#actually stretched out in a good amount of episodes?? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

queen-aluett · 2 months ago

Text

Sleeping in the Shadows - a Shadow Milk x Reader One Shot

au where shadow milk is a sleep paralysis monster, kinda like the boogeyman

You couldn’t sleep.

No matter how hard you tried, you just couldn’t sleep.

You had multiple instances of getting out of bed to get a snack, some water, go to the bathroom, or just do whatever. All in that order, over and over. Staring up at your ceiling, you let out a long and loud sigh. Your eyes fluttered a bit then you decided you’d try counting sheep. That always worked, right?

1…

2…

3…

4…

Oh, wait.

You suddenly remembered an old urban legend you heard told multiple times in multiple different ways. It even had an episode about it on an old tv show you used to watch as a kid that was all about scary stories. The story was about a strange cookie called Shadow Milk. Legend has it he’d come for those who couldn’t sleep, and counting sheep was one of the ways to summon him. Depending on how many you counted before you gave up, he’d appear to you and ask you which of the sheep you counted is real, and which one is just an illusion. If you guessed correctly, you’d be rewarded. If not, you’d be dragged either in your closet or under your bed, into his spire, and he’d turn you into his puppet to dance in his twisted shows forever and ever.

Some versions of the story would have him come to those who played card games at sleepovers, in some he’d come to those who were up past their bedtime, which was the version you watched in the tv show. In some you could just summon him by putting a joker card in front of your closet door, telling a good amount of lies and then sliding it under, and of course the game with the sheep would begin, with the amount of lies being the same amount of sheep that were present. Sometimes, instead of sheep, you’d have to answer questions, and if your answer was a lie, his appearance would become more and more terrifying, before he finally took you and made you his puppet. But no need to reminisce on the past, that’s just a little legend anyways. It’s a nice story, but it’s not real at all!

Right?

You smiled remembering that show you used to watch and the one episode that actually managed to scare you, which wasn’t the one about Shadow Milk, oddly enough. Your sweet nostalgic thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a bleat. You jolted up in terror and looked around, only to see there was nothing there. You calmed your breathing and laid back down. “Maybe I should stop thinking about that, for now, at least.” You mumbled to yourself as you stretched your back in your bed. After a moment of silence, you heard the sound of a music box. Only problem is,

You don’t own a music box.

And you’ve never heard that melody before.

Peeking out over your covers, you were too afraid to even move. You had no idea where that music was coming from, and you did NOT wanna find out anytime soon! You covered yourself up with the blankets and laid under there nice and still, covering your mouth with your hands. A blue glow was coming from outside, but no matter what, you’d never take them off. The music came to a halt after what felt like way longer than the minute it was playing for. You peeked an eye out from your hiding spot, and there was nothing there. You shuffled out of hiding and went back to sleep as normal, convincing yourself you were just sleep deprived.

“Well there you are…~”

What… was that? WHO was that? You opened your eyes, and a man in a blue harlequin outfit sat in front of you on the edge of your bed. He smiled at you and your closet in front of you was full of glowing blue eyes watching you. “There’s no way…” you thought to yourself. “A-are you… n-no… no it can’t be… shadow-“

“Shadow Milk Cookie? The great and powerful? Who else?” You lay there, eyes widened. You could not believe it! The very urban legend himself, right in your house, right at your bed, right now! “Yes, yes, hold your applause. I heard someone can’t sleep. Someone’s been a bad, bad cookie, huh? Good cookies should be put to bed right away, but look at you, all wide awake like it’s nothing!” Your voice was shaky as you replied, “I- I’m sorry, I, I promise I was trying to g-go to sleep but I-“ He interrupted and held a finger up to you, “Shhhhh… I know, Y/N Cookie, I know. Which is why… we’re gonna play a game! Since you know me so so so so so well, I think you know what you’ve got to do, yes?” You nodded “Yeah. I gotta figure out the sheep that’s not fake, got it.” He clapped his hands, “What a smart cookie you are! Oh, you must be a HUGE fan! Let’s see… what number did you count to? Five? Ah yes, Five!” Shadow Milk snapped his fingers, and on cue 5 sheep came out of your closet. You didn’t really want to think about how this was possible, you wanted to focus on figuring it out. “Think reeeeeal hard, Y/N Cookie. You got this!”

You looked real hard at each one, eyes scanning over the herd. Their blue eyes eerily glowed as you tried hard to spot the odd one out, but they all just looked so similar, you had no idea. Your index finger began to tremble as a tear formed from your fear. You really didn’t feel like being turned into a puppet. The idea of being bound to strings and losing all your will was… everything but pleasant. “Awww~ There, there, Y/N Cookie.” He began to pat you on the head, “There’s no need for those crocodile tears! You’ve got all the time in the world! Unless… that is, unless I get too bored waiting!” You swallowed, and went with your gut and made a decision. “That one! That one there!”

“Oh?”

Your finger was pointed to the second sheep in the row. “I-it’s that one. I-I think that one is the real… sh-sheep…” You almost began to hyperventilate. There was no going back now. You looked to Shadow Milk Cookie, who was smiling. He stood there, watching you shiver with anticipation. The silence felt like an eternity till he began to slowly clap his hands and opened his mouth.

“So you HAVE been listening to the whispers of deceit!”

