he murmurs, awed.

“We are, darling.” you confirm “And I promise, I’ll make sure you enjoy this.”

You do, and he does.

You start moving slowly, cautiously, the undulating motion of your hips against Zoro’s pushing him further and further inside you; your partner, still partially in control of himself -a situation, you decide, you’ll rectify as soon as possible- is clawing at the sides of the bed, his only good eye focused on the bouncing of your chest, groans and moans and whimpers rising from his lips. “Shit… (name), yes, feels so good…!”

“How good, baby?”

“Better than… anything else, It’s like… it’s like something -ah God yes like that- mounting inside me… like you’re eating me… it feels…”

“Yes?”

Zoro looks at you; he’s panting hard, but you perceive that’s not the only reason why he doesn’t immediately answer. You see him lick his lips, as if mentally preparing himself for a very tough challenge, and then: “Blissful.” he explains, the word sounding and tasting almost alien in his mouth, as if he had never ever considered describing something as such, as if this were the first time he found himself using it “It feels blissful, (name); you feel blissful.”

“You do too, baby.” you murmur, touched “Mind if I pick up the pace a little?”

He grins, and that is all the approval you need. You start moving faster, your body and Zoro’s by now used to each other enough that the movement doesn’t cause more pain than either of you can handle. The obscene sound of your skin slapping against his fills the room, and you’re forced to find purchase on Zoro’s broad shoulders to steady yourself, your pace growing desperate, almost brutal, because you can feel it as well, mounting inside you, and you can’t fight it, you can’t and don’t want to, because it’s scary and powerful but so sweet and good and hot, and it’s been so long since you’ve felt it, and this is Zoro, your Zoro, your brave and generous and loyal swordsman, and you don’t just want to give him a first time worthy to be remembered for the rest of his life… you want to give him all of you, and have a piece of him for yourself, to cherish forever.

Because, unlike someone else, you know Zoro is worth it.

“Oh… oh God, baby, you feel so good…!” you scream - you really do, loud enough for the whole ship to hear, and you don’t mind, no, you’re proud of it, proud of feeling Zoro’s hands on you and of how good you’re fucking each other even though it’s your first time, as if you were made for it “So good, so…!”

“... blissful?”

“Yes! Yes, it feels blissful!” 

You’re babbling, not fully aware of your own words, but you’ll later reflect that it’s true, that what you’re living does feel like a blessing from above - more than simple sexual pleasure exchanged between two partners attracted to each other, a gift from some deity that allowed you to meet the only person who could make your bodies, and your hearts, sing like they are doing now. 

“I’m gonna come.” you tell him; it’s soon, embarrassingly so, but you don’t mind, not when it’s so good, and this is going to be the first of many, many times “Zoro, I…”

“It’s f-fine, baby.” he says. His hold on your buttocks has grown greedy, the push-and-pull movement forcing you to a brutal, almost frenzied pace; he’s not just making you come, he’s forcing you to - pounding into you, making you bounce on his lap while his big, hard cock works its magic and makes arousal mount inside you. He’s now in control of the wave, and he’s pushing it towards you with the same strength and surety with which he usually handles his swords, despite his apparently submissive position completely in control and clearly proud of it, judging from his proud smile “Come for me, (name); come for your man, let me see how pretty you are as you fuck yourself on my cock.”

You obey, letting pleasure wash over you, and now you are screaming, screaming his name, and Zoro is screaming as well, following you beyond the edge. 

The next minutes pass in a haze, as you and your partner slowly catch your breath, kissing lazily and murmuring sweet words to each other. “You were right.” you murmur “It was blissful.”

Zoro laughs. He has never been more handsome, dazed with pleasure, perspiration glistering on his chest and shoulders. He reaches out towards the bedside table next to the bed to retrieve a couple of small towels, which you use to clean yourselves; both of you are in desperate need of a bath, but there will be time for that. You could also take it together, just to save water and the time to fill the tub twice… 

“Zoro… about what I said before…”

“Are you alright?” Zoro murmurs, turning and circling your waist with his arm to hold you close as you lie down together once more; you smile happily.

“Never felt better.” you assure him; the truth is that you are more than a bit sore, but it’s the sort of pain that pleases more than it hurts, and you don’t want your partner to worry or feel guilty. You can’t wait to do it again, and you will, before the end of the night - as soon as you have found a more private and safe place on the ship than a cabin shared with three other people; but now all you want, all you need, is to enjoy a few minutes warm and safe in your partner’s arms.

