#SORRY FOR RAMBLING ALL THE TIME. even tho it's probably not even that bad

[lovinglin]

A certain ginger is holding my heart hostage and won't let go of it (rightfully so)

[anifever]

can you pls do an outsiders x Nerdy fem reader? Like, braces boy band fangirl who rants about comics type. Would rather have it being Curtis sister reader but you can do whatever, tyy <33

Gang w/ a Nerdy!Reader ˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

The Outsiders x Fem!Reader

୨୧ : The Curtis gang with a nerdy reader

A/N : This is kinda bad bcs I get unmotivated to write sometimes but I swear I’m trying omg. Also I didn’t do Curtis sister simply so it’d be more ambiguous, sorry 💔 Anyways this is literally me except I just don’t have braces anymore

˖⁺‧₊˚ 👓 ˚₊‧⁺˖

Darry

୨ You cut pics of The Rolling Stones members, etc out of the newspapers he reads and keep them

୨ He’s confused at first then he’s like “Oh..” when he realizes what’s happening- he doesn’t mind tho

୨ You write the dumbest little notes/pickup lines and put them in his lunch bag for work

୨ He doesn’t understand most of them but he likes them regardless

୨ He read comics here and there when he was a kid, but he definitely doesn’t anymore 😭

୨ He’s always arguing with Pony about those things and just doesn’t really get it

୨ Even though he doesn’t understand yours and Pony’s infatuation with stuff like that, he thinks it’s nice you’re able to bond with each other over it

୨ At some point you convince him to watch one of your favorite sci-fi type tv shows with you whenever he isn’t busy

୨ It’s a pipeline of him saying he doesn’t like it, pretending he doesn’t like it, then being really invested in it

୨ Anyways, even if your interests don’t exactly line up, you still love each other

୨ You rambling over stuff all the time honestly helps him forget about the stress in his life

Two-Bit

୨ He has no room to talk when his favorite show is still Mickey Mouse at the age of 18 and a half

୨ He thinks it’s cute in an endearing way

୨ He makes fun of you a bit but he doesn’t mean it seriously- that’s just how he is

୨ You guys discuss superheroes together and get way too in depth about it

୨ When he sees your room for the first time there’s like little figurines everywhere, etc and he’s just like “Huh, I have that one too” while pointing at the Hulk or something

୨ He doesn’t gaf, at least it’s clean unlike his

୨ If you have braces, he’s absolutely making jokes about it

୨ You’re getting called metal mouth but it’s out of love I promise

୨ He doesn’t let other people make jokes about it though

୨ Like that’s his job!!! Leave his girl alone!!!

୨ This man defends you with his life I’m so serious

୨ Anyways, whenever he gets super drunk and he starts rambling the exact same way you do normally so it sort of evens you out

୨ Idk what else to even say because you both just make so much sense- it seems so obvious

Steve

୨ I hate to say it, but he calls you brace-face

୨ Ironic because he needs some himself!!! 😊

୨ You said something along those lines to him once and he was so caught off guard and offended

୨ Even though he’s a smartass and you’d figure he’d be mean abt it, I feel like he’s probably kinda the same as you- at least when he was younger

୨ Bro knows his DC and Marvel lore

୨ You guys are constantly re-watching ‘Godzilla’ together

୨ There’s probably a picture of him from when he was younger dressed as it for Halloween or something too

୨ You have made him go to a concert with you

୨ He didn’t even really care about you freaking out over the guys, he was more upset that you chose The Beach Boys of all people

୨ He considers it “Soc music”

୨ You most likely don’t understand anything about cars

୨ He could sit there for hours trying to explain stuff to you and it just won’t click

୨ He’s like “How can you remember every fucking Beach Boys song but not what an exhaust does??”

୨ Okay you probably aren’t that dense but still

Dallas

୨ Yeahhh, he’s making fun of you

୨ It’s out of love tho 😇 most of the time..

୨ You constantly make references about comics and shows and he has no clue what you’re talking about

୨ You use the word kryptonite around him and he’s like “..What the HELL did you just say to me?”

୨ Most of the things you ramble about, he doesn’t understand, like, at all

୨ Much to his dismay, he can’t help his features from softening when he watches you do it

୨ You definitely gives him a break from all the reckless crazy stuff he does

୨ You use so many big words (they usually aren’t that crazy) and he’s just like “Could you speak English?”

୨ When he first went inside your room, it was covered in posters from movies like ‘Dracula,’ ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon,’ ‘Psycho,’ ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘The Birds,’ etc

୨ At first he was like “Jesus…” but really he thought it was pretty cool

୨ You guys are horror movie enjoyers⁉️

୨ You’re probably more of a geek over them than he is, but it’s just barely (he’d never admit it)

Soda

୨ You definitely fangirl over The Beatles and it lowkey hurts his feelings

୨ You have to be like “Soda.. you literally look like a movie star why are you worried-”

୨ Yes you know Paul’s blood type, time of birth, and who his fourth cousin twice removed is; so what? 🙄

୨ Knowledge-wise you balance each other out

୨ You have amazing grades in all your classes and he’s dropped out 🤍 but on the other hand, you are not very street smart

୨ Like if you have a gun held to your head, let’s hope they’ll ask you trivia about ‘The Twilight Zone’ for your freedom

୨ Anyways, he tries to keep up with and understand the stuff you talk about

୨ Give him time 💔 he’s trying

୨ He probably already knows a bit from having grown up with Pony, but it’s still nothing crazy

୨ He carries around extra wax for your braces in his pocket in case they ever start hurting you (idk if they were invented yet in the 60’s but let’s pretend)

୨ Throws wrenches and things like that at Steve if he says stuff about you

୨ You get pretty insecure since he’s so popular with girls and they usually aren’t like you; but he’s always reassuring you over it

Johnny

୨ You guys read comics together

୨ He’s a spider-man lover and I’ll die on this hill

୨ Someone write Johnny Cade spider-man au rn

୨ He’s constantly telling Dallas to “lay off” when he says stuff about you

୨ Finds your braces cute- he thinks they just add to your charm

୨ Anything that helps him somewhat escape reality, he enjoys; he gladly talks about nerdy stuff with you

୨ He gets along with Pony so well and he has most of those interests, and it’s the same way with you

୨ You guys sit in the lot and stargaze constantly; each time you point out and name the constellations along with explaining their backstories

୨ He listens with a fond smile on his face every time

୨ He thinks it’s cool you’re able to remember all of that

୨ You’re both just so cute I’m crying

୨ Whenever he comes over, he always admires the figures, posters, books, etc you have around your room

Pony

୨ Idc his ass is also a nerd

୨ Maybe not in the exact ways you are, but he definitely still is

୨ You help him in certain classes he’s not doing well in which he is extremely thankful for

୨ You guys also read comics together 😋

୨ Usually you make him read them out loud though since you love his voice and also think he’s good at the sound effects

୨ That being said, you both give each other book recommendations

୨ You guys go to the drive-in/theater together constantly and have heavy debriefings over all of the movies (mainly the sci-fi ones)

୨ You guys are both big fans of Elvis

୨ He’s a fan music-wise, you’re a fan of literally everything

୨ You’ve seen every single one of his movies. Multiple times.

୨ Definitely makes him a little jealous but he tells himself it’s not a big deal

୨ He can’t even be mad at you geeking out when he preforms on TV, he understands

୨ All that being said, you guys actually go really well together

[amyispxnk]

I'd run away and hide with you

Summary - Ellie joins you and Joel on your trek to Jackson. Along the way, your mind gets the better of you, and when you reach Jackson it all comes crashing down.

A/N: i don't have any excuses for why this took so long and im so so sorry guys 😭 2024 was hectic and ive only recently been able to catch up on stuff pls forgive mee

Pairing: platonic/father figure!Joel Miller x f!reader (could probably be read as GN tho?)

Word count: 3.8k

Warnings: angst, hurt/comfort, violence, guns, language, PTSD, abuse mentions, panic attack/mental breakdown

Previous Chapter || Series Masterlist

DO NOT COPY THIS FIC IN ANY WAY PLS AND TY.

You’re getting bad again; that much is visible to him now. But he doesn’t even know what’s wrong this time.

You never open up to him anymore. At the start, you’d tell him everything that was going on in that little head of yours. You’d let him hold you while you cried. You’d always talk to him.

Now you don’t talk and you practically smack yourself in the face whenever you cry, willing the tears away as you bite down on your lip.

It’s been a few months since you left Boston to visit the guys at Lincoln. It was a good trip. After that hiccup at the start, you had pretty much forgotten about your dad; he couldn’t even get to you in your sleep. You spent a lot of time hanging out with Frank whilst Bill and Joel ‘talked business’, and it was pretty fun seeing the little home they had built for themselves in the town - Frank even let you pocket some strawberries, and it was your first time trying them. Safe to say they were fucking amazing, and you told Joel all about it that night. He'd pretend to be annoyed at your incessant rambling but he liked to see you happy, distracted, somewhat.

When you came back, Marlene was bugging Joel about some new smuggling job in exchange for the car battery he’d been searching for and before you knew it, you were back on the road again to bring this kid - Ellie - to the fireflies.

She was a bright, bubbly kid. Constantly talking and telling you and Joel jokes from that damn pun book of hers.

Joel didn’t warm up to her nearly as quickly as you did, and you obviously knew why. You’d been staying with him for almost half a year now, and had gone through a lot of shit with him, so he’d told you about his past. About Sarah.

So you had a hunch that that was why he didn’t open up to Ellie easily. That was why he’d always just grunt at her whenever she asked a question, why he’d practically toss her food at her when she had to eat, why he would barely even acknowledge her.

You could always tell he never meant it though. He didn’t really hate her. He cared about her - that’s just how he was - and it scared him. He was a protector, a fighter, and, most importantly, a father. He basically took you under his wing and gave you all the paternal love you ached for before, and now he had Ellie to look out for too.

But as time went on, you started noticing things. He started laughing at her jokes, or engaging in conversations with her, even telling her about before. You then realised how much it actually pissed you off.

Seeing them getting along made you incredibly jealous. Joel was your protector, your carer, your da..

You shake your head. It still felt weird when you accidentally found yourself thinking of him like that, giving him that name in your head.

It had been a few months since you all left Boston, for good you hoped, you hated that place and all the unfortunate memories you left there, but now you were in the cold and unforgiving state of Wyoming.

Right now you were all huddled around a fire in a little alcove. Joel had some whiskey which he sipped on.. As he talked to Ellie. Fucking Ellie, who was joking around with him, asking him stupid questions about some sheep farm on the moon.

