#Just when it comes to my own beliefs and views — that’s something I’m working on figuring out. However. I decided to treat myself and -

[dadbots]

Another one for the collection. :)

[gay-dorito-dust]

hellooo, your writing is amazing so far i love it 🫶🏼

Could you do one for Hobie x fem reader, where the reader is friends with SpiderPunk AND Hobie. But she doesn’t know they’re the same person. And one day lovergirl rants about her fat ah crush on Hobie to him??

First off, thank you for enjoining my writing, I try my best with what working brain cells I have left 🤣

Ooh I love this idea very much! But I might make it a two parter cuz I defiantly went off request…oops…

Part 2

You were just minding your business, chilling on the roof top of an abandoned apartment complex, mind a million miles elsewhere on a certain somebody when a flash of red and blue caught your eye and before you knew it; you company of one had became a company of two.

‘Heya Spidey, how are things?’ You greeted.

He shrugs, ‘the usual but what about you lil missis,’ he playfully nudges you, ‘head so far off into the clouds I’m actually feeling a little neglected over here.’ You laughed, shoving him away by his arm. ‘Oh come off it, will you? I just been thinking about this guy I’ve liked for a while now.’ You admitted and Hobie’s interest was immediately peaked.

For as long as he knew you, Hobie could barely remember the last time you had ever admitted to him in fancying someone, besides from a couple of incidences from way back that ended up backfiring; but other then that, you kinda made it a point not to talk about it, maybe in due to him thinking that whoever you did fancy at the time weren’t worth the effort you’d give had you perused them. You had often called him overprotective whenever you tell him about your crush of the week but Hobie would defend himself by saying he was merely looking out for you and didn’t want you getting hurt by some douchebag.

‘You don’t have to defend me from everything Hobie,’ you once told him as you were patching him up from beating the breaks off of your last crush because they were chatting shit about you behind your back, ‘whilst as sweet as it is but you can’t always be there to look out for me.’

‘Watch me.’ He replied, his view remaining completely unchanged. You sighed, knowing that once Hobie’s mind was made up, nothing you nor anyone else could do to change that. He was an akin to that of an immovable object when it came to his beliefs and views and it was amongst the many things you adored and admired about him most.

‘Oh yeah? And who’s the lucky guy?’ He asked casually leaning back on his arms, watching as you brought your knees close to your chest before resting your chin upon them as your eyes gaze out at nothing in particular; something Hobie noticed you often do when you were particularly in your feelings and needed something to hold onto and ground yourself before you became adrift in your own sea of emotions. It was cute to see you tucked in on yourself so tightly that he couldn’t be more thankful for the fact that you couldn’t see how dopey he must’ve looked beneath his mask.

‘Hobie. Hobie Brown.’

He blinked twice, nah, he must’ve heard that wrong, surely, his hearing must be going all scewiff.

‘Hobie Brown.’ He said his own name as though it was the first time he was ever saying it. Upon seeing the way your shoulders drop and your body becoming at ease upon hearing his name, along with the way you smiled gently and how your eyes seemed to beam with newfound light which all had only helped In affirming to Hobie that he did indeed hear you the first time. ‘What is it about the guy that’s got you all up in knots?’ He asked, trying to act as though you didn’t just indirectly admitted that you’ve got a crush on him to him.

‘Where do I start.’ You started, unable to fight against your own feelings that were swelling up within your chest when an image of Hobie appeared in the forefront of your mind, he was sat on your bed, eyes closed as he allowed himself to get lost within his guitar rifts, his calloused fingers expertly transitioned from chord to chord as it were muscle memory. ‘He’s just so cool and awesome and so forthright and opinionated in his views and beliefs that he’s not afraid to back down from a fight should it come down to it.’ You tell him with a sense of fondness in your voice.

Hobie was quick to notice how your hand fiddle with one of the many handmade pins he’s made you that you always paired up with any and every outfit you ever wore, even if they styles did clash but you didn’t seem to care; Whatever the reason for you reaching for the pins were, whether it’d be out of a need to feel out the closest thing you had in regards to him or it was just something you did out of habit, made Hobie warm within his chest that soon spread throughout his body. ‘Sounds like me and this Hobie guy are more alike then I originally thought.’

Your fingers stopped their fiddling and you suddenly looked at him as though you were just now realising something with the way your eyes bore into him, Hobie thought that you might’ve developed the ability to see through the mask that withheld his identity and into him, so much so that he couldn’t help but make a comment on it, ‘stare at me any harder sweetheart and your stare might burn right through my mask.’ You must’ve been deep into your thinking as you didn’t seem to have noticed that he had spoken at all and Hobie was starting to think that he might’ve been too relaxed with you as Spider-Man that you might have started to have it pieced together in your mind; after all you were smart, more so then what you give yourself credit for.

‘Now that you’ve mentioned it you and Hobie do share some of the same attributes and habits, I’m also pretty sure your similar height wise and even though your mask muffled your voice, it fills me with a sense of familiarity that it’s hard for me to put a finger on.’ You said as you leaned closer to him until you were partially merely a breath away from each other. Hobie didn’t know he was holding in a breath until you shrugged ‘but I could just be grasping at a straws, so I won’t dwell on it as much.’ and moved away from him back to your previous position.

As much as he would’ve loved to have you figure out his identity on your own terms. Hobie would prefer it best if he were the one to reveal himself to you but the moments where he wanted to never felt right and he didn’t want to you in danger by doing so, but he knew that there’d come a time where he would be greeted with a choice in wether to tell you the truth as to who he was or continue living like he has currently and potentially loose your trust because of his lack of transparency; Hobie couldn’t bear to think of loosing your trust but just as he has always done since becoming your friend, he was merely looking out for you and for your safety as they were always his top priorities.

[444you]

manifestion guide for overthinkers and pessimists

MY MANIFESTION JOURNEY

*caution: mentions of personal limiting beliefs* you can skip through this if you want, but it’s mainly talking about my own journey and what i struggled with 🦋

for me, i’ve been heavily into law of assumption and law of attraction for about 7 years now. i tried many different manifestation techniques, i never found one that fit. i got into sammy ingram when she first made her youtube channel. she was one of my fav youtubers. not just because of her advice but i loved her personality. i binged her videos. she always gave good information but i knew for me, affirmations never helped. i always looked into the 3d, even when i knew i shouldn’t. anytime i saw a sign, i would freak out because i thought i would continue to manifest signs instead of my desire. i also overthought a lot and felt like if i had one opposing thought, that my manifestation wouldn’t come. the thing is i’m aware that this stuff doesn’t affect how your desires come in, but i still freaked out over it. this is just a few of the many issues i had. i tried scripting, water methods, subliminals. i even had a subliminal channel, people would get results but i never got any from my own or others. now i’m highly aware that i have limiting beliefs yall 😭 this is what is causing me to not achieve what i want. this is something that i’ve been working on for years and i know that i’ll gradually move past it.

WHAT IVE BEEN CURRENTLY DOING TO MANIFEST MY DESIRES

vision boards. i make them for multiple desires or specifically just one. if i want something to come fast, i put a 2 month time frame on it and then i also put the year. so say i wanted to manifest a car right now. , i’d make a vision board of my dream car. then i’d write a text that says “july - august 2024”. i had this strict belief that manifestations come in 3 days or less. however, i always put a 2 month time frame because i know i can easily get upset and doubt it. id make the collage of that i want on my phone. then i’d put it as my wallpaper for 3 days or more. i did this because i’d gradually look at it multiple times a day, this way my mind could be familiar with my desires. with this however, i can talk to my friends about my desires. i can have so many doubts and think the opposite but somehow it still works for me. but anyway, i’d look at it for a few days and then change it to something completely different, any wallpaper. i delete the vision board from my camera roll. (if you go to settings and wallpapers, it’s still there as a choice to view in the future) then i’d just forget about it. sometimes but no always, i’ll put a reminder to check my vision board after the timeframe i put it. so for the car example, i’d put a reminder after august. then i go back and see what manifested. at the end of the day, we all think differently. we all have different ways to manifest. and if you’re somebody like me who has a lot of limiting beliefs, don’t feel discouraged. i used to get upset that everybody got subliminal or manifestion results, but i eventually found something that worked for me. and you will too.

[lizardkingeliot]

The thing is tho... okay.

Here's the thing.

AMC’s Interview with the Vampire has so effectively driven home the point that Lestat loves Louis without condition and will continue loving him to the same degree forever regardless of the passage of time and regardless of what Louis has done that sometimes it's easy to forget that, like... Louis doesn't actually know that. Sometimes I'm really just like what do you MEAN Louis de Pointe du Lac doesn't know he's Lestat de Lioncourt's heartbeat now and forever Louis de Pointe du Lac do you even watch the SHOW.

Anyway. I don't know what I'm trying to say here but I think it's something about the romantic angst of it all. The way Lestat is going to be forced to betray Claudia and Louis in Paris during the trial leaving Louis with the belief that Lestat doesn't want him. He will view this as a rejection and this is the reason why he is going to spend the next 77 years of his life with Armand. This is why he couldn't just reach out to Lestat post-Paris and try to work things out. I’m not saying anything new here, I know. Most of us have worked this out already. It took me a while to get there yesterday when I was digesting the episode because, like I said, Lestat’s love is so obvious it’s easy to forget Louis really doesn’t know. But listen….

Louis is deeply unwell in 1973 San Francisco. When Lestat asks him why he’s ill all I can think right now is… well. Because he doesn’t have you. Even before he walked into the sun he was ill because he doesn’t have you. Ill in New Orleans after the deed was done. Ill in Paris and sustaining himself with memories so vivid it was like Lestat was there in the room. Ill in San Francisco when Armand could have ended it all by relaying Lestat's words to Louis, and didn't. Ill in Dubai searching the well of memory trying to find his way back to something like sanity again...

But listen. Sam Reid said Lestat very much thinks Louis is dead after 1973. This tracks. It fits very neatly with the ~theme. With what this season is trying to do wrt the romantic angst of it all. Maybe Lestat is still locked up in a dungeon or underground somewhere sleeping, maybe he isn't. Maybe he's rotting away in New Orleans, wrecked with grief, thinking about walking out and greeting the sun every morning when it rises and he's reminded Louis is gone. I guess we'll find out soon enough…

But listen. There's not some great conclusion I'm trying to arrive at with this post. I'm just spinning my wheels thinking about how delicious the tropes on this show truly are. To separate a love like that, to have Louis believe Lestat doesn't want him and have Lestat believe that Louis is dead. Well, friends... that sounds like a recipe for a grand reunion to me. And maybe what I'm trying to do with this post is toss another coin in the wishing well of a potential season 3. Because you can't have a love story like this that is destined to end in a reunion only to come back the next season to pretend it doesn't matter. I don't know. Maybe you can. But I really hope they don't. I really hope when they come back together at the end of this nightmare, when Lestat is finally permitted to have a voice of his own, that voice will be echoing through the halls of their home, because he'll be telling his story to Louis.

[thevanillerose]

TITAN II | YANDERE!AIZEN x TINY!READER | BLEACH

~ WRITING COMMISSIONS ~ ~ PATREON ~ ~ KO-FI ~ ~ NOVELS ~

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not own anything except my own writing. All properties belong to their respective creators. Content Warnings: Yandere / Kidnapping / Giant/Tiny / Violence A/N: Request [10/10] for my 100 Followers Celebration!

The final request, and it’s another sequel! I’m happy Part I was a hit, and that I have an excuse to write more Yandere!Aizen because that man…that man…

He gets a whole lot scarier in this part so you’ve been warned.

Your glass prison was maddening.

The cushions beneath you were soft enough, but you yearned for your real, actual bed. You were given food, water, all the sustenance required, but none of it you could enjoy. The box was minimalist, clinical, and yet it felt like a gilded cage. Always with the same view. 

His room. The room of the giant who had captured you. 

No amount of screaming or pounding against the walls had drawn anything more than an amused glance from Aizen, who had since settled into his chair with his ever-present calm composure, sipping tea as if your capture were no more significant than securing a rare artifact.

He didn’t care. He didn’t empathize or sympathize. 

He liked it. Seeing your hopelessness. 

You paced back and forth, your tiny fists clenched, your mind racing with possibilities. There had to be a way out—there had to. You couldn’t accept this as your fate. You wouldn’t. But every time you turned to assess the glass walls, the towering figure beyond loomed in your periphery. Aizen’s gaze never strayed far, his sharp hazel eyes tracking your every move.

