#In my mind these two can coexist i want to do something important but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to fail yk?

[belanova]

Doing THAT has made me realize the absolute irony of The Hall of Fame and Algo mejor que hacer in the same playlist

[foreststarflaime]

Ok so I was translating the Iliad for fun last night as one does and oh my god it’s them?? Genesis Rhapsodos is a homeric hero in this essay I will

“Sing to me, goddess, of the accursed wrath of Achilles son of Peleus, who caused countless pains for the Acheans, and sent forth many stout souls of heroes to Hades, and made them spoils to dogs and to every bird of prey, and the will of Zeus was accomplished, from when first the son of Atreus ruler of men and divine Achilles stood apart in strife.”

-Homer, Iliad, I.1-7 (translation is my own)

But like the more I think about it, the more it just…fits him perfectly? Strap in boys this turned into a long one, I’m putting my ‘useless’ degree to good use

So a huge drive for Homeric heroes is pursuit of kleos (κλέος, meaning glory), it’s what their societal values are built off of, and it’s what Genesis builds his life off of too. It’s why he can’t let himself coexist peacefully with Sephiroth—for Genesis’ glory to spread, it can’t be eclipsed by Sephiroth’s. Kleos is earned primarily through being remembered in song, and you don’t see Shinra making any propaganda with Genesis in it (at least disproportionately not as much as Sephiroth).

And that’s another thing—Genesis’ desperate will to live. A big part of the appeal of kleos is that it grants you a sort of immortality, to live forever in the minds of humanity as long as the songs about you persist. There is a way to earn kleos without being the best hero around, and it’s to be killed by the best hero around—in passages where heroes go on killing rampages, there’s little catalogues of everyone they kill, like little graveyards of poetry that let them live on after death. It’s not a dishonor to them, rather the opposite since they died bravely fighting someone they just couldn’t beat.

This isn’t the way Genesis wants to earn his kleos, though, and he’s desperately afraid of it. We see in his reaction to degredation that he will do anything to avoid his own death, lashing out against everyone in pain and fear. He wants more than anything not to die, but he doesn’t want to end up a footnote in the rampage of someone greater. He wants Achilles’ fame, but fails to see that this fame was conditional upon his death. The most famous part of Achilles’ story that survived, after all, was his heel.

And then there’s how his friends fit into the story. As you can see in the quote from earlier, Sephiroth fits well as the Agamemnon to Genesis’ Achilles. Agamemnon leads the assembled Greek forces because he has the most men, the most fame, but Achilles (putting aside the matter of whether he is or not) doesn’t want to be seen as inferior to him, and is infuriated when Agamemnon does something he sees as a slight against his kleos. From Genesis’ perspective, this fits Sephiroth exactly. From Sephiroth’s perspective, naturally this is not the case, but therein lies the problem—he’s in a different genre from Genesis, one that becomes incompatible when put in the context it’s in, and this dooms them to tragedy.

It’s a similar problem with Angeal. Honor and glory are similar enough to be the best of companions, but they are not the same thing, and it’s something that is easy to forget. The difference is most clear, again, in the context they’re in. Genesis is so busy chasing immortality in kleos that he forgets that honor is not immortality, and Angeal’s will to live fails when his honor does, and he loses him.

Angeal and Sephiroth are both their own genres, causing misunderstanding and ensuring the tragedy that occurs, but they fit in just enough with the context of Homeric heroes to not let Genesis see his mistake.

Important for him also is the definition of monster to a Greek—two different creatures mashed together in a way nature isn’t supposed to go. That’s it. And by that definition, he is a monster, though we’d still call him human by our definition. And that’s just…ouch. In the fundamental rules of his world, he is inarguably a monster.

But the tragedy of that is that he’s just so painfully human, as are all Homeric heroes—so horribly, humanly flawed in such a loud way that the world cannot ignore it, and is pulled down with him.

Okayy wrapping it up with a few fun facts because this is turning into the essay I didn’t mean it to be, his last name Rhapsodos (Ῥαψῳδός) is a Greek word that translates roughly to bard, and specifically to a bard that recites epic poetry. Like the Iliad. It’s so unbelievably perfect for him, good job square enix! And the fact that this quote from the Iliad has goddess instead of Muse like the Odyssey, it was fated! Also, not that noun genders really mean anything, but the Greek noun genesis (γένεσις) is actually feminine, so win for genderqueer Genesis propaganda

Anyway where did my afternoon suddenly go, this was supposed to be a short fun thing, I should really be working on my thesis (which coincidentally was inspired by him, I’m in too deep send help) if you read all this I love you forever lol bye

[matcha-dango]

Return of the Spring

Yan!Itto x F!Reader [NSFW]

CW : yandere themes / smut / noncon / porn with plot / breeding kink / size kink / childhood friends to lovers / dom character x sub reader

Word Count : 5513

For thousands of years, humans warned their children about Onis and how dangerous they were. As soon as they could walk, their parents taught them not to leave the village alone, not to go into the nearby forest without an armed adult and most importantly, to never talk to one if they ever saw an Oni in the distance. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, people forgot what Onis looked like and each generation changed a detail here and there. 

Ironically enough, this was how you befriended a young and energetic Oni, who madly fell in love with you at first glance. 

From time to time, you remember fondly how you two met, when you were kids and kept hanging out in secret. You always wondered if things would have been different, if you knew from the start that Itto was the “dangerous predator” everyone warned you about. It was only when you noticed his little red horn that you understood who you were being so close to and panic filled your chest, but you grew quite confused when Itto apologised for being, himself ? If he was so bad, why did he do that ? You figured out that maybe Onis weren’t that bad and that they could be friends with humans, just like the two of you. 

Nearly a decade passed ever since and you remained good friends, in secret of course. You became the grown up who was responsible for groups of kids when going a bit further past the village, to gather herbs, berries and such. One day, as you went out together, you noticed bits of Sakura Bloom gathered in the air, a magical view letting you know spring was back once more. But also a reminder that you had to herd the group back home earlier than usual. 

Back within sight of the village, you noticed some villagers putting up stronger barricades, a more depressing spring view. You knew of stories of your ancestors’ piers abducted by Onis, you wouldn’t doubt the elders. But was it all that necessary ? Couldn’t peace be finally made ? You decided to talk to the village chief as soon as you delivered your basket. 

“Good afternoon mam. I hope you have been well.”

“I have indeed, thank you for asking, my child. But I feel that you have a reason for your visit though, other than small chit chat.”

“Pardon me for my ignorance, but I have something very important to discuss.”

“What could possibly be so important, that you would come here directly, instead of preparing your house for the night ?”

“Well, I was wondering if there was any reason why we had to do all of this and-”

“And make peace with the demons ? My child, you do not understand.You must be out of your mind, go rest.”

“No, I am serious. I am sure that we can coexist and even live together. It is not impossible and there must be valuable benefits for both sides if we all cooperated. We don’t have to do this every year instead of enjoying the seasonal changes.”

“It seems that your parents failed to educate you my child, I will not blame you for your unconscious behaviour. For others, spring is a beautiful thing that brings life and joy to those stopping for an instant to admire the sky and trees. But not for us. As soon as snow starts melting and shows the green grass underneath it, as soon as flowers start to bloom, we need to set up spikes and barricades, we need to arm our men. I can see doubt and incomprehension in your eyes, you think we act like war happens every spring. But it does, my child.”

You didn’t want to lie to the village chief, but you didn’t want to be rude either. You believed your parents raised you well, you’ve only been told off several times during childhood for running around or other childlike harmless acts. Why would she accuse your family of such irresponsibility ? 

“You see, our village has been lucky these past decades. We didn’t lose anyone in those years and it has been only thanks to all of our security measures. The same cannot be said about the other villages, you were there last year, when I announced the loss of three young women who were your age. They left their village to gather Sakura Blooms to make Sakura Mochi but they never came back. We do not live in the city, where we can eat anything at any time. This is the only way.”

“I understand. Thank you for your time and wise words. Please allow me to take my leave.”

“You go, my child. Never forget that we are not meant to be together, ever.”

Leaving with a heavy heart, you couldn’t help but feel guilty towards the three girls, who you actually met last year for the local summer festival. You always told yourself that if Onis were truly the ones to take them, those three weren’t eaten or killed. Though you didn’t really want to know what else could happen to them if it’s not those two possibilities. Chances are, it wasn’t even Onis but ill-willed humans. 

It was getting dark already, you had to quickly get back home before you would get scolded for lateness. The village looked grim, even under the beautiful red and orange sky. Tints of a familiar red, reminding you of your friend. At that point, there was no way you could reveal your friendship to anyone ever. Was it also the case for him ? Maybe Onis too had been warning their kind to never approach human dwellings during this season ? You should ask him that next time. 

Thankfully, spring wasn’t all depression and desolation. You loved seasonal changes for the delicious new meals that you could eat only then and there. Usually, Unagi Chazuke would be eaten just the way it was, but plums being now ripe, you always added pickled plum to the dish. This year also, your parents told you they ordered a small bag of Sakura Blooms, so you could make sweets and snacks just like in the city. You simply couldn’t wait for the package to be delivered. Hopefully tomorrow ! 

After eating dinner, you washed yourself and decided to read a recipe book, in case you were missing needed ingredients. It would be such a bummer if you got everything ready but one crucial detail. Maybe you could make Sakura Taiyaki and share them with your friends and family, and Itto… Right as you were about to start missing him, you heard the sound of small rocks hitting your window. Two exactly, which was the code you and Itto had, when he wanted you to know he left you a message close to your house. 

Excitedly, you responded to his signal by shutting the lights of your room twice and pretended to go to sleep. You had to wait until your family was asleep before you could sneak out and retrieve whatever Itto left for you. You didn’t think you could chat with him this time though, no way you could leave the village with all the protection they set up for the night. 

Soon enough, silence filled the house, making your heart beat louder and louder with each second passing. Once you felt you had the right timing, you quietly got up and went out of your room to reach the door. You should have thought about that one, it was locked and barricaded, just like all windows of the ground floor. Your only option was to leave through your window. 

You climbed the stairs back up, as discreetly as you could manage. Back to step one, you had to think of a way to flee without breaking your bones. After mentally debating for minutes, you decided to jump out to catch the sturdy branches of the tree in front of your window and then climb down to safety. You kind of had no choice, if you didn’t want to risk someone else finding Itto’s message. 

Under your window, you placed several pillows, covers and your bed so that you wouldn’t hit the ground when you would leap back inside. You were agile enough to make it, if not… You would need to think of your best excuse for being outside at this hour. Anything was good, as long as no one knew about Itto. 

You prepared yourself to jump, one swing back and forth and you did it. Everything went well and your feet touched the ground. This tree was such a life saver, literally. You quickly ran towards the usual spot behind your house and found a folded piece of paper. You opened it and read its words. 

‘hope you been doing good !! its been a while since we last hang out, wanna come out tomorrow ? promise ill be careful ! ill wait for you at the usual super duper secret spot, at our usual super duper secret time !!!!’

You couldn't help but giggle at his message, it was very cute and very much Itto-like. Of course, you knew and remembered everything. You actually had various secret meeting places : secret, super secret and super duper secret were all different ! Same went for time, you two discussed them and decided on a few in accordance with the village activities schedule, so no one would be suspicious of you wanting to suddenly leave. 

You hurriedly went back to the tree and safely jumped on your mattress. The adrenaline in your veins did a really good job. You were so excited for tomorrow, you prayed for the Sakura Blooms to arrive before you had to leave the village. 

Morning birds woke you up with their beautiful melodies. You sluggishly sat up, before remembering your plans for today. Getting an immediate boost of energy, you got downstairs to check for any package and there it was, on the table. You eagerly opened it and it was indeed a bag full of freshly gathered Sakura Blooms. You took out the piece of paper with ingredients needed for a semi-dozen of Sakura Taiyaki and started baking the delicious snack. 

As planned, you volunteered to go venture into the forest with a group of youngsters. You hid the still piping hot sweets in your basket under a piece of fabric, if anyone were to ask you’d say it was in case anyone got hungry during the short trip. If they didn’t believe you, they would think you had a crush on someone from the team. No one would ever suspect you of being friendly acquainted with an Oni anyway. 

You chatted with the group while walking on the clear path and reached the area where you were supposed to find mushrooms. Slowly, you detached yourself from the rest and as soon as no one was paying attention, you quietly ran off to the super duper secret place. 

As you got closer and further down the forbidden parts of the woods, you could make out a very tall figure, with white and reddish hair. Surely, it had to be Itto. And as you approached the person, you could actually hear loud and cheerful chattering. Yep, no mistake, it was 100% your one and oni friend. 

“Hey I’m here !” 

Your bright voice got his attention and the happiest he was when he saw your smiley face. 

“I’m so glad you got here ! And it smells good too !! Did you make something ?”

“I sure did ! We received some Sakura Blooms so I baked us Sakura Taiyaki, you remember when we talked about it and how delicious it must be ??”

“You’re amazing ! Can we eat them now ?!”

“Sure ! Let’s sit around here and eat while chatting, it’s been such a while !”

As soon as you revealed the insides of your basked, Itto grabbed one Taiyaki and bit into it like a starved man. It was so good he had to let you know with his most dramatic reaction, including fake tears and theatrical gestures, which always made you chuckle. Nonetheless, you knew he was sincere in his praise, which made you feel proud of yourself. 

You two kept chatting, catching up and just talking about everything and anything, without any care. However, it made you feel almost heartbroken that you would have to leave and go back to the group sooner or later. No one made you feel so understood and appreciated the way Itto did. Almost as if you weren’t as human as everybody else. 

“Hey, you look kinda sad… You ok there ?”

You could see the genuine worry in Itto’s eyes, which made you smile in return. 

“Well, if I said yes you would know I’m lying anyways, so I’ll just say it. I wish I didn’t have to meet up with you in secret, I wish I didn’t have to hide it from everyone else. I’m sure you would get along very well with my friends…”

“I see… Don’t be sad though, I think I have a plan !”

“A plan ? What kind of plan ?”

“Just trust me ! Can you do that for me ?”

Itto’s eyes were shining with excitement and determination, how could you not say yes ? He never harmed you in any way and always made sure to be careful so you never got in trouble. 

“Sure, I’ll trust you.”

The second you finished your sentence, you felt yourself being lifted in the air and rested on his shoulder. You never realised how strong Itto was but this almost convinced you were as light as your basket. By the time you processed everything Itto started running not towards your village but the complete opposite direction and it made you panic. 

“W-wait ! Where are you going ?”

“Don’t worry ! I’m going to introduce you to my clan and I’m sure they’ll all love you !”

Hearing his words had the opposite effect Itto wanted. Now you were panicked and confused. He was supposed to be your friend, so surely they wouldn’t try to devour you, right ?

“...but wouldn’t it be dangerous ?

“Huh ? Why ?”

Itto sounded puzzled which made you the more puzzled out of the two. Was he acting ignorant on purpose ? What the hell was going on… 

“Aren’t they going to want to eat me ? Are you serious ?”

“Huh ?? No ?! Wait.” 

Your words made him instantly stop in his tracks. After a few silent seconds, he loudly gasped in realisation. 

“So that’s why you guys been avoiding us like crazy ! We don’t eat humans though, well, not anymore at least haha !”

“What do you mean anymore ?”

“Uh… like, for the past few centuries ? Something like that, before I was actually born !” 

“Oh…”

His explanation had to be trustworthy, Itto never lied to you once and he kind of sounded like the guy who couldn’t lie to save his own life, if you had to be honest. You felt deep shame but also hope. You were determined to explain everything to the village elders and let them know that peace was actually an option and could be a reality if only both sides could talk to each other and clear up all misunderstandings. 

“Itto, I’m sorry for doubting you and your kin this whole time…”

“No worries ! I’ve heard of all the stories from the past so I understand why humans would still remember, it’s not like we told them about our dietary changes hahaha !”

You smiled to yourself, so thankful for your wonderful friend, who then resumed his rapid pace to his home. He has always had been the most supportive for you and you were always thinking of doing something in return. You were filled with determination more than ever, you knew you could change history and it was certainly far from being a small deed. Everyone would be finally free ! 

While you were lost in your thoughts and plans, Itto kept running and running until he saw his own village. When he got close enough he had to slow down, he looked up for the first time and noticed the sun already hid behind the trees and the sky was adorning beautiful ardent colours. Winter might have been over but the days were still in the process of getting longer with each day. 

“We’re almost there baby ! See ? That’s my house on the right !”

Baby ? That was quite unusual, he never called you that before… But oh well, he was so excited he probably misspoke or something, plus you were growing curious about how the Onis lived, compared to fairy tales. You were trying to prop yourself to get a glimpse, Itto’s grip still keeping you in place on his shoulder. 

“Can’t really see like that, you know haha ?”

“Oh shit sorry my bad ! Don’t worry, once we get inside you’ll have plenty of time to look around haha !”

Itto couldn’t contain his excitement, finally he was able to bring you to his own home and introduce you to everyone. Knowing you, he was sure you would have no trouble making friends either. Heart buzzing with trepidation, he marched towards the main gate of his village, which appeared larger and larger with each step towards. Onis were bigger than humans, of course they would require bigger housings. He had no doubts you would get used to the differences pretty quickly. 

It was only when Itto stepped past the entrance that you could see what it actually looked like, as well as the intrigued faces of his kin. What felt strange to you was that they were exactly that, intrigued. Not puzzled, confused, horrified or predatory. Admittedly, they didn’t appear like they wanted to devour you but they…had a strange look. Maybe they actually had not seen humans before, outside of books or pictures ? 

Suddenly, Itto grabbed you with both hands and carefully placed you on the ground, with the biggest smile you have ever had seen on his cute face. It was the first time he brought you over, while most kids had that experience much earlier.

“So this is your house huh ? It is much bigger than the ones in our village, everything around here is bigger haha”

“Wanna come inside ?! I’m sooo happy you’re finally here at home !”

“Of course ! I’m so happy too ! Never thought this dream of mine could come true one day…”

Awfully excitedly yet gentlemanly, Itto ran to the door and almost broke it with the sheer force he opened it for you. You giggled and went inside, eyes wandering from wall to wall. Interestingly enough, outside like inside, Oni homes didn’t seem to differ that much from regular humans homes in Inazuma. Although, they did have features appreciated by the Onis, such as anti-bean artillery. Or maybe that was just Itto’s house. You cringed on the inside, remembering that one time you almost killed your friend with a dorayaki. 

“So uh…do you like it around ?”

Itto’s shy question made you turn towards him and you saw a blush creeping on his face. He was so nervous he couldn’t look up. You could tease him but, he might actually cry so maybe not this time. 

“Yea ! It actually kinda looks like home, I didn’t think it would be so similar. Though, it kinda makes sense ?”

“I’m so glad you like it ! Are you hungry by any chance ? I’d love to make you food to celebrate the occasion !”

How could you say no ? His grinning face was too cute to refuse and, if you were being real, if you weren’t going to be eaten, was it that bad to be here when you were both adults ? You weren’t a kid anymore, you could make your own decisions. 

“Alright, I’ll be your guest but ! I’ll help you with the cooking, I don’t want to be sitting around doing nothing while you do all the work buddy.”

“Sure, cooking together is super nice too !”

You also planned to make sure he wouldn’t cut a finger off due to overexcitement… Apparently, knives were also bigger than the ones you were used to, so the both of you had to be careful. 