You weren’t paying attention, you didn’t care. You instead chose to stew in your own thoughts which were drifting back to before any of this. You stared into the fire as you remembered the times you were the one making Joel smile, the one he’d hold and comfort, the one he’d talk with at the end of a long day.

He didn’t do all of that with Ellie, but he didn’t do any of it with you anymore, either.

Suddenly, your thoughts go even further back, remembering your father. Remembering the constant screaming which definitely damaged your eardrums by the time you’d left, the incessant beatings you received - at least that taught you first-aid, right? - and the many, many nights spent crying yourself to sleep. You didn’t get to cry in front of your father, knowing he’d only hit you harder for being weak and useless, so you just waited until you were curled up on the little mattress on the floor, your dad already asleep from the alcohol.

You only come back to the present moment when you taste the metal of blood in your mouth. You didn’t remember biting down on your lip but apparently you had been so hard that it made you wince slightly when you pressed your fingers to it.

Joel didn’t notice. He was still talking with Ellie, his eyes soft as he looked at her over the flames.

Jealousy makes tears sting at your eyes. You’d thought finally, finally, you found someone who would actually care about you.

Now you watch bitterly as Ellie makes him laugh more than you’d done in a while, wondering what you did wrong.

-

You were clutching your handgun tight, not feeling safe out in the open like this despite not having encountered any dangers for a good week now. It felt like things were too safe, and you didn’t like it.

Your thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Ellie blowing air through her lips, and it actually kind of annoyed you, because what was she even doing?

Joel asked that question for you.

“What are you doing..?” He sighs heavily, glancing at her, to which she just smirks.

“I’m learning to whistle.” She replies simply.

“You don’t know how to whistle?”

“Does it look like I know how to whistle?” She huffs.

They go back and forth for a little longer, with Joel ending up defeated as Ellie continues her air-blowing, and you find your heart splintering at the sight of them bickering only like father and daughter would. It might not seem like much, but you’ve definitely noticed how Joel’s gotten closer with Ellie over the past few months. It’s upsetting, seeing his natural paternal instincts coming out with her too now.

The three of you make your way past a big dam and arrive at a river, at which point Ellie unhelpfully chirps up.

“Hey, guys, what if this is the river of death?” She jokes, not realising how poor her timing was, for you hear the heavy thuds of horse hooves almost as soon as she finishes her sentence.

“Hands up. Don’t make any sudden movements, or we shoot.” A gruff voice barks out. You know better than to go against what they’ve said, so you turn slowly with your arms raised, and wait for Joel to do any negotiating.

“We ain't lookin’ for any trouble, we’re just passin’ through.” Joel says, keeping his voice strong and unwavering.

“Drop the gun.” The man spits, and Joel slowly does as he says, his eyes wide with panic and betraying the collected and brave persona he attempts to put on when he realises that this might be it.

Ellie looks equally terrified, and you can’t blame her, especially when the man addresses her directly, telling her to step back and away from you.

“How ‘bout we just talk this through-” Joel starts.

“How about you shut the fuck up?” The man’s gun is now raised, and Joel knows better than to argue now, nodding.

The man asks about if any of you are infected, and you feel the dread setting into your bones. Joel tries to diffuse the situation and ease the man’s (unfortunately correct) suspicions, but it’s no use, as he whistles for the sniffer dog.

He offers you a bullet instead, the easy way out, and you all remain silent, panicking further as the dog sniffs you, then Joel, then makes its way to Ellie.

You don’t know where to look, you can see Joel starting to hyperventilate, you can see Ellie’s eyes shining with a terror you’ve never seen her showing before, and you just decide to not look anywhere. You squeeze your eyes shut before-

She’s giggling. Your brows furrow, eyes opening to see Ellie playing with the dog, her face getting licked, and she looks over at the two of you, giving you a sort of ‘how the fuck am I alive’ look, before petting the dog and smiling.

“You just bought yourself 10 more seconds. What’s your business here?” The man shouts, and Joel tells him that he’s looking for his brother, trying to keep things brief.

A lady rides forward, asking Joel for his name. He gives it, and she’s silent, looking around at the three of you and trying to piece things together, before telling you to come with her.

-

Maybe something’s wrong with me, you think, picking at your nails absentmindedly as you trail behind the group - Maria, Joel, Ellie, and Tommy on their little tour of Jackson.

No, something’s definitely wrong with me. Because why else would you be so jealous of them? Of Joel finally finding his brother - another person to drive him away from you - and finally growing closer to Ellie.

Not to mention the way you just fucking clam up any time he asks about it.

Not to mention the way you just let it all build up, suffering in silence, waiting and waiting for the inevitable moment where you break.

You all end up in the dining hall afterwards and, while you’re pissed about everything else, you can’t deny some good food. You almost moan at the taste of proper, seasoned meat after all these months, wolfing it down in similar speed to Ellie and Joel.

“There’s more if you need it.” Maria adds after a few moments of watching you all, no judgement in her tone despite your rough actions.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Joel says, looking up briefly before continuing to eat. “Been a while since we’ve had a proper meal.”

“Actually I don’t think I’ve ever had a proper meal,” Ellie chimes in, making you clench your jaw. God, even her voice pisses you off. Nobody asked her to talk. “This is amazing.” She mumbles, food in her mouth.

Joel glances at her for a second.

“Sorry.” He tells Tommy and Maria. “Ellie, let’s mind our manners.”

She doesn’t reply, looking up instead to see a girl watching her behind a pillar.

“What!” She barks, making the girl run away and making you scoff. She glances at you, frowning, before continuing to eat.

You knew she didn’t hate you - you were a good pretender most of the time. Laughing at her jokes, smiling tightly during conversations.. But lately you’d slipped a bit, and she was starting to notice.

“What’s wrong with you?” Joel mutters.

“What about her manners?” Ellie spits, always so defensive.

“She was just curious.” Maria soothes, “Kids around here don’t usually look or talk like you.”

“Right,” she says, nodding her head slowly, “well maybe I’ll teach them.”

It takes everything in you to not scream. She was annoying you so much. And she was getting all the attention because of her boisterous behaviour. You were sitting there, quietly, calmly, and no one batted an eye at you.

“And I want my gun back.” Ellie argues.

“They also aren’t armed.”

Tommy jumps in, sensing the tension growing even more.

“You know what, uh, I think y’all got off on the wrong foot.” He starts, but the two keep bickering.

Eventually, Tommy reveals that Maria is his wife, and after an eager congrats! from Ellie, and the most forced one possible from Joel, the meal ends.

-

Tommy quickly shows the three of you around the rest of Jackson - Maria chose to stay behind - before leaving you and Ellie in your temporary house, going to have a chat with Joel.

“Soooo.. That was awkward, huh?” She chuckles, trying to joke with you like you used to at the start of all this.

You nod, anger still bubbling up inside of you. You didn’t want to be angry at her, or Joel, even, and you knew if you talked with her for too long you’d just end up yelling at her, so you tried your hardest to keep calm.

She chews on her lip, nodding slowly before starting to ramble about how crazy this town is and how Joel is totally pissed at Tommy.

You keep nodding along, wondering how on Earth she manages to keep going on and on for way too long.

Eventually, she bids you goodbye, going to explore the town.

You wouldn’t want to hang out with yourself either, you think as she closes the door.

-

Joel came back home in the evening, pissed off. You tried saying hi to him, having decided you were done being annoyed at him, but he completely brushed you off before storming upstairs.

Maybe you weren’t making it up. Maybe he did just.. Start hating you.

Ellie’s been in her claimed room for an hour, and the house is quiet until about 10pm. You’re still on the couch, curled up, lost in your thoughts. About Joel, about Ellie, wondering about yourself, too. You were thinking about how nice this town is, how you didn’t want to leave tomorrow at all, but figured you’d definitely have to. You’d have to return to the wasteland outside these walls, and you’d probably never make it back to Jackson.

You’d had too many close calls already. God, or whatever was out there, had probably spared you enough.

Your thoughts spiralled and spiralled until it happened.

Everything came out.

It started with tears, silent as they streamed down your face, before the anger released itself, making you dig your nails into your skin in some final attempt at self-control, before you were storming upstairs.

You throw the door open to Joel’s room, and he blinks at you, having been in bed, probably trying to sleep while you soaked in your misery downstairs.

He’s such a fucking asshole, is all you can think.

“I’m not coming with you tomorrow.” You mutter, surprised you aren’t yelling already.

His brows furrow and he stands up, trying to approach you.

“What’re you talkin’ about?” He says, voice stern and rough.

“You clearly don’t want me around anyway! I’d just be making your life even harder if I came with you. I’ll.. I’ll just go my own way.” You huff, voice quivering towards the end when you realised you’d have to trek this world alone now.

He repeats his previous question and you bury your face in your hands, nails tightening against your fists as you try not to start screaming at him.

“When was the last time we had a proper conversation? Or you asked me how I was doing? Or you hugged me, or anything?! You couldn’t even be bothered to say hi to me earlier, and last night you and Ellie were being buddy-buddy by the fire while I was literally on the verge of tears. You clearly don’t care about me anymore. It’s just her.” You’re shouting now, rage consuming you as you get closer to him, shoving him backwards.

He grabs your arms roughly and you visibly flinch, eyes widening under your furrowed brows as you peer up at him. His face is blurry underneath your tears, and your mind short-circuits.

Your dad is back? Your mind tells you yes. Yes, and you’ve pissed him off now, he’s grabbing you because he’s about to throw you on the floor. You’re always doing something wrong - you should’ve known better than to argue. Only insolent, disgraceful children open their mouths in retaliation. You should respect your father. Now you have to apologise and pray he accepts it.

Immediately you’re cowering. He can’t even get a word out before you start apologising, body trembling as he loosens his grip on you.

“Please, sir, I- I’m so sorry- I didn’t- I didn’t mean to- to yell. I’m sorry, I’ll leave, just please d-don’t- please don’t h-urt me-” you choke out, voice raw.

His expression softens, brows knitted in concern now rather than frustration.

“Baby, come here-” he tries to say, but you’re shaking your head, inching further backward until you press against the wall, whimpering when you realise you’re trapped.

Now he’s going to hurt you. Your apologies mean nothing when he gets this mad.

Joel had only grabbed you. It was nothing like the abuse you used to face and yet it was still enough to make you completely crumble.

You sink to the floor, sobbing, still apologising. Ellie’s awake by now, her eyes wide as she listens to what she can make out. What the fuck did he do to you? She’s about to get up, to go and protect you. She doesn’t care if you’d been giving her the cold shoulder for the past few weeks, she doesn’t care if Joel seemed to be giving her the opposite at last. If you’re in trouble and it’s because of him she didn’t fucking care about anything else.

