#Imma do the whole gang at this point

[rudeguacamole]

B r e a k ! 💙🍺

Break away from everybody!

Break away from everything!

If you can't stand the way this place is,

Take yourself to higher places!

Close up!! ↴

[spicyvampire]

Okay so after the whole Sakuna/Wansarut and Phaya/Tharn "characters description" fighter (protector)/healer+protector(mediator) post, now imma talk about about our resident Snake (PhD), Doctor Chalothorn being a fighter and well how do you convince a fighter to not fight?

I've already made a whole gifset about this but I needed to put the stuff into words cuz u just can't say everything in a gifset so this post is gonna be about a few things, first of all, the way Charlothorn's goals shifted in the last 2 episodes, from wanting to kill Phaya so he can have Tharn, to wanting to save Tharn and Phaya's end not really mattering anymore, and second of all Tharn's role in this shift and where have we saw something similar to this shift before aka Wansarut and Sakuna and how Wansarut even did that

Same disclaimer as the last one applies : pulling this out of my ass from watching the show, these are raw out-of-order thoughts, ill try my best to separate but like the last post because I'm going to have to go back and forth between Wansarut (love of my life, talking about Wansarut has to be my favorite activity rn), Sakuna, Tharn (smooching him smooching him), Phaya and Chalothorn this might get hard to follow but hey that's what it's like inside my brain so welcome to the mess

Putting it under keep reading

So like I said in the last post, Chalothorn is a fighter, like you can't get more fighter than this, the man is literally the prince/ruler of Nagas and he is right in the middle of the battle field anytime there is a fight to be had, and like I said in Sakuna's part of the post he is a level that can probably can only be rivaled by Sakuna's brother, you can't be a higher level of Naga fighter from what I understand, so like how do you fight this man if you are Wansarut and Sakuna? (ep. 8)

Keep in mind that : the answer is that they never were supposed to fight Chalothorn

SCENARIO 1 : Chalothorn wins

This is what we've seen in the show, Sakuna/Wansarut/Phaya/Tharn would never win against him in a fight because they just aren't strong enough to began with, Sakuna and his Garuda were not Chalothorn's level when he was alive, Wansarut is a healer/protector not a fighter, Phaya can only do ✨Sparkles✨ of Garuda powers as of rn and while Tharn can do some powerful protecting he is of the gang the person who is the less in contact with his past and magical self (other than for protecting Phaya magic, we have not even seen his Naga in this lifetime) and also his past self wasn't even a fighter, so it makes sense that Chalothorn just keep killing them and every single one of their reincarnations, he kills them so much that it was destroying his own soul (ep. 8) because surprise he is getting affected by the little cyclic karma thingy they got going on too, this isn't just about Wansarut/Sakuna and PhayaTharn, Chalothorn is trapped in this shit too

Clearly fighting is not the answer, because even if you win, which Chalothorn has been doing a lot of, you still lose, Chalothorn is losing control of his Naga form, not only does it destroy his soul (ep. 8) but he might just not be able to turn into his human form anymore aka would be forced to be a Naga forever (ep. 9)

Another lost of this is that he keeps losing Wansarut and having to wait for the cycle to start again so he would get another chance, like the level of psychological damage getting done to him because he kills the one he loves and he is always left behind alone to wait is enough to drive anybody insane (ep. 11)

And I think that's one of the reasons why it took him so long to understand that he should let Wansarut/Tharn go, because when you do something so despicable and keep doing it over and over again you have to justifies your bad actions to yourself so you don't break and the more you justifies them the harder it becomes to see clearly through them, so you just keep doing it, like Chalothorn probably hates himself more than he even hates Phaya or love Tharn at this point because he keeps killing reincarnations of Wansarut, like this is his reaction to killing Wansarut the first time, falling to his knees screaming and everything (ep. 8), the cognitive dissonance in that man's brain must be insane

SCENARIO 2 : Phaya wins

Now let's imagine for a second there that they did win, Phaya succeeded in killing Charlothorn, and then what? Isn't Charlothorn just gonna reincarnate and come back for them again? Like yes it might take some times but it will happen, and then Phaya and Tharn would be the one destroying their souls and making their karma worst, that's just not a solution

Also we saw with Narong's case part of the show that "victim turned attacker" is not the answer (anyways that's what the show says), when Tharn and Phaya are talking to the abbot at the end of episode 5 the abbot keep repeating that over and over again killing is not the answer

When Phaya Says "Those victims are left with no choice but to fight back in order to survive. They have to kill." The abbot answers "The basic code of moral conducts for human beings like us is the 5 precepts. One should be abstained from killing other living beings. These precepts can bring peace and happiness to your family and the society. Undertaking the 5 precepts will benefit not only yourself but also the people around you." Basically straight up telling them that [not killing] is the only answer that will bring peace to everyone

Also so many parallels can be made between Narong and Chalothorn (which is probably why it was easy for Chalothorn to possess Narong to attack Phaya but let's not get into that), because like isn't this Chalothorn? (ep. 5)

His mind is so clouded by anger and wanting to kill Phaya and getting Tharn that he is obsessed with it, he literally do not see anything else, specially if Phaya is in the room and/or mentioned, like I said a bit higher in this post, he hates Phaya, but he probably hates himself too, and so much hate and anger just blinds people

Also sidenote that I'm not really gonna dive into : How do you think Tharn would feel about Phaya killing Chalothorn, knowing what u know about him? like Tharn loves Chalothorn as a friend, and that's even if Chalothorn is responsible for all the bad things in his life (ep. 12)

Tharn may be looking at Chalothorn saying this but he said "Please stop killing each other." he could not be more clearly talking to both of them, he doesn't want Chalothorn to kill Phaya but he also doesn't want Phaya to kill Chalothorn

SCENARIO 3 : Tharn Wins

Now lemme say this, you can literally never convince a fighter by fighting him, like if you've ever had a fight/argument with someone you know that you cannot reach a compromise in the heat of the fight when everyone is angry and losing the control of their emotions, it just doesn't work, but what does work in the context of the show?

Wansarut and Sakuna

And now I'm back to Wansarut (<3<3<3<3<3<3) and Sakuna because well Wansarut did change a fighter's mind before already, this is part of Wansarut's power that's why I also describe Wansarut as a mediator, and what did Wansarut do exactly?

Well Wansarut healed Sakuna, even if he is from the enemy side, and took care of him and acted in a way that was protective of him, even if again Sakuna is an enemy of Wansarut's people (literally brother of the Garuda king) because that Wansarut's character, Wansarut is a healer/a protect/a mediator that's how Wansarut fights (ep. 8)

Then Wansarut tough Sakuna about Naga culture (Naga offering and breathing fire to pay respect to Buddha, on the 15th nigh of the 11th waxing moon)

And while being in love with each other did facilitate this change of view in Sakuna (which would later turn him a bit into a protector of Wansarut), you really do not need to be for this to work, like the best way to change people views on some things truly is just to expose them to the thing from the POV of the people living it, when nobody is in any immediate danger

And that is exactly how Tharn succeeded in convincing Chalothorn that the love between Phaya and him is good, by being there for Chalothorn and taking care of him, and being patient, until Chalothorn was ready to let him go on his own, not in the heat of of fight when everyone is angry and putting the blame on each other, which was again so healer/ protector/mediator of him like I talked about in my other post

Tharn and Chalothorn : the final

So with Wansarut and Sakuna we saw how Tharn could change Chalothorn's mind and what really does work, now imma dive into the last 2 episodes of this show aka the shift in Chalothorn

So in episode 6, Chalothorn says this

And at that time I think those words were true cuz that's literally what he has been doing isn't it? Like everytime he lost, both Wansarut and Sakuna's reincarnations died, so he was "okay" with killing Wansarut, as long as it meant that Sakuna was also dead and they weren't together (crazy way to fight cognitive dissonance if you ask me) but then something changed around episode 11 because Chalothorn started saving Tharn even if Phaya was still alive? (Ep. 11) (ep.12)

The importance of Chalothorn saving Tharn those 2 times, is that 1) now Tharn knows what the fuck is going on and 2) (like I said in the other post) Tharn end up understanding that Chalothorn can be talked too and reasoned with (the abbot would call it enlightenment), because in that 2nd saving he told Chalothorn to not kill Montee, and Chalothorn listened

Sidenote : Wansarut also did tell Chalothorn to not kill Sakuna and Chalothorn did listen that time too, like Wansarut has a BIG influence on this man (wish we saw their relationship before the mess), the only reason why the fight did continue was because Sakuna did not let Wansarut go

Why did he listen then? because he loves Wansarut, it really is as simple as that, and that's why he also listened to Tharn with Montee, because our chronically involuntary celibate man is head over dick for Tharn (valid and relatable)

So remember when I was talking about cognitive dissonance and stuff, well by ep 12, Chalothorn cannot justifies killing Tharn anymore, he is tired, he is turning into a Naga, and he cannot stand seeing another reincarnation of Wansarut die again, but most importantly he cannot stand to see Tharn die by his own hands

It's easy to concentrate on Phaya's distress in this scene but Chalothorn is in as much distress as Phaya, you can hear Chalothorn's voice break when Tharn is dying in both Phaya and his arms after asking them to stop killing each other, they are both screaming Tharn's name, and this time Chalothorn just listen because this is too much, his hatred for Phaya is just not important anymore, killing Phaya is just not as important anymore because anyways Tharn did choose him didn't he? isn't that what he wanted? even if Tharn clearly is in love with Phaya, Tharn did choose to come with him, so in a way none of this shit even fucking matters anymore

So for the 3rd time, he saves Tharn, this time by literally giving Tharn his soul so he would live (wish we saw him breaking down over Tharn dying in his arms in the Naga caves until he ended up giving Tharn his soul tbh), Chalothorn chooses to save a life instead of ending one and thus ending the curse on his part

[heartthumpnovel]

Heart Thump: Chapter 7

“Growing Pains”

Word count: 9437

Just got this wrapped up before I leave for a week! This is gonna be insight to how Jason is dealing with the new big changes in his life (I am not sorry). This chapter was very fun to write because it has my favorite character in it; Oliver :> By they way, since it seems people are getting interested in this story, I've seen people do tag lists for each chapter. Let me know if you're interested in that!

cw: Cursing/Swears

Last chapter: Seeking Answers

Next chapter: It Came From Outer Space

---

 Atlas Gang Group Chat November 9th @  3:00 pm

Jason: Just got out of the doctors office.

Jason: Won’t be dying anytime soon, but, It seems like I did get electrocuted at some point on the golf course. 

Ellie: FR??? Are you going to be okay?? 

Natasha: HOW?? OH MY GOD JASON HUN I AM SO SORRY!! I SHOULD OF GOT YOU TO THE HOSPITAL!!!! D’:

Motor: Shit dude. F.

Jason: Now don’t get too upset @Motor.

Jason: But to make this clear, @Natasha you have nothing to be sorry about. It wasn’t obvious and I had a bit too many drinks. I am still not sure what shocked me but I have those lighting scars on my back…

Ellie: Like Lichtenberg Figures? At Least those are the coolest scars to possibly have right? 

Jason: @Ellie I guess... I am just lucky I managed to live through it.

Motor:  bro you realize you don’t have to @ everyone you’re trying to talk to right??? It’s literally just the four of us here.

Jason: It’s called being efficient @Motor.

Motor: I don’t wanna hear pinging coming for you every five seconds. IT'S CALLED BEING ANNOYING.

Natasha: uh hey are we just gonna ignore the fact Jason nearly died from electrocution or??

Jason: Awh @Natasha It’s quite alright! The doctor said that I had little to no damage and the shock passed right through me. He did say that it was a risk considering my heart condition but, I am overall unharmed. However, he did write me up for two weeks of rest just to be on the safe side.

Natasha: Consider the call in done. Imma also gonna look into that golf course to see if there’s any loose wiring problems and give them hell!! >:(

Ellie: YEAH GIRL GET THEM!!!!

Ellie: And here I thought golf courses couldn’t get any worse. 

Ellie: But uh Jason, wasn’t there anything else the doctor … found out about your condition or?

Jason: No. Just pain medication and rest.