After chatting and debating, you two decided to make some Yakisoba Oni style with Tofu Soup on the side. For dessert, you brewed tea and had some Oni made candies, with new flavours like Sakura Bloom, which instantly became your favourite. Now that the situation was different, you could take some back home and let everyone taste them, maybe even make them yourself. There was no more need to order Sakura Bloom from the city. 

 “Can I take the remaining ones for my village ? I’d like to have the village elders taste them and explain to them what happened.”

“Sure ! But those might go bad by the time you see them again haha ! Alright, let’s set the bed up. Sorry I didn’t prepare it, I had no idea you’d be coming over…”

“It’s ok, I had no idea either. Oh, but I didn’t bring any of my stuff… could I maybe…?”

“No worries ! The Greatest Oni has everything covered !”

Itto rushed to a drawer and took out a small box, which contained human sized toothbrush with toothpaste, both which seemed rather familiar, but all toothbrushes looked the same anyway. 

“As for clothes, you can borrow my stuff if you don’t mind, of course. If it’s too much, I can always ask the granny next door !”

“Thank you, I don’t want to bother you but I want to bother others even less so your shirt will be enough haha”

Sometimes, unplanned sleepovers were the best and you were set on making it the most memorable. Although, it should be the first of many memories, now that there were no danger or threats. 

You took a bath and got changed while Itto was bathing too, although you didn’t need to ask any questions about him feeling happy, considering the speed of his washing time. Nonetheless, he came out squeaky clean and even more excited than he had been all day long. 

“Should we turn the lights off and chat in the dark ? I’ve always wanted to do that but my parents didn’t let me sleep out and by the time I didn’t need to ask for their permission, we grew out of sleepovers…”

Itto’s last wish was to make you sad in any capacity. If anything, he wanted to make you the happiest and now was the best time to start being the reason why you smile. 

“Anything for you, My Lady.”

Good thing he had some pants or he would have 100% dropped the towel while making a dramatic reverence. 

“Come over quickly then !”

Itto dashed to your side and jumped on the bed, making your body bounce up with the impact. Oni beds had thicker and bouncier mattresses, noted. 

Hours passed and eventually you passed out, excitement had run out and exhaustion claimed your body. Before it got to his turn, Itto fondly watched you sleep, as he still couldn’t believe it was real. The only way to know was to wake up the next morning and he would be sure that it wasn’t a dream of sorts. 

Morning birds sang spring tunes and sunlight came through the spaces between curtains. Itto woke up as usual and as soon as he turned his head around, he remembered everything that happened and got immediately filled to the brim with joy. He managed to contain his emotions so he could watch your peaceful face for longer. 

To his biggest disappointment, you ended up waking up a couple of minutes later. After the initial shock, you too remembered the escapade and pieced everything together. It really felt different to wake up like this. But it was unfortunately time to go, if you didn’t want your whole village to take up their arms and storm through the forest. 

“How was sleep ? I think I’ve had my best night in a while haha”

“I dreamed of you last night, no joke ! Imagine my surprise when I woke up with you in my bed… I thought I was still dreaming !”

“Haha I don’t remember my dreams, all I can remember is that we were together and no one else was telling me to go home… But sadly, I think I have to or my family will be too worried.”

“It’s ok, you can stay for longer, we have food and everything you need. As for your family, I can send them a message telling them that you’re fine and all !”

“Uh yea but… I don’t think I can stay though…”

You slowly sat up on the bed and started stretching your limbs, closing your eyes in the meantime. You really had an amazing night of sleep, that mattress must be the reason. Maybe there was a human bed sized one, you would love to have one at home. You opened your eyes and that was when you noticed Itto hadn’t answered you back. You looked up to him worriedly. He must be sad at the idea of you leaving so soon. 

Or so you thought. 

Itto wasn’t happy but he wasn’t sad either. What he felt was an ache in his chest and he knew what he had to do, if he wanted to stop the growing pain. Surely you would understand, right ? 

Itto’s lips crashed against yours, a hand of his behind your head holding you still. You tried to push him away but he was too strong, so you had to wait for the kiss to end before you could speak to him about your boundaries. 

After what felt like minutes, Itto broke the kiss and locked eyes with you while catching breath. There was your moment. 

“Itto… I really like you a lot, but…-”

‘you’re my dearest friend and that’s the only way I see you.’ was supposed to follow but Itto didn’t let you finish. His lips devoured yours once more and this time he pushed you down with his body, trapping you between his own much bigger frame and the bed you had slept on. 

Although your efforts to push him away were quite fruitless, Itto caught your wrists with his hand and pinned them above your head. The realisation of what he was doing and what you were wearing made his blood rush down to his growing member. His Oni genes blessed him with better smell than humans and he definitely could smell how his scent was now mixed with yours on the shirt he lent you for the night. 

In his rut, Itto accidentally bit your lip but as soon as he was about to apologise for hurting you, he got much harder because of the little noise you made and the taste of your blood in his mouth. He really tried to be gentle with you but he couldn’t fight back against his instincts. His whole body had been screaming at him to fuck you senseless and make your belly go round with his offsprings. 

He loved you too much to let you go, he knew you would never return. He lied to you when he said Onis stopped eating humans, some clans still did. Two girls were caught last year and were offered to be shared with his village, although they refused the offer. Another girl, on the other hand, didn’t end up in the stomachs of neighbouring Onis. She was actually still there in his village, kept as a wife. Which was exactly what he planned to do with you. 

His head full of domestic fantasies, Itto’s other hand travelled all over your body, which turned out to be much smaller compared to his size. He never had the chance to look or touch you so directly, he had no idea he would be so turned on by this discovery either. 

Itto quickly grabbed his signature thick white and purple ropes and tied your wrists together to have both his hands free to explore your body with more ease ; all the while he kept kissing you over and over, with breaks long enough to breathe a bit but too short to say anything in between. 

Itto grabbed your thighs and parted them with seemingly no effort, even though you did all you could to keep them closed to no avail. He settled himself between your legs and pushed them a bit higher up to your chest. A concern suddenly got to his mind, so his lips parted with yours. While catching his breath, Itto thought hard about one thing : to keep or to remove the shirt that was now glued to your sweaty skin. His pondering gaze was stuck to your heaving chest, he couldn’t see you shake your head, tears in your eyes. 

After a few seconds, Itto steadied his breathing and made the decision. He grabbed your top and tore it open, buttons flying all over the place but kept it on you ; he wanted you to wear it while making you his, as a romantic gesture. 

The sight of your jiggling breasts made his cock impossibly hard and unbeknownst to him, his hips started rutting against your still clothed core. You assumed that his shirt was so long you didn’t need any bottoms, so you only wore your panties you washed before sleep. Having pants would have changed nothing in your case. You still felt how hard he was, but most importantly, how huge he was. You should have known, if everything about Onis was bigger, of course their cocks would be much larger than human ones as well.

Your clothed heat felt so, so good that Itto felt his impending orgasm. But he gathered all of his willpower to not cum on the spot, rather he wanted to fill your pussy to the brim with his seed and not waste a single drop. He could paint your skin white another time.  

He somehow managed to stop his hips before tearing your underwear to shreds and admiring how wet you became. Seeing your clit throb with need made his member throb in reaction. Itto smeared his precum with his tip all over your pussy, while slicking himself up. 

Before he could move again, you opened your mouth to beg him to stop and reconsider. Unfortunately, Itto’s mind was so dizzy with his love for you that he couldn’t even imagine your denial. The only thing he had in his mind was making you moan and cum around his cock, milking him dry in the process. Which was why he cupped your cheek in a loving and tender manner, while pushing his tip inside. 

Everything hurt, he was just too big. He penetrated you slowly but surely, until he could feel your cervix. Tears fell down your face but Itto kissed them all away. He didn’t like seeing you in pain, so he stilled himself inside of you. You felt his hand slide down your belly and reached between your folds, aiming for your clit. Itto repositioned his hand so his thumb would be giving it languid circles, which made you tighten around him with each stroke. 

When your cries turned into moans, Itto slowly pulled back up to the tip and pushed back inside with more ease than the first time, which he happily took as a sign that your pussy was ready for him. He then gripped your thighs harder and his thrusts turned animalistic. 

Each thrust was so deep and hard, it was so much more intense than anything you felt before. Itto was so big he made your pussy stretch around him without any more space left, he could reach all your pleasure spots at once when his tip was kissing your cervix. All of that was happening at a maddening pace. Your mind was clouded with pleasure and all you could think about was Itto and how good he was making you feel. So good that you felt the coil in your stomach explode, making you clench tighter than ever.

Needless to say, Itto was getting drunk on the feeling of your throbbing pussy around his cock. The fact that he was the one who could pleasure you like this filled him with happiness and pride, as well as a hint of possessiveness. The last bit made his thrust go even harder, he was sure you wouldn’t be able to walk properly for weeks. Not that you would even need to, in fact. Soon, you would become his sweet and delightful wife and mother of his children and not of some bastard, how beautiful you would be ! 

Such thoughts of you quickly sent him over the edge. In your haze, you felt his load flowing inside of your pussy, yet that was only one round. Itto wanted to make sure you would make his own dream come true, he had to make sure you were overflowing with his cum. Fortunately for him, his cock was still as hard as a rock and ready to fuck load after load into you. 

“Baby, I love you so much ! Let’s keep making memories together !”

[awryval]

death of an author, reclamation, and you

"We never are what we intend, or invent 'Cause I make little lies and then I pull them apart Think something dark's living down in my heart And if I wanted to die before I got old I should've started some years ago digging that hole"

Brand New. "At the Bottom." Daisy, 2009.

Brand New was among one of my favorite bands in high school, and I still listen to them today. Their music is important to me and shaped a big part of who I am. Their lyrics about being tortured, burnt-out, and choking on the weight of your own self-perceived flaws are relatable! Their compositions ooze with a level of self-hatred that can only be genuine. It's utterly depressing, and I adore it!

That's not not the full story, though. Jesse Lacey, the vocalist of Brand New, is a sexual predator. This informs everything about how the music of Brand New is. It's self-loathing for a very good reason. I love Brand New. I condemn Jesse Lacey. These two statements coexist. I used to be a part of the /r/brandnew subreddit, and when the allegations against Jesse Lacey came out in 2017, many redditors of that sub were quick to claim "death of the author." After all, the band had broken up immediately after the news broke, and they had also cancelled their tours. Currently, the people using that subreddit mostly talk about buying old BN merchandise and discuss what their favorite concert memories were. Jesse Lacey himself confirmed that the allegations against him were true, so there isn't much debate to be had. The subreddit serves as a monument for fans who still enjoy the music, and as a platform to speak about it with like-minded fans.

In my opinion, claiming "death of an author" is a slippery slope. We can't always claim that Miku is the creator of Minecraft. But often, we see that that is the response people have when a creator is outed to be problematic; "I still like the thing So-and-So made, so I will ignore that the creator exists!" The reason that this worked for Miku Minecraft is because, by the time that Notch was publicly making transphobic comments, he did not own Minecraft anymore. The joke is quite literally that he does not own the thing that people like. He sold it to Microsoft, so he doesn't get royalties from it anymore. You can play Minecraft devoid of supporting its original creator. This joke works so well because it is an actual case of the death of an author! That's great and all for Minecraft, but what about other instances? What happens when we claim "death of the creator" erroneously? And why are we so obsessed with this concept anyway?

So like, back to Brand New... they released their last album, Science Fiction, back in August 2017. The allegations came out later that same year. I own all of Brand New's discography physically, including their last release. I bought most of it off eBay when I was 15. I was not supporting them post-allegations. But that leaves me with a lingering question- what do I do with all these CDs that I still very much enjoy the music of? From how I see it, there are two firm camps on this topic:

Camp 1: You know about Lacey's crimes now and his music cannot be separated from his actions. Solution: Throw your CDs away.

Camp 2: It's something you bought without knowledge of Lacey's crimes, so you should enjoy it anyway. Death of an author! Solution: Continue as usual.

I'm not fond of either of these answers. They come off as too polarized for a situation that is the entire Pantone swatch library of grays. "But, how are there any shades of gray when its clear that Jesse Lacey is in the wrong?" I want to provide some counter questions for you to think about:

What about the other people in the band? You might not be directly supporting the sexual predator anymore, but there are other victims here too- effectively his band mates lost their jobs overnight. (Another example would be LOSTPROPHETS)

Is it feasible to destroy each object you own because it was created under problematic circumstances? When or when isn't this the case? Does it apply to your cup of coffee? Does it apply to the clothes you wear? What about any product with palm oil in it? What about the hardware in your computer? If you look into any company, you're going to find some horrific things you don't like about it. The takeaway here is that it isn't beneficial to treat situations like these as black or white. I don't think that destroying my CDs is going to do anything to take away the abuse that Jesse Lacey caused. Nor do I think ignoring the context of his music will do anyone any favors. The music he made is a product of his crimes. To ignore that fact would be disingenuous to why people enjoy his music and why the music exists in the first place. There's another element here, though. I, and many others, are no longer monetarily supporting Jesse Lacey. You can't even officially support the release of Brand New's music anymore as their record label (Procrastinate! Music Traitors) doesn't even seem to have a functioning website anymore? Regardless, I wouldn't want to support his music in a way that supports him, anyway. Yes, I enjoy the music and the themes of it, but I do not want to be directly supporting abuse that happened BECAUSE he was a vocalist in a band. And I can safely do this with CDs that I bought secondhand, right? This is death of the author. So what's the issue?

I believe there is an issue when people claim “death of the author” far too quickly and scramble to reclaim the media for themselves. It’s an increasingly popular trend these days to pluck characters/concepts from an author deemed to be problematic. "I'll save [Character I like] from this shitty piece of media!", they claim. I don't think people realize how multifaceted in effect that is, though. For instance, if the author is actively making money from their creation, you can't truly "reclaim" a character from them. It's more like you're paying homage to them with fanart.

My best on-going example of this would be Floraverse. There are a multitude of reasons why people do not like the author/s of Floraverse, which I will not go into here. To put it simply, though, since its inception in 2013, many artists and writers involved with Flora either left or were kicked out. These artists either directly contributed to the art and worldbuilding of the webcomic, or were heavily influenced by it. To this day, there are many times someone links me to art on Discord and I’ll say “oh I remember that person, they used to be a Flora fanartist!” and the other person is absolutely floored that that artist was ever linked to Floraverse. Anyway… There have been multiple attempts at people trying to reclaim Floraverse from the author, and this never works out. Like, it really doesn’t work out. Any time that someone tries to reclaim Floraverse characters for themselves whilst condemning the author, that person is dogpiled by the Floraverse community. Which is a weird behavior for a CC BY-SA webcomic, but I digress. Here are some highlights:

In 2019, there was a thread dedicated to Redesigning Floraverse that immediately got taken over by Floraverse itself a month later.

An artist got harassed for multiple years (I think it was 2020-2023) for having an oc based on Beleth, a character in Floraverse.

Just 2 months ago, an artist got harassed for drawing fanart of the characters

Historically, reclaiming Floraverse characters from the author hasn't worked out. And I mean.. why would it? It's an actively running "webcomic" (I'll be charitable) and with an active community that supports the author's current works and views with their wallets. It's one thing to enjoy a piece of media with a problematic author and want to reclaim that media for yourself. It is another for this reclamation to actually be effective. Attempts of "reclaiming" Floraverse get written off as fanworks that the community dislikes. You cannot reclaim Floraverse characters as they do not exist in a vacuum. Listening to secondhand Brand New CDs does work in a vacuum; Jesse Lacey's career is dead in the water. The same cannot be said for reclaiming the art of Glitchedpuppet and co. Floraverse characters and stories are not divorced from the abuses they cause. Characters will be used as strawmen to abuse community members, past or present. Or entire works will be up dedicated to making light of your childhood trauma! These characters were made by an abuser, and will be used to abuse. That is a simple fact about Floraverse. Except... in that statement, I'm not even talking about Glitchedpuppet, the current author of Floraverse. I'm talking about Marlcabinet, the previous author of Floraverse. This statement does however, apply to both of them. Hey, wait a minute, that's weird! I've been talking about "death of the author" for this entire post, and I just said that reclaiming Floraverse characters can't work because the way the characters were used to abuse real people doesn't exist in a vacuum. So like, why does this work within the Floraverse webcomic itself? Marl is the abuser of Glip, but Marl is also the author of the majority of early Floraverse. Isn't the story itself, as it currently stands, an act of reclaiming characters used to abuse community members, minors, and any detractors? Then who is to say that those who contributed to Floraverse and were similarly abused are not also allowed this same privilege? Their real-world suffering is what fuels the comic. When I was 13-16, I adored a Floraverse character named Cayenne. His whole deal was that he was an autistic child slave and was horribly abused by everyone around him. Weird character to connect to, but he’s the character that made me figure out I had autism! I drew a LOT of fanart of this character and I even own a (gifted) life-size plush of him. The authors only ever treated him as a joke and it was a joke even within the Floraverse community that I was the only person who actually liked/cared about him. Sometimes I think about reclaiming him for myself. But I also don’t want to get harassed, and I know I could design much better things, and write better things. Conversely, I also think about how this is the exact character that made me get into contact with Marl when I was 16. It’s a heavy weight to carry knowing that this exact character was the reason I was almost in the clutches of a child predator. Glip personally deferred me to him. Reclaiming Cayenne would hold emotional value for me as a reminder of my triumph over a predator. Would it be wrong for me to reclaim an abused child character from a comic that abused me and many others as children? I've no clue. And I don't think anyone can answer that. I've waffled on it for ~2 years now. Reclaiming Cayenne would give attention to an individual that profits off abusing others, myself included. I'd say that reclaiming Floraverse characters wouldn't be a case of "death of the author", but the original creator of them was a child predator that's no longer on the internet. Floraverse is already practicing death of an author, and it is a shell of its former self. That being said, it is not a story that only has one author. Its other authors are still active, and these authors include every person that it has abused in its wake. After all, it's a comic that relies on you to know about its dramas with and traumas of real people. Tell me: Does a death of the author matter when its being written about you?

[forevamark]

preview! time lapse (l.mk)

remember when i said ‘would be posted tomorrow.’..? 

... and that was months ago? well i lied. LOL life has been rough lately. but here’s the preview of what i’ve been working on very very slowly.

genuinely, trying to post by next week i swear this time yall hehe

Pairing: mark lee x fem!reader

Tags: pre idol debut to idol au, christmas and new years time line, slice of life moments, college student reader, substantial plot leading to smut, very dialogue heavy, angsty moments, slow burn, relationship struggle, lovers to exes to lovers

Intended for 18+ readers, minors do not interact.

Preview Word Count : 2k+

Projected Word Count: 10k+

Summary: Mark has always had the dream of becoming a big music star, meanwhile your aspirations lied with academics and coexisting with Mark. Mark struggles with telling reader that he will be leaving for Korea to pursue his music career very soon, in fear of losing what they have.

warnings are under the tab.

Warnings: cursing/swearing, teasing, oral male receiving, unprotected sex (wrap it up ya’ll!), breeding kink, possessive domination, spanking, slight choking, praise

not really edited- so sorry.

--

“What do you think about this?” Mark asked as he sat above you strumming on his guitar. You were sat on the floor between his legs focused on your eight page paper.