You sighed in relief. “So I… So I got it right?” He nodded his head, “Mmhmm, mmhmm, mmhmm! That’s right! Look at you! Such a good (girl/boy/cookie), doing the homework! I’m so proud of you!” He gave you a pat on the back, which made you flinch a bit. “Well, now that playtime’s over, I think it’s only fair I give you the sweet relief of slumber you crave.” He took a fistful of something out of his pocket, “But rest assured, I will be back, and I cannot wait to play with you again! Now then… Ready, Y/N?” You sighed and laid down on your bed, falling onto the pillow. “Heh! I’ll take that as a “yes” then!” He opened up his hand and blew a shiny blue powder in your direction. The blue dust made you sleepier and sleepier till you couldn’t help but drift off. Shadow Milk Cookie turned to exit from your closet into his Spire of Deceit. He turned his head to get a good look at how peaceful his new playmate looked all bundled up with their head in the dream world.

“I shall see you later~!”

youtube

322 notes · View notes

dont-look-its-embarrassing · 7 months ago

Text

To be Understood

Second part to "To be Seen"

Hey! I honestly didn't think people would like the last drabble as much as they did and I didn't have a pt.2 planned, but I decided to try and see where it goes.

Also, I am new to actually posting something and having feedback or having people want to be tagged, so I didn't do something right in the tagging process pls let me know :)

I am going to make this a little series bc I cannot fit the entirety of the story in one and actually make it comprehensive and not 10,000+ words in one one-shot. :)))

Plus, I think I could make this just the right amount of heart wrenching and fluffy >:)

Summary: Following up on his promise to keep a more watchful position in your newly transitioned life, Azriel attempts to get to know you and spend time in your presence. After the panic attack in the town of Velaris, more seeing eyes has been turned towards you from your friends. They are trying to make sure you are accounted for more than before, but time and pressure has some things slipping. Multiple awkward encounters and attempts to see eye to eye to the spymaster (in particular) leads to an intimate confession between the two of you.

Warnings: Slight mentions of PTSD recovery, anxiety, self-doubt, slight!jealous Azriel, Cassian is testing the waters with his brother again

Words: 2,668

previous part

The sun was the first thing your eyes adjusted to upon waking up. The slight breeze from the open window brought in the fresh smell of the dew and had your body relaxing further into the comfy sheets as the temperature in the room reflected that of outside. The eccentricity of your room bringing comfort and serenity and the little nicknacks you have collected since being here allowed a cozy feeling to emulate throughout it.

Feyre even mentioned how jealous she was of how comfortable and warm your room is, and mentioned she couldn’t get hers to be similar even when she tried.

The memory had you smiling.

Stretching underneath the comfortable weighted comforter, you pull back the edge, allowing your body to be exposed to the colder air. Grabbing the longer silk robe that hung beside you, you made your way out of your comfort zone to the hallway towards the kitchen. Ever since your moment within the town, Feyre, Cassian, Mor, everyone had made sure that you were taken care of and heard. It took some time to get used to, admittedly, all the extra attention. At first you had slightly resented it as you could only imagine it as an act of pity and after you had an episode, you also understood that the type of thinking is how the eldest Archereon is as cold as she is. Plus, the time you spend with them has created strong bonds and happy memories for you.

It also had you picking up new hobbies that you never had time for before.

Turns out you can cook.

And bake.

Really well actually.

So well that often times when you bake a new treat or snack, upon knowing of its presence, the residents of the house would have it gone within the hour. It made you feel good, to be able to repay in some way the aid they have given you.

The mystery that is your abilities have yet to be explored since the outburst, but you also didn’t mind as your head was finally wrapping around the circumstances you have been put through. Although, the High Lord or Rhys, had expressed interest in potentially figuring it out soon to see if it could help them and the court. You were all over it, and the aspect of integrating into this family further made you excited.

Arriving in the kitchen, you begin gathering ingredients to make breakfast. The house, although it can provide anything you wish for food, seemed to pick up on your therapeutic hobby and promoted it. Even gathering ingredients and appearing them before you on the counterspace. You always chalked it up to the house wanting a break from constantly taking care of people, but deep down you knew it seemed to have a little soft spot for you. Whipping together the batter, throwing it in the divine oven and cooking the meats to perfection, the breakfast is ready in about an hour.

The sun had settled into the sky, far from shining over the horizon which had its’ light wake you.

It was still early though.

Looking at the spread before you, you had asked the house to keep it warm and ready for everyone as they began to roll out of bed and chase the heavenly scent of pancakes, bacon and omelet.

It was Azriel’s favorite.

The skin of your cheeks flared at the thought and shook your head at how absurd you are. Cooking and baking for everyone allowed you to take notice of things that they had favored over the rest, often being expressed vocally. However, some, like the spymaster, just through body language and action would key you into likes and dislikes. Feyre loved eggs benedict, in almost nauseatingly cuteness, so did her mate. When you would make it, almost as a sixth sense, those two would always be the first to arrive and express how happy the dish made them before gathering a large plate. Cassian was a sandwich guy, anything quick and simple, but he swears you enchant the sausage and bacon you add to be sweet and salty at the same time. On those days you often must make a bounty of those little sandwiches for him to take with him for the day. Mor liked simple muffins and like Cass, would wrap one up to go while giving you a hug on her way out. Nesta and Elaine hadn’t showed up for breakfast but the youngest seemed to prefer oatmeal, which ironically was also her favorite while human.

Azriel was the hardest to read. With every dish you made, breakfast/lunch/dinner, he would appreciate and eat like a man starved (an exaggeration but you always found your eyes on him anyway). You had switched up the recipes and altered the assortment of foods, but every time he would tell you how much he liked it and clear the plate.

It wasn’t until you truly watched him did you found out just how much he loved the simple things in life.

It was a day like any other, you had cooked breakfast and set up the table for a nice meal as you had known everyone would be able to sit and eat together. It was uncommon so you made a tried-and-true love by everyone.

Bacon, eggs and pancakes with homemade lavender syrup that you asked Elaine to harvest for you in her garden.

