#They don’t even have a specific moment they’re such fucking freaks

[somnas-writes]

My favorite concept is that the straw hats have such fucked up romantic standards

[dixons-sunshine]

Drawing Me | Scud Frohmeyer x Fem!Reader

A/N: Requested by @caseylicious. I’m so sorry it took me years to get to this request of yours. I hope I did your idea some justice!

“Just taking notes, huh?”

At the sound of Scud’s voice, you looked up from the notebook in your hands and locked eyes with his cerulean-coloured ones. The man in question was hiding something behind his back, his lips tugged up in a slight smirk.

“Yeah?” you agreed in confusion, holding up the notebook in your hands for added emphasis, showing him the notes you had been taking regarding his weapons. “What else would I be doing?”

Scud shrugged and moved to sit down next to you on the table, his legs dangling off the surface. “Oh, I don’t know,” he began, bringing a book into view—more specifically, your sketchbook. Your breath caught in your throat as you watched him open it up, not needing to go any further than the first page, a page which held a detailed sketch of the man himself. “Could you maybe be drawing me?”

Your heart started pounding in your chest. What could you possibly say to diffuse the situation? ‘Oh, sorry. I just find you incredibly adorable and cute and also very attractive so I had to draw you, multiple times’? There was absolutely nothing your mind could come up with at that moment that could make the situation better.

“I’m so sorry. I should’ve asked you before I did that,” you began to frantically apologize, your eyes looking anywhere but at Scud. “I’m so sorry. I promise I’ll get rid of them. They’re not even that good. I’m so—”

“What the hell are you goin’ on about?” Scud interrupted you, a light laugh escaping from his chest. “These are great! I love them.” He began flipping through the pages, nearly each one of them containing a different drawing of him doing various activities: building gadgets, lounging on the couch, smoking a joint, playing video games. There was even one of them depicting him eating his beloved doughnuts. There was no denying, at least in Scud’s mind, that you were immensely talented. “I’m amazed that you managed to make me look even hotter than I already am. Hell, can I have these? I wanna show them off.”

You were at a loss for words. He... liked them? He wasn’t freaked out by you seemingly obsessively drawing him? What? “You like them?” you inquired in a quiet tone of voice, wiping the sweat that had formed on your hands away on your jeans.

Scud nodded with a huge smile. “Fuck yeah, I do.” Scud’s smile turned more genuine when you let out a light, surprised laugh, the sound warming his heart. He scooted closer to you and wrapped his arm around your shoulder, bringing you closer to him, unknowingly making your heart speed up at the action. “You’re an amazing artist. I don’t know why you were so worried.”

“I thought you’d be freaked out by how many times I’ve drawn you,” you voiced, laying your head down on his shoulder. This was a normal occurrence for you. Scud was physical in your friendship. Hugs, cheek kisses, moments like these. It didn’t mean anything, did it?

Scud scoffed and rolled his eyes affectionately, squeezing your shoulder once. “Please. I don’t get scared off easily. Besides, I think it’s cute that you have a little crush on me.”

It was your turn to scoff, but in an attempt to hide your embarrassment at the fact that he was right about that. However, you wouldn’t tell him that. “In your dreams, Scuddy boy.” Scud chuckled. It fell silent for a few moments after that. However, when Scud spoke up again, you couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you.

“Think you could draw me naked?”

“Now you’re just taking chances.”

“Can’t blame a man for tryin’.”

[wishlikes]

Spirits, Psychics, and Sensing Each Other

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

The main points/conclusions:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1.01

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

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

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

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

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

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

1.02

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

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

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

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

1.03

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

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

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

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

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

1.04

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

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

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

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

1.05

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

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

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

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

1.06

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

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

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

1.07

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

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

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

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

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

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

1.08

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

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

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

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

1.09

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

1.10

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

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

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

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

1.11

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

1.12

Literally nobody recognized Mob’s powers going to Reigen.

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

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

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

2.01

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

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

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

2.02

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2.03

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

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

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

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

2.04

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

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

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

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

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

2.09

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

Everybody constantly and thoroughly underestimating each other.

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

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

2.10

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

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

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

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

2.11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2.12

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

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

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

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

2.13

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

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

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

How the hell did they find Mob in all that broccoli

3.01

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

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

Mob: “Serizawa-san is very powerful.”

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

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

3.02

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

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

Amakusa: “The atmosphere in here has transformed.”

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

3.03

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

3.04

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

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

3.05

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

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

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

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

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

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

3.06

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

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

3.07

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

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

3.10

Teru recognizes when Shigeo is about to explode.

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

3.11

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

[mrsmiagreer]

EA SPOILERS

BRACHIUM 🥺🥺🥺🥺

IS HE OKAY?????

Ik he’s so tired :(

“I am a failure” No baby no

“But i know you hear me”

This is literally so sad i’m crumpling

IS HE CRYING

“Please Mother, Please Release Me” BAWLING

IS HE BEING FREED?!

HE WILL NOT FAIL ‼️‼️‼️‼️👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

This is crazy cinematic

SUNSHINE IS SAVED

WHY IS AARONS VOICE SO DEEP😭😭😭

I literally almost didn’t know who he was

Oh Smartass is here too

Awe brother hug moment

YAYYYYYYY SUNSHINE IS SAFE

“I’m so sorry” 🥺

All I can imagine is Elliott and that damn comfort beanie that we all imagine he has on💀

BRACHIUM AND AARON MEET ?!

WHY IS AARONS VOICE SO DEEP OMG😭😭

It’s throwing me off like crazy who tf is that?! ERIN???

BLAKE MENTION BLAKE MENTION

I know what he did is bad but DADDY I LOVE HIM

Is he gonna die ☹️

“you? specifically?” LMAOO WHY DOESNT AARON BELIEVE HIM?!

I’m sorry but his story is so long :\

“Good. Give them back their fucking lives”😭

AARON CALM DOWN

Memory modification 😲

“I just got my brother back”

So he’s gonna change the circumstances of their memories not wipe them completely

Okay aaron and brachium going back and forth like this —

Omg aaron is literally gonna sit here and convince them that their trauma is worth keeping😭

I get it’s the right thing to do morally but like wtf if i wanna forget i will. if i don’t wanna have nightmares and have to go to therapy from being kidnapped and tortured for days then i will

IS THIS A VOTE ?!

Elliott’s voice is so cute and innocent

“PARTNER IS AN OVERSTATEMENT” LMFAO WHAT

YOURE TELLING ME THEYRE NOT EVEN DATING

“You want my body, you want my cooperation, then you let me have this. you let me have them”

I’m obsessed with Blake omg

“We will try this” YES YES YES OMG NEW BLAKE AND BESTIE CONTENT

“Hey!” OMG

IM LITERALLY FREAKING OUT

HE IS SO CUTE AND NERVOUS ABOUT TALKING TO THEM FUCK

He’s like sweating and almost crying omgggg

YOU GUYS DONT UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH IM GOING CRAZY

“We agreed to never talk about because you said if we did that you couldn’t have me in your life if that was something we talked about”

OMG HIM BEING A SEER

THIS LORE IS CRAZY

SO THEY DO KNOW HE’S A SEER

his stuttering 🥹🫶🏽

“I have to say this and i need you to listen to me when i say it…okay?”

“NO‼️” OMG IT SCARED THE FUCK OUTTA ME

He’s yelling at me guys i’m scared he’s yelling

THAT NIGHT OMG

MORE LORE THE LORE DUMP IS CRAZY

His aggression is halfway turning me on and halfway scaring me

Omg i’m about to start crying

i feel his pain so much

“I never stopped loving you” UGHH BLAKE

“You’re gonna die !”

