#WTF is going on all of my post because...
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Goodbye for Now
Almost 2 months ago I posted a list of possible hurdles that Oliver had warned us about (link):
It's possibly because of something from Tommy's past (we might get a Tommy Begins of some sort).
It possibly would happen through episodes 8x05 and 8x06.
Buck will go to Bobby, Maddie, and Eddie for support during that period.
Buck might find out about Tommy's past (being a racist and mysoginist a-hole) and couldn't accept it, or
Tommy might meet Carla. Carla might tell Buck that Tommy had lied to Abby and used her as a beard in the past. Abby was hurt badly because of it, and Buck couldn't accept it.
Buck might break up with Tommy.
Buck might try to date another man or a woman (if they want to emphasize that Buck is bisexual, not gay).
When I made the above list, I half-jokingly wrote down the worst posssibilities I could think of. The purpose of my post back then is to prepare other Tevan shippers who at the time had doubt about the relationship. I told them that grown-up relationships had all sorts of challenges, including break-ups. I also told them to watch Disney Princess movies if they couldn't handle it.
Who knew that almost 2 months later I have to swallow my own pills?
As contradictive as it sounds, I'm not happy that my predictions come true, including the possibility of Buck dating men & women again (prediction #7) which could happen based on interview with Oliver Stark (link)
Will Buck and Tommy make up?
Negative sign:
There are two interviews with Lou which I still refused to read, because the writers used to be Buddie baiters. But according to fans who have read it, the break up seems final.
Positive signs:
A)) 9-1-1 official Instagram account wouldn't follow Lou in the first place if he wouldn't stay for long term. Last time I check, 9-1-1 account still following Lou.
B)) Things that I wrote in my previous post still stand (link).
Tim and Oliver has said they wanted Buck to get out of the relationship hamster wheel and have a steady meaningful one instead.
Unlike Abby, whom they broke up with Buck because Tim had difficulties in writing her interaction with other 118 family members, Tommy has known most of the 118 family even before Buck does. There is no difficulty in making scripts where Tommy interacts with other 118 members without Buck's presence.
And the most important reason is: THE RATING IS HIGH when Tevan relationship is going strong.
My conclusion: There are 2 options:
The break-up is only temporary, to spice things up. Unfortunately, the timing is really bad because it is aired after the fuck-up US election result đ¤Ś.
Tommy is moving to the new 9-1-1 spin-off, which probably located in Hawaii (link). If this happens, the break-up might be permanent, but it will be good for Lou's career.
What's next?
Although I think Tommy will come back in the 9-1-1 universe, I'm still upset. The 2nd term of Trump and Tevan's break-up happened within the same week! WTF??? I refuse to deal with both at the same time.
This is a list of what I will and will not do, and what I've done:
I will not harrass Tim Minear, Oliver Stark, or even the show on social media. I will not post my disappointment on unrelated social media contents. We have experienced how annoying it was when toxic Buddie fans did it. I refuse to do the same. I suggest other Tevan fans too. We are better than that.
I have unfollowed all 9-1-1 related social media accounts, both official and not. Yes, it is included 911bts and 911cast Tumblr accounts. I think this is a healthy way to voice my disappointment and to maintain my mental health.
I will stop watching the show until Tommy is (or, is officially announced to be) back on screen. The only exception will be when they show Bathena's new house for the first time, because I've been waiting to see it. Other than that, just no. Not even when Eddie reunites with Chris, if that happens before Tommy is back on screen. This step might even save me a few bucks, actually đ
.
I will stop engaging with 9-1-1 related contents on the internet. I will not read any articles about the show. I will not comment, post, reblog or do anything with contents about 9-1-1 on the internet.
I will stop reading 9-1-1 fics because I never comfortable following ships which are against canon. That's why I don't ship Buddie. And now that Tevan broke-up, I cannot engage with AUs where they are still together.
If you think Tevan will make up, why do you quit the show? Because:
I consume entertainment contents to be entertained, not to be depressed. I used to skip sad chapters on novels, and only read them when I'm ready. Buck without Tommy is a sad chapter for me, so I skip it.
This is my way to voice my disappointment in a healthy way. Things that matter the most for the show are rating/viewership and rating/viewership-related metrics. My actions may not have significant impacts to the show, but I am satisfied, nonetheless. Especially, after Oliver's comment that he has actively asked Tim Minear to 'Let Buck Fâk' men and women (link). His ask is not only a regression to slutty Buck 1.0 (which we thought he has grown out of), but also strengthening the stereotype that bisexual people are easy to fuck around. A stereotype that a lot of bisexual people want to shred.
Tim Minear and Oliver Stark have the right to make the story as they see fit. This show is not customed to my preference. I'm very much aware of that. This is a "love it or leave it" product. So, I choose to leave it. For now.
To my followers: As I mentioned in my account, you can unfollow me. I use Tumblr as a scrapbook, not to gain followers. I was actually surprised and felt a bit guilty when people start following me, because I don't create arts, gifs, or fics. So, feel free to unfollow me. No hard feeling.
To other Tevan shippers: I know this is beyond disappointing, but please keep your online behavior in check. Please keep in mind that if you post your disapointment in social media, toxic Buddie shippers will eat you alive. Even if you don't, Buddie shippers will be gloating all over the internet. If you can't handle it, I suggest to forgo any interactions in 9-1-1 social media, at least temporarily.
Special thanks to my fellow Tevan fans and the lovely Buddietommy multishippers whom I've met during this journey. I hope we'll meet again. What a roller-coaster ride.
Now, back to Disney Princess movies... đ
#bucktommy#buck x tommy#buck tommy#tommy kinard#kinkley#tevan#911 discourse#911 abc#911 fandom#911 on abc#anti buddie#antibuddie
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Danny is just a kid ya know? Like he is just a little guy. A baby really. 14? Tiny child! Look at him, he needs to be protected. Someone has to help this poor little dude. I mean he forgets to use his own powers to avoid attacks all the time.
Anyway cut to Batfam not knowing all of Dannys power set cause the lil dingus keeps forgetting he can do that stuff in the heat of battle.
Danny uses his invisibility all the time⌠to avoid being followed. But in a fight? Oopsies hes too busy thinking of funny one liners to realise he could do that.
Intangibility? Give the guy a break. I mean who calls themselves condiment king. Even he was stunned.
He so rarely actually uses his biggest advantage powers that the League doubt he actually has them. He, like any naive child, trusts them and reported fully on his power set. Instead of just asking him to demonstrate his powers they instead start watching him and try to find evidence of his powers.
At least they know duplication was true since they watched him make a copy of himself to go to the bathroom and not miss any of his fav tv show.
#danny phantom#dp x dc#dpxdc#im 100% here for danny using his powers for stupid shit and not the important battle stuff#this post wasnât meant to be like this so I guess heres for you guys who read my stupid tags#I was gonna have the batfam adopt danny after a reveal and just not know all the crazy stuff he can do#they think they got him figured out then at the manner he does something like seep into the floor to get his forgotten school bag#or he turns invisible cause he got caught parnking and bruce is talking to him and steph but he just dips#no wait I can do better. he gets yelled at by bruce (aka new father figure) for eating a corn chip off the floor and just vanishes fromâŚ#⌠from getting surprised. meanwhile bruce is like!?!?!?!!?#just imagine them going crazy because they have no idea his powerset and they thought they did#his new siblings make a game of it#they get on missions and keep asking danny to do more and more impossible stuff just to see if he will reveal a new power#hey danny go scope out the area but make sure you arent seen ok#and hes like sure thing fam and goes invisible and intangible#doesnât think to just take out the baddies and returns to them with a full floor plan and locatikn of all the baddies and drugs#like wtf#hey danny think you can do anything about that generator? and hes like sure thing fam and then freezes it#danny bro this guy is out of control! little help? and danny just walks up to the guy and overshadows him and handcuffs himself#brother daniel I dint think we can get in but theres a small hole here in the wall#would you be able to do anything about that? and instead of just walking thru the wall danny shifts his body and goes thru the hole#as if he had no bones and became liquid#the game gets intense and breaks bruce so he gives in first (yes he was playkng too) and just asks danny to show them his powers#he will say some shit like âah hey chum think you can show us all your abilities? that was we can coordinate better in the field.â#dannys just like âyea daddio sure thingâ then proceeded to show off his entire move set minus wail until bruce showed him a chamberâŚ#⌠that could âwith standâ his power (spoiler he destroyed that fucking toom lmao)#ok my spaghetti rings and meatballs have been done for a while and juliet is trying to eat them out the microwave so hopefully these tags#fed yall goobers#man I should have just made a second post lmao#stood in the kitchen too long typing and they got cold
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you win this time
it's essentially just a sequel to this. inked traditionally with a gpen and scanned it to color digitally
closeups/og inks below keep reading
#artwork#hsr fanart#hsr#doodle#honkai star rail#illustration#yunli#hsr yunli#yanqing#hsr yanqing#yunqing#yunli x yanqing#yanqing x yunli#gotta love em. it's crazy how they kind of singlehandedly pulled me out of artblock#it's not even a shipping thing#it's just that their dynamic sparks joy in my brain somewhere#she was Not Happy that she had to give the sword back#but grandpa huaiyan said so so she had to acquiesce#side note who has been gatekeeping g pens from me all these years wtf???#dip pens may be kind of annoying to use but like#the line variance that comes with the flexible nibs is SO good#haven't tried the saji or mapping nibs and tbh i don't think i'm gonna because i like working with nibs that respond to pressure#but gah dam#this blows my stylo and kakuno out of the water#i also love that the ink is waterproof#watercolor stuff coming soon maybe#well not on this acc because i don't post trad art stuff here#if you've read this far in the tags my sketchdump account is @ihadsomejays on instagram#that's mostly where i post my real sketchbook but it's also shitposts#ok this is enough tags i'm going back to the dungeon
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because @thefrostflower 's tags wouldn't leave my head
#ffxivsnaps#gposers#ffxiv gpose#ffxiv oc#hyur#mygposes.#this has haunted me for weeks. i finally sat down and did it because i couldn't stop laughing to myself about it#don't look too close at the hands and stuff this was my first time ever using brio for posing. i had to do things manually orz#context here is that achille is trying not to throw up from aether sickness after being on the source for like a week#this is the first time achille ran into a person because he's been fumbling around the jungle trying to get his bearings straight#and hector is completely clueless going 'oh wow :) your clothes are so strange :) are you from garlemald? i like it haha'#meanwhile achille is like 'garlicmold???'#and that's how they met. achille is Annoyed with hector but follows him around bcuz wtf is this place#hector doesn't mind because now he has a travel companion but his cheery attitude makes achille more pissed off#and then they kiss- *very loud truck passes by*#ALSO since that post i FINALLY figured out how to make the cross necklace show up for that shirt. it was the metadata after all#i ended up overlooking something and now it shows up :]
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On top of this- can you imagine if Hank and Logan have to deal with this idiot REfalling in love with his literal husband because of the dementia?
