#a really long story though

[clumsiestgiantess]

35 for the prompt list please 🙏

FINALLY got around to the prompt that’s been sitting in my inbox for quite a while!  Anon, wherever you are, I didn’t forget you!

Prompt list here if you want me to write with another prompt!

[The Walls Won’t Be There Forever universe X “You’re treating me like a pet!” prompt]

It’s not like I wanted a little mouse person pet.  Sure they’re really cute, but I had my hands full already.  Even with their charming little appearance, I was content to watch videos of them on the internet and see pictures of them in adorable outfits skyrocketing in popularity.  If I were to get any pet, I wanted something that would be a bit more self-sufficient, not something that required almost as much care and attention as a person.  Yet, about a month or two after that conclusion, I was walking in the door of my apartment with a little cardboard box in tow.  Inside it was a tiny humanoid creature I didn’t intend on buying even that very morning.

I’ve had Vex, my mouse person, for about three months now.  He’s my little guy — my cute tiny man I picked up at the pet store where my friend worked, because she’d told me they were putting him down.  He’d lashed out and bit one clumsy little kid and suddenly he was served a death sentence.  I didn’t think that was fair in the slightest, so I took him home.  

For the longest time, he made a gigantic fuss whenever I tried to interact with him.  He’d hiss at me or refuse to acknowledge me.  He’d dodge my hand as long as he could when I tried to pick him up.  Yet, weirdly enough, he never tried to bite me once.  That was the very first sign I got that told me he was smart.  Somehow, he knew his little life had hung precariously for a moment all because he’d bitten someone.  

I knew he was smarter than he tried to let on the moment I got him.  He kept coming up with the cleverest things, and while we couldn’t directly communicate with eachother, he created little gestures to get me to understand what he wanted.  Sometimes, it felt like he was trying to train me.

While I didn’t want the responsibility, I knew he deserved better than a half-assed attempt to care for him.  I brought him home to ensure he was safe.  If he wasn’t safe with me, then I doubt he would ever feel safe at all.  So, I did my best to care for him.  While I couldn’t get the specialized pet food for him, I still gave him plenty to eat of my own meals.  And, while he had no little toys of his own size to play with, I tried to keep him entertained by letting him loose in the house from time to time.  He was under careful surveillance by me, of course, but he rarely tried anything that would get him into trouble.

I knew — I thought — he couldn’t understand me, but regardless I would talk to him about things whenever I was bored.  The second sign of his underestimated intelligence was that he listened to me attentively.  You could tell just through his expressions that he was absolutely absorbing and understanding what I was telling him.  For the longest time I could’ve sworn I was just imagining things that he didn’t really intend to do, but sometimes, especially on days when I would come home frustrated with just about everything, he’d willingly let me hold him until I calmed down.  I thought it was instinct or something — like how dogs and cats can sense their owner’s stress and calm them.  Turns out it was a bit more than that.  

Of course, the final and most suspicious thing was the whole list of rudimentary gestures he created for me to understand him.  I rationalized that other animals use body language to try to communicate what they want with people, but Vex was fully aware of what the thumbs up sign meant, or the middle finger for that matter.  That last one I didn’t really appreciate him knowing, but what was I supposed to do?  I certainly didn’t teach it to him.

At last, just an hour ago, after I set Vex on my desk so I could watch him while working on my laptop, he gestured for me to give him my attention, and spoke.  

“So.. don’t be mad or freak out, but I- I could understand you this whole time,” he finished hastily, bracing himself for something to happen.  All I could do was sit there, mouth agape.  “I- I know this is probably a lot for you,” Vex continued cautiously, “But I just- I couldn’t keep you in the dark anymore.”  “WHAT?!” I yelped, causing him to double over with his hands clasped against his ears.  “YOU SERIOUSLY COULD HAVE BEEN TALKING TO ME THIS ENTIRE TIME?!”  My heart thrummed in my ears the same way it would be when I’m terrified.  I think I am terrified!  The little mouseish pet is speaking to me!  