OMG IM SCARED

He sounds on the verge of a psychotic break. Not even the verge. Just the psychotic break

“I know how crazy this sounds, I know how crazy I look”

Babes….its bad. Real bad

“Don’t speak THROUGH me” OMG THIS IS TERRIFYING

OMG WOW THIS IS INSANE THEYRE JUST SHOWING ALL OF HIS PAST TO THEM LIKE A DAMN TV SERIES

this is crazy

“That’s why I did everything”

Blake i’m so in love with you

If they kill Bestie anyway i’m literally gonna cry

The silence in between his sentences are so deafening

OMG THEYRE KISSING YES YES YES YES YES

WHAT DID THEY JUST SAY?!

“you can keep this deluded pet”

WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME LMAOOO

OMG YESSSS BLAKE GETS TO KEEP BESTIE

IM LITERALLY SHAKING‼️‼️‼️‼️

The fuck Aaron just grew up like another 10 years?!

“You tell him baby” ☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️

If i was smartass at this table id literally say “ewwwwww they’re kissing !”

WAIT WAS ALL OF THAT TO SHOW THAT BRACHIUM WENT THROUGH WITH THE MODIFICATIONS?!?!?!

SCORPIUS WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE

OMG THEY DONT REMEMBER ANY OF IT

“I’m coming too” YUHHH DEMONS TEAM UP

You guys. You don’t understand how happy i am right now. All of my begs and pleads have been answered to. I just wanted to know more about Blake and Bestie and I got an amazing amount of Lore. I’m literally gonna start crying

[earthstellar]

crying over Rescue Bots, yes it’s the ghost ship episode, it’s fine

so I’m watching Rescue Bots again because I don’t feel good today lmao 

and the episode where they’re on the ghost ship and TEN WHOLE ASS YEARS GO BY WHILE THEY ARE STUCK ON THE SHIP came up in the playlist 

and even though it’s resolved in the end, it’s like, holy shit 

okay so for those who haven’t seen it: 

halfway through the episode Chief Burns shows up and sees his kids for the first time in TEN YEARS because tl;dr the kids got on the ghost ship to investigate but it vanished back into the fog and it time travelled them at accelerated speed but beyond the ship, time passes normally, so it’s been 10 YEARS from their dad’s point of view since they left, even though for them it has only been one hour 

and him and the Doc and Frankie are visibly older when they land on the ship’s deck 

so naturally Chief’s talking to his kids and probably trying not to fucking have a break down and he’s like okay everyone, let’s go 

and Cody’s like “no we think we figured it out, let us stay and try” 

and the Chief has less than one minute to make this call: do I bring my entire family home after ten years, or do I let them disappear maybe for another ten years based on a hunch they have 

and he lets them stay on the ghost ship because he trusts his kids that much 

ten years lost, maybe ten years more, and how old is he now? how old will he be in another ten years, if they happen to be wrong? what happens to the town if he ages out of rescue work (and so would Doc), which would leave only Frankie to protect the island? 

even the rescue bots themselves openly state that they feel like they’ve abandoned their posts because of their extended absence, even though it’s not their fault (I don’t remember who specifically said this but it was one of them and it makes it sadder lmao) 

but he lets them go after finally seeing them again for five minutes in total, after they have been missing in real time for ten years on this ghost ship 

and IDK the amount of trust Chief has in his kids and his ability to immediately trust them in this way despite what I am sure is an incredible amount of grief and stress over what has been ten fucking years for him is actually so intense 

like this is a show for babbies, so of course they can’t focus on how emotionally fucked this situation is for literally everyone, it would be Too Much for Babbies which is understandable 

but thinking about it for ten seconds is like oh shit!! oh shit, feelings 

I love this episode because the feels are real, both for the Captain of the ship (which is the whole setup, tl;dr stuck in time loop never got to marry girlfriend, it’s sad already) and for Chief Burns because holy shit his fucking entire family has been gone for ten years and he still trusts them enough to let them stay on board and try to solve shit even though he absolutely has to be emotionally trashed in that moment 

10/10 Rescue Bots is a great show, I don’t know why I don’t post about it more tbh the emotional whiplash is so intense lmao 

there’s also that time Optimus turned into a t-rex and freaked out but then in TFP concurrently this was somehow fine and it never came up again in canon or seemingly anywhere else, holy shit I forgot all about that until today LMAO

I love the Aligned Continuity, all of this shit is so good, I’m crying but also laughing 

mostly crying right now though because Chief Burns lost all his kids for TEN YEARS and he immediately let them go again because he loves them and trusts them THAT MUCH 

[trenchcoathunnybee08]

I’m a make my hot take. I freaking love when characters die but specifically Marvel characters. I’ve recently been re-reading Death of the Wolverine and when I tell you it’s genuinely one of my favorite comics. I haven’t read a tun but not only is the art style beautiful but the ending of him looking out at the sunset before he goes is just so satisfying. I’d read Old man Logan a while before so getting to see where the statue from issues #1 had come from was so cool. I felt like some conspiracy theorist when i realized I’d seen it before.

Equally the Loki series and Logan (2017) have got to be two of my favorite marvel projects.

There’s something so beautiful in seeing a character reach the end of their ark. In seeing those final moments where everything they’ve ever been and everything they’ve ever done comes to a head. Where you truly get a chance to see how far they’ve come. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking and I love it.

Outside of Marvel for as horrible as it was seeing Castiel die for Dean in s15 after giving his confession was beautiful. Like some Greek tragedy his dying wish was just to tell Dean how he felt. That alone was enough.

(Had they actually gotten a chance to be together would have made it better but the stand alone moment is so tragic to me and I think about it constantly.)

We see it in Hannibal even if they’re not actually “dead”. You again see that culmination of who they were to who they have become. Again you see those final moments where they accept what they mean to each other and what has to be done.

John and Martin in the Magnus Archives. Their death isn’t just making peace with what they have become but with what they mean to each other. That they would rather died than continue in a world without the other. Daisy and the Hunt too. Her death was so powerful. Don’t even get me started on Tim and Sasha as a whole.

Character death can be done badly such as Dean and 15x20 or it can be done so perfectly it couldn’t have happened any other way. (Loki)

Yes a lot of these they don’t actually die but they are all making the deaths of people they used to be. To see that culmination of a character if so fucking amazing. I feel like I’m on drugs. There’s something so beautiful about a well planned character death and I could do a whole essay on it.

[oakantony]

My bestie just watched Haikyuu for the first time and she has the rarest pair I've legit ever heard:

Tsukki and Kenma.

LMAO. Obviously there's almost no content for them and so she asked me to write something. Y'all, we've been bff for like 25 years and she has never asked me to write anything...ever.

I obliged. Here's a short ficlet that I may (???) turn into a full fic (???) one day.

-

Tsukishima always thought Kenma was odd.

He was too small for volleyball. Well--not really. Little players were pretty common in high school. Going pro was different, of course, but Kenma wasn’t interested in going pro.

No, and that was the odd part. Kenma was too short to play, didn’t seem to have much athleticism, and also didn’t really care about the game. Tsukishima got backed into it because he’d been born perfect to play. He was tall and athletic and good at the damn game without any effort. He didn’t care about volleyball really, not at first.

Neither did Kenma, seemingly.

He was a damn good setter, though. Tsukishima felt like the matches Karasuno had against Nekoma were his entire team versus Kozume Kenma. (Perhaps the same could be said for Nekoma; their matches were versus Kageyama, the freak.)

All of that was weird, yeah, but when Tsukishima considered Kenma odd, he really meant it outside of the game.

Tsukishima had been told, more than once, that Kuroo was Kenma’s best friend. Childhood friends. Attached at the hip.

But Kenma didn’t seem to care about Kuroo. Or the rest of the team. Or school? Or anything?

They had one conversation outside of volleyball, during his final year of high school, when Tsukishima visited Tokyo with Yamaguchi to tour some college campuses. Kuroo and Kenma met them for dinner at a diner near the station. It seemed likely that Tsukishima and Yamaguchi would attend XYX university next year--the school Kuroo and Kenma studied at--and they’d all wind up on the same team for the first time.