Erik: *Is doing a puzzle*
Logan: *Is supervising the old coot*
Hank: *Rolls in Charles* Watch him for a couple minutes will you? I have to make lunch.
Logan: đ
Charles: Oh! Logan, How have you been? I haven't seen you in such a long time.
Logan, who's literally the one who carried him downstairs this morning: Yeah, I'm alright.
Erik: *already is staring, curiously looking away at times so not to be noticed*
Charles: Logan, did I ever tell you about how incredible organisms can be?
Logan: *sighs, having heard this same hyperfixated speech a trillion times* No I dont think you have...
Charles: Ooh! Good. Were you aware that mutations took us from single celled organisms-
Erik, who isn't sure why he knows this line but just does: -to the most dominant life form on the planet..
Charles: *turns his chair* My.. Do you have telepathy too? It's almost as if you-
Erik: Read your mind? Heh... yeah.. sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt..
Charles: No no, not at all. I'd be happy to discuss with you the complexites of the simple gene mutation that is your white hair.
Logan: I think it's just cause he's 90, Chuck.
Erik, still staring: I could say the same about your blue eyes.
Charles: *giggles* Only if we get to add yours to the topic as well
Logan: *blinks in 'wtf am I watching'*
Erik: Well.. if you insist. Go on. I want to know everything.
Charles: *starts yapping happily about science and theories while erik stares at him*
Hank: *comes back to see Erik smirking with a certian stare and Charles giggling* What did you do?
Erik: Would you like to... have lunch with me sometime?
Charles: Im free today if you'd like..
Erik: Perfect. So it's a date then?
Charles: *giggles* If you want to call it that..
Logan, whos now watching them like a romance drama: I... have no idea... they do know they've been married for 45 years right?
Hank: No I had to take away their rings because erik kept throwing tantrums...
Logan: Get them rubber ones.
Hank: what? Why?
Logan: Get. Them. Their. Rings!
Based off this post â¤ď¸ Old cherik dementia supremacy!
Rewatching Logan with my son because he's obsessed with Laura (rightfully so) and im watching Charles run away from him and telling him to move only for Logan to pitifully roll his eyes and step to the side, blocking him again.
Can you fucking imagine? Trying to chase a dementia having telepathic automatic wheel chair having old man around to try to give him his medicine?
Old as fuck Charles: *'running' away* I don't know you!! Leave me at once! Cease this nonsense!
Hank, who's slowly trailing him with a big sigh and a handful of meds in one hand, a glass of water in the other: Charles, come on.. you do this every time.
Charles: No! Stay back! You can not capture such greatness and confine it into such a small space! I shall exceed these walls and-
Hank: I'll call Logan!
Charles: *stops* Logan? I know a logan..
Hank: Yes, I know - now, please. Take your medicine.
Charles: *squints* You're not Logan. Who do you take me for? A fool!? *slaps the pills from his hands and keeps going*
Can you imagine if it was even worse by Erik egging on said "revolutions" of his?
Erik: *Who is hevily sedated sitting in the kitchen* Hello Charles.
Charles: *stops for a second* Oh! Hello Erik id love to stay and chat but it appears theres a strange man chasing me.
Erik: Oh no. Well, that simply won't do. *stands up with his shakey old man knees* Stop this at once! Get out of our house! Or I'll be forced to-
Hank: *groans* Erik sit down. It's time for his medicine.
Erik, like I said, is heavily sedated: Oh, okay. Charles, it's medicine time. *sits back down*
Charles: I do not trust that man. He's not who he claims!
Hank: *rolls his eyes* Are you seriously gonna make me do it?
Charles: Do what?
Hank: *turns into beast* Happy? Now take your medicine.
Charles: *gasps* Hank!! Thank goodness you're here! There was such a strange man here a moment ago! He was chasing me!
Hank: I swear to fucking god...
#cherik#cherik moment#old cherik#old man charles xavier#erik lehnsherr#erik lensherr x charles xavier#care giver Logan Howlett#care giver Hank Mccoy#charles has dementia#but Eriks is more on and off#old man yaoi#literally#their lunch date was going amazing until erik came back and tried to convience charles that they were already wed#in which case Charles said 'Well.. alright. I just met you but what the hell? ill marry you'#so logan gave them rubber rings.
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How are you adjusting to the whole Norse mythology situation?
LEO: Iâve mostly been bugging some of the older einherjar, and Hunding, a little bit, to figure this place out. Do you know how cool it is that some people have been here since the industrial revolution?? There's no way that I'm the first of my dad's kids to make it here. I just don't know who to talk to about it.
((Leo's coping mechanism re: Norse mythology is just hating himself more bc of course he doesn't belong in his own afterlife. but he won't admit that to anyone bc he doesn't know who can be vulnerable with.))
prev ask
#uy samirah appearance! I just finished her and magnus' designs and I'm so excited abt including them!#this post and the following uhh 2+? are setting us up to talk to Magnus; figure out wtf is going on with floor 19; and get answers for Leo#which is so exciting for me bc 1 I love my magnus base sm and 2 I LOVED GINNYLUNA'S HC THAT LEO HAS ELF BLOOD IN HIM??#thats SO COOL and I'm sat for Leo to find out that he does have a place here. that he does belong and that he's not a curse and he is#not a mistake either. but for now we will have him litrly scurrying away from anyone his age and drowning in imposter syndrome bc I said so#I pointyfied his ears a little extra just for that :>#leo valdez#magnus chase#mcga#valgrace#valhalla!valgrace#blood of olympus#hotel valhalla#post-blood of olympus#einherjar!leo valdez#heroes of olympus#samirah al abbas#art#v²au#leo valdez responds#answered asks#guys he's not even using his fire powers rn because 1. he's scared of himself and 2. he doesn't know if he can. T-T#bro is engaging in hand to hand combat and also only talks to einherjar from the 20th century#that said I'm pretty sure he's just scared bc he doesn't know what's going on btw. and I think the annabeth reveal will be fun#he's not about to get kicked out of the afterlife goodplace style#sidenote bc I'm actually so excited for tmw's post#finally being able to draw these characters the way I want to (and getting really any positive response about it) has been so special to me#like .. I haven't read these books in maybe 6 years and I haven't attempted fanart since way before I started arch school and got to#actually develop any tech/digital art program literacy via practice. I'm having sm fun srry for all the rambles on this post LMAO
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Fine Dining
#shaxx the waiter & cayde the sommelier#(also bartender probably idk)#i didn't plan to render wtf is going on#i drew too much silly shaxx i need to do him some justice#by giving him a suit#how tf do you draw suit#wait is that a head with a face??? in this blog????#blender save me#tbh i forgot about cayde's hoodie until i started drawing cayde's draft#too late lol suit looks good w/o hoodie anyways#btw the next few posts are probably all about dining au#definitely not because i wanna draw shaxx in suits. yeah. sure.#(he exists in every idea i now have about dining au like i'm not even joking rn)#destiny 2#cayde 6#lord shaxx#destiny 2 art#dining au#my art
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can I politely and respectfully disagree? Iâm not really excited to have a long winding argument, but I want to add my own points here (important note- Iâm not American but I am very aggrieved about the election and scared for the future. Weâre on the same side here)
His original post. Personally, I donât really read it as insensitive. The whole message screams shock and nervous laughter as a coping mechanism. He sounds actually upset about the election, but heâs trying to keep it lighthearted and surface level because - and this is something that took me a second to come to terms with - he has no obligation to make a political post. Heâs a pg minecraft content creator. Hell, even the post he made is something that other hermits havenât done. Because they arenât political creators. And honestly, the âlolâ kinda feels like it wanted to be a âwtfâ, but that may just be my interpretation.
His next series is tweets was him taking a second to be political, and in them he aired his grievances with the election, which was genuinely him being upset with how easily the world can be swayed by an evil person, and reminding people to stay educated. I see no issue with that. Some important context is that heâs German, so his way of speaking is likely more blunt and rude-sounding when heâs neutral. Thatâs a language barrier and cultural differences thing, and itâs quite important to remember as you read through the conversation. Then in his top comment, he shuts down the political conversation, making it clear that he doesnât want a political discussion and he just wants to do minecraft things, because heâs a minecraft YouTubers (WHICH HE IS WELL WITHIN HIS RIGHT TO DO). He says this in a lighthearted slapping-the-knees-and-standing-up way, because he wants to return the tone of the conversation back to his normal content about being fluffy or whatever he does on Twitter. Itâs a cleansing, resetting statement, in a way. I also donât find this insensitive. Yes, the election is very upsetting and dangerous, but he doesnât want those emotions and heavy conversations on his Minecraft content channel, which is valid. Itâs his content. He doesnât need to talk about the scary things. In fact, for many people, this kind of content is good to get away from the scary stuff.
For his last tweet, to be totally honest, Iâd also be shocked and confused if I sent what I believed to be a totally harmless tweet and a lot of people (who are already emotionally charged because of the election) said I was an awful, insensitive human and wished bad things on my child (real tweet). Again, remember the language and cultural barrier. Maybe he could have spent ages crafting the perfect apology, but he doesnât think he needs to apologise for a harmless word, and frankly I donât either (also lol can mean slightly different things in different countries, I use it to convey shock all the time, or in place of things like âwhatâ).
