#WHICH IF YOU HAVE DONE THAT IT'S OK I SHOULD HAVE CLARIFIED BEFORE

[vellichorom]

are there any boundaries when it comes to drawing Thierry? Asking for a friend :)

-⏰

ok i realize I should have specified this LONG ago but;

if you're drawing ship fanart involving thierry that is NOT goreguts, PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE THIS RING!

it is his wedding ring & goreguts EXCLUSIVE!

you can replace this with a plain gold band, leave the finger bare, put a ring pop there, whatever you like! just be sure to check you're not adding the arrow ring in the image UNLESS it's a goreguts piece! thank you!

ok that was probably the most important note beyond standard boundaries;

THOSE BEING! don't draw him promoting violent hatespeech ( or hatespeech that isn't ironic & silly period ), don't involve him in pr0shippy / ped0phillic / incestual - such & such content obviously, umm... try not to portray him TOO cruelly ( his morality is all over the place but i don't want to see him being a genuine vile pos you know what i mean? ) & YEAH!

here's another post that elaborates on a few more boundaries regarding thierry PERIOD, but i think you get the idea!

feel free to ask if you're not sure!

[bibibbon]

Hello another art to prove my point, I hope

Mr sexyman

The biggest possum

His big victory here is handed to him. And it's odd how no one talks about Izu. "Duh izu is not the center of the universe" ok, fair. He isn't. But Izu is the reason for why overhaul is defeated and shig managed to get revenge (it's not for Magne, it's for his ego) here where I find odd....

They didnt saw Izu fighting a overhaul as if is a boss fight? No one saw shit? And even if there a valid excuse as "oh they didn't saw the fight bc X" ok fine....and the rest?

Ochako was there, she saw...and what Izu get is.... nothing!

Look not saying Ochako owns him anything. She doesn't. And the tiring idea "izu gets no bitches" is annoying. Making girls date Izu wouldn't change a damn thing ...but is too much to imagine after such boss fight ...his "friends" would be more appreciate of him?

Ofc. This is MHA write by hori. Fuck you Izu.

What makes me go 😬 is how Iida looked down on Izu and called him criminal.

(Yes, the house arrest happened before the overhaul arc just to clarify here)

But what Izu got after is nothing.

We had nigheye dying and still holding on his beliefs. Am did nothing.

Mirio does nothing bc he doesn't know and never will.

And again, heroes should work to help and not to get fame but why the whole shit "hero can't get fame" applies only to Izu...when all the others heroes do get fame and still do their jobs ?

Back to the image. Overhaul was defeated by Izu and shig got his revenge (for his ego) and that's it....we lost a great villain for absolutely nothing.

And Shig does nothing to this.

Shiga doesn't even mention Izu's fight

He is a husk

Izu is underveloped and underappreciated to insane degree.

And all of that...for absolutely nothing.

This manga does piss me off sometimes.

Hi @mikeellee 👋

The overhaul arc had some solid ideas but I do wish that the execution was better.

The arc is supposed to be a big first step for both izuku and shigaraki. There is clear symbolism of this. This is the first dark and proper arc for mha.

The overhaul arc is also the first arc where there is a clear loss for the heroes. In the end we see two hero deaths in this arc and the fact that they weren't able to successfully capture and stop the villains. The arc also seemed like it would end with them NOT being able to save Eri which would of been a worse loss for them.

This is all symbolic as we see all mights retirement and reign of peace end and an era of uncertainty and imbalance begins. We see straight from the beginning how this is negatively effecting the heroes.

Izuku is urged to step up to his role to use the image that he created for himself in the sports festival and develop it even further. We see Izuku's heroism and what he stands for up close in this arc and it's futher emphasised as its contrasted by mirio's own heroism.

Izuku and mirio are supposed to be contrasts in this arc.

Overhaul and shigaraki are also supposed to be contrasts in this arc.

Izuku and shigaraki are also supposed to be contrasts but these are contrasts that don't heavily interact this arc. I actually don't mind them not having major interactions in this arc but I do think there needed to be minor ones at least shigaraki and izuku acknowledging one another in this arc.

This can be done with izuku making small connections between eri and shigaraki. This can also be done with shigaraki acknowledging izuku's strengths and maybe thinking of recruiting izuku onto his ranks.

Izuku actually does receive some acknowledgement in this arc of how smooth his take down of overhaul is and this is done by nejire. However, the way izuku seems to receive rewards and praise within the series seems idk lacking and somewhat hidden (while yes this is supposed to be a point) I do think that a lot of his efforts usually go unnoticed specifically by those close to him.

Ultimately the arc fails in properly convincing me that both izuku and shigaraki are

1) worthy of their positions

2) that they have outgrown their foils and have started to become the new good and evil

Now moving onto the second point, the house arrest issue is a weird case.

After all of the development iida went through in the hosu arc you would think it would properly effect him as intended so it's incredibly annoying to have iida point fingers at izuku and label him a criminal.

What's even weirder is that no one not even izuku objected to the house arrest. I assume that house arrest will be a big mark on ones record so someone like izuku should of protested it since he only started to fight in the name of self defense and even went to actually ack bakugo's emotions and allowing him to take them out on him which he didn't need to do and he shouldn't of done that.

It's incredibly weird that iida and ochako who are aware of bakugo's aggressive and outright bullying towards midoriya whether that be name calling or aggression let this slide without a comment and without fighting for him once they find out what happens.

The reason that they look like such bad friends is because of a multitude of things like:

Lack of screentime between them and izuku

The way their behaviour magically changes towards bakugo

The lack of give there is in the friendship which also falls to the first point

[prettyyoungandbored]

In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning - Charlie Dalton

Pairing: Charlie Dalton x Fem!Reader

Sequel to The Night Before

WARNINGS: Very brief nudity. Read at your own risk.

Author’s Note: I probably should have clarified this in the story before but Charlie and the reader are in their 20s.

NOT MY GIF

There was something peaceful about the early morning hours. There was a blue haze in the sky. Night was leaving, and the sun was beginning to brace for its shift in the sky.

While New York was the city that never slept, Y/N and Charlie’s brownstone was in a fairly quiet neighborhood, fairly being the key word. But for this particular morning, everything felt still.

Y/N couldn’t believe it. She wondered if she woke up from her dream and into another one. Maybe the city knew she needed some quiet before the craziness that came before a wedding.

Either way, she was grateful.

She lay in the bed, her naked body tangled in the thin, white sheets. She turned over to see Charlie lay beside her, deep in sleep.

Her hand carded through his hair as she smiled. She wasn’t sure what she had done in a past life that allowed her be loved by him. There was never a dull moment that passed when she was with him.

Sure, Charlie could be a little shit, but it never crossed the line. He made her laugh until her stomach hurt and made her feel loved and supported.

Charlie’s face scrunched as he stirred awake.

“What’re you doing up?” he yawned.

“I woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep,” she whispered.

He hummed and fell onto his back. His fingers motioned her to him.

She scoot her body toward him until he wrapped an arm around her as her head nestled in between his chest and shoulder.

His finger drew lazy circles on her forearm. “Can’t have my bride yawning at the alter. What would everyone think?”

She chuckled. “Gotta have some drama at the wedding. Keep everyone on their toes.”

“I like the way you think.” He kissed the top of her head. “And here I thought I was going to have to bribe one of the boys to speak up during the ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’ bit.”

“And which boy were you thinking of?”

“Not Knox because Izzie would kill me. Maybe Meeks.”

She giggled. “That would’ve been hysterical.”

“But alas,” he sighed, “looks like we’ll have to go through a boring ceremony.”

“Poor us.”

“A tragedy.”

He kissed the top of her head, wrapping his other arm around her. “But I’d go through worse if it meant I’d get to be with you forever.”

She pouted, her heart exploding. “Oh Charlie, you already did. You had to ask my dad for my hand in marriage.”

He snickered at the memory. “That took a week of planning and practicing.”

“Knox told me you even practiced on him.”

He grimaced. Knox had it easy because he knew how to charm parents. “Don’t remind me.”

She looked up at him. “It was worth it though.”

He smiled adoringly. “Without question.”

Just as their lips went to meet, the phone rang in the kitchen. Charlie let go of Y/N and padded toward the kitchen.

“Hello….Knox, what’re you…ok…ok…ok, I’ll let her know.”

Y/N sat up in bed, pulling the sheets close to her chest. Charlie returned and crawled back under the covers.

“So apparently your mother was about to come over and get you but Izzie and Knox heard her and Izzie offered to come get you. She’s on her way now.”

Y/N laid back, groaning. Charlie smiled, rubbing her bare leg with his hand.

“I’m not ready to leave,” she sighed. “Can’t I stay here with you a little longer?”

“As much as I would love that, unfortunately we have to keep up appearances one last time. After that, we can do whatever we like.”

The thought of having more mornings like this completely uninterrupted would make it worth it.

“Did you tell Izzie you were coming here last night?” he asked.

She nodded. “She was gonna tell my mom I was sick.”

Charlie hummed. “And what illness were we going to go with?”

“I haven’t decided yet. I figured you could come up with something for me. You must’ve had experience.”

“Loads. C’mon, we’ll figure it out while we get you dressed.”

====================================

A half an hour later…

“Thanks for covering for me,” Y/N said, turning her head to Izzie as the two women sat in the back of the cab.

“You got it. Your mother was on a war path so I figured it was best to stop her before she walked in on you and Charlie.” Izzie turned her head to Y/N. “Also what illness are we going with?”

“Period.”

“That works. That should keep her quiet for awhile.”

Silence fell between the two women. Then Izzie spoke up.

“You won’t hear the end of it.”

“Not at all.”

[sinsinsininning]

A little bit softer

Chapter 4

Eustass Kid x crew mate!fem!Reader

This includes Kid’s POV of the end of Chapter 3 while the reader is in the shower. 😳

Also to clarify, Badger is a made up character, I didn’t feel like incorporating a cannon character into the reader’s backstory. I spent literally 2 seconds on the name and even less time on a vague description of him which I’ll post later.