“In a sec,” you reply while wrapping up the sentence you were on.

“Take a break…” Mark whined trying to pry the laptop from your speedy fingers.

“Mark, it’s due in two days. I will listen in a sec.”

“Mhmm.” He sulked, leaning back into the sofa continuing his chord progression.

Days like this were stressful- due to the plethora of assignments that piled on- but soothing in a way. Your schedules never aligned this often, but Mark was so entirely enamored with you he’d do anything to spend his free time just being with you. 

“I can’t believe it’s been three hours and I only have my thesis done,” you sighed while resting your head on his knee.

“You got this,” he replies while running a hand soothingly through your hair while the other wrote something down on the notepad next to him, “I believe in you.”

“Do you need anything to help you focus? Am I being too loud?” he asks while going to the kitchen and lighting your favorite candle, “I can make you a snack?”

“Do you mind getting me some fruit? I feel like I need some brain food.” You asked while cracking your knuckles and continuing to type away.

Mark nods and walks back over, handing you a cut persimmon with the skin peeled off. He always knew what you needed before even saying it out loud.

Humming in appreciation you immediately start chewing on the sliced fruit.

Eyeing him from the corner you see him looking out of your apartment window. It was raining hard outside, Mark’s favorite. 

“Anything else you need to work on?” you ask. He shrugs his shoulders. 

“Not much else, I want your opinion on what I have then I’ll see what I can add from there. Don’t worry though,” he turns to look at you with a small smile, “I can wait.”

Mark has always been supportive of your dreams and aspirations. It was a shock when he told you he wouldn’t be joining you at university, but rather pursuing music instead. Although an adjustment, you supported him and he rooted for you. It seemed to be working out, he passed the first two rounds of auditions for a big music company and it looked like things were finally looking up for him. 

Some days you wouldn’t see him at all, and some days he picked you up from class and would stay glued to your side. He claims that he ‘soaked up inspiration from you’ hence the constant quality time and skinship. He knew you were working hard, pursuing a higher education was so important to you and your family, and he wanted to be present every step of the way. 

Unbeknownst to you, Mark also had a dark cloud overlooking him just like the city in front of him. He hasn’t yet told you that he passed the third and final round of auditions for his company and would be slated to move to Korea before the end of the year to begin his training. He couldn’t bear to break the news to you, not yet. Not when you were so close to finishing one of your hardest semesters yet.

“I think I can pull you away from that screen now y/n,” he says while tugging you away from the black and white screen.

“Hey! I’m not finished yet! I thought you said you could wait” you pouted trying to get loose.

“You’ve been working non stop, you aren’t being as productive anymore.” He chuckles while slotting you to the seat across from him.

“Hi.” he smiles at you.

“Hi.” you respond back.

There’s a moment of silence shared between you two. The only sound being the soft pitter patter from outside hitting the patio. Mark stares at you lovingly, you can tell something is wrong but you can’t find the words to ask him just yet, too entranced by the current hold he has on you.

“So, the song, yeah?” you finally whisper aloud. 

“Hold on,” he replies, licking his lips and searching every inch of your face, memorizing this very moment to inspire him for what he’s about to play.

“What’s the hold up? Don’t get stage fright in front of me now Lee,” you lightly say while giggling.

“I, I just want to make you proud, okay?” he finally says with sad eyes.

“You always will, Mark.”

Guilt washed over Mark. Things were great, perfect even. But he just had to aspire for more. He should be satisfied with what he has now, he’s close to home, a stable music career here in Canada, and most importantly, you. But just like you, he had the moon but he wanted every damn star in the galaxy. He didn’t want change, but nothing could satiate the hunger for something more. He was leaving, because he knew that this life, now, isn’t enough.

“Okay.” he takes a moment to gather himself, taking in some deep breaks and shaking his nerves out through his hands.

“Let’s hear it!” you shuffle sitting up straight in your chair.

Mark lets out one final breath before starting a low strum on his guitar. Flashes of memories over the course of your relationship flashes before his eyes. Your first snow day in Canada when you couldn’t get the ice off of your windshield, to the countless nights of watching reruns of Glee in your small shared apartment. 

He hits the chorus for the first time, opening his eyes to look around the room, unable to look at you just yet. Pictures of you two littered the walls, filled with your smiling and laughing faces. 

Mark mumbles small noises of nonsense to fill in the parts he doesn’t know what to put in between, sometimes trying out some lyrics at the top of his head. He shakes his head and chuckles when words don’t rhyme or quite fit, in return you share a smile enjoying him delving into his craft.

It’s something about the way that Mark is able to lose himself completely, in his own little world and for brief moments you’re able to enter his mind, envisioning every note in a flow of synesthesia. He’s able to create color and landscape through sound, and what’s crazier is that he doesn’t even realize the extent of his art.

“And… I guess that’s it. What’d you think?” He asks as he lets out a final strum. The warmness of his music is still palpable in the room, despite the cold and dark weather that demands to be let inside. 

You take another moment staring at the man in front of you. Mark bit his fingers in anticipation. His large white tee hung loosely on his shoulders, his ripped jeans bounced waiting for your feedback.

Everything is perfect.

Nothing can take this moment away from you two. 

No words could exactly encapsulate how you felt so you decide to throw your arm around him. 

Mark lets out a sigh of relief as he sets his guitar to the side, “so I guess you liked it?” then reciprocated by pulling you into his lap.

“I loved it, Mark. I can’t wait to hear it all together, I really liked that chord progression, I can definitely hear it on the radio one day,” you mutter into his shirt.

The pitter patter of rain outside was accompanied by the soft whimpers from the man whose chin sat upon your head.

“I’m always going to be here for you y/n,” he jaggedly says.

You two sat in each other's embrace for what seemed like eternity. 

“Let me show you something,” he says, breaking the silence and adjusting your position to where your back was flush against him.

Mark sat the guitar in your hands, “Let’s start from the top, yeah?”

That night Mark taught you the song on his guitar, sometimes you filled in lyrics that felt right.

“They know we got the chemistry…” Mark sings.

“Love how your body feels on me, when you get back let me get that…” you finish with a small laugh.

“Yo!” he jumps up, lifting your laughing frame into the air, “That’s a bar!”

“Are you jealous that I may be a better rapper than you?” you giggle back.

“You’re coming for my career, babygirl!”

—

Six more hours.

Six more hours until this paper is due, and you’re almost done with this last page. 

Six more hours until the hell that was this semester is finally done.

Six more hours until you can crawl into bed with Mark and take a long deserved nap.

“Almost there baby,” Mark says while massaging your shoulders.

“I got this,” you say while typing furiously.

“Hell yeah you do.”

Your train of thought was interrupted by Mark’s ringtone going off from behind you.

“I’ll be right back, when I come back you better have this paragraph done!”

Sending him a stiff salute you continued to trudge on as he stepped into your bedroom and closed the door.

“Mark! What’s going on my man! Happy holidays!” his new manager cheered into the phone.

“It’s going well, just spending some time with family and friends while I can,” he replies while laying down on your bed and grabbing a stuffed My Melody to hold against him.

“Well, I’m glad you have been enjoying your last moments of freedom while you can. Speaking of which, I do have an early Christmas present for you!”

“Awesome! What is it?” 

“Well, the company wants you to start as soon as possible. I played them your audition and they think you can finish your training in less than a year!”

“That’s amazing!” Mark shoots up and runs his hands through his hair, “when do I fly out? Next year I hope?”

“Mark, I did say Christmas present didn’t I? You’ll leave the day after the 25th. I bought you some more time to spend with your family, but you’ll be spending the new year here, in Korea!”

Mark felt his heart drop. That was in two weeks. 

Two weeks to eat all the food he can.

Two weeks to brush up on dancing.

Two weeks to say goodbye to his family.

Two weeks to erase all traces from his friend groups’ antics.

Two weeks till he has to leave you.

“Uh… two weeks… wow that’s really soon.” 

“Absolutely! Now rest up Mark, this year is going to be the craziest experience of your life!”

His manager kept going on about the potential future he had coming for him. But Mark couldn’t seem to focus on all the new found information. Slowly feeling the aroma of you envelope him fully, being surrounded by you everywhere, it was suffocating. 

How is he going to tell you?

“I finished it!” he heard your jumps of triumph in the distance, echoing all the way to the pits of his empty stomach, “I’m finally done with this God awful semester! One more year till graduation!”

You burst through the door interrupting Mark’s pensive state, wrapping yourself into him.

“You okay babe?” you realize pulling away slowly, eyeing his sweating frame, “you look a bit sick, want me to make you some ramen?”

“Oh no I’m fine, just fine really,” he shallowly laughs pulling himself away from you and moving to turn on the fan, “just got a little warm is all.”

“Who called?” you asked before flopping on the bed and sighing, “was it your manager? Did you get the job?”

“Uh yeah…” he shuffled, not meeting your eyes, “It was my manager, he had some good news…”

“Oh my God, did you pass?” you pounced on him awaiting the news.

“Uh… yeah, I did.” he lied.

“Markie!” you showered him in kisses and tight squeezes, your love for him unfaltering, “When do you leave?”

“Not for another year,” he smiled, not looking at you.

“Hopefully you’ll still be here for my graduation…” you sighed, “but nonetheless I’m glad I get to keep you to myself for a bit longer.

---

anddd that’s it for now! see yall in a week! any and all comments appreciated, and as always, tag list is open! 

xoxo, eva <3

[hazbean-hotel-imagines]

Hi! I’m here for a matchup!

I’m a bi girl who loves science, art, music, antiques, and animals! I am very outgoing and like to express my love through both actions and words, and I like partners that take romance slow. I like people who are both smart and caring, and I want someone who likes parallel play and spending time together doing even the most mundane chores. I’m a pretty patient person and I want someone who will appreciate me! And of course, I like cuddles and walks together, I like sappy romantic stuff 😅 Thank you and happy holidays!

Matchup

I pair you with…

~ Hope you have a happy holidays as well! Stay safe and warm!! :)

~ Okay! So Alastor is the definition of slow burn. I feel like putting a name on the type of relationships he has is low priority. Once he begins to gain feelings, it's slow and gradual, and even once he recognizes them he doesn't define them with words. He'll continue with whatever dynamic you two have and develop, completely content without ever actually explicitly stating it's romantic. It's the type of relationship that's obviously romantic, but he doesn't feel the need to label it, so he leaves that to you if it's something important to you and is welcome to accept whatever label you see fit.

~ Shares your interest in art, music, and antiques. Would love sharing things that are central to his time period when alive.

~ A favourite date of Alastor's would definitely be seeing musicals or live theatres. Would love seeing movies, but prefers seeing things live as opposed to on a screen.

~ Since Alastor died in the 1930s, he has a different approach to dating. Not much PDA, and affection is more often received in private.

~ Alastor's very big on expressing his love through actions as opposed to words or explicit acts or romance. Love language is definitely acts of service. Alastor remembers things you've told him only once, makes efforts to understand things you like, and will get things for you that you've mentioned or just remind him or you.

~ Overall, he's slow, old school, and a sappy romantic.

I pair you with…

~ Vaggie is someone who is very slow trusting. She would be the ultimate slow burn, but once she’s fallen for someone it’s kinda the trope person a fell first but person b fell harder? Totally feeling that here.

~ I can see Vaggie as someone who's really happy about the mundane. Doing chores, cooking side by side, even getting groceries. She's just content to be spending time with them, and doesn't mind what it is.

~ On that note, definitely a big fan of parallel play. Vaggie is big on peaceful coexistence, love language is a mix of quality time and words of affirmation.

~ I feel like your patience would be super compatible with her. Vaggie pairs well with someone who keeps a level head because of her short temper. She's often reactive and defensive, but I'd imagine you keep her grounded.

~ Sappy when it comes to romantic gestures. Loves cuddles and walks, and especially really intimate or mundane dates. Dates at home are her favourite. Would definitely surprise you with a candle lit home made dinner after a long day.

I pair you with…

~ Side note: I was going to include Stolas in this lineup, I feel like you’re really compatible, but I chose to slide him into the additional pairing instead of Husk because you preferred Hazbin. If you’d like me to pick up your matchup again and write you a pairing for Stolas as well I’d be more than happy once matchups are reopened! :)

~ I’m a sucker for introvert and extrovert tropes. You being outgoing and really open about your love for him is a really cool contrast with his laid back, often introverted approach to things.

~ It’s also kind of like the sunshine and grump trope?

~ I spoke about it in this post a long time back, but his canon dialogue style makes me go back and forth with the grump trope for Husk. Can totally see it, but he uses every dialogue to express an emotion. While he’s a grump, I can see him in a relationship being sappy and genuinely saying loving things to his partner, even if he’s a man of few words.

~ Seems like Husk is the grump to your sunshine to outsiders, but you see him more as a friendly giant.

~ On that note, Husk’s love language is words of affirmation and acts of service.

~ Husk is similar to Alastor in the sense that he doesn’t need labels to be comfortable with you. Husk would accept whatever label you’d like, but he understands his feelings, and that’s enough. He loves you and everyone knows it, so he wouldn’t rush to put a label on anything himself because he’s already comfortable with your dynamic. However, if you were to label it, he would be open to it.

Additional pairing…

Stolas

[longitudinalwaveme]

My Thoughts On Each Long-Term Writer of the Flash, Part 1

Over the years, the Flash comics have been written by a huge number of writers, with their own strengths and weaknesses. In this post, I am going to give a rundown of all the major Flash writers and talk about the high points and the low points of their runs. In order to qualify as a major Flash writer, the writer has to have written at least four or five issues of the Flash (so fill-in writers don't count).

Keep in mind that much of this is subjective and based solely on my personal opinions. Also keep in mind that I will be harder on the more recent writers than the Gold/Silver/Bronze Age writers, since the older writers were writing during a time when there was much less editing and continuity than there is today. As such, I don't expect as much from their stories as I do from more modern writers.

I'll begin with the original writer for the Golden Age Flash, Gardner Fox, and move forward chronologically from there.

Gardner Fox

Positives

First, and most obviously, Gardner Fox was responsible for creating the Thinker, the Shade, the Ragdoll, the Rival, Jay Garrick, Joan Garrick, and the Flash identity itself. Without Gardner Fox (and artists Harry Lampert and E.E. Hibbard), there's no Flash. This pretty much makes him Flash's most important writer by default.

Introducing the Multiverse. When Gardner Fox started writing the Silver Age Flash, one of the first things he did was introduce the new Flash, Barry Allen, to the original Flash, Jay Garrick. He did this, of course, by establishing the concept of the multiverse. Earth-1 and Earth-2 existed in the same place in space, but vibrated on different frequencies, and each world had its own Flash. It was a brilliantly ridiculous sci-fi way to have both Flashes coexist, and it enabled Jay Garrick, and the rest of the JSA, to return to the DCU.

Writing female characters. For a Golden/Silver Age comic book writer, Gardner Fox generally handled female characters really well. Notably, during his run on the Golden Age Flash, he had Joan Garrick in on Jay's secret from the start, and he was also the writer responsible for ensuring that Barry Allen would, in turn, tell his wife Iris about his secret identity (by having Jay and Joan come visit Barry and tell him to stop keeping important secrets from his wife). He's also Iris' best Silver Age writer, insofar as he made her the most supportive and least nasty. So thank you, Gardner Fox, for being better at writing female characters than most of your contemporaries. (If you want to see the worst example of female characters in the Silver Age, check out Robert Kanigher's Wonder Woman. It's something else.)

Utilizing humor. This was especially noticeable during the Golden Age, where the Flash's adventures often resembled slapstick comedies, but Gardner Fox was also good at using lighthearted humor in the Silver Age (as highlighted by his particular affinity for the Trickster, whom he wrote four separate stories for).

Writing plots. Golden and Silver Age comics have a somewhat justified reputation for being wild, random, slapdash affairs, but, in spite of their light-hearted humor, Fox was actually good at writing solid plots. "The Flash of Two Worlds" is an all-time classic, and I've never read any story of his where it didn't feel like he was putting in effort to create an entertaining, internally consistent story.

Negatives

Honestly, besides being bound by the comic conventions of his time, Gardner Fox doesn't really have any noticeable weaknesses as a writer. The only thing I can think of that isn't something that basically applies to all Golden/Silver Age comic writers is the fact that he might have been a little too reliant on slapstick humor sometimes. That's how we got "The Real Origin of the Flash" (the story that attempted to give the Flash his own Mr. Mxyzptlk style character, but failed miserably) and some of the more tiresome Three Dimwits plots. But still, all in all, Fox did a really solid job on the title.

Robert Kanigher

Positives

Kanigher wrote Barry Allen's origin story, and created him, Iris, and I guess the Turtle Man (not the Turtle---he was created by Gardner Fox) as well. The lightning bot/chemicals origin is absolutely iconic, and may in fact be the best superhero story Kanigher ever wrote.

Before that, during the Golden Age, Kanigher also created Jay Garrick's foe the Fiddler.

Kanigher is....well...he's definitely got some original ideas. Totally nuts ideas, but original ones nevertheless. If you want the perfect example of Silver Age insanity, Kanigher is your man.

During the early Bronze Age, he managed to put out some well-meaning, if very awkward, stories that addressed social issues. They haven't aged well, but at least he tried. And to be fair, his female character do get slightly better in this time period as well.

Negatives

His female characters are painful to read. It's not as though this was something unique to him, but even by the standards of other Golden and Silver Age writers, he was pretty bad. Again, see his run on Wonder Woman for proof. More specifically as far as the Flash is concerned, he's the one who got the ball rolling on Mean Silver Age Iris.

With the exception of the origin story, where he seemed to catch lightning in a bottle, all of his Silver Age Flash storylines fall into one of two categories---they're either boring and generic, or they are completely bonkers, off-the-wall insane. Silver Age Flash is actually one of the more restrained Silver Age comics, so Kanigher's off-the-wall stories stick out like a sore thumb. For the best example of this, check out the first story in Flash #161, "The Case of the Curious Costume". And then, to maintain what's left of your sanity, check out the much better second story in the same issue, Gardner Fox's "The Mirror With 20/20 Vision". (I bet you can't guess who the villain in that story is.)

"Iris Allen is FROM THE FUTURE!!!!" Admittedly, there are several stories that came out of this reveal that I do like....but this revelation would end up tying the Flash Family tree in knots later on down the line. And it's also just an insane revelation in general, especially for the early Bronze Age.

John Broome

Positives

95% of the Flash's main villains. Captain Cold? Mr. Element/Dr. Alchemy? Mirror Master? Gorilla Grodd? Pied Piper? Weather Wizard? The Trickster? Captain Boomerang? The Top? Abra Kadabra? Professor Zoom the Reverse-Flash? Heat Wave? All of them were created by John Broome (alongside artist Carmine Infantino). All of them. And all between 1957 and 1963!

The Rogues. John Broome was also the first writer to have more than two of the Flash villains team up into an organized group. (Gardner Fox had had Captain Cold and Trickster team up in an earlier story, but Broome was the first writer to bring together the team that would eventually become the Rogues we know today). He was also the man who created the Rogues' tailor, Paul Gambi.