Well, not all of them.

Kenma didn’t play volleyball anymore. It’d been two whole years since his last match, supposedly. He was still trim as ever, though--Tsukishima noticed Kenma’s pale, flat belly when he reached up to accept a glass of water from the waitress and his sweatshirt lifted without his notice.

In recent months--since his eighteenth birthday, when someone on the team jokingly gave him a BL manga--Tsukishima found himself noticing things like abs, thighs, and, humiliatingly, on occasion, the shape of a man’s dick through his pants.

He was pretty sure he was gay. And like with volleyball, he really, really hadn’t asked for this.

It was in this silent moment of despair--the fifth time he’d had one of these moments that specific day--that Tsukishima found himself alone with Kenma for the first time ever, actually.

Kuroo stepped away to use the bathroom and Yamaguchi got a call from his sorta-kinda-girlfriend and had quietly slipped out the front door to chat with her in the half-empty parking lot.

Tsukishima stabbed a french fry into a pool of gravy, snapping it in half. He scoffed. Perfect. Now he had to fish out a fry from the sauce, getting it on his fingers, and then he’d have to go wash his hands, and--

“You don’t have to eat them,” came Kenma’s quiet voice.

Tsukishima jerked his head up and narrowed his eyes. “What?”

“You’re staring at the fries like you hate them. You don’t have to eat them if they’re bad. Kuroo will finish them for you.”

“I don’t hate them. What the fuck?”

“Why are you glaring like that, then.” It wasn’t a question.

“Maybe you should stop staring at my face and mind your business.”

Kenma didn’t reply to that. Instead, he turned to his gaming console, and began to click around.

“Why are you here?” Tsukishima asked.

Kenma didn’t look up from his game. Eventually, he shrugged.

“Why are you even friends with Kuroo? You have nothing in common. All I ever see you do is play some game when you’re with him. Or anyone else, for that matter.”

Kenma seemed to entirely ignore him this time.

“It’s rude.”

That got a reaction, and Tsukishima’s heart skipped a beat when Kenma’s honey-brown eyes snapped to him and he said, “I’m not the one being rude right now. Are you the one that doesn’t want to be friends with Kuro?” He looked back to his game, clicked a few buttons, and sucked his teeth as a game-over noise trilled quietly from the speakers. “Or me. You don’t have to be friends with me.”

“Great,” Tsukishima said, belatedly, after he found his voice again. “I’m so glad I have your permission.”

Kenma exhaled a sound that almost sounded like a laugh.

For some reason, the way Kenma’s eyes latched onto him in that moment--that stuck with Tsukishima for weeks. He revisited that big golden stare inside his own mind again and again.

Kenma was…odd.

[thehellsystem]

do you have any varigo headcanons ...

OH BOY DO I

Hugo is does not automatically “get better” the moment he moves in with Varian. She has kleptomaniac tendencies and jumps a mile in the air whenever they see a guard. He’ll stand in front of expensive objects and consider how much he could sell them for. AND ONE TIME she was doing this with a massive grandfather clock and they were feeling it with their hand and then he dissociated. Then it was like, an hour later and the clock was in his and Varian’s room and she was like “VARIANNN- VARIAN I FUCKED UP-“ so Varian and him are trying to sneak it back to its original spot because Hugo is freaking out losing his marbles at the thought of being kicked out because he BLACKED OUR AND STOLE A CLOCK and Rapunzel catches them, obviously. She’s super nice and understanding because she’s married to Eugene but Hugo is going through every stage of grief because she’s not an emotional guy but oh boy does he think he’s going back to the streets AND that he got Varian in trouble. Varian’s like “You know I tried to kill several people and got pardoned, right?” And Hugo’s like “…oh”

Varian? Very normal man. BUT I think he should get to be mildly insane. He’s holding a knife and he’ll slowly turn to the person next to him and go “How many people do you think I could kill with this?” And Hugo will respond VERY HONESTLY like “Ten, before you get arrested. Fifteen if you wear your mask.”

Nuru was not their wingwoman. She was so fucking tired of them. They were the kind of couple where everyone knew they were dating before they knew themselves. In the way that Varian’s sleeping in Hugo’s arms and still going “We’re just friends :)” and Nuru is SO TIRED because Hugo is sitting with her head in Varian’s lap staring at him with heart eyes and they’re just trying to have a normal meal

Hugo and Varian have a mutual hatred for Winter. Hugo hates it because it’s easily the most difficult season for people on the streets to live in, Varian hates it because of Queen for a Day. They just hibernate in their lab every winter, even if Corona is almost always warm. It’s so common to not hear from them for WEEKS because they’re in their lab doing who knows what during Winter.

MODERN AU but they go to concerts together and Hugo holds Varian on their shoulders so he can better

I HAVE THIS WHOLE AU I’M WRITING OUT THAT I HAVE SHARED WITH LIKE TWO PEOPLE SHIRT THAT SAYS “ASK ME ABOUT MY OVERLY SPECIFIC VAT7K REWRITE”

Hugo ate everything within a mile of himself when he first got to the castle and then freaked out about it and was like “I don’t deserve this oh my god they’re gonna send me back” and stopped. Varian gets incredibly concerned and keeps staring at her at every meal and Hugo’s like “Well, can’t have my boyfriend being worried. Back to food.”

Hugo has an abnormal fondness for foreign cheese. Varian is lactose intolerant

WHISTLE FOR THE CHOIR BY THE FRATELLIS

Yong is aromantic and his image of romance was very confusing because Hugo and Varian are saying they’re just best friends while feeding each other bits of food

HUGO IS PARTIALLY BLIND idc he is because same. My eyes do NOT work and I have the thickest glasses lenses known to man. Hugo holds up pieces of paper to Varian and asks him to read out loud for him and he says it’s because he can’t see it BUT mostly because he likes the sound of Varian’s voice

The Garden by The Crane Wives starts playing

OKAYOKAY I’ve seen people say they’re Stupid With Love but Hugo actually dreams about Varian falling off a cliff. And that’s his romantic dream about the boy he has a crush on.

RYHEYBFIGH

[eye-of-yelough]

anyway here’s the aeryn/gortash dynamic explanation.

nsfw shit under the cut. CW for. i mean so much. but specifically CNC

because it is all consensual, despite the atrocities. although it’s worth mentioning that that does not make it healthy and there’s definitely a lot of manipulation going on so like. is it. its dubious that’s for fucking sure.

So. their dynamic is really just me taking “psychosexual warfare” and seeing how far i can possibly take it. That’s it in a nutshell. also exploration of how a sexual “relationship” between a hypersexual (aeryn) and aroace (gortash. to me) would work.

Aeryn’s hypersexuality is a real point of interest to Gortash, and is his main angle when trying to pick apart his psyche, the way his behaviour changes depending on how long he’s gone without, how it seems intrinsically linked to his Urges, “whoever decided to call it bloodlust was a fucking genius” - Aeryn, probably.

That fascination really hits its pique when, somewhere a between 2 and 3 years into their unsteady partnership, gort wakes up in the middle of the night to aeryn just straight up jerkin it. staring at him. (wether he was already there because aeryn stayed over after them being awake for 50 hours plotting and doing medical malpractice or he just walked all the way there from the undercity to break in and wack it to gort’s sleeping body, i don’t know. but it’s important to me that you know that with aeryn, while the former is more likely, the latter is entirely plausible. he’s a creep.) obviously this brings up a lot of question in gortash’s head. “did he want to be caught?” (most definitely.) “has he done this before without me noticing?” (you can bet on it, mate.)