TW: swearing, voyeurism, masturbating (both male and female)

~~~~~~~

After you left him on the deck, Kid ate slowly, thinking out the details of his next steps. He had no idea where this bastard, Badger, was or even what he’d look like.

Plus the West Blue was crawling with dangerous crews and the notorious 5 Families of the West, headed up by Capone Bege. Not someone Kid was on good terms with and, depending on how deep into the West they’d go, someone they’d likely run into.

While Kid would prefer to just make this a quick mission, so they could double back and enter the Grand Line, he was excited to think of all the practice the crew would get fighting all these other crews. It’d be good training before they entered the New World.

After finishing, he pulled out the maps and started charting again. Wire eventually returned to join him and the two worked quietly. Kid was making a list of things they could get while in the West Blue when Wire spoke up.

“So what’s this Captain’s name?”

“Why’re you asking?” Kid growled. “Just chart the stupid map.”

“I’m nearly done, I just need to know where to find him, then I can finalize the map. Right now I’ve just got it charted how to get there while avoiding marines bases and included supply stops. But I need a specific area to finish.”

“His name is Badger.” Kid said after a beat.

“Is that his first name or last name?” Wire asked.

“The fuck if I know. His name is Badger, he’s in the West Blue, and I’m gonna kill him. Make the map.” Kid blustered for a moment, he felt a little silly, all this effort and he didn’t even know who the guy was. Fuck he didn’t even know if you’d been honest…. Nah you were nearly crying, you wouldn’t lie like that. Wire sighed heavily and Kid nearly smashed the table.

“Ok, I can’t finish it tonight, but I’ll go through some logs and see if I can get more info on him.” Wire relented, knowing the captain was at his limit. “We should be able to make it to the next island tomorrow, I’ll do some more digging then too.” Kid grunted an acknowledgement, head down as he finished his list, pen nearly tearing the paper.

Wire stood and started putting the supplies away, he glanced at his captain.

“Boss… you know-“ He paused and considered himself, Kid glanced at him with a scowl. Better play it safe. “Just let me know if you need anything, you know I’d help.” Kid bristled at that, but just grunted again to dismiss the tall man.

He doodled a few sketches of his projects on the list, trying to clear his head. Eventually he puts everything up and leans against the railing, watching the waves and night sky.

After an hour or so, Heat joins him to take his watch shift, but brought a few beers for his captain. Kid downs his first two quickly, then nurses the next one.

“It’s none of my business,” Heat starts off.

“Then don’t fucking bring it up.” Kid snaps.

“But I think we should get rid of the sniper rookie.” Heat continues, eyes on the coast.

“What? Why the fuck do you think that?” Kid stood to shout at him. “Thought you two were buddy-buddy?!” He could keep the jealously out of voice.

“She’s alright. But she’s soft.” Heat isn’t phased by the shouting. “She won’t make it in the Grand Line. We can’t have that type of weakness.”

“Quincy’s soft. Wire’s soft. You questioning my authority huh?” Kid gulped the rest of his drink and tossed the bottle behind him. “You think I keep a weak crew?! That what you’re trying to say?!”

“The only thing she’s got going for her is she’s cute.” Heat added nonchalantly, Kid was fuming.

“Fuck off like she’d want your ugly, stitched up headed ass!” Kid grabbed his vest, forcing the other man to look at him. “She’s staying, she’s a good sniper and a good crew mate. Fucking question me again and I’ll fucking throw you overboard!” Heat grinned and Kid felt like he’d been caught.

“I get why everyone’s been fucking with you lately,” Heat chuckled. “It’s fun. You’re so biased for her, I’m a little jealous really, wish you’d defend me this hard.”

Kid wanted to shout again but he felt like he’d reveal too much. Well, more than what he’d already done. His face was hot and he felt deflated, but he released Heat with a shove.

“Maybe if ya did your job and not play mind games I would.” He finally says, Heat resumes his watch. An awkward silence falls over them.

“It’s not that bad, Boss. Trust me it could be worse. Imagine you liked Pomp? He’s fucking insane. I heard he sold his ex husband’s kidney for cheating on him in a dream.” Heat tried to console his friend, not his forte, but he felt a little bad at his trick. Kid let out a short laugh.

“Fuckin’ hell that can’t be true…. Can it?” He started on his next beer, sitting back down. They laugh together again.

“I don’t actually think we should get rid of her. Just sayin.”

“I know.”

“Yeah she’s soft, but she saved my ass that last fight, shooting that guy trying to creep up on me while I was taking care of Reck.”

Kid just hummed in response, still hesitant to say anything about her. Heat noticed.

“I promise it’s not that bad.”

Silence.

“I don’t think she’s scared of you, not really at least.”

“I heard what she said to you.”

“I think she’s scared of her ex captain. Should make her sit down with Wire, he’d sort her head out.” Heat lit a cigarette, offering a pull to Kid who shook his head.

“Not a bad idea. Just don’t want anyone knowing how-“ He paused. “She can go to Wire but I’m not gonna make her.” He said finally, Heat nodded in understanding.

“You can’t say it, I gotcha.”

“I can’t say it first.” Kid sighed, finishing his last bottle.

“Makes sense. Don’t worry,” Heat claps his hand on the captain’s shoulder. “It’ll happen.”

“Since when have you gotten this mushy?” Kid sneered. “I hate it. Go back to minding your own business.” Heat laughed as his captain got up. It was past midnight and he was tired.

He made his way down the halls, he needed to return his dishes or else Killer would bitch at him all day tomorrow. He placed them in the sink, then a thought struck him. Quickly glancing in the fridge, your plate was still there, all wrapped up nicely.

You hadn’t eaten since breakfast, he slammed the fridge shut. Fuck, you probably hadn’t finished your shit yet. He stalked down the halls towards your make shift shop room, irritated that you’d not finished yet and had still not eaten.

A small part of him was excited to have an excuse to talk to you, even if it was just to bitch at you. Maybe he’d walk you to the galley personally, to make sure you followed orders. Maybe he’d sit with you as you ate too, couldn’t let you try to skip out. After that he’d grumble at you for making him stay up late to babysit you, even though he chose to do it.

Then he may as well make you go to bed. His bed. With him. Obviously to make sure you didn’t try to sneak back to your project. He’d keep you pressed in his arms all night to ensure you didn’t try anything.

Fuck he needed to stop, he was hard in the middle of the hallway. He adjusted his belt before entering the shop room, hoping it’d hide his arousal. Somehow the shop was empty, all the weapons cleaned and stacked up correctly. He looked around for any mistakes or mess you’d left behind, anything that’d allow him a chance to speak with you.

But the room was spotless, everything put away correctly. Then where the fuck were you? He wondered if you went to bed right away, tempted to check your bunk. He headed toward it, pausing when he passed by the bathrooms, steam pouring out the door.

The doors to the bathrooms all had hatches at the top that opened to allow steam to vent. He was a little impressed that the hot water still worked after everyone’s showers.

With you in the stalls he didn’t have any excuse to bother you, you’d finished your work and unless he wanted to wait until you were out to force you to the galley, he was out of luck for tonight. Kid turned to go when he heard you moan.

Oh fuck.

He glanced around the halls, no one could hear you or see him palm his cock over his pants. You weren’t generous with your noises, obviously trying to stifle them, but some slipped out.

Your groans and whines sounded frustrated, like you couldn’t work how you wanted. He reached his hand inside his pants to grip himself, jaw clenched almost painfully to avoid alerting you. His mind filled in the gaps of what he couldn’t see. He pictured walking in and offering to help you reach your climax, since you still seemed to struggle.

He thought about how’d you’d look right then if he did, wet and naked, probably surprised and shy. Maybe you’d try to cover yourself, until you’d realize what he was offering. Or maybe you already knew he was there, confident he’d join you. Maybe you’d tell him exactly what you wanted from him.

He’d let you boss him around, at least at the start, but after you cum once or twice, then he’d be in control again. He thumbed his slit right as you let out a different moan.

Oh. That one was much more satisfied, he didn’t know what changed to make everything work for you, but he was pleased. He stroked himself faster now, checking the halls quickly, then held his ear to the open hatch. Your whines and moans were breathier, much more high pitched. He squeezed his cock, picturing it was you. When he closed his eyes and really focused on listening, he swore he could hear how wet your pussy sounds.

Your moans are getting faster and he tries to keep up, hand pumping hard to get himself off. Finally you let off a loud moan, cutting yourself off halfway through in a pathetic attempt to be quiet. He’s not quite there yet, so he moves his hand fast, but freezes when you turn of the shower.

Shit you were done. He was fucked.

Without adjusting his pants he quickly walks down the hall, his workshop is closer than his room. It’ll have to do for now, it’s not the first time he’s jacked off in there. He gets the door closed and locked before resuming.

Part of him is irritated, his high was so close just to be edged back. But more of him felt a little proud, you’d gotten off before him, as you should. Yeah it wasn’t like he’d gotten you to cum, but it still stroked his ego. He thought about that as he sat down, hand around himself again, stroking quickly.

He wondered how many times he should make you cum before he did. Hell how many times should you cum before he even fucked you with his cock. At least two times on his fingers and maybe three times of his tongue, that seemed fair.

He rubbed his tip harshly as he thought about your sounds, they were so sweet and full of emotion. Kid could basically read your mind from how expressive you were, so open and honest with your lewd moans. He could tell when you were close, when you were struggling, and even when something clicked. He wondered what it was that made you moan like that, thinking of ways to extract that info.

His climax caught him off guard as he thought about you. He came across his hand and chest with a groan, some of his spend getting on his pants. As he came down, panting as he leaned back in his chair, he could hear you walking down the hall.

Leaping up, he tucked himself back into his pants, grabbed an old rag to wipe the cooling cum from his hands and chest. He knocked over the chair and toppled a few tools in his haste. Your steps were quiet but he was hyper aware of you as you passed the door.

After a few minutes of quiet he finally exited, going straight to his room and laying face down on the bed. He wanted to shout but settled for smothering himself until he finally dozed off.

[swordfright]

https://www.tumblr.com/swordfright/756502816281018368/what-do-you-think-is-your-most-controversial-dsmp?source=share

I remember sending this to a bunch of dsmp blogs (starting with elmhat I think ?) bc I like when people share ideas/opinions who diverge from the main consensus because I find it the most efficient way for people to stick to canon and not fanon since people can have different interpretations of event

And it was super interesting to see the one about the experimentation being after prison rather than before (loved the two LN and Q ones too but as you said they were a bit more common. Would love to see your take on c!slime though now)

(And I wouldn't have a problem with you giving unpopular opinion about the fandom either but to be clear I was not trying to start anything with my first question, I just like seeing uncommon takes)

Don't worry lol I didn't assume you were trying to start shit. Ok, so c!Slime is pretty interesting in that he's the closest thing we have to an NPC in what is otherwise a roleplay, which implies certain things about how he can be used in the narrative.

A little bit of quick background: I spent a LOT of time as a kid doing RP online (it was an original story set in the Death Note universe and it happened on a website that went bankrupt in like 2017 and no longer exists lmfao don't worry about it) and idk what RP etiquette is like in other communities, but in the community I was a part of, it was sort of frowned upon for players to outsource heavy plot/character development material to NPCs. It was allowed and people did it, but it was seen as sort of a cop-out. The underlying idea being that if you're gonna bother to do RP, your character's most important interactions should be with other PCs, in part because it helps build/strengthen the RP community and in part because it better entrenches your character's storyline in the storylines of other PCs, which in turn encourages other players to keep RPing and keeps the story going. Again, creating NPCs was very common, but players were discouraged from having entire arcs or character trajectories be highly dependent on NPCs. It was seen as sort of a cheap, low-effort way of progressing your character's development without having to coordinate plot beats with other players, and doing it too often was seen as sort of antithetical to what RP is trying to achieve as a form of gaming-storytelling. To me, c!Slime is a classic example of when an RPer outsources a little too much narrative weight onto an NPC.