Even when he wasn’t present (which was a rarity) you were scared to try your luck. Any time you had, it never ended well for you. The bruises and bite marks were indicative. While he may not have gone as far as trying to kill you, clearly preferring to keep you alive, he had still done enough to start whittling away at your will. 

“It’s futile, you know,” his voice cut through the silence, and your thoughts, like a blade, smooth and composed. He leaned back in his chair, setting down his tea with a soft clink. “You’re wasting energy flitting about like that. Save your strength.”

You froze mid-step, glaring up at him. A little anger flared, despite your nerves.

“You can’t keep me here forever. Someone will come for me. They’ll find you, and when they do—”

“They’ll what?” he interrupted, a faint smirk playing on his lips. “Do you think anyone would dare challenge me here? You came because you believed yourself strong enough to defeat me. And yet…” He gestured lightly toward the glass box. “This is where that belief has brought you.”

His words stung more than you cared to admit. You wanted to believe you were tougher than this, but you had to be honest.

You’d never been more scared in your life. 

Still, you refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing you falter. If you just stayed determined enough, maybe you’d be able to find a way to get the hell out of here.

Maybe.

…

Later…

Aizen spent much of his time in this clinical looking excuse for a bedroom, seeming to have put most of his sinister plans on hold, or in the hands of other enemies, so he could dedicate his time to you.

It was a kind of torture. At your new size, it was all too easy for him to pick you up, push you around, squeeze you in his fist just to hear you squeak. You began to realize he had a twisted sort of love for you which had only become prevalent now. His fingertips would linger and caress on your skin in such tender patterns sometimes. He’d get this strange, blurry look in his eyes…

He wanted you. In ways you never would have expected. 

And how long he had, you didn’t know. 

Things could only get worse from here, that was something you were certain of. If this kept up, you were literally going to break. Somehow, in some way, you needed to find a way out of here.

Your opportunity came after Aizen had fed you at the usual time. At exactly midnight, much as he did at midday, he opened the box and lowered a meager portion of food inside, diced to a size you could kind of swallow. Of course, you didn’t make the mistake of trying to climb his hand to get out. Your abdomen still ached from the time you’d tried before, and he’d flicked you like a bug.

Such a simple, easy motion for him. An absolute gut punch for you. Literally.

So, no funny games. But…he had been a little neglectful this time around. You noticed the faintest gap between the glass lid and its frame after he set it back in place, and walked out of the room. 

Your heart leapt. It wasn’t much, but it was something. 

As it was midnight now, the gigantic menace had to rest. Surprisingly human, for such a monster, to lay down and rest his head against the pillow below him with such a peaceful expression. 

Now’s the best chance I’ll get.

Quietly, you made your way over to the cushion corner closest to the gap. Taking a deep breath, you crouched down low, built momentum, and jumped up with all the strength you could muster. It took a few tries, a lot of effort, but you managed to reach and hook your fingers around the hard edge of the box. 

Grunting, the soles of your bare feet slipping and sliding as they tried to find grip against the glass, you managed to haul yourself up and squeezed your body through the gap under the lid.

Finally, you slipped through. Jumping down, you landed on the desk with a delicate thud.

Freedom.

Now, you just had to get the hell out of dodge before he found you.

If he did…

If he did…

A horrible chill struck through your petite little body, and you wrapped your arms around yourself, shuddering with fearful thoughts. You didn’t want to think about it. 

The vast desk stretched out like a white wasteland, but you were focused on the edge, on freedom, on escape. Running over, you sought some way down that wouldn’t leave you dead on the floor as a crumpled mess, but his room was minimalist enough there was nothing stray you could cling or jump onto.

And, it was too late anyway. 

You could feel his presence before you heard him—like a storm cloud gathering behind you. You didn’t even have to look.

“Going somewhere?”

His voice, smooth and low, cut through the stillness like a blade. You froze in an instant, every hair on your body standing on end. Slowly, with a dread that made your stomach churn, you turned to see him.

Aizen was awake, standing right over you, his figure dipped in shadow. His hazel eyes glowed faintly in the dim light, boring into you with a mix of amusement and something darker. The dark cast chiseled shadows on his bare, muscled chest.

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice?” he asked, his smile stretching into something sharp, something cruel. His tone was cruel yet calm, almost bored, and you trembled. You stumbled back instinctively, panic clawing at your chest. 

Think of an excuse! Think of an excuse!

“I-I wasn’t—”

“You weren’t what?” he interrupted, his voice dropping an octave. “Weren’t trying to run? Weren’t defying me? Lying doesn’t suit you, little one.”

Just run!

You bolted abruptly, running for the edge, desperate for something, anything, even willing to take a leap of total faith if that was what it took—but you’d barely made it two steps before his hand descended. 

His fingers curled around you, the force of his grip knocking the air from your lungs and throwing you backwards. You thrashed and kicked, your tiny fists pounding against his skin, but it was like hitting solid stone.

“Pathetic,” he murmured, lifting you to his face. His smile had vanished, replaced by an expression of cold fury. Any amusement was gone. He was plainly pissed.

“Do you know how insulting this is? I could have killed you long ago. A horrible death. Yet I spared you. And this is how you repay me?”

His grip tightened, the pressure making your ribs creak. You gasped, struggling for breath, your vision blurring as panic set in. “P-please,” you choked out, your voice barely a whisper. “I-I’m sorry—”

“Sorry?” His laugh was sharp, bitter, like the crack of a whip. His thumb jammed up sharply against your gullet, choking you, forcing your head back like he might snap it off entirely.

“No, you’re not sorry. Not yet.”

Without warning, he slammed you down onto the desk, the impact sending pain shooting through your body. You screamed, but there was no time to recover. His hand pinned you in place, his fingers pressing down just enough to make you wheeze. 

“You need to understand something,” he said, his voice calm and deliberate, but his eyes burning. “You belong to me. You are mine. And I do not tolerate disobedience.”

He lifted you again, your body hanging limp and aching, holding you by the waist, his grip tighter this time, his thumb pressing against your chest now, invasively, in a way that made it even harder to breathe. 

“And yet you insist on it,” he said softly, his tone almost mocking. “Disobeying me. Trying to leave me. Do you want me to punish you?”

He tightened his grip again, the pressure making your vision go white. You clawed at his fingers, your body writhing in desperation, but he didn’t let up this time. Tears streamed down your face as you gasped for air, the world tilting dangerously around you.

He’s going to crush me! He’s going to…kill me!

“Is this what you wanted?” he asked, his voice soft but cold. “To see how far I’ll go? To test the limits of my patience?”

You couldn’t speak, couldn’t beg. Your body struggled feebly, your breaths shallow and ragged. He watched you intently, his expression unreadable, before his grip loosened just enough for you to suck in a desperate gulp of air.

“You’re lucky,” he said, his voice low and menacing. “I could end this right now. One squeeze, and it would all be over. But that would be too easy…wouldn’t it…”

His dangerous gaze flickered aside suddenly, to the edge of the desk. It was easy for you to see then, the cogs in his mind turning maliciously, and dread took hold.

“Aizen–”

Swiftly, he swung you over the drop, dangling you in the open air, only his pinching thumb and forefinger keeping you from a deadly plummet. Your heart stopped, your body going rigid as you stared down at the distant ground. 

“A fall from here would kill you,” he said, his tone almost conversational. “Shall we see how far you can fly?”

“NO!” you screamed, your voice raw with terror. “P-please, don’t—!”

His smile returned, sharp and wicked. “Then remember this feeling,” he said softly, pulling you back to safety. “Remember what it means to defy me.”

Lifting you before his handsome, huge face, you saw his lips curl into a relaxed, smug smile again, his gaze hooded and raking slowly over your little form, his breath heated when he spoke.

“It would be a shame, if I lost my precious little pet so soon.”

You swallowed thickly, flushing, looking away. The tip of his finger guided your head back to look at him again.

“I still have so many things I want to do to you…”

‘Do to you’.

Not with you. To you.

You felt sick. You didn’t even want to imagine it. 

“You’ll never try that again,” he said, his voice soft but malice-filled. “Because next time, I won’t be so merciful.”

His fingertip moved from your jaw to your heated cheek, gently dabbing away the tears that now wouldn’t stop falling. You sniffed and sobbed, giving up. 

Aizen, content with that, returned you to your prison, making sure the top was secured this time by placing a heavy book atop it. As he turned away to return to bed, you collapsed onto the cushions as well, your body trembling uncontrollably. Your chest heaved with ragged wails, which you tried to muffle behind your quivering hands so he wouldn’t be angered again. Your mind raced with fear and despair. 

He had been right about one thing. You’d remember this. You’d remember it every time you thought about running, every time you dreamed of freedom.

Because now you knew: he wouldn’t just stop you. He would break you.

Like my writing? I can write for you! Check out my WRITING COMMISSIONS! DECEMBER SALE: 25% OFF!

[averagedeidarafanatic]

I love Deidara.

He’s such a multilayered character, however it’s overshadowed by the way his character is presented and the fact there are other and more important characters to focus on.

His devotion to his art makes him a strangely sad or bittersweet character. His concept is unique and contrary to the most common and popular concept of art; something long lasting.

Deidara’s art is centred around the present, a single moment that can only be experienced once. The present is fleeting, every second that passes is something you can’t get back. A single moment of impact that ensures no future and the destruction of the past; an explosion. Deidara’s art is not only an explosion itself, but both the destruction it causes to what’s in its path, and the destruction of the clay sculptures he uses as its foundation. His art isn’t focused on the past or future. It ensures a single moment in the present (explosion) of destruction (erasing the past).

Considering how the Narutoverse is set around wars and generally full of violence, it would make sense for the art pieces of that verse to be based around telling stories of the wars or advertising for a better future (like Jiraya’s original works), Both of which are based on the past and the future.

It’s easy to see how Deidara’s art would be viewed as ‘unartistic’ or ‘unappealing’. Contrary to popular opinion, Deidara is a smart character who understands other people and how they work. So considering that, why does he seem to assume people look down on him and his art even when they don’t say anything negative (ect; Sasuke, Itachi)? Maybe it’s because of the lack of recognition he’s received. He’s hates people who don’t recognise his work, because that’s what everyone does.

The path of an artist is a path of misery. Most people see artists as people who create, however Deidara is someone who destroys. So what does that make him, in the views of others? Caring about the opinions of those who differ than you is nothing but demeaning. So it’s better to simply view yourself as superior. You’re right and they’re wrong. Deidara’s art is true art, and nobody else’s is. To me, the scene where he aggressively refused his own admiration in Itachi’s abilities, is a clear indication of insecurity and doubt. If he acknowledges someone who doesn’t even share his views on destruction, then he’d be denying the certainty in his own art and be saying ‘my belief and concept can be beaten’.

This is why I believe him to be bittersweet character, whether he himself knows it or not. He’s complicated, maybe because he’s so simple at the same time. Yeah, he’s this short angry blonde dude who likes art- but it’s because of the fact he’s present as that and nothing more, which makes him feel complicated once you actually look at him.

Naturally, this is my perception. I haven’t even read his offical wiki pages or whatnot, so maybe I just completely bullshitted this because I’m desperate to ramble about this stupid guy. Hell, I’ll probably change my opinion on him by next week 😭 anyway I hope someone found my yapping interesting. Please don’t come yelling at me if you disagree.

[shadowtriovibes]

before the origin of love

Pairing: Sebastian Sallow x f!MC

Rating: PG-13

Word Count: 2.7K

Warnings: Canon-Typical Violence, Minor Character Death, Blood, Major Hogwarts Legacy Spoilers, Canon Divergence, Ancient Magic Theory

Summary: request [paraphrased]: "You know the part during the game when MC visits Ollivander's alone and Rookwood Apparates her away? Can I request an angsty version of this where Sebastian is with f!MC? Rookwood is angry they killed all his men and casts Imperio on Sebastian to force him to attack her. Even though she’s expecting to die by Sebastian’s hand, he eventually fights the curse off because love is more powerful than dark magic."

a.k.a. y'all thought lily potter was the only one with ancient love magic? think again!!!

“Show your face, Rookwood!” you shout into the darkness. “Come out and fight me!” “My dear, why should I fight you?” Rookwood laughs from high above you, still unseen. “This is child’s play, after all…” You feel like time stops as you see a bright green curse rocket through the air toward Sebastian, who is powerless to do anything to stop it. The curse hits him in the chest with such force that he’s knocked backward, his head tipping forward as he lets out a sickening groan. But instead of watching your friend die while you stood by helplessly, you watch in abject horror as he tilts his head up and locks eyes with you – smoky-green, soulless eyes.