Developing Barry's supporting cast. Broome introduced Wally West as Kid Flash (and wrote his hilariously lackluster origin), his parents, Nora and Henry Allen, his childhood sweetheart and current movie star, Daphne Dean, Iris' absent-minded father, Ira West, and Dexter Myles, the ex-Shakespearean actor who would become the curator of the Flash Museum. He also introduced Ralph "The Elongated Man" Dibney and Ralph's wife Sue, who would go on to to get their own stories but who would remain long-time friends with Barry and Iris, and Rita, another friend of the couple's, who would marry a reformed Dr. Alchemy/Albert Desmond. (Broome wrote Albert's reformation story, and also introduced his friendship with Barry.)

Solid plotting. While Broome's stories are still full of wacky "science" and questionable character decisions, as all Silver Age stories tend to be, he was quite restrained by the standards of his era (compare Silver Age Superman comics to Silver Age Flash comics and the difference will be apparent immediately.) He actually writes very solid and entertaining stories most of the time, and "The Doorway to the Unknown" is one of the best Silver Age stories I've read, period.

Negatives:

The whole "Should I Tell My Wife I'm the Flash?" thing. The relationship between Barry and Iris is easily the weakest link in Broome's lengthy run on the Flash. Iris is often excessively mean to Barry (up until around the time when they get married and Broome thankfully has her mellow out), and Barry refuses to tell Iris that he's the Flash---even after he marries her! Granted, she finds out on their wedding night because he talks into his sleep....but still! He doesn't consciously tell her that he's the Flash until they've been married for a year! It's not always terrible---there are some comics where Broome writes them well together (especially after 1964 or so), but on the whole he kind of dropped the ball on their relationship. I would be harder on Broome for this if it wasn't for the fact that I know what was going on with Superman and Lois Lane in the Superman books (which Broome was not writing, so far as I know) at the same time. That relationship makes even the worst moments of Silver Age Barry and Iris' interactions look healthy.

Too many alien invasion plots. I know it was the Silver Age, and everybody was fighting aliens, but hoo boy did John Broome write a lot of stories where the Flash fought off generic, interchangeable aliens. They're not all terrible stories---a few are even pretty good---but having the Flash fight such generic foes gets quite tiresome when it happens about once ever six or seven issues.

Frank Robbins

Positives:

Uh...Flash #184, "Executioner of Central City", is an interesting enough story with some fun time-travel stuff.

Without "The Threat of the High-Rise Buildings", we never would have gotten the amazing lying Silver Age cover that is hippies beating up the Flash:

Negatives:

Flash #180-181. The Flash visits Japan. Incredibly painful stereotypes abound. And, on a less painful but still cringeworthy note, so does bad slang. Just skip it. You'll be much happier for it.

Flash #184 is his only good story for the Flash. Admittedly, he didn't write that many...but still.

Mike Friedrich

Fleshed out Barry's personality a little more. Namely, he established that Barry is afraid of roller coasters, and wrote a hilarious story where Barry plays every role in Hamlet at once after the rest of the cast gets sick (I'm partial to this one because I love Shakespeare).

Wrote a really solid Professor Zoom the Reverse-Flash story called "Time Times Three Equals----?", in which Sargon the Sorcerer tricks Eobard into thinking the Flash is dead for convoluted mystical reasons, and Eobard promptly takes off on a round-the-world and through-time crime spree. It's actually kind of awesome.

Negatives:

I can't think of anything off of the top of my head, other than the fact that his stories don't really stand out to me. With the exception of the Professor Zoom story, he didn't really get the chance to use any of the major Flash villains. So he's not bad, he just didn't write enough to really make an impact on me as a Flash writer.

Cary Bates

Positives:

Arguably the first true fan-writer. He grew up reading the Silver Age Flash, and he clearly loved and knew a lot about the characters. Fanboy writers don't always work out, but in this case, Bates' knowledge of the characters helped him write them really well, and flesh out most of the character well beyond what personalities they had had up to that point.

Wrote a very solid Barry/Iris marriage. They felt like a real couple, with real arguments and disagreements, but they also clearly loved each other and relied upon each other to get things done.

Used the supporting cast well. In addition to ensuring that Dexter Myles, Paul Gambi, Daphne Dean, and Barry's parents continued to make appearances, he also added many new supporting cast members, including Stacy Conwell, a college student who boarded with Barry and Iris for awhile, Barney Sands, Barry's 12-year-old neighbor who was just as big a fan of comics as Barry himself, Patty Spivot, Barry's fellow police scientist, Frank Curtis, an undercover detective who became friends with Barry, and, after Iris' death, Barry's neighbors Mack and Troy Nathan (Mack was a scientist at S.T.A.R. labs), Police Chief Darryl Frye, and Barry's almost-second wife, Fiona Webb. Bates did a really good job a creating a full supporting cast for Barry and Iris, and it helped make the world seem more inhabited.

Bringing back the Rogues. As Broome and Fox had retired, the Rogues had started being pushed to the wayside before Cary Bates brought them back into the spotlight---and then gave them some of their best stories ever. For a few of the Rogues, he's still the best writer they've ever had. Also, while the Rogues had technically become a team under Broome's pen, it was Bates who really solidified them as friends, rather than just the Flash's Secret Six. He had them have conventions together, attend funerals for each other, bail each other out of trouble, and fight the Flash together. They still operated independently sometimes (a fact most modern writers neglect to have them do), but they were now inextricably linked with one another in a way no other team of comic villains ever would be. I also really like the dynamic Bates' Barry has with the Rogues. It's this sort of bemused, mildly impressed frustration that's just great.

Introducing the Golden Glider. Cary Bates created what was, for the time, a downright terrifying villain in the Golden Glider, and, in doing so, subverted (probably inadvertently) a lot of the tropes that tend to accrue to female villains. She was meaner, smarter, and more ruthless than all of the male Rogues, and it's a bit of a refreshing change of pace to see a woman seeking revenge for the death of her boyfriend rather than the other way around. She was also one of the first Flash villains, and the very first Rogue, to uncover the Flash's secret identity. In spite of this, however, she was still quite feminine in a lot of ways, being very beautiful, quite flirtatious, and fond of jewelry. It's a unique combination of traits that you don't often see even today, and it's a bit sad that Cary Bates remains the best writer the character has ever had.

Creating other new villains. Besides the Golden Glider, Bates also created Rainbow Raider, whom I adore, the Clown, Colonel Computron, Clive Yorkin, and the Eradicator, the last two of whom are actually very effective and scary in their respective story arcs.

The Top is alive and well in Henry Allen! It's the best Top story ever written, and I love it.

Able to write both very serious and very humorous stories. Cary Bates was totally nuts sometimes, but he definitely had range in terms of tone, and could write humorous stories and very dark stories with equal effectiveness.

Negatives:

I'm honestly not sure whether this is really a negative or not, since I find the story to be kind of hilarious, but there is this one issue early in Cary Bates' run where he literally writes himself into the comic and has himself help the Flash defeat the Trickster. (We also learn from this issue that in the Bronze Age, Central City was located where Athens, Ohio is in the real world. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Cary Bates is an alumni from Ohio University in Athens.)

"Joe Scudder and Roscoe Neyle". Cary Bates was awful at remembering characters' names. He called Mirror Master both "Sam Scudder" and "Joe Scudder" in multiple separate issues, called the Top "Roscoe Neyle" once, called Patty Spivot "Pam Spivot" a few times, changed Albert Desmond's father's first name from Peter to either Herbert or Herman, called the Pied Piper's mom, Mrs. Rathaway, both "Rachel Rathaway" and "Hazel Rathaway" (within the span of like three panels!), combined the Pied Piper's real name (Hartley Rathaway) with his alias name (Henry Darrow) a few times, gave Barry's dad Henry a new first name at least once, and called the Reverse Flash "Eobard Thayne", "Eobard Thawnye", and "Professor Adrian Zoom". And there are probably more examples I can't remember. This is really only a minor gripe, and it is fun to play the "let's see whose name Bates messes up in this issue" game, but still...Bates forgot a ton of names.

A few too many supernatural shenanigans. Cary Bates was really interested in the paranormal when he was writing his run on the Flash, and while it often led to good stories (like the Top ghost story and the story that introduced Alvin Desmond), I feel like he still fell back on the paranormal a few too many times. The best example of this is the psychic girl, Melanie, who was in the "Death of Iris Allen" arc and just felt out-of-place in it, but it popped up a few other places as well.

Fiona Webb. Fiona Webb was introduced as the Flash's new love interest after Iris' death, and her story was basically one giant trauma conga line. She wasn't a terrible character (she wasn't annoying and seemed nice enough), but her relationship with Barry didn't get enough time to develop organically, and it felt like they got engaged far too quickly. Maybe it would have been better if they had continued dating for awhile, first, even if it meant delaying Eobard's dramatic attempt to murder Fiona at her wedding. I am, however, at least relieved that she ended the first Flash run fully recovered from her mental breakdown. It would've been pretty unpleasant if he'd just had her have a breakdown and then never spoken of her again.

Big Sir: While I'm glad the story goes out of its way to establish that he's a good person whose disability and mental problems don't make him evil (he has to be manipulated by the Rogues into fighting the Flash), this character was handled very poorly for the most part. He was also part of the broader...

Trial of the Flash Arc: There are a lot of good individual stories during this arc (the last four issues in particular are great), but as a whole, it just drags on for way too long. It's not entirely Cary Bates' fault, since he was in the middle of the arc when he found out that the book was getting cancelled, and his only two options were to end the arc as he had planned and try to wrap up the entire series with a truncated new storyline, or to drag out the trial plotline until the series ended. However, that doesn't change the fact that the trial quickly becomes the least interesting part of the actual Trial storyline, or the fact that this story lasted for something like a year and a half in real-world time---which I guess does make it the most accurate fictional representation of a trial in terms of the length of time it took to get to the trial. Aside from its length, however, the courtroom drama is both unrealistic and not especially exciting (the looming threat of the Flash going to prison for murder is exciting, but the legal drama is not, in part because the prosecution lawyer isn't very interesting). Also not helping things is the fact that by the time the Trial arc began, Cary Bates was editing himself. Thus, there was no one around to help steer him and the story in a less drawn-out direction. It's just a big, padded, drawn-out mess of a storyline---though I am thankful that it at least had a really solid, satisfying ending.

Mike Baron

Positives:

His first issue, where Wally runs a heart across the country to a patient who needs it for an operation, is excellent.

Baron writes a good Vandal Savage.

Wally is instantly memorable as a character. He's not necessarily likeable for most of Baron's run (more on that later), but he does at least stand out in your mind.

Introducing the Chunk (a living black hole who became Wally's friend) and Kilg%re (a living computer program). Both of them were fun characters.

Negatives:

Baron's Wally is a real jerk most of the time. He's overbearing, he's arrogant. he's obnoxious, and he's frankly kind of sexist at points. It makes him a little hard to read sometimes.

Wally's parents are humongous jerks. I actually don't mind the Wests being abusive parents (especially since we really didn't see that much of them Pre-Crisis, and we know that Wally has a lot of problems with Impostor Syndrome and depression), but they were very prominent in this run, and neither of them were likable---or scary/intimidating/cool---enough for you to want them to get as much page time as they did.

In fact, almost no one in Baron's run is particularly likable most of the time. It makes for an unpleasant read.

Wally having an affair with a married woman who's got to be at least ten years his senior is...uncomfortable. Mainly because I'm not sure that Baron thought this was a bad thing or not. Messner-Loebs writes it as a mistake on both characters' parts, but I don't know if Baron thought it was, too.

William Messner-Loebs:

Positives

Messner-Loebs made it clear that the reason Wally was acting like a jerk was because he was suffering from depression and impostor syndrome, not because he was shallow or selfish. He also dialed the sexism waaaay back (thankfully) and had Wally develop out of his jerk tendencies over time and learn to become a better hero.

Messner-Loebs also introduced a bunch of great supporting cast members for Wally. He brought back Joan Garrick, made frequent use of Chunk, reintroduced the Pied Piper as a reformed champion of the downtrodden, had Tina McGee and her husband reunite with one another and become friends with Wally, and introduced Mason Tollbridge, an old jack-of-all-trades who helped Wally out from time to time, and Connie Noleski, whom Wally dated for awhile. An at-the-time-reformed Captain Cold, Golden Glider, and Heat Wave rounded out the cast. Most importantly, though, he introduced Linda Park, a no-nonsense TV reporter who would help Wally grow up and who would eventually become his wife.

Flash #19. The whole thing. Wally partying with the Rogues (after the Trickster invites him to their party as a gag) is one of the best comics ever written. It's hilarious from start to end.

"No One Dies" is one of the greatest Flash stories ever. It's so good.

Tackling social issues well. Messner-Loebs' run is one of the few comics I've seen handle mental illness with any grace (his story about postpartum psychosis is really good, and Wally actually goes to therapy!), and his handling of homelessness and the importance of helping people in need is very well done. Messner-Loebs seems to have a lot of compassion, and it's very cool to see it represented in his stories.

Hope. In Loebs' run, people---and situations---get better.

Negatives:

Mary West makes a few too many appearances. I get that she's supposed to be obnoxious, but....she's really obnoxious. Also, the plot where she falls in love with and marries a secret agent was confusing.

After her first appearance in Flash #19, Messner-Loebs begins to write the Golden Glider as though she's bordering on "comic book crazy" (i.e., erratically violent and somewhat unstable). It's at least somewhat restrained under his pen, but it's setting the groundwork for later writers to write her very poorly.

This one isn't really Messner-Loebs' fault, but his run does get interrupted by unnecessary crossovers several times, which have a tendency to disrupt his storylines and are generally not particularly well-written (likely because he didn't really want to write them in the first place). It's especially notable because most of his run is relative quiet and domestic.

Mark Waid:

Positives

Mark Waid knows his stuff. He is a fanboy writer, and it shows in his delightful references to older Flash stories (The Life Story of the Flash is a particularly good showcase of this fact).

Waid writes an excellent Wally. Wally goes through a ton of character growth and development over the course of his run, and I love the snarky sense of humor he has.

Linda Park and Pied Piper are both handled very well by Waid---especially Linda.

Waid writes a very solid relationship between Wally and Linda. Like Iris and Barry under Bates' pen, they have realistic arguments and disagreements, but also clearly love and support one another.

Waid's use of the Speedsters as a team works very well. Wally, Jay, Max, Bart, Johnny Quick, and Jesse Quick all play off of one another well, and all of them are likable. The idea of a Speedster lineage that spreads across all of time is also cool.

The Speedforce. It's so important to the mythos that I can't not include it, even if a lot of later writers misused it.

Waid properly introduced the second Mirror Master, Evan McCulloch into the Flash comics, and in Flash vol. 2 #105, no less!

I appreciate that Waid brought Iris back to the present from the future, since that made it easier to use her in stories and let Wally talk to his aunt more regularly.

Many of the stories have very high stakes, so there's usually a lot of excitement during Waid's run.

"The Return of Barry Allen" storyline is excellent. I think it's one of the three best Wally stories (the other two being Flash vol. 2 #19 and "No One Dies", the story where Wally throws himself out of a plane to save a falling stewardess).

Waid writes my favorite Trickster (James Jesse). I love the reformation arc he gives him, and his mischievous nature is a delight. He also introduced Mindy Hong and James' son, Billy Hong, both of whom sadly only appeared once.

Waid's Kadabra is effective, cool, and scary----most of the time (more on this later).

Even though he was never properly utilized---and I'm not sure he ever could be, given how overpowered he is--I liked Tony Gambi (aka Replicant) a whole lot. The idea of Paul Gambi having a nephew whom the Rogues treat as a surrogate son is adorable.

Savitar was a very threatening villain, and the idea of a speedster cult leader was interesting. His design was ugly as sin, but he was Waid's best original villain.

Negatives:

Too much Kadabra. I like Waid's Kadabra, but he shows up as the main antagonist of big story arcs on at least three separate occasions.

Wally and Linda got separated from one another a lot. It was impressive when Wally escaped the Speed Force to save Linda the first time, but after the third or fourth time he escaped something similarly unescapable to save her, it did get a little repetitive.

Many lackluster antagonists. It really says something that both the soulless Zombie Rogues and the stupid brown-haired Chillblaines were more interesting as characters than a lot of the villains Wally fought during Mark Waid's run. Like Razer. Or the Alchemist. Or those alien guys. Or those other alien guys.

Having Kobra be the main antagonists for the storyline that included vol. 2's 100th issue also seemed a bit strange. Why not have Grodd or some other pre-established Flash villain be the antagonist for such an important milestone? Admittedly, this one is a bit of nitpick.

Waid doesn't seem to know how to write McCulloch. In Flash vol. 2 #105, he writes him as being very violent and grim, and in all his other stories, he writes him like he's Sam with an accent.

"Barry Allen had a SECRET EVIL TWIN!!!!" I would've loved this plot if it had been established in the Silver Age, and tolerated it if it was from the Bronze Age. But this plot twist was written in 1999, and it's accompanied with this weird sense of grimdark gravitas that just makes the whole thing impossible to take seriously. It also doesn't help that "Cobalt Blue" is a terrible villain name, or that Cobalt Blue's biggest achievement is being the ancestor of two guys---Eobard Thawne and Inertia---who are way better villains than he is.

Everything about how he handled Lisa. Waid really seemed to have no idea how to write the Golden Glider. First, he leaned hard into Messner-Loebs' take on her and made her completely comic-book crazy, and then he pointlessly killed her off to make the blonde-haired Chillblaine look scary for an issue before killing him off too. It was such a pointless waste of her character.

The Top. Weirdly enough, "Top possesses the body of a senator, becomes the running mate of a popular presidential candidate, and plots to use his position to eventually eliminate his running mate and become the President himself" sounds like an amazing Top story on paper....but in practice, Roscoe just feels off for the entire storyline. He doesn't really act like himself, and, as if that wasn't annoying enough, Wally and James both act like there's no way Roscoe could come back to life or be a threat. Even though he tried to blow up half the world, tried to blow up all of Central City, and once came back to life by possessing the body of Barry's dad. Why are they acting like he was a harmless joke?! Trickster worked with Top on a regular basis and was there when the Top posthumously revealed his "I'm going to blow up Central City" plan! They should not be so casual about this!

In fact, except for Trickster and Pied Piper, Waid didn't seem to know what to do with any of the Rogues. He killed them off in Underworld Unleashed, and, while he had the good grace to admit that was a bad idea and bring them back to life a year or so later, he still didn't seem to know what to do with them. For some reason, he was convinced that there was no way to write them seriously (even though he didn't have the same problem with Trickster or Kadabra).

I wasn't a fan of the way Waid discarded so much of Messner-Loebs' supporting cast. A lot of those characters were interesting, and it's a bit sad to just see most of them discarded in favor of the new cast of mostly speedsters (even though, as mentioned, I do like the speedsters).

Grant Morrison and Mark Millar---Obviously, they're two separate writers, but their year-long run was a team effort, so I'm talking about them together.

Positives:

Grant Morrison's "The Suit" and "The Human Race" are both totally bonkers, but in the best possible way. I'm particularly fond of how much "The Suit" feels like a Silver Age issue.

Similarly, the story about Jay Garrick is heartwarming and sweet. Morrison does a really good job writing Jay.

Morrison gets to write Evan McCulloch, which is always a delight. No other writer ever quite manages to capture the magic of Morrison's McCulloch and his perfect Glasgee burr.

The Black Flash is a really cool concept.

