#I’m not even a side character at this point

[ranoutofficssoiwritemyown]

You decide to sleep on the couch after an argument pt.3

pt.1 pt.2 character: Caleb note: not proofread. haven't played the game since he came out so he might be a little oc

Caleb’s mind is simple: you being away from him means he can’t protect you from any possible danger. He is overprotective to the point it disturbs you and sometimes you think if it was up to him he would tie you to his side so you never leave his sight. Because you’re the safest by his side right?

Considering his possessive nature towards you, you can imagine the intensity of arguments between you two. The problem is, he doesn’t see how he’s wrong. You’re a professional hunter? You’ve lived for years without him? You’re one of the best at your dangerous job? falls on deaf ears and right now you’re so so close to strangling him. Instead, you turn around and go to your bedroom to get a blanket and pillow, because sleeping beside this obstinate asshole is the last thing you want tonight. after a minute you can sense Caleb’s presence. He yawns as he leans against the doorframe

“Whatcha doin’ pipsqueak?” His question is playful

“Oh, I’m pipsqueak again”

Caleb laughs at your sarcastic answer which earns your glare, making him mumble “Still mad I see” under his breath. Silently, you wonder if he is bothered by the argument at all. You gather everything in your arms and walk to the door and as you pass him he grabs your shoulder from behind and drapes himself over you.

“A little bit dramatic don’t you think?”

“You’re heavy, you asshole”

You grumble as you try to shrug him off but he won’t budge. Quite the opposite actually, his arms are wrapped around your shoulders tightly with his face in your neck.

“Can’t handle it? I thought you were a strong girl.”

“Do you, really? Because you act like I’m made of glass”

“Well, not glass. More like-”

You try to smack him but he moves his head to avoid it and laughs, instead catching your wrist and placing a kiss on your pulse point. Even though the gesture makes you blush, you snatch your hand back and accidentally hit his metal arm, causing you to hiss at the pain. He looks at you with a raised eyebrow as if saying ‘See?’ which makes you more furious.

He starts to say something but you interrupt.

“Let me go, Caleb. I’m mad at you and don’t want to sleep in the same bed as you”

“No”

“No?”

“Gotta keep you away from your thoughts, pipsqueak. What if you decide you want to leave me or something because of this stupid argument, hm? What then?”

You fall silent for a moment because you need to get this straight. So, he thinks that after he ‘died’ and you mourned him, thinking about him almost every day, years later you find out that he’s alive and is doing everything to keep you close, you will leave him because of an argument? Now, you doubt his sanity. On the other hand, Caleb takes your silence as a bad sign and starts panicking.

“Pipsqueak? Come to bed, please. And we can do whatever you want tomorrow. I’m yours the whole day- Hey, I’ll make braised chicken wings. You still love them right? Or whatever you want, you name it…” When he gets no answer, he drops his head on your shoulder, giving up “Okay, if you really don’t wanna sleep beside me, I’ll take the couch, just, please sleep in the bedroom.”

Finally, you sigh and lean your head against his chest.

“You won’t drop this, will you?”

He smirks because he knows you. He knows you want to give into him but your pride won’t let you. So you try to blame him. Make it look like, you don’t have a choice, so you don’t feel bad about yourself. But he’ll take it. He’ll take all the blame and allegation if it means you’ll stay with him.

“Not a chance” his voice is muffled against your neck as he pecks it, before removing himself from you and leading you back to your bedroom.

“I don’t think you’re made of glass,” he tells you when you’re both lying down on the bed and you place your head on his chest, in return, he wraps his arms around you.

“Hm?” you’re confused before you remember your earlier statement

“I don’t think you’re weak. The opposite actually, I think you’re very strong I just… I worry about you, I can’t help it. So what if you’re one of the best hunters? you’re not immortal. And when I think that there’s even the slightest chance that I might lose you again… I won’t be able to take it. So all this overprotective act is also for the sake of my sanity.” He laughs humourlessly in the end.

You raise your head to look at him. He’s already watching you with adoration behind his purple eyes. You brush the strands of hair from his forehead and place a kiss on his lips.

“I won’t leave you” You kiss the corner of his mouth “You’re crazy if you think leaving you has even crossed my mind. Now that I have you back? You’re stuck with me as much as I am with you”

There’s a faint smile on his lips as his eyes run over your face.

“Goodnight, pipsqueak"

“Goodnight, Caleb”

You both fall silent as you lay back down on his chest. However, the silence is broken by you.

“You’re making braised chicken wings for me, tomorrow”

“Absolutely” he agrees with a silent chuckle.

[oddyseye]

Odysseus is a very feminine character, now that I think about it...

Alright, let’s get something straight before anyone comes at me with a “bUt tHiS iS gEnDeR eSsEnTiAlIsM” take. I’m not saying Odysseus is literally a woman or that masculinity and femininity are these rigid, unchanging constructs. I’m talking about how the ancient Greeks perceived these traits. This is about Homeric gender coding, not modern gender politics.

Ancient Greek society had clear ideas about what was “masculine” and “feminine.” Men fought, conquered, and sought kleos (glory). Women used cunning, patience, and endurance to survive. Odysseus? He embodies the latter far more than the former. That’s the point. That’s what makes him interesting. I’m not slapping modern labels on him; I’m analyzing how he would’ve been understood in his own time.

Got it? Got it. Then let me explain.

Greek heroism is all about kleos (glory), right? You charge into battle, fight, die gloriously, and get immortalized in song. Odysseus? Not his style. His whole thing is survival. Achilles, the epitome of warrior masculinity, chooses an early death in exchange for undying fame. Odysseus chooses life, no matter what it takes. He hides, deceives, and grovels when necessary...all acts that a traditionally “heroic” warrior wouldn’t be caught dead doing.

Take the Cyclops episode: a classic strongman hero would just fight Polyphemus. Odysseus? He outsmarts him with wordplay, drugs his enemy (like a sneaky witch would), and escapes by disguising himself under sheep. You’re telling me this is masculine? If anything, it aligns him with figures like Circe and Penelope. Women who survive through wit and deception rather than brute strength.

This man’s mouth is his deadliest weapon. He doesn’t win with a spear; he wins with stories, persuasion, and trickery. The word polytropos (πολύτροπος), used to describe him in the very first line of The Odyssey, literally means “many-turned” or “twisting,” evoking the way a woman might spin or weave. The metaphor of weaving is all over his character, and weaving is, of course, the domain of women in Greek thought.

Even his lies are textile-like. He spins tales, unravels them, and reweaves them as necessary. And let’s not ignore that his narrative mirrors Penelope’s: she weaves and unweaves her shroud, delaying the suitors; he spins and unspins his identity to survive. He and Penelope are two sides of the same coin, both manipulating reality to stay in control.

If we take ancient Greek gender norms seriously, dominance in sex = masculinity, and submission = femininity. And Odysseus? The man spends years being kept by women. Calypso and Circe both hold him as a sex slave, reducing him to an object of desire rather than an active agent. That’s not exactly Achilles ravaging Briseïs, is it? He’s literally lying in bed (λέχος) while these women rule over him.

Even in Ithaca, his return isn’t some macho takeover. He sneaks in, disguises himself, and watches before making his move. Unlike Agamemnon, who storms into Mycenae post-Troy and gets murked by his wife, Odysseus waits, gathering intel like a patient, calculating woman.

He also cries...like...a lot.

Masculine heroes go out into the world to conquer (Iliadic energy). Feminine figures are more often concerned with the home. Odysseus’s entire goal? To get back to Ithaca, to his oikos, to his wife. He’s not seeking new conquests or greater glory. He wants stability, family, domesticity. He longs for the space traditionally occupied by women.

Odysseus is basically the Greek epic’s answer to the trickster woman trope. He’s wily, verbal, emotionally expressive, and constantly using the strategies of metis, not brute strength, to survive. While Homeric masculinity typically means fighting, dying, and achieving kleos, Odysseus thrives through deception, patience, and endurance. Traits that the ancient Greeks more often ascribed to women.

[killerlittlerejects]

Why I No Longer Support Anton Morrow Or Blessed Be The Wicked

Okay, we're finally doing this. As always: Do NOT harass anyone involved. This is not what this post is for.

So, this has been a long time coming. I know I keep repeatedly saying that I don’t wanna cause drama but at this point? It’s not even a drama anymore. There’s a glaring issue that’s been circulating the fandom for a while, and up until now, people have either been ignoring it completely or are too scared to say anything at all — which is understandable. I’m frankly scared to be finally making this post. But with most of the fandom beginning to speak up on this, now is a better time than ever. 

You’ve all most likely seen my latest, very angry, Jeff rant post, and some of you might have already put together as to who it was about: Anton Morrow, the creator of Blessed be the Wicked.

If any of you remember the whole “mistype” situation that happened in 2024 revolving around BBTW, you already know I have gotten into a bit of a spat with him before. Then it was all cleared up, and we were chill. But now, with all that’s been happening, I’m starting to question that situation as well.

When it comes to creepypasta, you gotta acknowledge and respect both sides of the fandom, because more often than not, they tie together. Anton, however, doesn’t do this at all, creating a space where people feel unsafe and uncomfortable like they have to walk on eggshells. 

We are not mad at the fact that you are trying to make BBTW horrifying, grotesque, and realistic. In fact, a LOT of people were hyped for your project. No, we’re mad that you have to be an asshole about it. Shaming anything that doesn’t fit into your view of what a character SHOULD be, hating on the fandom way more than you claim to love it, villainizing characters that should not be villainized, like Jane, who’s a VICTIM of Jeff, not doing proper research (apparently not knowing that Clockwork was an SA victim despite her being your “favorite character”), being a fucking hypocrite (hating shock value yet using it in your work as well), and most of all, claiming to be bringing back the old roots of Creepypasta when you don’t even understand or know what those roots are. 

This fandom has ALWAYS been cringy, weird, and unrealistic. I mean, we have a tall faceless man in the woods, a magical black and white clown, and a guy whose skin turned completely white because of BLEACH. This fandom was never realistic! 

You can only use the “I mistyped” or “you all misunderstood me” excuse so many times.

Are you telling me you didn’t mean ANY of this?

Like, if I recall, David Near’s, MBK’s, Pastra’s, AND Ekatlani’s Jeff’s are NOT soft boys at all. But you refuse to acknowledge that, don’t you? Because even if they are closer to what you claim to be looking for within a Jeff rewrite, you still hate them because they weren’t what YOU THINK the character could be. 

But somehow, that’s not even the worst part. No, the worst thing has to be what you’ve done to Leech. Characters change, I understand that. My personal gripe with her not being the character I initially was excited for anymore is just my personal bias. What’s NOT, however, is the relationship you’ve put her in with Tyrant. 

Now, I’m all for toxic relationships. I’ve written them myself, but this? This is straight-up fucking grooming. It’s non-consensual, and you straight-up called Tyrant PREDATORY. 

And the fact that you tried to edit your post to hide what you said first tells me all I need to know.

Not to mention, you continuously like to bring up how much YOUNGER she is than the other two (Context: She's in a poly relationship with Tyrant and a character named Marc)

This goes past a toxic relationship, this is straight up fucking CREEPY. You admit that Tyrant is using his VICTIM, cause that’s what she fucking is, as a way to feel like he’s not all the negative, that “he deserves love.” No. Just no. 

I’m disappointed. Tired, angry, and disappointed. I thought you were a cool guy, Anton. I thought all of you were cool. I was genuinely excited for Blessed Be The Wicked, as I’m sure a lot of the fandom was. But you showed your true colors the moment your project began to get popular. 

Not so politely, fuck you. And if all you can do is complain about is the fandom having fun, fuck off. 

[superpowereddonut]

Favour for a Friend (Sirius Black x Reader) - Part 3

Pairing: Sirius Black x Female!Reader (No use of Y/N or a name)

A/N: set at Hogwarts, fake dating trope

Warnings: Male character verbally intimidating reader

Word count: 1892

Read Part 1 here.