The moment you and Sebastian step outside Ollivander’s shop, you realize that the typically bustling streets of Hogsmeade are disquietingly empty. It’s nearly sundown now, and instead of seeing a friendly mix of witches and wizards doing their holiday shopping or stocking up on supplies for the winter months, you find yourselves all alone.

“Take out your wand,” you murmur to Sebastian. “Something’s not right.”

Wordlessly Sebastian draws his wand and takes a step closer to you, warily glancing up and down the empty streets.

Then in the blink of an eye, a well-dressed figure Apparates into view just across the way – Victor Rookwood, you realize, complete with that infuriating hat of his.

“Rookwood,” Sebastian boldly calls out. “So we meet again. Didn’t you get enough of a telling-off last time?”

You silently aim your wand at him, daring him to take one step closer.

“Well, well… looks like your friend Sirona isn’t here to stick up for you little menaces this time,” Rookwood says with a sneer. “I’m afraid you two are on your own. In fact, I’ve ensured that we have a moment to ourselves.”

Sebastian quickly lifts his wand and aims it squarely at the man’s face. “What do you want, Rookwood?”

“Oh, come, come, no need for such theatrics,” the man drawls, slowly creeping closer to you both. “In light of what Ranrok now knows, you must agree that our interests are aligned.”

Sparks crackle at the tip of your wand as you lift it toward Rookwood.

“Our interests will never be aligned,” you murmur.

Rookwood glances significantly at Sebastian before he challenges you.

“My dear, you would let goblins take what is rightfully ours? The final repository belongs to wizardkind. We would be fools not to work together.”

Beside you, you observe the slightest falter in Sebastian’s aim. You should have known that someone like Rookwood would immediately be able to pinpoint and exploit his biggest weakness – his resentment toward goblinkind, his uncompromising belief that only they carry the blame for his sister’s curse.

You imagine him thinking, Could he be right? Are we fools to allow Ranrok’s goblins to continue ransacking Isadora’s Repositories? Could we instead be using them to cure Anne?

But before Sebastian says a word, Rookwood’s eyes land on the long, thin box in your hands.

“What’s that you’ve got there?” he demands.

Quickly, you slip the box safely inside your robes. You shake your head only slightly, but Rookwood easily detects its significance.

Rookwood continues, “Might this sudden visit to the wandmaker have something to do with our… mutual pursuit?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” you say softly.

Suddenly, you see Rookwood’s countenance shift as his true motives become clear.

“That repository is my birthright!” he shouts, stepping toward you with a hand outstretched.

Instantly Sebastian steps in front of you and points his wand at Rookwood once more. “I know one thing for certain, and that’s that Charles Rookwood wouldn’t have wanted you anywhere near it!”

Rookwood laughs darkly as he takes a step back.

“The arrogance,” he murmurs, gaze fixed on Sebastian’s determined expression. “I should have known better than to try to reason with a Sallow, after all – you’re no better than your sister, you simpering fool.”

In a frighteningly low voice, Sebastian asks, “What would you know about my sister?”

“Nothing, of course,” Rookwood sneers. “I only meant that I’ve always thought that children should be seen and not heard.”

You inhale sharply, absently lowering your wand as you process Rookwood’s words – the very same that Sebastian had told you were the last words Anne had heard before she was hit with her curse.

Sebastian understands the implication a split second before you do, and you can see bolts of green light shooting down the length of his wand before you even understand what he’s doing.

“Avada–”

Before he can finish his spell, you feel a hand on your shoulder and suddenly you’re hurtling through time and space as you’re forcibly Apparated away from Hogsmeade, landing in a crumpled heap in the snowy grass. You’re smack in the middle of a desolate bandit camp somewhere in the Highlands.

Beside you, Sebastian is catching his breath while his hands tremble with rage.

“Where did he go?” Sebastian demands. “Where did the bloody coward go?!”

“Careful, Sallow,” Rookwood’s voice calls out from the darkness. “Wouldn’t want to get yourself into a bind!”

Sebastian suddenly shouts as thick lengths of rope appear out of thin air and wrap themselves around his body, forcing him to his knees.

“Sebastian!” you yell. “Finite!”

Your spell deflects right off the enchanted ropes, and Sebastian grits his teeth.

“I’m okay,” he insists. “It’ll be alright, just – just get him, you can do this.”

Desperate, you find yourself alone while Sebastian struggles against his ropes. You’re keenly aware of the dozen or so fully-grown wizards Apparting into the camp with their wands drawn. You’ll have to take on every single one of them by yourself, you realize, with nothing but your own wand and the ancient magic coursing through your veins to defend yourself.

It feels endless. Simply deflecting their spells takes nearly all of your focus, even if you try to spare some for Sebastian while he struggles uselessly against his bindings. You toss curse after curse at Rookwood’s men and eventually you’re forced to start tossing actual barrels and crates at them as well, until finally you pare down the lot of them to the last executioner with his wand trained squarely at your heart.

“Bomarba!” you holler, and across the field, the burly executioner goes flying into a pile of rubble and melts away into smoke, the last to abandon his mission and surrender.

“Show your face, Rookwood!” you shout into the darkness. “Come out and fight me!”

“My dear, why should I fight you?” Rookwood laughs from high above you, still unseen. “This is child’s play, after all…”

You feel like time stops as you see a bright green curse rocket through the air toward Sebastian, who is powerless to do anything to stop it. The curse hits him in the chest with such force that he’s knocked backward, his head tipping forward as he lets out a sickening groan. But instead of watching your friend die while you stood by helplessly, you watch in abject horror as he tilts his head up and locks eyes with you – smoky-green, soulless eyes.

Imperio.

 “So go on, then,” Rockwood demands. “Play!”

The ropes that had bound Sebastian’s arms to his side quickly fall away, and before you can even react he lifts his wand and rounds on you.

“Confringo!” he shouts, and a blaze of fire soars just past your ear.

“Sebastian,” you call out. “Can you hear me? Don’t do this, please!”

You know it’s fruitless. Sebastian himself had taught you that the Imperius curse cannot be fought off, even by the most powerful wizards who have ever been trained to resist its impenetrable influence. Despite his dueling skills and his broad knowledge of the Dark Arts, you have to assume that Sebastian doesn’t stand a chance against Rookwood’s voice in his ear.

“Levioso!” you counter, hoping to merely hold him off long enough to get to Rookwood and force him to free Sebastian.

But to your chagrin, the Sebastian you’ve known and loved since your first days at Hogwarts is indeed one of the most disciplined and talented duelers you’ve ever fought, and even though he doesn’t want to, he’ll surely give you a run for your money.

“Diffindo!” he growls, and the edge of his curse just barely nicks the side of your calf. You cry out in pain and collapse to the ground as you press a hand to the bleeding wound.

“Want me to release your little friend?” Rookwood calls out. “It’s simple, darling. Join me against Ranrok and I’ll let him live!”

You know deep down that you can’t ally yourself with Rookwood. Despite Sebastian’s initial hesitance, you have to imagine that if he were able to understand your position, he’d do the very same thing that you’re about to do.

It wasn’t the goblins after all, it was him, you can hear him say. We can never join him, not after what he did to Anne. There’s only one way out of this.

Merlin, you think. This is it.

Without your ability to wield ancient magic or the wand made of the Pensieve artifacts, Ranrok may never gain access to the final repository, you convince yourself – especially if he splinters from Rookwood. Sebastian can give the wand to Fig after you’re gone, he can hide it somewhere Ranrok will never find it…

It could all work out, you reckon, if you die.

“Never!” you call out to Rookwood. “I’ll never join you!”

“Then you’ve made your choice,” Rookwood’s voice echoes back. “I’ll let the Sallow boy show you what happens to anyone who says no to me.”

Rockwood’s twisted laughter rings out all around you as Sebastian’s opalescent eyes look you up and down. He lifts his wand and aims it at your heart, and you close your eyes with your own wand at your side.

“Avada Kedavra!”

…

…You’re still breathing.

How are you still breathing?

When you open your eyes, Sebastian is standing before you looking entirely drained, his eyelids drooping as he sways from pure exhaustion. However, just before he collapses you catch a glimpse of his eyes – his usual warm brown ones, the same magnificent eyes you’ll never tire of seeing after all this.

“Sebastian!” you shout, running over to support him as he tumbles to the ground. “Wh-what just happened?”

“Did I get him?” he asks in a whisper. “Rookwood?”

Stunned, you cast Lumos and peer across the empty field until you notice a figure lying in the snow far at the other end – Rockwood, you assume. He isn’t moving, and his legs are bent in a sick, absurd way as if he’d fallen from the watchtower that he now lays below.

“Yes,” you breathe. “You did, b-but… Sebastian, how did you–”

“I don’t know,” he sighs. He’s clinging to your arm as you help him to sit up and rest his head between his knees. “I have no idea, I just… I couldn’t do it.”

“He wanted you to kill me,” you surmise.

“I wouldn’t,” he says hollowly. “It… felt like my head was being split open right down the middle, with one half of me forcing my body to move and aim my wand and the other half knowing that I’d rather die than use that curse on you.”

“Oh, Seb,” you whisper.

You’re both quiet for several long moments while Sebastian takes deep breaths, his face still hidden between his knees. You slowly rub his back through his cloak and wait for him to sit up. He looks haunted when he finally does – even more so than he usually looks.

“I hurt you,” he mumbles. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“I know, love,” you say softly, the pet name slipping out so easily that you barely even register at first. “I’m okay, it’s just a cut. Some Wiggenweld will fix me right up when we get back to the castle.”

“Can I?” he asks hesitantly, and you reluctantly let him pull your cloak to the slide so he can see the gash on your calf.

It isn’t deep, and it isn’t even bleeding anymore, but the ripped trouser leg and drying blood stains make Sebastian curse under his breath nonetheless.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” he whispers. “Why did I do that?”

“You have no choice,” you remind him desperately. “No witch or wizard has ever fought off the Imperius curse like that before, Sebastian, and you spared me my life. I don’t care about a bloody cut when I should be dead.”

“Never,” he chants mindlessly. “Never, I wouldn’t.”

That’s when a thought occurs to you.

“Sebastian…” you say softly. “It’s possible that there are… other types of ancient magic in addition to mine.”

He frowns. “What are you saying?”

“Maybe there’s something… something primeval, something elemental to our magic that you accessed,” you wonder aloud. “Professor Fig told me that his wife Miriam had spent years studying ancient magic, and it can’t only be that which I have the power to wield. Perhaps you were able to defy Rookwood’s will because you – you connected with a magic that’s more powerful than even an Unforgivable.”

“More powerful than that kind of darkness?” he asks softly. “...That type of magic exists?”

“Of course, it must,” you say simply. “Darkness can’t be more powerful than light, can it?”

He considers your supposition as if it’s the first time the thought has ever occurred to him.

“So… so what, the power of ‘friendship,’ something like that?” he asks, a corner of his mouth quirking up into the first thing resembling a smile that he’s shown since you entered Hogsmeade hours ago.

“Something like that,” you tease him. “Maybe the power of ‘love.’”

You’d meant it entirely in a platonic way, but as soon as the words are out of your mouth, Sebastian goes red and ducks his face.

“That’s – that’s ridiculous,” he mumbles. “I mean, love, that’s… Who said anything about love?”

You’re quiet while you watch Sebastian try and fail to gather his thoughts. He’s flailing, and all of a sudden you realize something clear as day that you can’t quite believe you never recognized before.

“Sebastian,” you murmur. “...Do you suppose you broke through an Imperius curse because you’re in love with me?”

“Wh-what?!” he laughs.

“Because if you did, that would be probably the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard, in all the books I’ve ever read,” you continue. “And if that were the case, I would have to tell you that I’m madly in love with you, too.”

Sebastian is stunned into silence.

“You love me?” he eventually whispers.

“I do,” you tell him. “And… and I never really thought about it before, because it doesn’t really feel all that different from being friends with you, except – except I would have let you kill me rather than kill you, even though I know what’s at stake.”

“I still think you should’ve,” Sebastian jokes quietly. “You’re much more important than I am.”

“Regardless, we couldn’t have let Rookwood find out about the last Repository, and I would have taken the Killing Curse to stop him,” you sigh. “I trusted you would have taken the Pensieve wand back to Fig.”

“I would’ve turned my wand on myself first,” Sebastian says plainly. “Without a second thought.”

Merlin, you can’t believe he actually says things like that.