Sad thing is, I can’t for the life of me figure out what gort would actually do in the moment here, but it’s when he realises that if he wants to manipulate Bhaal’s favourite child, to claim, to conquer, he’s going to have to speak his language. so the next morning he very nonchalantly brings up the incident that Aeryn is eagerly pretending didn’t happen, and offers his help him with his little sex addiction. puts himself in this caring, almost therapeutic role. bullshit, of course. he has no intention of fixing just yet. only after he’s been broken can he be fixed, remade in his perfect image. and aeryn, to his credit, does know that it’s bullshit. he just underestimates the depth of it. See, he knows that Gortash wants to break him. he knows that gortash is a manipulative, domineering control freak. but he kind of just. thinks it’s a weird sex thing. his reaction to gort’s proposal is basically “you’re even weirder than i thought. okay fine. i’ll play your game. i’ll win in the end.”

That’s another key part of their dynamic: mutual misunderstanding. Aeryn thinks it’s a game, Gortash thinks it’s war. Gortash thinks he’s breaking Aeryn, but Aeryn’s loving it.

Gortash’s “therapy” is anything but, of course. Aeryn doesn’t become less of a sex pest, he just finds it increasingly difficult to enjoy himself with anyone but Gortash, who knows him, what he likes and doesn’t like, inside and out. (all part of the plan, the possessive cunt) which pisses Aeryn off to no end because the man Just Won’t Fuck Him in the way he wants. oh, they’re doing weird “stabbing as a metaphor for penetration”, sexually charged medical malpractice, voyeurism, full on bdsm shit all the time, but there’s very little… touching. Gortash just gets off way more on denying Aeryn what he wants while slowly driving him insane with desperation than he ever would if they just. had sex. This isn’t to say they never do, but we’re talking 10 years down the line here, and only under very specific conditions. (more on that in a bit.) If aeryn was right about one thing, it’s Gortash being a weird sexual control freak.

anyway here’s some things their warfare includes:

Gortash bringing some noble up to his chambers to seduce them, notices the window he left closed is open, a chair in the corner’s cushion being smushed down by an invisible weight, and thinking “ah, i’m performing for two tonight.”

one of Gortash’s main weird psychosexual fantasies about Aeryn being turning him into an Actual Doll and keeping him on his shelf for all eternity. he makes many different types of dolls after Aeryn’s likeness, including plushies that he holds at night for a few months before giving them to Aeryn just to savour the look of confusion and disgust on his face.

Gortash stealing some of Aeryn’s Bhaal-sculpted skin and turning it into gloves.

Aeryn waking up after Gortash spikes him in increasingly awkward positions over the years (this happens a lot. like, a lot.) the first time he wakes up bound, gagged and blindfolded in gort’s basement. “i just wanted to see how long it would take you unti you freed yourself. 2 minutes and 31 seconds if you were wondering. i’m impressed :)” eventually he gets used to that routine and he just ends up laying under gort’s desk for a few hours, listening to him work, Gortash occasionally talking to him like you do to a pet. this is probably the closest they get to domesticity. A few years down the line, Aeryn wakes up naked, covered in bruises and black handprints, aching between his thighs.

Knowing it finally happened, but having no memory? If I had to pinpoint the closest Gortash ever got to winning the war, it was there. something in his brain genuinely breaks that night.

Oh. And they only kiss once. Right before Aeryn’s lobotomy, as well, it’s a whole thing. I might make that into a separate post. or you can send an ask. that’d be nice :)

edit: here it is

[avionvadion]

One, really love the drabble regarding El and Lucifer. Especially since you can tell Lucifer is struggling to stay in the moment, but Elanora is doing a pretty good job keeping him grounded in reality. Which works out in his favor because that actively lets him start writing the letter instead of giving up before he even starts.

Two, I admit it. Whilst I know the circumstances probably won't let it happen, I can totally see El joining in on Ellie and Charlie's duet during "You Didn't Know" (maybe she was dragged along so she can guilt trip the higher ups of Heaven lol) because sure, she may not be able to come up with lyrics on the spot, but I can see her being able to join in on that sort of thing. And, well, considering everything revealed at Heaven El would be justified in getting a bit angry at Sera alongside Ellie and Charlie-

Alsjslsjlaksks thank youuuu! 💕💕💕

I struggled so hard trying to write Lucifer a song. El was going to sing a song that followed the line of “trust me” but I couldn’t find one outside of FnaF and Jungle Book (oh the irony there) before scrolling through my old middle school Sound Cloud playlist and was like, wait. Holy frick. Lost Within fits Luci so well???? And thus that happened, lol.

Anyways! Sorry. I ramble.

Luci’s brain is so scrambled, he needs someone to pull him back sometimes. I imagine there ends up being a few moments when he and El are together and he starts to get so distant it actually starts to scare her, and she ends up grabbing his arm- surprising him and snapping him out of his spiraling mind- to make sure he doesn’t just… disappear.

And for sure El would go with them. Charlie will be using her to be like, “All the Sinners at the hotel have been protecting this poor, innocent soul that was wrongly summoned to Hell! She’s been helping me redeem them, one step at a time!”

Heaven is absolutely going to lose their shit because WHAT DO YOU MEAN A HUMAN WAS SUMMONED INTO HELL!??? Emily would be ecstatic while Sera is just… no longer functioning.

They probably try to convince her to stay in Heaven instead since she’s so “pure hearted” or whatever and it’d be safer for her, but El is like, “Haha sorry I promised Lucifer a thing so I gotta stay” and they’re like “LUCIFER!??? WHAT PROMISE!???” “Ah, well, he said he’d protect me if I give him advice about some stuff and I kinda gotta be in Hell for that…” and Adam just fucking loses it. “BITCH YOU’RE STAYING IN HELL FOR THAT FUCKING LOSER???” “That loser’s ex wife used to be YOUR wife, dude” “SHUT THE FUCK UP, STAY IN HELL. HOPE YOU DIE TOMORROW AND TURN INTO A DEMON SO I CAN EXTERMINATE YOU NEXT WEEK”

(Adam immediately gets smacked upside the head by Sera)

I think by that point in time, El has been in Hell for so long she can participate in songs- but she can’t burst out singing with one of her own. Also maybe her relationship with Lucifer comes into a play a bit, since he’s magic (ancient magic, specifically) and… well…

Being repeatedly exposed to magic would certainly start letting one be affected by it, right? Haha… ha… ahem. Maybe she isn’t wholly human anymore after a while. El may not have fallen or died, but giving oneself to the literal King of Hell, former archangel or not, isn’t about to let you stay Human. 👀

Anyways. Yeah. El would be pissed and would probably throw shade at the angel council that, while Hell may be full of horrors, the people there are at least honest- something Angels are supposed to be- and have gone out of their way to make her feel welcome, whereas Heaven is full of hypocrites and assholes like Adam who just make her uncomfortable.

“If Hell is forever then Heaven must be a lie! If Angels can do whatever and remain in the sky!” Ellie hops up on the table behind Emily and Charlie. “The rules are shades of gray, when you don’t do as you say! When you make the wretched suffer just to kill them again!”

Hell is Forever is such a freaking bop though oh my gods. You Didn’t Know a masterful reprise of it.

I’m obsessed with Loser, Baby though. It’s so swingy and jazzy and UGH. It’s so good.

[sammysshadowself]

Y’all I’m fucking losing it what the hell. This is gonna be a long one.

I think I’m just gonna embrace it atp. Remember that freak ass trip I had the other day? WELL it wasn’t a trip it might have been a shared hallucination or mass hysteria or something. Today, I was walking with Axel so I wouldn’t vanish. He was making a joke about me being an illusionist or something before we also met up with Alan. Axel told Alan about my disappearing act because of course.

Axel made a joke about it which we tried to laugh off as we walked through… but then we were BACK.

Axel and I were in the empty school. He was starting to freak out but I assured him that I know this place. I don’t, but he was really freaked out. We walked around the school and I pointed out the door.

That’s when his clone called out to us. Like my clone, it was an exact replica of Axel, only with bright yellow eyes. I’ll try my best to transcribe the dialogue from memory, but this is about what happened.