Negatives:

The Black Flash storyline, unfortunately, is kind of a confusing, disjointed mess. It's really hard to follow what's supposed to be happening.

The "Three of a Kind" storyline, which features Heat Wave, the Green Lantern villain Sonar, and some guy I've never heard of named Hatchet sinking a cruise ship and killing a bunch of people in an attempt to revive Dr. Polaris for some reason, is terrible. Mick is very out-of-character here. He's usually not nearly so violent. Even setting that aside....how and why did he start working with Sonar and Hatchet? He's never worked with them before. And why did they want to revive Dr. Polaris? I know they said they needed a leader, but why did it need to be him? Why not just go find Lex Luthor or somebody? I'm sure Lex Luthor wouldn't turn down three guys with high-tech guns. And joining him wouldn't have required them to sneak Dr. Polaris' comatose body onto a cruise ship and then forcibly take said ship to the Arctic Circle. Ugh, so many questions...

Geoff Johns

Positive:

Geoff Johns does a really good job of making the Twin Cities feel distinct from the rest of the DCU.

Geoff Johns also does a really good job writing the Rogues. He fleshes them out and gives several of them detailed backstories; he's also the one who created Captain Cold's Rules and the one who really brought the team back to prominence. He also really amped up Weather Wizard's powers.

Johns introduced a lot of cool new villains, including the new Trickster (Axel Walker), Captain Boomerang Jr. (Owen Mercer), Peek-a-Boo, Fallout, Double Down, Murmur, Girder, Plunder, Blacksmith, Tar Pit, and Cicada. I like some of these characters more than others, but all of them have a definite narrative purpose, none of them are completely boring, and they expand the Flash's villainous roster in a good way.

Officer Chyre and Detective Morillo are great supporting characters for Wally. I love their odd couple partnership.

It's cool to see Cyborg in the Twin Cities and helping Wally in the first half of the run.

Warden Wolfe and Iron Heights Penitentiary are good additions to the mythos. Wolfe is a great antagonist in that you really want to see him taken down a peg.

Wally and Linda's relationship continues to be solidly written.

I liked the way Geoff Johns established Hunter Zolomon as a supporting character, then gradually turned him into Zoom through a series of tragedies, mental problems, and bad choices. It made for a very effective---and scary ---antagonist.

Wally's twins are born (after an initial miscarriage). Jai and Irey are adorable and I love them.

The idea of Iris Allen raising Weather Wizard's baby son is adorable. In fact, Weather Wizard having a baby in general is a hilarious idea that a more comedically-inclined writer could have used to great effect. But instead....well...more on that later.

Wally continues his character development.

Negatives:

While I actually enjoy Johns' "Wonderland" arc, I also think it's weird and confusing in a lot of places, and it's doubly weird that he later retcons about a quarter of what he establishes here.

Johns' Magenta felt slightly off. Not so much so that she was totally out of character, but I've never felt like Johns quite had a grasp on what she's supposed to be like.

Pied Piper's trauma conga line was....a bit much. Granted, not all of his suffering was Johns' fault (Flash: the Fastest Man Alive and Countdown, I am looking at you), but it was still a lot, and it seemed almost like Johns wanted to break up his friendship with Wally by putting Piper through said conga line.

James Jesse...FBI agent. Another concept that sounds amazing on paper, but was executed very clumsily. The issue with FBI James isn't that he's with the FBI...it's that he suddenly starts acting like a self-serious bureaucrat for no apparent reason. And that he's dumb (and cold) enough to think that making a zombie Captain Boomerang via corpse desecration is a good way to defeat the Rogues. It just doesn't seem to mesh with what we know of James...and that's not even going into the retcons....

Backstory Retcons. Geoff Johns likes retcons. He really, really likes retcons. And he especially seems to like retcons that involve adding murder into the Rogues' early history for some reason. Like how Mark killed his brother (albeit by accident). And how Digger killed his stepdad at his mom's funeral. And how Sam Scudder apparently killed some random person during a burglary before he became the Mirror Master. And how the Top apparently killed more than eleven police officers during the Bronze Age. And how Mick Rory burned his family, another kid's family, and everyone in the circus he worked in alive in fires (this one's not technically a retcon, since strictly speaking it doesn't contradict anything that we already know, but it definitely doesn't mesh smoothly with Mick's origin as it was presented in the Bronze Age). And how Evan McCulloch shot his father (without realizing that it was his father), which caused his mother to commit suicide (again, not really a retcon, but included for completion's sake). Sometimes I worry about Johns....

Roscoe's Mind Control. And then there was the Mother of All Grimdark Retcons, in which we learned that Barry Allen had had the Top brainwashed into being a good guy, that the process had driven him insane, and that he had then attacked the other Rogues and tried to brainwash them into becoming good guys too. Wally has Zatanna lift Roscoe's brainwashing, which makes him sane again, and shortly thereafter he lifts his own brainwashing on James, Mick, and Piper (though Piper manages to stay good through Wally's help). All that character development Mick, Piper, and James have had? Forget that, it was all just Roscoe's mind control! Even though Roscoe never had mind-controlling powers before this story. And even though the way this timeline works, Roscoe would had to have been brainwashed, go crazy, brainwash his friends, commit ghost suicide by exiting his host body, somehow become sane and escape the influence of Zatanna's mind control, return to life by possessing the body of Senator Thomas O'Neil, almost become the president, get attacked by the soulless zombie Rogues, go crazy again, and then somehow fall back under the influence of Zatanna's mind control (because she can't have removed it if it was no longer there). That makes no sense. And that's not even going into the fact that, while you're looking at the timeline of events, only Mick actually reformed around the time that Roscoe possessed Barry's dad. All the other Rogues didn't even start flirting with reformation until after Barry was dead. It's one of those retcons that kind of makes sense on the surface, but makes less and less sense the more you think about it.

Posthumously Fridging the Golden Glider. I really love Captain Cold's spotlight issue. It's a great story for him. The problem is that Lisa's function in the story (the dead little sister he's sad about) is the only role Johns seems interested in having Lisa play. He thinks she's more important to be dead so Len can angst than alive to actually---y'know---be a character. Also, he seriously downplays her romance with the Top, as well as how fiery and mean she could be.

Everybody hates Roscoe, apparently. Johns doesn't much care for Roscoe. That's fine. Everyone has characters they don't like. The problem is that Johns deliberately writes the character to justify his dislike of him, and then has him killed off. Now, to be fair to Johns, Roscoe is indeed a jerk. The problem with Johns' Roscoe isn't that he's a villainous jerk----it's the fact that he's treated as uniquely separate from, and worse than, all the other Rogues. It's also implied that the Rogues never much liked him, but they all seemed to get along with him fine back in the Silver and Bronze Ages (with the apparent exception of Len, who was probably already bitter about Roscoe dating his sister---and even Len didn't hate him in the way that he does under Johns). Also, Roscoe really isn't that much nastier than Evan, or even Mark, and both of them are Rogues in apparent good standing. And, while I actually like the idea that Roscoe is something of an elitist and likes literature and classical music and fine wine, it's a bit odd for Johns to add that to the character, treat it like it was always a part of his character, and then have Len kill him for it. Basically, the issue isn't that he's a jerk....it's the fact that he's at odds with the other Rogues in a way that he never was shown to be before (the only exception was when he died and tried to blow up the city out of revenge/spite, and even then we saw them remembering him with some fondness after his death---toasting him, naming a anti-Flash device after him, etc.).

Needless grimdark deaths of important supporting characters. There are many examples, but the worst ones were, roughly in order of increasing horribleness, Blacksmith shoving a painting into Rainbow Raider's chest and killing him, the whole Captain Boomerang subplot of Blackest Night: the Flash, and having Inertia kill Weather Wizard's infant son.

In speaking of the horrible Blackest Night Captain Boomerang subplot....having Owen suddenly decide that he's A-OK with killing women and small children and feeding them to his zombie dad (I just realized that Johns wrote two different plots featuring a zombie Digger. That's a bit weird). Prior to this point, he had pretty much become one of the good guys, so this sudden shift into horrible evil just came out of nowhere and made no sense.

Captain Cold: Spotlight Thief. So, Geoff Johns really, really, really likes Len, and he writes him well (for the most part). The problem is, this means that he has a bad habit of focusing on Cold at the expense of the other Rogues, and that he sometimes writes Cold as though he's the only Rogue capable of being intelligent or competent (Flash: Blackest Night is probably the worst in this regard, but it shows up elsewhere in his comics too). It gets a little frustrating after awhile, no matter how great Johns' Len is. Worse, this habit of Johns of writing Len as the most important Rogue would eventually lead to other writers focusing on Len even more, and to them treating the other Rogues like they're Len's henchmen instead of his teammates. It's all very frustrating.

[the-orange-solace]

⚠️ This post will be talking about death, biology, dissection and torture. Proceed with caution! Keep yourselves safe!⚠️

Something I feel like isn't often discussed in detail is the uncomfortable and strange instincts and interests some headmates have.

For us specifically, I'd like to talk about our experiences between me, and two other headmates. I, for one, feel bad and feel highly distraught over gruesome roadkill and just culling our snails even if it's part of taking care of them. I enjoy biology though and loved dissecting cow eyes in school as well as holding an actual human brain (that shit was AMAZING). I'm not grossed out by blood and the body either. A lot of my headmates don't get my love and appreciation for life and how it works so I make some of my headmates uncomfortable.

However, a headmate of ours, Inky, has very awful and traumatic memories so he finds death and killing normal, having been forced to take part in it from a young age. Because of this he has an affinity for weapons and when he fronted he was drawn towards knives while we cooked or did dishes. He isn't dangerous to anyone outside of headspace, especially after he had a change of heart towards those in headspace too. But he often expressed the desire to dissect bodies and the such, which he than did in headspace and talked about his experiences with those he trusted in our sys friends.

He was treated awfully as a kid and so he knew a lot of torturous and murder techniques. This knowledge and the memories that appeared with it made a lot of us uncomfortable and distraught for his life before forming, and just in general having such collective knowledge shared when he fronts.

We used to experience phantom pains where during a hard spiral and he'd relive memories and we'd all be forced to experience them if we were near front with him. We, of course, found ways to comfort him and ease the body, but it took a while.

Than we have another headmate named Shigaraki who in source and headspace has powers, a quirk, where he can decay living beings and objects. Because of how quirks work in his source, people born with these characteristics usually have biological and personality traits that correspond with those powers. For Shigaraki, even though he doesn't have his powers when he fronts, still holds these characteristics. So he has a desire to touch, look at, and collect dead things.

Yeah, it affects our system because first of all, we can't go touching random dead things and get sick. But also it's just- not all of us want to look at random dead animals and body parts and organs when not in a safe environment to do so. I, personally, don't always mind because it doesn't bother me, it's all biology as long as it's not sad or gruesome. Shigaraki isn't like that and so he usually lingers and tries to find ways for him to still enjoy death and decayed bodies without harming or breaking any system boundaries we have in place.

Part of his solution is just to take pictures and collect them, he hasn't tried this physically yet but it's something that he theories with satisfy him and will not affect other members unless they go looking for it in his specific folders.

The point of me sharing this is that headmates aren't evil for their pasts nor characteristics even if they're taboo and you don't understand them yourself. The best way to coexist together is by placing boundaries and creating spaces where they can express and interact with things they like without hurting themselves and anyone else. It's hard and it's a struggle and sometimes unsettling and distressing but it's not impossible. Instead it's important for a healthy system and in system relationships and relationships outside of your system.

[psychewritesbs]

Any thoughts on the current Takaba vs Kenjaku face-off?

Hola anon! Yesssss I have thoughts. So many thoughts because, while not necessarily amongst my top 5 chapters in jjk, chapters 240 and 241 are sooooooo damn good in their exploration of both Takaba's and Kenny's sense of self.

Thing is... I already liked Takaba, but after this set of chapters, it's not necessarily that I love him more, but rather I appreciate how relatable he is.

In a nutshell, my reaction to this chapter this week was:

fucking Gege 😭👌

I taco'bout it under the cut!

Let's start with 240 though...

Chapter 240: Foolish Survivor, Live On—Battle of Equals

I think it's very relevant that Gege just gave us Gojo and Kashimo's death served on a cold platter of "I wanted to feel I belonged in a world where I felt no one could understand me" because I am totally loving Takaba's sense of self revolving around the same need and desire.

So I love that he found in Kenny someone who understood him so well, to the point that his jokes were rendered ineffective because Kenny could see right through the joke's weakness.

Similarly, I am loving what Takaba is doing for Kenny.

In chapter 239 Kenny mockingly asks Hanezoki to be friends...

... and specifically says that to be his friend, such a person must never bore him and must be his equal. This is also interesting in the sense that Kenny calls Granny Tengen his friend, so I'm curious to see Gege expand on this.

Now, this is relevant because Kenny is basically a 1,000 year old brain. When you've lived that long and you've seen everything there is to be seen in terms of human drama, I imagine life can get pretty boring. So what is it that drives someone who's seen it all to get up every morning and face yet another day in the world?

What is their raison d'être? Their reason for living and existing...

So I love Kenny's state of mind "being written all over his face" because it goes right back to the intellectual curiosity that drives his actions and Takaba is the one who is reigniting that intellectual curiosity that drives Kenny.

Kenny is smart and wants to laugh. The fact he knows so much about comedy shows he's found in comedy something worth exploring. I mean... imagine Kenny as Kaori, Yuji's mom, pregnant af, watching comedy shows to pass the time because it feeds her intellectual curiosity.

Similarly, think of how Kashimo asked Sukuna about what brings him enough satisfaction to turn himself into a cursed object to cross the ages, to which Sukuna's simple response is "the ephemeral taste of human flesh is enough to pass the time until death".

This is interesting in and of itself given the recent ask about which element each of the three big clans represents (mind/body/soul). It kind of feels like Sukuna represents body and Kenny represents mind. But I digress....

Chapter 240 then ends with Takaba having an identity crisis--that is, he's come face to face with the very source of his own woes the way it happened for Gojo.

If he is to go on living, Takaba needs to re-assess his sense of self.

Chapter 240: Foolish Survivor, Win and Remain—Bridging opposites

The chapter opens showing us a Takaba we hadn't seen up until now--harsh and critical, he takes things too seriously. Little did we know, this is part of his sense of self.

And I just loved this juxtaposition of these two conflicting parts of Takaba's personality (someone who takes things too seriously but who is also capable of being one hell of a goofy mf) because it showed that

a) two seemingly contradictory elements can coexist as one and the same, and

b) when we get out of balance (i.e. choosing to prioritize one of these contradictions over the other like Takaba being so focused on doing comedy right that he's forgotten that the spirit of comedy is being lighthearted), we lose sight of what's truly important.

So Takaba's trying to get back at why he became an entertainer in the first place...

... and the lengths he was willing to go through to be accepted and feel like he was understood by his peers... idk. It's so fucking real...

This is also the antithesis of everything Sukuna stands for.

But what I personally think is neat about Takaba is that, while he did act goofy so that others found him relatable, I really do think he's one hell of a genuinely goofy mf for a couple of reasons. First, an overly serious personality type has to be balanced out by an unserious personality (in Jungian psych it's all about wholeness by bridging opposites). Second, he seems to genuinely be interested in comedy and the craft of comedy.

Takaba's problem was then that his overly serious persona would kill all the fun out of comedy, while on the other hand, the part of him that wanted to be accepted did not want to take things seriously because it meant getting rejected.

It's almost like Takaba never got these two parts of himself to work together and so they worked against each other.

And can I just say that I absolutely loved this interaction between Takaba's current self and his child self? Representing Takaba in his younger years felt like Gege was writing about how this was the formative period when Takaba's conflict between his two personalities started. Gege already did something similar with Gojo in his teen years and this is just so masterful and beautiful because I don't even know how to put into words that Gege is writing about a process of healing through dialogue with the inner child.

I'm screaming in depth psychology nerd.

Above all, I love how this chapter in particular gets at the conflict we've seen repeated in other characters in jjk--i.e. Gojo felt isolated but did not realize that was partly because he built barriers around himself.

It's like Gege is showing us how we see ourselves (our sense of self) is the very source of our own tragedies because we're largely blind to anything that is outside of conscious awareness because we push it into the shadow.

It's just... *chef's kiss*

fucking Gege 😭👌

So I LOVED seeing Takaba own his need to be known and understood because that's so fucking human.

But even better was how he brought together that goofy mf he tapped into due to his need to be understood with his earnest and serious nature.

Also, his level of self-awareness...

And to bring it all back full circle...

Will Kenny laugh? Looks like Kenny is excited to see what Takaba has in store, so that's already a good sign.

idk, again, this isn't my favorite chapter ever and at the same time... man... what a fantastic character exploration.

There's something here about how Takaba may be the only one who gets this whole sense of self thing right.

The other thing I'll say is that Gege has a tendency to make his characters relatable in their last moments. There's something here that I can't quite put my finger on quite just yet that goes back to the idea that "how we live is how we die" and jjk characters have a tendency to go out in such a way that reflects how they lived their lives.

Whatever the case, I'm on #Team Takaba and am rooting for him from the sidelines.

Thanks for stopping by anon!

[ninapi]

○●○●○●○●●○●○●○●○●●○●○●○●○●●

Save me (Ushijima Version)

Premise: Ushijima struggles to understand the concept of love and what is expected of him in said equation, but he finds himself in the predicament of wanting nothing more than to be with the woman he loves even if it gets in the way of his established lifestyle.

Word Count: 4981

Chapter 6: Happy Ending

Coexistence is an awkward thing, specially when two lonely souls get a taste of it at the same time.

You’ve been living in the dorms for three years in a row and yes, you visited your parents a few times during longer holidays, but you were now used to being alone all the time. As for Ushijima, he lived with his mother, but both of them were rarely home, so interactions were minimal.

When his manager heard he asked for your hand in marriage he worked hard to get you a perfect fit and when I say hard, I mean he didn’t sleep for three days until he found a fitting property for you to start your journey together.

It wasn’t what Ushijima had in mind, he lived all his life in a small two-bedroom apartment with his mother and it wasn’t terrible, but when he knew he wanted to marry you, he thought of giving you the best life someone can ever offer to a life partner, not something that came out of his dull memories.

The apartment was even smaller than his previous one, it only had one bedroom and it didn’t even have a yard, just a balcony.

He was dissatisfied and even wondered how his manager ever thought this was ideal for you two. He was regretting bringing you along to sign the contract.

“(Y/N) don’t you love this place? It has so many windows and the view is gorgeous! That’s what sold it for me, also your room has a walking closet and a really big bath, very difficult to find if you ask me, he’s a big guy after all, having him fit in a Japanese average bath is a task. Since you like plants I thought this balcony would be perfect for you, it stretches all the way to your room and the kitchen! You gotta see the kitchen, it even has an oven installed on the wall!” after hearing his manager’s rant he felt a bit bad for hating it this much, he never thought of the things he was mentioning, it was true, for you a nice kitchen and space for plants would be important assets, he was also pretty big, now that he thinks about it he didn’t even know baths came in different sizes, maybe this wasn’t as bad, at least it was a start.

“I love it! It’s so spacious! Living in a dorm for so long really makes you appreciate some extra space. Thank you for your help, it’s lovely.” you gave his manager a soft squeeze and he took the signed papers over to finalize the deal, giving you both some alone time to look at your new home in detail.