Read the previous part here.

*****

The following morning at breakfast, she once again sat next to Sirius, who just gave her a sleepy smile and wordlessly filled her goblet with orange juice. Her heart fluttered at the sight, and she couldn’t have stopped her answering grin if she wanted to. His silken black hair was loose, reaching his shoulders in messy waves that - unlike James’ - managed to look charming rather than unruly. His storm-grey eyes had brightened when he looked at her, though they were still slightly clouded by tiredness. He had never been a morning person. She fondly remembered a time during their third year when James had tried to convince all of the marauders to try out for the Gryffindor quidditch team and Sirius had waxed poetic about his love of lie-ins and vehement hate for anything that disturbed them. She let her gaze wander, taking in his rumpled shirt, loosely-done tie, and the heavy silver signet ring he wore on his left pinky - glinting slightly in the morning sunlight as he spread a thin layer of honey on a piece of toast and placed it carefully on her plate. She blinked, snapping her gaze back to his face in surprise. He just winked back at her. “How did you know I liked honey on toast?” She asked. 

He shrugged, “You’ve had the same breakfast everyday since first year. You’re a creature of habit.” His tone was casual but she noted a slight pink tint to his cheeks. She bit back another smile as she turned to her plate, feeling her own cheeks heat. Sirius knew her well enough to make her favourite breakfast? He had even taken the care to cut the corners off, obviously having noticed that she never ate them. She felt her chest tighten as she realised that he had been paying so much attention to her, even though until yesterday they had been sitting two seats apart. 

She took a bite of the toast, relishing the sweet honey coating her tongue as she looked up, only to freeze as she met Lily’s sharp stare from across the table. It was obvious from her pointed expression that Lily had witnessed the entire interaction - and clearly had something to say about it. Luckily she was spared any shrewd remarks as James’ voice suddenly cut through the morning chatter,“Wormtail! How nice of you to finally remember that your friends exist!”. Peter smiled good-naturedly as he strode towards their group and sat on the other side of Sirius. “Morning all,” he called down the table, ignoring James’ comment.

Remus smirked at him, “Oh come on Wormtail, you can’t disappear for three days and then act like nothing happened!”

“I didn’t disappear! I’ve been in class!” Peter cried indignantly.

“And yet outside of class we haven’t seen you at all, mate,” James pointed out. 

“I’ve been… busy.” 

“Yeah, busy trailing after Dorcas like a lovesick puppy,” Sirius sniggered.

Peter whipped around to glare at him. “You’re just jealous of our relationship!” he said pompously, “It isn’t my fault I’ve found someone who loves me while you're still stuck in your immature bachelor phase!”

She felt, rather than saw, Sirius stiffen as the words seem to find their mark. Despite his swaggering demeanor, she knew Sirius was always better at dishing out snark than receiving it, - especially from his friends. “Au contraire, my pathetic, infatuated friend,” Sirius drawled, swinging an arm around her shoulders, “I’m in an incredibly mature relationship with our very own Gryffindor prefect.” She leaned forward then to catch Peter’s eye, wincing apologetically. To his credit, while quick to lash out, Peter was also quick to move on, and Sirius’ announcement had seemed to distract him from his defensiveness immediately. “Really?” He asked, mouth agape, “You two are dating?”. She looked to Sirius, but he didn’t seem inclined to explain the ‘fake’ aspect of their relationship, still stung by Peter’s earlier remark. Peter seemed to take her silence as confirmation though, and a large smile lit up his round face. “Well congratulations!” he exclaimed earnestly, “Though I must say, it’s about time. You two have been dancing around each other for ages.” Sirius was taut as a bowstring beside her, and she shifted uncomfortably. A quick glance around the table showed that their friends were all in varying states of surprised amusement, particularly Remus, who caught her eye and grinned. Peter, however, ploughed on, oblivious to the tension around him as he began helping himself to tea. “I mean, we all knew it would happen sooner or later, but I for one doubted Sirius’ ability to - well - be serious, if you’ll pardon the pun.” 

Sirius had begun to look a bit panicked, and she thought for a second that he might actually hit Peter just to get him to shut-up, but before he could, James - possibly thinking the same thing - smoothly cut in, redirecting Peter by asking whether he would be taking Dorcas to Hogsmeade that weekend. She loosed a breath as the conversation shifted and flowed around her, before looking up at Sirius. She nudged him gently with her elbow and he blinked, turning toward her. “You okay?” she asked quietly, “You know Peter, he’s always completely ridiculous with that imagination of his. Last week I heard him bragging to Dorcas that he’d come face to face with a real werewolf in the forbidden forest.”

Her words didn’t seem to comfort him much, and he remained moody through breakfast. She reached up to where his arm was still draped over her shoulder and absentmindedly played with his fingers, alternating between twisting his signet ring and running her thumb along his. She could feel Lily’s gaze like a brand on the side of her face, but ignored her and focused instead on the tension slowly melting out of Sirius as she fiddled with his hand.

*****

After breakfast, she hadn’t seen much of Sirius, as he had a double period of transfiguration while she had divination. But he had still walked her all the way to her classroom on the opposite side of the castle from his own, and carried her books the entire way. She had been grateful that he had seemed lost in his own thoughts, or he might have noticed the way she kept sneaking glances at him throughout their trek up and down the moving staircases. She was certain Lily would’ve noticed and probably tried to talk to her about it, but thankfully her best friend had headed straight to her own class in the dungeons. She was putting off that lecture as long as possible.

After being choked by thick, perfumed fog in the divination classroom for the better part of two hours, nothing sounded better than spending her free period in the sunshine by the black lake. So, while her classmates hurried off to the library or their next class, she ducked behind a tapestry to take her favourite shortcut to the grounds. Before she could even get outside, however, a brash voice echoed through the corridor behind her. 

“Hiya sweetheart! Bin hopin’ to run into ya!” She bit back a groan and turned around, her teeth grinding together at the sight of Lucas Davis swaggering down the hallway toward her. 

“What do you want?” she ground out. 

He tsked. “Aww come on gorgeous, that’s no way to say hello. I feel like I haven’t seen ya in ages.” It had been less than 48 hours since he had last harassed her. But up until then, his passing comments in the hallways between classes and imposing presence in any moment of peace had been near-constant. Honestly, she should have been expecting him to corner her soon, but with Sirius flirting and doting on her, Davis had slipped her mind completely.

“I’ve been busy,” she dismissed, “you know, spending time with my boyfriend and all.”

A muscle twitched in his jaw but he continued smiling confidently, moving even closer, “Yes I’ve seen Black glued to your side recently.” He made a show of looking around the empty hallway. “But I ain’t seeing your overprotective shadow now.” 

She backed up a step, but he didn’t seem to notice, still striding forward. His intense gaze was now locked on her like a predator sizing up prey, and she fought the urge to pull out her wand. “Yeah, well, he’s meeting me here soon,” she bluffed, “and he’d be pretty pissed off to see you talking to me, so I suggest you clear off before he gets here.” 

Davis just scoffed, now crowding her against the stone wall behind her. He was too close, barely a foot away, and her every muscle locked up as dread settled in her gut.

“Just because you have a boyfriend now, don’t mean we can’t be friends.” he crooned, his voice dropping into what he probably thought was a seductive tone. It made her skin crawl.

“I’m not interested in being friends with you, Davis, and I’m pretty sure I’ve made that abundantly clear. I’m dating Sirius, and that’s that.” He simply continued leering down at her in that predatory way. God it’s like he can’t even hear me, she thought, patience waning. She sucked in a deep breath and pushed him backwards.

“I. Don’t. Want. You.” she clipped. 

His cocky grin was replaced by a look of pure rage and she felt her heart jump to her throat. Up until now she had always been careful not to piss Davis off, always keeping her rejections just shy of harsh. Some part of her had known that underneath all that ego, he had a darker fury that she didn’t want to tempt.

“Listen here you little-”

“There you are, mon cœur!” a booming voice cut through the moment, making Davis jump back as though burned. “I’ve been waiting for you outside!”

Relief swept through her so suddenly she could’ve wept. There was Sirius, strutting towards them from the other end of the hall, dark eyes fixed on her. His charming grin turned sharp as he looked at Davis but she didn’t even spare the creep a glance as she rushed to Sirius’ waiting arms. As she reached him, one of his hands immediately sought out her waist and the other settled gently on her cheek. He leaned forward ever-so-slowly, his eyes darting between hers as though searching for a hint of doubt. Finding none, he closed the gap between them, pressing his lips to hers. She melted into the kiss without hesitation, sighing slightly when he pulled her more firmly into him. He used the opportunity to sweep his tongue into her mouth, and she went boneless, barely aware of her hands reaching up to thread through his silky black hair and scratch lightly at his scalp. A deep groan rumbled through his chest at the movement, and the sound had goosebumps appearing all over her skin. Everything beyond Sirius faded away, until there was only his warm body and his mouth, tender against her own. When they finally separated, Sirius’ pupils were blown wide and he was breathing hard, air hitting her aching lips with every harsh exhale. “I thought the situation called for it.” He rasped, low enough that she would have missed it if he hadn’t practically said it against her mouth.

“Definitely.” She breathed.

They turned in unison to where Davis had been standing, but the hallway was now completely empty.

[an-artists-burnout]

the solitaire community is gonna kill me for this but some of the fans make me so mad. it’s not even justifiable, i know it’s just a book but this book means so much to me 😭

i hate when people insinuate that tori was lying to herself when she was talking to michael and clarified that it was in a friend way. They are friends. They were always friends first, and it was extremely hard for her character to establish, and she finally did and was finally comfortable with it and people decide that it’s a fully romanced based thing. When she openly clarifies that something is meant in the context of friendship, i see people post stuff like “ohhhh sureeeeee, that was definitelyyyy friendship”

Yes? It was? Because this story so isn’t a romance to the point where it says “This is not a love story” on the cover? Istg, i love a lot of osemanverse fanbases but the tumblr solitaire one kinda drives me insane.

The story is about mental health and the conflicts of the Solitaire pranks. A romantic plot in this story is a side plot. If you think that Sprolden is the main focus of Solitaire, respectfully, take ten large steps away from me.

Maybe it’s just because i’m bad at social cues, but when first reading Solitaire, i didn’t realize that Tori and Michael were a romantic thing until they kissed. And I truly think that’s how it was meant to be. Because the base of everything for them was their friendship.

Does Alice write romance amazingly well? Yes. Should you dismiss Tori’s platonic feelings for Michael due to the fact that they also share romantic interest? Not unless you are a safe distance away from me bc wtf

Like when someone talks about it all i can think is “Tell me you don’t know what a complex friendship is without telling me you don’t know what a complex friendship is.”

ughhhhh

okay rant over

[caeslxys]

c3 was never about bells hells and the moon. the moon was just the holding box for predathos. c3 was about Exandria as a whole and its future going forward. a future bells hells showed they wanted no part of working towards when they whined about having to speak up for the reilorians and when none of their epilogues involves any plans to tackle any harmful systems currently present in Exandria or any future ones when the betrayers pop up. imogen invited the god of slavery and tyranny to become a king and fucked off to some woodland cottage. none of them even gave a shit enough to find out about ludinus, tell anyone he was still alive or make any plans to actually defeat the campaign villian.

When I mentioned in my last post that most criticism of c3–especially on here—is often misdirected this is exactly what I mean, so thank you for the flawless example to use to prove my point.

C3 was always about bells hells and the moon. It was, also, always about the gods and predathos and the breaking of cycles unending. What you are saying, that you feel the campaign ultimately wasn’t about them, is a result of my last post’s criticism of c3’s final act’s pacing, but not true of the campaign on the whole in the slightest. I do find it hard to argue this point only because if you managed to watch 400+ hours of this story and come out the other side willfully misunderstanding it this badly, I’m not sure there’s an argument to be made that someone who thinks this may consider worthwhile.