“Aww look- it’s Mr. Forgetsalot.” This was the clones first words. It had a tinged, almost like Axels but with a freaky undertone. Axel and I took a step back. I whispered to him “I had a clone too- it wasn’t speaking to me like this.”

“Hello?” Asked Axel, scared and confused. The clone laughed before taking a step forward, smiling.

“What, forgetting something? Maybe it’s your mom, maybe it’s your pills, maybe it’s Alan’s birthday. Maybe you won’t remember anything!”

At this point, Axel got defensive. He stopped leaning against me and stood tall, like he was truly listening to this thing.

“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Axel yelled at his clone. I could tell he was offended.

“Oh, you suddenly remember! I bet you remember everything now- crystal clear!” It was at this point that I felt the air charge with malicious intent.

“Shut up- who the fuck are you even? What is this?” Axel asked, leaning back again.

“Wherever it is, wherever you find yourself, you’re always scared. Whether it’s here, home, school, or anywhere else. And I.. I am that fear.”

Axel took a step back, now behind me. I took a step back too, speechless and unsure what to do.

“You’re just some hallucination or whatever- you’re not real!”

“Oh I’m real. Even more so, I’m a apart of your mind.” There was a silence. “What? Got nothing more to say?” It laughed at him.

“Shut up! Shut up!”

“You’re scared that your little memory issue is going to kill you; that as many times you forget about everyone and everything, they’re going to start forgetting you.” At this point, Axel was writhing, almost crying with vitriol.

“Shut up! I said shut up!”

“Why? You’ve e never had trouble listening to yourself before! That’s the only thing you have! It’s the only thing you’ll ever have. The only thing WE will ever have. After all, I’m you and you are me.”

I was about to step forward but Axel shoved me aside, storming up to the thing.

“You’re nothing but a hallucination- you’re not me! You’re nothing like me!”

At this moment, there was a thunderous burst, like a wave of heavy Bass flowing over the room. In an instant, Axels body was glistening with yellow light, like some sort of corny roblox aura or like something from an anime. His eyes were glowing brighter, almost illuminating his face. Above him, in the yellow aura, was the faint silhouette of an ancient looking man with large horns and an even larger war horn.

“That’s right. I’m you- the culmination of your worst fears- the fears you rely on, the fears you need, the fear of being forgotten. But you-“ the thing pointed at me, no longer fully Axel. “No one will remember you.”

I don’t remember the specifics of what happened afterwards. I remember a flash of Black light emitting from my hands- blac light that fashioned itself into two farm sickles. After that came a rush of adrenaline and a voice;

“I am Lady, the true one that lives within you. Combined, we shall embrace our true nature and divine the secrets above. But for now- let us deal with this wayward man.”

And like that, I was fighting this weird Axel Aura thing, slicing his flesh and clothes while using some sort of newfound spiritual strength or empower me further. Obviously, I won (I wouldn’t be here if I lost.)

My victory led to Axel and his aura being separated once again. He sustained injuries, thanks to me and whatever was behind me- supporting my attacks. We stood again, Axel and I facing his clone who was suddenly silent.

“I… I’m not..”

Axel could barely speak. I felt very bad for him I that moment but, to be fair, he punched the SHIT out of me too.

“You must accept your fears, live with them and act not off of fright, but of hope.”

That was the voice that hd empowered me before, the voice of Lady. (The word Persona comes to mind when I think of her?) Axel reeled for a second before sighing.

“I guess I am terrified of being forgotten. My memory disorder… I’m just glad people still like me and find me useful. Even if I forget about my friends.. I hope they’ll remember me.”

His clone nodded and melted into that silhouette. Only, this silhouette now took form of an ancient looking man with two impish horns on his forehead. He was adorned in Nordic runes and potions, sporting a thame and a war horn.

“I am Thou, Thou art I. I shall lend you my mind in the time of need, for I am Mímir, the god of memory.”

Mímir faded into a small weapon- a handgun- and phased into Axel’s hand. He slumped to the ground, exhausted and injured.

I dragged his body out. I retraced my steps and, like I thought, we were both outside the school at about 2pm. He was no longer injured, but very VERY tired.

I’ve written enough so I’m gonna wrap it up. As I wrote all of this, I started to come to terms with it. Maybe this place isn’t some DMT trip. Maybe Mímir really is Axel and vice versa. I don’t really have the brain power to compute with that today, but I walked Axel (and Alan, we had to explain to him that Axel got very suddenly and violently sick,) home. I went home and relaxed. My body was sore from fighting.

Writing this in my bed, I wonder if this crazy bullshit has anything to do with Igor. He said that the fool would uncover a secret using their own drive. Maybe I’m the fool, uncovering people’s fears because I wanted to?

I’m tired. Goodnight.

[shrimply-a-menace]

The inherent queerness of Stranger Things by me

Eddie Munson is a gay man and I will not hear anything to the contrary.

Reason number one: look at him!!! That’s a gay man!! 

Reason number two: he’s flagging. Flagging is a specific part of gay culture (specifically with men and specifically back then, though it is still used today) that was meant mainly for cruising and hookups. Different colored bandannas mean different things, as do which pocket they’re in. For example: a black handkerchief/bandanna means S&M, if it’s in the back LEFT pocket, the person is a top/dom, if it’s in the back RIGHT pocket, the person is a bottom/sub. Eddie has his bandanna in the back LEFT and it’s black. To further prove this point, he has handcuffs hanging up on his wall. He also wears a belt with a handcuff buckle. (Also look at the way he’s standing!!! That’s not a straight man!!!)

Reason number three: his music choices. 80s metal has a tendency to be very camp, very flamboyant, and very over the top. With the hair, makeup, outfits, it’s all very gay. One of his favorite artists is Judas Priest, whose lead singer is a gay man!! The aesthetic of a lot of metal bands back then was very similar to the style and aesthetic you’d seen in leather clubs at the time (look up Tom of Finland), continuing to play into reason number 2. 

[Top left: Judas Priest in the 80s. Top right: Accept’s album “Balls to the Walls”. Bottom left: Motlëy Crüe in the 80s. Bottom right: Accept in the 80s]

REASON FOUR: the way he interacts with Steve is so unbelievably NOT heterosexual I can’t even make it up. He literally looks at him at point after hot wiring a car and says “Harrington’s got her, don’t you big boy?” With the flirtiest look anyone has ever seen. He does this very frequently too. Planning to go to the War Zone, pinning him to a wall with a bottle against his throat??? SUPER gay!! Before the big battle at the end of the season he kind of pulls Steve away from his group and does a little like “oh shit it’s now or never, it’s time to confess my feelings” look before saying “make him pay.” It turned out to be never because he then dies but that is beside the point. It would have been the perfect moment for a kiss but the Duffer brothers are cowards. 

“Don’tcha big boy?” Are you fucking kidding me??

The LOOK???? omfg

*bisexual confusion* *gay panic* 

That SMILE????? ARE YOU KIDDING??? HE SO AHHHHHH!!!!

Reason five: he says the exact words “hunt the freak right?” to the group and Robin, with a look and tone of complete understanding says “exactly.” These are gay people realizing they’re both gay and doing a little clocking moment.

[Hunt the freak, right?]

[Exactly.]

Now on to Steve.

Reason number one for Steve being bisexual: he has a staring problem. Specifically at other men and their lips. Specifically when he’s being threatened. Or literally just listening to men speak, this happens frequently. 

Look at the way he’s leaning on that car!! Little bisexual boy!! In love with your best friend!

Steve “submissive and breedable” Harrington

Steve “submissive and breedable” Harrington pt.2

I love that Eddie is talking about Nancy and Steve is fully not paying attention.

Really had to use this GIF again, the way he looks at Eddie? The GULP???

Reason number 2: in season three, Dustin say “you can have all the babes you want, and more” and Steve responds with “more, i like more.” If that’s not bisexual I need to have my license revoked. 

[More? I like more.]

Reason three: no cis straight man is that attractive!!! No cis straight man is that babygirl!!!!! 