“Wait!” Vex yelped, “Just hear me out!”  “WHY DID YOU GET ME TO MEMORIZE YOUR ENTIRE DICTIONARY OF GESTURES IF YOU COULD’VE SPOKEN?!”  “Alright, alright, stop yelling!”  He nearly had to shriek to be heard over my voice.  “Please!  It hurts my ears.”  Immediately, I shut myself up.  Sure I was mad and a bit frightened, but I wasn’t going to deafen him for it.  “Ok, sorry.  Is this better?”  He nodded, cautiously taking his hands off his head.

“Heather, I’m trusting you with this.  No one’s supposed to know we can talk.  Just try to calm down, ok?  I get it, I’ve been lying and kiiiinda manipulating you, but you have to understand!  If we’re found out to be intelligent, we’ll never stop being seen as an oddity by you humans.  You’ll keep us locked up forever!”  Vex wasn’t wrong, but I was still shaken by the fact that he wasn’t only talking, he knew my name.  He knows.. a lot about me, actually.  He’s been listening to everything I’ve talked to him about; he’s sat with me and comforted me, albeit silently.  

Oh shit.  He’s actually seen and heard just about everything I do.  My face paled, hands rising to my mouth in horror.  I get undressed in here.  I hadn’t thought much of it.  He had little clothes, but those were put on him by the pet store.  I didn’t think his little animal-esqe kind even bothered with clothing.  “Umm, are you ok?” Vex asked me, gesturing to my horrified expression.  “What have you seen me do?” I asked quietly, dreading the answer.  His face flushed a deep crimson red — all the answer I really needed.  “W- Well, umm.  It was your choice to do those things in front of me.”

“But you’re just supposed to be a pet, not some.. weird tiny human!” I gasped, “I- I didn’t think you actually understood what anything meant!”  Vex’s embarrassed expression rapidly became a scowl.  “That’s not fair!  You’re treating me like a pet!”  “But.. you are a pet.”  “No I’m not!”  I wrinkled up my nose in angry confusion.  “I bought you from the pet store.”  “So?”  “What do you mean ‘so���?  It says live pet right on the side of your carrier!” I countered.  “Well, I didn’t put that there!” he cried in outrage.  “If I stuck a sign on your door that said ‘psycho abusive human lives here’, that doesn’t mean it’s true!”  

My anger was suddenly struck down with immense concern.  “Wait.. you think I’m abusive?” I asked worriedly, “I- I’m so sorry!  What did I do?  Whatever it is, I’ll stop doing it.  I promise.”  Vex’s anger also seemed to fizzle out.  He blinked, turning to stare up at me with wide eyes.  “What?  No!  You’ve been fine!  That was just an example; it’s not what I actually think of you!” he explained, “I was trying to find something that obviously wasn’t true to make my point.  Just because I call you it doesn’t mean it’s true.  You calling me a pet…  It hurts the same way, understand?”

It’s like he’s teaching me again, but I do understand.  “Ok, I’ll stop calling you that.. and treating you like that.  I’m so so sorry.  If I’d known-”  “If you knew, I would’ve been terrified of you.  I’m glad you came to care for me without knowing about me.  It’s.. reassuring in a backwards way — knowing you’d treat something you didn’t think was this closely human in an almost human way.  That’s kinda why I decided to tell you about all this.”  I edged closer to him again, carefully watching his expression to see if I was welcome.  Surprisingly, he stepped a bit closer to me.

In cautious increments, we moved towards eachother.  I hadn’t been that slow with him since the first week after I took him home.  Once we were nearly touching, I reached behind him and gently guided him over, pulling him close to my chest.  He stiffened beneath my hand, but this wasn’t the first time we’d done this — just the first time since he’d told me the unbelievable truth.  Usually, it was me he was comforting — letting me hold him to myself for comfort like a living stuffed animal.  However, this time it was him who was shaking.

“Hey, it’s alright, Vex.  I’ll keep your secret,” I assured him quietly.  “I just.. can’t believe it.  You’re.. fully sentient.”  He shuffled in my grasp and I gently let him go.  Taking a step back, he craned his head vertically up to look at me.  “Thanks, that- that means a lot to me.  I’ve been trying to work up the courage to tell you for a while now.  I was really scared you’d throw me out for hiding it from you.”  I sighed, “No, if anything, I’d throw you out for sitting there watching me.  I fucking get dressed in here; I’ve seen you, just sitting there like you were oblivious to it.”