“Toshi what’s wrong? Do you not like the place?” you walked over to your man, holding onto his arm as you waited for his reply. “I guess it does make sense for us, it’s also in a very convenient location and in my estimated budget.” he looked around again trying to convince himself some more, “But?”

“But it’s not what I wanted for you, for my family. I envisioned a large house with a big yard and more rooms. We can’t have babies in a place like this.” his statement made you blush, he was really thinking ahead which was endearing but also a bit embarrassing, you haven’t even had the baby talk yet, it’s the first time you hear him say he wanted to have kids. “Hmmmm…we can definitely have babies here though, cozy places usually bring families together. But the contract is just for two years, Toshi. If you don’t feel comfortable enough by then or we need a larger place, we can just look for another one. I think this is a good start, it has all we need even a bath that fits… you.” Only you could make grabby hands look so oddly suggestive, but he got what you were trying to say, making him laugh a bit.

“As long as you like it, it’s fine with me.”

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

Your parents weren’t really surprised when Ushijima formally asked for permission to marry you, they had already heard the details from you the same night when you came back from your graduation ceremony. They were happy with the news, your dad in particular, the terrified look in your eyes when he took you back from Kageyama’s arms back in the day still hunts his nightmares. He always feared experiencing such a hard relationship being that young would scar you forever and would make you drift away from finding true love. Even if this meant ‘losing’ their only child to adulthood this fast, he was happy for you.

Ushijima came to your house sporting a very expensive looking blazer, a big basket of fruit in one hand and a flower bouquet for your mom in the other.

He took this so seriously it was almost comical, but they could feel in each of his actions how important this was for him. He even printed a copy of his monthly income and his bank statement for your parents to feel at ease knowing he could support you just fine on his own and they had nothing to worry about. It was more than you expected, and your mom was still dizzy after reading all the paperwork he brought to support his request.

Once he was completely sure that both of your parents accepted him as a new member of the family, you all sat down to eat your mom’s hearty dinner, not before setting all his bank statements on fire. Your parents wanted him to understand they didn’t care about money and that as long as he loved you, it was all it mattered for them and if you were ever in need of help, they would always be there to do so.

It made him feel supported and welcomed but also sad at the same time, he wished he could say the same about his parents, but the sad reality was that none of them cared. He took you to meet his mother and she wasn’t thrilled. After bringing you some tea she left with her friends, making Ushijima feel many things, embarrassment being the predominant emotion. But you, you cried. Not because she didn’t care for you, but because you could clearly see how his life has been all this time, and it broke your heart. After reassuring him that you were fine with not having a mother in-law, he researched for days making sure he would cause a good impression when asking for your hand, having money and a good income being seemingly important to everyone online.

He felt like he was part of a family for the first time since he has memories of his own self, and that felt good.

Your dad dragged him to the living room to chat, he was impressed with the fact that he would be taking part in the World Cup and was already accepted as a representative for the next olympics even when they were far away from now, he’s been representing the country in the sport for long, and he wanted to let him know how proud of his new son he was. Your mom brought some tea and cookies over to the table and you nestled yourself on his side, your mother doing the same on your dad’s side. It was such a heartwarming scene to him, he always wanted a family like this and he was able to get it through you, he was grateful.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

The wedding wasn’t big and as fast as it came it went, all of your school friends came over for it, even Tendo came, there was no way he would miss the event of a lifetime, it felt more like a school reunion than a wedding, but you were both grateful for it, it just made things easier, more natural.

At first, living together was as awkward as it could be. He was very well mannered and organized, you were as well but in different aspects. He would go around the house picking up all your water bottles to wash them and put them away, when all you wanted was to have them there so you could get enough hydration during the day, very little miscommunication issues of this sort, nothing to worry about that was fine. But he, well let’s just say he wasn’t good at knocking so he would constantly get in the restroom while you were peeing, also giving him the biggest shock of his life when he got in and saw you butt naked getting into the shower.

It took you a couple of weeks to figure out a routine that worked for both of you and for him to understand you were human too and peeing was a normal thing, but after a few trial and error weeks everything got better, and you were both satisfied with how it all turned out.

You visited him often for lunch time, this letting you to meet his personal trainer one day and you immediately clicked. He gave you a nutrition guide for star athletes that you studied heavily, wanting to support your husband to the best of your abilities, this awakening a new passion.

You always did enjoy cooking, especially if it was for your man, so it made perfect sense you decided to make it your full-time job. That way you could be useful for not only your husband but also his teammates, becoming a fully trained and certified sports dietitian in just a few years. Ushijima was happy with your choice, anything that would keep you close was a win for him.

On a side note, having your sleepy self rubbing on him every morning awoken something within him that he didn’t know it existed, even if you always had your suspicions with the way he kissed you, rough and heated. Making him once again think of that big house he wished to get, his instincts were telling him you would need it soon.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

Time Skip~

His second child would be coming to this world at the very same time the Olympics would be held, making your rather peaceful home, a mess.

“I won’t go.” he was sitting on the floor in front of the door, crossing his arms over his chest and looking like an angry child. You’ve been having pain in your lower abdomen all morning and he just didn’t feel comfortable leaving you alone, even if that could put at risk his entire future.

You could hear Kageyama banging on the other side of said door, extremely annoyed by the situation. “(Y/N) you better get your husband’s ass in the van within five minutes, or I swear I will get this door down.” this was definitely not helping, getting you even more agitated,  “Baby c’mon, get up, don’t make a pregnant lady drag you outside, we are in a fifteenth floor.”

“I said I won’t go.”

Kageyama was losing his cool, Hinata and Hoshiumi were now racing over to the apartment while bickering, causing you to sigh dramatically.

“Toshi, you need to go. You’re their captain, the country needs you, my love.” you managed to open the door squishing your belly on your husbands face, a circus worth of people outside your home already.

“I can’t go. What if my daughter decides she wants to come out today? I can’t possibly leave you here alone, you are due in just a couple of days, she could be here any minute now.” you looked out at the bunch of familiar faces pleading for help, they were all adults now but to you they were still a bunch of toddlers, pretty much useless in a situation like this. Kuroo, the only adult around and your co-worker came to save the day. “Ushijima just go. I’ll stay here with her, you don’t need me there to win, do you? I’ll call Iwaizumi if anything happens, and he will let you know. Now go.” your puppy eyes and Kageyama’s thirst for blood made him get up from the floor.

“Will you be fine with that? I don’t trust him.” he was side-eyeing Kuroo who had a smug satisfied grin on his face. At least he got him to move. “I do trust him, love. Go. She’ll wait for her daddy to come home.” as if on cue, a playful foot came out of your belly, making Ushijima’s heart feel even heavier, he really didn’t want to leave you right now.

“(Y/N) we need to leave now.” Kageyama was now pulling all the stray onlookers out of the apartment, heading for the elevator.

Getting on your tippy toes you gave your husband a soft peck on the lips before detaching yourself from him and walking over to Kuroo. “I have the hospital number saved in my phone, looked it up just now, also I know she has her bag packed and ready to go, I have my car parked outside too. Just go man, I know what to do.”

Instead of replying he looked around the house for his little devil. “Runa, where’s your mom’s baby bag?” little feet padding around were heard coming from your room, followed by a rolling sound. “Here, daddy!”

“My sweet angel, I have to go for a couple days. This strange man behind me is supposed to take your mom to the hospital if your sister comes early. What do you have to do if that happens?”

Straightening herself in a military-like position and showing a scowl on her face, she answers, “I press the number 1 in mommy’s phone hard, grab my pink backpack, and wait.” bringing a smile to his face, he caresses his baby girl’s little face, “Good girl, instead of waiting, now you will follow the spiky haired man to his car and wait for daddy in the hospital, ok?” giving her dad a big hug, she nods. “Will you come fast, daddy? I’m scared.”

Dropping his sports bag to the ground, he deflates, “That’s it. I’m not going. You have other great players; you don’t need me.” he was about to take his jacket off when you stopped him for good, “Ushijima Wakatoshi, get in that van right now. I can take care of both of our daughters. If I need to go to the hospital Tetsu will take me there and your daughter won’t come out of me until you get to the hospital, trust me, I know my daughters, they’re just like you, stubborn.”

He looked like a wounded puppy, but he knew you were only thinking of your family’s best interests as usual, he trusted you and his unborn child, she’s always been good to you, wouldn’t give you a hard time when he wasn’t around. He needed to get this over with fast so he could come back in time.

“So, two games today and if we win the second one, then we have one or two more tomorrow, right?” he was talking to Kuroo, yet his eyes were going in between his three-year-old and your ridiculously large belly. “Yup, let’s not say ‘if’ kay? Total of four games, you should be back by tomorrow evening. I’ll stay here and we can order something delicious for dinner and watch princess movies all night.” that made his toddler jump around excitedly, suddenly forgetting her daddy wouldn’t be around for a while.

Nodding in agreement, he bent down a bit to kiss your lips tenderly, then crouched down to kiss your belly and pulled his tiny human along for a forehead kiss before quietly walking out of the house. He really didn’t want to go, but his family was growing, he couldn’t afford to mess this up right now especially with the renewal of his contract coming right up and foreign scouts coming to the matches.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

As you predicted, contractions did start the following morning, but you’ve already done this once, you knew what to do and you kept on with your daily routine for as long as you could still walk around the house, having to take breaks often to breathe through the pain. Her due date was the very next day and it seemed like she would come just in time, if not a bit earlier.

Kuroo had your toddler sprawled on his lap, very much asleep while he watched the final match on the TV.

You stopped in front of him holding your rollie luggage and your daughter’s backpack, sending chills down his spine when he took in all the signs. “Oh my god, (Y/N). Are you for real? Is it happening now?” holding onto your belly in pain, you tried your best to give him a comforting smile. “Yeah, don’t worry is not like she will come out of me on your car seat, but I do need to get going, the contractions are coming way too fast now. Is the match almost over?” he nodded, looking for his car keys in panic mode. “Then don’t call Iwaizumi-san just yet, let’s head over to the hospital first, I will text Toshi so he can see it when the game’s over.” Kuroo held your daughter up gently so she wouldn’t wake up, then took your luggage with his free hand and walked behind you, just in case. You had to stop a couple of times before you could actually reach his car, running out of time you were cutting in close, and you started to fear your husband wouldn’t make it. Thankfully, Kuroo already had your daughter’s car seat in place, getting it ready when he saw you pacing around the house in a cold sweat.

The rest of it was pretty much a blur, your water broke in his car and Kuroo lost two of his lives right there. The entire process was going so much faster this time around, even you were panicking.

Once you got checked-in in your hospital room, Kuroo and your daughter were allowed in with you, the nurses thinking he was your husband, thankfully since you really didn’t want to be alone at that moment. The baby was almost out, your body forcing you to start pushing even without your consent. “TETSU!” he jumped out of the sofa immediately, going over to your side, “Do you need me to hold your hand? Give you some water? How do I help you with the pushing? Should I press somewhere? Fuck, why is Ushijima taking this long??” his panicked outburst made you smile, you were glad the one staying behind was him and not someone else from the team, otherwise you would have probably chewed on an ear or two by now.

“Can you call him?” you could barely talk without screaming, trying to steady your breath, and he complied, dialing your husband with shaky hands.

“Kuroo what is it? I’m on my way but there’s traffic.” he put it on speaker since he couldn’t find a way to comfortably get to your ear without seeing inside of you, he was definitely not mentally prepared for that and wanted to keep his head where it currently was. “Toshi, your daughter isn’t listening, I don’t think I can hold her in any longer I feel her already coming out.” Kuroo was about to pass out but still trying to keep your other daughter from waking up, never leaving your side. The nurses encouraging you to push and very much ready to bring a baby to this world.

“It’s ok, my love. Let her out, I’ll be there soon, just got out of the car. If I run, I should be there in under ten minutes.” getting permission from her daddy, your daughter continued her way out with full force, your husband could hear the pain you were in through his phone, making him run faster along the sidewalk.

“Tetsu, can you please wait outside with Runa? I don’t want to scare her, it’s just going to get louder by the second.” he leaned over to kiss your head, squeezing your hand. “You can do this, (Y/N). Just call me if you need me back in, I’ll let your husband know where you are.”

Nine minutes and twenty-two seconds later, Ushijima was panting in front of Kuroo, who still managed to keep your toddler asleep. “Is she here now?”

“Not sure, the doctor is in now, but she told me to bring Runa out.” he could see how nervous Kuroo was, this was seriously getting to him, it was like if his own daughter was on the line. Ushijima was truly grateful for his assistance, otherwise he would end up hating himself if something bad happened to you or his child while he was out working. “Thank you, I’ll go in now. Can you stay with Runa just a while longer? I’ll come for her as soon as the baby is out.” giving him a thumbs up and a smile, Kuroo returned to the story he was attempting to read to the sleepy child in his arms, a heavy weight now lifted from his shoulders.

As soon as Ushijima entered the room, he was greeted with loud cries, the doctor was holding his naked newborn with glee, seemingly happy with the results. Before even being able to see his daughters face, he jogged over to you, finding you in tears, he did make it on time. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be here to support you, my love.” with a kiss to your head, you could feel his sorrow mixed with excitement running through his veins. “It’s ok, you made it in time look who’s coming to meet us.”

The nurse holding your baby gently placed her on your chest, tears were flowing down your face from witnessing once more the miracle of life. Your husband leaned in closer to look at her face, she was very different from her big sister, her eyes were smaller and her hair was darker, she looked more like him this time. “Thank you for coming safely to this world, Rena.” a stray tear was now on his left cheek, and you kissed it dry, life had been so good to you, it was almost overwhelming.

The other nurse, who at first thought Kuroo was your husband, went out to call him in so he could see the baby before they had to take her away. He didn’t know why he was being called to such an intimate moment, but he complied, bringing your first born along.

You were still holding the baby and Kuroo’s face lit up like a firefly field in seconds, he’s never seen a newborn up close, it was truly amusing knowing she was inside of you just a few minutes ago. “Hi, I’m uncle Tetsu. You owe me some pizza, lil miss. I lost two lives bringing your mommy here on time.” the baby opened her eyes slightly at the sound of his voice, melting his heart into a pile of goo. “You have my gratitude; I will never forget this.” Nodding, he handed Ushijima his other daughter, getting ready to leave. “(Y/N) do you need anything else? If not, then I should probably get going, something tells me my desk is overflowing with papers after missing these two key days of work.” sighing, he gathered his things from the sofa, “You can go, Tetsu. Thanks for everything you sure are the best. But don’t tell Tobio I said that, or we will all be in troubles.” after a good laugh and some warm hugs, your daughter was taken from you, and you could finally have some rest.

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

Living in a one-bedroom apartment with a three-year-old and a newborn was giving Ushijima headaches. He loves his daughters with all his heart, but they really needed more space, he found a pack of diapers in the fridge just now and he didn’t know what to do with his own life.

“What’s wrong, baby? You look stressed. Is it because we aren’t getting much sleep? I can take care of Rena at night; you need to rest.” shaking his head, he sat besides you on the bed, moving dolls and pillows around in order to fit. “We need a bigger house, (Y/N). We can’t continue to live in this mess, I can’t even find my eldest daughter.” quiet giggles coming from the closet indicated she was at least still alive, but this was seriously not ideal. “Toshi, you are supposed to be choosing where you wanna play for the next what four years? In two weeks. I’m pretty sure we can wait a bit longer, you said they were all international scouts. I don’t want to get a new house here if we need to move countries in a month.”

He's been thinking about that, moving countries with a newborn was even less ideal than his current situation, did he really want to put you through all that? “I could always stay with the Adlers, we don’t need to go anywhere. Rena is still too fragile to move around, I’m sure I’ll get international offers again one day.”

You didn’t like his tone, Tobio had already signed with an Italian team, you were sure your husband would also be called over to some place in Europe, you’ve been even looking forward to it. “We are not giving up on Europe just because we just had a baby, Toshi. This was your dream; we are following it till the end.”

“You’re right. That was my dream. Now, my priority is to make sure my family is doing good and have everything that needs. I’m not sure if traveling with a newborn is such a good idea.” it would be complicated but not impossible. “She wouldn’t be a newborn; we wouldn’t need to go there for another month. If we do things right, we can even get that big house you want there, the girls will be just fine.” he was still unsure but if that’s what you wanted then he would do his part.

Offers did come flying to his face, he had to sit down with Kuroo to go through them, he relied on him so much more lately and he had offered to help him decide which offer was better for his family. Poland came on harder than the rest, they even threw in a fully equipped home for his family in the offer, he wouldn’t have to think about rent or buying a house so he could just continue saving money for later while you stayed home with his girls.

Kuroo was certain this was the best offer, but teasing someone as dense as Ushijima was always fun. “But know I’m keeping (Y/N) here. You take your kids to Poland, she isn’t missing more work.” he knew he was probably joking but it felt like a knife to the heart to him thinking of being apart from you for such a long time. “She’s staying home with the girls, might not work ever again.” the alpha male in him was shining brightly, making Kuroo’s insides turn but managing to mask it with a boisterous laugh. “I’m joking, man. I wouldn’t even let her work yet if she stayed. I saw her pushing that child out ok, seemed tough, she needs sleep.” Agreeing with this Ushijima relaxed back onto his chair, looking at the rest of the offers.

Italy also wanted him, and he knew having your best friend around would make you even happier, but he could always fly over, it’s fairly close, that house was the deal maker, if he ever ends up drinking formula instead of coffee again he’s strangling someone. “Let’s go with Poland then.”

“Yeah, money wise is the best option and if you don’t need to pay for rent that just makes things easier for (Y/N), she can stay home at least for a few years with the girls. It’s a four-year contract though, Runa would have to go to school there, is that fine with you?” that would be tough on his daughter but she’s as smart as you, learning a new language could even be considered fun for her. “It's ok. Afterwards we would probably come back to Japan. I don’t want to keep my wife away from the things she loves for long just because I wanted to play for a European team.”

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

Poland was lovely, your daughters didn’t really notice much of a change except for the fact that they had a very unpleasant first flight.

Tobio would fly over every off season to chill with you and still train with your husband, having been his setter for so long, he still craved the comfort of his previous team, thankfully they now get along much better than before. He also got attached to baby Rena quite fast, causing daddy to get jealous of how happy she seemed when he was around, but he figured this Kageyama jealousy thing would just live with him for the rest of his days.

Four years go by quickly, the future was unknown for all of you once more. Both, Tobio and your husband decided they wanted to go back to Japan once their contracts ended. Ushijima was now in the last curve of his career, and he thought settling down was probably a good idea. His savings were enough to buy a decent house, while your savings were enough to send your first born to school and live comfortably. You’ve been talking with Kuroo and your job was pretty much guaranteed when you were back so everything seemed to be going fantastically for all of you.

The house he envisioned all those years ago before even marrying you was finally in front of him. It had more rooms than you probably needed, a nice little white fence, enough space for you to have a lovely garden and it was in a prime location, being easy for the both of you go to work and take your children to school. Rena would be going to kindergarten this year and Runa was now a third year in elementary school.

Getting to his dream future took more turns than he expected, originally, he thought after playing in Europe he would retire and live alone miserably in the countryside, daydreaming of his past victories. He never thought he would be traveling around the world with his wife and two daughters, never thought he would be blessed with such an understanding partner that gave her all for him and the entire family. He never thought he’d be buying a house this big and to fill it all in with laughter and toys instantly. Truth is he still wanted a son, so it was a good thing the house had some extra rooms and since he wouldn’t be as busy for a while, it was a good time to let the beast lose once again.