Iâm going to be honest, I might sound like a bitch for saying this, but I think a lot of people entered the conversation with doc already angry and upset about the election, and they almost wanted an argument with something tangible. Hate breeds hate or whatever the Star Wars guy said. And youâre valid for being upset, but if you look at his messages pragmatically, theyâre not all that bad. Love you all, and Iâm sending the atheist equivalent of prayers to everyone in America right now
Why the Doc hate? I don't watch him I'm just curious
Iâve been on twt ranting about this for like three hours and Iâm tired but hereâs the rundown
Doc made this tasteless post earlier today in regards to the U.S. election results
And then be followed it up with this series of tweets. Which I generally find distasteful. (Read bottom to top)
He said that he âCanât be bothered by politicsâ when this is about more than that. This is about the literal rights and health of women, children, and all minorities being removed because of conservative America.
Than he basically did what he always does and cried to his community saying people are screaming at him because he wrote âlolâ in the first image. When clearly thatâs not the big issue people are having.
I havenât seen anything past this tweet tbh so I donât know if heâs said anything else and Iâve had lots of thoughts about this so sorry if it doesnât make a lot of sense.
And, honestly, I may be taking this out of hand but Iâm so tired of him trying to put his foot into conversations that donât need his input. He did it with Palestine and blocked so many people over it and I wonât be surprised if he does it over this too. His privilege is showing and itâs disgusting :/
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Spider-Man India, but... where from India?
A SUPER long post featuring talks of: cultural identity, characterisation, the caste system, and what makes Spider-Man Spider-Man.
Iâm prefacing this by saying that I am a second-generation immigrant. I was born in Australia, but my cultural background is from South India. My experiences with what it means to be âIndianâ is going to be very different from the experiences of those who are born and brought up in India.
If you, reader, want to add anything, please reblog and add your thoughts. This is meant to be a post open for discussion â the more interaction we get, the better we become aware of these nuances.
So I made this poll asking folks to pick a region of India where I would draw Pavitr Prabhakar in their cultural wear. This idea had been on my mind for a long while now, as I had been inspired by Annie Hazarikaâs Northeastern Spidey artwork in the wake of ATSVâs release, but never got the time to actually do it until now. I wanted to get a little interactive and made the poll so I could have people choose which of the different regions â North, Northeast, Central, East, West, South â to do first.
The outcome was not what I expected. As you can see, out of 83 votes:
THE RESULTS
South India takes up almost half of all votes (44.6%), followed by Northeast and Central (both 14.5%) and then East (13.3%). In all my life growing up, support towards or even just the awareness of South India was pretty low. Despite this being a very contained poll, why would nearly half of all voters pick South India in favour of other popular choices like Central or North India?
Then I thought about the layout of the poll: Title, Options, Context.
Title: "Tell us who you want to seeâŚ"
Options: North, Northeast, Central, East, West, South
Context: I want to make art of the boy again
At first I thought: ah geez. this is my fault. I didn't make the poll clear enough. do they think I want them to figure out where Pavitr came from? That's not what I wanted, maybe I should have added the context before the options.
Then I thought: ah geez. is it my fault for people not reading the entire damn thing before clicking a button? That's pretty stupid.
But regardless, the thought did prompt a line of thinking I know many of us desi folk have been considering since Spider-Man India was first conceived â or, at least, since the announcement that he was going to appear in ATSV. Hell, even I thought of it:
Where did Spider-Man India come from?
FROM A CULTURALLY DIVERSE INDIA
As we know, India is so culturally diverse, and no doubt ATSV creators had to take that into account. Because the ORIGINAL Spider-Man India came from Mumbai â most likely because Mumbai and Manhattan both started with the same letter.
But going beyond that, itâs also because Mumbai is one of the most recognisable cities in India - itâs also known as Bombay. Itâs where Bollywood films are shot. Itâs where superstar Hindi actors and actresses show up. Mumbai is synonymous with India in that regard, because the easiest way Western countries can interact with Indian culture is through BOLLYWOOD, through HINDI FILMS, through MUMBAI. Suddenly, India is Mumbai, India is a Hindi-only country, India is just this isolated thing we see through an infinitely narrow lens.
Weâve gotten a little better in recent years, but boy I will tell you how uncomfortable Iâve gotten when people (yes, even desi people) come up to me and tell me, Oh, youâre Indian right? Can you speak Hindi? Why donât you speak Hindi? Youâre not Indian if you donât speak Hindi, thatâs Indiaâs national language!
I have been â still am â so afraid of telling people that I donât speak Hindi, that Iâm Tamil, that I donât care that Hindi is Indiaâs ânationalâ language (itâs an administrative language, Kavin, get your fucking facts right). Itâs weird, itâs isolating, and it has made me feel like I wasnât âIndianâ enough to be accepted into the group of âIndianâ people.
So I am thankful that ATSV went out of their way to integrate as much variety of Indian culture into the Mumbattan sequence. Maybe that way, the younger generation of desi folk wonât feel so isolated, and that younger Western people will be more open to learning about all these cultural differences within such a vast country.
BUT WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH SPIDER-MAN INDIA?
Everything, actually. Thereâs a thing called supremacy. You might have heard of it. We all engaged with it at some point, and if you are Indian, no matter where you live, it is inescapable.
It happens the moment you are born â who your family is, where you are born, the language you speak, the colour of your skin; these will be bound to you for life, and it is nigh impossible to break down the stereotypes associated with them.
Certain ethnic groups will be more favourable than others (Centrals, and thus their cultures, will always be favoured over than Souths, as an example) and the same can be said for social groups (Brahmins are more likely to secure influential roles in politics or other areas like priesthood, while the lowers castes, especially Dalits, arenât even given the decency of respect). Donât even get me started on colourism, where obviously those of fairer skin will win the lottery while those of darker skin arenât given the time of day. Itâs even worse when morality ties into it â âlighter skinned Indians, like Brahmins, embody good qualities like justice and wisdomâ, âdark skinned Indians are cunning and poor, they are untrustworthyâ. Itâs fucking nuts.
This means, of course, you have a billion people trying to make themselves heard in a system that tries to crush everyone who is not privileged. It only makes sense that people want to elevate themselves and break free from a society that refuses to acknowledge them. These frustrations manifest outwardly, like in protests, but other times â most times â it goes unheard, quietly shaping your way of life, your way of thinking. It becomes a fundamental part of you, and it can go unacknowledged for generations.
So when you have a character like Pavitr Prabhakar enter the scene, people immediately latch onto him and start asking questions many Western audiences donât even consider. Who is he? What food does he eat? What does he do on Fridays? Whatâs his family like, his community? All these questions pop up, because, amidst all this turmoil going on in the background, you want a mainstream popular character to be like you, who knows your way of life so intimately, that he may as well be a part of your community.
BUT THAT'S THE THING â HE'S FICTIONAL
I am guilty of this. In fact, Iâve flaunted in numerous posts how I think heâs the perfect Tamil boy, how he dances bharatanatyam, how he does all these Tamil things that no one will understand except myself. All these niche things that only I, and maybe a few others, will understand.
Iâve seen other people do it, too. Iâve seen people geek out over his dark brown skin, his kalari dhoti, how he fights so effortlessly in the kalaripayattu martial arts style. Iâve seen people write him as Malayali, as Hindi, as every kind of Indian person imaginable.
Iâve also seen him be written where heâs subjected to typical Indian and broader Asian stereotypes. You know the ones Iâm so fond of calling out. The thing is, Iâve seen so much of Pavitr being presented in so many different ways, and I worry how the rest of the desi folk will take it.Â
You finally have a character who could be you, but now heâs someone elseâs plaything. Your entire life is shaped by what you can and canât do simply because you were born to an Indian family, and hereâs the one person who could represent you now at the mercy of someone elseâs whims. Heâs off living a life that is so distant from yours, you can hardly recognise him.
It shouldnât hurt as much as it does, yeah? But, again, youâre looking at it from that infinitely narrow lens Westerners use to look at India from Bollywood.
AND PAVITR PRABHAKAR DOESN'T LIVE IN INDIA
He lives in Mumbattan. He lives in a made-up, fictional world that doesnât follow the way of life of our world. He lives in a city where Mumbai and Manhattan got fucking squashed together. There are so many memes about colonialism right there. Mumbattan isnât real! Spider-Man India isnât real!! Heâs just a dude!! The logic of our world doesnât apply to him!!!
âBut his surname originates from ______â okay but does that matter?
âBut heâs wearing a kalari dhoti so surely heâs ______â okay but does that matter?
âBut his skin colour is darker so he must be ______â okay but does that matter?
âBut he lives in Mumbai so he must be ______â okay but does that matter?
I sound insensitive and brash and annoying and it looks like Iâm yapping just for the sake of riling you up, so direct that little burst of anger you got there at me, and keep reading.
Listen. Iâm going to ask you a question that Iâve asked myself a million times over. I want you to answer honestly. I want you to ask this question to yourself and answer honestly:
Are you trying to convince me on who Pavitr Prabhakar should be?
... but why shouldn't i?
Iâll tell you this again â I did the same thing. Youâre not at fault for this, but I want you to just...have a little think over. Just a little moment of self-reflection, to think about why you are so intent on boxing this guy.
It took me a while to reorganise my thinking and how to best approach a character like Pavitr, so I will give you all the time you need as well as a little springboard to focus your thoughts on.
SPIDER-MAN (INDIA) IS JUST A MASK
âWhat I like about the costume is that anybody reading Spider-Man in any part of the world can imagine that they themselves are under the costume. And thatâs a good thing.â
Stan Lee said that. Remember how he was so intent on making sure that everybody got the idea that Spider-Man as an entity is fundamentally broken without Peter Parker there to put on the suit and save the day? That ultimately it was the person beneath the mask, no matter who they were, that mattered most?
Spider-Man India is no less different. You can argue with me that Peter Parker!Spidey is supposed to represent working class struggles in the face of leering corporate entities who endanger the regular folk like us, and so Pavitr Prabhakar should also function the same way. Pavitr should also be a working class guy of this specific social standing fighting people of this other social standing.