As everyone sat, you couldn’t help but let your eyes stare as the spymaster sat down fresh out of bed and allowed a little small smile to grace his features looking at the plate he had. It was all you needed to know, and each time you would serve something new, you would watch for the little ticks that he would allow to shine through.

A smile.

A little sigh and relief of tension from his shoulders.

A gentle extra “Thank you” which he would all but whisper across the table to you.

All of it had your heart thumping and blood rushing to your face, allowing that little butterfly to turn into hundreds.

After his comment after taking you home, he had made his presence around you more common and you loved it. Every time the two of you were together time became irrelevant, the serene sense that would settle over your body was addictive. You had only prayed that he got the same sense of belonging.

He was such a pretty male.

So gentle and observant.

It was so hard to not have your feelings bleed into your everyday life and movements. It wasn’t long after the incident with him that your thoughts were all but consumed by him.

Not that you were complaining.

“It smells divine in here.” The soft sound of Mor broke you out of your rather long thoughts of Az, as an easy smile fell over your face.

“I wanted to make something simple today.” You shrug, but meeting the second hand’s eyes, you stumbled slightly.

“How are you settling in Y/n?” Her tone was inquisitive, but the smile that bloomed her face left you choking.

“Well.” You coughed, “I’m settling in well.”

“Anyone in particular helping you out?” You narrowed your eyes to her.

“Everyone has been amazing.”

“Oh, come on Y/n!” She shuffled towards you as mischief glinted in her eyes. “You can tell me; we all see it.”

Your heart stopped.

“All?” Her light laughter halted.

“No not all, some though.” Your breathing resumed. “I highly doubt if you wrote a sign with all these love meals, he still wouldn’t see it.” It was chastising, lovingly, but still with a little edge to it.

“He is just being friendly Mor.” You argue with a sigh. It was the one thought you couldn’t get out of your head. Viewing his relationship with everyone and his attentiveness towards Elaine. You couldn’t help but just feel as if he enjoyed your presence, but as a friend.

Mor sighed and looked towards the still steaming pile of pancakes and syrup.

“I know it can be difficult to believe, but he’s more relaxed around you. If any two people deserve to be happy or even have a shot, it’s you two.” The sounds of footsteps down the hall had her breaking away from you but not without a nod sent towards her. You would be open to him and the idea, more than just the little crush you have accumulated.

The in-question footsteps that had the conversation halting belonged to Feyre, Rhys and the male in question. Most likely fresh from training as small beads of sweat pooled on their skin and hair showed dampness.

You watched the spymaster’s eyes alight, taking in the assortment of his favorites on the counter. He quickly grabbed a plate, effortlessly and unbeknownst to his high lord and lady, cutting in front of them to scoop his desired piles.

“Y/n, you are the most amazing person I have ever met.” Feyre exclaimed as her body seemed to quiver with the simple task of standing, but her obviously salivating mouth had her also reaching for cutlery and plates to pile stuff onto. Rhys laughed in response to her antics and followed suit, thanking you in the process as both followed the now seated Azriel to the table. It was sweet, his honor to wait for you to be seated and with food to begin eating. You could tell some days it really tried his control; however, those days you knew without a shadow of a doubt that he truly loved the food that had been prepared. Glancing back towards the table, you met eyes briefly with Azriel.

The warmth that showed in them had you ignite with hope and adoration towards the male, almost uncontrollably so. It had you smiling and fiddling at the ends of your hair.

The following sounds of heavier steps broke your attention.

“Can I just say, I am in love with you.” Cassian entered the kitchen with heat and brought you into a quick embrace. The smell of sweat and sand had you scrunching your nose but the laugh that exited you had him add a little spin before setting you down.

The soft sound of a chair being moved echoed as you didn’t realize the table had become quiet, watching.

Mor had a shit eating grin, but not at you, but at the now walking over Spymaster. The same spymaster picked up your loaded plate (you were waiting for everyone to be served before doing so yourself) and brought it back to the table, setting it down in the open seat across from himself. You tilted your head but caught the small look between the mates at the table, notably having a non-verbal conversation. Looking back at the general, he too had a smile, but one only aimed at you and the food in front of you.

“I’ll be over once I pile the rest of the bacon on.” Another laugh emitted from you as you walked over to your place, noting the food had been set down gently and not disturbed when Azriel had placed it.

You looked up and met his hazel eyes, there was a slight edge to it, but not at you. In fact, when you met his eyes, you could’ve sworn they melted from that ice back to the warmth that was once there before.

The settling of plates had you glance over at Cassian. He was only a seat away from, you but on the other side of the table.

Easy conversation settled over the table as everyone began to eat. Taking bites of your eggs and bacon, a small moan of appreciation rattled through you. You caught movement in your peripheral where Azriel sat, but didn’t bother to check or see what it was assuming it was just him enjoying his meal. ��Even you had to admit this was good. Similar sounds followed suit as everyone dug in and the sounds of scraping of plates that filled the room.

“Are you busy today?” Cassian piped up after shoveling a rather large mouthful of egg. You shook your head; you didn’t think you had anything planned but were going to ask if Azriel had a couple hours to spare for some time alone with him to talk. You opened your mouth to speak, but before you could Az had cleared his throat and spoke up.

“We have plans.” The room turned towards the male as he stared at his brother, the ice returning to his gaze. You wracked your brain trying to make sure you didn’t forget plans that you had made prior but came up empty. That grin from Mor returned as she made eye contact with you.

Suddenly the leftover soggy pancakes on your plate looked really interesting.

“Oh?” The brother threw back. Looking over to Cassian again, you nodded along feigning innocence.