Motor: yeah no big deal..no BIIGG deal at all. >:3

Natasha: :/ ????

Jason: Shut it @motor. 

Natasha: Uhhhh

Ellie: Don’t worry about it Nat. :’D 

The phone screen went dark as Jason pressed the side button on his phone and shoved it deep into his pants pocket. He didn’t need the stress that Motor was giving him for nearly spilling the beans on the whole giant fiasco. It felt like the entire thing was one stupid joke away from giving away the big secret. He laid back in the bus seat and stared down at the small paper bag filled with the prescription antibiotic cream and tylenol that was settled in his lap. 

Thinking back on the doctor appointment, Jason wished he could have told his doctor everything that was happening to him. Maybe he could have gotten more than just stuff to treat the surprise scars on his back. But, the troubles that would have come from telling his doctor would have been extremely bad. His doctor could have thought that he was either having a mental breakdown, ran out of the room screaming if Jason were to prove the claim, and may have probably called the government to take him away to be then experimented on for the rest of his life. Yeah, there’s no way he was going to take those chances.

However, Jason was told that his heartbeat was now more noticeable and beating faster than usual. Not enough to be at the regular rate but a definite improvement than before the incident.  

“Huh, cure me a little bit and in exchange turn me into a freak of nature… Not really a fair trade is it?” Jason quietly mumbled to himself as he placed a hand on his chest. Looking outside the bus window to check for his stop, his mind began to wander as he witnessed the rain outside fall into the streets of Seattle. Sure, he does believe now that he was right in the middle of this weird phenomenon but it still felt so unreal. A monkey’s paw’s finger must have curled as he always wanted to be a few more inches taller, feel more happiness and have a clean bill of health. At this cost however? 

Definitely not worth it.

While listening to the bus’s public radio talk about this newly discovered meteor that was currently in orbit of the solar system, The bus slowed and pulled up to the bus stop where Jason needed to get off. He rose from his seat and stepped off the bus as quickly as he could. He just wanted to get home. Before he could make his walk back to his townhouse, Jason couldn’t help to notice the inky spot on the road that was across the bus stop. His memory started to jog and wondered how that lady with the crushed minivan was doing. 

Wait, had he seen that minivan before? Consequently, he could feel a slight pain emerge from his foot and once he put two and two together; He remembered. 

During that fateful night, he remembered getting the boot from a ride-share car. Jason couldn’t recall for the life of him why he was removed from the car or how he even was able to summon one in the first place. However, his drunk/electrocuted brain was thinking of Natasha for some reason and with the knowledge Jason gained about what happens when she enters his thoughts… 

He could only recall pieces of the night. Losing one of his nice dress shoes, stumbling in the streets, buildings slowly shrinking around him, and the moment his foot accidentally stepped on a hunk of metal that blared loudly as it was crushed beneath his weight. 

The pain in his foot stung worse and Jason immediately started speed walking down the street. He needed to get home ASAP before he unexpectedly grew again and caused more damage. If only he could repay that woman for her van and make it up to anyone else who was a victim of his carelessness. Though that would be very expensive, and he would have to admit that he was the giant freak that did it. Perhaps these one-time sins from when he didn’t know better could serve as a lesson to Jason to not let himself get carried away. 

That fast paced walking turned into a sprint as he had no faith in his wandering imagination. Thinking back on the bus ride, he realized that could have ended badly as well and Jason mentally scolded himself for putting people in danger. The few people he ran past stared at him and Jason for once didn’t care what they thought. He needed to put himself away at home where he could focus on NOT focusing on those lovingly destructive thoughts. 

He stumbled onto the stairs on his front door and shoved a hand into his pocket, fumbling on grabbing his keys. His two feet tapping anxiously on his welcome mat, and Jason using his other hand to search for the keys as well. Wait- where was his prescription bag!? His gaze darted below him and his head snapped to the bottom of the porch stairs. Jason spotted his nearly spilled out shopping bag on the sidewalk and just as fast as he sprinted there, he quickly shuffled his way down the stairs and nabbed his bag with a swift snatch. Muttering a few quiet ‘oh come ons’ before he managed to shove his key into the front door.

The front door swung open and slammed closed. Jason laid on the other side of the front door, trying to catch what little breath he had. It took the man a couple of deep breaths to find his bearings as his shoulders dropped. Though he did snap back to reality when he felt a comforting presence press on his calf. “Meow.” Jason looked down to see that his orange companion, Oliver, was already complaining about waiting for his dinner. The lovable dope had his tail raised and was rubbing his face into Jason’s pant leg, getting fur stuck on the fabric. “Awh is the little pumpkin hungry?~'' Jason cooed as he bent down and picked up Oliver by the sides to hoist the cat to be cradled into one of his arms, “Sorry I’m late, Daddy’s dealing with reality shattering stuff lately.” Jason walked into his cozy living room and dropped the prescription bag off at the coffee table while his orange fur-baby was meowing complaints. As he made his way to the kitchen, Oliver kept staring at Jason with his one eye and began to purr loudly as he lay comfortably in Jason’s scrawny arm. 

What a strange little creature.

Oliver didn’t stay in Jason’s arm for too long as he jumped off when he saw his food bowl come into view. A cat has his priorities after all. Going through the cabinets Jason started to tell his thoughts to his cat, just like any cat owner would even if the cat had no idea what the heck their owner was talking about. It wasn’t like Oliver could snitch on him or anything. 

“I honestly don’t know what’s happening to me Oliver,” Jason said as he peaked through the cabinets, “I’ve become a ticking time bomb overnight and now I am a threat to society without even meaning to be…” Jason grunted when he didn’t see the cat food in the usual place. 

“Wha- oh goodness I thought I just bought you a palette recently..” Jason spoke as he pushed some cans of soup aside and he tried to rack his brain on where in his house the cat food could be. It was about a week ago he went grocery shopping, and consequently that night had also been board game night with his friends from work. He did pick up some extra snacks for that night and Motor, while annoying he can be, actually offered to help Jason with the heavy groceries. 

He felt his blood run cold. Jason arched his neck up to the high cabinets in his kitchen. While it probably was a stupid idea for a short man like Jason to rent a home which felt like it was specifically made for tall people, it was a really good deal at the time considering he was living in Seattle. Besides, he had managed to live with it this long and had no problems since he had a step stool on hand. Though he had to admit, Motor putting the heavy cat food stack on a high shelf was seriously infuriating. 

Jason sighed and turned to find that step stool buried deep in the pantry. However, his feet stopped half way through the turn as he had a small thought sprout in his mind. What if instead of spending more precious time digging through his pantry to get the step-stool, Jason could just simply put that new side effect to good use. Jason shook his head for a moment, “Oh heavens no-” He mumbled as he took a step towards the pantry, “That’s ridiculous, I wouldn’t want to risk it…” He cleared his throat as he reached his hand over to the pantry door. The hand halted before it could grab the handle and Jason took another glance at the high up cabinet. It had never looked so close yet out of reach… 

“I mean,” Jason spoke towards Oliver, “Just maybe a little bit couldn’t hurt… Now I know about what the cause is..” “Meow.” “Yeah, it could end up being safer than throwing my back out! Smart boy, Oliver.” “Meow.” It has been decided, then. 

He made his way back to below the high up cabinet and stretched out his arms as if he was going to be entered in a weight lifting competition. A long concentrated deep breath came from him as he closed his eyes. Feeling a bit anxious from this but, if he only thought of her for a moment then it should only be a few inches right? “Alright Oliver, keep your distance.” Jason said as pushed up his glasses and wondered what he should specifically think about. Obviously nothing too intense, probably? He actually wasn’t sure when the point of no return was. His hands came together and made them hold each other. Maybe just the thought of holding her wonderfully soft palms might do the trick-- 

BANG

CRASH

“HISSSS! ROWWEEERRRR!”

CLANK

“AGGH! BOLLOCKS!!”

[Image Description: Jason grew too tall and ended up slamming his head on the ceiling. This caused him to fall back onto the kitchen island and he got smacked by a pan and is in pain.]

In one brief moment, the kitchen descended into chaos. The height that Jason had desired was passed up very quickly and his head punched itself through the ceiling, causing a huge crack to form. Debris fell and blinded Jason for a moment- causing him to stumble backwards onto the kitchen island. In a different time, it was nice to have a really good cast iron steel set of pots and pans. At the moment however, the back of Jason’s head didn’t appreciate it as he tumbled into them. His back was sprawled across the counter and all he could do was hold the back of his head, seizing in pain.

“Oooowww-” The now 10 foot tall Jason moaned, “How... have I not gotten brain damage?…” He opened his eyes to a horrifying sight, not at his ceiling being caved in nor his expensive cooking equipment being scattered everywhere; but the sight of his poor fluffed up baby boy huddling in the corner and hiding his scared face behind his puffed up tail.

“Oh… oh no pumpkin I’m so sorry...” Jason cooed, feeling like an absolutely disgusting human being, “I-I didn’t mean to scare you, It’s still me Oliver…” Jason managed to flop himself over so he could lay on this stomach comfortably. He reached out a large hand to Oliver, who at first backed up from the offered hand. The man’s heart dropped from seeing this and expected Oliver to sprint towards the bedroom to hide from the big scary monster that invaded his home. 

Instead, Oliver slowly raised his head from his tail and stared at the hand with his good eye. His nose reached over to Jason’s huge fingers and gave them a couple of small sniffs. From this new perspective Jason gained, Oliver could have been mistaken as a kitten on how small he looked. This almost made Jason’s heart soar with glee as he’d never got the chance to meet Oliver when he was a baby cat, but what really brought him glee was when Oliver rubbed his fuzzy head into Jason’s palm and let himself be wrapped by his owner’s large fingers for scratches. Tears of happiness covered Jason’s knocked askew glasses.

Forgiveness was granted. 

----

After giving Oliver double the serving that he usually had for dinner, Jason crawled through his own home to get to the bathroom. The hallways of the townhouse had become more like service tunnels as he had to duck throughout the home. While he was careful to not smack his head on any light fixtures, his feet were having a hard time adjusting to the new walkway. The pain in the back of his skull was still stinging slightly from the incident so he used his free hand to massage it while the other large hand traced the walls and grabbed onto the door frame that entered the bathroom.  

“Ugh, the new pain meds are comin’ in handy today..” Jason mumbled before he looked up at the mirror, “AH!!-- Oh… oh.” 

He yelped for a brief moment before realizing that the bathroom mirror had only reflected himself. However, he almost didn’t realize it was him due to the fact he was now completely covering the doorway and he was crouching to be able to get inside the bathroom. 

Watching his reflection, Jason's emotions morphed from surprise to a tinge of sadness. It dawned on him why his coworkers had initially been apprehensive around him. With a resigned sigh, he maneuvered into the bathroom, barely leaving any space to spare. He chuckled at the thought that he had once considered this compact bathroom relatively spacious for townhouse living. Without further ado, he removed his glasses to splash water on his face.

“...Wha- Wait what!? Are you kidding me!? Noooo,” Jason spoke out of disbelief as his glasses suddenly shrunk right as they left his face, “How the hell?...” 

Try as he might, he couldn’t put them back on his face as they just simply wouldn’t fit. Jason couldn’t exactly get himself to fit the glasses either as the pain in the back of his head made it near impossible to concentrate. 

“Oh, that’s just great…” Jason said sarcastically as he placed his glasses on the bathroom counter, “That’s how it’s going to be then.” He rubbed the arch of his nose before gingerly turning the faucet on. Splashing cool water on his face did make him feel a little bit more grounded despite the weirdness. He patted his face dry with a teal bath towel before eyeing his sweater vest and polo. 

“I guess I’m not expecting visitors or going out like this…” He mumbled to himself as he grabbed the bottom of his polo and started to pull it over his head, “But I’ll leave the trousers on for now- Ugh!” Jason grunted as he was having a bit of trouble trying to get his upper wear over his shoulders. His elbows had hit the ceiling and the lack of space made it hard to yank the polo combo off. Undeterred, Jason persisted, shifting and shimmying until he successfully removed the polo shirt. 