As for their epilogues—well, one this is yet another thing my post specifies as something i wish were different, so it isn’t like I think it was handled all that well—but it is a blatant lie. Imogen specified—before she mentioned her cabin, if you could stop hating the concept of these characters having internal motivations and desires separate from the plot long enough to listen to what is happening on screen as well as reconcile that, again, this is ultimately a flaw that resulted from c3’s act 3 pacing—that she spends the following months helping ruidians acclimate and helping them feel accepted. Do I wish we had more time there, spent actually with bells hells doing this work? Absolutely, that’s kind of the root cause of my criticism of act 3’s pacing as a whole. They dropped the ball there, but that doesn’t magically erase the character work done to establish that bells hells cares about these people and actively defends them at every chance they get. Especially Imogen Temult. If you think otherwise, you did not listen to a word she has said, but especially none within the finale itself.

I, truthfully, have no idea where the concept of bells hells “whining” about helping or speaking up for the ruidians came from. I can’t argue it because it is, also, a blatant lie. At absolute most they expressed exhaustion after fighting a god and keeping two friends from near (and actual) death. Which is not at all the same as “whining”, either literally or in an internal character sense.

As for Ludinus, I would argue that I think that’s fitting. Ludinus was always a conduit for the larger themes at play in c3, never “the” conflict, as it were. It would make less sense to me for bells hells to focus on finding him if he got away—especially if he’s inactive, as he seems to be. Ultimately they did kill him where it mattered most. I’m not sure I would want the story to end with bells hells seeking out and killing someone who i can’t imagine even wanting to fight back at the moment. Not that he wouldn’t deserve it, but that bells hells was never actually centered solely on him on a macro scale, and it would feel unsatisfying.

Also, respectfully, the “imogen invited a god of tyranny to be king” thing is just a blatant twisting of the scene and of her words. She was clearly being facetious. It was a mocking line. She was making fun of him.

All that to say: most of what you pointed out—the part, at least, that wasn’t an outright lie—is not a result of the text simply “never being about [x]”, but specifically is a result of the final act of campaign 3 falling short of the narratives it had always set up. Therefore, as I began, it is a criticism that is fundamentally misdirected.

[pilkypills]

tell me EVERYTHING you know about oin pretty please*

*so i can use it in a fic because i don't know how to characterize him like at ALL 😭

I’m by FAR not an expert on canon info about the Company, and if you want firsthand (maybe technically secondhand) facts about Oin's character and how the writers and John Callen constructed his personality your best bet would be to look for scans of the relevant pages from the Hobbit Chronicles books. (btw if anyone reading this is aware of a post containing these pages lmk! It'd be super appreciated!)

I can tell you what I've personally extrapolated from what I've seen, though it's entirely possible that some of it is incorrect, or just common opinion, or just my own opinion!

For starters, according to the WETA page on Gloin's statue (I can no longer find the official page on Oin's statue, it seems to just be in the ether) he and his older brother remember Erebor very clearly and consider restoring it to its former glory a very important mission, and very important to the line of Durin. It also says Gloin is a retainer. No idea if that title extends to Oin but I wouldn't be surprised. Makes his decision to stay in Laketown with Kili all the more impactful. He's a healer above all else.

He is canonically a midwife in addition to being a healer, and delivered Gimli. The idea of him dropping baby Gimli on his head came from somewhere and this fanart came out of it, which John Callen has seen and put his stamp of approval on (I cannot find a link to the social media post where he says this, but I've seen it!)

He is also well-read and very smart, which is no surprise. To clarify the bit about the word ointment, it's a word he came up with himself to refer to a mixture of his own invention. Clearly, he's a master of his craft! Very cool. (I really like the idea of him as a mentor for Fili, which is a fairly common headcanon these days)

I think it's very reasonable to assume he's a proficient user of Iglishmek given that he is hard of hearing, but this is just personal headcanon.

We don't know for sure how he feels about elves, but since he reacts to Tauriel's healing of Kili with awe, saying that "it is a privilege to see it in action", he either feels more neutrally about them than the other older dwarves, or perhaps feels that medical knowlege is a wonder no matter the source (perhaps a bit of both? I feel like no matter how he felt before, seeing Kili's life saved by an elf would make him soften up a bit)

In terms of personality, the little we know and see firsthand seems to point to him being quite gruff and straightforward, perhaps a bit cantankerous. We see him join in on the festivities at Bag End, even letting ale get poured into his ear horn and blowing bubbles with it, so he's not completely serious. I don't know if this is canon or popular fanon, but I've seen it commonly said that Oin pretends to not hear/wont use his ear horn when someone is saying something he'd rather ignore, so he has a sense of humor, too. I'm of the opinion that he's a very dry and sarcastic guy myself.

Oin is the one who "read the portents" that say its time for dwarves to return to Erebor (from the way he talks about the birds returning to the mountain this could also refer to him studying their flight patterns). I've read some fics that expand on this idea, including using geodes for fortune telling, which is a really cool idea! I feel like as far as religious thought goes among dwarves, he's probably on the more spiritual side. It would make sense, especially given that healers in fantasy works tend to pull double duty as clerics.

This is pretty much all I can tell you, I hope it helps!

[flamingspud]

Grian was starting to get sick of stories. He couldn’t remember how long it’d been since he first entered the book, but now he was unable to escape the series of tales he found himself in. And with more of him disappearing with each story, this might be his last chance to escape.

Here’s my first piece for the @mcyt-soulmate-sweepstakes !!

Fic under the cut:

Grian was starting to get sick of stories.

He could no longer remember the amount of days that'd passed since he found himself in the library. He wasn't even sure how much of the old him was left.

All he knew for sure was that each day longer he spent in the stories, the more of himself he lost to the characters he played. 

Grian opened his eyes and immediately scanned his surroundings. He'd played all kinds of roles in the past, from royalty to detectives, the ease at which he'd slipped into them becoming less and less unnerving as time went on.

The room he was in was dim, light barely getting in through a window that had a lopsided sheet covering it. The walls had peeling wallpaper that did an awful job at covering damp stone beneath, while the floor was made up of creaking wooden floorboards. 

He sat up, the wings that were now on his back sore as he stretched them out. He had been lying on a mattress so thin it was more like a blanket, and it seemed he was already fully dressed in a black combat suit.

As Grian tried to figure out what he was meant to be doing, he heard the shattering of glass outside, and on instinct he ran to a covered window on the other side of the room and threw himself out of it. He's found me.

Grian barely had the time to spread his wings before landing shakily on the ground. Despite that he pushed himself forward into an uneven run.

"Come on Birdie, you can't run forever~" a voice behind him drawled.

Hotguy.

Grian's thoughts were all muddled up, some screaming at him to stop and greet his friend, the others urging him to keep moving.

Hotguy wanted him dead, something he knew to be true despite not having memories of learning it.

Grian skidded round a corner into a busy street, and he could hear gasps as he weaved his way through the crowd of normal civilians.

He stumbled into another alley and beat his wings, trying to reach the sky. Before he could make it a searing pain shot through his right wing, and he hit the ground painfully.

He spun around, and pointed his gun at the man standing in the mouth of the alleyway.

“It’s the end of the line for you, Cuteguy,” Hotguy told him, another arrow already knocked and ready to go. “Come with me willingly, and maybe we can cut a deal, give you a more lenient sentence.”

“Never,” Grian gritted through his teeth, a concerning red patch forming on his wing.

Hotguy frowned. “I’m trying to help you here!”

Grian wasn’t seeing any good ways out.

Cuteguy did though. He could kill Hotguy.

His finger squeezed the trigger, and at the last second he remembered; I don’t want to kill someone. He jerked his hand to the side, sending the bullet flying into a nearby wall instead of his enemy’s chest.

Grian cried out in pain as Hotguy shot his hand, making him drop the gun.

He didn't have the strength to flee as the superhero approached him.

He hated the yelp he made as his hands were cuffed, and Hotguy dragged him to the station.

•••

Grian was pissed.

Thanks to his lapse in judgement he found himself in a small, stuffy cell. The bed was even less comfortable than the floor Grian had woken up on that morning, and he didn't want to think about what the stains on the mattress were.

He considered punching the wall with his uninjured hand, but ultimately decided against it. He needed to keep his strength up if he was going to escape.

As if on cue, he heard footsteps coming from down the hallway. He quickly straightened up before a blond man came into view.

Grian eyed him suspiciously as he walked up to the door of the cell.

"…how's your hand?" The man asked, nodding towards his bandages.

"…Fine," Grian told him. Who was this guy???

The guy studied Cuteguy carefully, holding eye-contact for longer than most people ever dared. 

To his surprise, the man unlocked his cell.

As quick as a flash, Grian was pinning the guy to the wall, his forearm keeping his neck in place. "You're going to tell me how to get out of here," he breathed.

The blond was startled. "Hold on-"

Grian pushed harder.

"I'm- on your side," the guy choked out.

Grian gave him a puzzled look, loosening his hold enough to let him breathe.

"You're like me, aren't you?" 

"Who are you?" Grian asked, ignoring the question for now.

"My name's Martyn, but here they call me Echo."

Grian sneered at him, now he was looking familiar. "You're Hotguy's informant!"

He wasn't as popular as Hotguy, but he was known for having the ability to hear uncannily well. 

"I'm on your side!" He repeated.

Grian was quiet for a moment, looking him up and down. He did let him out of the cell.

"What do you mean like you?"

"From outside the book."

Grian's eyes went wide. There were others?

Martyn smiled at the glint of recognition in his eyes. "What do you say about ditching this place before we get caught?"

Cuteguy snapped back to where he was, and grabbed Martyn by the scruff. "Come on!"

Martyn led the way, taking seemingly arbitrary corridors to avoid detection. Every now and then he'd stop, telling Grian that he heard people nearby, and after a few minutes they'd continue again.

Eventually they reached a back door and found themselves in a dingy alley.

"That was… suspiciously easy," Cuteguy commented.

Martyn shrugged. "I mean, if it was hard, comic supervillains wouldn't make dramatic returns as much."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Let's go."

The pair made their way away from the jail, avoiding crowded areas by taking sketchy alleyways that Grian wouldn't've even noticed if it weren't for Cuteguy's knowledge.

Once they found a safe-ish place, Grian sat down while Martyn paced. 

"How did you know?" Grian asked tentatively.

Martyn didn't need elaboration to know he was referring to him not being from the story. "Well, if I'm right we're in volume nine of The Adventures of Hotguy, where Cuteguy kills him and he's brought back to life as an enhanced human. However, that didn't happen, you missed, which means you're not following the script."

Grian frowned. "So, what now?"

"We find a way out! Surely there's something we can do!" Martyn said with naive optimism, "and in the meantime, this world isn't too bad all things considered."

Grian snapped, "but we won't be in this world for long- once we reach the end of the story we'll move onto another one!" 

Martyn went wide-eyed. "How do you know that?"

Grian sighed. "Because this isn't the first story I've been in! There is no way out. Everything I try, I end up in the next story anyway."

"Everything?" Martyn asked dubiously.

Grian let out a frustrated groan. "Yes, I've run away, I've fought people, I've hidden, died," Grian listed them all like it was a waste of time.

Martyn considered this. "Have you tried going along with the story?"

"Huh?" 

"Like, getting the story to its official ending?" Martyn repeated.

"I-" he wanted to say of course, don't be ridiculous, but he had always tried to resist the characters' personalities and opinions, in fear of losing himself to them. He supposed that could mean that he strayed from the stories in the process. 

It wasn't like he knew how the stories were meant to end anyway.

"I don't know…"

"Then that's what we have to do!"

"But Hotguy's alive," Grian reminded him.

"Right… we could wait 'til the next story?" 

Grian was growing impatient, or was it Cuteguy who was short-tempered? Grian couldn't remember.

"But we don't know if we'll be able to figure out how the next story goes!" He snapped.