But then she pauses, just outside the door, hearing him cooing at you.

“Calm down honey. It’s okay, it’s me, Joel. Look at me, please.” He murmurs, crouched down in front of you but still giving you some space.

You had your arms raised in front of your face, legs tucked inward, trying to protect yourself from any potential blows, mind still loud and thoughts jumbled, but his voice suddenly helped to clear some of the fog.

You peered at him through the space between your arms and blinked the tears away as best you could.

“..Joel?” You croak after a moment, and he nods, a small smile blossoming on his lips.

“‘S me, sweet girl. Come here.” He opens his arms for you, and you shift closer, still timid and not making that final step.

He sighs softly, not disappointed or annoyed, just sad that your trauma managed to put you in this state.

“It’s just me, okay? It’s Joel, not.. not him. Look at my face, baby.” He whispers, and you do. Your dad wouldn’t call you baby or speak softly with you. Surely this man in front of you wasn’t him.

When you finally recognise him, you feel the tears blooming again, a small whimper escaping your throat before you’re crawling into his lap, clutching him tight. Still apologising, as always.

“Shh, it’s okay. What’s goin’ on, hm?” He says, voice gentle as ever as he holds you. He doesn’t squeeze you tight, or move in any way, he just lets you cling to him. He doesn’t want to suffocate you, knowing you probably already feel like you're drowning, barely tethered to him for support.

“Y-you don’t like me anymore.” You hiccup, and he shakes his head.

“No, sweetheart. Of course I like you. You’re my.. You’re my girl, yeah? Could never hate you.” He murmurs, brows furrowing. Why did you even think that?

“B-but you get on with Ellie way better now, and- and you don’t even talk to me anymore.”

He sighs softly. Ellie was.. A chatty kid. If she didn’t start all those conversations with him, he doubts he would’ve engaged with her nearly half as much as he did. He had grown to enjoy her ramblings, of course, but he was too stressed, anxious all the time on the road, to ever actually start the chats with her or you. He realises now how that would’ve looked to you, understands the emotional breakdown you’d just had, understands why you’d been so quiet recently.

You thought he didn’t want you anymore.

He gently pulls your head back, tilting it up so you could meet his eyes. His thumb catches a tear before it can fall and he starts explaining.

“Babygirl, I wasn’t not talkin’ to ya as much cuz I didn’t like ya. I was just stressed.. Too focused on gettin’ us across the country in one piece to worry about conversations. Ellie’s.. a bit of a chatterbox so of course I had to be respondin’ with her, but..” he trails off, guilt consuming him more and more as he tries to reason with himself. Yes he was nervous but that’s no excuse for the state his negligence has landed you in.

“Fuck, there ain’t no excuse, really. I just.. Please, please believe me right now. I’m tellin’ ya, I don’t hate you and I never ever could, okay?” He pleads, eyes searching yours for any sort of understanding or forgiveness.

He definitely doesn’t see hatred there like he’d seen when you first stormed up here, no, he just sees confusion, worry.

“You really don’t hate me? Even- even after I gave you so much attitude and I was shouting at you? Surely I deserve.. You shouldn’t be being nice to me…” You whisper, brows furrowing, confused at the fact someone was apologising to you. Normally you were the one apologising. He’d been the only person to ever show you compassion and understanding, and you thought, surely you’ve fucked it all up now.

He sighs again, shaking his head. “I could never ever hate you, honey. Never. No matter what you do or say to me, I can promise you hatred would never even cross my mind.”

You whimper again, nodding. “Okay.” Is all you can get past your lips, your body shaking with sobs again as he finally allows himself to hug you properly, rocking you back and forth and stroking your hair.

He isn’t surprised when you fall asleep like this, curled up in his arms. You’ve exhausted yourself in every way tonight, and you deserve a good, long rest.

He grunts softly as he stands up, still keeping you clutched in his arms as he makes his way to the bed and sets you down. He’ll take the couch, he figures. His back is fucked already.

But then you stir a little, blinking up at him as he watches you.

“Joel?”

“Hmm?”

“Can.. can you please stay tonight? I just.. I’m…” You can’t get the words out, but he understands. He knows what you need.

He gets in beside you, kissing your forehead after you cuddle up to him and drift off slowly, blanketed by his comforting presence, your mind a little less stormy with his reassurances now there instead.

Sleep evades him for much longer, though, distant memories of Sarah swirling within his mind. He wonders what she’d think of him, of you, of the way he’s taken you in like this. Would she be proud? Would she be angry? Would she feel like he’s replaced her?

He shakes his head, knowing that those thoughts would just cause him to distance himself from you again.

He finally manages to fall asleep at 2am, dreaming of Christmas trees and a little girl with curly hair.

Tysm for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated!

Tags - @tbeep @rosierogie @jjlevin @axshadows @pedropascalsbbg @pedroshotwifey @pedrosfanny @s0meoone

[sopuu]

Imma be real for a second and say I love the way Jesse has scars on your art??? Love it when someone gives a character who's been through a lot of physical (and mental) trauma some kind of scar. It just emphasizes to me that they went through that. And the effects of that stay with them.

Sorry I'm rambling

Tldr mmm scar art prettyyyy

exactly!! jesse’s gone through so much that i’d be surprised if he didn’t have any scars. and i like to think he’s confident enough to show them off not as injuries to his body but as a part of who he is, like a collection of experiences and battles he’s overcome. hence why i have his sleeves rolled up most of the time (and also rolled sleeves…so gender…)

he’s got a bunch of other scars i never get to show off so here’s some scar headcanons as a treat! i wanted to give each major one a backstory so it’s not just there for aesthetics. the others are normal battle scars tho

ramblings about the f-bomb scar and the face scar under the cut bc there’s a lot oops. ty for the ask!

can we talk about the damage the f-bomb did to him in game. or the lack of damage even. because there’s no way this man got out of a close explosion from the strongest bomb with ONLY ringing ears for a few seconds?? not that im complaining i’m glad he’s okay bfjkfh

either the order’s armour is made of impressively strong cloth and metal or minecraft block people are very tolerant to damage. although the logical explanation would probably be the damage can’t be shown realistically within the limitations of a minecraft game (not just on the pg side of things but also they are. made of a few pixels) idk it’s something interesting to think about lore/game development wise

if it weren’t for canon depictions i’d probably have the scar cover half of his body,, but i like keeping designs close to canon depictions so a big shoulder scar it is! i had it cover more of his back since he turns when being fished down to try and shield himself

as for the face scar! i’ve debated for a long time whether to have that as the origin bc i thought it was too cruel but it stayed in the end- it’s probably the hardest one he’s had to overcome despite it being the smallest major scar. every time he looks in the mirror he’s reminded of how he failed reuben. how can it be that he only gets a small scrape while his best friend loses his life? all because of jesse’s mistakes?

some OLD art incoming so shield your eyes but these are a few doodles exploring that! i was also testing the f-bomb scar on the face for funsies

eventually though, as he learns to accept his many scars he comes to see this one as a mark of the turning point of his life, both the good and the bad, and how much reuben and jesse meant to each other that they faced the world’s end together, knowing full well of the consequences. in a sense he carries reuben’s memory through that scar :]

anyways this is so long i’ll shut up now LOL

[dr-spectre]

I just saw your post about the callie tattoo & her having octoling friends and i would like to add that in the splat2 final fight concept comic, one of callie's octoling dancers worries about her when her head starts hurting and even offers her water.

What's your opinion on this fun fact? Asked by the (self-proclaimed) biggest octarian fan ever

I. Love. This. Oh my god thank you for sending me this. The Octoling background dancers being cut from the final game was such a bad choice im gonna be for real.

Guys... i am telling you all. It is time for me to preach again...

CALLIE WASN'T KIDNAPPED!!! SHE WANTED TO GO THE OCTO CANYON!!! Octarians liked her being there. She missed shaven Octarians in ROTM! she took inspiration from Octarian culture for her Splatoon 3 attire. Do i have to keep saying the same shit again and again?

"But they said she was kidnapped!!!" In an artbook on a random blurb that was probably written by an intern or something.... not in the game. "But Marie-" from her perspective she would see it as kidnapping. It's Marie we're talking about here, she's known to worry about her cousin, no fucking shit she would think her enemy kidnapped her cousin. It's not what happened tho.

"But what if after Callie said she would hear out Octavio, he put the shades onto her and therefore kidnapped her?" This was a real point that I saw on a discord server and it boiled my blood. There is no evidence, you are making shit up, im sorry but that is complete bs.

Like if the Octarians truly did awful things to her then why does Callie seem fine in Splatoon 3? Why did she smile seeing DJ Octavio? Why was she okay with Octavio being at the Grand Fest? Why does she have Octoling friends then? Hmm? It's not just Marina and Shiver. She probably has a lot more.

"But! But... brainwashing!!!!!" Shhh... listen, if you read the Bomb Rush Blush mission dialogue in multiple languages on Inkipedia right now, they literally flip flop between hypnosis and brainwashing, two terms that are opposites definition wise, aka, bad writing.

Remember gamers, hypnosis is not mind control, a suggestion given to a person in a hypnotic state cannot go against their will and or consent. You cannot ask a person to murder their family while under hypnosis. That's not how it works.

I don't care that hypnosis is seen as mind control in pop culture i do not care. It's a lame ass trope to use hypnosis like that anyways, so either way Splatoon 2 is poorly written.

If you wanna use the social version of brainwashing for Callie where she learns to adopt the Octarians beliefs without any sci fi influece and she chooses to believe their ideologies, then fine, go ahead, but that word has been ruined in my brain, any time i see or hear that word now i get shivers and freak out a little. Plus Nintendo clearly went for the bullshit lame ass basic bitch ass uninteresting sci fi version.

Anyways, sorry for the ramble, if you bring up Hypno Callie this happens... I'm gonna keep rambling about this forever and ever.

Thanks for showing me that!!! Can you send me the full comic? I think that's from the Splatoon 2 octo expansion artbook yeah? I haven't seen the full fan translation of that yet and idk where to find it.

[lightlycareless]

I was thinking about your last few asks that mentioned Maki and Mai(How Naoya isn’t that close with them and how they always get Y/N to get stuff for them). I was thinking what if there was a time where Y/N was like ‘I want to go to Disneyland’ or something and Naoya Ofc is like ‘Anything for my queen’ only to realize that Y/N was setting it up as trip for Mai and Maki to attend as well(How she convinced Junko to let them go Idk 💀 the only way I could see it happening is if it was like a bday present for them and Junko was feeling a little bad for them considering most of the clan wouldn’t even acknowledge the day for them). I can imagine Naoya going along with it since he already agreed to do this for Y/N but just kinda stewing in his feelings about how his date with Y/N turned into babysitting his cousins at a theme park. I can see him maybe loosening up a little seeing how happy Y/N is to do this for them(depending on when this takes place, maybe it makes Naoya think about how Y/N would be with their own children in the future, although Y/N and the twins I believe was mentioned to have a more older sister younger sisters vibe but let me dream for a moment lol).