Jason held onto the clothing and was rather stunned as he saw that it too, had shrunk back down to his normal clothing size. This brought on more questions from Jason; Why did his clothing shrink back to normal when he took them off? Does anything in his pockets change size too? How is his clothing growing along with him and not getting ripped to shreds?

Jason shivered, perhaps he should just be grateful that he gets to remain fully clothed as the alternative would be a whole new set of problems to deal with. 

He tossed his clothes into the hamper to put an end to those thoughts and looked back at the mirror. His large hands nearly eclipsed the bathroom counter as he gingerly placed his palms on it. His eyes traced the scrawny ribs and various fresh bruises that marked the kitchen incident. An uncanny feeling was raised from within as it felt like a crime against nature itself for a body type like his to be able to fill an entire room.  

Spotting the end of the lighting scar on his shoulder, Jason reached out his fingers to touch it and turned a little bit to get a better look at the wound. The appearance of this scar shocked him as he hadn't felt pain from it till days after the incident. His muscles tensed up from touching the scarring and he pulled away to just stare at it. While getting a Lichtenberg figure from a lightning strike wasn’t uncommon, what was strange about this scar was that the entry point looked shaped like a cartoon heart. Probably a silly coincidence or a mocking branding. 

Coming to terms with his condition felt impossible, it wasn’t like anyone else in the whole world that could relate to him. He could no longer stare at the freak in the mirror and hung his head low, thoughts wondering if this meant he could never truly find happiness in a relationship. While he didn’t want to be in a relationship, now it was as if he no longer had any say in the matter. Tightness built up in his chest; what did this all even mean and why him? Perhaps he was being selfish for falling hard for someone who could be fired and have her life ruined if he’d dared to act on his feelings. 

“Meow.”

“Oliver? Oh bloody hell I left the door open didn’t I?”

“Meow!”

His eyes squinted to try to make out the fluffy orange blob that passed under his legs and was rubbing his ankle dramatically. The flick of Oliver’s tail made Jason’s frown curl into an appreciative grin. Oliver’s paw twitched a little bit from the unexpected puddle on the floor, Jason looked back up in the mirror and realized his face was completely wet with tears. 

“I-I’m sorry for crying like a big baby Oliver, That’s very unbecoming of me…”

“Meowwwwww.”

Jason reached down gingerly to hoist the fluffy noise box off of the tile and into his arms. Oliver squirmed a little as Jason tried to find a comfortable position for his fuzzy son due to his arms being much longer. It only took a few seconds to adjust and Oliver was once again cradled like a newborn comfortably. 

“Oh my gosh Pumpkin you’re so tiny~”

Jason sniffled as he used one finger to lightly pet Oliver’s fluffy tummy as he turned away from the mirror. Truthfully, It was awkward trying to shuffle out of the bathroom with a bundle that demanded attention. The kitty’s insistence was a little bit annoying, but the annoyance was overpowered by how Oliver wields his cuteness to his advantage. 

While it took a minute to navigate his home, he managed to get to his living room. Thankfully the ceiling was raised considerably, so he didn’t need to stress his back anymore. Getting to his usually comfy leather couch, Jason ever so carefully lowered himself down. The squeals from the wooden legs made him flinch and held onto Oliver for support. When he managed to sit completely down onto the couch, he sighed in relief that it didn't give way. Looking around his living room, he started to notice the fragile photographs that adorned the walls, the expensive television across from him, and plenty of breakable items that are precious to him. More things he could quite easily destroy without meaning to. 

He’d let go of Oliver and the orange fluff cloud pranced onto the low coffee table, sitting down regally with his tail covering his front paws. “Well,” Jason said, leaning down to his right and attempting to make himself comfortable on his ‘new’ loveseat sized couch, “I think it’s about time to reorganize the place, just to be on the safe side.”

The couch creaked in protest, as Jason laid his back to toe cushion and his neck cradled haphazardly on the arm rest. His long legs found it uncomfortable to curl up on the couch, so they stretched out over the opposite armrest, and the soles of his feet rested on the floor. Finally, he had managed to find some comfort in this new body of his.

He took a deep breath and- SNAP

Oliver leaped off the coffee table in response to the loud noise, caused by the couch's plywood giving way under the weight it was never meant to bear. Although it startled Jason for a moment, his body sank back onto the broken couch with a disappointed sigh. What else was new?

------

A Ravine [ Dream II ]

She was farther than ever before;

Across the Ravine.

Upon looking down, 

He couldn’t comprehend the unseen.

Before he could plead,

His chest burned.

No fear, no regrets

He took the leap.

The blue moon loomed

Claws dragged his ankles down,

Before he could cross;

Abyss cemented his doom.

Down he fell into the ravine;

Knowing he will never be seen.

Darkness consumed all,Lost forever within the Ravine.

------

It wasn’t a recent development for Ellie’s hatred of college level essays about the unclean parts about mental health. Though she didn’t like writing essays in general, she really had to double her effort from having to research grotesque subject matter. While it was necessary for her future career, damn if it wasn’t a mood killer. The blank document’s cursor flickers in mockery at Ellie as he sat on top of her bed sheets. Curled up with a nice warm cup of matcha on the side and held a firm grip on the sticker covered laptop on her lap. Sadly, she couldn’t use her love birds as an excuse to procrastinate as they were in the middle of their mid day cuddle nap. Ellie rubbed her nose in frustration, her mind pulling out blanks for an introduction for a tricky subject such as this.

After another embarrassing date going south, she wasn’t in the mood to chat up potential bachelorettes either. This left her with just herself, and the doomed assignment. 

Usually when she found herself stuck on inspiration for stuff like this, she’d head over to her best friend that was conveniently next door for guidance since he’d always had a knack for essay writing. Unfortunately, he wasn’t available and hasn’t been for a week. Ellie missed the days where they’d open their bedroom windows to chat nonchalantly about their weekend or gossip about their coworkers. It was one of the reasons why they rented these townhouses as they could stay in touch and get those sweet discounts on the places. However, every time Ellie peaked through her bedroom window to check to see if Jason was there, his curtains had remained closed. Ellie did think about heading over there herself to check if he was okay, though her deep rooted fear held her from going. It wasn’t like she was scared of Jason necessarily. What monster would be afraid of their best friend suffering from an unknown sickness? On the other hand, her sleep had been tormented with imagery of being unknowingly squashed under a heel and feeling like a helpless bug in an uncaring universe.

This part of herself she knew, long before this mess. A deep sinking feeling of panic brewed when she passed by unthinkably tall buildings and passed on Motor’s movie night ideas. If she could diagnose herself, she'd guess it was a classic case of megalophobia. That fear was usually unfounded and didn’t affect her life day to day usually so she wasn’t that upset about it. Until now. While she did manage to push through it during their experiments in the forest for her friend’s sake, she did have to binge through videos of kitten fostering videos to cope through the tears.

Ellie noticed that she was gripping the sides of her laptop and biting her tongue as her stress boiled over. Her laptop was pushed onto her bed and she rose from her sheets with a determination filled with obligation. She rushed to her drawers and got dressed into her usual autumn weekend outfit.

Her heart couldn’t take the communication break down anymore. Ellie needed to make sure Jason was alright and the thought of abandoning her friend when he needed her most made her feel like a disgusting coward. 

Ellie snatched her keys and rushed by her chirping lovebirds as she made her way to the front door. Once she shuffled down the front steps, her gaze turned to Jason’s front door. At first she couldn’t find the strength to move her feet, the mere thought of what could be happening in there made her blood run cold. Though it was too late to bail now. 

With one last look at her front door, Ellie sighed and her heavy feet walked up to the front door of Jason’s home and she knocked her fist on the door. Ellie’s shoulders jumped when she heard a dramatic thud coming from within the home. Her concern only grew from there as the noise was followed with a few scraping noises and then silence. 

“Uh, Hey man are y-” Ellie said before the front door suddenly swung open, revealing a normal sized, but uncommonly disheveled Jason with a deceitfully wide grin. 

[Image Description: A very concerned Ellie staring at Jason, who has opened his front door and is leaning on the door frame with a wide guilty grin.]

“Heeeeey Ellie,” Jason said, with fake cheerfulness, “It’s so nice to see you! Man alive, how long has it been?” “Uh, about a week…” Ellie said, trying to peek her head behind Jason, “Wanted to check in on… things.”

Jason shoved his head in the way of Ellie’s eye line while he kept that telling grin on his face. “OH! Things have been just swell! ” Jason paltered.

And as if the universe itself took offense, a shelf crashed to the floor. 

Ellie peered further over Jason’s shoulder and decided to push him aside despite Jason’s protest. To no one’s surprise; everything wasn’t swell in Jason’s abode. Bits of the ceiling fluttered onto the carpet and the cardboard boxes that had been hastily taped up. Once Ellie looked up, she could see multiple sized dents in the ceiling with a few expensive looking holes.

“Jason…” Elllie gasped, turning to look at Jason who at this point was hiding his face with his fingers. “I know…” Jason groaned, “the landlord is going to bloody kill me.”

Ellie gestured her hands towards the disaster in his house, “You did all of this in a week!?” Her voice raised, more so out of concern than disbelief. Jason kept his head low and moved past her into his ruined living room in shame as he laid a hand on one of the boxes. “Getting used to this disease has been harder than I anticipated…” Jason confessed, “I’ve been putting everything breakable away and haven’t left the house for days.” At this point he had completely dropped the act, his face darkened in shame. 

“Oh gods…” Ellie said as she reached a hand out to Jason’s shoulder to comfort him. Though right before she could, she heard a familiar yowl come from the couch. Her attention was shattered and she cooed at Oliver, who was trying to take a needed nap and was rudely woken up by the commotion. Ellie bee-lined towards the couch and scooped up the orange fluff ball into her arms. 

“Right, that’s why you came over,” Jason said with snark as he approached the two. 

“Nooo, I did come over to see how you were doing,” Ellie said as she bounced Oliver like a newborn, “But I mean, come on look at him!” She hoisted Oliver up in her arms and the look in his eye showed that there was truly a void of nothing behind it. 

Jason couldn’t wallow forever and acquiesced with a chuckle. He petted the top of Oliver’s head and kept his eyes on his little furry friend as he spoke to Ellie. “He somehow still loves me after all of this mess, ” Jason said, “Though I’m not sure how long I can control myself to keep him safe.” 

An awkward silence filled the room after that. Ellie sighed as she looked at her dissonant friend and she gave herself a moment to ponder the situation. She took note of the crater’s in the ceiling and the clearly evident eye bags below Jason’s eyes. “How much sleep are you getting?” Ellie asked as she set Oliver free. The cat pranced out of Ellie’s arm and onto the back of the broken couch. Jason sighed as he put a hand on his forehead in foggy thought. “None,” Jason complained, “I’ve been having a lot of dreadful nightmares and I’m afraid I’ll wake up to find myself homeless.” 

Ellie anxiously tapped the broken remains of his couch and took a deep breath. She gave a comforting gaze to Jason despite her own comfort. “Why don’t you come over to my place?” Ellie suggested, “We can try to do research on this thing, just like what we used to do in college.” She put a firm hand on Jason’s shoulder as he recoiled in shock. Before his stuttering could refuse, his head shook vehemently and he tried to pull away. “Wh-what!?” Jason exclaimed, “N-no! No, that's a terrible idea! Do you want me to get you in trouble with the landlord too!?” Ellie thought to argue that. “Look around, You’ve been isolated for way too long and it’s gonna drive you nuts!” Ellie said as she gestured her hand to the disastrous state of Jason’s living room, “Besides, I know that you’re gonna be extra careful if the house isn’t yours, you’re too considerate.” Jason folded his arms. It was very rare that he was unsure of his friend’s judgment, though at the moment, his doubts were plenty. “It’s dangerous,” Jason said, “I’m not keeping myself locked in my house for no reason Ellie.” He pushed Ellie’s hand away grimly and stared at the floor longingly. 

Well, Ellie didn’t care for that one bit. She took it upon herself to scoop up Oliver, who chipped in surprise,  from the couch and marched towards the door. “In that case, I’m sure Oliver would love to study with me to find out how to cure your stubborn butt.” Ellie said while she headed straight towards the front door with a sly grin on her face. “Wait- WAIT ELLIE,” Jason called after her and clumsily followed her trail like a helpless puppy, “You can’t just take my cat! Hey- ELLIE! HOLD JUST A SECOND-!!” 