"Don't yell at me!" Martyn barked back.

Grian snarled. "Or what?"

"We're supposed to be working together, aren't we?" Martyn demanded.

Grian blinked. "Sorry," he said, stifling his rage. "I… didn't mean to do that."

He rested his forehead against his knees. "I'm just, tired."

Martyn looked at him quizzically.

"Every time the story changes, it's like the personality traits of the characters I'm in get stronger," he admitted. "I don't know how many more stories I can take until I forget myself completely."

Grian was scared. He didn't want to lose himself.

Martyn's gaze softened. "Ok; then we need to fix this story. If we can kill Hotguy, maybe things will get back on track."

"But how do we find him?"

Martyn smirked. "Oh Cutie-Pie, you forget who you're talking to."

"Don't call me Cutie-Pie," Grian said, his tone threatening.

Martyn put his hands up in surrender. "Woah- noted!"

Grian huffed and Martyn laughed, pulling a walkie-talkie from his pocket.

"Hotguy, you there?"

The pair waited silently, but it wasn't long until a voice came over the radio, the audio crackly as hell but the owner unmistakable.

"Hotguy here, what's up? Over."

"I have some information on the current whereabouts of Cuteguy," Martyn told him, "over."

"We shouldn't talk about this over the line; meet me at HQ, over."

Grian had to cover his mouth to stop himself from laughing at how easy this was.

"Roger that," Martyn replied.

They waited for a beat to make sure Hotguy didn't have anything else to say, but nothing ever came. 

"Well, to HQ then!" Martyn said, and Grian followed him in the direction of Hotguy's base.

•••

Cuteguy had never been to Hotguy's base before, and he had to admit, it wasn't what he was expecting.

He'd always imagined something grand, sleek and modern, something that represented the grandeur of the Hotguy name, like a gargantuan skyscraper or a fancy condo built into the side of a cliff.

Instead, he found himself standing in front of a run-down warehouse in the abandoned industrial district at the edge of town. 

Go figure.

He and Martyn had split up, as Martyn went ahead to go in the "proper" way while Grian was expected to find his own way in.

The task wasn't too difficult, as these places weren't built with the aim of keeping supervillains out. In fact, Grian realised that the base was more than likely chosen for stealth, meaning that installing a high-tech security system would make the place stick out like a sore thumb.

Ignoring the pain in his wing, he managed to fly up just enough to reach one of the grimy windows and pull himself in.

He fell onto a metal walkway that hugged the walls of the room. The space below was wide and brightly lit, and Grian marvelled at all the technology, gadgets and suits that were scattered about.

He saw Hotguy standing there, checking his watch and tapping his foot impatiently. He watched as Martyn strode in, a confident smile on his face as he did so.

"Echo!" Hotguy greeted, "you made it!"

"What do you take me for? Of course I did," was Martyn's response.

The pair chatted as Grian lined up the shot. His right hand still hurt like hell, but he wasn't half bad with his left, so it'd have to do. Wait.

Grian didn't know if Hotguy would have any memories once he was resurrected, but if he did it'd be clear that Echo was the one who led him to HQ, and there's no way that that wouldn't have an effect on the story.

He stood up and made his way round the walkway so that he was as close to Martyn as he could get. He needed to come up with a way to make it clear that Echo wasn't responsible for Cuteguy's appearance.

And Cuteguy had an idea.

Before Grian could question the morals of this plan, he dropped down from the rafters and hit Martyn over the head with the butt of his gun.

Sorry, he thought, but he didn't have time to stop as Hotguy had pulled his bow out.

Grian grabbed Martyn's unconscious form and held him in front of himself like a shield. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Hotguy's bow was trained on him, but he didn't shoot, he couldn't without risking Echo's life.

"How did you find us?" Hotguy demanded.

Grian's lips curled up into a feline smile. "Oh Hotguy, you really should be more careful, you never know who's lurking in the shadows."

Hotguy frowned. "How-"

"You were way too easy to follow," Cuteguy cut him off, the gun close to Martyn's head, "and if you care about Echo's life, you're going to do what I say."

Hotguy didn't say anything, just stood there with his arrow knocked and jaw clenched.

Cuteguy nodded to the door. "Close that, will you, there's quite a draught."

Hotguy looked at him suspiciously, but begrudgingly did as he was told, and made his way to the door. In the moment he lowered his bow to properly close it, Cuteguy's arm shot towards him and a loud BANG rang out through the space.

Hotguy's body hit the ground with a sickening thud. 

Grian resisted the urge to throw up. He dropped Martyn's body before letting Cuteguy take over.

He ran from the warehouse into the night, and it didn't take long for him to reach one of his many safe houses.

He collapsed against the wall, breathing heavily. Hotguy was dead. Grian hoped it'd be enough.

Luckily for him, Martyn told him Cuteguy wasn't due to reappear until the next issue, so he laid low and kept an eye on the news for the next few days to see if the police were any closer to finding him. They were not.

Grian could've almost said he was getting used to Cuteguy's life, when a little under a week later he woke up in a place that was unfamiliar to Cuteguy.

Grian quickly scrambled to his feet.

The ground beneath him was scratchy carpet, and the walls were a pale cream colour. A clock on the wall ticked slowly, loud in the quiet space.

A space filled with bookshelves. 

On the floor around Grian was a scattered pile of books, ranging from murder mysteries, to fantasies, to horror, to superhero comics.

Grian could've cried with how happy he was.

Sitting atop the pile was the blasted book that tortured him for the past few months. It had a black leather cover with swirling purple symbols on it, but right now it was open to a page about halfway through. 

There were a list of names, his being newest with a number next to it: seventy two. Was that how many stories he'd been in?

Grian didn't stick around to question it, instead choosing to put as much space between himself and it as he could, flattening his back against the opposite shelf.

He then realised Martyn wasn't with him.

Was he still stuck in the book? Could only one person leave at a time, or did Martyn somehow mess up Echo's story? Maybe he didn't enter through the same book as Grian.

Grian felt a tinge of guilt- was it his fault Martyn wasn't there? Was hitting him a bad idea?

He carefully approached the book again, and flipped through the pages of names before him. The name Martyn was nowhere to be found.

"Are you ok?" The librarian suddenly asked, watching Grian. He startled at her appearance, but shook his head. 

"I'm fine."

She glanced at the books covering the floor, but instead of saying anything she nodded and walked away.

Grian sighed, and put the books back on the shelf in an order that definitely wasn't correct before quickly leaving the library.

•••

After he'd gathered his bearings, Grian had learned that only a little more than an hour had passed in the real world while he was in the story books.

It shocked him a little bit, but it hadn't taken him too long for his old life to become familiar again. It was like slipping into another character, only this time it was for good.

He found himself going back to the library after the fact, partly due to morbid curiosity and partly due to the fact that it was the only library close to where he lived. He never touched the book again though.

It was a few years later and he'd barely thought about the incident for a while, when he was approached as he was looking for a comic to read.

"Hey- do you have any recommendations?" 

Grian turned and nearly jumped out of his skin as Martyn stood next to him.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," he said with an awkward chuckle. He showed no signs of recognition.

"Hotguy," Grian blurted out suddenly.

"What?" Martyn asked.

Grian blinked. "Have you heard of Hotguy?" He elaborated, "it's a comic series."

"I haven't actually," Martyn remarked. "Is it any good?"

Grian nodded. "I especially like volume nine, he gets resurrected in that one."

Martyn frowned. "Sounds like a cheap way to keep the franchise going."

"You would think so, but it's actually done really well," Grian insisted, grabbing the book for him. "Please read it."

God, he sounded deranged.

Martyn merely smiled. "Well, since you speak of it so highly."

Grian smiled. "Good."

"I'm Martyn by the way."

"Grian." 

Before Martyn could ask anymore questions, Grian hurried out of the library.

He may not have assumed the form of Echo yet, but to Grian, Martyn was already his hero.

[badgalsasuke]

Hello! First of all, thank you! You’re doing god’s work with all those interviews right now and not being appreciated enough! You’re my comfort sns blog tbh. One of the few places I actually feel safe at.

Now back to the topic. I remember you talking about too many people, even SNS shippers, not giving Kishimoto’s work proper credit. They always joke about how he “unintentionally” made Naruto and Sasuke gay and how it’s actually interwoven with real life homophobia.

I’ve met a lot of such people too. Whenever I talk to someone about Kishimoto trying to address homophobia in the manga, everyone gives me weird looks and tells me there’s not such a moment.

As if the whole fucking story is not about two kids who are treated like outcasts because of something they can’t change about themselves. Yep, Naruto isn’t entirely about that. But how does looking at two boys who’s dealing with complicated feelings for each other, while other people are constantly insist on them breaking their bond because it’s wrong, not remind them about a big, common and well-known issue such as homophobia?

I refuse to believe it’s just blindness. They choose to ignore it.

It’s also crazy how many times Naruto is being told off, dismissed and side-eyed by people for just mentioning Sasuke or paying him “too much attention”.

☝️Well, it’s because Sasuke is a criminal.☝️☝️

Bullshit. Nobody has a problem with Sakura liking him. The girl literally harasses him! Fuck, too many girls might’ve harassed him for all those years and no one bat an eye, but when Naruto simply said he didn’t want him to be killed, everyone is fucking judging.

This fandom is fucked up and I’m not sure if there’s a way to fix it.

I’m still wondering how Kishimoto is going to handle Sasuke and Naruto’s ending tho. I still have a little bit of hope they’ll die in a very ambiguous, but also telling way. Them dying will still be enough actually.

Hi anon!

I appreciate from the bottom of my heart that y'all are liking the interview archive project! because truth to be told is y'all the sns fandom the reason why I'm doing it in the first place, I want us to have them readily available.

Whenever I talk to someone about Kishimoto trying to address homophobia in the manga, everyone gives me weird looks and tells me there’s not such a moment.

It's weird because that's a big part of Naruto's (the character) writing. In one chapter he's feeling sexually aroused by Sasuke, in another he overreacts in disgust when Kurama reminds him he's only ever kissed Sasuke. He spends more time practicing the reverse harem no jutsu full of beautiful gorgeous men than rasengan but also when he encounters the giant possum (was it a possum? lol) he thought was female but ended up being male he says "even if heaven and earth switch places, a boy will always be a boy" or something like that which. He's incredibly possessive of Sasuke and finds him very attractive and at the same has zero interest in heterosexual porn but he was brought up by Jiraiya, who seems to be homophobic. Like, Kishimoto did write on Naruto's repression and internalized homophobia and everyone outside of some SNS shippers seem to ignore it.

It’s also crazy how many times Naruto is being told off, dismissed and side-eyed by people for just mentioning Sasuke or paying him “too much attention”.

Exactly!!! Kishimoto is making a point here! why is everyone in-universe so uncomfortable with Naruto and Sasuke's bond? Because it's not deemed "normal" in that universe either, they know something's up. But if you bring it up people will say "shonen is inherently homoerotic. All male best friends act like that in anime" well, not in Naruto! it makes the other characters uncomfortable for a reason.

☝️Well, it’s because Sasuke is a criminal.☝️☝️ Bullshit. Nobody has a problem with Sakura liking him.

This! No one in the Naruto universe has expressed discomfort at Sakura for liking Sasuke even when everyone wanted him dead. On the contrary, they pity her because "oh poor her, suffering from love! how dare Sasuke make her feel like this!". Sakura's suffering for love is acceptable and even object of sympathy by other characters like Sai or Kakashi. But Naruto is constantly criticized, shunned and even physically assaulted for having the same feelings. Like, no one ever beat up Sakura for wanting to save Sasuke.

I’m still wondering how Kishimoto is going to handle Sasuke and Naruto’s ending tho. I still have a little bit of hope they’ll die in a very ambiguous, but also telling way. Them dying will still be enough actually.