But that takes away the authenticity of Spider-Man India. Looking at him through the Peter Parker lens forces you to look at him through the Western lens, and it significantly lessens what you can do with the character â suddenly, itâs a fight to be heard, to be seen, to be recognised. Itâs yelling over each other that Pavitr Prabhakar is this ethnicity, is that caste, this or that, this or that, this or that.
Thereâs a reason why heâs called Spider-Man India, infuriatingly vague as it is. And thatâs the point â the vagueness of his identity fulfils Leeâs purpose for a character that could theoretically be embodied by anyone. If he had been called âSpider-Man Mumbaiâ, you cut out a majority of the population (and in capitalist terms, you cut out a good chunk of the market).
And in the case of Spider-Man India? Whew â youâve got about a billion people imagining a billion different versions of him.
Whoever you are, whatever you see in Pavitr, that is what is personal to you, and there is nothing wrong with that, and I will not fault you for it. I will not fault you for saying Pavitr is from Central due to the origins of his last name. I also will not fault you for saying Pavitr is from South due to him practising kalaripayattu. I also will not fault you for saying he is not Hindu. I also will not fault you for saying he is a particular ethnicity without any proof.
What I will fault you for is trying to convince me and the others around you that Pavitr Prabhakar should be this particular ethnicity/have this cultural background because of some specific reason. I literally donât care and it is fundamentally going against his character, going against the âanyone can wear the maskâ sentiment of Spider-Man. By doing this, you are strengthening the walls that first divided us. Youâre feeding the stratification and segmentation of our cultures â something that is actually not present in the fictional world of Mumbattan.
Like I said before: Mumbattan isnât real, so the divides between ethnicities and cultural backgrounds are practically nonexistent. The best thing is that it is visually there for all to see. My favourite piece of evidence is this:
Itâs a marquee for a cinema in the Mumbattan sequence, in the âQuick tour: this is where the traffic isâ section. It has four titles; the first two are written in Hindi. The third title is written in Bengali*, and the fourth title is written in Tamil. You go to Mumbai and you wonât see a single shred of Bengali nor Tamil there, much less any other language that's not common in Maharashtra (Western India). Seeing this for the first time, you know what went through my head?
Wow, the numerous cultures of India are so intermingled here in Mumbattan! Everyone and everything is welcome!
I was happy, not just because of Tamil representation, but because of the fact that the plethora of Indian cultures are showcased coexisting in such a short sequence. This is India embracing all the little parts that make up its grander identity. This scene literally opened my eyes seeing such beauty in all the diverse cultures thriving together. In a place where language and cultural backgrounds blend so easily, each one complementing one another.
It is so easy to believe that, from this colourful palette of a setting, Pavitr Prabhakar truly is Spider-Man India, no matter where he comes from.
Itâs easy to believe that Pavitr can come from any part of India, and I wonât call you out if the origin you have for him is different from the origin I have. You donât need to stake out territory and stand your ground â youâre entitled to that opinion, and I respect it. In fact, I encourage it!!!
Because thereâs only so much you can show in a ten minute segment of a film about a country that has such a vast history and even greater number of cultures. I want to see all of it â I want him to be a Malayali boy, a Hindi boy, a Bengali boy, a Telugu boy, an Urdu boy, whatever!! I want you to write him or draw him immersed in your culture, so that I can see the beauty of your background, the wonderful little things that make your culture unique and different from mine!
And, as many friends have said, itâs so common for Indian folks to be migrating around within our own country. A person with a Maharashtrian surname might end up living in Punjab, and no one really minds that. Iâm actually from Karnataka, my family speaks Kannada, but somewhere down the line my ancestors moved to Tamil Nadu and settled down and lived very fulfilling lives. So I donât actually have the âpure Tamilâ upbringing, contrary to popular belief; Iâve gotten a mix of both Kannada and Tamil lifestyles, and itâs made my life that much richer.Â
So itâs common for people to ânotâ look like their surname, if thatâs what youâre really afraid about. In fact, it just adds to that layer of nuance, that even despite these rigid identities between ethnicities we as Indian people still intermingle with one another, bringing slivers of our cultures to share with others. Pavitr could just as well have been born in one state and moved around the country, and he happens to live in Mumbattan now. Itâs entirely possible and thereâs nothing to disprove that.
We donât need to clamber over one another declaring that only one ethnicity is the ârightâ ethnicity, because, again, you will be looking at Pavitr and the rest of India in that narrow Western lens â a country with such rich cultural variety reduced to a homogenous restrictive way of life.
THE POLL: REINTERPRETED
This whole thing started because I was wondering why my little poll was so skewed â I thought people assumed I was asking them where he came from, then paired his physical appearance with the most logical options available. I thought it was my fault, that I had somehow influenced this outcome without knowing.
Truth is, I will never really know. But I will be thankful for it, because it gave me the opportunity to finally broach this topic, something that many of us desi folk are hesitant to talk about. I hope you have learned something from this, whether you are desi or a casual Spider-Man fan or someone who just so happened to stumble upon this.Â
So justâŚbe a little more open. Recognise that India, like many many countries and nations, is made up of a plethora of smaller cultures. And remember, if youâre trying to convince Pavitr that heâs a particular ethnicity, heâs going to wave his hand at you and say, âHa, me? No, Iâm one of the people that live here in the best Indian city! Iâm Spider-Man India, dost!â
(Regardless, he still considers you a friend, because to him, the people matter more to him than you trying to box him into something heâs not.)
*Note: thank you dear anon for letting me know that the third title was Bengali, twas my mistake for literally completely forgetting
#long post + more tags that kinda spiral away BUT expand on the points above AND kinda puts everything together concisely#BROS THIS IS AN HONEST TO GOD ESSAY#THAT HAS BEEN COOKING IN MY HEART FOR A WHILE NOW. SIMMERING FOR MONTHS BEFORE FINALLY BOILING OVER IN THE LAST WEEK#genuinely hope you read MOST of it because yes it has Quite A Lot Of Exposition but it all matters nonetheless#put in a lot of thought into this so i expect you to do your part and challenge your thoughts as well#you see how i'm not asking for you to listen to me. but to actually Think. i want you to cook your thoughts and add some spice and flavour#and give it a good mix so you can come out of this a little more wiser than before#because!!! yeah!!!! spider man india is just that!! he's indian!!!!! we don't need to collectively agree on where he comes from#bc it gets rid of that relatability factor of spider man. at the most basic level#think of it as a schrodinger's. he is every single culture and none of them at the same time. therefore none of us are wrong!! sick!!!!#pavitr's first priority is making sure HIS PEOPLE are safe. that's probably as far as we can go that relates him back to peter parker spide#he loves his people and working in the name of justice to FIGHT for HIS PEOPLE is just the duty/responsibility he takes up#it makes sense that he loves everyone and every culture he engages with bc that's the nature of spider man i suppose#if peter parker spidey acts as the guardian for the regular folk.. then in my mind pavitr spidey stands as the bridge uniting the people#because society as its core is very fragmented. and having pavitr act as a connection to other folks.... mmmmm beautiful#that's what i'm talking abouttttt !!!#anyways guys this is literally 3001 words on my document EXCLUDING THE TITLE. THAT'S 7 PAGES AT 11pt FONT. i'm literally cryingggg wtf#pavitr prabhakar#spider man#spider man india#desi#desiblr#atsv#across the spiderverse#atsv pavitr#indian culture#india#desi tumblr#what the fuck do i tag this as#agnirambles
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#LISTEN. when Aziraphale said that this was all I could think of#I'm devastated and we better get a season 3 because wtf#good omens#good omens 2x06#good omens season 2#go2 spoilers#gos2 spoilers#good omens spoilers#go spoilers#good omens 2#nbc hannibal#hannibal#mizumono#my post
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Soulmate AU but AFO's soulmate is the glowing baby
#thats it. thats the post#bnha#mha#boku no hero academia#my hero academia#afo#all for one#glowing baby#my own take is that afo doesnt know theyre soulmates because glowing babys matching soul mark or something is out of sight#under his shirt or something. while afos is out of view of himself so he needs to trust someone else to see it and tell it for him#yoichi tells him but they have no access to cameras or anything. he just sees it one day after stealing an ability only to see his back#glowing baby can see his mark and knows theyre soulmates but hes too shy to say anything to approach the subject#so afo kills him unknowing and only sees the mark when hes a corpse#yknow i think itd always gonna be tragic or toxic#afo was gonna steal his Quirk anyway but now hes really never letting it go cuz its the only way to keep his soulmate with him#spoilers#technically cuz glowing baby and afo and yoichi are around the same age#bnha spoilers#mha spoilers#edit: OR EVEN BETTER AFOS SOULMATE IS KUDO. NO TRAGEDY JUST âWTFâ âI'LL KILL YOUâ âUNIVERSE WHYâ FEELINGS ALL AROUND
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⎠DIVINITY âŽ
HI GUYSs!! how r u babbiz doingđđ iâm going away again after thisđđ art production has been very scarceâŚ..i sadly only pick up a pen on a random good day n it usually is just a doodle. how r my moots!! haven;t been catching up on ur art lately will get to that i promise!! idk what else 2 put here blueh but i hope u guys r well!!