First of all, I wanna clarify that it's kinda difficult to define what an NPC is or isn't on this server, but I'd say c!Slime is more of an NPC because even though he's played by a CC with some degree of improv, we know that cc!Quackity specifically wrote c!Slime's character to fulfill a narrative role and asked cc!Slime to play that character - as opposed to alternate characters played by CCs of their own accord (Sam Nook, Dream XD, Sam Bucket, Mexican Dream, etc.) So, for example, I don't see Sam Bucket as an NPC but I do see c!Slime as an NPC. c!Slime wasn't an original creation on the part of the player, he's a narrative tool (which is fine, but it does mean that what he can and can't do in the story is limited to what cc!Q needed him to do.)

There are some things I think the addition of c!Slime did accomplish. For one, Q's interactions with him provide a platform for more introspective character work on Q's part. And while I that character work could've been done by having Q interact with a PC instead, I do think Slime is better positioned to act as an apprentice figure because he had almost no lore prior to Las Nevadas and didn't enter the story with baggage or ties to any other major characters. He's a blank slate, which makes him really easy to use as a narrative device. Q voices thoughts and ideas to Slime that he can't voice to other characters (usually because it would be OOC for him to do so, or wouldn't make sense in context), which means that Slime is sort of a vehicle for delivering Q characterization to the audience.

This is all fine and I think a lot of it was done fairly well. I like cc!Slime's acting and I think the character is a fun addition to the LN crew. That said, I don't think the payoff was great. Slime being an NPC really undermined what I assume cc!Q was going for with End of Las Nevadas, in large part because he doesn't have well-established relationships with other characters. Aside from Q, Slime basically only ever interacts with Tommy, Foolish and Ranboo, and even those interactions are limited to a really tiny handful of streams. Punz capturing and manipulating him, Slime helping c!Dream confront Quackity...all that stuff could have been a lot more interesting if it had more time to marinate. Like, I love the IDEA of Slime and c!Dream interacting, but we don't really get any meaningful interactions between them outside of Slime's function as a storytelling tool. He's there when he needs to be, and only ever when he needs to be.

For instance, I would've loved to see what Slime thinks about Q's slime army. It's really weird to model your mindlessly obedient slave army after your friend. That was a weird ass thing for Q to do, and it would've been cool to see Slime react to that. But because he's more NPC than PC, and because highly scripted lore like the LN series doesn't really encourage deviation, we never get to find that out. Slime doesn't ever really get to be his own character, which in the end kinda undermines a lot of the character development he triggers for c!Quackity because at the end of the day, it's really transparent that Slime only exists to be a prop. It's a kind of one-sided relationship that's unique to RP.

I think End of Las Nevadas was weak for other reasons too, but uhhhh yeah the Slime stuff bothered me a bit. Would've liked to see him do more. And he disappears after pushing Q off the ledge and, to my knowledge, we never see him again! If he had been more PC and less storytelling tool, presumably other characters would've had opportunities to react to Slime's role in the events of that stream, or notice that he's missing/back again/missing. But instead, he's able to just vanish from the story after he's fulfilled his role because that's all he was ever supposed to do.

[inkedkoi]

Hold On To “What If”: Overanalyzing and Rewriting Sonic Prime

aka Masterpost & References: Part One

💬 “But, Koi, Prime finished months ago…”

Hmm. What do you think I should do, Shadow?

Shadow: "Determine your own destiny, just as I have."

Well, you heard the hedgehog. What better way to celebrate the Year of Shadow than by talking about the show where he had the best characterization: Sonic Prime. I may have my own bias towards the show due to a personal connection, but overall I think the show is pretty good. Animation, voice-acting, music/sound, editing, they were amazing. The writing, aside from Shadow’s character, is ok. There are definitely some good lines but there were “eh” moments as well. (We’ll get back to that.)

I thought I would give an insight into what I thought about Sonic Prime, from overanalyzing every single frame to rewriting Season 3, and finally explain whatever the hell I had on my bingo card (the one I made before Season 3 was released).

Due to the image limit, this will be the masterpost for all of the sections:

References: [this post] // 2 // 3 Plot Holes (x) Connections: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 Bingo Card: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 Rewrite 1 // 2 // 3 Remaining Questions & Final Thoughts (x)

(also available in the "🌻 hold on to what if" tag down below)

⚠️ Spoilers for the whole series, all media here belong to their respective creators. ⚠️

✨//🌻//✨

Before we get into it…

As the internet is, I want to clarify some things:

1. I’m not a die-hard Sonic fan so some things may not be 100% accurate. I honestly entered into the fandom when Sonic Frontiers was announced. My first exposure to Sonic at all was the Sonic Unleashed Animated short film, “Night of the Werehog”, when I was like 14 so I caught myself up with Sonic lore in between releases of each season of Prime. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong about anything.

2. There's this whole debacle on whether or not Prime is part of the canon. News has recently been brought up that the Prime Team didn't acknowledge the comments made by Ian and the lore team about inconsistencies. It didn't surprise me at all. The show wasn't going to be part of the canon to begin with, which was abundantly clear by the show's writing. It feels like the writers copied from a wiki. There were so many scenes where instead of taking the moment to breathe and have character development, they put fighting scenes, more so in season three.

💬 "What about the references, Shadow's characterization, etc?"

Actually, we wouldn't have them if not for some of the crew fighting SO hard to get that into the show. The animators, storyboard artists, voice actors, editors, and many others — some are legit Sonic fans and others wanted to please the fandom. They have done such a great service to the fans with what they could, so could we just give a round of applause to the creative crew behind this? 👏👏👏 To the crew, you did what you could for us, and we can’t thank you enough.

Back to the whole "canon" thing, for this essay, we'll treat Prime as a stand-alone thing unless we absolutely have to affiliate it with canon.

3. Netflix did the weird thing of splitting up all the episodes of the series and called them “seasons”. I personally call them “batches” and I know there are some people who do the same, but for our sakes, they’ll be referred to as seasons, just so we don’t get confused. Okay? Cool!

Finally, this is for funsies, don’t take this too seriously. I want to establish that I have nothing against the people behind Prime or anyone else.

So grab your snacks, and get comfy. Now, let’s lock in, chat!

References: Part One

Here’s a list of references to other Sonic media I picked up in Prime. Some of them on the list are from Felipe Sonic Hacks YT video I saw while drafting my bingo card predictions, so you can check it out (Link). Whether or not these are intentional, that’s up for interpretation unless said otherwise.

Chilidogs (EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.)

"Gotta Go Fast" (just an iconic Sonic line)

Sonic’s iconic gestures: waiting stance (S1 EP3), finger-wagging (S1 EP6) and nose-rub (S1 EP6 + S2 EP5)

look at this lil' guy :)

[S1 EP1]

Eggman’s Badniks — the usual (designs primarily the same ones from the game Sonic the Hedgehog 1)

Sonic’s super peel-out animation — a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog CD (and other games beyond)

“...sonic boom of a headache” — a reference(???) to the Sonic Boom show

New Yoke City — a design reference to Eggman Land, he wasn’t wrong about the neon (seen in the game: Sonic Unleashed)

Sonic balancing on the edge — a reference to Sonic’s balancing sprite animation from Sonic Games (matches perfectly with one in Sonic the Hedgehog 2)

Sonic’s breakdancing — a reference to Sonic’s S Rank victory animation from Sonic Generations

I mean, Sonic definitely is a breakdancer and incorporates it in his fighting style, prove me wrong.

Orbot and Cubot — returning characters from the franchise

Side note: I screamed in joy when I first saw them :)

1992 — the year of Tails’ first appearance (Game: Sonic the Hedgehog 2)

This whole scene explaining Tails' origin story — also a nod to the pixel games

Obstacle test — a reference(???) to Chemical Plant

[S1 EP 2]

Shadow’s hand back-spring in the first Sonic vs. Shadow fight — the same move done in Shadow the Hedgehog when Shadow encountered robot replicas of him

1998 — The year of Big the Cat’s first appearance (Game: Sonic Adventure 1)

[S1 EP 3]

Sonic’s free falling from an edge — similar move in Sonic Movie 2 (does that count as a reference???)

Rebel’s drill maneuver in beating the bots in the stairwell fight — same move Rouge uses in Sonic X (that I know of)

[S1 EP 4]

The Berries the Boscage Crew scavenged for — a nod to Chao Garden Fruits (confirmed to be intentional)

(right photo credits to ChaoProfessor on Twitter)

Sound FX when Sonic getting prickled by spikes — same sound FX from the games

To be continued...

Next Part

[blackjackkent]

OK, well, this all seems pretty definitive, so Rakha's not wasting any time. Straight back to camp to tell Aylin that we've found someone for her to punch.

(This all continues to contribute to Rakha's rather perplexed view of Aylin, tbh. She's already realized that Aylin is capable of the same level of mad violence that she herself is capable of, but that Aylin nevertheless still falls under the broad banner of 'good' compared to Bhaal and the beast's 'evil.' This is confusing. And it clarifies nothing that now her whole party (including Wyll) is eagerly queuing up to watch the aasimar reduce Lorroakan to a fine paste.)

"Mother's Milk! Your visage speaks of ill tidings. Speak, ally mine. What troubles you?"

TBH I think these days Rakha's visage always kind of speaks of ill tidings, but that's neither here nor there.

I've tended to assume that, despite the generally friendly nature of most of her dialogue, Aylin is still pretty skeptical of Rakha (and particularly of letting her anywhere near Isobel), especially now that the Bhaalspawn business is out in the open.

Rakha, for her part, still feels a deeply compelling urge to rip both of them into small pieces, so she takes care to stand a good twelve feet away during this conversation.

We have two different dialogue options here, and one of them I don't recall seeing before:

"I was just wondering what it was like in that cage of Balthazar's."

This actually strikes me as a conversation that might have happened at some earlier point, back in Rivington or maybe even on the road out of the SCL. This is very much a Rakha sort of question - very blunt and out of nowhere despite the potentially sensitive nature of the subject, just placing the question out there and leaving it up to her conversation partner whether they're willing to answer or not.

Unsurprisingly, Aylin is not into it:

"Let us not dwell on those dark days. Their memory is a vortex within my heart that leads directly to the Hells."

Fair enough.

"A wizard called Lorroakan is looking for you."

"Is he indeed?" Aylin asks, raising an eyebrow. Isobel has wandered up and is also listening with interest to this new development. "Pray tell - what does he seek from Dame Aylin?"

(A/N: Upon closer inspection, this dialogue appears to be bugged. It checks for the presence of a variable called LOW_Lorroakan_State_PartyKnowsHisPlans which is supposed to indicate that the player knows about Lorroakan's soul cage and immortality goals, but I've done a search through all the parsed dialogue files and this variable never gets set anywhere; it's only ever checked for. And Rakha here is missing the dialogue option that it should enable. Since she does know about Lorroakan's plans, I am going to use my console powers and enable the flag manually, since it makes the conversation more interesting and Rakha has no reason not to be direct about what's going on.)

"He wants to cage you like Ketheric did," Rakha says flatly.

"The beast!" Isobel snaps, which definitely makes Rakha jump.