This also kinda gives me the idea of what it would be like if Naoya and Y/N had to babysit a kid for like a day or so and gives them a glimpse of what having a child together would be like before they’ve had kids. Idk who that random kid would be tho lol. Maybe even HS au where Y/N and Naoya get paired to take care of one of those fake babies XD

Sorry I got off on a tangent, I’m obsessed and Naoya and Y/N so I think about a lot of situations they can get into. You don’t have to write any of they don’t strike your fancy Ofc but I still wanted to share. Sorry for rambling >.<

Hello!!

How y'all manage to hit the nail on the head with certain scenarios has me baffled, and so happy hahahaha I'm so in love with this idea; just anything Disney makes me all giddy inside, I really do love imagining scenarios where Y/N is going to the park with Naoya as a couple, or when they go with their kids and such... just those little things with their family 🥺 ajhgajghjas ugh, it warms my heart.

The taking care of a kid together reminds me of those typical school assignments where you have to take care of an egg???? Or maybe that was just me, but I'm sure you know what I mean XD so imma write something of the topic set on a hs au :)

For now, let's enjoy Naoya's plans being foiled when he takes you to Disney... but you decide to bring along Mai and Maki lol.

warnings: fluff. it says tokyo disneyland but it's based on my experience which is the california park :') i'm sorry. naoya get's all sensitive at the thought of you.

Happy reading!!

Naoya was all too aware of one of your biggest dreams, it’s been so for as long as he can remember, as well as the reason behind all his recent efforts: to take you to Disneyland on your birthday.

He wants to take you to all of them eventually, of course; in due time there will not be a park that you hadn’t enjoyed—however, before he takes it to the next level, he rightfully assumed Tokyo was a nice spot to start.

“Y/N, are you going to do anything for your birthday?” Naoya asks, as smoothly as he could—attempting to hide the excitement this whole ordeal brought him. It’s essentially a date!

“Hmmm, I don’t know. I’ll probably just go out to eat, why?”

“Clear up your schedule, we’re going to Disneyland.”

“Oh my God, are you being serious right now?!” you gasp, his heart skipping a bit at the way your eyes twinkled, it’s just the kind of admiration that makes his ego grow bigger—more so if it comes from you. “Naoya, that is—thank you so much!”

However, his satisfaction wouldn’t last long the moment you prompted the question of being allowed to bring someone else. At first, he thought it would be one of your pestering friends, which he was okay with to some degree, it was your birthday after all and there was nothing else that he wanted more than to make you happy…

But when he learned you planned to invite his cousins, all he could think was “really?”

Of all people… his annoying 8-year-old cousins.

“Are you excited to go to Disney for the first time in your lives?!” You tried to hype Mai and Maki along as Naoya dejectedly drove towards the destination, keeping himself entertained with a much different scenario in his mind. Anything to ignore his current predicament.

“Yes!” They cried back with a wide smile on their faces, as expected.

“What is Disneyland like?” Maki asks. “What is there??”

“It’s better if I don’t spoil you, just wait and see!”

Though there isn’t much spoiling left to be done, Naoya considers, given how his date with you is effectively overridden by their presence, demanding that your attention be solely placed on him—the only consideration he seems to be given is when being asked how many were in your party, and sitting arrangements once in the rides.

It made his efforts undeniably futile, and was very near to giving up entirely whatever he had planned for the day…

Until a certain sight proves him wrong.

Naoya couldn’t care less about his irritating cousins, and while not justified, they hadn’t been the easiest to get along with either —there’s not a moment they don’t take to mock him, surely at one point that ought to irritate anyone— however, to see you fret about their safety, their appearance as you thread back locks of their hair back in place, even wonder what they’d like to eat as while gently holding onto their hands as the two walked across the park…

Something about it makes his heart warm up; must be the comparison to your surroundings, how it made you blend in with the other families and make it seem as if they were your kids.

His children.

He becomes a bit more willing after that just to entertain that sweet thought a bit longer, obliging to buy all the things you wanted, even if they were to end on Mai and Maki’s hands at the end. In fact, Naoya’s energy was redirected in keeping you and his cousins rightfully satisfied, when he once scowled at the faintest semblance of a request from their part, he was now suggesting experiences the three might find enjoyable.

“If we go now, we might be able to find good spots.” Naoya says in reference to the upcoming parade. “Or I can go ahead while you look around or go on another ride.”

“Are you sure, Naoya? I wouldn’t like you to feel left out…” you murmur.

“It’s fine, prin— Y/N.” he coughs, the twins raise an eyebrow. “Go have fun.”

“Why are you being so nice out of the sudden, Naoya??” Maki, unable to hide her… confusion, points out, making Naoya fluster.

“Because it’s her birthday!” he frowns. “Which should be enough reason for the two of you to behave as well, instead of being the spoiled brats you usually are!”

“Naoya!” you gasp.

“…I mean—just—let’s just have fun.” Naoya spluttered, making you and the twin’s chuckle.

Which is how the rest of the evening proceeded, with samples of all the food both found appetizing, alongside purchases of things that were to undoubtedly preserve this moment for years to come, and of course, pictures, lots of them, with you, Mai and Maki, in every iconic landscape with those equally memorable Mickey ears that Naoya found quite adorable on you; because it represented your happiness.

A job well done on his part, just what he wanted for you on your special day.

And once everything was done, the girls tired and you satisfied, it was finally time to go back home. Naoya helped you carry the only one of the twins that was too exhausted to make the way back to the car, while you held the other by the hand—a lovely sight he didn’t know he wanted to partake in until now… imagining them instead as both little girls that looked just like you; daughters that would take after your loving demeanor.

Your enjoyment of sweets, of places like these that he’d turn into some kind of yearly family holiday just to see them happy. Already hearing their adorable pleas, demanding their papa take them to greet their favorite character—a princess perhaps, though they were the only princesses he could discern—or try out one of the many snacks.

“Now, now darlings; don’t overwhelm your papa.” You’d caution, gently taking the hand of your youngest before heading to him, offering him a bite of the churros you just bought for them, and him gladly taking it. “Is it good? Do you like it?”

“It’s… different.” He says. “I don’t mind the texture.”

 “I’m glad—oh! Wait.” You then proceed to wipe the leftovers in the corner of his mouth, a moment that leads the two to stare at each other for a few seconds, a smile parting both of their lips as they realize how blessed they were to be here, with your daughters. Together.

Happy.

In love.

…

When the time is right.

Only with you.

“Do you need anything else? Food, medicine? Are you feeling alright?”

“It’s ok, Naoya, just tired. You don’t need to do anything else… what you’ve done is more than enough.” You say, looking back at the twins to find them soundly asleep; they were knocked out the moment they arrived at your shared hotel room—certainly, today had been a long day for everyone. “It was fun.”

“I’m glad.” He responds, feeling the tiniest sting of disappointment, perhaps expecting you’d be willing to do something else with him before the night ends, a moment of privacy between the two…

But he soon learns that you weren’t far off from his desires, given how you carefully placed your hand over his chest and leaned upwards to place a kiss on his cheek, your gesture flaring Naoya’s cheeks immediately after, more so at the following.

“Maybe next time… it could just be the two of us.” You murmur. “I’d like it to be just the two of us.”

“I can—I can arrange that.” Naoya breathes, nodding.

“It’s a date, then.” You smile. “Goodnight, Naoya. See you tomorrow for breakfast.”

“Goodnight, princess.” He smirks, the nickname he’s been holding off to say finally making its way past his lips and making you blush; quickly turning around out of embarrassment, ready to head back to bed… before decidedly returning to him and placing a chaste kiss on his lips. Now it’s his moment to turn bright red. “Y/N—”

“Just something to look forward to.” You murmur. “If…  it’s not too much.”

“No, it’s not. Actually, it’s… perfect.” As always.

Naoya could wait a bit thinking about a family.

For now, he just wants to love you.

It can be somewhat read like Naoya and Y/N aren't officially dating quite yet.............................................. or maybe you're just shy because Mai and Maki are there and they're like 1000000% little devils when it comes to teasing you about your BOYFRIEND with coincidentally is the dork of a cousin they have. Aw 🥹

Also, the whole thing did make me wonder how Junko would even allow this to happen.............. you must've sworn to do something crazy lol. "Fine, I'll marry Naoya if you let me take the girls to Disney." type of thing, when outside of the crazy canon and Naoya is a bit calmer, Junko always struck me as the type to look out for him one way or the other more than his own uncle!!! (she fears you'll hurt him lol)

Anyways, it was a treat writing this and now I want to write little Naomi going on an amusement park with her parents... which will happen but not on Disney, we all know she a puroland fan 😏

Thank you so much ❤️ Now, take care and hope to see you soon!!

[myunghology]

hi hi if your requests are open could I ask for ritsu sakuma and rinne amagi x reader relationship hcs!! Gn reader!

ritsu and rinne general relationship hcs

featuring ritsu + rinne x gn! reader

warnings noneee

genre + layout fluff, crack, headcanons/bulleted layout

a/n SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG $/$/!/)/)

s. ritsu

becomes more possessive once you both start dating, but not TOO possessive to the point where he won't let you go, etc. because he knows you still have things to do.

also on how he confessed.. he probably?? did it on accident ☠️☠️

let's just say on a casual day you were just sleeping with him under a tree; on my because you fell asleep from looking at him. unexpectedly he woke up before you did.

confessed while you were quote unquote, “still asleep”. little did he know you were already wide awake.. ;3 your eyes were just closed!!

gets visibly flustered for about just one minute when he realizes your still awake, congratulations!! you've achieved the achievement ‘flustering ritsu sakuma’! difficulty; EXTRA HARD

feels bad when people talk shit about you just for dating him :(. it can scale from “they're not even good enough for ritsu?” to “why are they even dating him.. he's not all that.”

either way tho, he threatens people to stop talking bs about you. he's like that one meme!! “KEEP. MY. WIFES. NAME. OUT. YOUR. FUCKING. MOUTH 🤬🤬🤬” “RITSU STOP”

bro he is definitely starting a riot. sorry.

you have to patch him all up, plus you have to apologize to the person FOR HIM while he's just like.. “DON'T APOLOGIZE TO THEM. THEY CAN GO FUCK THEMSELVES”

eventually. calms down. after like 10 minutes.

anyways,, he gives the bestt cuddles ever. don't we all know that though? this is just a personal hc, but i feel like he does origami for fun.

so whenever he has free time.. and isn't somehow sleeping, he teaches you what he knows. guys don't be like me cuz idk how to even make a paper airplane

+ gives the most RANDOM and OBVIOUS kisses and hickies, and if not, it's on the most personal places. on your (inner) thighs, your neck, your chest, etc.