#DIVINITY#<- title?? i have no idea what to name this hwjws#iâm pretty proud of how i made cyrus đđđ what was i on how is he so pretty wtfsđđ#i read greek mythos again n i;m planning to get the book circe!! thatâs probably why i made god ocs x>>#no lore for these guys yet because i made them solely out of impulse#iâm thinking of writing the lore for these guys like greek mythology too#tales; but never a specific storyline#i want the tale to be like origins: we call them âalamatâ here in my country itâs practically like the origins of everyday things / objects#BUT I AM HERE TO SAY THE LEGATON LORE IS FINISHED AND YUMI IF UR SEEING THIS HMU I HAVE TO SPILL THIS#got 2 go again sadlyđ iâll be back latrđđđ probs????#as of now iâm so going 2 spam post of whatever i made 2 feed u all#ily all!! plis take care mwa mwa!! xx#ocs#oc art#cyrus#arif#azalea#vendetta#arnav#kronos
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i think its weird that i have to make this disclaimer but the internet is crazy so wtvr,, anyway,,
if i say i dont like something, that doesnt mean "that thing is bad and nobody should post it.."
i swear literally every time i even mention that i dislike something, people will go "wow does that mean u fucking hate me cuz i post that thing? ur a fucking stupid bitch and all ur opinions r wrong" LIKE ?? er.. no. just because i say i dont like certain characterizations of certain characters (the saiki k fandom is CRAZY about this cuz i can state an opinion on literally any character and a group of people will still go 'well only we're allowed to post our opinions about them because we're always right!1!1!'), or certain ship tropes (mentioned my hatred of toxic yaoi maybe once or twice on here months ago and people STILL get mad at me as if i said toxic yaoi lovers r evil or something), or certain ships, or WHATEVER, does not mean that i HATE the people who are posting them or that i think they shouldnt post them at all, NO, im just posting about my personal tastes on my personal blog and it would be extremely weird and hypocritical if i decided that i was the ONLY person that was allowed to do that,,
i think the only reason people assume that is because there are a lot of other people on here who ARE like that, and a lot of people toe the line between posting that they dont like something and posting that they think everyone who likes that thing is stupid, annoying, and wrong,, so i guess all i can say is, sorry for whatever made you make these assumptions but they arent true about me so plz leave me alone ĘâżĘ ur doing the same thing to me that ur accusing me of but i didnt do it in the first place so ur just actively being a dick for no reason
#crazy that the mindset some people on here have is that theyre the only ones allowed to post their opinions#ive repeated this a lot on this blog but i rlly think people forget that the person on the other side of the screen is in fact a person#if ur harassing people and publicly making fun of them then ur just as bad as any real life bully#that shit isnt as funny or harmless as u like to pretend it is#not once have i ever targetted anyone or went on someones blog to harass them over my opinion#yet people think its fine to do the same to me and treat it as if its like. revenge or something#like ? me saying 'i dont like toxic yaoi' is not equivalent to someone going on someone elses page and going 'how tf do u like toxic yaoi'#I DONT CARE !! all ive ever done is sit in my own little bubble and had opinions and that makes people mad#honestly though the people who will publicly talk and post abt it are significantly meaner#and i want to act like im not bothered by it because i know most of them r just angry that someone has a different opinion#and they want all their followers to bandwagon off of them (idk why maybe for validation or whatever-same reasons anyone would bully)#but seriously if u actually do think that something i said was out of line and crossed thise boundaries- just fucking tell me ?#im a person bro. ur solution to disagreeing with me shouldnt be 'lol im gonna post abt this and make everyone harass them'#have a conversation with me dude i dont bite ? if u cant talk to me like a person then just dont fucking say anything wtf#its so cowardly to be like 'well no i didnt wanna say anything to u cuz i didnt wanna be rude.. so instead i publicly made fun of u!'#LIKE WHATTTT STOPPPPP </3333#ok anyway this post wasnt supposed to get THAT serious.#MY POINT IS just be considerate of other people and dont base ur hatred off of assumptions#ur deflecting the blame onto someone else because u dont want to admit that ur just a fucking bully lol#being inconsiderate on here is something ive also been guilty of back when i first joined the fandom and was clueless#but grown ass adults who have been on here way longer r still doing that shit which is crazy#and i cant say anything because they have so much leverage over me and idk if its on purpose or if they dont even realize#ok im putting fandom tags cuz i want people to see this sorry. this is my one post thats actually targetted but its at a lot of people#so if u look at this and think 'hey i do that' pls evaluate urself<3#i mean its also targetted at everyone who does this anonomously so i dont know who it is OKOK IM DONE BYE SORRY HOPE THIS IS UNDERSTANDABLE#watch nobody read this fr#saiki k#tdlosk#the disastrous life of saiki k.#meows post
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I occasionally wish to reach out to old friends/acquaintances I haven't spoken to since high school/some other even earlier time in my life, but I have SOOO little social energy even for required tasks (like making dr phone calls or etc), I never have any leftover for extra ones, and it would be very odd to message someone I haven't spoken to in like 5 years out of the blue but then take 4 entire months to respond back lol.. My natural curiosity with nostalgia/collecting details of the past/etc. (literally if I were born a little earlier I would definitely do scrapbooking or something lol) is very strong, but, alas, not strong enough to beat out the Social Issues Demons apparently
#facebook always does that 'here's a post from this day 8 years ago' thing. and I see old comments interacting#with people and it's so like.. OOOOO~~ where are they now?? what's going on? how much have they changed as people?#how much are they the same? this is fascinating. i should contact them!!' but then it's like... take that to it's logical conclusion though#you would contact them and then IF they even responded it would take you 80 years to respond and then they would#think there was something wrong or that you were trying to be insulting or something. To contact anyone I need to include an 85 page#disclaimer of all of my social issues & mental illness things. 'If i take 3 weeks to reply I promise it has nothing to do with u' etc lol#THIS is why more people need to be into phone calls/voice calls/some form of audio real time communication/etc.#I think one of the main things that's hard about messaging through text for me is it's so unscheduled and open ended#(plus it takes forever if you're talking about anything in detail and gets very long very quickly)#because like you can send a message and then just get a reply whenever. and then you're expected to reply back whenever#so it's like you never know when the response will come or when a new obligation to reply can come up? so it's like this sudden thing with#no outline?? if that makes sense. whereas a phone call is very like 'hello let's schedule a call from 10am - 2pm on thursday'. And you know#EXACTLY when the interaction will start and EXACTLY when it will end and you can plan around it in your schedule easily.#I have the reverse thing of a lot of people (how people don't pick up phone calls/hate calls/only text)#I would literally talk on the phone with a stranger. I would have a discord voice chat with someone I barely know.#if someone I hardly even remember from elementary school asked to have a voice call with me out of nowhere I would do it.#but if a stranger MESSAGED me?? or someone I barely know sent me a TEXT or something?? I will never reply probably#It's just too vague and weird. and you can't read voice tone over text. and the interaction could last forever with no clear end#point and etc. etc. But a call is like. set. established. clear boundaries. you can read the flow of conversation better. rapport. etc. etc#I get that I guess people feel more anonymous or distanced over text?? but you can have fake phone numbers on the computer. or do like disc#rd calls. or zoom without a camera or etc. etc. Also the distance that's present in text is BAD distance because it just means that tone is#not conveyed properly and you will never truly get a sense of the person's conversational vibe or mannerisms or how well you really click.#ANYWAY ghgjh...... I'm so so so interested in concepts of like.. How did that one kid I used to talk to in elementary school#but then they moved away in 5th grade - how did they end up? what are they doing now?? etc. etc. Like despite the severe social anhedonia#and general lack of connection with others I'm just really fascinated in like.. idk. the human development of it all and like#the concept of how we're actually a million different people through the course of our lives ever evolving in different iterations and etc.#PLUS again. i love nostalgia. sometimes old peple you know might remember a shared memory or can tell you about something you forgot#or etc. like it's SUCH A COOL THING in CONCEPT but I am too socially inept generally speaking lol. which people I still talk to today are#familiar with my 'phone call once every few months' communication style. but strangers would just be like... wtf. And I don't blame them#Sure I literally cannot change the physical health + brain issues i have - but also I know enough to not put others through that lol
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there are so many things that i could do so well,,, if only i could like.actually do them
#ok to rb or comment on if anyone wants to ??? i just want to ramble a bit#this post is about everything at once and nothing in particular but also very much about my art career wtf#i miss school already.having structure and clear immediate tasks to focus on and surrounded by people who i can tell myself can understand#like id still be feeling the raging imposter syndrome and self hatred but then at least i can still bury myself in schoolwork and#tell myself that its the best that i can do at the moment and i make excuses to forgive myself undeservingly for not doing more#back home with same old people into same old habits and i am once again 14 hiding in my closet writing edgy poetry plotting murder and#trying to ignore the yelling downstairs and trying to convince myself that its not my fault but at the core of it all it really is isnt it#and out of sight out of mind its harder to convince myself that i am still loved or worthy of it or even capable honestly#and craving the academic validation hearing someone say that what comes from my mind has any value at all any real meaning#and maybe then im still just trying to fool myself because what i want is for someone to believe im capable because i cant do it for myself#craving someplace i can distance myself from being who ive been all my life and guilt for not wanting what ive been lucky enough to receive#ok going to stop before i incriminate myself even more#prob will delete later but if i forget to haha hi#greenbean talks to plants
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Happy belated anniversary to the Lunter episode of all time, Thanks to Them. In honor of Flapjack here's a 6.7k fic that's my personal take on the Harpy Hunter concept. With lots of Lunter fluff because you know me. This is a pretty cozy one, so I hope you enjoy!
"I think Belos is possessing me again."
He said it in such a collected and matter-of-fact way, as though he were giving a formal report on the results of a mission. But even through the darkness and her own exhaustion, Luz could see the terror in Hunter's slightly retroreflective eyes and feel the way his hand trembled against her side as he prodded her awake.
She sat up to face him, doing her best to remain calm and not add to his panic. She reached out and cupped his cheek with her hand, tenderly rubbing her thumb across his lower eyelid as she gazed into his blood-red irises. "Well," she whispered, "Your eyes aren't blue, so that's a good sign. What makes you think something's wrong?"
She noted that despite his anxious state, Hunter couldn't help but melt into her touch, his eyes slipping closed as he leaned into her hand. "I just feel...off," he mumbled. "And my skin feels weird, like there's something crawling beneath it trying to get out, and I don't know what it is and..."
"Okay," Luz cut in gently, trying to stop him before he started hyperventilating. "Does it feel like that everywhere, or somewhere specific?"
He paused for a moment to think, then squirmed and rolled his shoulders a bit. "My back."
Luz hummed sympathetically. "MamĂĄ said she thinks you might have some eczema there, remember?" she said. She tried to disguise her relief at having come up with such a plausible explanation so Hunter wouldn't know how concerned she had been. Sure, she had been there to witness Belos's death, but she had originally thought she'd witnessed it on the Day of Unity, and they both knew how that had turned out. "It's been getting kinda chilly lately, so it might be flaring up because of that. But if you want, I could take a look and make sure that's all it is if it would make you feel better."