Reason four: he spends every interaction with Eddie just looking at him. Eddie tells him he should go for Nancy again and Steve just continues staring at his lips. 

Reason five: Steve wears Eddie’s battle vest. 

And the overarching reason for all of this: Stranger Things is a show about freaks and outcasts, it makes sense that there would be a large amount of queer characters. Also, i like it.

[madlyn5ever]

I have a list of songs I think the duffers need to use in ST5, and I’ve just added another one so I thought I’d share my list and my thoughts about each one:

Just Another Day- Oingo Boingo

(this is almost the whole plot of this show, -specifically season 4 and what it set up for s5, but, yeah. The first line is literally “there’s life underground” and it talks about crimson red sky’s and people d-wording and the temperature increasing -ik it’s not as fitting bc the temperature would drop bc he likes it cold, but the reference to temperature at all works. And so much more)

This Town- The Go-Go’s

This one would be ironic (on purpose) because of it’s line “this town is our town, it is so glamorous” and when I picture the song I picture it in a night setting, but I think it could work for a day time or even afternoon-evening low sun setting, with everyone on bikes even Robin, Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan (I forgot to include him I think I forgot he existed -or would be there maybe?- for a moment)

Is This Love?- Whitesnake

(for a Robin romance scene. I am respectfully open to other ships in my comments for this but in my head it’s always only been for Robin. Vickie or Nancy I don’t care -I am ronance 4 ever but I respect Vickie-but I feel like since it’s probably going to be Vickie I’m inclined to say it’s for them.

BUT! I also see this moment having Nancy in the background looking on as she has a moment where she either realizes she loves Robin or she already knew and is just really sad bc Robin likes Vickie. I can see vickie being behind them on an asphalt road and Nancy see’s her over robins shoulder and nudges her and that’s when she goes over and they have the moment. Maybe Steve even comes up next to Nancy and sympathetically puts a hand on her should because somehow he just knows, or Nancy told him.

HOWEVER. I could also see this being a split moment with the song, where they happen to be under the one spot of light that’s shining down, and it’s either Vickie, and a true romance/flirting/shy feelings scene, or an accidental moment where you’re like wait holy shit this song is playing right now when Ronance is talking under that one spotlight. And it’s super unescorted and crazy as fuck and we all freak out. (Nancy does her signature half smile/smirk thing and let’s put a small chuckle because robins such a dork, and nothing too real happens yet but we somewhere)

Walk-in’ In Hawkins

I know this is just a score from the show, but it’s my favorite and as much as it was made for a specific vibe in a specific season for a specific reason, I’m petitioning that they bring it back just because I love it so much.

(It sounds really good on vinyl btw.)

Forever Young- Rod Stewart

I think this one would be good towards the end, like, after everything, we get this song, and it’s like one of those montage moments you’d see in the moment right before or during the credits of a movie, and they’re telling you where he characters ended up, with like the shit of them doing something freezes and the words come up on screen?

But minus that and maybe it’s just them all doing various things after everything is over (I don’t necessarilysee the duffers doing the cheesy but sweet where are they now thing, except I can see Dustin smiling with a cake in front of him for some reason, but I could see this song playing maybe either in a car as it drives away, or on a speaker considering it basically started with Jonathan’s record collection and him showing will The Clash. So Jonathan could’ve the guy putting on the music.)

Let’s Hear It For The Boy- Denice Williams

Purely for a Steve scene. Not connected to any of the women in the show this song is just for Steve and himself. It’s romantic nature doesn’t matter. To me this is a good song for a Steve moment. OR!! It starts with Steve but the moment cuts to a Will and Mike scene and it’s like, wait is this actually for Byler

Trinere-

If they go into the early 90’s something by Trinere? I haven’t decided what song yet, but I grew up on this Trinere and friends CD my mom would play in the car and I really think something by Trinere would be cool.

Rick Astly- (I’m not gonna Google how to spell that)

Are we gonna get Rick rolled? They have t done it yet and for an 80’s show that popped up right around the rick roll hype years it’s a bit of a shock and disappointment thing. (This one is so unserious I don’t need a Rick roll, but duffers.. if you wanna.)

Kate Bush- Army Dreamers (or any Kate bush song)

This one just because I need Max’s love of Kate Bush to be shown more, especially if she’s gonna be in a coma for who knows how long. Lucas playing Kate Bush on a boom box for her and then the song being important to the story would just be, chefs kiss.

Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac- Edge of Seventeen or Landslide

Listen. LISTEN. For the time jump. The kids are probably going to be on the literal edge of seventeen. That, and Nancy and Robin are going to be just past that age, and therefore also on the edge of it because they were recently seventeen on to eighteen.

And I think this could be a really cool tie in to their loss of innocence at such a young age, and their teetering on the edge of being kids. It’s an idea, I think. Let me know if this one’s a stretch bc I don’t know maybe I just crave Stevie Nicks.

now LANDSLIDE. This one could be really good for any sort of scene. A Jancy break up, a Byler awkward start into a relationship. A Mileven break up but decision to be best friends instead, Mike realizing he’s built his life around Eleven being his girl, or Will being his best friend all these years, and mikes own changing into something he’s afraid of.

The wheelers would dominate this song is all I’m saying. The wheelers being so landslide coded is all I’m saying. Anyway. The wheelers need some start-of -something-positive emotional turmoil this season.

Borderline- Maddona

Something Madonna to call back to Max and Elevens friendship, but I like this song so I’m picking this one (I love others others too but this one came to mind first)

Indigo Girls-

Again, if they go into the 90’s can we please get some indigo girls? I’ll pay. Duffers I don’t have a lot of money but I’d pay you to put some indigo girls in there for Robin PLEASE. I feel like Nancy would like them too so also for her.

Shiny Happy People- R.E.M

(Can’t for the life of me remember if they’ve used this already but I’m pretty sure they haven’t)

It would just be so ironic and so on point for the traumatized teenagers (and Erica) to have this song in the soundtrack.

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head- B.J. Thomas

Okay this one could work so well for a transition sequence (or a few) where they go into (if they all split up which seems to be something that’s obviously gonna happen),

The other group doing whatever they’re supposed to be doing. Idk this song sounds so much like a song they’d use to transition to the next scene. And it’s not intensely here or there plot wise but could work for a moment where they’re trying ti get something to work (I see a will and his group scene that switches to a hopper and his group scene, unless hop is part of wills group, y’know?)

Let me know if you have any thoughts on this or other ideas for the soundtrack! (I had others but I forgot half of them and the rest don’t fit anymore because I’ve been compiling this for months)

[oddballwriter]

I’m gonna be hella specific because that req about an s/o with piercings and tattoos gave me a smutty-ish prompt idea!!!!!! The EMH and MH peeps with an s/o who has a split tongue and bonus points for a tongue piercing on both sides. Maybe some giving head with them prompts because I am very smut deprived also I loveeee your writing and stories they’re amazing and inspired me to write more! 🖤

꒦꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦

🔞NO PEOPLE BELOW 18+ OR AGELESS BEYOND CUT OFF🔞

Warnings: HABIT is here, mentions of body mods, and slightly detailed talk of reader giving oral (If I'm missing anything do not hesitate to tell me) 

Author’s Snip: First off, when I was writing that I just knew someone was gonna request smut/nsfw content based off of it, not judging just saying lol. Also, I'm very glad that I've inspired you to write your own content and I wish you that very best :0)) 

Notes: I wrote the same characters as the characters requested in the piercings and tattoo request. I hope no one minds (edit, my bad I mixed up the bath and tattoo request sorry). Also, I mean it when I say minors AND agless blogs will be blocked.  

I’ll shut up now. Enjoy! And don’t be afraid to request.