In contrast to her lover's fury, however, Aylin just laughs softly. "Oh, I hope he tries!" she crows. "Please, Lorroakan, come to me with your magicks and your flaccid charms. Attempt to lay one hairy finger upon Dame Aylin, daughter of Selune most high."

She leans forward, closing the careful distance between herself and Rakha. "I will wring his neck until he's dead," she growls.

Rakha shivers involuntarily. The mental image is delicious, enthralling; it feeds the murder urge in her mind. And again that flicker of confusion - why is this admirable in Aylin, when it is so detestable and terrifying in herself?

"Let's take him down," she whispers hoarsely. "Together."

Aylin's cold smile widens. "Ho!" she says. "His end will be one more strand in the great braid of our friendship."

(A/N: The game definitely doesn't account for the idea of Aylin not being on good terms with the player even with the Dark Urge context, which is a little annoying. For the purposes of Rakha's story, where they are both super wary of each other, this statement definitely comes along with a heavy helping of sardonic irony.)

"I'm coming with you," Isobel says eagerly. "I'd like to get a few licks in myself."

"My darling," Aylin says, turning towards her, "we agreed you'ds cout for the nearest Selunite enclave this very night. Let us divide our efforts, all the sooner to be reunited."

"I won't let you go alone," Isobel insists. "Who knows what that wizard might have planned?"

"Our closest ally will accompany me, won't you?" Aylin says, shooting a look at Rakha.

(A/N: This is low-key pretty funny at this point. 'Closest ally' my ass. Under the circumstances this reads like Aylin basically saying that Isobel doesn't get to go anywhere near Rakha in a combat bloodlust situation, which frankly Rakha agrees with wholeheartedly. Her animation here is a cheerful smile while Aylin is talking:

which is also very uncharacteristic and reads as tremendously forced ("yep, totally fine, nothing for you to worry about Isobel") in this context. XD )

Aylin waits for Isobel's grudging nod of agreement. Then she straightens up, her wide white wings unfurling, and leaps upwards into the air. "Hie we to this 'Lorroakan' right away," she cries as she moves. "I am as eager to meet him as he is to ensnare me."

[thewertsearch]

That's a great expression. Initially, it looked to be one of disdain...

...but despite his attitude towards Rose, Eridan genuinely likes magic. I think he's just focusing really hard on channeling the wizardly powers he's been dreaming about since childhood.

The dude categorically sucks, but I'm willing to let him have this. It's his one non-shitty hobby, and any time he's spending casting spells is time he's not spending being troll racist.

TT: Will I be blinded by the fearsome lashes of light ribboning from the incandescent coastline of his beauteous aura? TT: Should I borrow my friend's sunglasses? GA: Yes Definitely GA: Definitely Do That GA: Wait I Hope That Wasnt Too Emphatic GA: Maybe At This Point I Should Clarify This Is All A Big Joke

And it was good! Kanaya may be confused by sarcasm, but her progress through the upper echelons of Dave-tier irony is impressive indeed.

TT: Yeah. TT: I was getting that. TT: You don't always have to tip your hand, Kanaya. You were doing well.

Granted, she has an excellent tutor.

GA: I Did In Fact "Train" This Character GA: I Made Him A Wand To Shut Him Up [...]

Well, at least it's not being enhanced by the Horrorterrors this time. Really, this wand is probably a downgrade from Eridan's endgame rifle.

TT: Do keep me apprised of all further developments. GA: Okay I Will TT: At least until my looming grimdarkdeath steals me away.

I can't tell how worried Rose actually is about the blackout. There's a touch of her brother's façade about her at the moment, which is probably how she's able to stay this calm - but that can't last forever.

Tavros is Jade's admirer?

Granted, he doesn't have many options. The trolls are a tangled web of drama, John is infamously straight, and the Derse kids would eat him alive.

GG: i remember you, you talked to me a lot in my dreams AT: yEAH, bUT NOW i'M TALKING TO YOU BEING AWAKE, AT: bECAUSE, AT: yOUR ROBOT CAN'T TYPE, [...] GG: thats because my dream self died [...] AT: aW, nO, i'M DEFINITELY PRETTY SORRY TO HEAR THAT, GG: thanks, but i think im ok GG: i felt pretty shaken up at first though AT: yES, i DID TOO, AT: i SPENT SO LONG SLEEPING AND DREAMING AND PLAYING ON PROSPIT, AT: tHAT BEING AWAKE WAS MADE TO FEEL WEIRD, aND i DIDN'T LIKE IT FOR A WHILE, GG: yeah i have done a lot of sleeping myself :)

I think Jade can relate more closely than she's admitting.

After all, there's a reason she spent so much time on Prospit before the game started. It was that or the empty mansion full of corpses.

[eobarried]

ok let’s talk about miguel o’hara because it needs to be done. i want to clarify that this is not a hate post or anti-miguel in any sense, but it is a critical analysis of his character and role in the spiderverse. if you don’t feel like you can read this right now, i suggest you like it/save it for later and read it when you feel like you can with an open mind

especially for anyone who’s a miguel enjoyer (i consider myself one as well) because if you really love his character, it’s important to understand why his character was created and what a great narrative tool it is! anyway-

miguel o’hara is, allegorically, a bigot. 

now - let’s unpack and clarify that. miguel is allegorically a bigot - his character is used to represent a certain, specific type of bigotry we see in real life. notice how i’m saying “bigot” and not “racist” - because despite the memes, i don’t think miguel’s hatred of miles is rooted in antiblackness. i think it’s rooted in something a little more complicated, which is why i’m using the term bigotry. but this can be a little confusing, so let’s start from the beginning. or, at least, the most important part.

the canon.

i want you to really think about the word used here - canon. hearing that word should break the fourth wall for you, just like hearing “he’s got hammerspace!” should have earlier in the movie - or discussions different characters have surrounding their distinct art styles. it’s meant to break the fourth wall and draw attention to itself. specifically, the use of the word canon here is meant for us to take a step back from the in-universe events (treating the characters as “real” people and looking at events logically) and instead think of the spiderman story and mythos.

spiderman, as a story, has been told over and over again. we, as an audience, are deeply familiar with this story, as we’ve seen it as a live-action blockbuster in no less than three separate franchises. that’s not even mentioning all the cartoon adaptations, and of course the comic runs. adhering to a specific formula surrounding the story makes sense. when someone walks into a spiderman movie, they have certain... expectations. that no matter what version of spiderman this is, that they follow certain story beats and adhere to certain rules as they follow along in their journey. miguel, when explaining this to miles, focuses on said story beats (which i’ll get to in a second), but there’s something that’s way more important than specific plot points that we need to address here.

and that’s theme. 

theme (if you’re not an english literature person), is basically something you take away from the story. it’s usually a moral, idea, or concept that can be applied to the world around you, and helps you learn more about yourself, society, culture, or history. all stories have themes - usually they have multiple. so let’s get into it.

the original spiderman comic was notable in several ways. the thing that made spiderman so popular and successful is that he was the first (notable) teenage superhero that wasn’t a part of a greater team. spiderman wasn’t a sidekick that was written in to appeal to an audience of children. he was a teenager himself - but he was no less competent or strong than the (mostly adult) villains he fought. 

and not only was spiderman a kid - he was the kid. he was a nerd. he was an older white teen, yes - but he represented the type of person who would go out and buy a comic book more than any other hero at the time. before he became spiderman, peter parker was just kind of a geek. at the time (the 60s) this still identified him as an outcast. peter was socially awkward, not good with girls, he didn’t have many friends, and he was bullied consistently. the only thing he was good at was science, basically. we can connect peter’s original portrayal to many legitimately marginalized groups - specifically those that might be autistic and impacted by ableism. to those kids reading that comic, they saw a hero that represented them.

and how does peter represent them? what does spiderman teach these children by reading these comics? the original spiderman is the story of a man who, by chance, was granted the opportunity for greatness - to become an integral part of his community. spiderman uses his skills (both those granted to him by the spider, but also those that he inherently has, such as his skills with science and engineering), in order to prove his worth and merit. it’s lonely, the road he has to walk - he can’t tell his friends and family who he is, lest they become victims like uncle ben - or lest they betray him. he can only rely on himself and his own knowledge in order to protect his community. the themes we draw from spiderman are this: luck can strike at any time, but you need to use your own strength and intelligence to pull yourself up afterwards, no matter how hard things get. no matter how many people you lose.

that’s what miguel believes spiderman is about. this original spiderman story is that of the american dream. of a youth who is ostracized by society (for whatever reason), but is still able to use their own merit to overcome the obstacles placed in front of them and the grief and pain they face on their path to greatness. it’s a hard and lonely path, but miguel values anyone who has the bravery to face it.

so why does he hate miles?

because he didn’t do it alone. because miles doesn’t believe in the traditional american dream.

if you want to read more about that, check out my analysis comparing spider-society and visions academy over here (it’s not as in-depth as i would like it to be, but it gets the job done) but basically: miles believes that every person deserves greatness. he states it very clearly when talking to his dad about how he won the lottery to go to visions: he just got lucky. he feels as if he took an opportunity away from someone else. why is it just given to him, when anyone else at brooklyn middle is just as deserving of an amazing education? when these resources should be put to use to uplift his whole community, not just miles alone?

miles brings that same energy as a spider-person. he’s not just an anomaly because his spider was from a different dimension. he’s an anomaly because he had a mentor. not only a mentor - he had a whole clan of spider-people there for him. while peter b parker and the crew weren’t always very good allies for miles, they still wanted him to succeed. each spider-person was an outcast - not in the same way as miles, but they were eager to describe what miles needed to master in order to keep himself safe as a crime-fighter. although they weren’t always supportive, it wasn’t because they were “gatekeeping” - it’s because they were worried miles might hurt himself. to them, he hadn’t put in the work on his own, and because he hadn’t proven himself as a spider-person in isolation, they thought there was no way he could be successful as a spider-person during a very high-risk mission.

however, miles proves them wrong. it’s true that miles has to pull upon his own inner strength, but he also pulls on wisdom from those that mentored him - his father, his uncle aaron, peter parker, and peter b parker. as well as love and support from his community. miles became spiderman - but not in isolation. he had help, and support, and love - always - that helped him succeed.

because spiderman - in all universes - represents success in america. in the original comics, spiderman is able to overcome his status as an outcast in order to help his city. he now has great power - a potential allegory related to wealth and social or political status. he uses that power in order to protect the community he loves (nyc) as they can’t all protect themselves.

now let’s bring it back. miguel. right.

miguel has already made his mark as a spiderman. although we know he broke canon, it wasn’t related to him becoming spiderman. we can assume that miguel still went through serious struggle and trauma to get to where he’s at. and now, through thematic analysis, we know that becoming spiderman represents success in america.

so, miguel’s dislike of miles, thematically, connects to how older generations may believe that younger generations “have it too easy” or “don’t put in the same effort.” it’s the (mainly capitalistic) ideal that in order to succeed, it has to be in isolation, without outside help. we can infer that miguel is not only upset that miles didn’t do things “canonically” - but that he is afforded success that miguel doesn’t think he deserves. miguel believes that in order to succeed in america, one needs to do it on their own, and suffer in order to succeed. no “hand-outs,” no support, no community outreach. it’s a very rigid capitalistic standard - which is why i called it “bigoted.” miguel is still a marginalized figure - and it’s important that miguel is the one stating the viewpoint, not a white spiderman. because this isn’t a white vs black storyline. miguel’s dislike of miles is specifically a sort of generational, inter-community bigotry.