“I’m sorry, I must’ve forgotten for a moment.” Although you knew your best friend and possibly Mor clocked it quick, you allowed the easy smile to lay it on thick with the general. He returned it and nodded along, taking the lie for a simple slip of the mind.

“No problem, but when you’re free I want to show you around the training grounds. I think it could be good for you.” Your chest filled with pride again, even some that you didn’t think could be your own, but none the less made you feel all nice. As everyone cleaned up and filed out, you caught eyes with Azriel.

His shoulders were tense.

Nervous even.

The depth of his shadows swirled around him as he took particularly long to wash up his plate.

Watching the last of your friends exit the kitchen and the food clean itself up and put away, you made light steps over to the shadowsinger.

“So, what’s on the agenda today?” You ask. The feign confidence of your words had Az glancing over with a small smile. Releasing a little sigh, he removed his eyes from his now empty hands which wrapped around the front of the sink. He had leaned into it, seemingly matching your confident air.

“Anything you want, sunshine.” Your cheeks flushed as you looked away. Today was a record for heat that entered your face. You tried your best not to allow the nerves in your stomach to ruin the encounter.

You would be fine.

It’s just two friends hanging out.

All normal here.

But the ideas that Mor had fed into your brain ran rampant.

“There is a bakery and some shops I want to explore. Can we go today?” You originally had plans to go with Feyre. In fact, she had made you swear you wouldn’t go without her because she heard the pastries were divine.

She would forgive you once she knew who you went with instead.

“Of course, I’ve been meaning to make a couple stops as well. We can go together.” You couldn’t help the small seed of selfishness from talking as you held eye contact with the male.

“Can you fly us down? I’m still not used to winnowing.” It was the most believable lie you have ever let slip past your lips, but you didn’t feel sorry about it. Would you ever admit it was because you wanted to be pressed against him with adrenaline rushing through you? Or that you wanted to feel his strong arms hold you without a single ounce of sweat or issue? Perhaps that you wanted to smell his scent of frost and night and hope to any god that would listen that it would cling to the sweater you would wear. Not if your life depended on it and there was a sword slitting your throat.

However, something in the way Azriel’s eyes darkened slightly and his smile turned into a smirk had you second guessing how thoroughly your ulterior motives had been hidden.

“Anything for you Sunshine, wouldn’t dream of making you ill.”

He clocked it.

Tags:

@starswholistenanddreamsanswered @willowpains @adventure-awaits13 @

#acotar #azriel #azriel x reader #azriel x you #morrigan #cassian #rhysand

378 notes · View notes

honeytonedhottie · 1 year ago

Text

getting it together⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🍡

it feels GOOD to have all ur assignments done. to actively pursue ur dreams and goals. to be consistent and in turn -> see results. it feels good to give meaning to ur time and experience sustained satisfaction. this post will give an overview/guide of the BASICS of getting it together. that way whenever u get off track (cuz we're all human) u can easily reference this and get it TOGETHER.

SLEEP SCHEDULE - how does ur sleep schedule look? is it all over the place? fix it. the plan is to get between the range of 8-10 hours of sleep every single night (yes even on the weekends) and to wake up no later than 8 in the morning.

i recommend formulating a "get ready for bed" routine. mine is set with a soothing playlist, a cup of tea, and copious time for self care and meditating on my manifestations. ur night time routine is customizable to YOU, however the goal is to get away from screens or anything that'll tempt you to stay up at unhealthy hours.

THE MORNING ROUTINE - i think that the most influential and important time of the day is the morning. bcuz for me that sets the mood of my whole entire day, so i take my mornings SERIOUSLY and i think you should too.

for me in the morning, i do a light pilates workout/stretch to get my blood pumping, and i feel like it gives me such a boost of energy and sets the mood for the whole day so if u haven't tried i rly recommend working out in the morning. however since this post is for when you've gotten off track start SMALL. a short 5-10 minute stretch or pilates routine is more than enough.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING READY - and i'll STAND ON THIS. even if ur not going anywhere at all that day, make an effort to get ready. make casual glamor a HABIT. getting ready is like, the best part of my day. its so therapeutic, something about the meticulous attention and the amount of time that i pour into myself it feels AMAZING. when u look good -> you feel good

A TO DO LIST - plan out ur week, plan out ur day, ur month. make a super cute calendar or agenda so that way you can get ur tasks done. im someone who needs super detailed instructions of what TO do, so when ik what im supposed to do i can get it done and i can get it done well. and instead of thinking of it as a to-do list, think of it as like a quest or something. tasks that u need to do and then -> you get something in return

ik it sounds rly dumb but sometimes when theres a mundane task that i know i must do, i imagine that im like a SIMS character who has no choice. or i imagine myself as a video game character who is doing it as a task cuz its part of the game. the point of me sharing that hot tip is to make it FUN for yourself. give urself something to look forward to afterwards too. like an episode of ur favorite drama, or a sweet treat.

CLEAN UP - a cluttered space = a cluttered mind. take 20 minutes aside everyday to tidy up so that then u can avoid the day-long cleaning on the weekend and actually enjoy it. when ur space is neat and organized, so is ur mind and it translates to how u view/respect urself. u show that you respect urself when u dwell in a place that it is neat and tidy.

PROPEL YOURSELF - when i've been rotting for a couple days, my go-to routine to propel myself back into my usual swing is : shower (an everything shower is a bit ambitious so go for it if u want) -> drink a COLDDD large glass of water -> do the process of getting ready and then do at least 3 tasks and 2 smaller tasks)

#self concept #it girl #becoming that girl #self care #self love #that girl #it girl energy #honeytonedhottie #dream life #dream girl #dream girl tips #self development #wellness girlie #girl blogger #girly #dolly #pink pilates princess #green juice girl #put together

1K notes · View notes

blavikennbutcher · 9 months ago

Text

August Walker x Reader (Drabble)

Warnings: Daddy/little vibes, noncon/dubcon, violence...its August.