꒦꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒦꒷꒦꒷꒷꒦

Marble Hornets

Tim

Just in general, like in the not horny way, the fact that your tongue is split freaks him out for a second but he gets used to it pretty quick

He would never admit it but when you do regular tricks with it, like showing how mobile they are or hold something with them, his mind does become a bit dirty for a moment

It's not a thing that turns him on per say but he does like to think about what it would feel like if you gave him head

He's honestly a bit scared when the time comes just because the whole split tongue thing still freaks him out even though he knows nothing is really gonna happen

He lowkey loses it a bit when you're giving head and using the tongues

How can he not you basically have two fucking tongues

Will hesitantly ask you to use the tongues whenever you give head because he doesn't want you to know how much he likes it

But obviously you're gonna catch on and now you stick out you're tongues when no one is looking just to tease him

Brian

I'm gonna be honest when in private and the time is right, I believe Brian has no shame asking for a blowy with tongue

He wants to know what it feels like to get a blow job from someone with two tongues, it's not everyday that your partner has a body mod that gives them two tongues

He has an idea that it feels great but how is he gonna know if he doesn't try it. That how he defends the suggestion

And you know what I feel like with him, he's into it

I feel like he enjoys it in just about everything

Alex

I'm gonna be honest he also gets freaked out about your split tongue just in general and gets even more freaked out at the idea of what it would feel like on his dick

If you offer to give him head he'll actually refuse because the idea weirds him out

At some point though, his brain wonders and he starts thinking about what it would feel like

Maybe at some point you got the hint that he will always say no because he doesn't like the idea of getting head, so you just sorta stopped asking/trying to initiate it

So when he starts to start it up or even ask when in private, you're a bit shocked, but you figure that he's decided to at least give it a shot

And the verdict is that, yeah sure. It felt like what he thought it would feel like and at least now that he's done it he won't be weirded out anymore

EveryManHYBRID

Evan

I've said it before but Evan's lowkey (it's not really that lowkey) a freak

So once you get your tongue split and it heals properly, or maybe this man even waits till you know how to have dexterity with the two tongues, he throws hints that he wants to see what head from a split tongue is like

To say he enjoyed himself is an understatement

I have a bit of hc that Evan isn't afraid to make noise during sex or any other sexual acts unless it's part of the fun in it

But he might have made some slutty ass noises when he was getting head from you

This part isn't really nsfw but when you guys are making out (with tongue) he gets a little bit too excited about you using both your tongues

Evan is lowkey a slut and a good portion of the fandom agrees

HABIT

Speaking of sluts

Man, HABIT is not subtle at all that he wants you to give him head once he finds out about you splitting your tongue

He literally just says "How about we give those two some good use, yeah?"

He has no shame truly, and we aren't surprise

Never try to tease him by sticking you tongues at him, he will stop what he's doing to get some

So do that only when you want to be giving head

[tortoisebore]

IDK IF YOU’RE STILL DOING THIS BUT!

How would wolfstar act during Barbenheimer? Who wants to see what? How are they dressed?

EEEEEEE i am ALWAYS doing these ALWAYS i love them so much 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶 ((i have some unanswered ones in my inbox i promise im getting to don’t worry 💕💓💞💖))

okay first off we’ve established that they’re both insufferable wanna-be film critics & everyone hates them for it. so keep that in the background. they’re annoying as hell.

so they get wind of oppenheimer first. the teaser plays at a midnight screening of “nope” ((sirius is a jordan peele stan)) and it’s just a bunch of fire and black and white shots of cillian murphy so they’re both like “🙂 huh okay fun.” but then christopher nolan’s name is on the screen and sirius is nearly flying out of his seat bc he’s potentially the world’s biggest chris nolan stan. and he’s hitting remus on the arm and he’s all “👹 FUC K! !!!” and remus is like “oh good another nolan movie that’ll be fun love that” and enduring sirius’ semi-quiet fangirl moment but then he catches on to what the trailer is actually about and “oppenheimer” comes on the end card and then he’s ALSO having a freakout moment & he’s all “oh fuck 😧😧😧 oh fuck it’s oppenheimer 🫢 oh fuck 😵 oh fuck cheistopher nolan’s doing oppenheimer 😵‍💫😵‍ oh god.”

so for the next couple of months they’re both telling all their friends “yes so we’ve heard the inside scoop about nolan’s new film, very ambitious, word on the street is that it’s all practical & the b*mb isn’t CGI” and “did u know that christopher nolan himself created an atom b*mb on set to 1/36th scale” like they’re just making shit up from these random reddit threads & illegitimate news sites and everyone’s like “yeah great okay sure no one cares 🙄”

but then fall rolls around & remus overhears someone on the actual street talking on the phone about a barbie movie. and he does a little google and there it is, greta gerwig is doing a barbie movie with margot robbie, and holy shit sirius is going to freak ((he’s also a greta gerwig stan, they both are, obvi. sirius’ favorite of hers is ladybird and remus’ fav is little women, also obvi)). remus makes the mistake of sending sirius the article ab the movie in a text instead of in person where he could have done some damage control and he immediately gets a facetime where sirius just screeches at him for a good three and a half minutes before a single coherent word comes out of his mouth. so yes, he’s very excited for barbie, and remus is excited for greta gerwig to make everyone cry over a doll.

so they know about the movies separately and then the barbenheimer phenomenon takes over, and they become aware that not only are both movies coming out in july, they’re coming out on the same fucking day. and when they find this out they’re at home on separate sides of the apartment and marlene texts in the gc like “are we doing barbenheimer weekend orrrr” and they both take a minute to catch up but then they’re meeting in the living room like WHATTTTT😵😵😵😵😵😵

they plan a whole weekend. on saturday morning remus gets up early and makes waffles in the heart-shaped waffle maker sirius found months ago specifically for barbenheimer weekend breakfast and even puts red food coloring in the batter so they’re pink hearts with whipped cream and cherries to top it all off. and they do black coffee to drink because it gives oppenheimer vibes & they couldn’t think of anything else appetizing to go with it in a breakfast scenario.

they’re going comfort over style for the premiere bc they’re ab to be at the theater for like seven or eight hours, but sirius is wearing a hot pink malibu barbie baby tee for the occasion. remus is ✨not✨ wearing hot pink bc he’s a ✨warm autumn✨ & it’s ✨not✨ his color but he made sure sirius took one of his sweaters bc he always gets cold at movies and complains he’s freezing until remus gives him his own & that is “not happening this time, sirius, get your own fucking sweater.”

they’re doing barbie first. they got the tickets the second they went on sale, two seats in the middle of the row ⅔ of the way back into the theater bc that’s where sound designers sit for screenings & it’s a perfect view. they get their giant sodas and a big popcorn to share, plus some m&ms they snuck in to do an m&m/popcorn mix ((god tier movie snack fr)). they’re enraptured from the very first scene. giant barbie on a desert background. barbieland. the dream house. ryan gosling. all of it. it’s a masterpiece. they both cry at the end & they’re caught off guard bc wtf this wasn’t supposed to be about mothers??? what the hell???

they have a forty-five minute break between movies where they recover in the lobby for a while & refill the popcorn, but they’re getting one water bottle to share this time bc bathroom breaks are not an option & oppenheimer has like a three and a half hour fucking runtime. like they’re doing bathroom breaks twenty seconds before the movie starts bc missing part of this film would actually destroy them psychologically

they do it in IMAX, obvi, ⅔ back in the middle of the row. it’s an out of body experience. they don’t speak or move the entire time. they don’t speak or move while the credits play. they leave the theater in silence. they go home and sit on the couch and stare at the wall and remus goes “we……we should have seen barbie last.” and then they both look at each other like 😐👀? and then they’re getting up and rushing back to the theater and seeing barbie again

the next day they’re getting together with all their friends to do barbenheimer day 2 and trying not to spoil it but they’ve already talked to each other about the individual movies too much, like they laid in bed and talked about the fucking movies like idiots for multiple hours, so they need new feedback to talk over & correct everyone’s wrong opinions

and like obviously everyone hates them

[kaelio]

"armand's relationship with marius is very very complicated and very very interesting but for virtually none of the reasons the fandom pays the remotest attention to" care to elaborate

I could go on and on about it for a hundred pages. I will try to do it in 99.