"If you don't mind," Hunter whispered, scratching at the scar on his right cheek self-consciously. Luz reached over to turn on her lamp while Hunter unbuttoned his pajama shirt a bit so he could slide it down to reveal his upper back.
A gasp escaped from Luz before she could stifle it.
"What?!" Hunter whipped back around to face her, his eyes darting frantically over her face as he tried to read her expression.
Luz was speechless for a moment, her hands reflexively covering her mouth as she stared at what was currently protruding from Hunter's back.
Feathers.
Vibrant scarlet feathers were blooming outwards from his spine and extending across his shoulder blades. They were thin, Hunter's pale skin still visible beneath them, but feather follicles and sheaths dotted the rest of his back, suggesting that more feathers were yet to grow.
"What is it?!" Hunter cried, jolting Luz out of her thoughts.
"It's not Belos," she reassured him quickly, running her fingers through his undercut to soothe him. "Actually, I think it's...Flapjack?"
"Flapjack?" Hunter repeated, now sounding more confused than distressed.
"Here." Luz grabbed her phone off her nightstand and snapped a quick photo. She then passed the phone to Hunter so he could see.
Hunter stared at the screen, his mouth slightly agape. After a long moment's silence, his hand moved to clutch his chest and his lip quivered as tears began to well up in his eyes.
Luz let him cry, making sure to give him space and not overwhelm him as his body was wracked with choking sobs. When he had calmed down a little and managed to catch his breath, she placed a supportive hand on his right shoulder, and he immediately turned back to her and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "He's still here," he sobbed into the crook of her neck, his voice cracking. "He's...he's here with me. I mean, I knew he was, but..."
"Yeah," Luz whispered, hugging him back. "I get it."
Hunter sniffled and let out a weak laugh. "I don't think I'm gonna be able to go back to sleep tonight."
Luz handed him a tissue, which he accepted gratefully. "You wanna come snuggle with me?" she offered, shuffling to one side of her bed to give him room to lie next to her.
Hunter hesitated for a moment, but nodded bashfully. Luz noticed him wince as he began to readjust his shirt back up onto his shoulders, and he let out a hiss under his breath. "Does it hurt?" she asked.
"A little," he admitted. "It kind of stings where the feathers are coming through. And my back muscles feel really sore too for some reason."
Luz was at a loss for how to help. The only other person she could think of who had grown feathers like this was Eda, but her transformation had been instantaneous, and the circumstances were a lot different. Not to mention that despite their closeness, Luz knew Eda's curse was a subject she wasn't always open to talking about.
"I have some painkillers you can take," she said. "Why don't you try to get some rest for now and in the morning we can have MamĂĄ take a look? She's worked with birds before at the vet clinic, and she definitely knows more about this stuff than I do. I'm sure she'll have some advice."
Hunter took the painkillers as instructed and slowly eased himself into bed beside her. "We shouldn't bother her with something like this," he murmured, pulling the covers over himself and nestling into his pillow as Luz reached over to turn her lamp off again. "She has more important things to take care of than whatever's happening to me."
Luz frowned and booped his nose with her finger, giggling at the disgruntled face he pulled. "We weren't gonna put ourselves down like that anymore," she reminded him gently. "Your safety and happiness is something very important. Plus, she, uh, does kinda love you like her own son. You realize that, right? She's been calling you 'mijo' for years now, dude. And even if that weren't already the case..." Luz's face broke into a grin. "You have boyfriend privileges now! She's gotta help her future son-in-law."
Hunter let out a squeak and and pulled the covers up over his face, but his blush was still plainly visible on the tips of his ears. Luz couldn't help the awww that escaped her lips at how adorable he was. He always flustered so easily.
Hunter peeked out from under the covers at the sound of her voice. Upon seeing Luz smirking at him, he scowled and pointedly turned over to face the other way, wincing a bit as he moved his shoulders. "Good night, Luz," he said stiffly. Luz noted that his ears, though flushed, were wiggling up and down slightly, betraying his happiness. "Good night, Hunter," she replied cheerfully.
***
Luz awoke to something tickling her nose. She blinked wearily, a blurry red shape slowly coming into view. She smiled as the events of the previous night began to come back to her. Hunter's feathers!
She rubbed her eyes and let out a yawn, turning to squint at the clock on her nightstand. 8:05. From the soft whistling of Hunter's snores, she could tell he was still sound asleep. He had gradually been getting better about not waking up at 6 AM all the time, but he would still typically only let himself sleep in until 7 at the absolute latest. She was glad he was finally managing to get a decent amount of rest. She wondered if lying next to her had helped him sleep better. She smirked as she imagined the flustered expression he'd make if she suggested that to his face. She glanced back at Hunter and froze as she suddenly got a better look at him now that her brain was awake enough to process what she was seeing.
It seemed that her assumption that the presence of more sheaths on his back meant he would be growing more feathers soon had turned out to be true. What she had not managed to predict, however, were the set of small wings that now extended from Hunter's shoulder blades.
Luz's breath caught in her throat as she gazed at him in awe. True to the wings of a cardinal, they began at their base a brilliant, deep scarlet, fanning out to become almost translucent at the tips. She didn't dare reach out a hand to feel his delicate feathers for herself, lest she wake him from his peaceful slumber, or worse yet, find herself to be the one in a dream.
She at last managed to tear her eyes away and nestled back under the covers beside him. She tended to just get out of bed whenever she woke up, but she didn't want Hunter to awaken to his new transformation alone and start panicking. She scrolled absentmindedly on her phone while she waited for him to wake up, browsing some webpages about birds and feather growth. While interesting, she wasn't really sure how much would apply to Hunter's situation.
Around half an hour had passed before she felt Hunter begin to stir gently beside her. She climbed out of bed as silently as she could and walked around to kneel on the floor in front of his side of the bed so he wouldn't have to roll over onto his wings to look at her. His eyes slowly fluttered open to meet hers, and his face broke into a warm smile at the sight of his girlfriend.
"Goooood morning, Hunter!" Luz chirped in a singsong tone, playfully ruffling his hair.
Hunter chuckled. "Morning," he mumbled in reply, rubbing at his eyes. His voice was raspy from having just woken up. "You're in a good mood."
"I have some exciting news when you're awake enough for it," Luz said, bouncing slightly in place. "How are you feeling?"
"Hmm. I'm not quite sure yet," Hunter said through a yawn. "I don't think the feathers sting anymore, but I'm still pretty sore." He sat up to stretch, lifting his arms to the ceiling as far as they would go. As he did so, the wings on his back stretched in turn, arching into a fiery halo behind his head. Luz must've let out a gasp, as he suddenly froze and gave her a quizzical look. "What?"
"You have wings!" she blurted out, unable to contain herself any longer.
***
Luz hurried on her way home from school, a skip in her step. Hunter had opted to sleep in this morning, so she hadn't gotten to have breakfast with him before she went to school and she couldn't wait to get back and see him.
It had been about a week since Hunter's wings had sprouted. They were small, barely bigger than his head, certainly unable to be used for flying. He had also not figured out how to control the muscles yet, assuming he could, and they tended to get in his way, repeatedly bumping into things whenever he turned around and making it uncomfortable for him to lie on his back or really change his position at all once he lay down.
But Luz had not seen Hunter so effortlessly happy in years. While he had certainly come to terms with his grief over Flapjack and had been doing a lot better for a long time now, in just this past week he'd had an energy and spark to him he had not displayed since his beloved Palisman's death. It seemed like every day Luz would be stopped around five or six times with an insistent "Look, look!" from Hunter as he spun around to show off his new feathers again, his wings bobbing merrily behind him.
It had given him inspiration for a new sewing project, too. The wings were cumbersome when it came to wearing a shirt, so he had taken to wearing his button-downs backward for the time being, but he had been excitedly rambling to Luz all week about his plans to modify his shirts to have snaps at the back. He had even shown some of his designs to Camila for review, and Luz felt a swell of affection in her chest when she saw how much more comfortable he was around her now.
He had not experienced any other transformations as of yet, though his feathers had at this point grown in so thick she could not even see the skin beneath them anymore. He looked so incredibly fluffy and soft, and whenever she was around him it took all of Luz's restraint to not shove her hand or her entire face between his wings to feel his beautiful scarlet down for herself.
Luz hummed to herself as she rounded the corner to her backyard, eager to see her boyfriend. A flash of scarlet caught her eye, and she turned, expecting to find him. What she instead discovered was a clump of red feathers stuck in the bark of a tree she had just passed. She frowned in confusion, glancing at the other trees nearby, and found them in a similar state. "Hunter?" she called out. There was no response.
She tore through her backyard, following the trail of befeathered trees. She could feel panic starting to set in. Had there been a struggle? Was he hurt? She stopped in the center of the clearing, looking around wildly, tears starting to cloud her vision.
She suddenly heard Hunter swear loudly, and she immediately rushed toward the sound of his voice. At last, she found him, and she was relieved to see that he did not appear to be injured. The main thing that caught her attention, however, was the fact that Hunter was currently rubbing his back against one of the trees with desperate urgency.
Luz couldn't help but stare. He had pulled his wings forward over his shoulders, clutching the tip of each wing in each hand, and was grinding the bark into the space between them. His face was contorted in a grimace, his nose scrunched up and his eyes screwed firmly shut. He huffed repeatedly in aggravation, letting out the occasional curse as he adjusted his stance to get a better angle. Autumn leaves crunched audibly beneath Luz's feet as she hesitantly approached him, but Hunter made no indication that he had noticed her at all.
"Uh, Hunter?"
He jumped and froze, finally realizing she was there. His face quickly began to resemble his feathers in color. "Luz," he squeaked. "You're home." He leaned back against the tree nonchalantly, clinging to his last shred of dignity as he acted as though that was all he had been doing. "S-So, how was school?" he asked with a strained grin. As he did so, he continued to squirm slightly against the bark, trying to make it look like he was just shifting his posture.
Now that she was getting a better look at his face, Luz noticed that he looked utterly drained, his lips chapped and his cheeks displaying a sallow tint that was visible even through his blush. And despite how long he had slept in that morning, his dark circles had returned almost to their Golden Guard severity, and his eyes themselves looked glassy and unfocused.