There's no plot I'm sick and possessed.

It was your fathers business, then it was your brothers business. You didn’t care for the details of it, you just looked after the gardens and made sure the house was in good condition. Talked to the servants and all that. Sure, you knew it was a dodgy business. Far too often you saw people going home in body bags in the dead of night. But you chose to ignore it.

The current guest….was a man named August Walker. You caught a glimpse of him as he was dragged in through the back door, unconscious. He was gorgeous in a demented, do not touch kind of way and that intrigued you all the more. So when your brother said he’d be away on business for 2 days and you weren’t to go into the basement…well. It was obvious what you would do. One peak wouldn’t hurt, right?

At first the man is terrifying, and even speaking to him is like dipping your finger into a lake of piranha and waiting for one to snap.

But eventually you realize his binds are painfully tight around the centre column he's sat against, which means you can tease and annoy the living daylights out of this poor guy. And hey, if he's tied up in your basement it's for a good reason. Maybe a bit of fun torture would do him well. Besides, you were dreadfully bored and the staff had all gone home for the weekend.

He can’t do a thing.

The more he calls you a slut, bitch, whore or worse, the more you giggle. It infuriated August to the point he almost welcomed death.

On the first day, you sit 10 inches from him with your drawing pad and sketched him. You made small talk, showed him your drawings. He'd even admit you're a decent artist, that is until you added the kitten ears and heart stickers to his illustrated face. After a few hours your curiosity grows. You've one pink heart sticker left and you want to see how close you can get to the lion before the lion rips your hand off.

"Don't..." He warns. You giggle. "I mean it, girlie. Don't you put that thing on me." He wiggles again and you pout, frustrated. “Get the fuck off me, dumb bitch!”

“Hey! That’s not very nice! I’m giving you my heart!” You giggle. Once he calms down you try again, ignoring his persistent complaints. The more he speaks, the more his warnings turn to a plea. "Hey! No!" He shouts, snatching his head away from your index finger.

"Hold still, Mister! It won't hurt." You gently press the sticker to his left cheek with your finger and smooth it over with a gentle kiss and a loud “Mwah!”

August huffs as he stretches his face muscles to try to get it to wrinkle but the damn thing won't come off!

"All pretty! Good night, mister." You blew him a kiss as you closed the basement door and left him alone for the night.

“Stupid girl…..” He mutters. Wait… Why was he so uncomfortably hard? “Fuck.”

On the second night, you feed him some bread and cheese by hand and reluctantly he actually lets you. You were finally taming him!

August sits with you in his lap, a firm and unwavering snarl painted on his lips. You begin to play with his curls with one hand, and his chest hair with your other. All the while August is growing more and more hard under you. You're so distracted by a specific lock of his hair that you fail to notice all but a sound when the rope finally snaps behind him.

With a stupid amount of bravery you climb into his lap and start to tell him all about your day as if he was a willing listener. You feel something solid beneath your skirt but choose to ignore it. Your nonsensical ramblings about the latest episode of your favourite TV show send him into a begging frenzy yet again, but what you don't realise is that those bindings are getting more and more loose as you yammer on.

"Did you hear that?" You ask, curiosity lacing your words

"Must be the pipes. We are in the basement, girlie." He lies.

You snort at him. “I like you. You even have a cute nickname for me! I’ve never had a nickname before.”

You start to comb your hand through his hair and you're suddenly taken aback by the look he's giving you. Like the cat who got the cream. Was he...enjoying you stroking his hair? You tried not to think about it and continued but his unwavering stare and….lustful eyes? Well, you were drowning in them.

You're gently pulled closer by his left hand and in your naivety you give him a sweet smile before the penny drops.

And boy does it fucking drop.

You gasp. His fangs show in a sinister grin and you launch yourself from his lap, snatching his hand from your hip. He only has one hand loose so you take it as your opportunity to escape, slamming the door behind you to slow him down.

You sit in the cloakroom, cowering with the cobwebs and long forgotten coats of the guests who never had the chance to leave this house. Hoping and praying your brother would be home soon to save you. But the truth of it was, superheroes don't exist.

The heavy sound of the prisoners bare feet on your father's old wooden floors beat in tandem with your heart as he chases you through your home. Eventually you lose him and as quietly as humanely possible, you climb into the cloakroom and hide.

Nothing was coming to save you.

You stayed silent for what felt like hours before you were alerted to a dull creak and a loud slam as the cloakroom door was almost ripped off its hinges.

"Found ya!". You screeched as you were physically dragged from the cloakroom by your ankles.

"No need to squeal, little pig. It'll only hurt a bit." You clamber to your feet, the harsh carpet making your ascend slow enough for August to catch you first. He sticks his foot out, tripping you to the floor again, toying with you. Like you were food.

"Oh stop crying, girlie. I thought you liked to tease?" You try to stand and run again but you're thrown over his shoulder in a split second and no amount of hitting him is helping. There’s nothing else to do but to watch his feet as he carried you up the stairs, straight to your bedroom.

With one swift movement and a harsh grip of your hips he has you pinned, chest down to the bed.

"That's a good girl, stay still for Daddy." He purrs, pulling your bright pink stockings from your legs. He tosses them to the floor as he climbs onto the bed, the mattress deepening under his heavy body.