Rather than continuing to dwell on what could have been, you offer him a hand up and support him by the elbow while he shakily makes his way to his feet. He still looks pale and rattled, but he’s able to start to walk toward the exit of the crumbling ruins – still clinging to your hand.

“Come on,” you murmur. “When we get back to the castle you can rest.”

“What about the Repository?” he asks weakly.

“Let me and Fig worry about that,” you murmur. “You’ve already done more than enough for me today, love. You need to recover.”

“M’not even hurt,” he protests, but he sounds utterly depleted.

“Hush,” you whisper. “Just keep holding onto me, alright?”

It’s not easy getting Sebastian back to the castle; he keeps pitching to the side on the back of your broom as he fights to stay conscious, but you manage to keep him from falling off. Despite his protests, you take him straight to Nurse Blainey so he can get some proper rest (and so someone will be forced to keep an eye on him for you).

“Be safe,” he murmurs while you squeeze his hand in his infirmary bed. “Please.”

“I promise, Seb,” you tell him, leaning down to press a quick kiss to his cheek. “Just be here waiting for me when I get back.”

“You’ve made sure of that,” he grumbles, but he offers you an encouraging smile before you leave for the Map Room one final time.

[wishlikes]

Spirits, Psychics, and Sensing Each Other

This is a compilation and analysis of evidence in the mp100 anime of how, when, and whether spirits and espers can sense each other. As in: spirits sensing spirits and espers, and espers sensing espers and spirits. This is an anime only analysis, because it was easier for me to skim through. I’ve been working on this during the hours when the internet is out. My notes got fairly long so i put them under the cut.

The main points/conclusions:

It seems that in order to sense if someone’s psychic, you have to be purposefully and actively looking. (this applies to both spirits and other psychics)

The ability to determine an esper’s strength lies somewhere between unreliable and nonexistent. There are only 3 cases of accurate judgement of strength before seeing the esper’s abilities, and these are: Ritsu and Mob’s judgements of Shimazaki, and Shimazaki’s judgement of Mob. And the first two honestly could just be vibes based.

Some spirits have the ability to be seen by normal people and some don't. There doesn't seem to be a rule to this, but it's not dependent on strength.

Before going to the 7th division, Teru is under the false belief that Claw is made up solely of artificial espers.

Not much evidence on this, but Matsuo seems to be the only esper that can tell when a spirit is possessing someone.

Mob’s perception of how strong or weak spirits are is skewed.

Unhinged Theory 1: Shimazaki’s assumption about Reigen (esper powerful enough to make his presence disappear) could actually be true about Mob.

Unhinged Theory 2: Ritsu has the potential to be a telepath, and may have some Mob-specific telepathic senses already

1.01

Mob about Ceiling Crasher: “But the spirit back there really was a lower-level spirit.”

Mob outside Honeido Tunnel: “I can sense the presence of a very powerful spirit further down.”

Mob inside Honeido Tunnel: “Master, don’t you feel something? … No, I’m talking about auras. … Feel would be an understatement. There are twelve… eighteen… No… even more right nearby. Ah! Looks like we’ve been completely surrounded. They’re going to attack us now.”

The Boss Spirit about Reigen: “There’s a powerful forcefield? How could this power be coming from someone like him? Crap! I mistook him for a wimp! … (after salt punch) So you are a fake…”

Mob about bigger spirit: “I thought it was a little weird that the aura I felt before coming in here hadn’t disappeared yet. … That evil spirit wasn’t very powerful.”

Notes: Ceiling Crasher didn’t sense any danger from Mob. Reigen could see Ceiling Crasher and Boss, but not the other spirits in Honeido Tunnel. Mob calls the multi-eyed spirit powerful before he exorcises it, and not very powerful after. There are many things this could suggest, including but not limited to: Mob lied either before or after (to freak out Reigen or to calm him down), Mob is using different measures for each statement (powerful by your standards, weak by mine [or the other way around depending on how much denial he’s in at the moment]), Mob doesn’t trust his own judgement and just thinks something is weak if he’s able to exorcise it (Reigen, what did you do to this kid)

1.02

When asked if he senses anything: “Just slightly…” A second later after !!! face: “It’s here. Nearby.”

After tracking the spirit for awhile: “The spirit’s angry.”

Scent-Ghoul: “Psychic brat… how dare you trap me.” … “Crap. I underestimated the psychic!”

Notes: Scent-Ghoul could make himself visible to ordinary people. Mob can sense the emotions (or at least anger) of spirits without them being in direct view/exorcisable range. Scent-Ghoul clearly couldn’t sense enough of Mob’s power to think him dangerous; could he sense him at all, or was it only being trapped in the building that tipped him off?

1.03

It takes fucking forever for Mob and Dimple to figure each other out. Mob doesn’t realize Dimple has powers of any kind until after Dimple starts yelling about them not working. As if he didn’t even notice the powers while they were being used. Even at this point, he assumes Dimple is a psychic, and not a spirit possessing someone.

Mob, pissed: “Make me laugh with your psychic powers.” Dimple, realizing: “So you have similar powers… I thought I picked a peaceful religious order that’d cause the least bloodshed, but you’re in my way, brat. I’ll have to get rid of the outsider that brings chaos to this environment.” Mob: Thank goodness. You’re not a person. Thank goodness the one who said something as horrible as ‘get a clue’ was an evil spirit.”

Dimple: “My followers! Do not let him leave alive!” <- Mob identifies this as “A strong commanding signal”

As soon as Mob goes 100% Rage, Dimple: “To think that you were such a powerful esper… No wonder the smile mask didn’t work.” Dimple proceeds to get increasingly surprised with every attack of his that doesn’t work and every attack of Mob’s that does.

Notes: I am Thoroughly unsure what tipped off Mob that Dimple was a spirit and not a psychic. Did he take a closer look in that moment and sense something? Did he just assume that a living person wouldn’t say something that evil? Was it something in the way Dimple said it that didn’t come through in translation? Furthermore: evidence that Mob can’t sense when a spirit is possessing someone. Evidence that when spirits are possessing someone, they can’t sense psychics, OR that spirits in general have trouble sensing either psychics or Mob specifically.

1.04

It’s funny that Mob straight up didn’t recognize Dimple

Dimple about Reigen: “I don’t feel any spiritual power from him at all.”

Teru about Mob: ‘What’s with this guy? His presence barely registers, so I didn’t even notice him.’

Notes: The implications of that last bit! Is Teru talking about figurative presences, like ‘X lights up a room and Y is so unnoticeable we accidentally left him behind’ type shit, or can he literally sense all people with his powers? If it’s the second one, then why does Mob register even below normal people? Is it because of how thoroughly he suppresses his powers, or is what Shimazaki assumes about Reigen (powerful enough to erase his presence) actually somewhat true about Mob? [I’ve connected the dots. I’ve connected them.]

1.05

Dimple: “Man, what a surprise. I guess there are espers other than you, Shigeo.” <- bitch, you’ve met other espers. Mogami rocked your shit. Don’t patronize this kid

Teru: “Impossible… Are you a natural? There’s another like me?” <- Sir! How Do You Know This! Can you sense the difference between natural and artificial espers? Are you just assuming because he’s a kid/not attacking you/not Claw?

Teru: “What is the creepy-looking ball of energy next to you?” <- SIR. Have You Never Seen A Ghost Before.

Teru: “I erased that thing with my Psycho Wave. From the core, so there wouldn’t be a single shred left.” <- You have either met a ghost before, or you made this up just now. I realize this isn’t relevant to the current discussion, but like. Bro. What is going on inside your head.

1.06

Mob: “Come to think of it, I don’t sense anything from my master. But that’s because his powers are spiritual, not psychic.” <- Did Reigen tell him this? Did he assume this? Did he come up with this just now, either to maintain his denial after meeting another esper, or to cover for what he just told Tome? Many questions.

Mob about Koyama: “There… That’s an adult esper. What is this feeling? It’s kind of sickening.”

Notes: None of the Awakening Lab kids pick up that Ritsu isn’t an esper yet. Skill issue? Or evidence that being able to sense other espers isn’t a universal esper trait. Mob’s comment about Koyama is fascinating considering he never brings it up again or makes comments like this about other espers. Maybe all Claw espers feel off. Maybe Koyama just has rancid vibes. I’m 95% sure it has to do with emotions.

1.07

Thinking about how Dimple instantly clocked Ritsu as newly psychic and said “The fact that you can see me is proof.”

Ritsu did not clock Teru as psychic until Teru outright referenced psychic powers. He does not clock Teru’s strength, either.

Reigen does not see the spirit he brings to the con artists.

Mob Did Not Notice that Ritsu’s had powers for like. a week. He didn’t notice Dimple in Ritsu’s room while he was eating dinner, either. Maybe it’s because they’re both weak sauce right now.

Also: nobody is noticing Koyama on the roof. Not Ritsu, not Mob, not Teru, not Dimple.

Notes: All around, this episode is evidence for: you need to be actively looking for an esper to recognize an esper.

1.08

Mob does not notice Dimple possessing Ritsu. Mob does not notice Ritsu’s powers until Ritsu uses them to push him back. Koyama does not notice Mob is psychic until Mob’s superspeed lunge attempt at Ritsu reaquirement.

Those last two are interesting because both come AFTER a visual-to-the-audience flare of power. Mob’s even accompanied a rapidly increasing percentage.

After slamming his powers into Koyama’s barrier, Mob recognizes him as “the adult esper I saw before”. <- Was this a ‘hey i recognize that hoodie’ moment, or a ‘i recognize the feel of those powers’ moment

Teru about Claw: “They aren’t as powerful as us Naturals, but if you underestimate them, their sheer numbers will easily crush you.” <- Teru is under the false belief that every esper in Claw is an artificial esper. They have literally only sent groups of weak sauce after him.

1.09

Ritsu seems to think verbally denying they have psychic powers is something that could actually work. <- buddy. BUDDY. Even assuming nobody there can sense you’re an esper, do you think these guys don’t communicate? That they don’t do research? Do you think they’re just gonna go “oh whoopsies! i can’t believe the kids we very specifically targeted are not actually espers! let’s just return you home to where you can call the police and tell them all about us, including what we look like because we didn’t hide our faces!” okay sorry, not the point, moving on.

1.10

Matsuo about Dimple: “It’s not every day a ghost wanders in here.” Dimple’s reaction: “Someone dangerous just showed up.”

Ritsu does not seem to have any clue to Shou’s strength before fighting him. Or he’s just stupid.

Nobody seems to know Shou is there when he’s invisible.

Notes: Okay. So. Matsuo showing up is a good point of contrast to 1.03 when Mob and Dimple took forever to suss each other out. Matsuo IMMEDIATELY identifies Dimple as a possessing spirit. Is this an ability specific to his power set? Signs (1.03, 2.04) point to yes! In light of this, Dimple’s reaction of thinking him dangerous could be a sensing powers situation OR a ‘he must be dangerous if he figured me out that quick’ situation.

1.11

Reigen would not be pulling any of this off if even a single person could sense whether he’s an esper or not. Everybody (claw lackeys, teru) just assumes he is.

1.12

Literally nobody recognized Mob’s powers going to Reigen.

Reigen: “Is this an evil spirit?” <- why are you saying this like you’re amazed. you have seen many before. you have in fact seen several in the last 20 minutes.

Dimple: “Whoa! Why are you able to see me when I’m not in my visible mode?” <- Dimple. According to the broccoli arc, you don’t HAVE a visible-to-non-espers mode. That was a significant point in it all. And the weakest esper here (Ritsu) is following your movements. You are currently as visible as you can get.

Dimple at Reigen: “You awakened to psychic powers, didn’t you?” <- let’s take a second and contrast this to Dimple’s 1.04 remark: “I don’t feel any spiritual power from him at all”. Either Dimple is now sensing spiritual power from Reigen (incredibly unlikely) or it does in fact take some amount of purposeful looking to sense somebody’s power. In which case, Dimple didn’t bother this time because he falsely assumed if Reigen could see him, he was psychic.

2.01

Mob about Wriggle Wriggle: “It’s rather weak, but I do sense an aura.” … “It was just possessing the scarecrow, so it probably couldn’t do much harm.” … “Oh, that would be the spirit’s true form.”

Wriggle Wriggle about Reigen: “But it appears your friend is as ordinary as they come.”

Mob: “Since destroying the vines doesn’t hurt the spirit itself, it must not be possessing them. It’s controlling living things like a remote control car.” <- possessing = being in the thing; controlling = using powers on the thing. Mob couldn’t tell the difference.