Vex stumbled backwards slightly, falling out of my grasp, face turning a bit red again.  “Well, if I reacted it would blow my cover!  And, again, you chose to do that in front of me.”  “It’s my bedroom!” I retorted, “And you could’ve at least turned away!”  “I did at first!  But it happens so often I kinda.. got used to it, I guess.”  I groaned, burying my face in my hands.  “Thank god you didn’t have a tiny camera with you.  Unless you’re hiding that, too?”  Vex quickly shook his head as I glanced over at him.  We sat there in momentary silence as I calmed down.  

“I’ll uhh.. I’ll keep your secret if you keep mine?” he offered eventually.  At the absurdity of his question and the situation, I fell into laughter.  “Sure, Vex.  Just stop doing it now that I know, ok?”  “Of course.  I- I didn’t mean to.”  I knew it wasn’t exactly his fault.  I was the one who locked him up here after all.  He kept glancing at me until I found myself staring him down.  “What is it?” I asked, suspicious — afraid of something else he might’ve seen that I’d forgotten.  “It’s just.. my name isn’t actually Vex.  You gave me that name, remember?”  “Oh!  That’s right!  I didn’t even realize.”  He shrugged, “It’s alright, I like Vex.  It’s a good nickname.”  “What about your real name?”  “Salt,” he stated.  “Wh- What?” I stammered, “Your name is Salt?  Actually?”  “Something wrong with that name?” he asked, voice rising defensively.  

Are all borrower names that strange?  I heard that they were named after brands and appliances — stuff you could find in most households.  But salt?  That’s a mineral.  Though, I guess it is something you’d find in a house.  “Salt.  Ok, then.  I just wasn’t expecting that.”  “Expecting something more humanish?” he asked with a smirk.  “No,” I replied, shrugging off my embarrassment, “It’s unique is all.”  We were quiet for a moment, each of us cautiously examining the other in a new light.

“So, umm.. now that you know…”  Salt — no, I’ll just call him Vex — said slowly.  “Do I still have to live in that box?” he asked, pointing to the little glass cage on the shelf beside me.  “Oh, goodness no!” I gasped, “Please find anywhere you like to set up a place for yourself, just try not to be directly in the way of anything, ok?”  He nodded enthusiastically.  “Yes!  I- I will!  I mean- I won’t?  You know what I mean.”  I chuckled and shooed him off, watching as he expertly scaled the handles of my drawers down to the floor.

I followed Vex around the rest of the evening, carrying all of his things for him while he raced around the apartment, searching for the perfect hidden nook to settle in.  He was stuck between three different places about an hour past the time I’m supposed to be in bed, so I told him to either hurry up or decide tomorrow.  Finally, after the fourth time begging him to make up his mind, I decided for him.  Gently sweeping him up off his feet, I carried him in cupped hands down the hall to my room as he protested that he would’ve made the decision in only a few more minutes.

Snuggling down under the covers of my bed, I placed him on a pillow beside mine, turning on my side to face him.  He froze up, then slowly sat upright, turning to stare over at me.  “Wh-?”  “I wasn’t going to make you sleep in that cage,” I told him, replying to the confused half-word he’d uttered.  “If you don’t like being so close to a- a human, I can move the pillow to the floor.”  “N-No!” Vex replied hastily, “This is.. This is fine.  It’s a lot more comfortable than the little plastic hutch I had.”

Guilt sunk into my chest knowing that I’d made him suffer through a warped pethood.  “I’m sorry.”  “Don’t be.  Seriously.  I’m not holding any grudges.  You only did that because I made you believe certain things about myself that weren’t true — to protect myself.  Neither of us are in the wrong.”  I nodded, letting out a relieved breath.  “You’re right.  Goodnight Ve- er.. Salt.”  “Just call me Vex,” he said happily, laying down on the pillow so he sunk halfway into it.  “It sounds cooler than Salt, anyways.”