------

If one were forced to think of one word to describe Ellie’s living room, it could very well be ‘serene’. The place definitely looked lived in, but it was a very clean mess of psychology textbooks on the handed-down oak coffee table, that had been gifted to her by her mothers. Pots were placed around the room that cradled many different types of plant life, and in one corner, Ellie's cassette collection laid haphazardly near her vintage boombox. Despite the apparent disorganization, she never had trouble locating any mix-tape in that pile. Music selection was not a frequent problem, though, as her two very vocal love birds' cage occupied a central position in the living room.

Jason had been sitting quite uncomfortably on her bequeathed bargain couch, though not due to the lack of support from the couch, but because he was essentially held hostage there. His traitorous kitty decided he wanted to spend time with auntie Ellie after being catnapped. He crossed his arms pouting, trying to ignore the smug look she had on her face as she entered the kitchen. “Whatcha want to drink?” Ellie asked.

“Earl grey,” Jason said, “Also you’re evil.” “I know,” Ellie playfully replied as she disappeared through the doorway. 

As much as he wanted to right then, Jason couldn’t seethe forever and eventually released the breath he was holding. He knew she was just trying to help but he was more scared than angry at her insistence. His gaze checked around the room for anything potentially breakable and expensive. By the end of the first week of being a circus freak, he’d picked up a new awareness of how fragile things can be and how much of a hassle it would be to replace them. Jason stood up from the couch, not wanting to dwell on how much money he was already losing, and made his way over to the pair of love birds. 

“Ah! Hello Mango and Papaya,” Jason greeted them as he leaned over to the cage,  “Oliver is in the guest room right now so you two can stretch your wings, yeah?” Mango squealed in agreement as the door to the cage was opened and she hopped excitedly onto Jason’s hand. Papaya decided to stay cautious and only peaked her head out to check on Mango’s well-being. Mango had always been the more approachable one out of the couple. Jason’s thumb scratched the love bird’s neck and ruffled her head feathers. She leaned her head towards his hand in merriment, as her closed eyes smiled in bliss. For a minute, Jason completely forgot that he was forced to be there against his will. He showered the bird in affection until their wholesome interaction was cut short. 

Despite the desperate neck stretches and opening her beak to show authority, Jason didn’t realize that Paypapa wasn’t going to let her soulmate be taken by some human tart. She thought to rectify this slight and confronted Jason with a hard bite on the fingertip. “Owch! Okay fine I’ll put her down, god-” Jason stammered as he let both birds onto the top of their cage. He rubbed the small bite mark on his finger as he saw his aggressor frantically groom Mango. Despite the pain of being chomped on, Jason chuckled after the fact. “My apologies,” Jason said, “I almost forgot you’re a bonded pair.” While he was not a bird expert, it was obvious that Papaya was just trying to protect her sweet girlfriend.  How romantic.

Only for a moment Jason got lost in thought, unaware of his surroundings as his mind was swooned by the very idea of soulmates and his longing desire to have one for himself. To be honest, he did feel a tad jealous these birds have a better love life than he ever will. The train of thought crashed as he heard a loud gasp, tea being spilled and the feeling of the ceiling pushing down on his head. 

“Oh gods, J-JASON!” Ellie stuttered, trying to regain her composure from nearly suffering from a heart attack by the sight of a giant suddenly appearing in her house.  Panic flooded onto Jason’s face as he realized he wasn’t as careful as he thought he was. “I-I’m sorry!” Jason begged as he tried to crouch down, trying to make him seem smaller in vain, “I’ll try not to break anything on the way out.” Before he could start crawling towards the front door in a fit of panic, Ellie rushed to set the un-spilled mug of earl gray onto her coffee table and approached him. “Wait!” Ellie said, with her phobia and compassion at war with each other, “You don’t have to go! It’s fine, I swear!”  

Jason halted and looked at her in disbelief. While he wasn’t the best at reading people like Ellie was, even he could tell that Ellie was terrified of him and was just trying to be polite. “I know you’re scared of me,” Jason said bluntly, “My feelings aren’t hurt, I’ll just take my leave.” 

A harsh tug on the bottom of his t-shirt stopped him from turning around. He looked over to see that Ellie is gripping the fabric as if she was able to actually keep the man the size of a Honda from escaping. Though that sad desperate look in her eyes may as well have bolted him to the floor.

"No! I might be scared, but I'm even more terrified for your well-being!" Ellie argued, “No matter what horrifying thing you turn into; Giant, cockroach, hell, a giant cockroach! I’m still not going to abandon you!” Jason sighed heavily and before he could even begin to formulate an argument, Ellie cuffed her full hands together. “Please let me help you,” she pleaded, “you don’t have to deal with this alone.”

Jason felt this stomach tie up in knots. He’d already felt guilty for being a terrible house guest, but he couldn’t just say no to her insistence. Jason stared at the floor in shame as he admitted defeat. “Fine,” Jason said, “I’ll stay.” 

Ellie smiled, releasing her shaking hands and turned to pick up the spilled tea mug off of the floor. “We’ll figure it out,” Ellie said, “Besides, what kind of a cat dad leaves their precious baby behind?~” Jason groaned, “Don’t push it.”

----

This impromptu study session really did bring back those college freshman memories when Ellie and Jason had to cram for exams. However, the tension wasn’t being built by a demanding deadline. Ellie felt the stress when she peaked over her laptop and saw the gargantuan man sitting next to her couch trying to gently sip the tiny mug in his massive hands. His fingers fidgeted around the mug's handle uncomfortably. He also kept hesitantly pulling the cup towards his lips but, whenever it got near his mouth, he pulled away reluctantly. Watching this constant backpedaling was starting to be unbearable to watch. “Dude, I can make you tea in a mixing bowl,” Ellie commented, glancing over to see Jason’s grimacing face being offended by the mere suggestion.

“What? No,” Jason said as he tried to ‘properly’ hold his mug, “I don’t need to feel anymore out of place than I already am.” He uncomfortably shifted as he glanced down at his remarkably large hands that nearly enveloped the little mug. Ellie rolled her eyes, sharing that same gaze to his mug. “Getting accommodated doesn’t make you weird,” Ellie said, taking a sip herself before turning her attention back to her internet browser, which had several open Wikipedia tabs. They’d been looking at a variety of human body size disorders that could fit the bill. None of them helped in the slightest, since it seemed like Jason’s condition was anything but normal for a human. Ellie started to mass-close all of those useless tabs as Jason sighed in defeat and sat the mug onto the coffee table gingerly. 

“I don’t even know why we’re bothering trying to search this… thing on the internet,” Jason said, folding his arms, “It’s not like some other poor sod could be going through the same deal, and if we do find something, it’d be some weirdo’s fantasy writing.”

Ellie thought for a moment before snapping her fingers. “Myths! We can look at legends around the globe for answers,” Ellie said excitedly as she started to type search terms in the browser bar. “Why myths?,” Jason asked, “Shouldn’t we be looking for, you know, factual evidence?” “There’s a nugget of truth in a lot of cultural tales,” Ellie explained as she pulled up more web pages filled with different stories concerning giants, “Maybe one of them is actually true.” “You’re sounding an awful lot like Motor,” Jason said as he pushed himself a tad closer to Ellie and arched his neck so he could get a look at the kind of ridiculous stuff she was searching for. The listings had notable large figures such as the treacherous Gogmagog to the vastness of the Daidarabotchi, though many of these listings seemed to pull up gods or malevolent creatures. Jason was sure he was definitely not either of those things.

Probably.

While Ellie may have been on the right track, Jason couldn’t see how any of these beings and monsters had any relation to him. Though it was getting hard to read her laptop screen as she kept tabbing through websites at top speed. While this made Ellie great at procrastinating and getting away with it in her college classes, Jason wanted to research too.

A brief flicker of recognition flashed registered in Jason’s brain as he spotted golden fur for a split second through Ellie’s browsing. Quickly Jason leaned over her and without thinking, slammed his hand next to hers. “Hold on! Can you… Ellie?” Jason attempted to ask before he realized that Ellie’s body froze suddenly. The only thing that was moving was her shivering hand. It felt like her entire soul left her chest and seeing a huge hand that could have weighed more than a brick nearly missed hitting her frail fingers. Ellie’s neck craned slowly tilted her head upwards hesitantly to be met with Jason’s wide chest. Ellie was rendered speechless and Jason eventually picked up on that. He lurked away from her, sputtering apologizes as he proceeded to sit on his hands. “I’m so sorry I-I didn’t think about- I’ll keep myself right here,” Jason nervously trembled as he watched Ellie let go of a sigh of relief she herself didn’t realize she was holding.

“Warn me next time will ya? Geeze,” Ellie said as she tried to regain her composure and sense of safety, “could’ve lost my writing hand.” Compulsively, Ellie rubbed her wrist as she kept her eyes off of Jason for the time being. For now, she pushed down that icky feeling of distress and flicked through some of the back pages silently to see what Jason nearly broke her hand for.

“...It’s uh- … the golden dog I think,” Jason muttered with his gaze glued to the floor, “It looked familiar.” After a quiet moment that felt like ages, Ellie finally spoke up again after taking a swig of her tea.

“The Golden Beast,” Ellie began to read out loud, “A phenomenon seen around the world of a large golden canine that is very elusive, but it is said to be a symbol of great change and good harvest.”

Jason waited for a moment to listen intently to Ellie’s lecture, but nothing else came. “... and?” Jason asked, though he got his answer when Ellie shrugged with a disappointed look. “That’s it, not much information written down here,” Ellie responded as she went ahead to search for the term elsewhere on the internet. Both of them would be lying if they said they weren’t disappointed, especially Jason. 

“I swear I’ve seen something that looked similar but,” He commented as he easily finished off his tea with a single sip, “I just can’t seem to recall anything.” He sat the mug down and watched Ellie peruse through a few websites, but in the end didn’t seem to find much else about the mysterious beast. 

“Another brick wall… bummer,” Ellie said as she stretched her arms outward, making sure her wrists weren’t getting sore. Her bones cracked as she rolled her shoulder, she had attempted to loosen up and let go of the pent up anxiety she had plenty of. In her peripheral vision she could see Jason reaching his head to the side to look hopelessly at Ellie’s laptop without having to get too close to her. 

“There really is nothing that can help me is there?” Jason said as he slumped, “Figures.” The two of them sat in silence for a while, unsure of what they could possibly do next or even find a trail to follow for the answers to their building questions. Ellie even half-mindly scrolled through news sites for anything unusual happenings. Though other than a couple of strange meteoroids being found around the globe, it was all mostly just news of politicians lying, groan worthy e-celebrity drama and a heartwarming story of a local pit bull named Twinkles saving a bus full of deaf school children from falling into the Vancouver River.

Ellie took a deep breath, “Jason I’m sorry I can’t…” Before Ellie could properly apologize to him, she noticed that Jason had a few visitors perched on the top of his head that were tugging tufts of his hair. Though he didn’t seem to notice it himself until he saw the despair disappear from Ellie’s face and she started to chuckle. She couldn’t keep a straight face for even a second. 

[Image Description: Mango and Papaya are playing in Jason’s hair and Ellie is just sitting there. LAUGHING. ]

“Hey, what are you two doing!?” Jason exclaimed, trying to gently shoo away the uninvited guests. The birds of course, did not even acknowledge Jason’s attempts to evict them. Papaya just tugged at tufts of his hair to see if she could make a nest and Mango naively rolled around in the strange grass they discovered. If he had just been a little more stern, he could have negotiated with Mango and Papaya to retreat. However, Jason’s hesitant hands and soft voice made it clear that he wasn’t going to risk being slightly rough with Ellie’s pets.

“Uh- a little help please?” Jason asked as he turned his awkward gaze back to Ellie. She stood up from the couch, and from there, she had to hold on a second to take in how large her friend had become. Her mind could still barely comprehend a giant human being real and be sitting in her house. However, that pleading look in his eyes that paired with his helplessness from the invasion of her birds made one thing very clear: Despite her skin crawling, he was still a harmless dork.