2.02

Client: “I’ve always been susceptible to spirits. I often attract ghosts and other strange phenomena near me. Even as we speak, there’s something next to me…”

Shinra: “There definitely is. I see it.” <- unsure how true this is

Mob: “It’s the spirit of a middle-aged man.”

Client: “And lately, I’ve been feeling a really bad aura.” … “But then I realized that the reason this eerie feeling has gotten worse lately is because of the sudden spread of urban legends around this city.” <- how did you realize that?

Reigen: “Mob, is Dimple around?” Mob: “Dimple, you’re being summoned.” <- i really do love that there are multiple levels to sensing spirits, and we pretty much only know this because Mob’s got the premium package. Reigen recently purchased a Dimple specific upgrade to his basic package, but that upgrade is only advanced, not premium. also. hold on. why is it dimple specific

Mob: “Well, it’s like the client said. Something’s weird about this town. There might actually be something here.”

Dimple: “Talk about pressure… Her aura’s stabbing me left and right.”

Dimple: “That’s a monster born from rumors. You can’t classify her as real or fake. The imagination of the masses, and their fear and curiosity is what gave birth to her. Her looks and her strength was all decided by humans!” <- how do you know this

Shinra: And since we know about the Dragger, we won’t be able to exorcise her. … Powers used in fear only empower its source. My spiritual powers did nothing. She grows by absorbing the powers of those who fear her.”

Why did Mob not notice that Dash Granny was a living person? Is it perhaps because someone has spent years telling him things like ‘oh yeah, there’s definitely a spirit here, it’s just too powerful for you’? *squints at reigen*

2.03

Reigen: “Mob, do you sense anything?” Mob: “Yes, though it’s faint.”

Mob, upon seeing it: “That’s… a living person.” He then accurately tracks it.

Reigen: “You sense any spirits?” Mob: “Faintly…”

Notes: There’s a distinction made between spirits and evil spirits, and both Mob and Dimple can tell the difference.

2.04

Ghost: “Here comes another psychic. What should we do with them, Dimple-san?” Dimple: “Probably just another fake.” <- very wrong. ass out of u and me kind of assumption. could you not check, or did you just not bother to?

Mob, when Minori is introduced: “Right now, I’m not sensing anything.”

Shinra: I do sense a faint sinister presence though… And extremely nearby.” <- it’s dimple

Mogami knew someone had strong powers when they stopped him, but he couldn’t tell who until Mob drew attention to himself.

Notes: Not a single psychic in the place, including Mob and Dimple, could tell that Minori was possessed until Mogami showed himself. Further evidence that most psychics can’t sense when a spirit is possessing someone. But as soon as Mogami revealed his presence, Dimple recognized and identified him. This is fascinating! This doesn’t only suggest that spirits have their own signature recognizable to other spirits, but since Dimple presumably last saw Mogami when he was alive, it suggests that Mogami had a signature of some kind when he was alive, and that it didn’t change to a significant degree when he died. Do psychics then have signatures? Are the signatures recognizable to other psychics, or only to spirits?

2.09

Mob can do some kind of radar thing with his powers that gives him the closest espers. <- Inquiring minds would like to know: what’s the range on that? Can he sense espers of any power level? Can he tell their power level? If someone he knew was in range, would he be able to tell who it was? Many questions.

Everybody constantly and thoroughly underestimating each other.

Shimazaki: “The thing is, even though I can’t see, I can predict people’s movements. But even if I’m hit, I really have nothing to worry about.”

Teru: “I saw the broadcast and rushed here, and then I sensed you two in this park.” <- again, the implication that Teru can sense regular people as well as psychics.

2.10

Shou: “Ritsu, your latent abilities far surpass your brother’s. … Life won’t be any fun if you don’t tell yourself that. The same goes for me. I’m more powerful than my dad…” <- fun response to trauma. pretty clearly reveals that he has no means of accurately sensing power levels

Ritsu about Minegishi: “His aura is really peculiar.” <- The first occurrence of Ritsu saying or showing that he can sense other espers in any way at all, and he blesses us with some qualitative data! He doesn’t just sense this guy, he notices something different about him! Now I wonder what’s causing that difference… is it just the type of powers Minegishi has, or something else?

The guys who could track down a sleeping Mob. <- Is this an ability specific to them, or could all espers track each other if they wanted to? I’m pretty sure this is an Antenna Team thing in the manga, but my question remains the same.

Kurosaki: “Something doesn’t feel right up ahead… There’s something there. … Here it comes!” <- nobody else sensed shit. either she’s the only one that’s trying, or her clairvoyance is about more than just choices. also i love her.

2.11

Toichirou: “Shou is here.” <- did he sense him or see him?

Ritsu about Shimazaki: “I can tell at a glance… He’s really strong!” <- more qualitative data! Literal First Time in the Entire show that an esper Accurately senses the strength of another esper!

Claw lackey: “I-Is this kid a natural esper?” <- safe assumption when he’s clearly not Claw, but i’m putting it here anyway.

Shimazaki: “Everyone here is an esper. Cut everything else out.” <- Accompanied with imagery showing that he’s normally able to sense/predict even animals and bugs.

Shimazaki about Mob: “Something with tremendous energy is heading this way. … How amusing. Let’s see whose abilities are greater!”

Shimazaki about Reigen: ‘Impossible! I couldn’t sense him at all.’ <- it’s because you tuned out all non-espers, you clown.

Shimazaki: “There’s an esper who can actually make his presence disappear?” <- Maybe. Not that guy, though. Clown.

Mob: “Shishou, he’s rather strong. He’s dangerous, so please step back.” <- The Second Accurate Assessment of Strength, reaffirming the first.

Shimazaki: “More importantly, this kid… is on a whole other level.” <- Third Accurate Assessment of an esper’s strength! We are on a roll! Really interested to know if Shimazaki would be getting the same reading if Mob were not actively pissed right now.

2.12

Mob: “That umbrella…” Dimple: “Yeah, it’s shrouded in some insane power.”

Mob, sucking up Serizawa’s energy: “I can sense what you’re feeling. Such a sad energy…”

Toichirou accurately identified Sakurai’s gun. I wonder if, since it’s cursed, it carries his power’s signature.

Toichirou at Reigen: “I don’t sense any power from you.”

2.13

Serizawa: “The president’s aura is gone.”

Shou: “My dad’s aura didn’t disappear. It changed. My dad mentioned before that he picked up the habit of only awakening when put under a lot of stress.”

Notes: Serizawa was tracking a specific aura and couldn’t recognize a change. Shou knew to expect a change, so was able to notice it. The fact that such a drastic change in Toichirou’s aura occurs at all is fascinating, but that it occurs under specific conditions? Is this applicable to other espers? You would think it would be applicable to Mob and his ???% state, but as we’ll see when we get to the confession arc, that is not the case.

How the hell did they find Mob in all that broccoli

3.01

Mob: “I wonder if it’s called a deep-seated grudge… There’s a lot of really bad things swirling in it. It’ll probably get pretty dangerous if we leave it alone.”

Serizawa: “I mean… I can’t imagine it being anything but a cursed doll.”

Mob: “Serizawa-san is very powerful.”

Mob: “I didn’t realize he was being possessed by one so large.”

Serizawa: “No, I’m pretty sure… That’s his own living wraith.” <- not taking this bit seriously since it’s technically anime only if i remember right

3.02

Amakusa: “I sense a very faint presence of a demonic aura from there!”

Serizawa: “I do actually sense some weird energy from there.”

Amakusa: “The atmosphere in here has transformed.”

Serizawa: “Ah… So it’s basically like a normal exorcism.”

3.03

Mob at Dimple: “So the reason you’re stronger now is you stole some of the energy from the broccoli.”

3.04

Minegishi was able to sense that the root came from the broccoli without touching it. “It’s stealing the energy from all the plants in the city.” might be more a deduction than a sensing thing.

Dimple about creating a broccoli body: “Because the believers wouldn’t be able to see me if I remained a spirit.” <- this is what i was talking about in the 1.12 note about dimple’s ‘visible mode’.

3.05

Mob: “These roots are dangerous…” <- visually, it appears that he got the sense that it wanted to eat him. Which it does!

Mob: “My powers… are being sucked away.” <- Dimple says he should have noticed earlier, but tbh mob’s got such a wealth of power, it’s not surprising it took a while to notice

Dimple: “Wow… I thought we already took most of your powers… But I guess you’ve still got some left.”

Dimple: ‘But you should be at your limit soon… The tremendous power that we sucked from him is flowing into me through the Divine Tree.’

Dimple: ‘I- I can feel his rage. W- Wait, wait… That bastard still… He still has this much power left?’

Notes: pretty sure that until the end bit, Dimple wasn’t basing his estimations on how much power Mob had left on his ability to sense Mob in any way, but more in a ‘holy shit, i’ve already absorbed this much power, he’s got to be close to empty’ way

3.06

The crowd can see Mob’s powers. Can normal people always see psychic powers (including the colors/patterns) when they’re being used? Or is it only when the powers are strong? Or maybe they can see them right now because of the brainwashing?

Dimple: ‘I don’t feel any power from Shigeo. He’s totally empty and defenseless. Did the Divine Tree suck his energy dry? No. A moment ago, Shigeo was releasing energy like a popped balloon.’ <- this is only after he got frightened, hit Mob, and Mob got thrown away easily. It’s pretty clear he actively checked, and while strength levels are pretty clearly hard to gauge accurately, there’s no mistaking ‘zero’.

3.07

Ritsu about the sound that only telepaths should be able to hear: “Even I can faintly hear it.” <- Sir. I am Looking at you. Intently.

Ritsu: “Even my head starts to hurt.” <- the cutscenes that show other espers clutching their heads make me think this is a normal reaction of a non-telepath. doesn’t cancel out ritsu’s first statement. Maybe the Shiratori brothers were mistaken about only telepaths being able to hear the sound, as opposed to all espers. Maybe I need to become an eventual-telepath-ritsu truther. Who knows.

3.10

Teru recognizes when Shigeo is about to explode.

Toichirou: “I’ll go by myself. The target can’t be taken lightly.” Joseph: “Is the target someone you know?” Toichirou: “I can feel his power… growing even stronger.”

3.11

Okay. I know it’s anime only. But Ritsu instantly Knowing when Mob goes ???% is just. So Good. The implications! Is this something he could do even before his powers awakening? Did it only come after? If before, did he Know when ???% came out in 1.05? If after, did he Know in 1.08 or 2.05? Or were those instances obscured by their circumstances? Is this his first time Knowing? Also, How can he do this? It can’t be a unique signature within Mob’s powers, or Toichirou wouldn’t have recognized him, right? Maybe this is a sign of Ritsu’s latent telepathy [I’ve connected the dots. I’ve connected them]

[annwe24]

MICHEAL X ANGEL!READER

Summary: Despite your very best effort, Micheal never shows any interest in you.

Artist: https://x.com/kkongchi06

Being a child of the Goddess of Love has its perks. Your beauty has never failed to lead many angels to their demise - being trapped in a one-sided love. You have trapped yourself in a one-sided love too. Many of your sisters’ lovers come and go like course meals, their names have never quite made it past the third time. You wish it were the case for you. Despite having attracted so many angels, no one has quite left such an impression on you. Love is one of commitment and a yet to be understood concept, even its creator struggles to explain her own creation. Thus, that view of yours has obscured your path of love to angels and seraphims alike.

You cannot explain why you're experiencing such feelings right now. Standards or beliefs cannot steer your gaze away from the archangel sitting piously in the court. Despite many failed attempts to approach him, the farthest you can get is an uninterested glance. You just wish his gaze would be bothered to notice yours for once.

I’ve been getting reports about the worrying trends of divorces on Earth. I would like to hear an explanation from their supervisors.

Perhaps this is the only time his gaze would be more charming if it diverted elsewhere but you. Ones of discipline and anticipation. Standing up nervously, you choose your words wisely:

Allow me to answer, sir Micheal. Cupids have been more ploy with their tactics, trying to hide away from our guidance. It doesn't help that some of my sisters felt ill, thus, adding more onto each of our workload. I sincerely hope to receive one more month to reverse the damage done.

You can sense his frustration by the way his eyes bore into you. Insignificance fails to describe the state you're feeling.

Very well then. I expect nothing but hard work and better results. Y/n, I would like to have a word with you in private. Micheal says with a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes.

You are accustomed to this kind of treatment. Something goes wrong, Micheal gets mad, you get scolded. It's one of the perks of being the oldest. Such irony of a joke doesn't even feel hilarious anymore, at least for these days.