"wow [name] you look like you just fought with a bear" spoiler alert: you just got a day with ritsu without mika in the room

im sorry if you get flustered obviously by touch, because OH NO.. who would've guessed.. he's so touchy and he absolutely bathes in your reaction whenever you squeal or/and blush at what he's doing.

sends texts to knights saying stuff like, “guys.. i miss them” “BRO STFU 😭” everyone is sick of him saying that, so please be with him 24/7 </3...

also talks about you obsessively to knights, probably even to rei if no one truly wants to listen to him ramble about you.. it's not that they don't like you!! it's just that it's a bit annoying sometimes. but it's also nice to get to know about you more.

just not from ritsu.

a. rinne

im so sorry you have to deal with him. hes so hot tho ill give him that

but when he loves, he loves HARDD, i swear. he'll be spoiling you both with money, and with his affection! it's a win-win situation for the both of you!

like ritsu, he spams his gc because of how much he rambles about you.. whether it be full blown paragraphs of you or little rambles.

these two are actually kind of similar when you're in a relationship with them. rinne is another one who gives very OBVIOUS hickies, and a lot at that. even his unitmates are embarrassed for you atp.. but they're happy!

cares for you a lot, even though it isn't that obvious due to.. yknowww, but it's really heartwarming whenever you see this side of him.

you're hurt by accident? he's already cleaning up your wounds and bandaging them before placing a soft kiss on it, telling you to be careful next time.

not on accident and someone caused it? well... heh... 𝖉𝖔𝖓'𝖙 𝖙𝖔𝖚𝖈𝖍 𝖒𝖞 𝖇𝖆𝖇𝖞! ahh reaction

likes teasing you a lot! pinching your face and tugging on it right after, just to trigger your natural blush he always loves to see.

HEAVY on pda, doesn't really care who sees, unless you care, then he won't mind! but still insists because he can't get his hands off you (IN A SFW WAY. u guys r gross)

HIIRO APPROVES! you take care of rinne and you look out for him, it's also a win-win for the both of you guys

netflix marathons.. but it's with sad movies. it's either he holds you or you hold him when the other cries their heart out

surprisingly good at comforting?? doesn't seem like it because of his character, but you've learned early enough that he's a good person to rant to!

also because of that, you two have gotten more closer than ever :). thinks you deserve the best— and so he gives it to you. that basically sums up your whole relationship

myunghology: IDK HOW TO WRITE FOR RINNE DIES

[voidspiraling]

Time to talk abt everyone’s fav toxic yaoi LukaTill!!! Wait whattttt??

Hello friends have you ever noticed the weird similarities the number one rookie and the ruler of the stage have? Cuz they’ve been rattling around in my pea sized brain for a while now. (They were also my first Alnst ship but that’s not relevant rn) I think their “relationship” with one another is interesting based on the crumbs we have so far. I wanted to look a little deeper at how they relate to each other. Bc out of everyone in the cast Luka and Till are the most mysterious. This isn’t really an analysis just me rambling abt these two.

Anywho let’s start from the beginning and to do that we have to rewatch the sweet dream MV!

This is the first “interaction” between LukaTill and what sparked my love for the ship in the first place (Sorry Ivan! I love u too tho!)

In this scene a young Till is confined in a room and is forced to watch videos of a young Luka. However the way these shots are framed it looks like Luka is watching Till. I say this bc when you watch the full video it ends with Luka burying his face into his knees to escape from the bright lights of the camera flash (it could be triggering a migraine since I think I read somewhere he gets chronic migraines) But when you switch scenes it ends on Luka looking at Till but Till’s eyes are covered.

Thematically I think this is meant to show how Luka is like a final boss that looms over Till looking down on him. Even though they’ve never met Luka has had some influence over Till’s upbringing. In fact Urak calls Till “the ultimate weapon” probably bc Till is meant to be Luka’s foil. Where Luka is fragile and elegant Till is resilient and rough. In fact Luka’s popularity actually increased the rate of pet human ownership. I took this shot to mean that what Luka represents and symbolizes had played a part in shaping Till. Remember Urak was trying to make Till obedient through violence, likely what Heperu did to Luka. We don’t know exactly how bad Luka was treated by his guardian but we can assume from the crumbs that we have that it was bad bad. Like Till levels of bad. I’m pretty sure Heperu stopped Luka’s heart when he rebelled and is overtly like “Luka is only perfect because I made him that way.” It’s such an awful thing to say and somehow as malicious as Urak saying “His talent is what kept him alive.”

So while we know that Till is aware of Luka, we aren’t given any insight on how he actually feels about Luka. But we can assume due to the pressure put on by his guardian he probably doesn’t like Luka and maybe even fears him.

We also know that Luka has had his eye on Till as well. This is the ending scene in R3 after Ivan sang abt his yearning for Till. Here Luka has completed a Rubik’s cube and is staring at the teal and red sides, these are Till’s colors. Teal for his eyes and red from his brand, Till is mostly seen wearing some type of red. I think that even from the beginning rounds Luka knew that he would face off against Till in the final round. I say this bc out of all the contestants in Alnst stage Till is the most musically gifted. (I’m talking abt in canon the actual singers are amazing) We see Till start to sing and write music sheets when he was a literal baby. He sang more than he spoke. And in most shots of Till in the garden he’s playing an instrument or writing in music sheet paper while the other kids played with each other.

Ivan mentions it in his R3 interview but Till is literally an artistic genius. I think his profile said he struggles in everything else, but in stuff like art and music he excels way beyond his peers. That’s why even though his vocals are rated criminally low (like c’mon akugetsu vocals are heavenly what are you aliens on) he has the fastest selling album and consistently tops the charts when he releases a song.

There was also a chart showing the market value of each contestant over a period of time as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each contestant. At the end of the graph Mizi and Sua we’re both around 60/100. Hyuna and Ivan were at 80/100. And Luka and Till were at 100/100 (Important to mention that Lukas graph was a straight line at 100 meanwhile Till’s graph went up and down like crazy before settling at 100). Basically Luka and Till were like the best of the best. The only flaw on their profile was that Luka was fragile due to his health and that Till was aggressive. Musically they were perfect. And Luka likely knew this. I interpreted this as even though Till hasn’t met Luka yet he is still being watched by him. Like a hunter vs prey situation. It also sets up the power dynamic between LukaTill early on.

Now let’s talk abt the artwork of Luka and Till.

Another similarity they have is in this art from the school AU. All the characters have a cute drawing like this with hearts in their pupils looking at the other half of their pair. IvanTill are looking at each other and Hyuluka are looking at each other. But the thing that jumped out to me was that Luka and Till are the only two without hearts in their eyes. If it was just one character I would just think it was a mistake, but the fact that it’s these two makes me think it’s intentional.

Also in this series IvanTill and Hyuluka are heavily focused on, it’s through these relationships that we the humanity of the characters. Yet in the artbook Luka rates his affection with Hyuna at 70% and Till rates his affection with Ivan at 70%. As we the series progresses we see how important Hyuna is to Luka and Ivan to Till. So why the lack of hearts and the 70% rating? Do Luka and Till love in the same way? Are they incapable of romantically loving someone? Do they distance themselves from their loved ones for fear of vulnerability? And why don’t we have their pov of the pivotal moments in their relationship? Like Till’s pov of the meteor shower scene and Luka’s pov abt hyunwoo’s death. There’s so much mystery surrounding them and how the love their most important person.

Let’s also talk abt this merch from Alnst stage. Sorry for the poor quality but I’ll try my best to explain my delusions. So something I wanted to point out is that here LukaTill are the only two seen with flowers and with gore. Luka is standing on a stage made from the corpse of the alien that looks like the moon and has purple roses. Meanwhile Till he is standing in the blood of Freddie the alien in his guitar that he killed, and it looks like green grass. Till has a red clematis flower crown. I thought it was interesting how here LukaTill have this contrasting them in their merch. Life vs death, Till is surrounded by blood while Luka is surround by bone. I think this is meant to show how they both cope with their situation. They both live in a dystopian society and to cope they have to revel in the bloodshed of it all. For Till it’s violently rebelling against the aliens, seen by the freshly spilled blood of an alien, and for Luka it’s about having a reputation of being more powerful than his opponent, so overpowering that they have no chance of surviving if they’re up against him, evident by the long decayed corpse of an alien.

However the flowers represent their softer side. I think at their natures they are actually very gentle people. For Till it’s more obvious that he’s a sweetheart you just need to read his birthday comic to know how cute and lovable he is. For Luka you have to reach a bit bc we rarely see any sides of him besides his ruler of the stage persona. But I think in his interview when they ask what his favorite part of Anakt garden was he said it was playing hide and seek with the other kids. I thought that was uncharacteristically sweet to say. I was expecting him to say the classes were good or the music theory was really interesting. But no. His favorite part of being in the garden was getting to play with the other kids. (I hate that Till died but my heart also feels bad for Luka ;-;)

Another thing I wanted to mention is that Till has a flower crown in his art while Luka has a rose with thorns in his merch art. I honestly thought they would be reversed since Luka is “crowned” ruler of the stage and Till is pretty spiky, pretty sure there was merch where he’s just a spike ball lol. They almost seem to be referencing each in some weird way. This is most likely a coincidence tho since the flower crown is suppose to represent Till’s attachment to the innocent fantasy of the past and I’m like 99% sure Luka is a reference to the little prince. (A book abt a blond haired kid and a rose you should read it you def won’t get depression from it) Still I thought it would be interesting to point out.

LukaTill also share a lot more similarities than even I realized when i was looking back at all the content we have so far. For example, they’re the only two characters we’ve seen play an instrument. Guitar and violin. In their early rounds they both overwhelmed their opponent and won by a landslide. The only reason they’re alive is because of their musical talent. They both got messed up hands Luka and his purple fingertips compared to Till with his bandaged ones. Their alien owners are literal trash who have no regard for their life in anyway (i feel like the other guardians weren’t as bad bc to my knowledge Ivan, Sua and Mizi didn’t have their life put in immediate danger. Meanwhile Luka’s owner stopped Luka’s heart as a punishment. And Till’s guardian just assaults him without any regard for his safety or blood loss.) There’s so many little details these two share despite the fact that they’re just suppose to be two characters that clash with each other. Like imagine if LukaTill was the ship that had more focus in the series. This stuff would’ve driven me nuts!