"Please! I'm sorry, I was just bored! I didn't mean to upset you-" You try your best to help yourself, but it’s like a switch just been flicked and he turns from excited, to pissed the fuck off.

"You were 'bored'?!" The man flips you to your back and yanks your body towards him, as he leans on his calves. "No, no, no. You're a slut. A dirty brat and you thought you could get away with it, didn't you? Thought I wouldn't break free and catch you. Well I know just what you need, just what you asked for."

If you could, you would laugh at the situation. Here was this gorgeous, dangerous and absolutely insane man. Kneeling at the end of your bed, hard as a rock and all the while with a heart sticker attached to his cheek. And he was so pissed!

It was the reappearance of the rope binding in his hand that brought you back to the severity of the moment. Fear turned to manic terror as you shuffled backwards.

"No...no! Please don't!" August climbs on top of your body, thick thighs trapping you to the bed as he deliberately presses his hard crotch into you.

"Ah, ah, ah, shhh." He presses his index finger to your lips. You can't stop him, he's twice the size of you at least. So you watch as he ties your hands to the headboard of the bed.

Once he's done, he leans down....covering your entire body with his own...

"I fuckin' hate a tease." He snarls into your ear, before your pretty pink skirt is ripped clean off.

You’re pulled back to the office with a sudden wave of guilt and shame. Your face felt like it could light a match and your coffee cup almost slipped from your sweaty hands.

“Are you alright, Miss? You look like you just remembered an embarrassing dream.” Mr. Walker teases, before he walks on past your desk and towards his own. Fuck. How could you have forgotten that dream until now? How could you have even dreamed something like that up, and with your boss. And that look on his face, it was as if he knew.

You shake your head and face your computer, determined to continue your work and get on with your day. Maybe you could look into therapy later or talk to your best friend about it. Surely there was a completely normal reason for dreaming about your boss being tied up in your basement and then chasing you for some depraved, frustrated sex. Right?

“Ms. Y/S/N, Mr Walker would like to see you in his office, it's urgent.” Fuck.

#henry cavill #henry cavill x reader #august walker x reader #august walker #twickster writes

282 notes · View notes

zolo-san · 2 months ago

Note

Love your thoughts on Law 🥰👌. I'd love to hear your thoughts on Sanji and women. Is he really a pervert? Why does he claim that women need to be treated with respect but goes crazy for their boobs every time he sees them? 🤔

Okay, Okay so I actually do have a lot of thought/opinions about Sanji and his view/treatment of women~ (gonna put think in a read more because otherwise this post is gonna be so long lol) Also, I just want to say, thank you so much for asking anon, I'm always looking for an excuse to ramble on about my One Piece character thoughts (And I'm glad you liked my thoughts on Law!!!)

Oda and Toei's Writing and it's Effect on Sanji's Character

In order to fully discuss this topic, we have to get a little more meta about it all and acknowledge Oda as a writer as well as common Anime/Manga tropes and gags and Anime filler to pad run-times

Sanji going crazy over women and tending to have over the top and often perverted reactions to them is very much a result of a common trope in Anime/Manga - It's meant to be a gag and not taken too seriously (Tho imo, that gag gets quite tired and escalates over time throughout the OP series) We see the same gag with Brook - it's normally not meant to be a defining character trait or something that's seen as harmful/predatory, it's realistically just a dumb (honestly immature) joke The pervert gag/trope has never been one I care for but alas, I choose to consume a type of media that is primarily written by men who think that type of thing is funny~ (I will give Oda a bit of a break since he started writing One Piece when he was in hi early 20s, so he was still pretty immature himself) I do think, however, that Toei is very responsible for some to the more obnoxious "Sanji pervert" moments Yes, Oda does write a good amount of them, but the writers for the anime will often take the joke and run with it to buy them some time and stretch out an episode (We see this a lot with the whole "Usopp is a coward bit" too) If you're not aware, a lot of anime of current, on-going, manga series will often add a lot of filler and gags to fill up their episode run time They do this for two main reason: The first being to swap off animation teams or give the main team more time (often times filler episodes are animated by a different team than the main story episodes) and the second being a way to give the mangaka time to write more chapters and insure that the anime doesn't catch up to the manga too quickly (both giving animation teams a break/more time to animate and giving time for more chapters to be written is also a huge factor in why shows go on hiatus as well) That being said, dumb gags like "Sanji's a pervert" and "Usopp is a coward" are very easy ways for the animation team to waste time in an episode (I would also like to point out that some of the more egregiously perverted shots and moments in general are really just a choice by the Toei animators and I have some beef with that, but we're not gonna get into that right now)

Now, I truly believe that a lot of Sanji's more perverted behavior when it comes to women is not truly meant to be a defining character trait I think this because when we first meet Sanji and right up until about Thriller Bark, his behavior around women is fairly harmless and more of an admiration and appreciation (I'm also talking about his cannon behavior that is seen in the manga, not the additions from Toei) Thriller Bark is the first time that we truly see Sanji say something that implies him to be a real pervert when he talks about how ever since he was a kid he became obsessed with the Suke Suke no Mi so he could sneak into a women's bath house and spy on them naked This is truly the beginning of, as my sister's fiance likes to call it, "The Sanji Character Assassination" While this addition is very 🙄, to me and feels a bit out of character from everything we've seen and known about how Sanji really thinks and acts around women, I can't help but feel like this and a lot of the following "Sanji Pervert" moments are mostly a result of Oda running the joke too long and finding a dumb joke a bit too funny

I truly fear sometimes, when it comes to Sanji and women, that Oda has lost the plot~

but I still stand by it all being a gag and not really meant to be a defining character trait or Sanji's real feelings While yes, we often see Sanji act a bit perverted at times, when push comes to shove and Sanji has to act, regarding a woman in any way that is actually plot relevant, he tends to drop the "pervert" persona and return back to what I feel is his true feelings towards women