...

The dreadful echoes of your footsteps make the long corridor even more threatening. If there is something scarier than being fallen, it would definitely be an angry Michael. Your hand shakily reaches for the intricate doorknob, wanting nothing more to get back to take care of your sisters.

Welcome in.

H-hi.

Your eyes desperately look somewhere but him. Even when walking towards the chair, the floor still has your utmost attention. Shifting uncomfortably, you curse at yourself for looking so stupid in front of the Prince of Heaven. A clearing of his throat brings you back into reality.

Let me get straight to the point. I want those pesky cupids of yours to be dealt with in less than 2 weeks.

E-excuse me?

Your anxiety is now shifting to confusion and disbelief. Is this some kind of game? However, his expression is saying otherwise:

You heard me right. I had foreseen the possibility of you not doing exactly to my favor…

His voice becomes distant, so far away. You cannot bring yourself up to even care about this pointless conversation anymore.

That is why I called you to talk in private. I am willing to hear all your reasoning…

This is expected. You think to yourself. Although, it's more of an assurance to calm yourself. You can almost feel the stress of the two weeks ahead. Being put under his scrutiny for countless times, Micheal’s attitude at work (at least to you) never fails to make you feel lost. Exhausted.

Either way, I’m quite convinced that nothing can change…

Why is it always you? Why is it always about your work? Why do you even like him? He’s been nothing but a burden, nothing more nothing less. Yet, you find yourself being a moth flying closer to the false alluring light. You cannot take this anymore. You’ve made up your mind. Either settle this right now or the consequences are going back to bite you later.

May I ask you something, Sir?

Michael stops dead in his rambling. After a moment of consideration and curious eyes staring hauntingly at you, he manages to get back to his smug face:

Yes. Yes, you may.

That short sentence sends some kind of chemical to your brain because you were sure you were dead by now. Taking a deep breath, you look straight at his blue orbs:

What's the point of this?

A moment of silence. Suddenly, the sound of your breathing feels too loud and you are aware of how flimsy your hands are. Then, the atmosphere shifts. Micheal smug smile returns as he leans closer, answering with a disturbingly low voice:

Because it's my responsibility to ensure all of Heaven runs smoothly and in accordance with God's reference.

Ah. Right. A responsible person as always. You wonder if he learned those answers by heart. As if reading your mind, his eyebrows show that of annoyance, hands clasping when asking back at you:

Say, I’m still waiting for your response on the important matter.

That's it. You are going to die today.

You're lying.

Fuck. If you're not demoted right now, you certainly will be. Did you regret it? Absolutely. Did it feel good? Absolutely. Maybe this torture will finally-

Oh, so you've noticed.

What?

You stare at him in disbelief. Eyes as wide as a doe. His grin also grows wider, more sinister.

Sweetheart, I don't fucking care about some heartbroken freaks when people are outright dying.

Suddenly, you come into contact with the wall violently. His hand covered the back of your head, preventing the hit.

For someone supposed to be an angel of Love, you are as dense as a book.

Not a single coherent thought is on your mind right now. If anything, you are battling between fighting back or just giving in to him. Excitement somehow finds its way to you. Maybe being trapped against the wall by Micheal isn't that bad.

There you go again, losing focus on such an important matter. Micheal says with a sigh.

That snaps you back to reality. You have to say something. You feel like it's necessary. You feel like if you don't say anything right now, the regret would be unbearable. But, what can you say?

I-I’m sorry, Sir. Am I missing something?

You are going to die. Micheal hasn't said anything but looked at you. Something about his gaze screams defeat.

Tsk.

Soft. His lips are softer than you thought. It feels better too. Never in your wildest dreams did you think you would get to touch his hands. Yet, his hands are now holding your wrists, tracing circles on your back, your waist, literally every inch of your body are being cared for. It is too much, too surreal. Your hands tangle themselves into his hair and hold onto his shoulder for balance. Next thing you know, your back is arching on the desk.

[yunhogosailing]

women’s rights, stan culture, and “idolization”: what the fuck are we doing here?

tw: sexual abuse

i am absolutely dismayed to hear of the ongoing situation involving taeil, despite knowing very little about him as a person and having surface level knowledge of nct 127 as a group. i am even more dismayed at the discourse surrounding the way nctzens, especially taeil stans, have been reacting to the news since the announcement this morning.

i dont want to rant and ramble bc that helps nobody. i’ve read my fair share of thinkpieces on various platforms—some well thought out, some covering the bare minimum at best, and even more demonstrating a complete lack of understanding as to how we need to approach these subjects both as fans and as consumers. i feel as if everything that needed to be said has been said, but i do want to touch on a point of my own, and tell you all how you can help support the ongoing korean feminist movement.

it is not healthy to go about your entire life assuming that you will see the worst of someone eventually.

this is true for anyone you meet: an idol, a family member, a friend, and a complete stranger. i’m exhausted by all of the Hot Takes admonishing those who feel a sense of loss, sorrow, and disgust upon finding out that someone who they were led to trust could potentially be capable of doing something as heinous as what is being alleged against taeil.

“you don’t know these people” you’re correct! i most certainly do not.

“don’t put these people up on a pedestal” nobody is doing this by virtue of simply being a fan.

“as a boy group stan you should always keep in mind that men are shit.” are you starting to see my issue, yet?

you are not naive or stupid for believing the best in someone, even if this is a person you have never met and will never know on a more personal level than as a fan of an idol. i am exhausted with the seemingly popular belief that its somehow healthy or normal to navigate through life operating under the assumption that everyone around you has the capacity for violence and harm. it is not healthy. as a survivor of sexual abuse and harassment, one of the first things i had to regain over my life was a sense of control and sanity. this meant ridding myself of the fear that i could be re-victimized at any moment. statistically speaking, it was always a possibility. but realistically speaking, i was doing far greater harm to myself throughout my recovery when i was afraid of the men around me.

if you are an nctzen, if you are taeil biased, do not feel bad about being blindsided by this. do not start assuming that the other members must have been aware, or must be involved, or must have committed some crime of their own; that is simply not how the real world works. if you are a fan of boy groups, keep your standards high but do not view this as a reason to be hyper vigilant of the people you stan. do not assume the worst until they present you with the worst. expecting people to be decent is not idolizing someone. its when you refuse to hold them accountable to the actions that they have done that you cross the line between being a fan and being an enabler.

why is this important to keep in mind?

we as kpop stans are in a particularly unique position. we are consumers of a byproduct from a culture that is undergoing a severe women’s rights crisis.

just recently, a series of telegram groups were discovered in which hundreds of thousands of users created and shared artificial explicit materials (deepfakes) involving women and young girls spanning from kindergartners to university students to adults; family members, classmates, coworkers, etc. the figures of the perpetrators involved could potentially be as high as 300,000 individuals, and a overwhelming majority of those in these chats are believed to be men.

this incident is coming right off the tails of another, more infamous group of telegram rooms nicknamed “the Nth rooms”—where a number of men helped to orchestrate one of the largest cases of digital sex crimes in south korean history, victimizing over a hundred women and young girls for the purpose of disseminating violent sexually explicit materials.

even before the original Nth Room case, korean women had more than enough reasons to fear for their safety; molka (hidden camera) crimes were on the rise, with over 30,000 cases being reported between 2013 and 2018. korean women were being assaulted and killed in their homes and on the street for no reason (significantly high femicide rates are still an issue in south korea today). women were being prosecuted over the mere belief that they may be involved in the country’s feminist movement—experiencing professional repercussions over accusations such as reading a book, having short hair, or making a gesture. in the wake of this anti-feminist backlash, it became increasingly common for men to voice their discomfort for what they believe to be “radical” measures taken by korean women to ensure their safety and improve their futures. see, for example, rapper San-E who wrote a diss track towards feminists and is still able to walk these streets relatively unharmed due to his position of privilege.

the notion that you should always assume that every man you meet is a potential sex criminal or a misogynist is harmful simply because that is the exact reason why korean feminists have been working so hard to change the legislation surrounding sexual crimes for the last two decades. the ultimate goal of gender equality is having that reassurance that no matter what gender motivated crime is committed against you, you will be entitled to justice through the courts and free of the stigma of being a victim in society. korean women want to be able to interact with their brothers and fathers without worrying about ending up in a deepfake video. korean women want to be able to venture outside their homes at night without fear of being followed and abducted. korean women want to be able to use the restroom at work without having to check the stalls for microscopic recording devices. the idea that you should be weary of those around you and those who have gained your trust is detrimental to your mental health, and with this knowledge, korean women have been actively working tirelessly to ensure a future where they will not have to worry about this.

it could be your faves, but theres no guarantee that it will ever be or that it will never be. rather, work today to uphold the standard that women should be protected and hold those who have violated their rights as human beings to the full power of the law. keep the names of those who have suffered or died from violent crimes against women alive and their stories in the media. south korean feminists are asking for our help in spreading the news about the recent deepfake Nth rooms, because they are facing silence and noncompliance from domestic media outlets to do their due diligence in investigating this matter.

they are suggesting that you take korean news articles surrounding the deepfakes, or korean feminist posts discussing the telegram groups and any events that are being planned to protest for women’s rights, and run them through a translator if needed in order to share them with english speaking news media. the idea is that as long as international eyes are on the atrocities being committed against women in the country, the korean news cannot suppress their voices.

here are the twitter accounts that i know of who are taking the risk to share their stories and that of other south korean women:

link to profile

link to profile

link to profile

link to profile

link to profile

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for breaking up with my partner because they don’t believe in the moon landing?

My (23NB) partner (27NB) and I had a conversation a while ago and it was revealed they don’t believe in the first moon landing. They believe we’ve made it to the moon since, they just think the first one is fake.

I was pretty incredulous, and they said that I made them feel really shamed for not believing the same thing as me.

We argued for a bit, and they told me that they don’t really care about if it happened or not/that it’s not a big deal to them. I think it’s super important to seek the truth and parse information. My mom works in healthcare and had to deal with a huge amount of covid misinformation, and my dream job is to work at NASA. I work in a technical field, and do hobby rocketry on the side, so the whole moon landing thing is actually pretty relevant as it can get to my life and goals.

They told me that they didn’t learn about the moon landing in school, and that it was always seen as “America talking itself up”. (They are from another country, not America. I am.)

After they asked me to show them an explanation of why I thought it was real, I showed them a video explaining how the moon landing couldn’t have been faked with the film technology available at the time. This didn’t change anything.

Our argument ended with me promising to make my peace with their “belief”, but in the following weeks I realized that I couldn’t. We’ve been having other issues in our relationship, and two weeks ago we had a big conversation about what each of us needed to continue in the relationship. I told them that a desire and want to know the truth, to process and either refute or change your views based on new information, and openness to learning were super important to me, and that I needed them to believe in the moon landing. They agreed, and said they had been doing their own research. I took this as a fantastic sign, and we both agreed to work on the relationship.

Last week we had couples therapy, where it was revealed that they DONT believe in it. I don’t know what research they did, but it didn’t change their mind. I feel so lost. They told me how frustrating therapy was, and how they felt like I needed for us to agree on everything. I don’t, (I don’t think so) but I do kinda need them to be on the same page as me when it comes to the moon landing (and it’s not really about the moon landing, it’s that when presented with information, they didn’t change their mind/apparently couldn’t do sound research) I wish so badly I didn’t care about this, and worry I’m just going to end the relationship over something dumb. Would I be the asshole for ending it over this, or is there a point of view I’m missing here?

What are these acronyms?

[saintsenara]

How involved in bullying Snape do you think Lupin was? I feel like a lot of the fandom goes with the idea that he was al Aud a reluctant bystander and felt guilty but I’m not sure I agree. With what Snape says about fighting 4 on 1 I think Lupin and Pettigrew would have to have been directly involved at least sometimes. Maybe Lupin was more involved in the early years when things were less serious like tripping each other in the hallway, the got uncomfortable as things got more vicious? And how do you think the prank/murder attempt effected this? Curious to hear your take!

thank you very much for the ask, anon!

my view - which will come up in both the war of the roses and scylla and charybdis - is that lupin and pettigrew are both involved with the physical side of the marauders' bullying of snape [and what they do to him is indistinguishable from what james and sirius do - it's not less violent etc.] as back up for james and sirius, but are never the direct instigators of this violence.

this fits lupin's belief - expressed in both prisoner of azkaban and order of the phoenix - that james only ever attacked snape when provoked. lupin clearly justifies his involvement in the physical cruelty to which snape was subjected by framing it in his own mind as defensive - a brave and necessary thing to do in the face of snape's hostility towards james [whom he understands in an extraordinarily idealised way].

and it's also clear that - when he finds himself in a situation where it's impossible for him to justify that james and sirius are acting in self-defence [that is to say, snape's worst memory], he simply goes full:

which can be used - i think - to suggest that james and sirius thought he was a bit too unreliable in terms of his willingness to start fights to be treated by them as their co-instigator.