And by gods he needed help. “They probably think you’re a tree,” Ellie giggled, feeling confident enough to wave him down closer to her. The giant hesitated, unsure if he really wanted to loom over her like a beastly ogre and give her heart’s well being a run for its money. That thought ended quickly though as Papaya started to nip at the brim of Jason’s glasses. “Oh good grief,” Jason mumbled, rolling his eyes and leaned down towards Ellie’s direction. His shadow engulfed Ellie as he eclipsed the ceiling light to draw closer. The heart in her chest might have exploded in fear when he bowed his head at her. Though upon seeing the little trouble maker’s untroubled play in his hair, Ellie’s shaking ceased. Perhaps, there wasn’t anything for her to worry about after all. Ellie reached her hands out to coerce her babies onto her shoulder and pushed aside tufts of hair to get to them. Though she froze when she felt a huge sigh brush against her legs. “I don’t know what to do,” Jason groaned, “no one in the world is going to know how to help me, never mind fix me.” His fingers halfheartedly fiddled with his socks, not really giving Ellie’s fiddling with his hair much mind. Ellie frowned, placing her birds onto her shoulder and gave the crown of Jason’s head a few pats. “Thanks,” Jason said. “No problem…” Ellie responded, though she did pause for a moment to contemplate a suggestion that Jason probably wasn’t going to like very much.  “You know, ” Ellie continued, “there is someone who knows a lot about giants and he already knows about this curse.” “No way,” Jason objected, raising his head up to look Ellie in the face. She stepped back in a panic, trying to not be in the path of his drastic head swing. “Wait- hear me out,” Ellie pleaded, “Motor might be a bit… eccentric, but he might be our only available expert on how to handle yourself when you’re like- big.”

“He’s not a professional Ellie, he's a nerd,” Jason said, folding his arms indignant, “all he’d be able to teach me would be how to level a hospital.” Jason kept coming up with complaints while he watched her carry her birds back to their cage. Though most of those unwarranted complaints went through one ear and out the other. “And he’s just not all that bright honestly, how could I trust that ido… ” Jason’s rant was cut short by the daggers Ellie was staring at him, “My bad.” He learned to shut his mouth and sat there with gripped hands on his knees. “I know you two aren’t always on the best of terms,” Ellie said, “but he wants to help you and might be your only option for insight.”

The very idea of Jason having to grovel to Motor for help was already humiliating enough, but reaching out to him about this life threatening disease? Jason would almost rather stay indoors for the rest of his life. Realistically however, it would be only a matter of time before he hurts someone or destroys his house. Unfortunately it would seem like getting help from Motor was going to be his only option even if it was going to be an agonizing experience. 

“Augh, Alright then if I don’t have a choice,” Jason said with a defeated sigh, “can’t help to feel that this is going to be a big mistake.”

Ellie closed the bird cage behind her, “Come on man,” she said as she walked back to Jason with a smile on her face, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?”

“Something terrible I reckon,” Jason responded, his fingers gripping his knees with another long sigh, “Also uh, can you help me shrink back to normal please?”

-----

Nothing happens in Stanley, Idaho. Well, that’s how one particular citizen would like to keep it. 

This unassuming older woman stepped out of her lifted jeep with little effort and made her way inside the tea shop. A subtle exchange of knowing nods were exchanged between her and the front store worker as she walked past the meticulously put together display of various tea leaves. Upon reaching the elevator in the back of the shop, she proceeded to press the following buttons: Lobby, 1, 9, 8, 7, and pound. The elevator closed, and took her below the ground floor, which shouldn’t be possible for a two-story building. 

As the elevator took its sweet time, she glanced down at her Hamilton military watch and gripped onto her steaming hot americano in her other hand. Seeing the watch read ‘5:00am’ made her groan with distaste. It was way too early for her to be up at her age. Duty calls, however, and she begrudgingly accepted.

After waiting for what felt like an eternity for the elevator to stop on the correct floor, she stepped out and was greeted by a long metal corridor that was barricaded with several security doors. Unperturbed, the woman walked up to each door, the same song and dance she always put up with to get to her damn office. Fingers to the hand scanners, eyes to the headache inducing retina scanners, and the most embarrassing of all, sticking her tongue out to a DNA analysis to let her through the final door. She had wondered if the engineers thought that last trial was some kind of bad joke. 

Nevertheless, She slogged into the massive intelligence operation room that was filled with the panicked voices of government workers. They have all been responding to all sorts of calls for assistance to deal with found anomalies and confused 911 operators. However, the older woman was used to this chaos, and promptly walked past all of the pesky underlings trying to ask her questions. Even if she wanted to answer their queries, she had no idea what was going on or what she was called in for during her vacation. 

Once she got to her office, she took off her windbreaker coat and wearily donned her standard issue FAIRA director’s coat. Before she headed to her desk, her hand shuffled through her windbreaker coat’s pocket and pulled out an opened box of cigarettes. Today was going to be difficult, why else would her superiors spring a surprise call-in on her? It didn’t take long for her to sit down at her desk and log her passwords into the computer with the help of her countless post it notes. The video call did not take its time either, ringing the moment her desktop loaded. She rolled her eyes and answered. 

“Witch reporting in, receiving you loud and clear Eagle,” the director spoke before she heard the ear-grating voice come from the other end. 

“EEEY BLAIR! How’s it goin’ grandma?”

“Sir, we have discussed this, we need to use our code names, also do not refer to me as grandma ever again.”

“OOOOH YEEEAAAH… I forgot.”

“Of course, sir. Anyway, was there any godforsaken reason why I was pulled from my vacation?”

“Calm down grandma! This is your crop and you gotta be the cream of it, ya hear?”

“Just get to the point.” “Aye soooo, we got a situation brewin’ up in the lil’ Washington, oooh yeah. You gotta take care of this ASAP. Ya see, they found these shiny rocks fallin’ out of the sky and it looks like your ring, if you catch my drift.”

“Right, so why isn’t NASA leading this operation?” “HMmmmmm uh, remember those budget cuts?” “I see.” “And while I love my guys in camo, they ain’t got the brain cells like your eggheads do, ooohh nooo.” “Fine, I’ll dispatch my team in the pacific northwest immediately-” “Oh no sister! You’re goin’ to pack your bags too!” “What!? Why?” “Cuz I noticed yer always sitting on your ass in that chair for years and I think you’re forgettin’ what it’s like to be one of your men, grandma.”

“My way of running things does not hold any relevance to the situation and for the last time; stop calling me grandma. I have a codename, Eagle, use it. ”

“It does more than you think chica, with somethin’ this big, I don’t think you should skimp on it. Plus, it’s the big Eagle’s orders so ya got no choice ya hear me?” She groaned, “…Understood sir.”

[mostowa]

Justice for Chenford aka my inital thoughts after 6x07

Ok, for starters. I really liked the episode. I liked that it was slow paced with all of them dealing one case and that it was basically the whole episode about Chenford and the aftermath of break up. I loved it, because it just shows that writers know how important it was for us and for them (the whole Mid-Wilshire gang) to process that. Now when I think about it I am kind of surprised they decided to not write any Angela/Tim scene, but I guess they are this type of friendship, when they are always for each other, but not necessarily on a daily basis. As for other things:

Tim and therapy. I am so proud of my boy. I really loved how they write it. I loved that nobody made him do the therapy and Grey even allowed him an opt-out that he chose. His initial defensivenes towards London was so in-character. I think that it was very good he decided to go on his own (did he? let me get to this in the separate point :D), I also liked that all of his major problems were highlighted in this episode, which we all identified (I mean @theflyindutchwoman could be Tim's therapist at this point lol). I am really happy that Tim is also still good at his job. It was a great scene with Grey, because Tim was actually surprised he did so good, when he was still thinking he is shit at everything he does (he is not).

Lucy I really like how she's been written, too. Obviously she went through a lot. But it's very clear after this episode that she is the one that is mature and much better grounded. Ok, she is a bit alone, but I think there is a whole new chapter starting for her with Celina --- I really like it. They haven't had much interaction until now, but I feel they will bond a lot over energies, cat personalities and mental problems. They will be a good team. Lucy is obviously dealing with breakup much better than Tim because, well, she is dealing with it. Pairing with Grey was great too and I loved how he had this "I'm your boss but also kind of dad" dynamic. It was great. I loved that Tamara was there for her. I even liked the "imma invite everyone else" just to show Tim she doesn't want to see him. This one wasn't mature, but it was very Lucy and nobody ever acts 100% mature over break up ahahaha.

Chenford I love mad Lucy and lost Tim and I was kind of hoping for this kind of dynamics so I'm happy they went for that. The final scene crushed me, but only in the right way. I feel it was so necessary and it's good that it was awkward. I loved that Tim went for a safe ground with work talk, because he, well, he just wanted to feel close with her and this is how they were close. It's good that she called him out on that, too. I think we will get this mature talk between them, but I'm glad it didn't happen now. I'm sure Tim wouldn't be able to take the mature stuff from Lucy. I genuinely think that this convo was the tipping point for Tim for going to therapy. I think it is once again Lucy that makes him choose right things and I am so in love with that. I'm happy she opened his mind.

dr London Y'all need to come down. For me, if anything, dr London in this episode proved that she is 100000% professional. All she did with Tim is to talk about his issues, she was very strong with that and she was also very good in not taking Tim's BS haha. She is a professional, extremely observant and I think a good therapist. As for the last scene, for me it showed only the sense of urgency. It showed how much Tim actually wants to work on himself (I think he feels he is losing Lucy a bit) and that he wants to work on it right now. Of course, we won't know what is going to happen and of course feelings towards therapist are not an uncommon in therapy and especially when patient is so lost, but I really hope they won't go down this path, because it would feel a little cheap.

Overally I loved how they wrote it. I love they went for the very Rookie path of dealing with the stupid decision the right way. I love that there are some seeds thrown to grow and I think this is one of the most in-character episodes we got all season. I'm anticipating the show again and I'm happy!

I am also curious who is going to be the officer down and I'm loving that we will get some more action!

[stormblessed95]

Jikook's Rainy Day Fight

So FINALLY getting around to making this post. Lol so honestly go read this one first. It's a HUGE post I made where I really broke down my thoughts about the rainy day fight before they told us more about it. I still stand by alot of these thoughts for the most part now that we know more. The only thing I might switch up a bit is the very last paragraph where I said something like "this clearly has nothing to do with BTS as a whole and seems like a couple-esque fight more than anything else." Imma walk that one back with the new info given lol

Regardless, read this post first before proceeding. Thanks!

Okay, all done with that post? Great! So here is what JK said about the rainy day fight:

And here is what Jimin said:

Overall, the dramatics were ridiculous (i say lovingly) for what this fight was about and somehow it still gives off couple vibes simply because of the way they escalated this "speak more politely to your hyungs" conversation into a "I'm cutting you off" and a slam dunk hug in the rain reunion. Lol

(The way they both think back the most fond over that reunion hug is so freaking cute)

Things I want to additionally point out.

- Hobi hyung getting angry was the barometer of "wow. I super fucked up this time" which makes me cackle 🤣 the man is an angel lol

- after brushing aside his other members remarks and everyone else huffing but leaving, Jimin was the one to make the effort to pull him aside to have a more serious conversation about it. Trying to take it seriously with him, give him respect in return and not make it seem like he was being ganged up on. It speaks once again to how they have always been so incredibly close to each other. This was back in 2015 ish and they made these allowances for each other and gave each other their trust.

- Both Jimin and Jungkook told the same story, but took the blame for the fight upon themselves. They recongized what happened but when sharing the story with a third party, made it seem totally like their own fault (when clearly they both had some anger issues and bad judgements during that fight). It seemed like they were lowkey trying to protect the other and mostly just felt bad about their own contributions to the fight rather than the other person's. Clearly the forgiveness was absolute.