"Hunter, are you okay?" she asked worriedly. "Are you sick?"
He shifted his weight from foot to foot, clearly anxious to end the conversation. "I'm good! Don't worry about me. Hey, why don't you go tell Camila you're home?" His voice was shaky and weak.
Luz hummed, unimpressed with his attempt to deflect her concerns. "Why don't we both go see her, and she can take a look at you and figure out why you're so exhausted and itchy all of a sudden?" she said pointedly, coming closer to him.
To her dismay, her boyfriend shrank away from her, fear evident in his eyes. "Please don't tell Camila about this," he begged. "She's been working at the vet clinic all day. I'm not going to disturb her when she should be taking a break."
Luz held back a sigh at how frequently they had to have this conversation. As frustrating as it was that Hunter simply could not get it in his head that she and her mom didn't see him as a burden, Luz knew his fear of being seen as such was deep-seated from his years in the Emperor's Coven, and she imagined his experiences with Belos made that fear even stronger when it pertained to someone he saw as an authority figure.
"It's not going to bother her to make sure you're okay," Luz said patiently. "It'd make her way more worried if you didn't tell her. And she's been pretty excited to study your wings. I mean, she's dedicated her entire life to being a vet. This is the sort of thing she enjoys and takes pride in doing!"
Hunter frowned, clearly unconvinced but unable to think of a good counterargument. Luz took this opportunity to gently extend her hand for him to take. "Come on."
His eyes locked onto her nails, his ears perking up in sudden interest. He fidgeted slightly, a light flush creeping back onto his cheeks.
"Luz," Hunter burst out, not bothering to hide the desperation in his voice. "Could you scratch my back?" As he said this, he finally abandoned his position against the tree and turned his back to her expectantly.
Luz gasped as she saw the state his wings were in. A matted tangle of dull and broken feathers sat at the bases of his wings, and prominent, crumbling feather sheaths stuck out across his back. His plumage had thinned out considerably, revealing his inflamed skin beneath, and his wings themselves looked ragged.
As much as it pained her to turn him down when this was the first time he'd ever managed to ask her for help, she didn't know what was wrong with his wings and was terrified of making matters worse and causing any further damage to his feathers. "Sorry, but I'm taking you to see MamĂĄ," she said firmly, taking his hand and starting to pull him toward the house. Her heart broke as Hunter visibly wilted, a crushed expression on his face as he reluctantly trudged after her.
Camila turned out to have been out at the grocery store, but she was hurrying back home after Luz had called her to explain what was going on. As they waited for her to return, Luz had sat Hunter in a chair at the dining table, having turned the chair backwards to make it easier for Camila to inspect his wings. He had pointedly refused to speak or even look at Luz since she'd brought him in, opting to spend his time sulking with his back to her. Luz knew how miserable he must be, so she felt slightly bad for finding it adorable how grumpy he was.
"MamĂĄ says she should be home in a minute," she informed him. His ears flattened irritably but he otherwise ignored her.
He groaned suddenly, reaching his hand to his back. Luz opened her mouth to tell him not to scratch, but she needn't have worried. It appeared as though Hunter had still not managed to gain total control over his wings, as they simply copied the movements of his arms and seemed to get directly in his way no matter what angle he tried to reach from. Luz couldn't help the snort of amusement that escaped her at this endearing predicament of his.
He shot her a resentful glare and she grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."
Hunter fidgeted with his hands. "No, I'm sorry," he sighed. "I know you're trying to help. I shouldn't take it out on you."
Luz walked over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, taking care not to touch his sensitive feathers. "Aww, it's okay," she whispered, resting her chin on his head. "I know it's really uncomfortable. I don't blame you for being a little on edge." Hunter hugged her back, gripping the back of her shirt with shaking fingers.
"I love you, Luz," he mumbled. She could hear the tears in his voice, a mixture of frustration at his itching wings and guilt from being cold to her.
"I love you too," she said, planting a kiss atop his head.
"Hijos, I'm home!" Camila's voice called out, muffled through the closed door. She had taken to announcing her presence before coming in so as to not startle Hunter by opening the door unexpectedly.
"MamĂĄ!" Luz rushed to greet her and practically dragged her over to where Hunter was sitting. "Can you figure out what's wrong with Hunter? Please? His feathers look like they're falling out and they're all itchy and he's super exhausted and sick-looking and..."
"Mija," Camila interrupted gently upon seeing Hunter's wings. "I think he is just molting. Cardinals molt when it starts getting colder so they have thicker plumage for the winter."
Luz suddenly felt very silly. "Oh." That did explain a lot. She looked at Hunter to gauge his reaction, and he seemed quite relieved, too.
Camila smiled at the two of them. She took Hunter's temperature just to be sure, and he did not appear to have a fever. "Growing a whole new set of feathers is a lot of work for your body," she told him kindly. "You'll probably feel very tired for a while. Make sure you get lots of sleep tonight, okay, mijo?"
"Yes, ma'am--er, Camila," Hunter murmured shyly.
Camila beckoned Luz over to take a closer look at his feathers. "These are pin feathers," she explained. "The sheaths covering them will eventually break apart, and they'll unfurl into Hunter's new feathers. Pin feathers are very itchy, but it's important they don't get damaged by scratching them when they're black like these ones." She pointed out a particular patch of sheaths between Hunter's shoulder blades which indeed were much darker than the ones on the majority of his back. "They're this color because they are so new that blood is still flowing to them. If you break them before the blood recedes, they will bleed."
Her forehead creased in concern as she parted his feathers to reveal a section that appeared to have met such a fate. She clucked her tongue in sympathy. "This looks like it hurts," she said. "I will need to disinfect this just in case. It looks like he has some plant material stuck in his feathers here, too. Maybe tree bark?"
Luz noticed Hunter's ears suddenly grow very red. "We were sitting against a tree earlier," she quickly cut in, trying to save him from the embarrassment of having to explain to her mom that he'd been using her backyard as a scratching post. "That's probably where he got that. So, how long 'til the sheaths don't have blood anymore?" She received a grateful look from Hunter, who was clearly glad to change the subject.
Camila hummed pensively. "Well, cardinals generally take around a month to finish molting--"
"A month?!" Hunter cried.
Luz and Camila jumped a little in surprise at his sudden outburst. He shrank in on himself, his ears drooping. "My apologies," he said, eyes fixed on the ground.
"Oh, mijo, it's okay," Camila reassured him. "A lot of your sheaths are already white, which means there's no more blood flow and they're ready to come off. That happens at the end of the molting period, so it looks like your molt is going to go a lot faster. You will probably have all your new feathers in a day or so."
Luz took one of Hunter's hands in her own and began stroking her thumb across the back of it to calm him. "Is there anything we can do for him?" she asked her mom. "It's really bothering him."
Camila nodded. "Adding more protein to his diet should make his feathers healthier. And the sheaths will come off more easily and be less itchy if they're not so dry." She began to head out of the room. "I will be right back. I'm going to prepare a spray bottle so we can mist his wings." She turned back and spoke to Hunter. "You won't be able to tell which feathers have blood flow without being able to see them, so make sure you do not scratch at them while I'm gone, okay, mijo? I don't want you hurting yourself." She caught Luz's eye. "VigĂlalo."
Luz nodded in agreement to watch him, and Camila exited the room.
The instant she was gone, Luz turned back to Hunter. "So, where do you want me to scratch?"
Hunter gaped at her. "Huh?"
"Tell me where it itches, and I'll scratch it for you," Luz repeated, trying to disguise her excitement. Now that she knew nothing was wrong with him and she wouldn't be hurting him, her desire to touch his feathers had come back to her in full force. While another person might have been put off by the raggedness of his matted plumage, Luz's fascination with the gross and macabre just made his ratty, bloodied feathers all the more irresistible.
"Th-Th--" Hunter stammered, his eyes wide. "Th-That would be in direct opposition to Camila's orders." Despite the disapproving tone of his words, Luz noticed that his ears had perked up and were wiggling slightly. She decided to tease him a bit.
"Well," she said with a melodramatic shrug, drawing out her words, "I suppose if you don't want me to--"
"No!" Hunter said, a little too loudly.
"I mean, I wouldn't want to pressure you or anything," she continued. "I'm sure you can tolerate it just fine. It's not like it itches so bad you can't stand it, right?"
"Luz!" he whined.
"What?" she asked innocently. "Did you want something, cardenalito?"
She was delighted to find that the nickname earned exactly the flustered squeak from Hunter she was expecting. If he didn't want to be called her cute little cardinal, then maybe he should've thought about that before being such a cute little cardinal.
Hunter took a moment to reply. "You don't...think she'll be upset...?" he mumbled under his breath.
"Nope, not really," Luz said with an easy smile. "Plus, she only said you couldn't scratch. She didn't say anything about me doing it for you." She made a show of tapping the side of her head wisely and managed to get a small chuckle out of Hunter. "Besides," she added, "She showed me what feathers to avoid, so I know I won't hurt you."
Hunter let out a deep breath. "Then...yes. Please. Please, help me." He reached up and pulled his wings over his shoulders again to give her access to his newfound acnestis.
Luz's hands hovered over his feathers in anticipation. She decided to start by running her fingers through the thicker sections of his plumage, avoiding the sheaths for now so she could just experience the feel of the feathers themselves. Upon making contact with them she found them to be even softer than she'd imagined, from his silky outer feathers to his fluffy downy feathers. "Wow," she breathed, dragging her fingers through his plumage haphazardly as she relished the sensation on her skin.
Hunter, on the other hand, did not appear to be enjoying it as much. He leaned forward with a shudder, trying to escape her fingers. "Ugh, Luz!" he complained. "That tickles! You're making it worse."
Luz started. "Whoops, sorry. Got distracted." She finally moved her hands to the center of his back where the molting was most severe and began parting his feathers to reach his skin, gently removing some of the old feathers and picking out bits of crumbling sheaths and tree bark as she did so. She spotted a fully white sheath that was still attached to his skin, and she couldn't help but give it an experimental tug.
The sheath did not budge, but Hunter gasped and immediately leaned into her touch, practically shoving his back against her hand. "Do that again," he begged.