[hence sirius saying in order of the phoenix that lupin used to make him and james feel guilty over their more egregious attacks on snape - we can parse this as him saying that lupin's struggle to pretend all of their violence was justified was obvious.]

but i also think that they were willing to make use of lupin - and to respect and encourage his participation in their violence, and to use his approval to justify the righteousness of it to themselves - whenever he was on board.

pettigrew, in contrast, would clearly love to be involved in the violence as james and sirius' co-instigator - just look at how he behaves in snape's worst memory! - but ends up relegated by james and sirius themselves to the status of follower rather than team mate.

that he resents this is obvious... given that he ends up ruining their lives.

it's clear that a significant - and indeed, in my view, the main - part of pettigrew's reasons for defecting to the death eaters is a desire to say "fuck you" to james and sirius, who - while they do clearly conceive of him as their friend [and i think takes that they don't really like him, or that they could have worked out where his true loyalties lay, are delusional] - also understand his friendship to both of them as subordinate to their friendship with each other, and enforce this hierarchy by making it known that they think he's less important, talented, cool, clever etc. than they each understand the other to be.

pettigrew is excluded from joining james and sirius' bullying of snape as an equal, because james and sirius fundamentally see the bullying as something which helps them maintain their identical images of each other. they don't see him as a cunning and charismatic ringleader, punishing a pathetic target like snape [as they see themselves]. they see him as only a few rungs of pathetic above snape himself.

and he realises this, and it festers, and it ends with him making them both pay for underestimating him.

on "the prank tm"...

1. sirius tells us in prisoner of azkaban that the werewolf prank was a punishment - cooked up because he wanted to teach snape a lesson for constantly eavesdropping on the marauders. 2. this would - therefore - mean that sirius announcing his intention to lure snape to the shack would meet lupin's threshold for being something snape himself provoked/the marauders retaliating to defend themselves. 3. lupin has a tell when he's lying: he says "er" or "erm". when he describes the prank in prisoner of azkaban, in a way which heavily implies the entire thing was sirius' idea and that neither he nor james had any prior knowledge of the plan... this tell is out in force. he was clearly in on it - and so, without a doubt, was james. 4. it's really striking that pettigrew is completely irrelevant to the incident - not only in sirius and lupin's retelling, but in snape's. he clearly wasn't involved - there's no way that snape wouldn't have mentioned it if he was. 5. the prank looks, then, like the perfect encapsulation of this dynamic. - sirius and james as ringleaders - lupin allowed to ascend to their level as a co-conspirator, because he's justified the plan to himself in a way his friends know won't cause him to flake - pettigrew excluded from this trio of equal standing because his friends treat him as an afterthought - good for back-up in a hallway duel, useless when it comes to something which requires a bit of slyness and charm.

[circular-bircular]

I think there genuinely is an enormous problem in online spaces, I think in part due to the whole concept of purity culture, where everything people say and do online is scrutinized — not just in the case of “Is this person a good person,” but “Does this person represent the values we wish to see 24/7.”

Nobody is perfect, dear lord, and this place is not the place to seek perfection regardless. This is tumblr, home of the go nuts, show nuts rule; tumblr, which is as invaded by fandom and was originally meant to be a pseudo Facebook. People who use this place didn’t come here originally to be activists. And if you did, I'm a little concerned, genuinely, for your mental health and how well you're distancing yourself from difficult subjects and giving yourself the time you need to decompress.

And yet, we keep holding people up to this frankly impossible standard of representing a movement, regardless of what their blog content originally was for. Suddenly, every system on tumblr has to represent a certain Ideal for System Rights! They have to have the right views on system accountability, endogenic systems, plurality as an umbrella, littles, dormancy, fusion, functional multiplicity, parts language, the ToSD-

This is fucking ridiculous. A laundry list of topics that people have on their shoulders, along with every other laundry list of things that people need to care about. Fuck you if you're oppressed in any single way, you need to form opinions on every single one of those things, and if any opinion is out of place, then You Are Not A True [IDENTITY].

Somewhere along the way, many of us (I’m including myself here for a reason) managed to either convince ourselves or be convinced that we need to be Correct in some way about how this all works. That’s prideful and haughty at best, but typically moreso just… so detrimental to healing. None of us will be perfect… and so, when those of us who aren’t perfect are imperfect publicly, we are often harassed or attacked — or some of us attack others, for whatever reason it may be. And somehow, someway, we accepted that this is just how it works.

It's okay to discuss those things you disagree with online. It's okay to look at someone's take about, say, system accountability, or plurality, or littles, and reblog with your corrections and even anger! But you must be doing this with acknowledgement that people will be in different places, healing in different ways, and that there is nothing wrong with that. They're their own person!

But moreover, that's a whole ass blog. That's not a reflection of a person as a whole -- hell, it's rarely a reflection of the person at all. It's just a blog that they can put anything on. Have we not all heard the stories of people who've "Completely Changed" online, becoming people who others cannot recognize? People lie on the internet, intentionally or not.

Even me. I try my best to be who I am in real life here, and I share a LOT of myself with you all. You know I'm a teacher, and engaged, and have the most perfectest little cat in the world. But do you know me? I recently just got to visit an online friend in person (It was absolutely fucking incredible and I can't wait to do it again), and the entire time, I felt like I was just so awkward; I really struggled to stay present and talk more, which is something I don't struggle with nearly as much online. Believe it or not, I am not this long-winded in real life.

Maybe that's not lying, but it's not who I am. It's me being fundamentally different online than in real life. You all see me entirely through just the blogs you know me through. Maybe it's circie bircie, maybe you know my D&D blog, maybe you know me through positivitycombopack, or maybe this just shows up randomly on your dashboard. Maybe you don't know me at all.

And that goes for every person you see online. Do you actually know them? Do you know their beliefs? What they stand for? Why they believe those beliefs?

Or are you just seeing a blog?

[angelfleurry]

hii! id like to ask a nagito x fem! ultimate hope! reader, if thats ok??! thanks for the attention!! <3

♡ Nagito X Fem!! Ultimate Hope!! Reader: ♡

Thank you so much for requesting, Anon! I just LOVE writing for Nagito honestly. I’m not the most perfect at it, but something about his particular character makes it really fun to write for! I just did little headcanons if that’s okay! I wrote it assuming it was light-hearted, but if you wanted something more serious I can!!

That being said, I really hope you like it! Have a wonderful day, my love, and feel free to request again whenever!

~

♡ You really do live up to the title!!

♡ You’re so determined it’s incredible.

♡ Whatever you set your mind on, it will be done. You don’t quit, you don’t give up.

♡ Most of all, you encourage others to continue alongside your own journey.

♡ That inspired Nagito so very much.

♡ As the Ultimate Hope, there was no falsity in the fact that you had gone through some intense events within your life. Whatever the nature of these events, you always seemed to rise above them in some way, never letting it affect your hope.

♡ In fact, living through these events only seemed to strengthen your hope.

♡ You often felt a little silly being within Hope’s Peak. You didn’t see how your talent could compare to the rest of the student body.

♡ But when a certain Ultimate Lucky Student started gravitating towards you, you had to rethink that opinion.

♡ It was a little confusing at first, what with him suddenly seeming to devote himself entirely to you, but you came to find a friend in him.

♡ Slowly, you too had begun to devote yourself to him.

♡ Eventually, it became more than a friend you’d found.

♡ You made a point to compliment and praise Nagito whenever you could.

♡ Something about his bewildered reactions amused you, but they also do come from your heart.

♡ You knew Nagito held a rather…degrading view towards himself, and sometimes it could be incredibly difficult to break him out of it.

♡ While aware you could not magically change his self-view, you were determined to make him feel as loved as possible.

♡ And, needless to say, you did that wonderfully!

♡ It didn’t even have to be direct words of affection, once Nagito would be met with your smiling face and a sweet welcome; he’d be in a frenzy.

♡ He didn’t understand - he couldn’t understand - why him?!

♡ What he did understand, however, was that he was completely and utterly undeserving of you.

♡ You were everything he admired, everything he wanted to embody, everything good he craved in the world.

♡ You were so incredible, so determined, so very kind…

♡ And, you were devoting yourself to him. *Him*, of all people!!

♡ He couldn’t comprehend it; what were you doing?!

♡ Still, though, it was working.

♡ Slowly, but surely, he was becoming aware that you intended to stay, and that you genuinely loved him for who he was; flaws and all.

♡ He adored you, and made sure that the act of giving affection didn’t just fall upon you.

♡ Words of affirmation were an incredibly important part of your relationship, both from you to him and him to you.

♡ You were everything to him; there was nobody else he treasured more.

♡ He just couldn’t understand how he was the same to you.

♡ He sung your praises constantly, regardless as to whether or not you were around. The praise in question would be about literally anything; your talent, you as an individual, the outfit you chose to wear - you name it.

♡ He is very poetic in the way he talks about you.

♡ Cuddles are a definite must between the two of you. It took a while, with Nagito being hesitant under the belief of him tarring your perfection, but you slowly managed to get him comfortable with it.

♡ Nagito appreciates the verbal affection you give him, but something about the physical affection you give sends him spiralling.

♡ He won’t say it, but he ADORES it when you lean into him desperate to be held.

♡ He feels you wrap your arms around him, feels your head against him, and he’s a GONER. Any source of oxygen he previously had is gone.

♡ He himself doesn’t tend to initiate physical contact though. He still feels like he needs to keep a distance from you, for your own protection from his luck, but it’s not as if he doesn’t enjoy the contact you give him. He loves it, even.

♡ But then, at the same time, there are moments where Nagito has a weird surge in confidence.

♡ He’ll reach you first, keeping you close, before then apologising and reverting.

♡ It’s confusing, and you try to encourage him to just do what he wants.

♡ He’ll just a give a light hum at that.

♡ Nagito loves listening to stories about your life. It doesn’t matter if he’s heard them all, he will be listening again, and he loves it.

♡ He loves hearing about the event that made you become the Ultimate Hope, but he also loves hearing little things as well. Anything about you, anything at all, he’ll whole-heartedly listen.

♡ You two can often be found curled up reading books together. It can be your own individual tastes, or you’ll both have a copy of the same book.

♡ The silence isn’t awkward, it’s rather calming. Nagito appreciates that you can be in his company without needing much communication. It brings him some reassurance about the nature of his luck.

♡ Sometimes you’ll go to the river and read, which is always so lovely. The birds and the gentle gushing sounds of the water always bring such a charm to the activity.

♡ You have this selection of perfume and scented body scrubs that you rotate on a monthly basis and he ADORES IT.

♡ He just thinks it’s so precious how you find joy in pampering yourself, and the gorgeous scents are always welcomed.

♡ In fact, you’ve offered some of your stuff to him before, and he loves the designs of the products. He finds them so beautiful.

♡ Certain scents just remind him of you now.

♡ He’s a darling when you’re on your period.

♡ He’s a little hesitant, unsure of whether or not he’s being patronising, but he tries to envision himself in your situation and is just so great at making sure you’re comfortable; even if you know how to live with it.

♡ To him, you’re so very dear, and he wants you to be happy.

♡ That ties in to the physical affection once again. You’ve both shared kisses on a few occasions, and everytime he finds himself questioning why you, the Ultimate Hope herself, are willing to partake in such intimacy with him.

♡ He worries he’s going to do something wrong, or that his luck will play up, or that you’ll grow tired of him and leave, but…

♡ Once your lips meet his, his mind kind of clouds over.

♡ You’re so delicate as he holds you close, butterflies kicking his stomach from all angles, fingers gently caressing the ends of your hair.

♡ Even just little, quick, kisses are everything to him. When you kiss his hand, or peck his forehead, or even plant one upon his nose, he’s smitten every time.

♡ You’ve fallen asleep whilst with him a few times, and every time he always stops to gaze at you in awe.

♡ “So peaceful..” he’d whisper, breath hitching, a soft fuzziness in his chest, “So…perfect.”

♡ He just likes to watch.

♡ He’s fallen asleep as well, and sometimes awakens to you playing with his hair.

♡ You do that when he’s awake as well, gently brushing through it and just fluffing it around.