The point I’m trying to make is that while LukaTill are like polar opposites they are also really really similar. I wonder if Luka is what Till would’ve turned into if he lived long enough. And I wonder if Till is similar to a younger Luka.

Super excited for the next video Vivimeng puts out! I’m going back to grieving for Till cya.

[lemonsprite]

Fooling around || Sebastian Sallow x Male!Reader

Summary: you teach Sebastian to let loose a little

Word count:

Warnings: slight suggestive themes (?) nothing crazy just snogging (hate that term as an American)

A/N: might make a Verizon about Ominis where he’s jealous of m! Reader and Sebastian idk tho TT okay off topic I HATE JK ROWLING SO MUCH WITH A BURNING PASSION AS A TRANSGENDER but! I am also autistic and unfortunately have a special interest in Harry Potter (I’ve had one since I was nine) AND ITS SUCH A BAD CONFLICT I want to make content but at the same time don’t (anyways make sure you pirate Hogwarts legacy xoxo) NOT BETA READ IM SORRY

“Okay okay-“ smiled Sebastian, leaning backwards against the nearby wall of the undercroft. “I dare you…” he paused, thinking of what next to say. “To send Amit Thakkar an owl full of belch powder!”

“Godric’s Heart Sebastian that’s awful!” You exclaimed, rolling your eyes.

Sebastian tsk’d, waving a finger in front of your face. “Ah-ah-ah you choose dare, remember?” He smirked.

With a sigh you admitted your defeat, reluctantly producing a blank piece of parchment to begin your nasty prank. Despite your reluctance to this task, Sebastian had welcomed you in to the undercroft even with all his prejudice towards you in the beginning- part of you felt like you had to go along with his dare even if it was a bit cruel (and a little funny).

Having never played many muggle games growing up, you’d thought now would be a better time than ever to introduce Sebastian to the wonderful word of ‘Truth or Dare’. Part of you regretted that decision now, with how wonderfully he was adapting to the game already.

“Alright Sebastian- Truth or dare?” You ask, not looking up from your letter.

“Truth.”

“Got any one in the castle you fancy?”

Sebastian’s silence is what finally drew you from your letter, looking up to meet his flushed gaze.

Part of you had expected a ‘no.’ After all, Sebastian never struck you as the romancing type, but seeing his face dusted in pink wasn’t unwelcome- in fact you quite liked the look on him. A voice in the back of your head urged you to make him blush more often.

You raised your eyebrow at him, prompting him to answer.

Sebastian whispered something, you could not make it out.

“What?” You asked, staring at him confusedly.

“You.” He whispered.

“Me what?”

“You- I Like you!” Sebastian exclaimed, his voice raising in frustration at your obliviousness.

Oh.

That went from zero to one hundred.

There was silence for what felt like eternity before you let out a small chuckle, taking a sip of the pumpkin juice Sebastian had brought the two of you.

He stared at you, his eyes a mixture of emotions.

Sebastian began hurriedly covering up his earlier confession. “I know you probably think that strange- I mean a boy liking another boy? Weird right anyways-“

“I like you too.” You said, staring at him over your cup of juice.

That effectively stopped Sebastian’s rambling, he peered at you- bewildered.

“But… but we’re both men?”

“And?” You asked. “Back where I’m from It’s quite normal for boys our age to fool around with each other before we marry- course’ I feel like we should all just be able to marry whom ever we want, never really found myself fancying girls.” You ranted, waving your hand animatedly in the air. All the while Sebastian stared at you, wide eyed and curious.

“…really?” He asked after a moment. You nodded your head, very serious.

“Have you ever… kissed another boy?” Sebastian asked.

“Oh yeah, plenty- a few girls here and there too…” you smiled, leaning in closer to Sebastian.

It seemed impossible to shock Sebastian any further yet here you were.

“And… fooling around… that too?”

“Occasionally… once or twice.”

Again there was silence, Sebastian staring at you intently.

“Could you…” Sebastian paused, thinking of the best way to go about this increasingly awkward conversation. “… teach me?”

It was your turn to be shocked now, staring at him for a moment.

“Teach you?”

“To like… you know- fool around…” said Sebastian, averting his gaze to the floor, that adorable pink flush returning.

You smiled at him, finding his clumsiness adorable.

“Sure.”

Tentatively, as if afraid of scaring away a small creature, you reach your hand over to Sebastian, placing your palm over his and guiding his hand to your waist.

“Like this okay?” You hum, looking up at Sebastian who swallowed heavily and nodded his head.

“I’m gonna- lean down here…” you explain with a grunt, shifting yourself backwards so that you were almost laying on the ground with your elbow propped up to support your weight, Sebastian’s hand still on your waist.

“Now I want you to put one leg over me… kinda like a broom.” You explained, watching with a smile as Sebastian clumsily followed your orders, straddling your legs.

“Good.” You praised, moving Sebastian’s other hand to cage in your body against the floor, your own tangling itself into his hair.

Sebastian’s mouth was slightly agape, his pupils blown wide and his eyes alight with excitement.

“This alright?” You asked, looking up at him to make sure he was still doing good.

“Very.” He breathed. “Could we uh…” he trailed off.

“Get to the kissing part?” You asked with a smirk.

“Yes.” Said Sebastian. “That… Please.”

Using your hand buried in his hair you guided Sebastian towards you, his head dipping to meet your lips in an inexperienced kiss.

It was clumsy and awkward, a mess of teeth clashing against each other and rushed apologies from Sebastian’s mouth.

Your chest was alight and if you hadn’t known any better you’d expected fire works to burst straight from your torso like one of Garreth’s wild potions.

“(y/n)…” breathed Sebastian into the kiss, his hand digging into the fabric on your waist. You pulled him closer deepening the kiss as you opened your mouth.

Pulling away from the embrace you look up breathlessly at Sebastian, his lips plump and swollen from all the kissing.

“Can I take your cloak off?” You ask quietly, your voice echoing in the undercroft. “It’d make this whole thing a lot easier.” And before you could even reach a hand up to unbuckle the clasp of Sebastian’s cloak he’d beaten you to the chase, practically ripping the fabric off his shoulders as he tossed it behind the two of you.

You looked at him in shocked silence, a smirk tugging at your lips.

“Eager are we?” You asked.

“Hush.” Said Sebastian, taking the lead as he bent down, his free hand not on your waist going to your chest, wrapping around your torso and pulling you in closer still.

Sebastian enveloped you in a kiss once more. Your mouth opened into his, turning messy as you searched for Sebastian’s tongue, the undercroft filling with the noises of breathless moans.

The sound of someone clearing their throat pulled you from the moment, Sebastian’s head whipping around to meet the intruders.

“Ominis!” He smiled forcefully, dropping his hands causing you to fall and smack your head against the old tiled floor with a ‘thump!’.

You groaned in pain, Sebastian reaching out his hands to help you before stopping himself, looking back at Ominis.

“Sebastian.” Ominis growled. “Are you seriously snogging a girl in the undercroft? I thought this was our place!”

“No! I mean yes! I mean-“ floundered Sebastian, helping you sit up from the floor and whispering apologies into your ear.

“I just… I really like this guy Ominis.” Sebastian mumbled, looking at the floor embarrassedly, not realizing his words till they’d already slipped out.

“Guy?” Asked Ominis, his voice suddenly soft.

“(y/n). I’m with (y/n).” Admitted Sebastian, his face that adoring shade of pink once more.

Ominis was silent for a long moment processing this new information.

“Okay… it’s- it’s okay Sebastian just… just go make out somewhere else yeah?” Ominis said, his voice suddenly soft and as soon as the tender moment happened it disappeared, the blonde boys voice snarky once more. “And if I ever catch you snogging in here again I’ll have your head, got it?”

“Very.” Said Sebastian with a small smirk, relieved at his friends response. He wrapped his hand around yours, hastily grabbing his discarded cloak and standing up. “Now I’m gonna…”

“Please do get your sorry excuse out of here.” Scoffed Ominis. “I’ll have to disinfect everything, who knows what you two’ve been getting up to.”

Jojo try not to rush another fics ending challenge (impossible)

[sammygender]

is there any point in the series that sam could have made an escape and actually successfully gotten away from dean and hunting, or do you think that his lack of support system made it impossible

FANTASTIC QUESTION. sorry im gonna ramble for 7374893594 words now

tldr, past like s3 (and certainly past s5) i think its kinda impossible.

early seasons, like 1-2, sure and totally, he almost does, he plans on it. but then the demon deal for his life happens and theyre trapped in cycles forever and ever and everything becomes a lot harder and, also, sam and dean just naturally become more and more codependent, decreasing the chances of them ever being able to have a 'normal relationship', which i think is necessary (dean loosening grip on sam, them having connections outside of each other) for sam to ever 'get away' from dean/hunting (cause otherwise its just an all-or-nothing choice, more on this in a sec).

i think its less so much about sam successfully getting away in terms of getting dean off his back/to leave him alone (which, dont get me wrong, WOULD be hard, especially as the seasons go on, considering dean cant stand to be alone and has extremely controlling and occasionally stalkerish tendencies <3..... but could still certainly be possible), but about him actually choosing to leave dean/hunting (which for the purposes of this question we r equating).

bc its sort of like..... he takes a lot of Breaks especially during mid seasons (s5 after lucifer's set free (tho iirc this one is dean's doing), s7 after dean kills amy, s8 with amelia tho he thinks deans dead, s9 after gadreel possession is revealed....) but he always always comes back. of course s8 is dean Literally Dragging sam back into it (<3) and also just shaking everything up by being generally Alive, but s7 and 9, its cause dean has done something awful thats genuinely shook sam up, and in the end he just... gets over it. cuz what is the alternative? dean doesnt change and rarely apologises!

like its the fact that of course he wants a relationship with dean because deans the closest person in his life and everything to him, but having a relationship with dean equals their intense codependent unhealthy bond, equals dealing with dean's disregard of his autonomy and ignoring it (read: letting it wear him down). dean's all or nothing. they cant just be 'normal brothers'. and i find it extremely hard to see sam ever actually longterm choosing 'no dean' over 'dean who loves him more than anything and will always do anything for him but systematically wears down his personhood and punishes him for percieved disobedience and thinks he's the one who gets to make choices about sam's life'. like he would have to have a bunch of connections outside of dean, they probably both would, and that would never really happen partially because of dean. they can never let anyone else get on their level. like u said. lack of support system!