I also think they're gonna die together but it's not gonna be ambiguous, Kishimoto's insane ass is gonna have them die at the same fucking time, I'm telling you it's gonna be "our heartbeats stopping at the same time" type of shit, I can sense it.

[whereistim]

A short thought experiment on Robin and what growing up means for the future of Batman.

I’m gonna level with you all I have some thoughts. I’ve heard that Damian is stepping down as Robin and in doing so that has meant there’s been a wave of people crying out for Tim to do so to.

And in essence I understand the argument, Damian is ‘growing up’ and leaving the Robin mantle is a literacy device of that. Some people don’t think the writers will commit to that and I’m inclined to agree tbh but I digress.

There’s a part of me that just disagrees with that notion however of leaving the Robin mantle= growing up, for all of the past Robins. Full disclosure, understand I am not an avid follower of the most recent comics so I do not know the nuances of these runs and the complicities of the current batfamily standing. But nor am I completely outside the loop.

Dick Grayson left the Robin mantle when he wanted to break away from Bruce. Jason in essence was the same, he wanted to separate himself from the idea of Batman, as a villain (initially). Steph I would be hesitant to even add as her go at it was full of conflict between her and Bruce, and she quickly attached herself to Babs’s side of the operation to get away from that conflict.

Damian for all that he has been trained for standing besides his father, quite simply wasn’t really given the choice. And I really like the idea of him deciding for himself to pursue his own interests. Not his fathers, not his mothers and not his grandfathers. I think it’s a perfect end of a narrative for him. (Which isn’t to say I don’t ever want to see him again). But in literacy terms it really feels neat.

Whereas I argue what does Tim gain from stepping away from Robin?

Not to say his and Bruce’s relationship is perfect, nor his Robin with Batman but he’s proven time and time again to be a quite fantastic partner for him, a foil in a sense. And this idea that Tim wasn’t a sidekick, wasn’t a son but a partner was a big message in the 90’s.

One of Tim’s first conflict points with Batman ends with this argument.

Batman needs a Robin. And Tim was the person to step up.

You take away Robin and in a Doylist sense you lose the relatable character in this whole shtick bit there’s an argument they’ve lost that thread a while ago. Damian for all his growth was not all that relatable (especially to begin with). But this key message of Tim’s standing is reduced to dust without a Robin (which isn’t really that important I guess but the symbolism does have some standing and I like it).

And what are they gonna introduce another Robin? The thought of adding another character to an already too dense character list fills me with dread. They can’t handle what they’ve got now.

What exactly would Tim grow into? Another bird moniker?? Because I guess he still could be partner under another name but I just can’t really get my head around a bird name I like, I quite frankly think they all sound a bit silly. The imagery of a Bat and a Bird is just ridiculous and for all they try and justify it as ‘bobbin along’ or ‘for the colours of Dick Graysons uniform’ I think it was a stupid name to chose. (If anyone can give me a clue as to why they decided on Robin pls inform me). The only reason I let it slide is because it’s simply too stuck to change it and has become a part of iconic comic history.

In the days of old where there was no social media and Batman was a myth, Robin the kid served the purpose in a Watsonian sense to ease victims, the non-threatening image of a child could achieve what the spooky Bat couldn’t. But as well-known as they are at present, that reasoning has simply broken down for all reasons except subconsciously in some circumstances.

Tim as Robin as a grown up can still do what Robin was intended for, at least his Robin. Being another pair of hands, a person to bounce ideas off and to offer his own and most importantly stand up to Bruce and Batman.

So really I guess the question is- is Robin simply too associated with being a kid for you to ever see it belonging to an adult? It’s not exactly a name with connotations of children like Wonder Girl or Kid Flash. But I would understand if that is the case for a lot of people.

And also I agree that they don’t know what to do with Tim, I think quite simply because Damian was there. Ergo letting Damian splinter off could be beneficial to the narrative of Batman & Robin in regards to Tim.

If you do think Tim should also leave the mantle what headcanons do you have? I wouldn’t be opposed to him hanging out more with Dick again, if he decided to keep the bird names alive. I like the idea of him finding a city and becoming his own sort of detective but that goes against my image of Tim- Gotham born and raised and widely intertwined with it, kinda like Bruce. It’s his home.

If anyone wants to voice out there thoughts please go ahead! I might not respond nor might I agree but I love hearing peoples analysis about characters I love. I find it all so fascinating what people take away from stories, and how they differ from my own.

However I won’t appreciate someone telling me my understandings are stupid or so inconceivably wrong (not without some very solid and well thought out points). picture the change my mind meme. People are allowed their own opinions especially when it comes to art and stories. Even if they don’t match your ideas doesn’t mean they are wrong.

[kikyoupdates]

Otherworldly Attraction ⭑˚🔮⭑ 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟’𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑡

yandere!jjk x f!reader

yandere, reverse harem, isekai, jujutsu kaisen x fem!reader, slowburn, slowburn yandere

You don't know how or why, but you've been isekai'd into the world of Jujutsu Kaisen. Although your first instinct is to stay away from the plot, you've been blessed with an abnormal amount of cursed energy, and for better or worse, you find yourself sucked into the storyline. You decide that you may as well use your newfound powers for the greater good, and if you're lucky, you might succeed in rewriting some of the characters' fates. But it turns out that your presence in this world is an even bigger deal than you first thought, and soon, everyone wants to make you theirs.

previous | story masterlist | next

“[Name], Yuji, and Nobara. Today, I want the three of you to go and exorcize the curses inside that building,” Gojo instructs. “Consider it a practical test. I’m interested in seeing what you guys can do.” 

Balls. 

You had a feeling that things would turn out this way. In the canon story, Fushiguro was the only one who waited outside along with Gojo. He already has experience using cursed techniques and all that stuff. You and Itadori are both newbies, and Gojo isn’t familiar with Nobara either, so it's hardly surprising.

In any case, you should be fine. Nothing tragic is set to happen today. As long as you play it safe and let Itadori and Nobara take care of everything, it shouldn’t be a big deal. If nobody’s life is at stake, you’d rather not risk messing with the storyline too much and just let it unfold. It’s not like you know how to fight yet anyway. 

“Well, I guess that’s fine by me, but I’m surprised there are curses just lurking around all over the place,” Itadori remarks. 

“How do you not even know simple things like this?” Nobara scowls. 

“Ah, right, you still haven’t heard what happened. The truth is, neither Yuji or [Name] have been trained as jujutsu sorcerers yet,” Gojo explains. He proceeds to point towards Itadori. “This guy ate a cursed object, and now he’s become Sukuna’s vessel. As for [Name], she naturally has a lot of cursed energy, but she doe

sn’t seem to know how to use it.”

“He ate a cursed object?!” Nobara exclaims, immediately taking refuge behind you. “Disgusting! That’s seriously gross! What’s wrong with you?!” 

“You know, ever since we met, I feel like you’ve done nothing but insult me,” Itadori grumbles. “Anyways, sensei, I don’t mind going in there, but I thought before you said that only a curse can exorcize a curse. I still don’t know any jujutsu.” 

“Since you’re Sukuna’s vessel, you’re pretty much a half-curse already. Cursed energy is flowing through your body. But of course, I can’t expect you to control it right away, so for now, use this.” 

sn’t seem to know how to use it.”

“He ate a cursed object?!” Nobara exclaims, immediately taking refuge behind you. “Disgusting! That’s seriously gross! What’s wrong with you?!” 

“You know, ever since we met, I feel like you’ve done nothing but insult me,” Itadori grumbles. “Anyways, sensei, I don’t mind going in there, but I thought before you said that only a curse can exorcize a curse. I still don’t know any jujutsu.” 

“Since you’re Sukuna’s vessel, you’re pretty much a half-curse already. Cursed energy is flowing through your body. But of course, I can’t expect you to control it right away, so for now, use this.” 

You suppose it doesn’t really make much of a difference who you’re with. There are only a few curses inside this building, and every single one of them will be exorcized by either Itadori or Nobara. You know Gojo is curious to see how you’ll fare, but realistically, your help isn’t going to be needed. 

“Don’t worry,” Nobara reassures. “Just stick with me. I’ll take care of all the curses. You won’t get hurt.” 

Damn. The difference between how she treats you and Itadori is like night and day. 

Not that you’re complaining. 

You stay close to her side, and she eventually stops upon entering one of the rooms. There are a bunch of mannequins scattered around. You already know what’s about to happen here, even without her saying anything. 

“Hey, you,” Nobara points. “The curse over there. The mannequin in the middle. Are you seriously planning on hiding? Do you take me for a fool? If you’re not gonna come out, then… fine. I’ll just exorcize you as you are.”

She pulls out her hammer and several nails, and right as the curse springs to action, she shoots out her nails and lands several direct hits. The cursed corpse mannequin teeters backwards, but already, the damage has been inflicted. Nobara imbues all of her nails with cursed energy. That thing was done for the moment they hit their mark. 

“Easy peasy,” Nobara proudly states. She flashes you a bright smile, and you quickly return it with a smile of your own, but you know that the battle isn’t truly over. 

Moments later, you hear the sound of a child whimpering in fear. 

“Ah. There’s a kid,” Nobara remarks. She leans forward slightly. “It’s okay now. I took care of that thing, so you don’t need to keep hiding.” 

As expected, the little boy furiously shakes his head in refusal, and Nobara sighs, taking a step back. 

“I guess it’s true that children are naturally more wary of beautiful women like us. It can’t be helped. We’ll just have to call Itadori and wait for him to—” 

She’s cut off by the sound of the boy screaming, and you when you blink, sure enough, there’s a curse holding him hostage—and giggling, no less. 

Well, I already knew this would happen. 

It’s alright. The boy isn’t really in danger, because any moment now, Itadori will burst through the wall behind it and rescue him, giving Nobara the opportunity to exorcize the curse. Of course, it hurts to see a child suffering like that, afraid that their life might be about to end, but you choose to believe that everything will unfold the way it’s supposed to. Itadori will have already finished killing the curse he encountered by now. There’s no reason he wouldn’t come looking for the two of you. 

And yet, things don’t go the way you expect them to. 

The fact that you’re even here right now means that sometimes, the story will change. 

Nobara sets her hammer and nails down and raises her hands above her head, signaling to the curse that she won’t attack. You do the same, dropping your blade so that it realizes there’s no imminent danger. You know the curse won’t let go of the kid, but it won’t kill him, either. At least, not by the time that Itadori shows up. 

Something seems off, though. And you’re suddenly hit with a wave of déjà vu. 

For some reason, you’re reminded of the way that other curse reacted to you. The one you encountered inside Sugisawa High. The one that got really, really mad when it locked eyes with you. 

This one’s starting to look pretty mad too. 

Without warning, the curse tosses the boy to the side, making him collide against one of the walls. It all happens so fast that you can barely even process it. One second, the curse is still a few meters away, and in the next, it’s right in front of your eyes, unhinging its huge mouth as its razor-sharp nails descend on you from above. 

Neither you nor Nobara are able to pick up your weapons in time. The curse is already upon you, and it brings you crashing down to the ground, one swipe away from clawing your face off. 

What’s… happening? 

You thought you were safe. You thought that by now, Itadori would be here. You thought that the curse would still be backed against the wall, where it had a blind spot, and was vulnerable to being attacked from behind. Everything you expected, all of the knowledge that you were so sure of… it was wrong. It didn’t go the way you thought it would.  

Nobara scrambles to try and shoot her nails out again, but it’s too late. You’re disoriented and vulnerable. You’re just short of being mauled. 

In that moment, you feel it. 

You feel the hot, dizzying pulse of energy that ripples through your body. You feel as if your nerves are on fire, like everything around you is inoffensive. Harmless.

For just a second, you feel powerful.

“Get the fuck off me!” you scream, and your hand makes contact with the curse’s body, just for a moment, before the energy flows out of your body, expands, and obliterates the curse right where it stands. 

Your vision fades in and out. The weight that was pressing down on you moments ago is gone, just like that. The curse is nowhere to be seen. 