[raiiny-bay]

Love, Dhes

Parker,

It's unfair how time with you feels so short. How the last 10 years have felt like no time at all. I like to think there are other versions of us out there, somewhere. Maybe in another timeline, another universe. I like to think we find each other no matter where we are or what we're doing. That we're together and happy and I get to love you in a dozen different lifetimes. That's what I hope, anyway. And I hope when this lifetime ends, we get to start over and do it all again. Because once just isn't enough. Not for me. Not with you.

I hope the next 10 years pass slower.

Love, Dhes

[ruporas]

feast (ID in alt)

[shalom-iamcominghome]

I've been doing a lot of reflection as of late, especially after this past class.

This past class was about the Torah and Tanakh in general, and the way the rabbi talked about the commandments (specifically the ten commandments) has made me really reflect on how I interpret them, specifically the fifth commandment, or honoring your mother and father.

This is a commandment I have wrestled with for a long time - in fact, it brought me away from g-d at multiple times. I was severely abused when I was incredibly young by my mother, and I used to feel insulted at the implication that I were to honor her while she got to live a better life. It was hypocritical, in my eyes.

But this rabbi surmised that this particular commandment was because parenthood is an act of creation, something that is like the g-d from which we come from. My realization is this: I don't think we're necessarily meant to take even these commandments literally.

I this particular commandment is more of a call to honor creation - creation is a gift, and like any gift, many people simply will not like it and will discard it. The person who abused me created me, but she did not honor creation. She didn't honor me, but I can still honor it.

I have started to honor creation much more. I'm too young, too unstable, not mature enough to be a father (though I fantasize about it), but I create all the time. I create relationships, I create with my hands through crochet. I create memories, I create my world. And I can honor who I am and where I came from that made me who I am. I've been learning one of the mother tongues of my family (Italian, since part of my family originates there) and it was judaism that inspired me to do this.

I don't think g-d wants me to honor my abuser. I think He wants me to remember the Holy action of creation. When I am a father, that act of creation will be Holy, and indeed, I am already joyful about the thought.

I have seen many people struggle with this particular commandment, but I think this perspective helps me personally. I don't think I ever have to forgive my abusers (plural), and I don't think I am commanded to simply because they happened to be family. I am commanded to recognize the holy, to elevate the mundane. In doing so, I will remember g-d. Through creation, I honor g-d and everything he has done for us, for me, and for our collective people.

[puppppppppy]

I can teach you how to be just like me

crying all night, sleeping till three

[bonefall]

Hey, what makes a character a 'plot device but not a character'? And how do you not do that? I'm trying to do it on purpose but also I need to still make them interesting because it's on purpose, yknow?

A good skill to pick up is to learn to criticise criticism itself. A "plot device" is simply a thing that moves the plot along, it's a neutral literary analysis term! Usually, when people are angry that "a character has been used as a plot device," it doesn't mean they hate plot devices. It means they're gesturing at something deeper.

Runningwind and Bumble are equally plot devices in their deaths. They are both killed by the antagonist to escalate political tension. Runningwind is rarely "accused" of just being a plot device, and yet, we're talking about Bumble for the same thing.

So, why?

Well, Runningwind is just a background character, but in life, he was a part of the community. He was characterized as impatient but responsible. Yet, he wasn't SO important that he died with a bunch of unresolved plot threads.

He is mostly an extension of the entity of ThunderClan. His killing by Tigerstar, and the fear and paranoia that settles on the group after this, feel like a progression of the story insteas of something forced.

Bumble, on the other hand...

Is hated immediately by Gray Wing, when she's established as Turtle Tail's friend. Bumble's abuse at Tom the Wifebeater's hands invites even MORE investment. The rejection is shocking and upsetting. There's a story there about our main characters being imperfect; jealous, bigoted, and judgemental.

But, she is simply killed off. Everything they set up for this character is gone with little personalized fanfare. It's not a tragedy with a lesson about cruelty, or something anyone regrets.

It's just... plot. Gray Wing whinging that no one will like his shitty brother now that his body count is 2.