He sighs. “Please tell me you don’t want to take it back.” he says, sounding more serious, and almost afraid, than he probably intends to. You shake your hand, moving carefully in his embrace until you are returning it, your hand moving slowly up and down his back. 

“Absolutely not. I… I do love you; and I have known it for some time. I just want you to know why I couldn’t tell you right away.”

It feels wrong, almost sacrilegious, to discuss one of the most painful experiences of your life in such a happy, intimate moment, not to mention that no man who has just had sex for the first time wants to hear about his partner’s ex lover, but this is important, because you want Zoro to know everything about you, everything that made you the person you are today.

Zoro knows that unlike him, you’ve already been in a few relationships, both romantic and sexual, but this is the first time you mention your former lover K., the first one you grew to really care about, and who didn’t deserve your affection in the slightest. 

“He was the first, and until now last, person I ever told I loved them, and I actually thought I did, even though I now see he simply seduced me with a few sweet words and his charming smile.” you admit with a sigh “He… wasn’t a good partner. He knew how much I cared for him, and took advantage of it; he told me terrible things, and… and cheated on me, without even bothering to hide it. If you really loved me, you would forgive me, (name), he would tell me. Do you want to break up? But you just told me you love me, I guess that wasn’t true then?”

“God, what an asshole…”

“I know! I was younger then, but I’ll never forgive myself for having let this bastard treat me like crap for so long. I did feel better when I finally broke up with him, and I went on to have other meaningful, happy relationships… but what happened with K. had burned me; I promised myself that I’d never fall in love with anyone else, never utter those words again, and never let myself care for someone if it meant letting them mistreat and humiliate me.”

Zoro sighs - in pain for you rather than, like you had instinctively come to fear, in disgust on hearing how low you had stooped. “I am not that sort of man, (name).” he murmurs quietly; he kisses your brow, holding you close in what is both protectiveness and jealousy “You have to know it.”

Of course you do, and this is what makes the whole matter so painful, even though thank God you still managed to make things right in the end. “Of course I do; I wouldn’t have been in a relationship with you for months otherwise.” you point out softly “But you’re the first person since K. I’ve cared so much about, and… I don’t know, it’s like a survival instinct halted the words in my throat. But I don’t want to be afraid anymore, and I don’t want the memory of a man I haven’t seen in years to stop me from being happy with you. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you I loved you straight away, like you deserved; I… could tell you often from now on, if it helps.”

“Well, that’d be a start…”

Zoro grins. “We still have some time before dinner.” he considers “Do you wanna rest a bit, and then do it again?”

“Sounds like a plan.” 

You grin, adoration in your eyes as you kiss Zoro softly, murmur that you love him once more, and let him hold you tight as you lose yourself in the warmth of his embrace.

[artofalyksandr]

Redraw-tober week 3: fan art

Original: September 4, 2021

[moongothic]

So I'm confused about something. There was a cover story about Ms Goldenweek and other Baroque works agents breaking Crocodile out of prison but he just. Told them no? And stayed there with Mr 1 and Mr 2? I don't get why he wanted to go to Impel Down just to break out when he had the chance

I can't tell you 100% why Crocodile chose to stay in prison and go to Impel Down, but my best guess really is that he was just...

Taking the L with grace

More specifically. Crocodile had lost everything. I think deep inside he might've been literally too depressed to want to go free again.

Like he does literally say that. He gave up.

He had been building his reputation as "the Hero of Alabasta" for at least 10 years at this point. He had built not just a criminal organization that he had been running for four years, but also he had been running legal business stuff (like his casino) for probably longer than that. A decade's worth of work and effort to take over a country, and most importantly, get away with it. The reason he had orchestrated that whole rebellion was so that the rebels and the royal family could "take each other out", leaving the country wide open for a World Government Official such as himself to take up. The reason Baroque Works was doing this all in secret was so that the WG never found out, otherwise they wouldn't have let him have Alabasta.

But indeed, his plans were foiled by a kid in flipflops in less than 24 hours, just at the final moment before Crocodile would win. He lost everything. And the World Government found out about what he had been planning.