Okay, okay. So in my mind, their… deal?... is a great example of one of Rice’s sincerely compelling characteristics as a storyteller. People (and people includes me) gnash their teeth about how a considerable number of things that happen in the series are not cleanly thematic or just utterly defy any coherent thematic reading. I always have to be careful of pretending I have any idea what ever went on in her head, but I think this was intentional. And the reason I say that is… let me put it this way. A poor student loves a T/F quiz. Even if you know nothing, the center of your statistical distribution is 50%. The likelihood you will get 100% right is vanishingly small. But it is equal to your odds of randomly getting 0%. (They use this in Spider-Verse if you’ve seen it, but virtually every statistics course will point it out.) Rice did this so consistently, I don’t think it is accidental, because you’d accidentally map to normal narrative convention sometimes just randomly if you were proceeding mindlessly. Her books reject the patterns you are culturally conditioned to recognize in fictional works.

We see this often in scenarios where you’re like…. Okay. Who’s most to blame here, and because of what specific decisions deriving from what specific thought patterns, and what’s the failure point, and who’s lying, and why are they lying, or who’s mistaken, or who has a different interpretation, or is every single person here wrong and why and how could it have been avoided and could it have been avoided, etc. And this is surprisingly realistic; this is the journey you’re likely to take if you read books about history (and why the alt-history genre* appeals to a certain kind of person). What happens to the Roman Empire if Germanicus succeeds Augustus? There will be a lot of different suggestions and none of them will be testable. They’re thought experiments. However, good alt-history recognizes that there will still be unfair, seemingly random events because that’s what actual history is like. (James Clavell actually did grasp this pretty well if you’ve ever read Gai-Jin.)

[*Note: Not really a genre I’m into because I’ve still got straightforward nonfiction to read, but it’s out there.]

Okay, on to vampires!

Anyway, I say that because let’s work backwards on this one. We meet Armand in IWTV. He says vampires should be made from love (sure) although he loves killing them (okay) and loves torturing presumably innocent humans before killing them in mock-performances (of course). Interesting guy! He’s great. Armand is fantastic. So, this is our Armand. In the second book, TVL, we learn a bit more about him and particularly his cult years in the Cimetière des Innocents. Also a time when he is up to some various naughty shenanigans. In the Devil’s Minion chapter of Queen of the Damned we learn he loves stalking and physical violence and being a freak and amassing conspicuous wealth and yadda yadda. Man, isn’t he just delightful? Sorry, I’m just taking a moment to relish this dude. He’s old, he’s powerful, he’s rich, and until Daniel he hasn’t let a single mortal know his name and through that point, there’s no reason to assume he gives one flying fuck about them. I love it!

But. If we think about Marius, what he values, what his preoccupations are, what his (stated but dubious) goals and intentions are, and whether this would have been his, uh, preferred outcome in having made another vampire. Well, no. Something did not go right here. From his point of view. Now, that’s distinct, of course, from hating Armand. Obviously he doesn’t. (“What about the Sybelle and Benjamin thing?” You could unpack that scene for a million years but no matter what Armand says, there’s no hateful rationale that makes sense, Marius’ rebuttal at least makes sense from his point of view [although, like, hello Armand, Marius is not emotionally doing so fucking good at this point in the canon] and Armand gets over it in like 20 minutes. “That shouldn’t have happened.” Okay! It did though. Armand isn’t sure why Marius did it, there’s room for disagreement on who’s telling the truth about their motivations, and there’s even a pretty strong argument based on the canonical outcome it was the correct thing to do so uh. Thanks Rice!)

But like, okay. That’s the point when we have to start going back (with the assistance of TVA and B&G) and try to use them to address some questions. And some of these questions can only be answered by YOU, yes you, the reader-you, because this is going to depend on what your values are, as well as how likely you think certain outcomes were, or how much you believe either of these people. And of course, we also have the immensely fun dimension that TVA is primarily Armand recounting events to David for Benjamin and Sybelle, and B&G is primarily Marius describing things to Thorne. And unlike IWTV and TLV, their motivations for telling ‘their story’ are totally different and neither is intended as a rebuttal to the other. TVA and B&G have some overlapping parts (though both are far from exclusively about that and don’t cover the same time periods as much as people might expect), and those parts have some contradictions, and the nature of those contradictions is again different than say IWTV/TVL.

So here’s some questions:

1.       Should Armand have ever been made a vampire?

2.       How well did Armand understand what he sought in the Blood?

3.       Were Armand’s issues addressable as a mortal? Or, frankly, as an immortal?

4.       Which of Armand’s issues precede coming to Venice and to what extent did his lifestyle in Venice help or hurt him?

5.       What obligations did Marius have? He suuuure failed at least some of them! Which ones should he have expected to go badly and which turned out badly for reasons that he had no capacity to predict?

6.       Should Marius have at least asked Mael to do it instead when he stopped by? (Hey, he might have!) And if Mael had done so, what would this have changed? Vis a vis Marius and Mael, would this have potentially helped them bury the hatchet?

7.       To what extent was Marius genuinely conflicted about bringing Armand into the Blood? To what extent is Marius describing himself as certain and Armand describing him as a mess a function of Marius’ rather complicated self-image with respect to how much he knows what he's doing and how much he's secretly winging it? (And, quite often, whiffing it?)

8.       What is likely to have happened if Armand is graduated out of working for Marius?

9.       How would things have gone if they had not been interrupted by Santino? How would things have gone if Armand had never fucked around with Harlech?

10.   To what extent was this outcome influenced by Marius’ self-destructive obsession with serving The Parents?

11.   To what extent would Armand’s pushback on Marius’ perspective (which is explicitly welcomed) have been good for frankly both of them?

12.   So many more, I could keep doing this.  

The books are just not going to fucking tell you. And you don’t really know, because again, these books—very weird to say this—actually operate on real-world logic, where sometimes shit just happens.

I think it’s totally plausible that their relationship, long-term, is way worse actually if Santino never shows up to fuck it up in the immediate-term. But maybe not!! Maybe Armand finds the human heart he scoffs about. I don’t think so. But it could have happened! Or maybe Armand convinces Marius to chill the hell out on principles that aren’t working and never worked and they’re happier as worse people. Fucking maybe!! But you have to be comfortable looking at a mess like this and going “my take is…” instead of assuming you know what the canon outcome would have been, because who ever accurately predicted the trajectory of a Rice novel when they first read it? I mean c’mon. No way. Any more than you could predict the life of Santa Anna if you didn’t have the benefit of historical retrospect.

It does bug me though, to worry about like, cataloguing the sins of the characters rather than ponder the questions. Because the sins of the characters are both overwhelming and not real and don’t matter except as to how they inform these questions. Does Armand lose interest in vampirism if he’s not getting fucked up on mouthfuls of the Blood? How would Marius ultimately have reflected on his own behavior if he had let Armand die? But instead you have people pretending that like, rescuing a dying enslaved person from a basement is technically “abduction” and it’s like…. Is that what we’re doing? Is that interesting to you? These characters are doing actually terrible things, we don’t have to resort to that kind of nonsense do we? There are way more complex, way juicier shitty, bonkers decisions people are making here. And lying about.

One question I love thinking about though is like, okay. Armand is weirdly chill with Santino! (Who, as a guy who loved his finery, which was explicitly verboten by the standards of the Children of Satan, was sort of a half-assed adherent even at the time he attacked Marius’ palazzo and burned him to a fucking crisp and killed all the apprentices and then press-ganged Armand into serving at the Paris coven.) Super interesting. Marius, meanwhile, is super not chill about Santino, ultimately. But to what extent does Marius resent Armand for not resenting Santino? Now that’s a-spicy meat-ball!