He never thought he would find love and that love would never leave him, that love would just keep on growing and multiplying, that he could ever be this happy.

Until he met you.

○●○●○●○●●○●○●○●○●●○●○●○●○●●

Note: Hope you guys enjoyed Ushi’s happy ending, I swear this man makes me so soft- The true ending route will start next Friday, this Sunday I will be posting the first one of my non-haikyuu one-shot series I told you guys about, but next week the boys will be back with the final route for the ‘Save Me’ series 🙊

Tagged babes: @dazaisfavgf @lauraagrace, @san-emi

Previous Chapter Masterlist

[fawndlyvenus]

Ok, because I need the kick in the ass to get this ball rolling, my idea thus far for the BigTay Vampire fic I have in mind.

This is a prequel of sorts to the other KimChay fic I was working on. (That was gonna be for Halloween before shit hit.) But basically it goes like so:

Tay and Time break up. It’s nasty. Like they’ve been together for a long time, and Tay only stayed because he felt like he had to. We’ll Time didn’t take the idea of Tay walking away too kindly. (Something something “Time did it mainly because of his family” something something.) And so as protection, Kinn gives Tay a bodyguard.

Enter Big. Now our boy has been hiding his feelings for Kinn for AGES, but Kinn is a vampire and his boss. Big is just a bodyguard and a human. Kinn is in his ‘Post-Tawan phase’ and isn’t looking at anymore humans anymore as potential love interests. (Tawan was just wanting Kinn for immortality, and Kinn figured shit out.)

So Big is now heartbroken and Tay is now heartbroken. And the two of them are at the moment of “I am just a job/doing my job, so let’s just coexist as best we can.” And trying to lick their wounds while healing. (It’s messy and not fun.) And something something finding healing with each other, but not them healing each other. Like they start to make each other smile and laugh for the first time in a while. Or feel seen and important for the first time in a while.

And then cut to them eventually catching feelings, and the chaos that ensues from that. I also have a hidden little thing of Tay being compared to a snake by Time/People, and him turning that into a strength and twisting that to make it his own power. And let’s just say Big sees Tay dressed up one day, and he is not doing well. Tay has no right, ok? Big is fighting for his life.

And that’s all I really have atm. It’s not super thought out, and will need so much work to get everything smoothed out, but yeah. There it be. @mortimerlatrice I hope this was a bit of your cup of tea.

[xxrainshadowsxx]

Interpersonal Chapter 15

Oncie meets the family, Aurora continues to cause mischief, and there's a few more Big, Big Words.

“Wait, let me wake up,” he mutters, yawning and stretching. “Your family? Are they coming to visit or something?”

“No,” you sigh. You take a seat next to him and grab his hands, more for your own comfort than anything else. “I just got a call from my sister. My dad is in the hospital. He had a stroke and… well, they don’t think he has much longer than a week. I know this is really last minute, and that I’m disrupting your whole week, but if we could take your plane–”

“You don’t even have to ask,” he cuts you off. “Don’t worry about getting there, I’ll take care of it, alright? Let me make a few phone calls, why don’t you get some bags packed? What city are we flying into?”

You dive into his arms. “Thank you so much,” you whisper. “You don’t know how much this means to me.” You start getting choked up, so you bury your face in his chest, just needing him to hold you for a while.

He gives you all the time you need, slowly rubbing his hand up and down your back. “I’m here for you,” he murmurs. “Whatever you need, I’ll be here.”

You pull your head back to look at him. “You sure you want to come? I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Are you going to be okay with being away from work for up to a couple weeks?”

“That’s not important,” he brushes off. “The important question is, do you want me there?”

“Yes.” It’s the easiest answer you’ve ever given. Having him there to help be your strength… even the thought of it is unbelievably soothing. You didn’t just want him there, you felt like you needed him there. The thought of facing any ordeal without his help now was a terrifying unknown, a repelling thought. You didn’t even want to consider it.

After several minutes, you finally extricate yourself from his arms. “We really should get going,” you say, walking over to the dresser to start pulling out clothes. “You think we can fly in by tonight?”

“I’ll make it happen. What airport are we going to?” he asks, phone already in hand. You give him the name of the airport closest to your hometown as you continue gathering things together. Though he claims to be most comfortable in them, you decide not to take any of his suits. Besides the fact that you don’t really want him to be recognized, his mega-billionaire side and your hometown couldn’t coexist in your mind for some reason. You don’t want him to wear the façade he shows to the public around your family. You just want him to be himself.

At some point, he puts two suitcases on the bed and you hurriedly roll the clothes and toiletries into them. You’re a fairly quick packer, and by time he hangs up, you have nothing left to do but look around for any miscellaneous items you may have forgotten.

“Okay, I think we’re good,” you decide as you give the bedroom a final once-over. “What’s the schedule for flying?”

“I managed to fast-track it. We can leave in an hour,” he says. “Are you going to be okay with flying? I know you want to get out there fast, but I also know how much you hate planes.”

“It’ll be fine,” you insist. “Besides, you’ll be with me, right? This time I don’t have to stop myself from climbing into your lap if I need it.”

He raises one eyebrow at you. “While I’m definitely not complaining, I have to say, I wasn’t expecting you to flirt, given present circumstances.”

You shrug helplessly. “It’s my coping mechanism,” you sigh. “I use humor, or, with you, flirting apparently, to detract from all the negative thoughts. I have no idea what I’m feeling, so I just default to what’s most comfortable so I don’t self-destruct.”

“You don’t have to hide what you’re feeling around me,” he reminds you gently as he grabs the suitcases and takes them to the entryway while you wait for a car.

“I know,” you assure. “It’s not that. I literally just don’t know what I’m feeling. When my dad was in that accident that killed my mom, his personality changed. He doesn’t know who me or Aurora even are. To me, that was when my dad died. I mourned him then. I didn’t think him actually dying was going to have such an effect on me, but it is. It’s like losing him a second time.” Your mouth twists. You hate yourself a bit for what you’re about to admit, but if anyone will understand, it’s him. “And I hate this, I really hate this… but part of me is glad in a way. He’s not going to be in pain anymore, and he’ll be with my mom again, and I feel awful for even thinking that.” Your lower lip quivers again as you come dangerously close to crying.

He puts his hands on your shoulders. “Hey. Listen to me,” he urges, and reluctantly, you look into his eyes. “Everything you’re feeling is valid and none of it is bad. You’re in a terrible situation that I can’t even begin to imagine, and I’m so proud of how you’re handling it. You have to process your grief in your own way. And I’ll be here to help you the whole time,” he vows.

“And I am so grateful for that,” you murmur as a car pulls up. He holds the door open for you, so you take one of the suitcases. He tries to stop you from doing this, but you simply tell him “Please? I need to be doing something to keep myself from overthinking, even if it’s something this small. I just want to turn my mind off until we get there.” He relents, but you can tell it’s a struggle for him. It’s in his nature to take care of those he loves. It’s one of your favorite things about him, and you don’t ask him to give it up often, but right now it’s what you need.

You get yourselves and your luggage to the car quickly enough, and then you’re speeding to the airport. You give your phone to Onceler so he can text Aurora the flight details. By the time everything is squared away with her, you’ve reached the airport hangar.

You keep your eyes off the plane as you help to get the suitcases out of the car, but as a flight attendant comes to relieve you of your burden, you’re forced to confront the thing. Even wanting to get home as soon as possible doesn’t make the prospect of flying any more appealing.

“Hey. It’ll be okay," Onceler says as he comes up to stand next to you. “Just think of the last time we were on here, yeah?” You can’t help but laugh softly as you shake your head.

“You mean when you kissed me and then left like nothing had happened, which was really confusing by the way. Yeah, those were the good old days,” you say with a massive eye roll.

He wraps both his arms around your waist and kisses the back of your neck as you board the plane, so you can’t be too annoyed at him. Once you’re seated, you lay your head on his shoulder, and he’s positioned you both so that you can’t see out the window and further freak yourself out.

“That one kiss led to all of this,” he points out. “I was trying to figure out if you liked me, too. And if you want to make accusations of being confusing, that was you,” he teases, pressing his forehead to yours as the plane starts moving. You tense, but by now he’s learned how to keep you as calm as possible. He runs his hand up and down your arm and continues speaking in your ear. “You kissed me back but then you distanced yourself. I was thinking of giving up when I asked you to go driving with me.”

“Were you planning on fucking me that night?” you ask, both out of genuine curiosity and to keep him talking as the plane begins its ascent.

“Not initially,” he says slowly. “But I won’t deny that the thought did creep into my head pretty early that night. I wasn’t sure if that was going to mess up my chances of dating you though; I knew I wanted a relationship with you, but that was unfamiliar territory.”

You peek up at his face. That can’t be right. “There’s no way I’m your first girlfriend,” you say disbelievingly. 

“Not technically, no,” he shrugs. “I dated in high school, but not very seriously. Between then and you, it’s just been one night stands. Then you brought emotions into the picture and I didn’t know how to deal with it. You turned my whole world upside down.”

“Sorry for being such an inconvenience,” you tease. The plane seems to be at an acceptable height for you now; a glance out the window reveals that, sure enough, you’re in the clouds and shouldn’t have to deal with any severe jerking.

“You’re the best inconvenience that’s ever happened to me,” he promises, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead. “I love you. That in and of itself is a miracle. And I wouldn’t change any of our decisions because they brought us together.” He gives you one more brief kiss, sending a warmth throughout your body, all the way down to your toes. “Now. How’d you want to spend the flight? Movies? Sleeping? Just talking?”

“Let’s go to the bedroom,” you decide after little consideration. “We were woken up pretty early. And I have a feeling we aren’t going to get much sleep over the next few days.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he agrees before leading you into the other room. You lay down next to him, drifting off into an uneasy sleep as you try not to think about what’s coming in just a few short hours….

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What does Aurora look like?” Onceler asks as the two of you make your way through the airport several hours later. You’re both dressed casually and wearing sunglasses despite the evening having set in in an attempt to hide your faces, but you still see a few heads turn in your direction, causing your paranoia to flare up. You don’t want the press to bother you this week. Unfortunately, he sticks out in a crowd just based on his height alone. Someone’s bound to figure out it’s him. 

You force yourself to focus on his question instead of worrying if anyone recognizes him. “Um, she’s pretty tall, short hair, it’s just a little lighter than mine unless she’s dyed it. We’re not identical but you can tell we’re related.”

“I see her,” he mutters, and starts guiding you in the right direction. You crane your neck to try and see, but the throng of people is too thick. You trust his judgment, however; he stands a head above most everyone else.

Eventually, you get through enough people to find that it is indeed your sister he’s leading you towards. You seem to spot each other at the same time and close the gap quickly. You hug her tightly the second you can.

“You need to come home more often,” she admonishes gently before releasing you and taking her first look at Onceler. “Well shit,” she grumbles. “The pictures I’ve seen don’t do you justice at all. You’re tall as all fuck.”

“Um, thanks?” he guesses, looking to you for help, but you offer him nothing more than an apologetic shrug. If he wants to be with you, he’s going to have to learn to deal with Aurora on his own. She was part of the package.

“Oh, don’t be scared. I’m not going to bite today,” she teases, holding out her hand for him to shake it. Now it was your turn to be nonplussed. Aurora was never this nice. Granted, you’d never had a relationship serious enough to do a formal “meet-the-family” thing until now, but she’d met a couple before. And she’d never even pretended to be nice.

If either of them notice your expression, they don’t comment on it. “Come on,” Aurora says as she leads the way to the parking lot. “Dad was still conscious and able to talk when I left. He’s asking to see you.”

Now it was Onceler’s turn to quirk an eyebrow. “So… what am I expecting here?” he asks carefully. “I was under the impression he didn’t know who you two were. And I really don’t want to fuck anything up by saying or doing anything I’m not supposed to.”

You let Aurora take that question. She’s better equipped to answer it. “He doesn’t remember us, and every few days I have to remind him I’m his kid because he does forget, but when I told him his other daughter was coming to visit, he did say he wanted to see her. I mentioned you, too, but we’ll see if he remembers that.” By this point, you’ve reached the car and have loaded the suitcases into the trunk.

You get into the passenger’s side next to your sister while Onceler awkwardly clambers into the backseat. “Get comfortable, it’s a bit of a drive,” she informs him, looking highly amused at his attempts to get his long legs into a manageable position.

“Do you want me to get you gas?” he asks once the car starts moving, making you freeze. While probably an innocent sounding question to anyone else, you hadn’t gotten the chance to explain to Aurora how delicate the money situation was. You hoped this was a one time thing and that he wouldn’t try and do something like pay off your dad’s medical bills.

“Deal,” Aurora agrees easily enough before turning to you. “So, catch me up on everything I’ve missed since our last phone call.”

The rest of the car ride is spent in much more comfortable conversation. You hadn’t seen Aurora in person in nearly a year, and phone calls weren’t a substitute for the real thing. You talk about everything, from mundane things like work, to reminiscing about past stories, occasionally having to give Onceler context for some of those. She asks about your relationship, of course, but doesn’t treat it as though you’re dating one of the richest people in the country. It’s such a lovely return to normal that you nearly cry in relief.

Eventually, you pull up in the hospital parking lot. “We better hurry,” Aurora mutters. “There’s only a couple more visiting hours left.” She leads you through the sterile white halls that she seems to know a little too well. Soon enough, you stop outside a door. “I’ll go in first,” she murmurs. “Let him know you’re here, make sure he’s not too overwhelmed.” She slips through the door and you hear her soft voice, but you’re not able to make out any individual words. You settle instead for holding Onceler’s hand in a vice-like grip as your heart threatens to pound out of your chest.

But he's there next to you, strong and steady, a lifeline to cling to if you break. His presence is the only thing that enables you to step into the room.

Your father is lying on the cramped hospital bed, looking like he's aged twenty years instead of just one. He looks up groggily when you enter. "Who are you? Are you my other daughter?" He looks to Aurora, who nods in confirmation. He's only speaking out of one side of his mouth, so his words are extremely slurred, but you're able to just barely make them out.

"Yeah, I am. Hi Daddy," you whisper, taking a chair on the side of his bed. He frowns at you.

"I don't remember… I don't know…" he mumbles before glancing at a picture next to him. It's a family Christmas photo from when you were eleven. You were just hitting that awkward phase where you no longer looked like a child but the components that made up your adult face weren't quite there yet, but he seems to believe that you're the same person in the picture. "You grew up," he says with what you think is a smile.

"Yeah," you choke out, not trusting yourself to say any more out of fear you might burst into tears.

His gaze travels north to land on Onceler. "Who is this?" he asks uncertainly, looking to Aurora again, but you're the one who supplies an answer.

"Daddy this is Onceler. He's my boyfriend. He wanted to meet you," you explain carefully. Onceler nervously clears his throat.

"It's nice to meet you sir," he says, and you're suddenly hit with a strange urge to laugh. It was surreal to mesh the two sides of him together. Twenty-four hours ago you were at a party with the richest people of the country, all in his honor. And now he was meeting your family, and you knew him well enough by this point to know he was desperately hoping they approved of him.

Your dad studies him wearily. "You… treat her well. That's my daughter."

Onceler nods seriously. "Of course sir. I always make sure that I'm doing the best I can."

Even this short conversation seems to exhaust him, so he lays back in his bed, eyes mostly closed, but occasionally he'd open them and look around. The three of you sit in silence, not wanting to disturb him.

Eventually, a doctor knocks on the door. "Would I be able to speak with family for a moment?" he asks softly. Aurora stands immediately. You hasten to follow, but hesitate, looking back at Onceler.

"You go," he murmurs. "I'm not family. I'll stay here." You don't miss his darkened expression, but you'll have to wait to talk to him about it. You follow Aurora and the doctor into the hall.

"So I'm afraid the prognosis isn't good," the doctor says as gently as possible. "His brain is fighting a losing battle at this point. The injury he received a few years ago severely weakened him. That part of his brain has all but shut down, and the rest is following suit. We're not sure how much longer he'll be able to hang on, but I'm so sorry to tell you his brain can't recover from this."

You take a shuddering breath. Nothing he said was surprising, but that didn't make it any easier to hear. Aurora takes a deep breath herself but looks resigned. She's always been the stronger one out of the two of you. "So what's next?" she asks. "Do we just wait for him to pass? Do you recommend that he stays here?"

"We usually advise hospice care in these scenarios since it can be difficult to predict how long he actually has," the doctor answers. "We can work on moving him tomorrow if you want to make that decision. We also need to know if you want him placed on a DNR list."

"Yeah. At this point, make him a DNR," Aurora agrees before turning to you. "Are you comfortable with all of this? You have just as much say here as I do."

You take in yet another shaky breath. "Just make him comfortable," you whisper. "I don't want him to be in a bunch of pain."

The doctor nods. "Of course. Then we'll just do a little bit of follow up blood work tonight and plan on a hospice transfer tomorrow. We have one on our own campus." With one last apologetic smile, he walks off.

Aurora gives you a look. "It's nothing I wasn't prepared to hear," you sigh before hugging her quickly. "I'm glad I came though. I thought I'd already said goodbye, but I needed this closure."

"Yeah, and I'm glad you brought him," she grins. "Not only is he actually a really great support system for you, but now he has the chance to ask Dad for his permission to ask you to marry him."

You start choking on air. Aurora just watches you with amusement as you violently cough in an attempt to get your breath back. "That is not why he's here!" you sputter as soon as you manage to find your voice again.

"Oh, I'm not suggesting that was his only motive," she clarifies. "I'm just saying I'm willing to bet my life savings that as soon as we left the room, that's exactly what he did."

"He did not," you complain. "We're not at that point yet." Even as you say it, your stomach twists in a way you can't identify, so you decide to just ignore it for now.

"Well, humor me. Do you want to marry him?" Her tone was light enough, but her expression has gone deadly serious. You knew from experience that she was not going to let you off the hook until you gave her an honest answer.

That didn't mean you weren't going to try to get out of it. "I think it's a little early to even think about marriage," you huff, attempting nonchalance.

Aurora just snorts. "Please. I've been watching the way you look at him." Her eyes suddenly soften. "I don't know if I've ever seen two people more in love. You're enamored with him. And it seems like it's the healthy kind, because you clearly haven't lost yourself in him. So stop thinking and give me your gut-reaction answer. If he asked you right now, would you agree to marry him?"

"Yes." The word falls from your mouth before you're aware of what you're saying. When it does register, you nearly fall over; you have to grab a wall for support. "Oh fuck," you whisper before looking at Aurora. "Is now really the best time to be doing this? Dad's dying."

"And he can pass with the knowledge that he's giving his blessing to a man that's going to be good to you," she smiles. "I know you haven't seen it, but Dad's still in there. And this would make him thrilled."

You can't refute that, but still didn't think it was the best conversation to be having in the hospital hallway. You glance up and see a nurse coming with supplies for a blood draw, which gives you a perfect excuse to end said conversation. "Come on," you murmur, holding the door open for the nurse.

As you step back into the room, you can't help but notice that your dad is awake and that Onceler looks extremely happy about something. You're trying to convince yourself you're imagining things, but you make the mistake of looking at Aurora. Her smug expression clearly says 'I told you so.'