Sanji's Real Feeling about Women

When we're first introduced to Sanji he's shown as a guy who has a great appreciation for women He treats them nice, pampering them, he talks about how beautiful and wonderful and graceful all women are He puts them up on a pedestal, but he also sees women as complex people We see this first with his reaction to Nami leaving and "betraying" the crew when it comes to Arlong park While he does swoon over Nami, he also doesn't hold her actions against her because he believes that she must have her reasons for doing what she did and he's proven right when Nojiko tells them about Nami's past (Something that Sanji is very sympathetic towards - he immediately recognizes her suffering and sees it as a valid reason for her actions) This same behavior is seen again with Robin during Water 7 Even though Robin tries everything she can do to get Sanji to hate her and leave her be, he refuses because he believes Robin to be a good person who must have her reasons for acting this was and correctly assumes that she must be being backed into a corner somehow Sanji forgives a lot of women throughout the series who act in ways that would push most people away or most people would see as unforgivable because he recognizes that most women don't have a choice He recognizes that women, in general, are not treated equally to men and that as a result they don't have as much freedom or self agency as men in the world And I think that's something that Sanji can relate to I think he truly understand how it feels to not have control over what happens to you and what you can and can't do He grew up (partly) in Germa after all...

I think that Sanji sees women as strong and brave while still being gentle and kind And I think he truly hates how often they suffer oppression and mistreatment And this is a major contributing factor to his over the top nice treatment and pampering of women Sanji sees the unjust treatment of women around him - people he views as so naturally good and kind - and he wants nothing more than to be able to do something to stop that mistreatment and he does so by trying to protect them at all costs, including refusing to ever hit a woman A lot of people give Sanji shit for this character trait, but I think it's much more complicated than him seeing women as "weaker" than men I can't help but feel that it's more motivated by a refusal to add to a woman's suffering

I also think there's an interesting conversation to be had when it comes to Sanji and "feminism" compared to other characters like Zoro or Luffy It feels like a gag when Sanji gets pissed at Zoro for fighting women, but I think there's something there~ A perfect example is the first time Zoro fight Tashigi in Louguetown and Sanji gets SUPER pissed about it He accuses Zoro of being disrespectful of Tashigi as a woman because he's fighting her, but I think Zoro sees his choice to fight her as just the opposite And I think a lot of that has a lot to do with the women in their lives that shaped them For Zoro, one of the most important and influential people in his life growing up was Kuina And I truly think that her not only being a better swordsman than Zoro, but telling him about her dream and the fact that she didn't think that she'd ever be able to achieve it due to being a woman really affected him and the way he sees woman and how they should be treated Kuina was someone Zoro deeply respected and I think he hated that the world made her feel that she was inadequate and unable to achieve her dream just because of her biological sex I think this felt like a great injustice to Zoro and he wanted to prove her wrong So while Sanji sees fighting a woman as disrespectful, I think Zoro would see not fighting a woman as disrespectful and an insult to Kuina's memory (I could go on about Zoro meeting women as his equal is further supported by many fights he has, including his later refusal to "help" Tashigi during Punk Hazard, but that's a different rant for a different day lol)

In a similar way to Zoro, Luffy also treats women as complete equals He doesn't discriminate He just sees them as people, choosing to fight them when necessary, befriend them if he feels it's right, and never putting them above or below himself And just like with Zoro, Sanji had scolded Luffy multiple times for fighting women because Sanji just doesn't see it that way

And I think that all of this: Sanji putting women up on a pedestal, wanting to protect them, refusing to fight them, viewing them as both angelic, but also complex people all goes back to the influential women in Sanji's early life

Sanji, Sora, and Reiju

*I'm going to give a quick disclaimer at the top of this part because I literally just started Whole Cake, so most of my knowledge here comes from bits and pieces that I've learned/picked up about Sanji's backstory and family (I'm not someone who seeks out spoilers, but I exist on the internet and have obviously learned spoilers for Whole Cake and Sanji's backstory/family)

For Sanji, two of the most influential women in his early life were his mother and sister And I think that they had a great impact on how he views women in general

Sora was clearly one of the few people in Sanji's life in The Germa Kingdom who truly loved him She loved him from before he was born to the point that she risked her own life for him She went out of her way to encourage Sanji to be a kind and caring person and follow his dreams even though that was something that she would never get to do herself She was such a good a caring figure in Sanji's life and I truly think that she is the main reason why Sanji believes women to be naturally good and caring people Sanji sees his mother in all women even if it's to his own detriment

Reiju also had a very big and interesting impact on Sanji as a kid She was never anywhere near as kind to him as his mother, but she still reached out a had to him and was the most caring of all of his siblings Despite how she really felt about it, however, just like Sora, Reiju was trapped She was unable to escape her family or her upbringing, she was forced to become what was expected of her and to, at the vert least, assimilate into the family in order to survive And I think that it is because of Reiju that Sanji has the belief that women are complicated people He saw his sister, who was clearly a good person at heart, forced to act a certain way and abide behaviors she clearly did not agree with simply to protect herself She was forced to act and become what their father and brothers made her for her own safety She didn't have the strength or will to defy them, but despite all that she still found kindness for Sanji in her own way Reiju was far from perfect, but she did what she could manage and I think that meant a lot to Sanji and made him very aware of how often women are forced into a corner like his sister and mother were