for someone who hasn’t experienced it - think of it like hazing. you join a new sports team. the senior players say “you carry the equipment out and clean everything after the game.” you ask “why? can’t we all just do it together? aren’t we supposed to be a team?” and they say “no. you’re the new guys. hard work builds character. deal with it.”

alright. so we took a look at canon through a meta-story lens. now let’s pull it back even further.

so, miguel’s ideology. he adheres firmly to canon, a series of events that cannot (or, should not), change. if we apply that to our lives, that sounds a lot like predestination. destiny. fate. let’s call it predestination for now - you’ll see why in a minute.

now, a belief in predestination makes sense. it can bring a lot of people comfort, thinking that horrible events are out of their hands, and often times it can be harmless to believe in predestination in these instances. for example: someone who blames themselves for not being able to say goodbye to a loved one who died suddenly. if this person believes in predestination, it might ease some of their pain and guilt to know that there was nothing they could do - that it was the will of some higher power that their loved one is gone, and that there was nothing they could do to prevent it. some individuals might find comfort in knowing that they are not to blame for the work of the universe.

however, predestination can also be malicious. thinking that things are the will of the universe, or the will of god... that’s been used for some pretty fucked up stuff in the past. in a more moderate (and topical) example - royalty. many kings used the concept of predestination to explain why they deserved the crown. their bloodline was chosen by god himself - that’s why they’re powerful (compare to spider-people and their success. if they are also predestined for their spider-bite, doesn’t that make them akin to monarchs?)

in more nefarious examples, predestination can be used to subjugate and oppress others. predestination was used in ancient indian society in order to justify the caste system - utilizing the hindu concept of karma to justify why certain members of society were mistreated and oppressed. in a more american sense, predestination was often used as a way to justify both slavery and segregation. originally, slavers tried to justify that god wanted black individuals to serve as slaves because it was his will. later, when divine intervention fell out of fashion, they attempted to use eugenics to justify that black individuals were simply born inferior - that it was just science, and that there was nothing they could do about it.

that’s the other reason it’s called canon. the original usage of the word was to refer to the books of the bible that the church recognized as legitimate. it ties back to faith and religion. 

now, religion, faith, and even the belief in fate itself - are not inherently bad. miguel’s belief in predestination doesn’t make him a bad or bigoted person inherently. however, the way he forces other to believe and adhere to it is. it’s very likely that miguel became so attached to the canon in order to justify why his wife and daughter died - in order to remove his own accountability for their passing and instead place the blame on some higher power. this belief snowballed out of control, however - and now influences his jealousy and distaste for miles and his way of life.

because forcing a canon - a story - on miles, is wrong. when miguel tells miles that his father must die, that he has to adhere to canon - that’s a horrible thing to say to a young black boy. to tell him that in order to be successful as a marginalized individual (to be spiderman) that he has to lose the last black male role model he has? it’s heinous! it’s akin to telling miles that in order to succeed, he has to cut ties with part of his culture. which does happen to young marginalized people in america. they are told that in order to be successful, they have to leave their culture, community, and support system behind.

it’s especially sinister when looking at it from the point of view of storytelling. when looking at it from that angle, miguel is basically telling miles that in order for his story - the story of a young black boy - to be profitable, he has to go through even more trauma and loss. it’s similar to what his guidance counselor mentions when discussing how miles should write his college entrance essay - that he should lie, and emphasize that he struggles while growing up, and that his support system was unstable. it’s the traditional story of a struggling black boy - which i discuss more here when talking about earth 42 miles and his inclusion in the spiderverse.

miguel’s bigotry is centrally tried to his idea of what american society expects of marginalized individuals who were able to achieve their dreams despite it all. a story of pain and struggle. one where they were able to - only through their own strength and intelligence, and maybe with a little bit of luck - pull themselves up, and quietly work towards their own success.

miguel’s belief in the american dream and predestination not only influences his treatment of miles, but also his creation of spider-society. now, let me be frank: miguel, in this franchise, is not supposed to represent someone who created systematic oppression. he’s simply one of the people who believed in bigoted ideals and allowed those ideals to influence his decisions. because when miguel created spider-society, it basically became an elitist isolation chamber. spider-society is located in a huge tower on miguela’s earth. the tower is so tall and imposing on the utopian landscape, there’s no way that miguel is able to properly support his own community as spiderman - he’s not worried about what happens to his own community. especially once we learn that a good portion of them live underground, where miguel can’t even see them. even if he wasn’t occupied with anomalies at all times, there’s no way he could even connect with nueva york around him.

the same can be said of all the spider-people in headquarters. they’re not even in their home dimensions. how can they possibly support their communities when they have isolated themselves as far away as they could literally be? it parallels how successful individuals often treat their communities in reality - what do wealthy people usually do at the first sign of their wealth? they build a huge mansion to get away from it all. many times in our capitalist society, wealthy and successful people abandon the communities they should be supporting. 

miguel represents that. he is a successful, powerful person, who decided to focus only on other successful, powerful people like him. marginalized people who achieved the american dream on their own. people who, instead of uplifting others, instead tear down those who don’t fit into their “mold.” who are successful in their own right, but don’t hold the same ideals and values that they do. who aren’t the model example of marginalized success in the eyes of the (white) american “audience.” 

miguel is a product of a great problem within society. while he partakes and perpetuates bigotry, that doesn’t mean that he’s irredeemable. the narrative shows that miguel is a broken man. if we think about to the end credits scene from itsv, where he calls his dimensional travel bracelet a “goober” - he wasn’t always so hateful. he wasn’t always like this. he can un-learn his bigotry and he isn’t completely lost. the way that he discusses his ideas - it’s clear that he knows that there are flaws in them, just as other spider-people consistently point out. he can be changed and improved - just like our real leaders and role models can be changed and improved. miguel is not without saving - but it’s important to remember that he does need to be saved. 

[gunilslaugh]

Fire On Fire

Goo Gunil Summary: Gunil was the dragon lord and you were a disciple of the Red Winged Phoenixes. (non-idol au) (fantasy au)  WC:~3.1k Warning:none

photo not mine credits to owners

“I don’t know why we’re even bothering with this,” you say, kicking your feet as you approach the dragon lord’s palace. 

“How enthusiastic of you,” Seungmin notes sarcastically, rolling his eyes. 

“He’s a dragon. Do you think a dragon is just going to give us one of his treasures?” you state.

“We’re borrowing one of his treasures,” Jiseok corrects. 

“I’m sure in his mind that’s the same as taking it from him,” you retort. 

“What’s your business here?” A guard standing outside the door interrogates you guys. 

“We’re here to see the dragon lord,” Seungmin voices firmly. 

“What concerns does our lord have with you?” the guard asked.

“We need to speak with him about lending us the past reflecting mirror,” Seungmin informs. The guard looks at the other guard standing on the other side of the door. The two of them exchange a few words before eventually stepping out of the way of the door. The door opens up allowing you to enter inside. 

The group of you walk back to the throne room. Where you see the dragon lord sitting on his big, golden throne.

“So you want to take my past reflecting mirror?” he inquired.

“Told you,” you whisper snarkily to Jiseok to which Jiseok scoffs. 

“Not take, just borrow,” Seungmin clarifies. 

“Still, why should I give it to you? What kind of dragon lord would I be if I just handed out my treasure to everyone?” Gunil prompts. 

“What would you like in exchange for lending us the mirror?” Jiseok prompts back. 

“Well I suppose…” Gunil’s words fade off and his eyes fall onto you. 

“I don’t like the ways he’s looking at me,” you say. Gunil chuckles an almost sinister sounding chuckle. 

“I’ll hold onto them.” He points at you. “While you hold onto my mirror,” he finished. 

“I don’t think-” you begin to talk. 

“Ok,” Seungmin agrees. 

“Seungmin what is wrong with you! Nothing about me staying with him is ok!” You snap. Gunil chuckles that same chuckle. 

“No, I think staying with him will do you some good. Straighten you out a bit,” he tells you. 

“I don’t need to be straightened out,” you argue. To which Seungmin arches a brow at you. “Ok, I know I’m not the most professional. I have a more carefree attitude, but I always get my job done. Plus I’m the top disciple when it comes to fighting,” you point out. 

“And the last when it comes to studies,” Seungmin was quick to add. 

“That’s not due to lack of effort though. The information just doesn’t stick,” you defended.

“That is true. They really do try when it comes to studying,” Jiseok backed you up. 

“Still, this should be a good experience for them,” Seungmin states. 

“But-” 

“No buts. You know how much we need the mirror anyway,” Seungmin cuts you off again. You sigh knowing that he was right. 

“Fine,” you grumble. 

“Perfect! It’s settled then,” Gunil claps and stands up from his chair. “Follow me,” he instructs. You all follow him to where he keeps his valuables. “Don’t mind the bit of mess I’m not used to having visitors,” he says as you enter. The room is full of clutters of different valuable items. Some being magical artifacts, others being valuable in their own way. Gems so sparkly and reflective that they hurt your eyes, pure gold challaces, jewelry more expensive than bars of gold. 

“Since you’re not used to having visitors I will gladly leave with my friends here,” you tried to get out of your current situation. 

“Nice try darling, but as long as my mirror is in your friend's hands you will be in mine,” he smiled at you. “Now where did I put that thing?” he ponders looking over the room filled with his treasures. “Ah!” He snapped his fingers. He heads over to one of his precious piles. “Here it is,” he announces after some digging. Gunil walks back over and hands the mirror over to Seungmin. 

“We will return it safely,” Seungmin assures. 

“Yep, all promises to that. We’ll be going now.” You tried one last time to escape, but before you can even get very far you feel a harsh tug on your wrist. You look down to see a red string attached to your wrist? 

“What is this?” you questioned lifting your wrist. 

“I had a feeling you might try to pull a fast one darling, so while I was getting the past reflecting mirror I also grabbed the binding thread,” Gunil discloses. 

“Binding thread?” Your eyes follow the thread connected to your wrist all the way to the other end, finding that it’s connected to Gunil’s own wrist. 

“It won’t let us get more than ten feet apart,” he adds. 

“How do you take it off?” You pulled at the luminescent red thread around your wrist. 

“Only I can undo it since I’m the one who activated it,” he tells you. 

“Well we’ll leave you two to it then. See you soon y/n,” Seungmin says. 

“Good luck, have fun,” Jiseok chimed. Before you could try to argue they were gone. 

“And then there were two,” Gunil smirks. 

“Can you take this off?” you ask, referring to the thread binding you to him. 