♡ He just adores and appreciates you whole-heartedly. You really are his hope, his light, and he would do anything for you.

♡ He would die for you, self-inflicted or not.

♡ But, just having you there with him will do.

♡ He likes that a lot.

[artist-issues]

Your words and your posts have been incredibly disheartening for me to see. My mother left the church. She is not an apostate, but she did question the church’s teachings in secret. She completely left faith when I was born. I have congenital heart defects, which I was born with. I nearly died on the operating table. For this reason, my mother and I do not believe in God, who is said to be all-powerful and all-benevolent. My mother is a wonderful person. She risked her life in the Covid-19 pandemic as she works at a hospital. If anyone deserved to live in an eternal paradise, it would be her. Your LGBTQ+ views have also upset me. My oldest friend, who I have known since before I could even remember, is transgender and gay, and have been more supportive to me as a disabled person than any Christian has been. I’m only 18 years old, yet I know that you chose faith over experiences with the wonderful parts of humanity. Respectfully, please reconsider your views on gay and trans people.

I truly appreciate how thoughtfully and respectfully you typed out this message. It is clear that these matters mean a lot to you and I'm going to go ahead and assume that you aren't speaking out of any kind of hate.

I would just offer you a counter-perspective, and maybe by understanding where I'm coming from, you can see that I'm not speaking out of any kind of hate for people, either. I'm half blind. I was born that way. My twin sister and I were taken by emergency cesareans-section when we were incredibly, dangerously premature. My twin was given no chance of survival; the cesarean was just meant to give me a 50% chance of survival. At the time, my mother was recently married to a 19 year-old drug dealer after her own father abused and abandoned her and her mother. She'd been living apart from the faith for years, rejecting God to follow the occult or whatever political party had hear heart at the time. My father hated God.

But when my sister and I were fighting for life for weeks on end, and nobody was sure if we would live or die, and they had to bring us home with heart monitors because our hearts would literally stop beating several times a night, my mom realized how helpless she was to do anything to save us. And she prayed. And we lived. Both of us. Not only that, but my father, at 19 years old, addicted to drugs since the age of 13, narrowly escaped death and gave his life to Christ. After a whole life of having no social skills unless he was high, doing whatever he wanted to whoever he wanted, and caring about nothing but himself, now he is a Pastor (bi-vocationally; he is also a tradesman working with his hands) and has given me and all my family, and many other families, everything we have in our lives through his dedicated and faithful life. He and my mother have been happily married and serving God with their whole lives for almost thirty years now.

And not only them, but me, my twin sister, my younger sister, my little brother, my grandfather (who was an actual killer and drug addict as well) we all know God. We all have a relationship with Him. And that's the biggest most wonderful gift He gave us, out of all those wonderful things He did for us. Saving my life, my dad's life, my twin's life, changing who they were and making them new people.

I'm not telling you all that to like, compare disabilities or traumas or whatever. That would be ridiculous for lots of reasons. But I'm just trying to be honest.

It's not a religion or a system of beliefs that I've subscribed to. It's not a social flag I live under. It's not something I do just because my parents or the people in my immediate community have shown me. It's because He's real, and He showed Himself to me—when it's just me and Him, and nobody else's opinion or say-so matters— and it's all really true—everything the Bible says. And He's so much better, and so much more benevolent, than anyone on earth can describe to you.

And, at the same time, when you understand who He is, and who we are...the question isn't "how could a good God let anyone go to Hell instead of paradise?" The question is, "how could He let any of us live after what we did?" It's hard. But seriously, just play pretend with me for a bit, if only to "understand my perspective." Pretend there was a God, all-powerful, endlessly loving, in fact, Love Itself. The love that was His very nature spilled out so much that He created—created beautiful, amazing, complex creatures who were intrinsically full of worth and light, and made to reflect Him, that Love, back to Him, and share in it. A big happy family.

And then those creatures from the dirt committed cosmic treason and said "screw You, I don't care if You created me and I don't care if You love me or want to be in relationship with me: I want to be You. I want to call the shots." And those creatures from the dirt basically did the cosmic version of climbing in their father's lap to spit in His face, and go stab each other over fleeting pleasures in the gutter because the mansions He was offering them wasn't as good as pretending they could be gods of their own lives.

That's the story. Thats what happened. Read Genesis, if you have the time and if you're of the heart to. And because of what we chose, we got twisted up. I'm sure you read that, in my posts. So even the thing we were made for—love—got mangled up inside us and we can't express it the right way anymore.

He would've been justified in wiping us out. Starting over with new creatures. We were His creation. He gets to decide what we are and what to do with us: we betrayed and insulted and defied our rightful King. But He's not like that. He had no reason to--no obligation to--but He chose to do the work and make a way for us to be back in relationship with Him. And He chose to do it by subjecting Himself to unimaginable torture and darkness, which would have been ours by right if He hadn't taken it for us.

I know that you love your mom. It is plain to see. And I understand the feeling. But if you really get to know the God of the actual Bible, instead of just the memes and the flawed people who try to explain Him—if you really get to know Him, between you and Him, you'll see that He actually loves your mom more than you do. And He loves you more than you, or anyone, does. Because He knows you both better and more intimately than you even know Yourselves. He made you. It'd be like an author getting to dive down into the story and tell their characters everything about themselves.

That's the kind of love we were made for. The kind of love that is there even though you don't deserve it, even though you're not entitled to it—the kind of love that would die for you while you're still hating Him.

I mean just stop and think about it, clear your brain of everything everyone has ever told you about LGBTQ+ and all that. And just think: can you love someone wholeheartedly and still know they're in the wrong? Even when they wholeheartedly believe they're right? Even when they're hurt by you believing they're in the wrong? Of course you can. Anyone who's had a loved one with a self-destructive habit, like alcohol addiction or an abusive lover or just a toxic personality trait or two, can relate to that common sense. They can say, "of course I love you. That's why I'm telling you to stop doing this, it's hurting you, it's not good for you, I know it doesn't feel that way, but it's the truth."

So if you believe that there are some circumstances where that applies, what makes it so unloving for this hypothetical God, who knows the best thing for your friend and knows your friend better than you do, to say so about being LGBTQ+? Why should LGBTQ+ be any different?

Well, the answer, of course, is that you don't believe it is true that it's wrong. Because, if we rewind, you don't believe in God. But you just told me that you came to that conclusion kind of...after feeling hurt by Him. You almost died, first , then your mom chose to leave Him behind and go ahead and live as if He doesn't exist. And you did, too.

But let's go back to playing pretend. If God exists, then He didn't act how you think He should've, as an "benevolent" God: He didn't do YOUR version of "good." So you abandoned Him. (We're pretending like He exists, from your perspective.) He didn't do your version of good, you feel mistreated, so you walked away from Him.

But He would never do that to you. If He's the kind of person the Bible says He is, He doesn't treat you that way. When you (humanity) didn't do His version (which is the only real version, since He invented it) of good, He didn't abandon you. He totally could have. But instead He made a way for your relationship to get fixed. But you have free will. So He's not going to force you to love Him and accept the gift. If you want to continue for all eternity without being with Him, you can. He gives you that option.

But then don't wonder why people who choose that option don't get "eternal paradise." Because according to the Bible, that's all heaven is: getting to be in relationship with God forever. Fully who He made you to be. If you don't want that, He won't force it: in fact, He couldn't. It wouldn't be just, and He is always just.

The truth is, after what we did to Him, none of us deserve anything from Him. I didn't deserve to survive in that ICU. Neither did my sister. Neither did my father or mother or grandfather. None of us should be allowed to inhale another breath; we're the King's people who betrayed Him and tried to steal His throne. But He is so good that instead He turns around and adopts us.

I know this is rambly. But you messaged me so genuinely, I just sort of wrote this as if I were sitting down and talking it all out, one word in front of the other, with you. I don't know you. I know these are very hot button topics, and very personal issues; but like you, I think they're of the utmost importance.

So I will keep considering the LGBTQ+ and transgender issues—but you have to understand that I'm in service to the King, so to speak. I love Him, He loves me, and He's my God. When I consider any part of reality, it's impossible to do so without Him as the center and standard of truth. Without Him, who gets to decide what's right or wrong? Just me. And on my own, I am inconsistent, selfish, ruinous. But I'm not on my own. And in the meantime, I'll ask you to consider God, the real God, of the Bible. Not what a church of whatever denomination tells you—not to start with. Not what I tell you, or anyone tells you. Just what He said about Himself, straight from the Bible. Let Him speak for Himself. Thanks for reaching out.

[esther-dot]

While I agree with Ary@ killing Dany, what I don't understand why Jon will take her blame and get punished while she will end up her own adventure? Why would narrative punished Jon for Ary@ actions? Why would even killing Dany be considered as crime? While I know show ending is similar to books but Jon taking Ary@ blame and punished is not narratively good. Its worse than show. Also it will plot armour for Ary@.

I'm not convinced Arya kills Dany, but if she does, I agree with you. Jon taking the blame wouldn't work for me. Others have speculated that Arya tries to poison Dany, and my supposition is that she does, Dany doesn't die, Jon goes on to kill her. That way, it wouldn't be Jon taking the blame for Arya a la Lady being killed in the place of her losing a hand or Nymeria being killed, but it is reminiscent of the Trident incident in a way, with Arya striking the first blow in a fight to protect someone, and someone else jumping in to protect her.

I expect there will be a lot of connections to AGOT in the endgame so a reference, rather than a full redux works for me. Bran is endgame king, and the first chapter of AGOT is Ned teaching him about justice. We have the kingslayer attempting to kill him in AGOT which is another clue. I believe Martin when he says he knew the endgame way back when, so I’m guessing, many answers are there from the beginning. I recently wrote this about how Jon killing Dany fits in with AGOT Ned:

I think Jon is more likely to be the one to successfully kill her, and in a way that calls to mind Ned's opinion on it, See her tears, hear her last words. That would allow Martin to make sure we see it as just/moral, bring home the Targ v Targ issue, and it shades Ned's decisions and values in a very interesting way. After s8 fans said Ned was wrong to fight against killing Dany in s1, but Martin thinks he was right to object to killing children, so for the two Targ children he was protecting in AGOT (Dany and Jon) to come face to face and one kill the other prevents the conclusion that Ned was wrong. It was the same mercy, the same refusal to see the child of an enemy as an enemy, that saved the boy who will in turn save Westeros. IMO, it's a way to uphold the belief in mercy. I tend to think it’s also Martin’s way of addressing one his questions about his beloved LOTR (what about orc babies etc). (link)

I haven't developed more thoughts on that, but that's where I am at the moment. I talked about some possible foreshadowing with "the dead man's revenge" as well.

Another reason why I object to Arya being the killer is that she is currently operating outside of Ned’s teachings about justice, so I don’t think her killing Dany fits within that initial, crucial theme. It being hard to do the act is an essential part of the struggle with mercy/justice. Someone like Jon on the other hand would provide an opportunity for Martin to wrap up his convo in a thoughtful, albeit complex, way.

Why would even killing Dany be considered as crime?

This is another reason to suspect it will be Jon. Dany will have invaded and burned KL and made a nuisance of herself, I can't imagine how the public would view killing her as a bad thing unless it were someone killing her in socially condemned context ie kinslaying, oathbreaking etc.

I mentioned the other day, Jaime has a horrible rep, but then we find out what Aerys was planning which is a layer of complexity for his characterization, and we also find out that he was ordered to kill his dad so then that's another wrinkle. He goes from without honor, to something admirable, to a blend of several motivations, to something human. I expect Dany's death to involve as many layers. It makes the sense to me that her death involves oathbreaking/betrayal, that doing the right thing marks the killer as a man without honor by some, and that he has a personal motivation as well. The only way to have any layers with the killing of Dany (when it will be so clearly right/necessary after she burns KL) is if it's Jon. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Of course, in all fairness, if people really don’t give a fuck when Dany is taken out (and we know Bran will be king so whatever happens, the Starks end up on power and with a good rep), it’s possible Arya kills her with no repercussions, maybe because, no one knows she did it. If that happens, it could be that Arya’s actions allow Jon to get the family and home he’s always wanted which is certainly, a much happier, more desirable ending for many of us. No plot armor, just a nice little culmination of her training.

But I need to reiterate, it seems increasingly unlikely we will ever get ADOS (shush, we are getting TWOW!), none of us will ever be proven right or wrong, so we don’t need to stress about different thoughts on the endgame. We each kinda get to choose our own ending (within reason!) 😅