More than that, in the discussion of women in particular, "Fridging" was coined to give a name to the way women characters often don't get their stories told at all. There is a CULTURAL trend of female characters facing disproportionate violence, for the sake of advancing male plots.

Bumble has a lot going for her. Petal had a lot going for her. Turtle Tail had a lot going for her. Bright Stream had a lot going for her. When they died, they took their potential with them.

It's not always wrong to kill off a character of high potential, mind you. In Gurren Lagann, Kamina's death is sudden and shocking, leaving a massive hole in the hearts of the cast that never heals. Grappling with that loss, but also letting his memory fuel them, is a major theme of that story.

All that to say... there's no formula for avoiding it. You've gotta identify what the deeper issue is, in your specific narrative.

I can't say for certain what that will look like for your story, but here's some things I keep in mind;

When you make characters who exist to die, make sure they're people before you axe them.

Ask yourself; what about them does the cast miss?

If they just miss them because they were (pre-existing relationship), go back to the drawing board.

Fluttering Bird as an example. Who was she? Dead sister. Why do they miss her? Dead sister. No traits until after her death.

Runningwind was short-tempered and helpful. Kamina was a valuable leader who made people believe in a brighter future. Swiftpaw was fiesty and desperate to prove himself. The better characterized, the more profound the loss usually is.

If this is a female character who is dying just to serve the plot, be aware of cultural bias and tropes. How is the gender ratio looking in your cast? Is this happening disproportionately with your girls?

Note how Quiet Rain's litter had both a boy and a girl, but the girl was chosen to be "weaker" and wither away.

And how most of the time in DOTC, whenever a man had to be upset, a girl would get killed for it.

If you ever feel like the character on the chopping block is NOT a full character, ask yourself why it needs to be a character at all. You don't need to spend narrative time building out someone when a literal object of high value might suffice.

"My sister died when I swore to protect her and I can't face my family" = Old. Tired. Ive seen this.

"I lost my heirloom sword when I swore to protect it and I can't face my family." = Fascinating. Why was the sword so valuable? Will they really not take you back? How did you lose it?

When you do kill off "high value" characters, try to make sure you're not leaving too many plot threads hanging. Or at least make a point of how they will never get closure.

[bluewolfangel01]

Ghost Lilith

Anybody else sometimes forget about Lilith outside of season 1 unless she's brought up again on, what feels like, rare occasions?

Sometimes I do

I kinda wish she had more of a presence in later seasons, the other season stories are fine without don't get me wrong but I think it would just be cool to have a ghost/spirit Lilith pop up every now and then that only Mc is aware of or something like that

Ive seen a headcanon from someone that sometimes ghost Lilith helps Mc cheat in tests or they just chat sometimes and I love it to bits

I like to imagine that sometimes Mc will go to Lilith's room (bet yall forgot about the room too!) in the HoL and just chat with her ghost to either de-stress or have some time away from everyone else, especially when the brothers get really rowdy

I feel like when Mc is more worn down then normal and they don't feel like they could go to any of the brothers or other boys, they'd go to Lilith and that she'd try her absolute best to help her descendant/brothers' lover cause fate only knows what would happen if Mc actually snapped from everything

And also cause she cares a lot for them in general

Ghost Lilith would definitely play sneaky pranks on all the brothers and she'd either get Mc in on em or would make sure they were present when she does em

Ghost Lilith and Mc are quite the devious pair, maybe even more so the Satan and Belphie

I mean one is a ghost who is only able to be truly noticed by 1 person, and that said person is so powerful they have to wear a special op ring so they don't make the 3 realms collapse from their mere existence

Mc and Lilith be having tea in her room while the rest of the house is on fire and being destroyed frfr

Credit to @sister-lucifer for the divider

[inkskinned]

it is all chaos and entropy. the thing is that the chaos and entropy make it beautiful and lovely.

yes, it's true that nature and the universe are uncaring and unspecific, and that is terrifying. i have lived through some of the unfairness - i got born like this, with my body caving into itself, with this ironic love of dance when i sometimes can't stand up for longer than 15 minutes. i am a poet with hands that are slowly shutting down - i can't hold a pen some days. recently i found a dead bird on our front porch. she had no visible injuries. she had just died, the way things die sometimes.