“I suppose I could…but I don’t really want to,” he gave the thread a playful tug, pulling you closer to him. “Why do you guys need the mirror anyway?” he questioned curiously. 

“Our master told us not to talk about it,” you reply. 

“That old geezer,” Gunil scoffs. 

“Aye,” you got after him a bit. 

“Sorry,” Gunil raised his hands in defense. 

“But still you’re using my mirror. I have the right to know what it’s being used for right?” he pointed out. 

“It’s just…” you sigh. “Complicated,” you explain. 

“I do love me a good story,” he says with a sly smile. “But let’s not talk here.” Gunil proceeds to lead you out of the room filled with his treasures. He walks back to his throne room and takes a seat. “Come on, there's plenty of room for the both of us.” He pats the empty space beside him. 

“Thanks, but I’ll stand,” you politely refuse. Gunil lets out a hearty laugh. 

“I won’t bite you,” he flashed you his teeth. 

“I wasn’t worried about that,” you let out an awkward laugh, taking a step back. The distance you put between you two is enough to make the Binding Thread light up, but not restrict your movements. 

“So what business do you little phoenixes need with my past reflecting mirror?” Gunil prompts once more. 

“I told you it’s complicated.” You slouch against the wall. 

“We have plenty of time,” he smirked at you. 

“It doesn’t really make sense,” you start. Gunil’s face puzzles slightly at your words. 

“What doesn’t make sense?” he questioned. 

“The guardian of the sapphire stone came to discuss some things with our master.” Gunil nodded along as you began to explain. “Which seemed kinda odd on its own, because I don't know what business they could possibly have together. Anyway my master called me in and ordered me to bring him some of the scrolls from our library. When I came back with the scrolls and walked over to hand them to my master. As I walked past the sapphire guardian my scar acted up really bad.” You turn your head to the side revealing your neck scar and run your fingers over it. The expression on Gunil’s face shifts. A hint of sadness glosses over his eyes.

“Acted up?” His voice almost sounds gentle. 

“Yeah, it’s not a normal scar. It burns sometimes. It really hurts,” you disclose. “Back to the story though. I walked past the guardian of the sapphire stone and my scar burned the worst it ever had. I fell into a coma for about a week too and had really weird dreams while I was in. When I woke up though my master was talking about finding the past reflecting mirror. Said that he needed it to find out the truth about what really happened one thousand years ago when the sapphire stone got stolen,” you tell. Gunil’s eyes widened a bit. 

“It’s about the sapphire stone?” he checked. You nod. 

“My master was really insistent on me being one of the ones to come here and retrieve the mirror too, but he wouldn’t tell me why.” Gunil knew exactly why though. From what you’ve told him he can tell that your master must know who you used to be and what you meant to him. 

“You said you had weird dreams while in your coma,” Gunil mentioned. 

“Yeah I did,” you said. 

“What were they about?” he asked. 

“That’s the thing. I was me, but there was also this guy who I could never see the face of. He was always blurry. He felt really familiar though. We kinda acted like a couple too. I specifically remember this one dream of us running around a flower field,” you answer. “There was also a dream where he and I died,” you added. Gunil’s face fell with his eyes that landed on your scar. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Gunil you are responsible for the theft of the sapphire stone. Your punishment as called for by the heavenly gods is death by lighting strike!” The sapphire gaurdian’s voice booms. 

“He didn’t take it!” you frantically shout off from the side where two guards are holding you back. “It was already gone when we got here!” you insisted. 

“You’re nothing but an abandoned bird! Your word means nothing. In fact if you keep trying to defend him you’ll be condemned as an accomplice of his,” the sapphire guardian threatened. 

“But he really didn’t-”

“Y/n it’s ok,” Gunil cut you off. The thought of anything happening to you terrified him. Especially if it was because of him. 

“No it’s not!” you cried, tears falling from your eyes as you desperately tried to get out the hold of the guards. 

A loud cracking strike of lighting shoots down from the angry sky above, striking Gunil. Gunil lets out a pained grunt and falls to his knees. 

“No!” you scream out. More strikes continue to fall, hitting Gunil and even though you’re not the one being hit, every time you saw Gunil take a strike you felt it too. By some miracle you’re able to escape the trapping grip the guards had on you. You instantly run over to Gunil throwing your body over his, protecting him. 

“Y/n what are you doing? Stop!” Gunil tried to move you out of harm's way. Only it was too late. The next strike of lighting came down, striking you right across your neck. “Y/n!” Gunil shouted. He places his hand over your neck trying to stop the bleeding as he cradles you in lap. 

“It’s ok,” you say weakly with a smile. “I didn’t want to live without you anyway.” You weakly place one of your hands over his that was holding your neck. 

“No, no, no, this isn’t right.” He chokes on his tears. 

“It’s ok, I love you,” you tell him. 

“I love you too.” He leaned down and pressed one last kiss on your lips. Your eyes stayed closed even after he pulled away and your hold on his hand went slack. You were gone. 

To make things worse Gunil didn’t even die that day, only you did. The heavens decided that death was too gracious for him, but being forced to live the rest of his life without the happiness of his life would be the perfect punishment.  

A punishment it was. Gunil became the dragon lord after your passing. However no matter how many precious treasures he possessed they were never as precious as you. He was surrounded by the most expensive luxuries, but life never felt more poor. No matter how many shiny objects surrounded him, his life was dull. 

That was of course until he caught wind of your reincarnation. A flame of life flickered within him. As did many conflicting emotions. He wanted nothing more than to run to you and have you back in his arms, but another part of him still blames himself for your wrongful death. Plus it’s not like you remember your past life with him anyway, so figured that he would watch you from afar. Making sure that nothing bad ever happens to you. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Your voice pulls Gunil out of remembering the painful past. Gunil clears his throat with a cough. 

“Like what?” He acted clueless. 

“Like you’re heartbroken,” you state, with eyes filled with sympathy. Gunil’s expression falters slightly before he covers it with a laugh. 

“I’m the dragon lord. What could I possibly be heartbroken about?” he said. 

“I don’t know, but your eyes always seem sad,” you tell him. “Plus you’re over a thousand years old, I’m sure you’ve been through something, multiple somethings even,” you continued. 

“I’m kinda shocked to hear you say that. You’ve been acting like you don’t care about me and you were clearly upset with getting stuck here with me,” Gunil expresses. 

“I wasn’t upset because of being stuck here with you. I was upset because I want to know the truth about the sapphire stone too. This might sound weird, but I just feel like whatever happened back then has something to with me,” you inform. 

“Why do you think that?” Gunil questioned. There is a bit of a glimmer in Gunil’s eyes. Maybe there was the slightest chance that you could recover your memories from your past life. Your coma “dreams” were proof of that enough.

“Well that dream I told you I had while in the coma. The one where him and I died,” you say. Gunil nodded for you to continue. ���It was because of the sapphire stone. That guy got wrongfully convicted of stealing it. His punishment was death by lighting, but I couldn’t just let him die, so I ran out to save him and died after shielding him from a lighting strike,” you explained. “My master tried to tell me that it was just a crazy dream, but the lightning struck me right here.” You ran your finger along the scar that ran across your neck. “In the exact same spot and I told you before how this isn’t a normal scar. Nor do I remember how I got it. Master said I was born with it. I suppose I could just be making a big deal out of nothing, but-”

“You aren’t” Gunil cut you off. 

“What?” You look at him confused. 

“Your coma dreams are memories from your past life,” he tells you. “You already know the truth about what happened to the sapphire stone one thousand years ago.” 

“How would you know that?” you questioned. Gunil stands up from his throne. Taking the few steps over to where you still stood leaning against the wall. Gunil ever so slowly lifts his hand and brings it to the scar on your neck. He gives you plenty of time to move away or swat his hand. Neither of which you do, but your breath does pick up as his warm fingers gently rest on your scarred skin. It almost feels familiar. The scar on your skin lights up, but it doesn’t burn.

“Though you do have a bit of the story wrong. I never died…just you,” he choked. He’s looking at you with those heartbroken eyes again. 

“You?” you say softly Gunil nods and snaps his fingers. 

Suddenly you two are transported to the flower field that you remember from your “dreams”. 

“It’s real,” you say, taking in the breathtaking, surreal scenery.

“Of course it’s real,” Gunil says, admiring you. This moment felt very surreal for him too. Being here with you back in the flower field. 

“Wait,” you suddenly state in the midst of enjoying the flower field. 

“What is it?” Gunil asked. 

“If you’ve had the past reflecting mirror all this time. How come you never used it to clear your name?” you questioned. 

“You died because of me, so I felt like I didn’t deserve to have my name cleared. Even if I did it would have been pointless anyway. Life without you was pointless. I had all the precious treasures in the world, but none of them were you. None of them made me happy. Nothing made me happy,” he reveals. 

“How come you didn’t come to me then?” you inquired. 

“Who says I didn’t?” he responded. 

“What?” your brows knitted together in confusion. 

“This isn’t Binding Thread,” Gunil states, lifting up his wrist tied with the red thread. “It’s Soulmate String” he corrects. “I casted the spell for it right before you died, so that I could find you once you came back. I’ve been watching over you ever since you reincarnated.” 

“I did find it a bit strange that it was red,” you chuckled. Gunil takes a step closer to you so that he can grab your hand. Linking your fingers together like the threads that bind you together. The red string flashes and everything comes back to you. Every single moment between you and Gunil that happened one thousand years ago.

Which would have been a very beautiful moment if your scar had not flared up while doing so. The stinging burn makes you wince in pain and Gunil panic. 

“What’s the matter are you? Y/n you have to be ok!” he shouts frantically cupping his hand over your burning scar. This moment reminds him much too much of how your past life ended. You place your hand over his, that’s holding your neck, and give it a squeeze. You open your eyes and your other hand goes to cup his cheek.

“I’m ok” you smile at him. “Don’t cry” you say, wiping the tears that welted up in his eyes. Gunil lets out a huge sigh of relief and pulls you against him in a tight embrace.

“Don’t do that. I can’t lose you again” He held you impossibly tighter. 

“I won’t go anywhere. I promise” you reassure him. You hug him back while gently running your hands up and down his back. “I’m ok” you repeated. After a while the two of you pull away. 

“Seriously, don’t leave me again please? Life is nothing but pain without you,” he begs. 

“I won’t leave you,” you reassure him again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the end Gunil, the great dragon lord's name was cleared. You now live happily with him in his palace. Where even amongst all his precious shiny highly valuable treasures, you were the most precious of all. Gunil was going to treasure you for the rest of your twos’ lives.

taglist: @purplelady85 @gingerjunhan @chewednails @ezlynkisses @mon2sunjinsuver @mxlly143 @seungseung-minmin

comment or message me to be added!

[hcgossips]

Hi, I don't know if you've ever been around people who suffer from anxiety or if you've experienced it yourself. I know I hate being in a relationship, especially when my symptoms are severe. It's always "but you have a good life" and so on. But I don't tell them all… what it's like to have constantly panic attacks make you feel like you're going to die, and your heart rate increases., being mocked, then I prefer them to stay quiet and obviously I'm harsh on them so they leave me alone. So we're seen as narcissists even though we can't make ourselves understood, especially by our parents who ask us about grandchildren when we're not stable. They think having children will cure us. You see, fans like me will find it hard to criticize him because he can't handle himself, but also because we are aware of the weight of people's criticism. And I'm called weak or fragile, ungrateful, lazy, weird. I'm telling you all this so that you can understand people like us, but if you still don't believe us, it's because we live in a shitty society. We're so unstable that neither relationships nor jobs last. We're the failures of society. Our choices will be based primarily on our ability to manage our fears. This leads to new medications, new diagnoses, new side effects. But it’s okay it’s definitely entirely our fault, we’re always dramatic for nothing.