and its like... what could dean Actually do that would make sam 'cut him off'/distance himself permanently. i literally and truly cannot think of anything. sam canonically has an INCREDIBLE capacity for forgiveness, just in general - where's that jared quote about how sam forgives everyone cause he sees himself as someone so in need of forgiveness - and this even more so applies to dean. dean locks sam up and leaves him to die, kills his friend, tricks sam into letting an angel possess him, and tries to kill him, and none of that makes sam leave dean permanently, not just because dean makes it physically difficult for him to (tho he does - insisting they work together in s7 on the case, going off to get mark of cain in s9) but also cause sam just eventually forgives him and moves on. is it 'capacity for forgiveness' or is it that he doesnt really view bad things that happen to him as a big deal, that (thru s5-esque emotional abuse techniques <3) deans subconsciously gotten him questioning his own reality and opinions so deeply that it just takes time before sam's agreeing with dean again. makes you think!

but tbf (and this is a digression but i just find it interesting) this probably goes both ways too - what could sam actually do to make dean leave him permanently? even when deans incredibly angry at sam he usually wants him around to berate about it <3. exceptions being start of s10 when hes a demon but even demon dean soon switches to sam-obsession.... and s5. which i know according to endverse Wouldve been a permanent split up? which is kind of wild? and canonises that that Couldve Happened i guess. samgirls should do more with endverse, id kill to see an actually good samcentric fic of like. the events leading to endverse. if anyones read any pls pls recs. ANYWAY. theres also ofc s2 meg possession, where dean just fully thinks sam killed people and is like <3 okay baby brothers lets pretend this never happened we got this do u need me to bury a body <3. truly a ride or die. unless ur actively going against Him specifically. things to think about. tell me ur takes.

and anyway then s11 onwards he is NOT getting out. not unless someone really managed to get it into his head Hey So Pro Tip This Is Fucked. sam acquiesces to dean-as-dictator, having literally Let Dean (be about to) Kill him, dean (newly cured from moc) is consequently much more pleased with sam and with their relationship, they fight much less and theres therefore much less prominent emotional abuse etc since dean is at his worst when hes upset. (iirc. late seasons are a blur except for jack stuff.). and by s13 he has a son and maybe if this happened seasons ago dean's treatment of jack would've been enough to prompt at least a temporary split up but it doesnt, it just sparks a few vague arguments between samndean and sam telling jack that dean is trying <3 and that its very difficult for him <3 which is why he told you hed kill you <3 thats just what dean is like you have to get over it at some point <3 (I LOVE S13). so then yeah. too late.

TLDR... he is too indocrinated <3. sad!

[junhanndee]

how do u think the heroes would react to walking in on u getting off? bonus points if they can tell you were thinking about them 🤐

omg anon yes let me just MMMMM

how xdh would react on walking in to see you getting off <3

headcanons!

warnings : smut duh, mdni, gaon is a lil shit, fingering mentions, afab reader kinda, eating out, uhhhh i think that’s it

gunil

genuinely i think he might feel a little bad (?)

just because he couldn’t help you and he felt like you had to resort to that instead of him

but he kinda had an idea you were feeling that way from the texts he had received from you throughout the day

upon opening the door tho those thoughts will definitely fade away and he will make you feel so good you’ll forget all about that toy <3

jungsu

shy boy #1

jungsu gives me the whole “oh woah” vibe like he sees you getting off in his bed and suddenly his pitching a tent in his jeans

bonus points if you don’t notice and he gets to stand there and watch you get off wishing it were him

he would definitely eat you out until you couldn’t barely speak a sentence again because he just can’t get enough of you :)

gaon

okay hear me out

gaon gives me the vibe to be like “but you have me :(“

and then destroy you LMAO

like he walks in and had already kinda heard something from the door

and when he walks in to see you all spread out on the bed he can’t help but hate that stupid fucking toy and will stop at nothing to prove he’s better

“you think that toy can do what i can’t?” he would say while practically throwing it to the other side of the room. then would smirk at you knowing he’s about to make you see stars

he will definitely have you in 50 different positions before the night ends

definitely tells you to just call him next time LMAO

seungmin

tbh i see seungmin as the type to get super turned on by this

like he walks in to find you under the covers but he can’t help hearing the low sound of vibrations coming from under the bed

he would dive under the covers and probably continue to use it on you just taking it all in

“my baby had to use this because she was so turned on? :( poor thing”

he would probably send you into overstim just to watch your expressions as he actually finds it really fascinating and can’t wait to incorporate it into your sec routine:)

junhan

shy boy #2

junhan would probably be like 😀

when he sees you riding his pillow i think he’s sees his life flash before his eyes when he widely opens the door

he would probably quietly close the door while a bright red blush appears on his cheeks

honestly tho, once he’s like omg he would probably come and sit next to you giving you hooded eyes and ready to get you off

“m sorry baby i was so busy today i made you wait”

would definitely drag you onto his lap reverse cowboy style and get you off by fingering you <33

then boom best sex ever

jooyeon

shy boy #3

he would open the door and probably shut it so fast that you heard the boom and see him standing there like 😀😫

he would probably rush over to you even tho his face is soooo red

“did you need me? i’m so sorry i missed you to i just was really busy today…”

he would probably ramble and try his hardest to not stare at your tits but has failed the entire time

he would 100% eat you out like right then and there

“mmm i missed you, i’ll make you feel good to make up for it i promise”

would eat you out until he was satisfied :)

[your-unfriendlyghost]

just bc I’ve never seen u talk abt him but…… darry perhaps ?? (for that character thing you reposted lol) bc me personally I could ramble abt him all day long haha

….with a cherry on top 😁🤲

How I feel about this character

  Well, Darry’s ok. I think he’s incredibly well-written. I like him fine, you just haven’t heard me talk abt him cos I don’t have all that much to say abt him :,) 

  I relate to him in some ways, but every time I think too hard about him I get nervous because his situation is…nightmarish for me and it freaks me out in a way that isn’t entertaining (the way writing other angst I relate to is for me) but just…existential dread. 

All the people I ship romantically with this character

  Darry and Paul probably had something going on- at least from what I’ve heard from the musical side of things it seems not platonic, idk abt the book/movie tho

  And him and Tim Shepard in the 90s show were…something too. I dunno what exactly, but…somrething. I get where the tarry shippers are coming from and yk I like that kinda.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

  Two-Bit! I don't ship them, but I think they were closer growing up and sorta stopped being best friends in high school once Darry joined the football team. But they’ll always care for each other, and Two-Bit can read Darry better than anyone. 

  I do think that they mutually make each other insecure about their older-brothering abilities. Like Darry’s insecure because Two-Bit’s never really fought with his kid sister (at least rn- I hc that they fight more as she gets older) and Two-Bit’s insecure because Darry’s so responsible and Two-Bit isn’t really. They’ve never talked about this and probably never will, at least not until they’re older.

  I think once Pony and Soda are older and Darry’s less stressed, Two-Bit helps him re-learn how to be young and irresponsible. There was a line from a movie I watched recently (Calendar Girl, 1993) (Ridiculous sounding movie but it’s one of my favs now) with a line that went something like 

  “So you don’t like me because I get you drunk, but you do like me because I stick around while you throw up?”

  “Yeah. You’re one of my best friends.” 

And that’s sorta their dynamic to me rn. I think back in elementary school/junior high it was reversed, with Darry pushing Two-Bit to be more confident, but it completely 180s now that they’re grown.

My unpopular opinion about this character

  He acts immature sometimes/often. He’s not the gang’s “dad”, or even considered the “responsible” one generally. Yk, he’s not immune to having teen boy-ish bravado- like how he leaves the door unlocked because he’s convinced he can take anyone who’d break in. (He’s real for that- I too feel like I could easily take on any home intruder :) ‘course Darry’s stronger than me and like 6’2 so he probably could better than I could, but yk the point is that it’s very teen boy/young man of him ig)

  I feel like before his folks died he was a lot less responsible- I’ve written one fic pre-canon where he’s more easy going because he doesn’t have the child service workers breathin down his neck yet lol. But yk, he probably snuck out at night in high school, did dumb things like any other kid. I mean I’m a good kid, but even I’ve been kicked outta stores- I’m sure Darry’s been too. Maybe he didn’t smoke, but he probably drank a bit and got speeding tickets and did other stupid shit to impress his buddies. (C’mon, who hasn’t?) (Actually maybe I’m not as good as I think maybe that’s not normal idk I’m not gonna think abt that rn)

  Other controversial opinion…while I know it’s symbolic, I don’t l o v e how Patrick Swayze was like 10 years older than Darry was supposed to be in the movie- I’m so sorry- he did a GREAT job as the character! But he just doesn’t read as 20 to me no matter how hard I try to suspend my disbelief and it’s bugged me for years- It’s not as bad as Mason’s actor in Tex, but I just. Don’t like it :,) Again I’m so sorry nothing against Swayze! I think he’s great, just…I wish he’d been ten years younger in Outsiders 

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

  I dunno lol. Again, I ain’t got that many thoughts about him…I think he fulfilled his role for me and there’s not a lot more I’d wanna see from him. 

  …Well, actually, I’d love to see him hanging with Mason McCormick. but that would never happen in canon so yk

Oh it’d be cool to see him throwing Steve more that’d be funny

[mutatedleemon]

Hi!! I love your au for billford it's super duper cute and I checked all your posts for lost on Earth au last night so I'm still pretty new and I probably missed this but quick question!

Regarding Bill being childhood friends with the twins and erasing them, during the canon show was everything just the SAME or were there few changes for that knowledge? Did Bill still threatened dipper and mabel during their summer and did he also die from Stan? Even tho I can see he kinda cares about him? Because he almost like killed everyone except Ford! Sorry for the long ramble! I am a bit confused for this!!

Thanks!

Yeah everything is pretty much the same!

After leaving Earth and then destroying his own dimension, Bill's life was never the same and he changed from the kid Stan twins once knew to the monster he is in the show. The only thing that kinda changed (from canon) is how he thinks about them, but he always keeps it to himself, so it’s not that visible to others. Dipper and Mabel weren’t his friends and didn’t mean that much to him, so he didn’t feel bad threatening them, even tho they are Stanley and Ford’s nephew and niece (reminder - he turned evil, so he doesn’t care).

And yes, Bill “died” from Stanley. When he screamed his name for the last time, he wanted to remind him of their time together, but was too late (that’s where that one sketch with “they don’t know” comes from. The sketch is under the cut).