it is also true that nature and the universe are uncaring and unspecific, and that is wonderful. the sheer happenstance that makes rain turn into a rainbow. the impossible coincidence of finding your best friend. i have made so many mistakes and i have let myself down and i have harmed other people by accident. nature moves anyway. on the worst day of my life she delivers me an orange juice sunset, as if she is saying try again tomorrow.

how vast and unknowing the universe! how small we are! isn't that lovely. the universe has given us flowers and harp strings and the shape of clouds. how massive our lives are in comparison to a grasshopper. the world so bright, still undiscovered. even after 30 years of being on this earth, i learned about a new type of animal today: the dhole.

chance echoing in my life like a harmony between two people talking. do you think you and i, living in different worlds but connected through the internet - do you think we've ever seen the same butterfly? they migrate thousands of miles. it's possible, right?

how beautiful the ways we fill the vastness of space. i love that when large amounts of people are applauding in a room, they all start clapping at the same time. i love that the ocean reminds us of our mother's heartbeat. i love that out of all the colors, chlorophyll chose green. i love the coincidences. i love the places where science says i don't know, but it just happens.

"the universe doesn't care about you!" oh, i know. that's okay. i care about the universe. i will put my big stupid heart out into it and watch the universe feast on it. it is not painful. it is strange - the more love you pour into the unfeeling world, the more it feels the world loves you in return. i know it's confirmation bias. i think i'm okay if my proof of kindness is just my own body and my own spirit.

i buried the bird from our porch deep in the woods. that same day, an old friend reaches out to me and says i miss you. wherever you go, no matter how bad it gets - you try to do good.

[celestialrealms]

Fun fact: In Barbatos's intimacy storyline in Nightbringer he ends up living with Solomon and MC at Cocytus Hall temporarily. Here's a highlight from his 40 intimacy call:

The way he makes Solomon sit in the corner. 😭 You cannot convince me he didn't raise this man.

[deoidesign]

someone asked me what if adam and steve switched vampire and werewolf...

And then since my monsters are purposefully not much visually different because of metaphors, I went more traditional vampire and werewolf...

and then I got carried away...

[tea-cat-arts]

I simply think this fandom doesn't give Wei Wuxian enough credit for the various ways in which he saved Lan Wangji

[faunandfloraas]

The Nobleman or 양반 (yangban): The smiling face represents the bluff and composure that an aristocrat is often known to have. The chin is a separate piece from the top of the mask, and the actors can lean forward and back to make the mask smile or frown as needed.

This monk who abandons his doctrines, or 취발이 (chwibari): Chwibari was originally a monk, but he had no intention of joining the monastic order, so he came down to the world and wanders. Represented with a forehead full of wrinkles and spots.

The widow or, 부네 (Punae/bune): represented to be a widow, or a kisaeng ( a woman who sang, danced, or played an instrument to provide entertainment for company at a drinking party), or a mistress of the Yangban. She has a very small mouth, round cheeks and forehead- giving a general look of happiness good-humor.

[skrunksthatwunk]