…did you do that? 

While you regain your bearings, Nobara runs over to the little boy and makes sure that he’s okay. There’s a bit of bleeding from where the curse lightly sliced into his neck, and he collided with the wall pretty forcefully, but it doesn’t look like there’s any serious, permanent damage. Thank goodness. 

“I’m here!” someone cries out—and it’s none other than Itadori, who finally made his appearance by breaking through the wall. Realistically, he probably got here right around the same time he did in canon, but those few seconds just now could have been the difference between life and death for you. 

Itadori looks around, confused. “Huh? For a second, I thought… I felt a curse or something around here. Was I wrong?��� 

“There was one. But [Name] exorcized it,” Nobara says. She pats the little boy’s head, then turns towards you with a frown. “I thought you didn’t know how to use cursed energy, but you actually pulled it off. You didn’t even need the cursed tool.” 

Itadori helps pull you to your feet, and you dust yourself off, still somewhat in disbelief. You’re uninjured, luckily. The curse wasn’t awfully powerful, but you wonder how much damage it could have inflicted on you if you hadn’t killed it in time. Honestly, you don’t even want to imagine. You’re just glad to have all your limbs intact.

“Are you alright?” Itadori asks worriedly. “Man. I don’t even have a single clue how to use jujutsu yet, but you actually killed that curse bare-handed? You’re awesome, [Name]! I didn’t realize you were already so strong!” 

“I… just got lucky,” you admit. “It was like some kind of reflex. I doubt I’m good enough to consciously control it and trigger it on my own. But I’m glad everyone’s okay. That’s the only thing that matters.” 

Yeah. Everyone’s safe, including the little boy. But once again, things changed. It was only a slight deviation from the main plotline, but the fact remains that the curse acted differently because you were here. 

What if that happens in the middle of an important event? What if it happens against a much more powerful enemy? 

…what if you end up causing more harm than good?

You clench your fists. No. Thinking about it like that is way too scary. You already made up your mind. Right now, you’re just not strong enough. Which means the only thing to do is improve. Until you’re confident enough to be able to protect everyone. 

“Let’s go,” you say, putting on a brave face. “I’m gonna make Gojo treat us to a yummy meal.”

“Ew! No way!” Nobara exclaims. “Why do I have to live in the same place as these stinky boys?!”

“Fushiguro, she called us stinky again,” Itadori pouts, repeatedly jabbing his dark-haired classmate in the ribs. “Are you really going to stand for that? Hey. C’mon. Seriously, do something about it.” 

Unfortunately, Fushiguro doesn’t intend to do anything, and instead, he proceeds to ignore everyone and march to his room. 

Aw. What a cute, socially-awkward little bean he is. 

It’d be nice if he didn’t think I was a pervert, though. 

“You’re not stinky, Itadori,” you reassure, and that’s pretty much all it takes for his expression to brighten up. 

“If you say so, [Name], then I know it must be true,” he beams. 

Nobara glances between the two of you, lips pursed. “So… are you guys dating, or what?” 

“I wish—” you start, but you manage to clamp your hand over your mouth, just in the nick of time. 

Holy shit, that was so close. You almost just exposed yourself as the number one simp in the history of all simps. Even Itadori, as much of a sweetheart as he is, wouldn’t be able to look at you the same if he knew you were lowkey (highkey) thirsting over him. 

“W-We’re just friends,” you reply, quickly collecting yourself. “Like I said before, we briefly attended the same high school. I transferred in late, so we’ve only known each other for a few weeks, but I guess it helps that we’re already familiar with each other.”

“You’re way too pretty to be friends with someone like him,” Nobara states matter-of-factly. “I bet he ate his boogers as a kid.” 

Wow. She actually said it to his face this time. 

“I didn’t do that,” Itadori insists, but based on Nobara’s expression, you can tell she’s not buying it.

You turn towards your new classmate with a smile. “I think it’s cool that we all get to live together. Gojo wanted to put all the first-years in the same building. He thought it’d be more fun that way, and I agree. We have separate bathrooms from the boys, obviously. I don’t see the problem.” 

“Well, the problem is that they could sneak into my room in the middle of the night and try to steal my underwear or something.”

“Um, Itadori would never do something like that, and Fushiguro would probably sooner die than be labeled a panty thief. Also, these doors lock. So, I’m pretty sure they have no way of getting into your room.”

Nobara stares at Itadori through narrowed eyes. “Still. I bet they’ll find a way. Perverts stop at nothing to get what they want. If you try anything funny, I’ll kick your ass, just so we’re clear.” 

“Why am I being accused of stealing underwear all of a sudden?” Itadori sighs. “I’m too tired for this. I think I’m gonna start getting ready for bed. Goodnight, [Name]. Goodnight, Kugisaki.” 

He waves you off with a smile, and he smiles at Nobara too, but she responds by making a slicing motion across the base of her neck.

Oh, well. She’s a little rough around the edges right now, but you know that she’s actually a really good friend. She cares about people, even if she doesn’t let it show from the start.

Inside the communal girls’ bathroom, you and Nobara brush your teeth in front of the big mirror, and you watch, incredulous, as she pulls out a gigantic box and sets it down on the counter. 

You spit into the sink and wipe your mouth. “What’s that?” 

“My skincare products,” Nobara simply responds. The box opens like some kind of treasure chest, and you can hardly even count the number of items inside. 

“Whoa. You use all that stuff?” 

“Of course. How else do I think I maintain my pretty face?” 

“I just use this thingy,” you shrug, pointing to your tiny little bottle of facial wash—which looks rather pitiful in comparison to Nobara’s treasure trove.

Nobara lets out a loud, offended gasp. “Seriously? That’s the only step in your skincare routine? Where’s the toner? Where’s the moisturizer? Do you even exfoliate?” 

“Back in my old world—I mean, back when I lived in a different city, I used to wash my face with soap. Trust me, this is a step up.” 

Similar to Fushiguro, Nobara proceeds to stare at you with a mixture of both horror and disgust. 

“You’re way too pretty to be ruining your skin this early,” Nobara sighs. “Here. I’ll let you borrow some of my skincare products. You clearly have good genes, but if you’re not careful, you’ll damage your skin and it’ll all be wasted. We can go shopping together sometime to pick out what you need.” 

You grin. “So, you’re asking me out on a shopping date?” 

“Sure,” Nobara chuckles. “That’s one way of putting it. I’m seriously jealous now. I can’t believe you look so cute when you’re putting in minimal effort.” 

Hehe. Nobara thinks I’m cute. 

You decide to take her up on her offer and try following the very lengthy steps of her skincare routine, and it’s definitely working, because by the time you’re done, your face feels fresher than ever. 

“Wow,” you marvel. “Nobara, feel my cheeks. They’re super-duper soft.” 

“Of course,” she proudly replies, flipping her hair. “Don’t ever doubt me again. I’m an expert when it comes to this kind of stuff. There’s seriously nothing to do in the countryside. I spent a bunch of time reading up on beauty tips and fashion, just waiting for the chance to live in a big city. I don’t know why your family ever moved to the countryside in the first place. Didn’t it feel like absolute torture?” 

“Not really. I didn’t mind it. And I got to meet Itadori at my old high school, which was nice.” 

“Hm. Well, I’m glad you didn’t have a bad experience.” Nobara crosses her arms, looking rather downcast all of a sudden. “I used to have a friend that moved to the countryside from a bigger city, just like you. Her name is Saori. She was super nice, and you honestly remind me of her a bit. People make the countryside sound like it’s so laid-back and filled with nothing but kind, warm-hearted people, but they can actually be pretty cruel. Back where I lived, all of the villagers decided to bully Saori, claiming some bullshit that she was secretly looking down on them. In the end, they ended up driving her out of the village and making her move away. Isn’t that horrible?” 

Right. That was one of the reasons she grew to resent the countryside that much more. You’ll never understand why people choose to hurt others for no reason. 

Then again, in a world as cutthroat and brutal as Jujutsu Kaisen, you honestly shouldn’t be surprised.

“I’m lucky that people never bullied me like that,” you acknowledge. Truly, you can’t say you had any particularly upsetting experiences back in the real world. You lived a fairly average, otherwise unremarkable life. Perhaps that’s why you’ve been isekai’d here, of all places. Perhaps someone out there felt your life was too easy and decided to give you a challenge. Who knows, really. 

The only thing you do know is that it’s far too late to turn your back on these people. And even if it’s scary, even if it’s downright terrifying, you’d like to help them. 

“I’m sorry your friend had to go through something like that,” you say, gently patting Nobara on the back. “And I’m sorry that you had to be apart from her because of what those villagers did. I hope that you’ll be able to see her again someday. I have a feeling it’ll happen.”

Nobara stares at you wide-eyed, not quite sure how to respond. Maybe she’s not used to being comforted because she’s such a strong person and doesn’t ever show weakness.

But her expression makes it clear that she appreciates your words. 

“You really do remind me of Saori,” Nobara grins, pulling you into a hug. “You’re both so nice. Saori was really pretty like you, too. If that old guy from earlier today would’ve seen the two of us together, I bet he’d have scouted us to be models in a heartbeat.”

You chuckle softly. You never imagined yourself in the modeling industry, but Nobara’s confidence makes you feel like you really could have had a shot at it. It would definitely be easier than being a jujutsu sorcerer. 

If only. 

“Alright, well, I’m gonna head to bed now,” Nobara says, finally shutting her massive, treasure chest-like box of skincare products. “Beauties like us need all the rest we can get. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to wake up with eye bags.” 

“I’ll go to sleep soon, too. I think I just want to step outside for a bit and get some fresh air before I turn in.” 

“Alright. Goodnight, [Name]. See you in the morning.” Nobara glances around and grits her teeth. “Pray that none of the boys try to steal our underwear while we sleep.” 

You laugh as she walks off, and the image of Itadori and Fushiguro sneaking around like ninjas as they rifle through your clothing drawers is almost too funny. Fushiguro especially. You can’t think of a single person who’d be less likely to pull some shit like that. 

After tucking your belongings back in your room, you make your way out of the dorm building. There’s a full moon tonight, and you lift your head towards the clear sky, relishing the sensation of the slight breeze that caresses your cheeks. 

“...can’t sleep?” 

You blink, somewhat alarmed, only to find Gojo standing mere inches away from you. The way he just sometimes manifests in the blink of an eye… it’s kind of freaky. Although you’d expect nothing less of the strongest sorcerer. 

“Sensei, don’t sneak up on me like that,” you huff. “I almost had a heart attack.” 

“My bad,” Gojo chuckles. “I was just stopping by to make sure you’d all gone to bed. There’s a barrier around the school, so it’s not necessarily dangerous to wander around, but you’re still students. There are rules and curfews in place.” 

“I wasn’t going to go anywhere. I just wanted a bit of fresh air.” 

“Well, I guess that’s fine, then. Don’t worry,” he grins, pressing a finger to his lips. “I won’t tell on you.” 

God. This man is way too attractive for his own good.

“Was there something on your mind?” Gojo hums. “You did pretty well for your first day, considering you have no clue how to even control your cursed energy. I’m guessing what happened earlier today was an instinctive response. You still need actual training. But you’ve undoubtedly got potential.” 

“Well… there are a few things,” you admit. “I’m just a bit… nervous. I guess. About everything. Does that make me a coward?” 

“I’d say that’s the normal response in your position. Yuji’s an exception. He adapts to situations very quickly, and even though he’s scared, he’s the type to jump right in when others are in trouble. But it’s not like he’s immune to fear either. No one is immune to fear.” 

There’s a pause, and moments later, he’s got a goofy smile on his face. 

“Well, except for me, of course!” 

You sigh. “I admire your confidence, sensei. If I could have even a fraction of it, that’d be amazing. But I’ll probably just have to find my own way of coping.” 