- Jungkooks snarkiness clearly got Jimin feed up to the point where he snapped and said something he clearly didn't mean, but also clearly felt. He probably felt disrespected and felt like that wasn't the type of bond they had cultivated together. And JK clearly felt bad and was upset himself and even after they separated, when he found himself upset and lost, his first instinct was to reach out to Jimin. And even pissed off and mad, Jimins first instinct was to answer JKs phone call and make sure he was okay and safe. Just for them to reunite not too long after, both feel shitty for their behavior and find a secluded spot for them to actually talk it through before they went home and to bed. Regardless of their full day of schedules right after that too. It's incredibly sweet of them.

- its still lowkey giving off couple fight/break up and reunion vibes. Lmfao but only in how they handled their dramatics, not in the actual fight. Nor do I think they were a couple during this time frame. I do think they were harboring crushes on each other, but that's a seperate conversation. And the fact that JK held onto feeling guilty over his bratty attitude and causing this fight so many years later??? Clearly, it had a lasting impact, even though he still acts like a brat to Jimin sometimes lol its done in a teasing manner rather than a disrespectful one. And it's something that the two of them clearly encourage in their bond together.

- the acknowledgement of that through this fight (and the subsequent conversation on the roof and make up afterwards) they got closer is worth highlighting and mentioning too. When a fight/disagreement is done in a healthy way (and while it didnt start that way. They clearly got there), the communication and the way you can get to know someone better can be so helpful for having an even better relationship. Platonic, romantic or any other kind. I'm glad they spent that time together on the roof. It was probably something they both really needed that night and lead to even more emotional vulnerability and comfort between the two of them going forward I'm sure.

Thanks to everyone for waiting so long for me to write this up and for anyone who read this far too. 💜 I know I ramble a lot! I think this was everything I had to say about the rainy day fight though! 💜 Hope you all have a good rest of your day/night!

[toxooz]

Hello! How are you? I just have to say that I am head over heels for your comic Wheel Bitten and the characters. Your art is so beautiful and detailed that I find myself so thankful that you share it with the rest of us. Your comic has definitely cheered me up as I try to survive my last year of college.

If it's alright to ask, does Ponti ever come across his old gang while out with his new squad (family)?

Thank you! <3

fghghjg thank you sm its honestly a relief and rewarding to know that all my work is actually affecting people! keeps me goin sometimes tbh!! 😭

BUT as for the old squad its actually a HUGE plot point when some of the sk8 squad "meets" Ponti's old squad that imma try not to spoil but its a Whole beef thing but after it's allll said and done i feel like they would just look on and never acknowledge eachother or have some unspoken nod to never interact again maybe??However there is that idea of Vinny and Lili possibly befriending eachother

in that case Ponti would feel very bittersweet about it as in he would once again be faced with the cruel reality of how he behaved and the way he treated everyone, like he would be happy to know she's still alive and making friends but holy shit he would feel awful and probably sick remembering everything b4 he overdosed, so he would keep his distance for sure but he may ask Vinny about Lili to find out how shes doing occasionally. In fact maybe their friendship could be the mending of the street rivalry in some way??? 🤔

[lunas-nargle]

↳five

chapter five of "meddle about" series brian o'conner x reader

v. date night

"Damn girl!" Letty said as Y/n came down the stairs in a dress and heels. "Look at you lookin' all sexy." 

"Thank you. Thank you." Y/n smiled, spinning around. 

"Yeah, she better be sexy, took her five hours." Mia said, walking down behind her. "I had to beg her to leave the bathroom to go pee."

"Man, imma tell you this," Letty placed her hands on Y/n's shoulders. "he's gonna be so hard, he's not gonna be able to walk." 

Mia scoffed, "Alright ew." 

"Oh come on, I just know you wish you could get into Monty's pants." Y/n said. 

"What?" Letty whipped around to Mia, who glared at her older cousin. Y/n escaped her cousin's wrath when she heard a knock on the door. 

"Let's get the hell outta here." Y/n laughed as she pulled Brian away from the house. 

"What? Why the rush?" Brian said, amused by her actions. 

"Pissed Mia off. Just wanna get out of here before she burns me alive."

Brian guided her to his car before they set off to the restaurant. Once there, they were seated and ordered.

"So how is it, anyways that the--the gang came to be?" Brian asked, as their waitress left. 

"The what?" Y/n let out a laugh. 

"The gang." Brian furrowed his eyebrows, wondering why she was laughing.

"The gang? No, they don't call themselves a gang."

"Well, what do they call themselves then?"

"They're a team. They call themselves a team."

Brian leaned forward on his elbows, "All right, so how is it that the team came to be?"

"Well, that's a whole lot of history." 

"I've got time." Brian smiled at her.

Y/n took in a deep breath, "Okay. So, Vince grew up with my cousin. Wait, no, actually he didn't--he didn't ever actually grow up. As you can tell. But, uh, they were friends as kids. 

"And Letty was my best friend when I moved here, so that how she came into the picture. She was always into cars. Ever since she was, like, ten years old. So naturally, you know, my cousin always had her attention. And then she turned 16--"

"And then she had Dom's attention." Brian finished her thought, taking a sip of his drink.

"Yep." Y/n looked into Brian's electric blue eyes, making her face turn hot. 

"How is it that Jesse fits into the whole thing?"

"Jesse?" Y/n repeated, as the waitress dropped off an appetizer. "Well, Jesse and Leon just sort of showed up one night and never left. Not complaining though, Jesse's became one of my best friends. Leon can piss me off at points but I'm civil with him. It's just the way Dom is though. He's like--He's--He's like gravity. Everything gets pulled to him." Y/n smiled as her eyes met Brian's once more. "Even you." 

"Mm-mmm." Brian hummed in disagreement. "No. No." Y/n tilted her head, furrowing her eyebrows. "The only thing that pulled me in was you. Being friends with your cousin is just a bonus."

Y/n smiled widely, looking down at her lap bashfully. "That's--That's good--That's--" Y/n let out a breath as she looked back at him. "That's good. It's nice to come first every once in a while." An idea popped into her head at that moment. "Want to go for a drive?"

[mrmoonytoonie]

Bendy and the Dark Revival Rant (negative and long)

Idk why I'm making this, maybe for just peace of mind and y'all can bash me in the comments if y'all want or tell me your own opinion if anyone actually reads this stupid thing. Warning I might be all over the place and this isn't scripted so expect foul language and emotion and unprofessional things.

So I'll like to start with that I'm a MASSIVE fan of Bendy and the Ink Machine and have since alpha chapter 1. That game is my childhood and what inspired me to take drawing more seriously.

The "Ink Demon"

So Bendy and the dark revival, literally disappeared and came back out of nowhere lol. I was actually excited and hyped as hell when it was first announced, glad to know Bendy wasn't forever dead (literally sobbed my eyes out when we killed him in chapter 5). But then nothing, no updates, no news, NOTHING, but I still had hope even when everyone was leaving. Then yay the game is here! But my stupidity and something I should have done was that I should have watched the trailer and someone play it to save my money. I got the game when it came out for the PlayStation and immediately played it going in there blind, even though I couldn't even see what I was playing 97% of the time due to it being too dark even with all the house lights off in the middle of the night it was fun at first! Then the fucking "ink demon" part came up, I was so damn excited to see him in better graphics only to have that THING show up. I had to do a double take to see if that was even the ink demon and to my disappointment it was, I'm not going to lie I don't see how people like it, to me it stripped him from all his creativity and made him into a basic ass demon to the point it's not even close to being Bendy related. I'm not gonna lie I did like the voice at first but later its so damn annoying! Like spit that shit out dude, there is no reason for you to do all that! Also how the programmed him is so lazy and annoying and broken "Oh no hide the ink demon is coming", now at first I was excited to have the chase of my life but NOOOOOOOOO, literally just tells you and you hope to God he decides to spawn in where he is supposed to because he will spawn when there isn't any hiding places. Oh and the hiding places are another annoying broken thing, when I'm trying to hide sometimes you have to look at it at a very specific angle and pray it works. Anyways, so at this point we saw little Bendy and ... The Thing, at this point we already know the "big reveal" was that little Bendy is that thing, like anyone should have seen that coming. ALRIGHT so the end, WHAT THE FUCK EVEN IS THE ENDING?! Like why is it just the same ending to BATIM?! Also trying to control Beast Bendy was so damn annoying and wacked! Also what was even his motive? Why the hell did he need Audrey to turn into Beast Bendy? He didn't need it before why need it now? But literally everything gave me more questions then answers and you could have made a better ending than whatever the hell Meetly gave us.

Honestly there is so so much about Bendy and the Dark Revival that I absolutely despise but that would end up making a whole book if I continue so imma just complain on how they massacred my boi. Also if you like BATDR then that's great! I'm glad that people can enjoy things even tho I don't. It's just I feel like I'm going crazy because I don't see anyone else who doesn't like it. Also I didn't expect the game to be easy but it was just so unenjoyable, I was expecting to have the thrill of being chased down hallways and stairs, to fight searchers and the butcher gang, to see old characters that I love and adore only for it to have none of that and just becoming a headache and a broken mess. For someone (Me) who played BATIM over a hundred times to only play BATDR only 3 is just sad. Anyways thanks if anyone reads this, this was just something to help me.

[imminent-danger-came]

This may be a reach but

Both MK and Mei having something inside them that could be world-destroying, god-killing, and being afraid of it (with a bonus of Wukong hiding it from them both but idk if u think swk knew of the monkey form beforehand)

Bonus with Mei and MK having someone that can/has helped with training and mastering their abilities (Redson & Wukong respectively)

Oh boy, do I think SWK knew about MK's origins!

I've been a believer in this since post-s3, with there being plenty of evidence throughout the first 3 seasons to support it. Cause like, imma be honest, the show doesn't make sense if Wukong didn't know. I think by this point we can assume that choosing and training MK to be his "successor" was a cover story—Wukong LITERALLY couldn't have picked anyone else. I never really bought the whole "Monkey King gave you his powers!" explanation, especially when one of the first things he says to MK in AHIB is "Listen kid: You fought demons, and you didn't die, and you made it here! Not just anyone can lift my staff, but you did." And even MK had a different thought, thinking his powers came from the staff until 3x03. How would Wukong have even "given" MK his powers, like logistically anyways. There was just a lot that didn't line up! And then s4 came along, and implied "Yeah MK was born from the stone, and Wukong was there" and I was like, oh yeah that makes total sense.

And I'm also a believer in the Samadhi Fire Mei, Jade Emperor Azure, and Monkey MK trifecta of having uncontrollable, world-ending power (which they must also act as a "container" for). And you know, had the person losing control of the Jade Emperor's powers in 4x14 been one of MK's close friends, he would have been able to save them, I have no doubt. He already did so with Mei in 3x10—Mei wasn't even supposed to be able to withstand the samadhi fire. But she did (Yellowtusk "But he is my brother! I owe him my life!" parallel for the win, "No! Mei is my best friend!", YOU GET ME?). And it's like, in 3x10 MK standing by his friend was a good thing but in 4x13 Yellowtusk standing by his friend was bad. In s3 the gang trying to get the Samadhi Fire was "good" (even though they didn't really use it to defeat LBD by the end lol), and Azure trying to get the Jade Emperor's power was "bad". You see how the lines are blurring here. At the start of Monkey Kid, it's all monster of the week and "we have to stop the bad guys!". Now by this point it's "[blank] isn't necessarily a bad guy..." and "Every choice has consequences for someone", even the "good" ones. Is anyone hearing me.