You barely resist the urge to stick your tongue out at her and instead turn back to your boyfriend, who's eyeing the nurse's instruments with a stark white face. When she pulls out a needle, he abruptly stands up and walks to the other side of the room.

Aurora, obviously, picks up on this immediately. "So is it the blood or the needles you don't like?" she snickers.

"Needles. Definitely the needles," he mutters as he focuses on the sink until you tell him it's safe. Aurora makes a sound of disgust in the back of her throat.

"If you can't handle a tiny little needle like that, how the hell are you going to handle it when she's getting a giant one threaded through her spine to give you a baby?"

After her needling earlier, that kind of comment from your sister doesn't faze you. You just sigh and offer her a glare. Onceler, on the other hand, was clearly unprepared; he flails so badly he hits his head on the small TV hanging from the ceiling, stammering incoherently, his face cherry red. Aurora looks between the two of you with narrowed eyes.

"Do not tell me you haven't talked about kids yet?" she asks incredulously. "You should probably have been on the same page about that before getting serious! Fucking idiots. This is why I don't bother with this shit."

She continues to mutter darkly under her breath until the clock hits nine a quarter of an hour later. "Bye Dad. We'll be back tomorrow," she says, before giving the two of you a meaningful look.

You don't need to be prodded. You take your father's hand. His eyes are closed again, so you're not sure if he's awake, but you still whisper a "Goodbye, Daddy," as Onceler puts his hand on your shoulder for support. Almost absentmindedly, you reach up to grab that hand before giving him a small smile as you leave the hospital. This really would have been so much harder without him.

The drive to your childhood home is swift and mostly silent. All three of you are exhausted. You also know your family's three bedroom rambler is a far cry from the luxury Onceler's gotten used to, but to his credit, he never says a word.

"You know where everything is," Aurora yawns. "I'll see you in the morning." She heads off into the master bedroom she's claimed as her own while you open the door across the hall to your old bedroom.

Aurora's converted it into a mix of a guest bedroom while still leaving vestiges of your youth. She's put in a queen bed that's only just long enough for Onceler, but she's also left up all your old volleyball awards. It's a stark contrast between your old life and the new one you've carved out for yourself.

Onceler doesn't say much until you both get into bed and you curl into his chest. "So that's what an actual family acts like?" he asks quietly.

You pull back just enough to look at him. "Just mine. And you're part of it now," you remind him firmly.

He gives you a grateful smile before looking nervous. "About what Aurora said at the hospital…" he starts.

"Later," you decide. "I don't have the capacity for that heavy of a conversation right now. And I don't think it's as big of a deal as she's making it out to be."

He visibly relaxes. "Okay. Sounds good. Let's just sleep then," he says, pressing his lips to your forehead. And with all the emotional turmoil of the past twenty-four hours, it doesn't take long for sleep to find you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You're awoken the next morning by Aurora coming into the room, wearing a grave expression. You immediately shake Onceler awake, and only when you're both conscious does Aurora say, "I got a call from the hospital. Dad had another stroke last night and slipped into a coma. And… he won't wake up. Ever. They want to know if we want to pull the plug."

You let out one choked sob, and Onceler immediately puts his arms around you. It takes several minutes before you're able to look up at your sister. The words stick in your throat. All you can do is nod.

And then the sobs come all at once. You bury your head in Onceler's chest and cling to his shoulders, needing this one pillar of support as so much comes crashing down.

[sizhui]

Hiii Angie just curious is there a common fan interpretation of any of your enstars faves you really dislike

HIIIIIII oh man. I am such a pedantic nitpicky person when it comes to enstars that I dislike basically everything anyone except for a small group of carefully chosen friends and mutuals have said about my favorite characters. It's really tragicomic how bad online fans are at reading any text that demands beyond surface-level engagement, thinking and compassion. I too am a literature major and i WILL act pretentious about this! By the way i blame the trend of editing characters over Tumblr text posts for 50%+ of fandom misconceptions and it needs to die.

I think i want to talk about izumi and Leo today, because i already talked a lot about wataei in the essay i posted a few days ago, and shunazu ....i shan't get into that mess today. So..let's start with perhaps THE most foolishly and strangely misinterpreted guy in all of enstars. Leo.

Leo, together with Mika, forms the most kinned duo in the enstars fandom, which means hundreds of poor weirdos project all kinds of things onto him to hell and back, and at the same time, strip him of all of his actually interesting and unique qualities. They do, i guess, see his two main surface level qualities - being insanely good at and obsessed with his artistry, and being very scatterbrained and erratic - and somehow their little minds have turned him into some weird dumbass that can't even lead a proper conversation. No - literally, I've read Leo centric fics where he talks like a literal seven-year-old, and can't get through two sentences without yelling ucchuu, inspiration! While Leo does have a tendency to lose his train of thought, he is like. Very verbose and observant. He is, in fact, the second character after eichi who comes to mind when i think of long, heavy monologues in enstars. I just end up being like, have you ever heard Leo talking? He uses extensive and developed metaphors, he describes his own feelings and his personal mental desolation with great insight and emotion. And above all, he is able to pinpoint the exact weakness of his conversation partners, even those he isn't intimately acquainted with, and use it against them. Like. Leo can be incredibly sharp and sober, and he can be incredibly mean with the right aim. I also wish people saw his deep anguish and suicidal ideation as more than something relatable or meme-able - because Leo's story is one of death and rebirth, of the highest and purest form of salvation and of complex relationships in which both love and hurt eternally coexist. It also bothers me that people can't seem to understand that Leo knew izumi had always loved him . He knew since very early on. But he also knew that izumi wouldn't choose him over affirming his own self importance. Which was true, and makes it all the more painful. Then there's also a fact that Leo consciously sent people into their deaths in the war, not only for izumi but also FOR MONEY AND FAME but let's not get into that rn, the point is that he's Not that innocent either. A minor thing that pisses me off is how lots of enstars fans in izuleo spaces tend to make Leo find of throwing around innuendos and sex jokes when Leo straight up says that he hates sex jokes and boys ' talks. Like he just would not say that . All in all he's not your funny depression artist 69420 man he is a tortured soul who just barely evaded eternal danmation in the hell that is being misunderstood, unseen and used by the people closest to you and reached the paradise that is, even if it's just for a moment, being lovingly embraced for all that he is.

The thing people always miss about izumi is that he is a very unreliable narrator of Leo's story. The poor dear was so shaken by the realization that his beloved idiot is more lion than lamb that he deluded himself into thinking that making him like that is HIS FAULT AND HE RUINED THE INNOCENT LEO!! even though....Leo acted consciously for himself, as we affirmed earlier. All in all, izuleo is a sad relationship of two people who both thing they corrupted the other to the bone marrow, while they're actually both trying to make the other into their perfect shape and love it. But yeah that delusional, self deprecating manipulation of the readers' expectations on Leo is partly to blame for people misinterpreting Leo too, i think. Because izumi would rather you think Leo is stupid than a bad person, and most of the "truths" you get fed about Leo are spoken through him. Oh Izumi and Leo, how wonderful and yet horrible, so much more wonderful and more horrible than people think

[iminaloine]

A Tangent on Why Queer Family Matters to Me (pretty long)

One thing that really irritates the fuck out of me is when homophobes try to denounce same-sex parents under the guise of their kids needing a proper mother and father figure in their life. Now obviously I think that's complete horseshit. The funny thing is I didn't realise why it irritated me so much until earlier this year.

When I was younger I would question why I was so unbothered by the LGBTQ+ community despite coming from a country that actively reviles it and views it as a crime (Nigeria). Even figuring out that I was bi and nb didn't really feel like an 'aha!' moment. I literally just straight up got a crush on a girl in the middle of high school and spent a month reevaluating my entire being and just came out the other end like "huh. guess that's a thing now". It never felt like a big deal, because it never felt like it was "out of the ordinary" to be queer in the first place.

I only just realised early this year that it's because I was raised by two women; my mom and her childhood best friend platonically moved in together way before I was born. My dad dipped early, so I literally grew up in a household that was completely different from the heteronormative structure that a big chunk of society still views as the norm. And yeah, even though they're both the biggest cishets to have ever cishayed, they still raised me and my sibling well. Pretty fucking well, in fact. And in doing so they taught me that there is literally no concrete picture of 'family'. As long as you love the hell out of each other and stick together then you meet that criteria. That fact is something that will always be important to me. And it honestly boggles my mind that despite this pretty clear-cut concept, a lot of people still find it hard to grasp? Like I've gotten into so many arguments with people who think that this belief is the mic drop of the year, and like—it's really not??

And hearing about more people who were raised in homes that didn't make gender/sexuality out to be something that's set in stone (because it isn't) makes me feel really happy because like, YEAH! A person's identity 1. isn't something that they have to be sure of right off the bat, and it's okay (healthy, even) for parenting styles to support that, and 2. DOESN'T make your parents terrible people because they're depriving you of the father/mother you never had, or whatever. Like I understand that there are some levels of nuance to this argument but just. To anyone who has this opinion, I just want to stress this.

Dysfunctional families are not caused by same-sex parents. They are caused by dysfunctional parents and/or family members, irrespective of sexuality or gender identity.

Those two ideas can coexist, and even intersect! But one does not equal the other. And having the conventional idea of the nuclear family be basically mythologised by conservatives or homophobes (or both) just paints queer people as horrible parents for just existing, while upholding the idea that as long as a family has a mother and a father, they're Perfectly Splendid. Which is a pretty damaging narrative to hold on to. I know I'm definitely privileged to have the family I do because a lot of queer people don't, and that's why this whole thing makes me so mad. Because according to some, maybe a lot of people, my family isn't valid. It's other. It's wrong. And that's a really ignorant take.

But yeah, that's my way too long, extremely unstructured tangent that was probably just a rant but I needed to get it out of me. But hey, I'm barely an adult, my opinion on this topic probably doesn't even matter anyway, thank you

[quarantine-anon]

(I'm making my own post because adding this to someone else's post felt really rude. If they see it, yeah, it's in response to that post.)

Anwyay

Owen Strand. Yes, he's a bad parent. I hate the character. No, he doesn't deserve to be killed off.

Those things can coexist.

Owen is a flawed character. I'm not expecting characters to be perfect because if they were, there would be no story. The problem with Owen Strand is that he doesn't really grow as a character. Not enough, anyway.

He's selfish. He makes everything about himself. He inserts himself into places where he doesn't belong. He takes credit for things that have nothing to do with him. He has major anger issues. He prioritizes his job over his son.

Those are all interesting flaws for a character to start with. But they have to grow past those flaws for them to continue being interesting. Owen hasn't grown past those flaws in a meaningful way yet.

Back in season 1, episode 1, Owen immediately made it onto my "I hate this character" list and hasn't made it off yet. He found out that he had cancer and hid it from his adult son. He clearly wasn't planning on ever telling TK that he had cancer. He only came clean about it when TK found out and confronted him about it. I didn't mind him making that moment all about himself, because it was! What I hated was that he didn't feel like it was important to inform his son of this major illness that he had.

I didn't watch season 1 when it originally aired. I watched it almost a year later. Almost a year after my Dad died of cancer. And I remember that the first thing he did when he found out was call my sister and me and tell us his diagnosis because he knew we deserved to know. I'm not going to claim that my dad was perfect. He had anger issues too. I'm still dealing with some minor emotional trauma from that.

But that was Owen is season 1. He's had two full seasons to grow as a character since then, right?

Season 1 is interesting because it seemed like he was really growing as a character. He began prioritizing his son over his job when he had a history of doing the opposite. He stopped making things all about him when they shouldn't be. Sure, he brought Zoe to the hospital while TK was in a coma and he was waiting for him to wake up, but we've all done weird things. It's fine.

And then all the progress he had made in season 1 was lost when season 2 started. I know that his "I'm going tocbe a father" line has been torn to shreds by the fandom already, so I'm not going to discuss it to death here. But he didn't consider being there for TK to be a good enough reason to have one more surgery to remove any remaining traces of cancer from his body. His dog and his unborn child were, though.

At least he apologized for saying that.

Owen wasn't the only one being a bad parent to TK in the first half of season 2. Gwyn doesn't get a free pass either. She barely had any screen time with her son! The few times they had screentime together, it was wonderful, but she was far more interested in her thing with Owen and her unborn baby than in her living, breathing son.

There's no doubt that they love TK, based on what he says. They just did a really terrible job of showing it. And the general rule in visual media is show, don't tell. Let me see how much Owen and Gwyn love TK. I only felt their love for him in episode 8.

Owen had a bit of character growth throughout season 2, like any good character should. Then he regressed again at the start of season 3.

TK is in a coma because Owen didn't want to fight for the 126? What? That speech literally made no sense. And they didn't even feel the need to show Owen in TK's hospital room with him, when we know they shot the scenes because they released stills of it. It wasn't important enough to show Owen caring about his son. It was more important that he go track down Billy with Tommy because that's what the plot needed him to do.

I get feeling the need to go do something. When my dad was dying, I had times when I just needed to get out of the house. Oh, we're out of milk? Let me run to the grocery store and get some. When you're sitting there watching someone you love die, it's really, really hard. I get that Owen didn't feel like he could just sit around and do nothing. But that's what he did the last time TK was in a coma. He stayed in his son's hospital room to wait for him to wake up. Owen was there for an extremely short time before making it all about himself and leaving. We never even saw him interact with his son after he woke up! That's on the writers and the director, because that scene should have been included in the episode.

Owen had some good character growth at the end of season 3, once he was willing to take therapy seriously and face his past. And yes, I cried when I realized that TK was named after Owen's little brother who died.

Season 4 Owen (so far) has shown the most consistent growth of any season premiere Owen. He didn't automatically assume that the beautiful woman who showed up on his doorstep was looking for him. He didn't want to get involved with the investigation. He made sure to answer the phone when TK called him, even when the FBI didn't want him to.

And I get that it's impossible to be available every second of every day. Owen has his own life, and that's a good thing. But the way he handled it with TK made me a bit upset. Tk's desperately trying to get ahold of his dad because he needed him, but his dad never answered. For almost the entire day. His dad wasn't available, so he went to his father-in-law.

Am I giving Gabriel and Andrea too much credit? Possibly. But I see genuine character growth with them. They're trying. Gabriel dropped whatever he had planned for the day to help TK. Owen could have told the FBI that he was done, to find someone else, that his son was his priority, not them, but he didn't. They had already told him multiple times that they were done with him. He could have done the same. But he didn't.

Yes, Gabriel's and Owen's situations that day were different, but Owen could have chosen differently. He could have chosen to be there for TK, but he didn't.

I greatly dislike Owen Strand. I think he's a bad parent and a questionable person. (Based on my minimal knowledge of mental disorders, I'd guess that he has NPD. That's what my best friend's dad has, and I see a lot of the same traits in Owen as I saw in him.) I think we should see Owen continuing in therapy. Therapy that he isn't treating like a joke for the majority of the time.

I do not think that Owen should get killed off of the show. I think that would do more harm than good at this point. He can move back to New York, and I'd be happy. He could have much less screen time, and I'd be happy. But I don't want him to die. TK doesn't deserve that. He's already lost his mom. He doesn't deserve to lose his dad, too.

The only storylines that I actually want to see with Owen are: Owen getting therapy and realizing his flaws and working to become better, and Owen's cancer comes back. Yes, he's been in remission for 2 years now, but cancer can come back at any time. As long as they don't use it to kill him off, I want it to come back.

tl;dr

Owen Strand is not a good parent. He's not the worst parent, but he's not great. He does not, however, deserve to die because of it. He's annoying, and his character development doesn't stick.

There's a lot of potential with his character, but until they start writing him consistently, give him less screen time in favor of more interesting characters, and give him a personal storyline, I can't be bothered to care about him.

You're allowed to like him if you want, but please understand that those of us who don't like him have genuine reasons for disliking him.

[countlessrealities]

Unprompted asks || Always accepting !

Anonymous asked: Evil Rick, what do you like about your owner (Rick Prime)? What do you like about your Morty? Would you ever let them meet?

Rick frowns at the questions. He's unsure of where to start from, since none of them are easy to answer. He is a man of science, all facts and logic. Explaining his emotions, or talking about feelings in general, has never been his forte and he's thankful that he hardly ever has been forced to do it in the course of his life.

Well, up until recently, at least. Oddly enough, his partner, while almost as incompetent at them as he is, seems to love talking and, especially, asking him about their feelings, much to Rick's displeasure. Of course, he complies at the best he can, because what his alternate wants, he gets, but that doesn't make the ordeal any less vexing.

The fact that he tends to experience emotions differently compared to most human beings only makes it harder for him to put them into words. Thus why describing why he likes the two most important people in his existence and what he likes about them is an extremely arduous task for him.

"R-Rick is very intelligent and ingenious," he eventually starts, after a few moments of pensive silence. "I-I enjoy watching him working on his projects, h-his minds comes up with fascinating contraptions. I-I've learnt new things from him an-and he has inspired a few of my latest creations."

He is very satisfied with the ideas he has come up with as presents for his owner. They have been some of his best works.

"H-He is confusing, at times, frustratingly so, b-but I gladly put up with it. He keeps me sharp, keeps me guessing. I-I like puzzles, and I like watching him being puzzling. I-I think that he even confuses himself at times. It's entertaining."

That's something he would never tell to his alternate's face, of course. The other man's ego is quite touchy.

"H-He also tries to treat me well these days. T-That's new to me. His vision of the world doesn't always reflects realities, but he puts an effort in attempting to understand me and in paying attentions to my needs."

His owner might not be a conventionally good partner, but he worked incredibly well for Rick him. But moving on...

"A-As for Morty...Things between us have always been convoluted." And what an understatement that was. "I-I've seen his potential since the first time I laid eyes on me. H-He didn't disappoint. He went well beyond any expectation."

Back when they had met, he had known that the teen would have gone places. He hadn't expected him to become that powerful. It had been fascinating to watch him grow.

"H-He's resourceful, smart, ruthless, resilient. A skilled manipulator, a sly liar. H-He has all the qualities and the abilities to be a leader, and he proved it. J-Just as he got for himself the key of every door in the multiverse."

He's proud of the teen, even more for what Morty has done to him. The ugliness between them has made him crave their bond even more.

"I-I admire what he has become." What he himself had helped building. "An-And I'm grateful for how he has opened my eyes and changed my way of seeing reality. W-We're intertwined, the two of us. I set the foundations of who he is, he rebuilt my worlds."

No matter how hard Morty fights it, no matter how much he denies it. That will never change. They are inevitable.

Shaking those thoughts off, he moved the attention to the second question. In an ideal world, he would have found a way to have them both in his life. But existence was anything but ideal, so the answer wasn't the one he wished for.

"...No. I-If it's up to me, they will never meet." He wants them to, but he's too aware of the consequences. "It wouldn't work out. E-Even if things between my Morty and I were...better, he and Rick wouldn't be able to coexist. They are both too used to being in control, to being the one to decide. I-I can't see any of them accepting to give up their power."

Not to mention that they had different ideas and ways of doing things. Different goals, potentially contrasting ones. And he would have gotten caught in the middle of their clashing, perhaps even forced to choose.

Never.

"Y-You can't put in the same room a god and a god slayer and expect them not to aim at each other's throat."

{ @mcltiples - mentioned }