Hi. Your description was clarifying for those who don't know what it's like. But, yes. Believe me. I know. But, he's not alone. He has an entire support among managers, PR team, AR team, family and you name it, who all know about his limitation and work in favor of hiding it from fans and of protecting him, besides helping him make the right decisions, for in his case, all these people have a financial interest and he is in the place of a legal person. As a person with extreme anxiety, do you allow people to force you to go through a situation you know that will be unbearable for you and that will cause you a panic attack or you deny doing it to avoid crisis, because you can't stand the symptoms? People with anxiety, from medium to severe (which I believe could be his case), usually boycott themselves to avoid a crisis and unpleasant symptoms. OK. You might say the PR stunts were a safe situation he was used to and that's why he did it. But, the strategies used against negative publicity... Those weren't. All he had to do was say NO. But again, I'll give the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he didn't say it, for he thought he could trust the team. But, as he saw they were actually putting more fuel to fire, he should have backed up. OK, again, I will be condescending and suppose.... I don't know. I lost myself. I do believe he is anxious and shy, but he has managed his anxiety over the years feeling more comfortable with duties. Up to now. This shenanigan could have been avoided if he had avoided escorting. This is what led him to this situation, choosing to sell himself as an escort, pretending a fake life also off duty. Not his anxiety. I don't criticize his symptoms. I criticize the decision that led him to the symptoms. Even being a person with low emotional IQ, a public figure who works trusting his manager, he has a certain autonomy to say NO to situations that can jeopardize his integrity. But, then, again, I can be condescending and suppose he signed a deal to always have others deciding for him, without being acquainted about the situation he will put himself in. In this case, he's more than extremely anxious. He's a moron. Sorry, I don't think he's the kind that lets someone else decide deals for him without knowing what he's getting into. Being a person with extreme anxiety (you know that), he is very selective and avoids stressful unnecessary situations. This shenanigan was a whole new thing for him, a different type of PR deal that could have been avoided. He had done it before (KC, the hunter), there was no negative follow up and his image wasn't jeopardized. This time, the real way they all work, the truth about this escorting service and the way he really deals with this part of his life came public. If not, his anxiety would be safe and they wouldn't have induced his symptoms. So, was it intentional to screw him?

[bibibbon]

And this one is about Dabi, bc I think he was done dirty so much (just like Izu) and I have to say....I don't like how dabi is closer to Natsu, a 8 years old, over Yumi.

I get the reason and have seen many discussion about Dabi and Natsu, trust me. But Yumi was there....she is their sister but is she like the maid or smth? I'm serious bc when Rei was gone I know the chores fall to Yumi who is the only girl in the house (mind you, Endy is rich enough to have more helpers "maybe he did and we don't know" ok fair, but the emotional labour fall to Yumi)

And yes Dabi was just parroting his father's sexism (when dabi wake up from the coma he wanted to apologize to his mom and sister, so is not as if he hated them. I do agree it's and should be nuanced ...) but we aren't allowed to see Toya and Yumi bonding? Did Toya ignored his sister and went straight to vent to a 8 years old boy?

Feels odd (not odd, in the sense "I don't believe it" but in the sense "it's forced, Toya had someone closer in age to talk") bc why not talk to his sister? Was she pro endy even back then? But Toya wanted his attention so his sister being pro endy wouldn't be an issue unless she told him to try be smth else.

Just saying it's ...strange how Yumi is ignored when she is closer of age to Toya. Dabi and Natsu have a bonding but not Yumi...bc she is a girl.

Did Dabi unlearn his sexism way? Look, as much "sexist dabi" are funny jokes...I never saw him, the adult dabi, as sexist. Endy? Yes. Dabi, the crazy villain not (not saying Dabi is feminist king or any shit, but like he never gave me the vibe of being "woman make me a sandwich!")

Just wondering here.

Hi @mikeellee 👋

I think it makes sense why Touya was closer to Natsou than to fuyumi. Now, when I say that, I mean that Touya simply talked to and opened up more to Natsou, not that he and fuyumi didn't have a relationship at all. The Canon material shows that they had a sibling relationship but they weren't particularly as close compared to touya and Natsou and I do think this stems from Touya's own mysgonistic beliefs that were instilled into him by Enji's behaviour. I do want to clarify that Touya's mysgonistic beliefs aren't presented as a LOUD BARRIER to his relationship with fuyumi and his mother, but they are still quite a present and persistent barrier that needs to be acknowledged. Yes, Touya cares for his mother and sister, and he did feel guilty after waking up from his coma, but that doesn't negate the fact that he has some concerning beliefs that taint his own perception of the women in the todoroki household.

That's to say I believe that Touya did use to open up to fuyumi but as time went on he slowly distanced himself away and began relaying on Natsou a lot more due to him viewing him and Natsou to be more similar again a mysognistic belief that is highlighted in these 2 pages.

Touya still seems to have a relationship with his sister before his death. However, I would argue that it's a lot more distant now than, especially with their differing beliefs on the matters of the household. Fuyumi craves a normal life and a normal happy family, which causes her to pretend everything is fine and try and do damage control on what she could while Touya knew fully what was going on with the family and abs hated all of it causing him to actively go against his parents wishes and rebel.

They still seem to be close as Touya does accept her invitation to play with her and Natsou. However, I would argue that Fuyumi now has a closer relationship to Natsou than to Touya, and the same is applicable to Touya.

Again, I do wish we got more flashbacks and differing perspectives from the todoroki family, especially from Fuyumi's perspective.

Before the incident, it is stated in chapter 302 that Enji did hire help but it was only to look after Shoto which does mean that the responsibility of the 3 children did fall mainly to Rei and I do believe that a gold chunk of the manual and emotional labour fell onto Fuyumi as well after her mother was hospitalised. I do think it is a possibility that Enji did hire someone to look after them however, I find it unlikely that the person stayed long at all or that they done much in general and I think from what we see it is heavily implied that after their mother's hospitalisation Fuyumi is the one to handle the labour requited to be fulfilled.

I don't think that the reason Touya was distant with fuyumi was that she was pro enji but more due to their differing views about what they want and how they individually process the situation they are in mixed in with Touya's mysgoiny. However, I do believe that Touya unlearns this after he becomes Dabi yet it is a shame that Horikoshi never showed us when and how (probably because it would paint enji in a bad light and it would need to be told from Dabi's perspective)

[wlw-stanbot]

Yelena opened her eyes as soon as footsteps entered the room again. The edges of her vision blurred with drugs and alcohol and pain, but Kate’s face clarified as it came closer. She focused in on the bright blue eyes framed by errant strands of curly black hair that fell forward as she leaned over. Her eyes flicked down just slightly to the lush pink lips that had been on hers just a few minutes ago and couldn’t help but smile with the memory of it.

Kate Bishop. Kate. Her little hawk. No. Stop it. You sound like a love struck fool from a stupid American movie.

Yelena wrenched her eyes away but Kate still stood there. With a quick side glance she realized that the hovering woman was trying to hand her something.

“Are you in too much pain to eat? You should try to anyway. You won’t heal without food.” Kate was holding a plate with wonderful smelling triangles on it and a steaming mug.

Pizza. Right. That’s where she went. Yelena started to realize her blood loss may have been worse than she anticipated. She avoided looking down at her abdomen, which was still wholly exposed except for the loose pile of gauze covering her wound, reaching for the plate and mug instead.

“Thank you, Kate. You’re sweet like…marshmallows,” Yelena looked into the mug of chocolate, expecting to see the usual topping she had just mentioned, but the fluffy little pillows were nowhere to be found. She frowned into the dark brown liquid.

Kate grimaced, “Yeah, sorry. I ate the rest of the bag a few hours ago. Well, technically it was the second bag. I finished the one we opened before you left a few days ago. They’re just so easy to eat, you know. Like little pillows of sweet and sticky - ”

Yelena watched Kate dive fully into one of her typical rambles, her mind and eyes drifting back to the mouth as it was talking. She grabbed a slice of pizza and shoved it into her mouth to stop herself from thinking about the ways she wanted to interrupt the rapidly moving lips.

Fuck…chew your damn pizza and don’t look up again.

“...you know what I mean?"

Yelena’s resolve faltered immediately. She looked into Kate’s expectant face, having no idea what words it had just been producing. She stared blankly, trying to remember…something about marshmallows?

“You aren’t listening,” Kate narrowed her eyes then just as quickly softened,” - sorry, of course…I’m rambling. You’re probably too tired to pay attention. It’s ok. I’ll uh, go, just let me know when you’re done and - “

Yelena felt herself sitting up slightly and speaking more forcefully than she truly had the energy for, “No, don’t go. Please.”

New chapter is up, a little fluffy, a lot of emotions.

[dearfuturehusbandblog]

"You Need To Go To Therapy"

Dear Future Husband,

Apparently I need to go to therapy.

At least, according to MotherLivelyHeart.

Go ahead. Ask why.

Ok, I'll tell you:

Because she interpreted a message from me in a way I didn't intend it.

Oh, you wanna know the message?

I responded to her 7:15pm message of "FYI You should be heading home now" with "I'm like a minute away. You said 7:45"

And apparently she took that to mean, "I'm in the car and driving and only a minute away, I'll be there shortly."

Which I did not.

My meaning was "I'm at a location only a minute away from you, so why are you messaging me to head home right now when you need a ride in a half an hour and not this instant."

Now, rereading my message I can see how one would think that it might mean "I'll be there in a minute."

Except that she responded with "I just don't want you to cut it too close." And then TWENTY MINUTES LATER said that she was on her way down to wait for me in the lobby of our building.

I pulled up in front of the building at 7:45pm and she was PISSSSSED.

She has a ladies thing on Monday nights at 8pm that was on haiatus around the chagim and tonight they're back at it.

And she told me earlier that she wanted to leave at 7:45pm because the thing is about 8 minutes away and she didn't want to be late.

I'm going out of town for a month and a half and leaving TOMORROW.

I told her LAST WEEK that I had some stuff I needed to get done before I go and really hoped she'd get a ride to the thing but she had every excuse in the book.

"None of them live in the area."

"None of them are running errands in our area."

"Why would they go out of their way to pick me up?"

And my favorite:

"The ladies in the group are.... I don't want to say anything bad, they're really nice ladies, but I don't want to bother them."

We NEVER discussed whether I'd be giving her a ride or if she'd be taking the car. Since in the past I've given her a ride, I assumed that's what we were doing.

So she was pissed that (a) I was "late" because she'd been waiting downstairs for 10 minutes and that is just so "unbelievable" after telling her I was "a minute away 30 minutes ago". And (b) that I was taking the car to get some stuff done while she's at her thing because I'm LITERALLY LEAVING TOMORROW and it would just be sitting while she's doing her thing.

But there was no "thought you said you'd be home in a minute" message or "should I meet you for the car in a minute?" or anything like that.

She thought I was going to be home in a minute and then twenty minutes later told me she was going downstairs.

That's not a conversation!

Though she considers it one.