thinking about how eiji's a pole vaulter and how ash talks about eiji "flying" and how eiji's associated with bird imagery and how eiji's free (unlike ash) and how eiji comes in on a plane and leaves on a plane and how ash cannot fly, ash cannot be free, how nyc is ash's prison, and how ash is the leopard who dies climbing the mountain, unable to live at such elevation, how he was trying to reach the sky and be free but was always stuck to the earth, how he chose to die instead of climbing back down, how he chose to die where he could see the sky and hope and freedom almost like a bird with eiji's letter right in front of him rather than letting everything go wrong and ruin it once again, how eiji's a failed pole vaulter anyway, how a bad fall ruined his career and grounded him (physically and emotionally), how it took flying to america and meeting ash and needing to save him and skip for him to try flying again, how he landed hard and harsh and still the thought of that escape compelled ash to protect eiji at all costs because if he could fly that means something to him, even if he doesn't think he can fly, how eiji is the manifestation of his hope and how when he breaks and asks eiji to stay with him a while he folds himself over his legs and weighs him down and traps him and grounds him, how ash fights like hell to keep eiji alive not because he thinks he can be like him (hopeful, flying, innocent), but because he makes him forget the gravity of his situation, and so he can see eiji fly again. how he wants to see him escape. how eiji is a bird and ash is a wildcat and how ash never once saw eiji as prey. how eiji never saw ash as a predator. how it is eiji's naivete that first endears ash to him, how it is his freedom and flight and removal from darkness and his ability to leave that darkness that really roots eiji in ash's blood as something essential to him keeping on living in this hell of nyc. how it is that distance from the violence and that hope for the future that ash chooses to surround himself in as he dies. how ash dies in a dream because he feels more than anything that he can't fly like eiji, that he can never leave. how his violence is a part of him and will be forever, how it weighs him down. how he wants to enjoy the view from the mountainside rather than looking up from the ground below. as if they can both fly. as if he is with him up there and not grounded. eye-to-eye with what he can't have, seeing eiji's homeland: the sky. how he dies trying to reach the top because he couldn't take retreating and trying again. how ash, tired and tired and tired and convinced it will go on forever if he crawls back down the mountain, chooses to close his life deluged in eiji, in eiji's insistence that they can fly together, in eiji's hope for him and for them, in eiji's beautiful dream. how ash dies without trying to realize that dream. how ash, in dying, destroys it.

[numberonetribble]

I got bit by the Sparkling bug and really wanted to give Bumblebee and Breakdown a child for my unnamed AU I'm working on but then I remembered I can't draw children :( big shout out to that post floating around here that's like "imagine a Sparkling but they come out full sized then what." traffic tickets and impound fees that's what

(pssst look at their knees)

[kacievvbbbb]

Honestly despite my feelings about how the last arc of MHA went down I really love Deku and his story.

I just feel like a lot of the time we get these protagonists whose whole philosophy is it doesn’t matter what you were born as everyone can achieve greatness. But then the series goes on and it turns out that actually it DOES matter because the protagonist has this really great lineage and these really great powers you can only have through birth they were actually born born, predestined if you will, to do this.

But MHA actually sticks to its guns. Midoriya wasn’t revealed to have some great connection to all might that the universe had put in place. He wasn’t defended from some great lineage that makes him uniquely suited to this. Hell All for one didn’t even turn out to be his father, there was no hidden powerful quirk he was always meant to have. He was just Midoriya Izuku a boy who was in the right place at the right time and simply decided to act while the world did nothing. And that’s what really made him a hero.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I believe him a bit more when he goes anybody can be a hero if you just decide to act

[espressoristretto-patronum]

Warning: love message at the end of the year

Don't worry, I'll try to make it as short as possible (unsuccessfully ofc)

Okay, let's say that 2024 wasn't my year. Not at all. I was feeling constantly exhausted and discouraged and alone. I'm still feeling like this but I'm doing better!

And I want to tell you that if I had pulled through this year, it was thanks to you all.

You make me smile almost everyday with your works, your arts, your fanfictions, your headcanons, your memes!

I'm not even popular in this fandom, I don't have many followers but you make me feel wanted, loved and seen.

In other fandoms I felt like invisible, even when I gave a lot of compliments and love, and when I made this HL blog in April I thought "I'm doing this for myself, but surely I will throw my MC and my headcanons into the void, no one will care about it."

Now I see my pinned post full of your works that you made for me and my heart flutters ❤️

You guys love my Tori like I love many of your MCs! This still makes my mind blowing!

Like, seeing my MC in my favourite artist's style?! Reading Tori x Poppy's wonderful drabble written by my favourite writer?! Seeing my baby included in works done by the best modders of the fandom?!

Being tagged in wonderful ff by talented writers?! The constant support I received from the coolest people (yes, you! No exception!)

So thank you all for being a refuge when I want to escape from real life. Thank you for all the love ❤️ I hope 2025 is a good year for all of us because we deserve it!

Love you all!