I hope I cleared some stuff akjfnakfjn If you still have some questions, please do ask me, I will be glad to answer. But I am planning on writing the AU as a fanfic, but it might take some time before I even start so for now, so for now the only way to find out more stuff about what in the evelroving belgian waffles is happening in my head, is by asking me akdjfndkfj

[dagnab]

ur so right abt Viktor's seasons 1 vs. season 2 characterization!

after re-watching season 1 tho the framing of Viktor's earliest private forays into body modification are framed/"shot" like they're a dangerous, taboo transgression. as a disabled person that really irks me because the writers/narrative like to pretend they're impartial but they're really really not. like people can be like well the hexcore/arcane was dangerous and it was reckless but that was of approaching narrative analysis completely sidesteps the fact that everything about the world was a choice made by writers/artists and probably shaped by execs. idk it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth because he's doing it because his body is getting in his way at a time when time is of the absolute essence and he really is one of the few people capable of making massive change in Zaun with his work. Feel like people's kneejerk to that is he could've left it to Jace, he didn't have to live to see the fruits of his labour but Jayce has shown him he cant be fully trusted to stay the path.

anyway sorry for jumping into ur inbox and rambling. i just wanna see more discussion around Viktor from disabled ppl because he's rotating like a microwave hotpocket in my mind atm

No seriously thank you for reading my rant and chatting up my inbox!! I need to converse with people about this or ill go stir crazy 🙏 anyone's always welcome to drop in. This activated another long ass manifesto from me so I'll put it under a cut.

On your point about Arcane's disability narrative- I totally agree. Looking back at season 1 I'm struck by how much better characterized Viktor is, but I agree that the disability metaphor isn't well thought out.

I can tell they course-corrected on purpose for season 2. Viktor's story became very much an anti-eugenics, "you were never broken" thing, and I appreciate that sentiment. But that misses the mark too in many ways. Many people have already posted about this, but isn't it reasonable for Viktor to want reprieve from his chronic illness, which was a result of his childhood poverty? In a world where people can replace limbs, doesn't it make sense for him to want to alleviate the pain of his bad leg and back with mechanical augments? It's pretty clear in s1 that Viktor isn't motivated exclusively by shame, he just doesn't want to die. Super reasonable goal, as you mention!

IMO they just kind of wrote themselves into a hole that couldn't be thematically tied up all that well. And not to be a preachy OG machine Viktor purist.. but I do think this started in season 1 when they decided to make the hexcore like an evil manipulaty magicy entity. IMO it should have stayed just an unthinking tool, like a hammer, able to do good or hurt depending on the will of the wielder. They even set that up here, in this scene:

This is just like, so much more interesting. These are devices explicitly made to help the working class.. but it's so obvious that they will one day be misappropriated as weapons. Heimerdinger's warning about the arcane corrupting it's users still applies even if Hextech isn't all inherently evil. Power will do that on its own. Viktor and Jayce want to use hextech to help the people, Piltover elites want to use it as a weapon. I think they should have just stuck with that core conflict. No need to twist hextech into an ontological evil. It majorly distracts from the class divide, which used to be THE overarching plot of Arcane.

In general, making the hexcore all sinister is one of those super common cop-out writing choices where the "villain" is obviously right so they need to find some way to "complicate" things. The hextech-evilification was also what led to Sky getting fridged, another meh writing choice they tried to roll back in s2. When I think about it, all of my (few) complaints with the first season's writing are a result of the hexcore turning purple! That deviation from the original lore ended up compounding in the long run, leaving us with a messy Viktor arc, political narratives being sidelined. etc.

I think the Viktor self-surgery scenes SHOULD have been dark and scary and full of shame and resentment, but NOT because "hexcore taboo". Instead the emphasis should have been placed on Viktor having to try to treat himself all alone, isolated in his lack of support. No need for Sky to get dusted, it's tragic enough that Viktor is resorting to playing solitaire operation. The finger of blame should point at Piltover, not at one disabled guy trying to survive.

Imagine you grew up next to a chemical plant and every other kid in your city had incurable lung disease and nobody in power was interested in researching the one possible treatment, they only want to develop it as weaponry. I'd become the machine herald too.

[laugtherhyena]

*holds gun to your head cutely*

Hand over the platonic Inomori and no one gets hurt, I KNOW YOU HAVE IT >:3

(I'm so silly)

RAUGH ANON I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO AWNSER‼️ HAVE THIS AS A BONUS FOR THE WAIT TIME

-Unlikely friendship duo! That's honestly what i love the most about these two as besties, you don't expect someone so sweet and kind like Inori to be hanging around someone so rude and impulsive like Kizuna. But when you think about it, Kanata really is the friend Kizuna needed since she has the patience of a saint and is so nice o literally everyone that she would be there to stick by Kizuna's side and try to comfort/help her even when the rest of the class is tired of her bs or dislikes her for what she does.

-Although I'm sure Kizuna would be kinda annoyed with her at first, since she doesn't interact much with other girls, she would quickly grow to befriend Kanata because really, that's all she wanted, she just wanted a friend that liked her for who she is instead of being around her just for her looks + i think Kanata would actively try to help her steer away from her habits of gold digging and manipulating people while still sticking by her side so there's that.

-Kizuna absolutely teases and plays around with Kanata given their heigh difference. She will rest an arm on the top of her head or wrap them sound her neck, sometimes she will bend down to her level and talk with a baby face just to annoy here.

-Kanata is the person she goes to whenever she gets hurt while practicing a move or cheerleading stunt, it's never something serious to need a whole surgeon for, but it's an excuse to go after Kanata so of course she will take it.

-She will talk about the most random gossip to her, both in person and by phone, stuff Kanata has no interest in knowing about but she'll listen regardless. Tho 99% of the time she will question why/how Kizuna even knows that and if she should really be sticking her nose into whatever mess she's rambling on.

-Sometimes during these talks she will tell Kizuna she probably shouldn't do certain things, and afterwards it's a 50/50 on if she will do it or not now that Kanata adviced against it.

-Kizuna also tends to call her to ask random bullshit sometimes, in most of these occasions it takes Kanata a minute to even process it before she can respond.

-Kizuna listens to Kanata ramble about medicine stuff, almost as much as she listens to her random gossip. She has no interest in the topics but listens pretty attentively since that's her friend talking and seeing how excited she gets doing so it's fun for her.

-She also listens to Kanata complain about certain things in the hospital or her life and just give her two cents on it since most of the time she won't know exaclty how to help, Kanata appreciates having someone to talk about these thinhg at least.

-They tend to watch a lot of movies together, be it on an actual teather or in Kanata's house. They also tend to show each other shows they like every so often, though Kizuna sometimes brings some intentionally bad ones just to see how Kanata will react.

-She shows up to Kanata's house somewhat often, mostly just to talk to see her whenever he feels like it, though sometimes she wil show up to her place under the gist of talking about something random when Kanata can tell there's something bothering her. She will never just open up about things from the start so Kanata has to kinda ease her into it until she's comfortable enough to tell her about her problems, this is how Kanata learned about Kizuna's messy relationship with her parents, why she does the things she does and how she really just wanted someone who would see her for who she is. And it's from these talks that she gives he advice in how to change and Kizuna starts becoming a nicer person.

-I hc Kizuna as a comphet lesbian so when she comes to the realization that she's into girls she goes to the Ando household in a similar fashion and subsequently Kanata ends up being the first person she comes out to. Afterwards she will sometimes show up to gush about crushes or rant her frustrations when it comes to flirting with girls and Kanata has to remind her she's not a relationship adviser.

[junocandraw]

What are some of your takes on any of The Morgue Files characters? :>

EEEEEK! WHAT A QUESTION!!! :D

Okay. So. This is going to be long because im VERY opinionated on the audio drama. I watched them probably a million times while i was working on a wall mural in my parent’s bathroom.

JEFF

Don’t get me wrong. Emo edgelord mcr stan sigma boy Jeff is GREAT. Its a CLASSIC. BUT. Its overdone. Its exhausting to see the same cycle of kid moves to a new town, kid gets bullied, kid goes crazy BECAUSE he gets bullied, in every single Jeff story.

David’s is unique in that Jeff was just BORN THAT WAY. he was born sick. he was like that the day he popped out of the womb. i also like how he leaves slenderman’s impact on him so vague. when you listen to the pinehearst sessions, jeff doesn’t call anyone out by name, he just uses super vague pronouns to describe the collective. “I’ve seen them.” “I know what they’re planning.” etc. etc.

not to mention the bloody parts? oh. perfection. he wanted to “wear” Christy? 10/10. my timbers were shivered. I can vividly remember the first time I listened to the video and I was just…jaw dropped. Its insane that you can understand everything thats going on gore-wise just by audio.

In short? David’s take was REFRESHING. It was new. It broke that cycle. It even influenced some aspects of the rewrite i did. (shameless plug there ;D)

TOBY

One thing that is glaringly obvious with this one is that the mental-illness portion was portrayed SO MUCH BETTER than the original. Toby was so much more believable in his struggles. I really felt sorry for the guy. You put it best when you said “he was just dealt a bad hand in life.”

Also, the brainwashing portion at the bitter end with slenderman was just great. it was amazing. AND THE LYRA PLOT TWIST???? DONT. GET. ME. STARTED. I WAS SHOOKETH. i wont spoil for all you peoples who haven’t listened to it but its CRAZY.

This one is my second favorite. Its great. Its scary. I loved it.

JACK

Honestly? INCREDIBLY underrated. THIS one is probably tied in first with Jeff. I can’t pick between them because Jeff just holds a special, nostalgic place in my heart, but this one. Ooh. This one.

Jack was the least of my concerns with this one. I’m talking about detective kent and poor sergeant norris. when the you-know-what happened with all of the proxies, my stomach was flipped. I forgot that it was even allowed to happen in this genre. in Hollywood, someone would have swooped in last minute and saved them, but that didn’t happen here. It just goes to show you how twisted david is willing to get.

we also get a lot of tim and brian in this episode!! i love them. i made a post about creepypasta and marble hornet crossovers, and this is a perfect example of a one thats done well. he didn’t make tim a measly little twink, or brian a shy wallflower, but he instead made his own, creative take on both characters. And its great. its all great.

i would dish my opinion on the sally one, but its been a hot minute since i watched it lol. ive watched all of these in the last month or two. I remember the one guy named like…aiden? or something? he disturbed me. i dont remember much else lol.

ONE MORE THING!! Im not sure if hes allowed to do this, but I think a HABIT cameo in one would be SICK. with HABIT’s gorey methods of murder and david’s twisted writing, that could be something AWESOME. maybe im just a die hard emh fan tho…idk…

anyways thank you for listening to my insane ramblings and GO WATCH THE MORGUE FILES IF YOU HAVEN’T EVEN IF YOU DONT LIKE CREEPYPASTA THEY’RE GREAT!! :D