There was no way for me to clarify anything because she didn't even give me a hint that she had misunderstood what I was saying.

But I'M THE ONE with a communication problem.

And I'M THE ONE who has a time-telling problem.

And I'M THE ONE who needs therapy because we have "too many" of these misunderstandings.

I'm pretty sure it's misguided rage. Because I'm pretty sure she's pissed she can't be there for the birth of her second grandchild (b'shaa tova sometime soon).

LittleBean is turning 3 this year and they live in Israel so MotherLivelyHeart doesn't get to see her and she won't be there for this birth or get to hold this baby as a newborn.

But she spent the entire car ride over to the thing telling me I need to be in therapy, whether with or without her, to deal with this communication problem that WE have because she did not clarify or ask for clarification for a message that I don't know how to even reword to make it simpler to understand without it sounding wordy and condescending.

FML

"I'm only a minute away" has the same connotation.

"I'm not that far away" is the same thing.

"I'm right around the corner" - same problem.

In fact, I almost wrote "I'm right around the corner" and then thought THAT made it seem like I was driving and literally around the corner, so I didn't use it because I DIDN'T want to be misleading.

How do I phrase "I'm at a location that is the distance of hardly a minute, let alone a half hour from where you are" without suggesting that I'm in the car and driving to her right this very second????

And how do I add "you told me you wanted me back at 7:45 so you could make it to your thing at 8pm without walking in the door at 8pm, but it's only 7:15pm so I still have a half an hour and since I'm only the distance of like a minute away, why should I be on my way back home right this minute?"

HOWWWWW????

"It's almost like you do this on purpose."

EXCUSE ME!?!?!?!?!

HER misunderstanding a message from me is somehow MY fault!?

That's gaslighting, right?

You know, gaslighting - the very phrase she throws around like everyone is doing it to her because she's the victim all the time?

I'm so done with this crap.

I just want to disappear into nothing right now.

Just cease to exist.

I can't handle this stuff anymore.

Yeah, I need to be in therapy but not to deal with OUR communication issues.

I need to be in therapy because of this crap she does to me.

And I'm never going to escape this until one of us dies.

FML.

So, my dear future husband, if you actually exist:

I'm sorry.

That's literally all I have for you right now. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry for who I am, I'm sorry for where I come from, I'm sorry for the baggage that I'll bring to our relationship.

I'm just sorry.

-LivelyHeart

[the-healthiest-potion]

BLOG INTRO WOOHOO!!!

Hiii!! I'm Prismo (@prismo-pelican) I go by any pronouns and I'm in my early 20s!!! This is like... The first roleplay blog thingy I've ever done PLEASE have patience with me!!!

This is a roleplay/ask/parody blog for my silly little Phighting OC, Health Potion! His dialogue will be in red while general narration will be in normal text! (Example: "Wow, I sure do love not dying!" He gives you a thumbs up!) This post miiight be kinda long, but I hope it's not unbearably long for people to read....

RULES!!!

No NSFW stuff! I would prefer it if there was nothing suggestive in my requests!

No romance prompts, please!

Canon and OC interactions are encouraged! I'm not picky, I'd love to see HP interact with anyone.

You're allowed to traumatize him. Go. Be free. (I'm ok with stuff like gore!)

Basic DNI (Homophobes, Transphobes, Sexists, Incels, Proshippers, Darkshippers, etc) and stuff. I know I can't stop those kinds of people from interacting with me if they want to, but I want to clarify that they're not welcome here.

Just don't be a jerk!

Other than that, feel free to interact with me! I'd love to get more engaged with roleplaying communities and the phighting community as a whole! :D

WARNINGS!!!

Just some general Content Warnings that are probably gonna be prevalent themes with HP!

Abuse. Specifically Physical and Psychological

Mentions of scars in general. Not SH scars, but the topic of scars and their origins might be mentioned.

Alcoholism/Alcohol mention in general

Pretty sure some other warnings just go with Phighting Lore in general like Cult Activity and Violence. Idk if that's all of them, but those are the two big ones I know are there. Stay safe out there!

And now, under the cut, will be CHARACTER INFORMATION, PREDETERMINED RELATIONSHIPS, APPEARANCES, and TAGS!

CHARACTER INFORMATION!!!

PERSONALITY: HP is an anxious, awkward overthinker with determination and a stubborn soul. He sticks to his ideals and beliefs religiously and as a result, he never gives up on trying to help people. He firmly believes that all people are innocent until proven guilty and that all innocent people should not be without a chance to receive support. Because of these beliefs and how closely he sticks to them, HP offers healing in any way he can pretty much for free. The only thing stopping him from fully committing to the role of a healer is his fears and inability to brave dangers alone. LORE: HEALTH POTION (HP for short) is an old friend of Coil's with quite a complicated history... His backstory's a little long, so I'll do the best I can to summarize!

Health Potion formerly went by a different name and appearance as a Blackrockian partner in crime to Coil until one day when he was caught and used as a test subject for an experimental brain chip that wiped his memories. For a bit, he was placed as a subordinate to Subspace, who was anything but kind to him (and probably downright abusive) because he knew HP still wasn't fully "broken" and didn't want yet another healer to become an issue for him. Ironically, this treatment is what led HP to run away from Blackrock after he somehow found out about Medkit's successful escape before his own.

To get back on his feet, Health Potion worked as a healer for underground fighting rings and completely changed his appearance in the process, which is where he met Coil again for the second time. Recognizing HP, Coil rekindled their friendship and now helps HP in trying to uncover forgotten memories.

Currently, HP and Coil share a hiding space, and (to my personal headcanon? I think?) share an apartment with Skateboard.

(Note: HP's brain chip is not traceable due to connections to a friend's OC, Kazoo, who introduced him to Medkit and paid the medic to tamper with the chip. I just didn't put it in the lore summary to keep it as short as I could. :3)

HP prefers He/Him pronouns! TRIVIA:

HP's gear has been modified so heavily that he barely even counts as a potion anymore. It's more like an Alchemy machine he uses to make much more than just Health Potions, though that is his gear's main function.

HP experiences intense migraines and chronic headaches thanks to the chip in his brain.

Due to the intense abuse Health Potion faced in Blackrock, he developed a chronic phobia of the dark and loneliness.

(There's more, but I think it'd be more fun for people to discover the rest through asks and roleplay threads!)

PREDETERMINED RELATIONSHIPS!!!

HP and Coil have a pretty solid friendship! Even though HP isn't how he used to be, he's still Coil's friend, and a loyal one at that. He admires Coil's overwhelming confidence and is slightly horrified at the sheer lack of consequences he's faced for being a major thorn in Blackrock's side. HP would follow Coil anywhere. In his eyes, there is very little Coil can do wrong. Skateboard and HP are pretty good friends, too! After all, any friend of Coil's is a friend of Skateboard's and HP is very thankful to have Skateboard as a friend. He thinks of Skateboard as a supportive figure and really appreciates everything he's done for him. Subspace terrifies HP. And he is very vocal about this. He sees Subspace in his nightmares and can always feel his oppressive presence in the back of his mind. He can say he doesn't remember what happened to him all he wants, but it's hard to forget the reason you can't feel like you used to. Because of HP's fear of Subspace, Biografts in general REALLY intimidate him. HP and Medkit are on neutral terms. They really only spoke once, but they have a mutual understanding that they were hurt by the same person. And from that, there's a little feeling of respect. At least for HP. HP and Kazoo (@orbital-strike-flute) are best friends! Platonic Siblings, even! Who argue! All the time! Constantly! They would probably die for each other! All other characters are people HP has either never met, or has only heard about.

[He also has relationships with other OCs that belong to other friends, but I'm not going to put them here! HP might mention them by name, though, if my friends are comfortable with it and the ask or reply I'm doing or whatever calls for the opportunity!]

APPEARENCES!!!

[Current HP Appearence]

[Past HP Appearence]

TAGS!!!

coming right up - Ask Answered

health POSTion - Standard HP Post Tag

iron cafe shenanigans - IC Post

after hours - Lore-Related Post

hps not home - OOC post

phighting/phighting oc/phighting rp/etc. - Generic Tags

[basedonconjecture]

The Wheel of Fortune & The Lovers for the Rook Tarot game (romance edition)? 👀

Rook Tarot Ask Game Romance Edition 💕

Thank you for the ask, dear Anon!

click here <- for the game if anyone else wants to play

💕Answered: The Fool & The Moon, The Wheel of Fortune & The Lovers, The High Priestess & The Magician

~*~

The Wheel of Fortune: Each of Rook’s potential love interests are dealing with significant personal issues and difficult choices. How do these choices affect their relationship, and how does Rook support them through their personal journey?

To begin with, Selora’s a Crow as well, so she had a personal stake in it but, for that same reason, they did have to establish a baseline of honesty to be able to work together even before there were any feelings involved. Lucanis’ journey centers on trust, control, and self-reliance in the extreme among other things and working to set aside their natural suspicion of each other did help them establish the first of these so she could support him in tangible ways. It also helped she kinda took Spite in stride when maybe she should have been a touch more concerned but she just… wasn’t. Very much an “I’ve seen freakier things” attitude there. So getting to the heart (lololol) of his issues was more a matter of patience, understanding, a lot of positive affirmation (even if he didn’t always accept it at the time) and consistently showing up in those ways which is also largely why it was really important they were friends first. Whatever else happened between them, those things were and always would be unconditional from her.

So, in that sense, the choices he made didn’t affect their relationship because she’s only ever wanted what’s best for him and, while she may have her own thoughts on what that constitutes, she would have supported him whichever way it went even if it meant an end to their romantic* relationship entirely tbh. I think part of her is relieved at the way it ended because it might have done him some irrevocable damage otherwise. There’s damage there anyway but at least there’s more of a chance for healing on all sides. If, after some time, he decided to give up First Talon and leave, she’d go with him. And the same goes for her. That was a promise they made to each other when they went home and the reality sort of hit (after a giant nap and the obligatory celebratory events ofc) but what’s actually in store for them, who’s to say? Who’s to SAY? Certainly not me 👀

*edited to add/clarify here that she’d have remained friends with him if she could have so the central most pillar of their relationship would have been unaffected

&

The Lovers: What does Rook learn about themself and their desires through their relationship with their love interest?

On an emotional level, the biggest revelation for her was really just how much she desires safety. It makes sense when she thinks about how dangerous her life has always been. Not to be cliche about it but “if home was a person” / “on my guard with the rest of the world but not with you” / “you know your name is safe in their mouth” / “I will be able to make toast in the mornings, I will do my best to get it right” / “I would love to but only with you” <- The kind of love that offers safety, security, a place to take off her mask, lay down her burdens, and rest. She’d walk right into hell for it tbqh which she did not know about herself until she got a taste of it right before getting imprisoned in the Fade ok ok that time was ROUGH.

If we’re talking physical desire… listen, as soon as I start listing traits, it will quickly be very apparent that she’s just attracted to Lucanis because she certainly did not give very much thought to widow’s peaks or face moles before she met him. She goes a little stupid when he’s nearby and remembers nothing about anyone she’s ever been attracted to previously and I think she can be forgiven for that. Something that did surprise her, however, was how well she responds to, ahem, praise. That was new. Would she admit to it? Absolutely not, absolutely not. But she gets a single scrap of praise from him and she has to take a lap so. Maybe one day I’ll brave some nsfw asks but that day is not today lmao