Gojo chuckles again. He doesn’t say anything for a while, and you awkwardly kick at a few leaves that have fallen to the ground, but when you turn back to look at him again, his blindfold has been pulled off. 

And he’s even closer to you than before. 

“To be honest, my eyes are pretty good at reading the flow of cursed energy,” he says, and sure enough, the pale blue eyes you find yourself staring into are so piercing, so bright, that you may as well be under a spell. You can’t bring yourself to look away.

Gojo’s smile slips, just for a moment. 

“I don’t really know how to describe it, but your cursed energy flows differently than what I’ve become accustomed to. It feels unnatural. It’s almost like some kind of glitch. You know how like in video games, there are lags sometimes and the images get all choppy? Or the screen will randomly freeze up? Sort of like that. It just… doesn’t really sit right with me.” 

You swallow. Of course, you instinctively know that this has to do with the fact that you’ve been isekai’d. Your existence in this world already doesn’t make sense. It figures that the power you’ve been imbued with doesn’t make much sense either. 

He’s suspicious of you, and for good reason, but you doubt anyone would ever come to the conclusion that you’re from a different world. It’s unfathomable. Even if you told people outright, they still wouldn’t believe you. 

In his eyes, you are an enigma, and you can only hope that the mystery that surrounds you won’t be the reason for your demise. 

“So… you’re calling me weird,” you mumble, pretending to look embarrassed. 

Now that you can clearly see the entirety of Gojo’s face, you’re able to pick up on even the smallest changes in his expression, like the way his eyes widen slightly, and the subtle lift of his brows.

His smile returns, even brighter than before. 

“Haha! Well, I won’t deny it. Objectively speaking, your situation is weird. But the same can also be said of Yuji, so don’t worry about it too much. I just felt like saying what was on my mind. It wasn’t my intention to shame you.” 

He happily pats your head—which has since become your absolute favorite thing—then places his blindfold back on. Which is kind of a shame, because you can’t see those beautiful eyes of his anymore. Oh, well. It was nice while it lasted. 

“Time to get some sleep,” Gojo says, gently pushing you forward. “If I catch you outside again, I might have to act the part of a strict teacher for once. You wouldn’t like to see me when I’m grumpy.” 

“I like seeing you all the time, sensei.” 

“Is that so? I’m flattered,” he muses, still pushing you into the building. “But I’m afraid your sweet talk won’t work on me. Believe it or not, even I can be responsible. Well, sometimes.” 

You step inside the building and turn back to face him. This whole time, you haven’t even stopped to consider that he’s just seen you in your pajamas, and suddenly, you feel your entire face flush. 

Hopefully he thinks the little teddy bear print you’re wearing today is cute. 

“Goodnight, sensei,” you say, politely bowing your head. “You work really hard, so I hope you’ll be able to get some rest. You deserve it.”

You wave him off with a big smile before he can even respond, and he watches as you excitedly scurry off in those cute pajamas of yours, nearly tripping over your own feet in the process. You’re admittedly a bit clumsy, which isn’t ideal for a jujutsu sorcerer, but hopefully your natural strength can compensate for it. 

Besides, even if he can’t really put it into words, he enjoys being around you. You’re entertaining. Despite the fact that nothing about you makes any sense. 

A grin splits across Gojo’s lips. 

You might end up becoming his favorite student at this rate. 

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[bluejaysandblackbats]

Keepsafes

Fandom: Batman, DC Comics

Summary: AU where Martha and Thomas survive, and they adopt the batkids.

Chapters: 46/?

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Thomas Wayne, Martha Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Harvey Dent, Dick Grayson, Cassandra Cain, David Cain, Talia al Ghul, Damian Wayne, Jason Todd, Tim Drake

Relationships: Thomas Wayne/Martha Wayne/Alfred Pennyworth, BruHarvey, BruTalia

Additional Tags: Canon Divergent AU, Hurt/Comfort, Bruce Wayne is Not Batman, Angst, Alfred Pennyworth Knows All, Bruce Wayne Only Has One Child, Bruce Wayne is Not An Only Child, Bi Bruce Wayne

Chapter Forty-Six: Love

A few weeks after David Cain was detained, Harvey knocked on Cassandra’s room door to speak to her. Everyone else attempted to, but she shut herself in her room and refused to speak to anyone. “Cassandra, you don’t have to talk. I just wanted to hang out here. I figured you’d understand,” Harvey stated as he stood outside. Cassandra opened her door and pointed to the movies in the corner of the room and her TV on the other side. 

Harvey nodded and picked a movie before plopping down on the beanbag chair next to her. “I was never as brave as you were. I never could’ve fought my dad,” Harvey whispered as he moved his bangs out of the way to show her the healed gash on his head. “Bruce stitched me up after my dad threw a bottle at me.” 

Cassandra looked at his head before rolling up the back of her shirt to show Harvey two bullet wounds. “Gun,” Cassandra replied as she pantomimed shooting. 

“Yikes,” Harvey replied, “Are you sad about Davi—? About your father?” 

Cassandra nodded, and Harvey sighed. “I still love my dad, but I know he’s not a good person. You can’t change how you feel, but it doesn’t make you the same as him. It makes you good because you can love him even after how he hurt you,” Harvey stated. 

“Love… makes you good?” Cassandra questioned. 

“Love makes you want to try to be good,” Harvey explained, “And everyone understands how you feel. Even if they don’t know what happened to you for sure… They understand that you are as good as it gets. You’re a wonderful person.” 

“I am?” Cassandra asked. 

“Mhm. But you can’t stay in here all day hiding from your family. Especially Thomas. You saved his life, and he misses you,” Harvey whispered. Cassandra’s bottom lip quivered as she wiped tears from her eyes. “Jeez Louise, Cassie, I didn’t mean to make you—.”

She got up and ran to Thomas’ office, embracing him as she wept quietly. “What’s wrong, Cassiepillar? You can tell me,” Thomas whispered. 

“Love you,” Cassandra mumbled. 

“Aww, I love you too… You don’t have to be upset, sweetpea. I love you so much,” Thomas smiled. “And that’s why I’ve decided to stay home even after I’m all better. We’re gonna spend so much time together.” 

“Yeah?” Cassandra asked. 

“Uh-huh,” Thomas chuckled. 

**

Dick woke up in the middle of the night with a fever and knocked on his parents’ door. “Dad? Dad!” Dick rasped. He pounded on the door with tears in his eyes. “Dad!” 

“Door’s unlocked, Dick!” Thomas shouted in reply. Thomas transferred into his chair as Dick opened the door. Thomas approached Dick and got a good look at him in the dark. “Come on. Let’s talk in your room, so Alfred and your mom can get some sleep.” 

Dick nodded, still panicking as he followed Thomas down the hall to his room. And as soon as he realized it wasn’t panic that he felt, he ran to the bathroom to throw up. Thomas waited for Dick to return, and he turned the lights on low. Dick stepped out of the bathroom, shaking and sweating. “It’s alright… You’re sick. Do you want me to stay with you?” Thomas asked. They hadn’t had a chance to talk about that night with Cassandra and David. Thomas knew he’d have to talk about it, but he wasn’t looking forward to that conversation. 

Dick nodded and climbed into bed before letting Thomas climb in next to him. Thomas sat up and tensed up in shock as Dick grasped Thomas’ shirt and held it tight in his fists. “I don’t wanna lose you,” Dick whispered, “I—. I want you to adopt me.”

“Okay. We’ll talk about it again when you feel better,” Thomas whispered. Dick shivered, and Thomas pulled the blankets up over him. “I’m not going anywhere. I don’t think you’ve ever been sick here… I wonder why now…” 

“I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see you falling. Over and over and over… The sound is a lot flatter than most people realize. It makes your stomach jump,” Dick whispered. Thomas looked ahead, so he wouldn’t have to face the look on Dick’s face. “I think the worst part of seeing someone die is the thought that they’re supposed to get back up. You can’t—. You can’t wake them up, but your brain doesn’t process that in real-time, so you’re just—. Every second before you realize they’re never coming back feels like years… Even still, some days I wake up thinking that I’m going to see them. Do you understand?” 

Tears streamed down Thomas’ cheeks. “I hear your voice,” Thomas stated in a broken whisper, “I hear you begging for help… I can feel your arms around me, pulling me back, and I—. I wasn’t choosing Cassie over you. I just—. 

“Having more than one child is something I never imagined. It’s hard enough having one human being around, loving them, and worrying about keeping them safe. Three children… I would’ve taken that dive for any of you without question.”

“Is Bruce—?” 

“He’s coming home. I know it’s hard to understand but the longer he’s away the more I understand. Bruce will come home when it’s time,” Thomas reassured Dick before looking down at Dick’s face. He couldn’t keep his eyes open. “You can go to sleep. I’ll be here.”

“I don’t want to… I don’t want you to leave—.” 

“I’ll be here. I’ll be here until you feel better,” Thomas whispered. 

**

Bruce followed Talia down the corridor to a bedroom that was twice the size of his room back home, and she handed him a change of clothes. He stood there for a moment, looking at her features, and they met eyes, startling him into averting his gaze. “You can look me in the eyes. I invite you to,” Talia whispered as she reached for his arm and froze. 

Bruce looked into her eyes. “Talia’s a beautiful name,” Bruce whispered. Talia laughed as Bruce moved her hair away from her face to get a better look. She leaned forward, and Bruce hesitated before pulling away. “I can’t… I don’t even know you. I don’t know why I’m here. Talia, I hope you understand that it isn’t a lack of—.” 

“We’re going to talk about that over dinner,” Talia whispered. Bruce swallowed hard. “And perhaps we should take a walk after… You and I.” 

Her eye contact made his throat dry, and his heart dropped into his stomach, feeling heavy and tight where it shouldn’t. “Okay… Well, I have to get dressed now,” Bruce said, almost commanding her to leave. Talia smirked. 

“Of course. Someone will come for you in a little while and bring you to dinner… And don’t panic if things have… changed, ” Talia whispered before leaving the room. 

Bruce stared into space as he thought about her words to him, and he stepped behind the curtains and looked in the mirror as he disrobed. He reached for his cock before noticing something strange. He touched his stomach, thumbing at where his scar should’ve been. He turned around and tried to see if he could see the exit wound scar on his back. “What the—?” Bruce shook his head climbed into the claw foot tub and sank under the water. He sat up pushing his hair back and taking a breath of air as he took the bar of soap and loofah hanging overhead. “I must be cracking up.”

[homestuckreplay]

dave strider piss arc :(

(page 1430-1447)

This update begins by explicitly confirming that Rose is the Seer, which is still surprising to me, so I want to crack into the meaning of these titles for a moment.

John is the Heir, which relates to inheritance and family, something he’s really surrounded by. His sprite is his own nanna, he found an important message in his heirloom Colonel Sassacre’s (passed between three generations), and his dad’s notes, safe and room loomed large even after Dad himself was kidnapped. In their episode covering the LOWAS walkaround, Serious Business podcast mentioned that John has escaped his house but is still surrounded by items from his house that fell to the ground and were adopted by the salamanders, which I thought was a great point. So the first part of John’s title, ‘heir’, describes how he’s (unwillingly) defined by his family, while the second part, ‘breath’, relates to his windy land in Sburb. John’s quest is to free the fireflies and get rid of the oil (p.1358 – CHECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!) which relates to escape and no longer being trapped, as well as free and open communication via the mail system, and a clean, natural environment (something very unlike the suburbs, perhaps). It’s possible that a Sburb player’s quest almost subverts the first part of their title.

Rose is the Seer, which relates to understanding, transcendental knowledge, and magical divination. Rose definitely sees herself as smarter and more objective than the average person, and her superiority complex is one of her clearest flaws. So her quest could in some way involve opening her eyes to alternative viewpoints and coming to understand that she’s wrong sometimes. I love this idea, because these titles are presumably temporary and only exist while the characters are within the Incipisphere – they don’t define their whole lives temporally and they also can’t sum them up as entire, complex people. So it makes sense for the players’ quests to be about exploring beyond their current self conceptions, and learning how to be otherwise.