And then don't even get me STARTED on "I can't be! I'm just MK!" "The Monkie Kid?". Because, I'll have you know Subodhi names Wukong in Journey to the West. I just read that chapter. And then in 4x06 he labels, or names, MK as the "Monkie Kid". And this "reason" just FEELS like it's going to involve a great amount of power, something that is...uncontrollable, even. And this time, this time when MK looses control, Mei is going to be the one to get through to him, aka Samadhi Fire Part 3. Like

[kaiserkisser]

blaise threatening lockhart was honestly so slay- like that was iconic of him

also, more significance with the knife that represents their friendship as just in the last two chapters they’ve both used it to protect the others!! their friendship is just so cute it fills me with joy-

also, the want to point out the fact that it kinda looks like a seems like since winter break dazai has been even more self destructive than normal, which from a character analysis perspective is interesting cause it would suggest guilt, from a character who has for the most part been basically essentially ambivalent to the morality of his actions- almost like being told that he needs to play a villian is less comfortable than the previous act he was putting on. this kinda suggests/ provides proof that the way allegory is characterizing him has that act (the one from first year) be closer to his actual personality than his ‘villainy’.

anyways, more rambling, that dream sequence was immaculate, like the imagery and description are *chefs kiss*and the fact that they bring the entire head up when i thought they were just gonna get some scales or a fang or something-

this chapter was every thing i wanted and more and im probably gonna reread it at least once more today

IKR IKRRR like so proud of you blaise oml get that fraudster nxxjdjdhjd

pleaseeee they're adorable i genuinely love their friendship mori you BETTER not touch any of then or- 🔪🔪 and its a small detail but i loved how even pansy was completely reluctant to give dazai his knife when he talked abt getting proof, and how she also too dazais side against lockhart. and i love how the significance of the knives comes full circle, first dazai stabs himself with it without a thought to protect the loyalty club, and now blaise uses it to threaten lockhart to protect dazai and the loyalty club aaaaaaaaa

hmm, I'll definitely be rereading the whole fic soon, i mean yeah he does seem a bit more reckless and like uncaring of his own safety recentlt, but he's always like that, so i think i probably missed out on that detail. although i was rereading the newest chapter and this line stuck with me- "I'm the villain. I know i am. "

but what would he feel guilt over? Since blaise and draco already know about the port mafia, is he feeling guilty about not telling the rest of the gang or abt pomfrey? i mean, if u see the canon bsdverse, dazai's actual 'personality', atleast in the mafia, would typically be seen like that of a villain, wouldnt it? Though i do feel that its easier for dazai to play the villain in a way? or not maybe my brain aint braining ill get back to this when i reread the whole thing ehehe

i love how the dream included dogs and kennels, rly showing his fear of them, and how it included the club as well- maybe he also had a fear that theyd be on opposite sides? Idk, also i LOVE how he felt safe in snapes arms sjhdidjdjdhfb snape is SO not beating the dad allegations, and i dont think he even actually wants to atp lmaooo (also the fact thag dazai dreamt of sweet things like honey after that? AAAAAAA)

honestly even i had thought that theyd bring up a few fangs as proof, i legit didnt expect them to bring the whole goddamn head LMAO

ikrrrrr allegory's writing is chefs kiss as always ive already reread it twice and u bet imma reread it again jdhddhdbubdhsjqgs

[itslilacokay]

what no sleep does to a mf (i got a paper trail analysis

funny story haha, so in a server i witnessed a few talking about what it would look like if the 7 traits were taken to an extreme, and after that i get reminded of paper trail every time i think of the extreme traits and i had to share this because this is one of the first actual "analysis" stuff i ever do

for those that have not seen nor read paper trail, see it as this has spoilers to the comic! read it right now now nown now n

lets start off with what the extreme traits are (based off two people)

determination -> obsession

bravery -> recklessness

justice -> judgementalism

kindness -> sacrifice

patience -> inaction

integrity -> blindness

perseverance -> stubbornness

(these will be explained further down the post dw)

i thought of these at least appearing once in each dark world with a trait corresponding to a prince world, hell i thought of an extreme trait being noticed in some princes, there are exceptions but the real point of this analysis is that its shown in paper trail so imma start off already before i forget

gotta start off though right off the bat that unfortunately i couldnt notice sacrifice with ralsei happening in paper trail, so thats one exception

kindness, or in this case sacrifice is not going to be mentioned moving forward until proven otherwise, sorry

so lets start with the first new prince we see in the comic instead, which would be eslira

eslira represents the patience trait but now in this case, inaction

inaction is in a way patience to an extreme since you have to wait/have tolerance a long time with patience, but you dont do anything even though you have to in certain situations with inaction

eslira throughout the whole comic, does none shit he does NOTHING at all!!!!!!!!

all the other princes did something somehow, like with aelsir's haste, the super pacify with irales and ralsei, lairse, even SARELI did something and he just lullaby'd with ralsei

but eslira? they dont do anything. they just follow along and stay in the sidelines always worried, basic inaction right there

he could in a way helped the fun gang in some small little way with the yisho fight, or in any fight really in trophy city but he does nothing at all, he just stands there worrying and and sitting and

anyway aelsir's next with bravery, or in extreme form, recklessness

its only shown once in aelsir's respective dark world, with the thunder hills and with the soul just still trekking along even though they get damaged every time a lightning hits which is every 4 seconds

recklessness IS moving along in a lack of regard for danger, while bravery is moving along even something is frightening, so i say this works!

sorry theres not much for bravery boy there isnt much to go off of extreme traitwise for his section haha

irales now

for how i see it, stubbornness is moving forward without really accepting any other paths that could be easier, good or bad while perseverance is moving forward despite difficulty

you could say that for someone to go through a hard path, and moving forward with said hard path even though theres much easier and better path, is a sign of stubbornness to me

for irales, its more of a personality thing

irales is stubborn in a way, since he doesnt seem to accept any other possible reasons and just sticks to what he sees and its only until the end he actually isnt a stubborn little fuc

okay. well you can also say lairse is stubborn as well in a way that he wont accept monsters, but its layered under an extreme justice and for a huge reason, irales' stubbornness is based off i dont know what he sees apparently (refer to previous link)

sareli's up with blindness i mean integrity i mean

as one member said, one can be blinded by their beliefs COUGH CXOUGH @mileymint COUUYGHHHHH so lets base it off that!

integrity is a truth/moral/belief related trait, and you can probably see why blindness is a possible integrity extent after i type this

for integrity to turn into blindness, one must believe that what they are doing is truly right though its really not, and even if others say otherwise, they wouldnt agree since it goes against their morals and/or beliefs, thus leading them to be "blinded" as they cant "see" what is wrong with what they believe or think is the truth

sareli, throughout his whole section, has been doubting his actions since his prophecy just tells him he will fail and even though he gets told otherwise that he CAN help, he immediately disagrees with them since it goes against with what he believed for a long time, and since it turns out he will fail anyway in the prophecy, why would he NOT fail now when he tries to do something?

and now lairse. ohh lairse where do i begin

i admit, i thought up justice's extreme trait. there was scrupulosity, but its more of obsessed with judging of oneself based off if they are against their own morals and/or religious morals/reasons, judgementalism is sortof the opposite, ie judging of others immediately possibly based of their own morals and/or to an extent, religious morals/reasons, instead of hearing their own reasonings and how they are really like

lairse immediately dislikes susie and noelle due to them being monsters, who in his eyes, are sinful for what they have done despite susie and noelle knowing none of that and having no part in that event

hell, he even told them that they weren't allowed to come with him, kris, ralsei and lancer only BECAUSE they were monsters, thats intense judgementalism right there, heading off to racist territory honestl

for determination turned to obsession, i think i can see a bit of obsession in asriel but not in the way you think

obsession can be bomped down to just having a certain idea, person, desire, or thing on your mind all the time

and assuming that while asriel was in college, he still had the thought of the trapped humans in mind almost all the time, id say that is just simple example of obsession shown in paper trail for asriel

but thats not all as i have something else.

the knight.

"but liiiiilaaaacc!!! hes not a prince and he doesnt have a dark world relating to the determination trait!!!!" like i said in the start, this was made due to me realizing how extreme traits are shown in paper trail as a comic, not just the princes. so i wouldnt say this is an exception!

the knight and asriel have, in a way, the same desire; freeing humans. its just that the knight takes it way too far

his obsession to freeing humans has turned him desperate, wanting to free his kind from the depths of the earth, trying all he can, even making a twitter account just for a chance to get us to play the game and possibly freeing all the humans by just simply playing through dark worlds

his desperateness turned to obsession for freedom of humans in a way, is what im trying to say

aaaand thats it i think! thats all i have in my mind

holy dang this took a while i hope you guys like this silly analysis this took me a long while and a lot of researching

who is reading this

[hairasuntouchedaspartoftheamazon]

sebastian bud hit me with some of your FAVOURITE kj hcs i need inspiration

the way I am VIBRATING rn

okay okay okay I have a great variety of kj hcs so imma just shoot a variety at you, of various degrees of seriousness.

Fab Four and Associates:

-Strong believer in disabled Kobra Kid agenda (i talk about this in various degrees in my fics and plan to include more). Personally I think he is selectively mute, but in the way that he is most comfortable when he's not talking. If he is ever talking a lot, it's a bad situation. Also has scoliosis but most people don't realize bc he spends 60% of his time hunched over on his bike anyway and like, yes it's actively making the problem worse. No he will not be doing anything about it he's got Things to Do.

-Jet is like. If wanderlust was a person. He loves wandering around and talking to people and being up in their business but not actively involved and knowing everything that's going on or not knowing what's going on and being surprised. like genuinely everyone knows him because he is always just. Somwhere. He's a guy that's always lonely but not because of lack of friends, it's because he's got so many people he cares about that there's no way for all of them to be in one place at the same time.

-Jet has the driest sense of humor on the planet like he's smiling a lot so it's like 'wait wait are you serious?' and the answer is whatever is funniest. (Ex. from my fics, he wanted to name a baby Jet Star II: Electric Boogaloo, and he was not serious about it until everyone else thought it was a terrible idea and then he was dead serious about it)

-Poison and Kobra are not siblings, so says me. Their whole relationship is "you are useful and I care about you a lot but why are you like this?" and it's true in both directions. they're weird bitches. usually five seconds from hitting each other.

-The Girl is a funny motherfucker because she pays attention. Like a lot of the people around her don't got a ton of exposure to kids, so they assume that small kids don't know what's going on ever, and they are wrong. The Girl always has a pretty good idea of what's going on. She may make wrong assumptions sometimes, but for being 7? she's scarily good at picking up on how people interact with each other and how electrical things work and when a dust storm is about to blow in.

-The Girl will dig holes. And put people's stuff in them. And you will not get it back. She wanted Party and Ghoul to stop smoking so much so she did steal all their nic-sticks and bury them behind the outhouse so that even if they found them there's no way they would smoke them bc of the smell of shit.

-The Girl is absolutely part of a small gang of seven-year olds who like to hang out at the gas station and yell at people.

-While Ghoul and Kobra have a Spiritual Bond (we've discussed this at length, you know my feelings on it, perhaps I'll make a post at some point), Agent Cherri Cola and Kobra are in love, and they're weird about it. Cherri is a girlboyfriend, it rules.

-That said, everyone is pretty chill with Cherri Cola (Jet thinks she's okay if pretentious, and he's right. Cherri be pretentious as fuck) except Party, who is waiting for an excuse to run Cherri over with the car.

General:

-Killjoys got a lot of weird hobbies and games, one of which I did make up and include in an upcomign fic, and it's called Canyon Smash. The way this game works is a whole bunch of 'joys (between 3 and usually 20, but there's no upper limit of participants) gather in a narrow canyon and form a long chain by holding hands. Then the person at the front of the line starts running full speed forward, with the goal being to get as many people behind them to let go as possible. This is achieved by running at walls, jumping over rocks, and generally making it as hard as possible for the people behind you to hold on; if the person in front of you in the chain lets go, then everyone behind them is out of the game as well. There's two ways to win a Canyon Run: 1) you are the last person in line, proving that no one could shake you off or 2) you're the person at the front of the line, and you managed to shake off everyone behind you and run alone.