So even if he escaped from that prison with his former agents, what was he going to do?

He wouldn't be able to take over Alabasta anymore because he did not have manpower (as he had lost all his goons), and having lost his financial empire he wouldn't be able to build a new army any time soon. And even if he did, now that they knew what he had done the people of Alabasta would not accept him as their new king, even if he personally assasinated Cobra and the entire family. Not to mention, the WG finding out about his plans meant that they had every fucking reason to try and stop Crocodile if he did as much as set foot on that island again. By which I mean, they could launch a Buster Call on his ass. Send all the fucking Admirals after him. And so, even if Crocodile still believed Pluton was somewhere in Alabasta and that he just had to comb through the entire desert to find it... Between the Alabastan people and the WG in the way, finding Pluton would not be easy. Especially when Robin wouldn't even be there to just point him directly to it. It could take years, if not decades, while fighting off the WG by himself. And that's while assuming Pluton was somewhere in Alabasta. Like WE the readers now know Pluton is in Wano, but since Robin didn't tell him that. All Robin said was that the Poneglyph "didn't mention the weapon", and Cobra's reaction to the name merely proved the weapon's existence in Crocodile's mind. But surely, because Crocodile is a smart young man, he'd understand there was a risk that Pluton could exist, but just not be in Alabasta, right? Like that would be a possibility too, right?

I think this is why Crocodile has given up on Alabasta. He had one opportunity at seizing the country, and he failed. And without Robin, he could spend the rest of his life combing through a haystack for a needle when there's no needle, and he'd have no idea. I think is why he explicitly says in Impel Down he no longer has "interest in that country". He won't be able to pull off another stunt like this, ever.

And that leads us back to "why not escape earlier and avoid going to Impel Down to begin with". Thanks to his status as a Shichibukai, Crocodile hasn't been on the run from the WG for like two decades. And the past 10 or so years he has seemingly lived a life of luxury in his funny little casino. But now, having lost everything, he'd be back on the run. And because he's a world famous former "hero of the people", there would be nowhere he'd be able to go where people would not recognize him and send the marines after him. So he'd be on the run, for the rest of his life or until he'd get capture again. And mind you, the guy does not trust anyone, so he'd be on the run alone. Without any purpose or goal.

And you might be thinking, "Daz and the rest of BW was still there!", yeah, arguably true. But at this point Crocodile had no reason to trust any of them. Like personally, I think the reason Crocodile ended up taking a liking to Daz was BECAUSE he chose to follow him to Impel Down when he really did not have to. Like Daz showed an unusual level of loyalty to Crocodile, and I think Crocodile recognized that. That's why Daz is still with Croc, post-timeskip. But Miss Goldenweek and co? Crocodile had no reason to believe they wouldn't betray him if given a chance and a reason. And if the WG would come chasing his ass, they'd have plenty of reason to try and betray Croc (handing Crocodile over to spare their own lives). Not to mention, when they come release their former boss from jail, what did Miss Goldenweek say?

"Let's do Baroque Works again"

As I've already explained in detail, I think we might know why Crocodile wasn't interested in being Baroque Works' "boss" again.

So. Yeah. If in Crocodile's mind he'd be on the run from the Government for the first time in two decades all alone, in a situation where rebuilding what he had before would be bloody hard if not downright impossible, and he wouldn't be able to obtain what he had spent the last decade working for regardless...

Taking the L and just going to prison might've been the easier option

[crabussy]

man its absolutely crazy how far simple politeness gets you. if you are polite to strangers on the internet who hate your guts 9/10 times they will LISTEN to you and TAKE YOUR POINTS INTO CONSIDERATION????? I've have genuinely very pleasant conversations with people whose worldviews COMPLETELY contradict my own and have come away knowing that they're thinking about what I said and may have even changed the way they think about the issue we discussed. it feels like it shouldn't work but it works almost TOO well. if people feel like you're listening to and considering THEIR opinions and experiences, they'll listen to yours too. it goes both ways!!!!