I don’t know who is messaging Rose with the fancy on-screen dialog boxes, but it’s similar to what we’ve seen in walkarounds on page 253 and 1358 when clicking on a player or interactable item, and has already been extended to still panels with PM’s sequence on pages 1417-29. So, this must be a way to clearly indicate terminal commands without having to make a full walkaround game, and this is a natural transition because we’ve seen it so recently. I like the idea that each future construct (each terminal?) uses a different font, like an analog to the different Pesterchum text colors.

This sequence explains why Rose wasn’t answering John or Dave for a while after entering (p.1391, 1393). In act 2 she was very critical of John for being ‘completely unresponsive’ (p.508), ignoring messages and behaving strangely, not knowing about WV’s commands. Now she’s experiencing the other end of it, and it could explain why she’s currently smiling and claiming to ‘like it here’ (p.1402) if her mind is being influenced by someone else. I can’t imagine Rose enjoys someone else thinking for her, so I’m excited to see her reaction once she realizes what’s going on.

These two panels side by side (p.1433-34) are extremely cool – Rose and John facing opposite directions, each with a nearby light flickering on their face. Despite the different art styles it’s like they are wordlessly looking at each other across a fire or something, and is a very smooth transition between the characters.

John sees two new enemy types on his land – the TAR BASILISK and COPPER GICLOPS, with some imps and salamanders for scale. Looking at this side by side with page 1081, the giclops doesn’t look much bigger than the crude ogres, but is probably tougher and has spikes or something, with better attack patterns. This is good from a game design standpoint to vary enemy types instead of just having them get bigger with more health, so props to Skaia I guess. It didn’t need to make its game this cool but it did anyway.

From there we move back to Jade and Dave playing Sburb, and get some parallels with Act 1 as Jade tries to figure out the mechanics and Dave is left powerless to her bathroom destruction. Dave gets over four hours on his cruxtruder countdown, so Jade being proactive installing the game actually did help! And instead of prototyping the sprite with the dead crow because she’d seen it in a vision, as I expected, she just did it due to feeling sad for the bird. And maybe because, just a few pages ago, Dave told Jade ‘i always keep birds in here its sort of my thing’ and that he was a ‘lame gothy supervillain’ (p.1400). That was to waking Jade, so it doesn’t carry over, but I still feel like Dave has no right to complain.

There’s now a ‘first prototyping’ gif for both John (p.185) and Dave (p.1446) but Rose’s was within [S] Enter, and not a page in itself. If Jade gets one I’m gonna be so annoyed by the asymmetry of it all.

We see more of the distinction between waking Jade and dream Jade. Waking Jade is pretty good at Sburb, has some amount of common sense, and is aware of the basics on what needs to happen. Dream Jade is flighty, very emotional, disconnected from the situation and nearly impossible to reason with, She almost feels like a receiver for information; it goes through her but she’s unable to actually do anything with it – see Dave asking Jade not to prototype the sprite, and Jade having this thought immediately overwritten.

Anyway I gotta talk about the worst part of this update, which is Dave’s piss prank. From what I know about cultural stereotypes of teenage boys, this could happen, but it’s still bad to think about and a shitty thing to do. I don’t care that it’s gross, but it says a lot about Dave that his reason for wanting to trick John into drinking piss is to punish him for having bad taste in movies, and his reason for not pulling this prank is that he can’t be bothered. What a brutal and toxic mindset to think that it’s okay to make somebody sick for liking a movie. What a defense mechanism to paper a ‘don’t want to’ over meaningfully considering his actions.

That being said, I like the panels on page 1441, and how they perfectly lay out Dave’s plan. The caption and followup page aren’t even needed – these tell the whole story in an impressive shorthand.

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

I’ve written something like this before, but I wanted to write it again since I’m rewatching RDR1 on YouTube. The Mexico arc in the game is one of my favorite depictions of a political struggle, mainly because it doesn’t shy away from how complicated politics can be. I feel like a great deal of fiction tends to go for a more black-and-white, hero against the villain narrative. The empire is bad, the rebels are good, and so on. But RDR1 really went into depth on how politics can be so confusing and complicated in real life.

The game has a basic set-up: the government led by Colonel Allende is terrorizing the people, leading to a rebellion led by Abraham Reyes. Allende spreads propaganda about how evil Reyes is but the people believe that Reyes is their savior. At this point, the game could’ve just done the simple route of making Reyes the clear-cut good guy and Allende the clear-cut bad guy. Instead, we’re forced to really ponder which side is worth supporting.

Obviously, Allende is evil and does need to be taken down. But Reyes is revealed to be just as bad as him. For example, he is casually revealed to be bigoted towards Chinese immigrants. Luisa says that Allende abuses women, but Reyes also sees women as disposable and would probably continue Allende’s abusive practices if he was in power.

But the biggest point that I give Rockstar credit for is that they created bad guys who had a legitimately good point about the rebels who we’re supposed to root for. Although it’s easy to sympathize with the rebels wanting to take the government down, the government is justified in claiming the rebels were brainwashed into supporting an evil man. From the moment John Marston met Abraham Reyes, he immediately realized that Reyes was exactly how Allende and De Santa described him as. He’s ignorant, moronic, power-hungry, and he views himself as being higher than the peasants despite presenting himself as a champion of the people. But no one else picked up on this! So, you really can’t argue against De Santa and Allende on this, especially since Reyes ends up becoming a tyrant in the future.

In going through this storyline again, I’ve also developed a new perspective on Luisa Fortuna. She was the one character who legitimately cared for the rights of the Mexican people and was fighting to end tyranny. But knowing how obviously terrible Abraham Reyes is as a character (he even gets Luisa’s name wrong right in front of her), it’s hard not to see Luisa as anything but an incredibly naive woman who got manipulated by an idiot. She isn’t really that much different from how devoted De Santa was to Allende’s regime. They were both passionate to their respective causes, but their passion blinded them to how awful their leaders were.

And then to have the storyline end with the message that the cycle of oppression will repeat but with Abraham Reyes in charge? Incredibly dark, but fitting for the story.

Go play RDR1 if you haven’t done so already. This was only one act out of a total of three acts in the story. And all the acts are strongly written in their own way.

[voidwizardwholikestheshadows]

DSMP as Magnus Archives avatars/which entity would they serve

c!Dream: listen, I know what you might be thinking this one so obvious is The Web. Well I would typically agree, but I feel like there’s just something more to this one, you know. Like The Web is very fitting, depending on which version of c!Dream you like to look at. Idk if that’s true but that’s just what I’ve noticed based off seeing c!Tommy fans talking about c!Dream and c!Dream fans but I digress, not the time for that huge can of worms. I could also vaguely see The Hunt but all and all, he’s both The Web and The Hunt, just The Hunt isn’t as strong.

c!Tommy: The Lonely is what I think fits best for him. He spends all of his time just trying to get someone to stay or stick with him, while simultaneously pushing people away. He’s trying with everyone he can but he ends up alone, either by his own doing or because of the actions of the people around him. Even for the people who tried to stick by his side aka Tubbo, he still manages to push him away/have Tubbo push Tommy away.

c!Tubbo: The Extinction fits Tubbo’s vibes in my humble opinion. Obviously the nukes are a big contributor to this thought but the Extinction has a lot to do with humanity destroying itself or catastrophic change which I also think does fit c!Tubbo. The absolute change of personality he’s gone through just overtime and the way he watches the server destroy itself/how he destroys himself really seems to me that the Extinction fits the vibes.

c!Wilbur: The Desolation/Spiral are the contenders here. I think both for pretty clear reasons so I don’t have to go too in depth here. Wilbur loses his mind throughout Pogtopia before having a quite explosive end. The Desolation’s whole thing is the fear of destruction and burning etc but especially for a senseless cause, now sure, you could say that Wilbur blowing up Pogtopia wasn’t a senseless thing to do but in my mind it sure was. The Spiral is pretty obvious, the way Wilbur loses his mind but I think The Desolation is first because once he comes back, he doesn’t want to change, he doesn’t want to be anything less than destructive.

c!Ranboo: I think The Stranger fits pretty well for Ranboo. He always feels like something isn’t right and I’m sure the short term memory loss isn’t helpful. Idk the words to explain my thinking and reasoning which I guess does fit perfectly for this entity… If anyone gets what I’m trying to say, please. I will edit later when I remember what the fuck I was trying to say.

c!Techno: The Slaughter/The Hunt. I am a solid believer in both because I live in a world where things are easy lmao. Anyway, I think it is a mix of both simply because Techno isn’t fully just unmotivated violence, there is a reason for it. If anyone can link that speech that Techno gave Quackity over hunting, it kinda proves my hunt point. On the other side of the coin, he literally has blood thirsty voices in his head, is there anything more slaughter coded?

c!Philza: The End is what I think fits best, perhaps even The Vast. Obviously his ties to The Goddess Of Death really help my point for the End but idk why but Philza gives this vibe of the dsmp’s wars and skirmishes are really pointless in the grand scene of things which is very Vast coded. I think Phil would be more connected to The End after Wilbur died and became very connected after Doomsday. Idk just some thoughts.

c!Quackity: I’m stuck between the Hunt and The Flesh. I’m leaning more toward Flesh because of how he acts during his casino days. Paranoid but still cunning if that makes sense. A mix of Hunt and Flesh. It’s both mostly vibes, I’m getting so tired writing this that I will probably edit and add more tomorrow.

Last Thoughts: The Dream Smp in its entirety is a Fear Domain and nobody can tell me otherwise. Both Pandora’s Vault and Logstedshire are Lonely Coded. The Egg is obviously Corruption Coded. If you have any characters you want to hear me rant about in more detail that I haven’t gone over or characters I’ve already spoke about here, send me an ask!

Edit: I so need to rewrite this… it was 1 AM…

[ghostinthetumbchine]

“mirdania was there to symbolise us and what would happen to us for "romanticising" the eye boy” —> would like to note this is a fundamentally misogynistic take. It is literally just another iteration of “women who experience violence had it coming” lmao and it’s incredible that people who consider themselves to be “progressives” don’t have the guts to unpack their own internalised bullshit. “I’m Not Like Those Other stupid vapid Girls who are hot for the bad guy (and will therefore get what they deserve!” — what a truly enlightening take that definitely uplifts and empathises with other women. If you’re answering this ask please feel free to tag this in the TROP tag btw because some people in this fandom need to consider for real how much they respect other actual women (as opposed to fictional women lmao) and come to grips with the fact that “romanticising a fictional male villain” will NEVER, not in a million years, warrant the sort of blatant contempt and mockery thrown at female viewers on a regular basis. When your arguments sound exactly like the openly misogynistic lorebros then you may want to consider the idea you don’t like other women as much as you think you do.

Oh I'm absolutely posting this because you worded what i just insinuated very succintly.

And i'll add that the gender make up and how focused they are on male characters and m/m relationships of that particular group of posters also interests me. It is telling that they present themselves as the woke ones but simultanously talk over and about women in fandom this way, even if maybe some of them are women too.. me and another friend of mine on here got recently blocked for simply pointing out that the hayes code and puritian ideas which impacts the way creators build stories to this day also had very rigid views on how and what kind of heterosexual relationships were allowed on screen - in ways that subscribed to western, patriarchal agendas and usually, you guessed it, impacted and harmed or restricted the women most.

Its one thing, already sad but one i can respect, when people on here don't even want to have discussion on how women are either shut down on their perception and fantasies, mocked and humiliated or straight up victim blamed for real life events for indulging in them.. but it's another for being at our throats for it every time you get an excuse to.

And mind you, in real life i have not touched a man further than one kiss that made me go "nope". I am very queer, in ways i have not myself fully untangled at almost 30. And yet i don't have an issue with interacting with and understanding and respecting this side of the fandom. So it is a skill issue.