-I have feelings about Killjoy naming practices and they are as follows. Until a kid is 1-2 (you're pretty sure they're gonna live), everyone calls a kid a Snow Storm, and generally rotates through a bunch of pronouns. By age 2, the kid is given a non-kj nickname that involves something unique to them. Over the next several years as the kid's personality develops, they get to take part in creating their 'kiddie name' which is a trial period to figure out what is meaningful and unique to them in a way that will become their killjoy name. Usually by their early to mid-teens, the kid selects their adult kj name. An example of this would be like for an OC I had, who's name progression went: Snow Storm -> Puff (bc of the way she wore her hair) -> Pet Tornado (as dubbed by her uncle bc she crashes into everything) -> P.T. Crusing (P.T. as an abbreviation for Pet Tornado, and Cruising as a play on the car pt cruiser)

I HAVE TO GO I GOT DISTRACTED AND A FRIEND THOUGHT I WAS DEAD BUT ALWAYS FEEL FREE TO ASK ME FOR MORE KJ HCS I LOVE TALKING

[honestmouse20]

fic idea that imma write eventually (probably after i move lol)

So like previous season have really fucked with MK before. Case and point the Lady Bone Demon's memory taunting MK in S5, a whole two seasons later. The kid has no shortage of truamatic events he's gone through. But i feel like S5 takes the cake. I mean he literally was fully prepared to die for his friends. To the point of him fighting Wukong at full power And using the circlet against him. And he never says so but we know from just who he's shown to be, that that fight must have been really difficult for him to do. He never wanted to hurt Wukong but he felt like he had to in order to protect him and everyone else, so he fought with literally all his strength to be the one to sacrafice himself first. That's Insane.

And while, yeah, he does change his mind and go back, you don't just *get over* something like that yk. And I don't think lego will just gloss over it. I mean I never expexted them to do waht they did this season. The themes were Very good but very intense, for lack of a better word. They had the main charcter sacrafice himself and was going to Stay that way if not for the fact that his friends would have died anyway. They Went there with showing him literally doing everything in his power to sacrafice himself. So it makes me think they won't just forget this ( i mean they havn't forgoten the LBD or DBK). And this really was proven to me when MK still breaks down at the very end of the season. The kids been through a lot and I think now, finally, he's going to realize it doesn't all have to be ON his shoulders. Maybe even Especially bc he found out that it's supposed to be yk?

So that's why I wanna write a fic about this. About MK realizing that he doesn't want to die for the world. That he'd rather live to fight another day yk? I saw a post circulating about how Piggsy and Wukong realize now that they have to say they love MK while they have the chance. Cause the kids' almsot died so many times and Still keeps throwing himself into danger and pushing the past back. He's hit a breaking point I think. And I think from S5 onwards, the gang is gonna have to really come together For MK. Not for the end of the world. NOt for the next big bad. But for the kid.

Also, I'm gonna also put some therapy times for Piggsy and Wukong I think. Cause like his dads jsut watched him die and come back. Watched him tell them to their faces that their lives were more important than theirs. Whew. That's Gonna leave some marks yk? also mostly Wukong bc holy shit his Screams??? in episode 9??? terrifying in a good way. mans is gonna have Issues

also also, did i predict wukong and Macaque fucking shit up to protect MK in that fic i did a while back???? /hj but it is funny that i like was thinking about how awesome it'd be for macaque and wukong to go all out to the point of being scary to save/protect MK. and then THis season they do that and it's Not enough. God. I'm Definatly gonna have to write this now

[tigers1o1]

Hey silly little Tigers wanna know about a thing I realized while rewatching riptide? :3

Too bad imma tell you anyways, (includes spoilers for episode 10 and 109) so, in episode 10 chibo silly boy gets married while drunk asf (lowkey fumbled the bag with amanda shes so pretty) and throughout the 2 weeks of the albatross being built they try to fake chips death so he can get out of his marriage (as polygamy is punishable by death in the undersea) however, any time they try, amanda saves chip. Now, Chip is episode 109 died and then got his heart taken out and is now undead. Unknown foreshadowing for 100 episodes later mayhaps? Its such a silly coincidence that anytime Chip dies he just cant. :3×

Slight spoilers for 110 but Gillion actually makes the comment about “til death do you part… actually I think you’re good now” AND IT FUCKING KILLED ME

Also YEAH I’ve been saying this the whole time. Chip is the one guy who was probably destined to die like 8 times over at this point (the black rose, general gang activities, etc etc) but this MF REFUSES TO FUCKING DIE BRO

[phantomstarss]

Umbra And The Gangs Relationship.

Just sorta wanted to ramble about Umbra and the gangs relationship with him. Idk if this will interest anyone but I thought I might as well post it.

Imma put a cut here because it's a little long.

HATI:

Even though the sheer… obsession has dimmed over the years, Hati is honestly still quite possessive over Umbra. Umbra is his God. Umbra is his Savior. Umbra is his father Boss. Umbra. is. his. Everything. And Hati doesn't give a single shit that Umbra only 'hired' him first because he was the simplest and easiest opinion. Hati was the first. Hati is his Second in Charge. And that's all that matters.

He values Umbra's life far more than his own. Random jackasses at The Market annoying Umbra? He'll tear them to shreds. Sol and his followers? Not even a second thought. The embodiment of Destruction himself? He'll do it in a soulbeat. Hati would throw himself in any danger if it meant keeping Umbra safe.

Though this doesn't mean he certainly doesn't have… fun with this on occasion. Throwing himself off rather high places to either A: prove a point or. B: for his own amusement. To see how long it takes Umbra to catch him, has become somewhat regular. 'oh? Boss has been doing paperwork all day and has ignored me? Time to yeet myself off one of the castle walls!'.

the rest of the boys were confident Hati was just straight up suicidal. Though Umbra was quick to ensure them this was just a thing Hati did for attention. At this point Umbra is very familiar with the taste of his AU's dirt, when he's just a little too late on the whole melding into shadows.

Umbra realized this to an extent when he first acquired Hati. Though he thought this was more because he left Hati to his own devices (after he could walk that is) in a giant pitch black castle, and the only real socialization he got was Umbra himself and the literal God of Death. for months, nearly a whole year. And maybe the rare visit to The Market once and a while.

Umbra only realized the sheer level of obsession Hati had with him when he brought Fenrir on the scene. He was expecting some backlash from it, he assumed they would probably fight, gripe, maybe even fully dislike each other at first. But never, in a million years, did Umbra expect that Hati would be outright jealous of Fenrir. And he certainly didn't think this was going to turn into bloody physical fights for affection. Or well, praise on Hati's side and fighting for his life for Fenrir.

Umbra, of course, gets rather frustrated with this behavior. He's weaned Hati off of this behavior, to a extent. Though he'll never be able to fully wean him off.

FENRIR:

The two have a very symbiotic relationship with each other. Dare I say a pack like relationship

Umbra provides food, Fenrir feeds everyone. Even though Umbra doesn't need to eat. Umbra protects him, Fenrir protects Umbra. Despite not needing any protection from a mere mortal. Umbra cleans him, Fenrir cleans Umbra. Though it never does much. Umbra comforts him, Fenrir comforts Umbra.

It's pretty common for the two to make cuddle piles.(that they usually drag the other's into). Be it because one - or both - of them is upset. Or one Umbra's light scoldings turns into cuddles. Or simply Fenrir looking for a snuggle partner, and the God is a perfect candidate.

Despite all this Fenrir never feels like he's enough for Umbra, or even the rest of the Gang. Umbra comes at any sigh of stress, no matter the day or time, perhaps before they even realize it. Umbra has battled God's for them. Umbra has taken them from their darkest moments and rebuilt them. Umbra takes care of the all, doing anything within reason for them. And what does Fenrir do? He makes sandwiches and fights Umbra's lesser half.

Umbra always says it's more than enough, Umbra lets him have pretty much everything he wants. Even to this day it still surprises Fenrir to an extent. Especially considering how he used to treat Umbra.

Biting, clawing, kicking, screaming, acting like a caged feral animal. Umbra used to not be able to leave Fenrir's room without a new hole in his shoulder or one of his tentacles. Yet he put up with it (mostly). Dealt with all the wounds. Dealt with all the outrageous accusations, every. Single. Accusation. In. The. Book. 90% of them made zero sense. Even Fenrir, in his confused state, knew it. But he still threw them, in any desperate attempt to get Umbra just to leave him alone. But he didn't. He stayed and helped Fenrir through his mental knot.

He owes countless things to Umbra. And he plans to make it back.

SKÓROS/WISP:

Why Him? Of all the creatures in the Multiverse, Why Him? Hati, Fenrir, hell even Xolo makes more sense than him.

Hati was the first. Seemingly perfect for this 'job'. Despite his clinginess and need for attention he was perfect. He listened without a second thought, he'd lay down his life for the God. He'd kill with a smile on his face, and be complacent if ordered otherwise.

Fenrir cooked, cleaned, provided where the others couldn't or simply refused. He protected those he knew and loved. Unlike Skóros who slaughtered mindlessly. Fenrir was large, he could hold his own in a fight even without magic or weapons.

Xolo was the cast away lover of Sol. A strong enemy and even stronger ally. He has strong magic, he knows basic medicine, he was in the royal guard. He. Knew. Things. He even started his own rebellion.

And Skóros himself? Absolutely. Nothing.

Yet Umbra still keeps him. Keeps him safe. Make sure he eats - and gets rather mad if he doesn't. Cleans him- Cares for him.

Skóros can't count the times he's just layed in Umbra's lap while said God rambles on about something. Just… having a casual conversation with him, even if it is mostly one sided.

Skóros can't count the times Umbra comes to his aid with Nightmares. Slowly coaxing out of those horrific memories.

Skóros can't count the times he's been praised over the smallest and strangest things.

Skóros can't count the times Umbra has put up with his childish outbursts. Physical or verbal.

Skóros can't count the times Umbra has healed him, be it from Sol, the others, or himself.

...

Skóros. Can. Count. The. Times. Umbra has smiled at him.

And it's too many.

He just doesn't understand.

XOLO:

Happy. Confused. But happy. Sol had painted a very specific picture in his head. And Umbra was nothing like that picture.

Or, well, mostly. Xolo expected the table throwing. Perhaps not throwing a table about 15 feet long, made of pure stone and slightly crystal, that probably weighed about 20 tons, being thrown halfway across a room the size of a football field, and hitting the wall and shattering like glass. But he did expect table throwing.

Xolo trusts Umbra to an extent he never thought he could. Umbra understood things, he doesn't blow up or sweep it under the rug like Sol would. He didn't have to walk on eggshells.. mostly. Talking about Sol or trees typically ended in future throwing or Umbra disappearing for a month.(leaving them to be babysat by Extinction who was a little too excited to play 'dad') but mostly harmless.

[sardonic-sprite]

hey hey saw ur tags on my six musical bats drawing haha i casted based off colour (this started because i thought steph would look so good in the khoward fit and then i just went, yknow dick in blue, jay in red, duke in yellow, etc etc) but now im wondering what your casting would be?? 👀👀 (also thanks to u and ur friend for the all-caps enthusiasm 🥰)

Oh wow hi! First off please don't think I meant to criticize, I noted Dick Jay and Duke's colors and LOVED it, loved the whole piece! (Six and Bats are so close to my heart lmao)

When I mentally cast it, I boiled each Queen's song down to a main point about their relationship with henry and fit the bats around that based on their relationships with batman (and didn't include Duke :/) so for me

No Way = "You cannot tell me when to quit" = Tim Drake (mostly thinking about RR which has Dick as Batman, but also just Tim giving Bruce no choice in when he first became Robin 😂)

Don't Lose Ur Head = "I do what I want ✌️" = that is honestly so Steph-coded to me. Just bouncing around going off and having fun. Also the whole gang war thing... "I didn't mean to hurt anyone" then she dies...

Heart of Stone = "I know we have issues but I want to make it work" = Jason. Just. Jason. Jason Todd. I can't even. Trust me.

Get Down = "I do what I want, also fuck you" = Dick Grayson. Like don't get me wrong he and Bruce love each other but the vibe of "I don't need you Imma do my OWN thing so long sucka" but then hangs out with the others... Idk made sense to me 😂

All You Wanna Do = "I was supposed to be a *child*" = Damian 😭 from everyone in the league even to Gotham though it's lightyears better and we usually let it go... This is a small tiny child. CHILD. Like K Howard. Playtime shouldn't be over and I think for this one AU Dami has the right to grieve/be mad about that

I Don't Need Your Love = "Lets get this straight, I'm here as a favor to YOU" = Cass. She's so powerful tbh and starts of as Babs's protege, idek for sure how she ended up with Bruce even though I treasure their relationship. Also the idea of her being kinda brushed aside bc she wasn't "beheaded" or "died" (being Robin or smt) but she's still so amazing

So yeah that was my thought process but the looks in your art are FIRE 🤩