Happy to have gotten a positive reaction, Luz obliged him, trying once again to remove the stubborn sheath. When it still did not come off, she opted to try picking at it with one of her nails, and it at last began to flake apart, revealing a stunningly vibrant feather beneath. She stared for a moment, captivated, though admittedly more so by the loud purr that erupted from Hunter, who had absolutely melted into the chair he was sitting on the instant she started scratching.
"Does that feel better now?" she asked with a grin.
He nodded. "Could you go a little to the left?" he asked, his voice muffled against the back of the chair.
"You bet!" Luz replied brightly. She followed his instruction, slowly moving her hand across his other feathers and gently prodding each one she passed to find which was bothering him.
She stopped when she heard a gasp from Hunter. "That one, that one," he said desperately. Luz briskly scratched off the offending feather sheath, her smile widening at the audible sigh of relief she received from him in response.
She quickly got into a rhythm, and before she knew it she had removed a significant number of sheaths. He was already looking much better with so many more of his feathers unfurled, and the color of his fresh plumage was simply breathtaking.
"Are you good for now?" Luz asked. "MamĂĄ should be back any time now with more stuff to help."
Hunter rolled his shoulders. "Would you mind getting one more? It's near the middle."
"Sure," Luz responded, parting his feathers to look for it. She frowned as she failed to find any more of the white sheaths she'd been removing in that area. She was about to ask him for more specific directions when she suddenly caught sight of a sheath that was black in color, difficult to see among the dark red bases of his other feathers. Hoping she was wrong, she poked it gently. "This one?"
He nodded eagerly. "Yes, please."
"Hunter, that one's got blood flow."
"What?!" He craned his neck in an unsuccessful attempt to look at his back, his brow furrowed in dismay and a pout on his lips. "But it's itchy."
Luz sighed. She couldn't help but take pity on him when he was this unintentionally cute. "I'll try to scratch it without pulling it off, okay? Just let me know if I'm hurting you." She gently dragged a single nail against his skin in a circular motion around the base of that feather, and she felt Hunter relax immediately beneath her hand. Relieved that this seemed to be enough for him, she tentatively began to scratch a bit harder, which was met with an appreciative hum from Hunter.
Luz heard a sudden cooing behind her that was not drowned out even by the loud rumble of Hunter's purring. She turned to find her mom standing in the doorway, holding a spray bottle in one hand and rubbing alcohol in the other and looking at the young couple with an amused fondness. She was leaning against the doorframe slightly, as though she had been standing there for a while.
"MamĂĄ!" Luz protested, feeling her face grow hot. "Why didn't you say anything?" She'd gotten so wrapped up in helping Hunter molt that she hadn't realized how long it had been. A glance at the clock told her she'd been preening his feathers for almost fifteen minutes now.
Camila laughed, cupping her cheek with her hand. "Ay, but you two looked so adorable I couldn't bear to interrupt. You have been doing a very good job handling his feathers correctly."
She walked over to where Hunter was sitting and poured a bit of rubbing alcohol onto a cotton ball. "It will sting a little, but I need to disinfect where your feathers got hurt, okay, mijo?" she told him gently. He nodded silently and held still as she quickly cleaned out his injury.
"There we go." Camila said, setting the cotton ball aside. She passed Luz the spray bottle she had brought. "Removing the sheaths will be a lot less work once they're slightly damp," Camila explained to her. "You should try to make sure the mist reaches his skin, too, since that will help soothe the irritation."
"All right," Luz responded. She chose a section of Hunter's feathers at random and, after parting them, gave the area a quick spritz.
Hunter jumped slightly as the cool water hit his skin. "Oh!" he squeaked. "That is a lot better." His wings suddenly began flapping of their own accord, his feathers ruffling instinctively to move the droplets around his plumage.
Luz gasped in delight. "You're like a little bird taking a bath!" she exclaimed, her hands flapping excitedly.
Hunter let out a laugh. "Flapjack always liked bathing," he said brightly. "Sometimes, I would sneak him into the bathrooms at the castle, and I would cup my hands as I ran the tap so he could sit there and splash around. He looked so cute with his feathers fluffed up!" Hunter gestured animatedly as he spoke, and he rocked back and forth in his seat as though overwhelmed by his own enthusiasm.
Affection rose in Luz's chest as she listened to more of his rambling while she continued her work with the spray bottle. She always loved it when he shared his interests with her like this, and she was glad that he was at the point where he could talk about his late Palisman so readily and with such happiness.
After a few minutes, she had at last misted all of Hunter's feathers. She set the spray bottle down on the table and ran her fingers through his hair. "How are you feeling?" she asked.
He let out a comfortable sigh and nuzzled into her arm. "Much better," he said. "Thank you, Luz. You really didn't have to do all this for me."
Luz messed up his hair good-naturedly. "Hey, don't worry about it. I wasn't just gonna leave you to suffer! You want me to see if I can get more of the sheaths off now? There were a few that wouldn't come off before."
"That would be great," he said shyly.
Luz began picking at his remaining white pin feathers and was pleased to find that their coatings did indeed come off much more easily now they weren't so dry. Hunter nestled back down in the chair as she worked, his eyes slipping closed.
"Did Flapjack go through molting, too?" Luz asked him curiously.
Hunter hummed in contemplation. "I don't think so. Not to this extent, at least. Palismen do for the most part reflect the animal in whose image they're made, but since the Palistrom wood takes the place of keratin for them, I wouldn't be surprised if their skin and feathers work a bit different. Flap did have me preen him a few times, though." A fond chuckle escaped his lips at the memory. "I think he was glad to have someone with fingers to help him. He was always really bossy about what feathers he wanted scratched. He would--Oh! Wait, wait, go back, that was a good spot." Hunter squirmed, trying to chase her fingers. "No, up a little. Down a little. Yeah, right there." Luz rolled her eyes.
"That was very kind of you to help Flapjack preen, Hunter," Camila said to him as Luz continued to scratch his back a bit. "Birds can't reach all of their feathers by themselves, so if there's not another bird to preen them, they will need their owner to help them. In the wild, most birds will get preened by their mates if they have them."
"Huh. Good thing he's got one of those, eh?" Luz said, nudging Hunter.
He blinked at her, taking a minute to digest her words. His eyes suddenly widened and an intense blush spread across his entire face. "Luz!" he choked.
Luz clasped his hands in hers and looked him intently in the eye. "Hunter," she said, putting on a dramatic air. "From this day forward, I, Luz Noceda, hereby vow to preen your feathers for you whenever you need, and to aid you in every molt you have, in all our years to come."
By this point, Hunter looked like he was going to absolutely pass out from embarrassment, so she elected to spare him from more of her teasing, but not before giving him a chivalrous kiss on the hand for good measure. He whined and buried his head in her shoulder, unable to help the bashful grin that had made its way to his face.
"Thank you," he laughed, lifting his head to place a soft kiss on her lips.
***
Luz groaned, staring at the ceiling. It felt like every time she tried to go back to sleep, thousands of glowing blue eyes would flood her vision and her ears would ring with cacophonous, overlapping voices and the sickening crunch of bones. She sighed, giving up, and went to find Hunter.
Years ago, when they had gotten stuck in the Human Realm after the Day of Unity, they'd made an agreement that if one of them couldn't sleep, they would wake the other up for support. It certainly happened a lot less frequently now, but every once in a while they would both still have nights where the memories of Belos were too much to face alone.
Luz shivered as she walked across the basement floor, her socks not stopping the winter chill from reaching her feet. She paused a few steps from his bed and called out to him softly, hoping she wouldn't startle him. "Hunter?"
One of his ears swiveled in her direction, and soon a pair of red eyes were glowing at her through the darkness. "Luz?" he said groggily. "What's wrong?"
"Can't sleep," she replied.
He yawned and shifted to one side of the bed to make room for her, silently holding his arms out to invite her to cuddle with him. She accepted gratefully, nestling against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he murmured.
She shrugged with a dismissive shake of her head. "Just...Belos. Again." Her fists clenched. "I don't know why I still let him affect me like this. He's been dead for years and I still see him every day. I don't know what's wrong with me."
She yelped in surprise as one of Hunter's wings darted out to tickle the side of her neck. Her face unintentionally broke into a smile and laughter began to bubble out of her as his feathers brushed against her skin. He had been an absolute menace since he'd figured out how to control his wings. "Hey!" she protested through a fit of giggles, giving him a playful shove.
Hunter smirked and withdrew his wing. "There is nothing wrong with you," he told her firmly, his voice taking a more serious tone. "It...it doesn't really go away. No matter how long it's been. There's nothing that can make up for what he did." His hand moved to clutch his chest. "But...we have a chance now to live on. For all those before us who didn't get that chance. Even if it feels hard sometimes, I think it's worth doing. For them and for us."
Luz laid her hand next to his to feel his heart beating steadily beneath his chest. "Yeah," she whispered. "It is."
They lay in comfortable silence for a while. Luz noticed that Hunter's inhales and exhales felt a bit more intentional than normal, as though he were concentrating on breathing deeply in hopes that she would synchronize her breathing with his. She did so, and a feeling of calm began to wash over her.
"Hunter?" she murmured. "Can I pet you?"
He snorted. "You never have to ask to do that."
She smiled and draped an arm over him so she could lazily drag her fingers through his feathers. His winter plumage was so thick her fingers were almost completely buried in his fluffy down before they reached his skin. The softness of his feathers against her hand was instantly soothing and she could feel her eyes struggling to stay open.
The gentle trill of Hunter's purring began to fill the room, and the two of them quickly drifted off to sleep.
#lunter#goldenlight#huntceda#goldenluz#luz x hunter#hunter x luz#goldenlightweek2023#<- adding that tag like i didn't just find out it was a thing a minute ago#writing#maro's stuff#god posting a second fic is almost scarier than the first#every time i try to make intentional parallels with my other fic here i'm like oh no people are going to think this is all i write about#i'm not the itchy hunter person to you guys am i#also as you can probably tell i've made changes to canon here. hunter's grimwalker eyes do not get erased and he does not gain magic powers#because wtf was that owl house crew
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