[lionblaze03-2]

sometimes I think about writing and singing music not because I’m an incredible singer but because no one has my fucking voice, especially in popular music, and its disheartening to be born a girl, told you’ll only get girl roles or try to voice match other girls, or ‘sing with the girls’ and then only be able to match male voices because you’re a fuckin tenor and not anything higher. I can’t think of any girl Broadway roles I can hit all the notes on. Most songs I love I have to pitch down for myself or use falsetto for singing along to. It bothers me a lot less now because I’m an adult who’s more secure in myself but as a teen in kids musical theatre it FUCKED with me, BAD style. And I know for a fact that even now when I hear people with a voice like mine singing I get excited and immediately invested in their work because they’re like ME, finally, for once. A brother in this world of being afab and having the voice of a recently pubescent boy forever. Maybe I should be that brother too.

[sonknuxadow]

they werent lying that knuckles series barely has knuckles in it

[lhrry]

x

[buysomecheese]

Preventing myself from freaking tf out by remembering that even my hormones don’t want to be in my body even my body is trying to prove that it’s Wrong and it’s funny that everything agrees with me except my mom and the government

[katkitthedemon]

well...

"Hey, what do you want for Ch-"

I don't know, as soon as you started the question, I somehow momentarily was struck with such a lack of desire for any material goods that there's now a school of thought in Buddhism who reveres my ADHD riddled brain as a potential speedrun to enlightment.

[scientia-rex]

When I was in ninth grade I wanted to challenge what I saw as a very stupid dress code policy (not being allowed to wear spikes regardless of the size or sharpness of the spikes). My dad said to me, “What is your objective?”

He said it over and over. I contemplated that. I wanted to change an unfair dress code. What did I stand to gain? What did I stand to lose? If what I really wanted was to change the dress code, what would be my most effective potential approach? (He also gave me Discourses on the Fall of Rome by Titus Livius, Machiavelli’s magnum opus. Of course he’d already given me The Prince, Five Rings, and The Art of War.)

I ultimately printed out that phrase, coated it in Mod Podge, and clipped it to my bathroom mirror so I would look at it and think about it every day.

What is your objective?

Forget about how you feel. Ask yourself, what do you want to see happen? And then ask, how can you make it happen? Who needs to agree with you? Who has the power to implement this change? What are the points where you have leverage over them? If you use that leverage now, will you impair your ability to use it in the future? Getting what you want is about effectiveness. It is not about being an alpha or a sigma or whatever other bullshit the men’s right whiners are on about now. You won’t find any MRA talking points in Musashi, because they are not relevant.

I had no clear leverage on the dress code issue. My parents were not on the PTA; neither were any of my friend’s parents who liked me. The teachers did not care about this. Ultimately I just wore what I wanted, my patent leather collar from Hot Topic with large but flattened spikes, and I had guessed correctly—the teachers also did not care enough to discipline me.

I often see people on tumblr, mostly the very young, flail around in discourse. They don’t have an objective. They don’t know what they want to achieve, and they have never thought about strategizing and interpersonal effectiveness. No one can get everything they want by being an asshole. You must be able to work with other people, and that includes smiling when you hate them.

Read Machiavelli. Start with The Prince, but then move on to Discourses. Read Musashi’s Five Rings. Read The Art of War. They’re classics for a reason. They can’t cover all situations, but they can do more for how you think about strategizing than anything you’re getting in middle school and high school curricula.

Don’t vote third party unless you can tell me not only what your objective is but also why this action stands a meaningful chance of accomplishing it. Otherwise, back up and approach your strategy from a new angle. I don’t care how angry you are with Biden right now. He knows about it, and he is both trying to do something and not doing enough. I care about what will happen to millions of people if we have another Trump presidency. Look up Ross Perot, and learn from our past. Find your objective. If it is to stop the genocide in Palestine now, call your elected representatives now. They don’t care about emails; they care about phone calls, because they live in the past. I know this because I shadowed a lobbyist, because knowing how power works is critical to using it.

How do you think I have gotten two clinics to start including gender care in their planning?

Start small. Chip away. Keep working. Find your leverage; figure out how and when to effectively use it. Choose your battles, so that you can concentrate on the battle at hand instead of wasting your resources in many directions. Learn from the accumulated wisdom of people who spent their lives learning by doing, by making mistakes, by watching the mistakes of their enemies.

Don’t be a dickhead. Be smarter than I was at 14. Ask yourself: what is your objective?

[dc-bitchin]

the last post I just reblogged had a tiny moment of a very knowing Lois catching on to Tim's feelings for kon and I just. they should get to bond over having shitty dads in canon they SHOULD GET TO