And I truly think this is why in Dressrosa, Sanji is so willing to first help and then later forgive and continue helping Viola even after everything she does to him I think Sanji sees his sister in Viola and would do anything and endure anything to help a woman in such a terrible situation like that Yes, when Sanji first sees Viola and swoons over her, it feels like the "woman crazy" Sanji gag, but as things develop it's clear that Sanji very genuinely wants to help her He sees a woman who is clearly trapped and asking for help and he can't refuse her Then once she betrays him, he's still unwilling to believe that she isn't still trapped, he saw genuine good in her and a genuine call for help (just like he saw in his sister all those years back) and this time he can actual do something about it

So yes, while there are for sure some real moments where Sanji seems like he's just a little horny pervert when it comes to women, but I think there is a lot of evidence that that is not his real feelings toward women and more of an overplayed, and frankly out of hand, gag

Even if you look at moments like when Sanji is in Nami's body during Punk Hazard While yes, Sanji does initially have the pervert response of "Ohhh!!! Boobs!!" I think that the more notable moments are when he stops and considers how he needs to be careful in Nami's body (he's the only one involved in the body swaps that really does this too - rip Chopper, Franky really fucked him up lol) Despite his obvious anxiety, he refrains from smoking until Nami gives him permission He makes an effort not to get Nami's body injured in combat And even considers and how fighting in his normal way and using techniques that his body is accustom to would probably hurt Nami and tries to avoid it when possible (tho he does push Nami athletically to a degree that makes it clear that she's much more physically capable then I think even she realizes lol) I personally feel that the moments that Sanji is considerate and respectful of Nami's body far out weigh the moments when he's not (He's also far nicer to Nami's body than she is to his lol)

To summarize, I don't think that Sanji is just a pervert, I think Oda just thinks the pervert joke is funny~ There's much more evidence (especially during character defining moments for Sanji) that Sanji has a deep respect for women He appreciates their beauty and believes them to be good and kind All he wants is to be able to protect them, especially now that he is actually capable of doing so He understand the inequality, injustice, and oppression that a lot of women face and understands that in part due to all that, many women must act in ways that seem, on the surface, to be unforgivable He sees women as complex people who often times have to make difficult decisions for the good of themselves and others and Sanji gives them grace for that

#Thank you once again for coming to my TED talk #and and extra little thank you to anyone who took the time to read all my ramblings~#Did this take me a few hours to type up????? maybe >.>#I'm at work and it's hard to not get interrupted lol #Black Leg Sanji #Vinsmoke Sanji #< 🤢 never gonna not hate legal naming him for tagging purposes #One Piece Sanji #One Piece #One Piece meta #Sophia Talks too much #Sanji #Sophia answers

55 notes · View notes

nabi-unveiled · 24 days ago

Text

Nabi Notices (April 8, 2025)

My drafts tab is a veritable graveyard of potential posts at this point, including:

A half made fmv for When It Rains

A partially completed comparison discussing the importance of movement during transitions between Boy Next World, Heart Killers, and See Your Love

Posts about reflections and sense of time in Secret Relationships. That one is still moving forward, but it's slow going.

The rest of the BL challenges (and ideas for my own set of BL challenges)

The list could go on. My drafts are an accumulation of intentions. That's really to be expected though. My home is the same way. One day I'll get a picture in that frame on the wall in my bedroom. It's only been 10 years. I'll eventually get a plant in the pot on the windowsill too.

It just that without deadlines, my brain doesn't always cooperate. And it frequently decides to go on side quests.

All this to say, I'm still figuring out exactly how I want to approach certain shows, tasks, etc. for this blog. I always do best when I have systems in place. It helps counter the chaos of my brain.

Inspired by @watchthisqqq, I do think I will start creating master posts for shows that I write several meta/longer posts about. That'd certainly make it easier to find my own stuff and update my pinned meta master list in the future. Any other ideas/suggestions that might make things easier in the future are welcome.

The Things I Noticed This Week:

I watched a lot of great shows and episodes this week. It was really fun after the not-so-great previous week. In general, I'm watching a fair amount of the BL stuff that's currently airing. I also binged Secrets Happened on the Litchi Island. I'm playing catch up and liveblogging a first watch of Love for Love's Sake (no spoilers please; I'm only at ep 2). And I currently have When Life Gives You Tangerines in rotation as my laundry show.

Fabulous Fit

This week was apparently the week of noticing basics. I loved Muenfah's jeans and belt buckle at the shabu-shabu restaurant in Your Sky of Us. It was particularly noticeable since everyone else was in fairly standard black pants. A good pair of jeans goes a long way.

And Yeowoon's running outfit in Love for Love's Sake is sooo basic. But I love it.

I feel like the strings on the hood would be a problem when sprinting, but I really appreciate this style of workout gear.

Fascinating Find

Ok. By rights, Litchi Island should be the fantastic frame of the week. It's beautiful cinematography. But I'm trying to highlight a different show in each category, and the search for spicy/steamy scenes involving bookcases that was triggered by this screenshot was the most fun search I had all week. And maybe the biggest treasure hunt I had went on in a while.

I really appreciate @pinkkop, @notafanbut, and @my-rose-tinted-glasses trying to help me out. The list is still very short, but we're up to two (Litchi and Only Friends) with a "it's close enough" third (History 4). There's also plenty of heavy staring in libraries or bookstores 😂.

Fantastic Frame

This shot felt like a great way to close out Perfect 10 Liners. I loved the hearts on the social media post between each set of sweethearts and Wine being in the center with the finger heart. It's really the social media post that gets my fantastic frame.

Wine talking about how it was actually fun to be a part of this chaotic group was really a reminder to enjoy our journeys and the people in our life. For a show that I had largely written off during the first third (sorry Arc/Arm fans), I really came to enjoy it in its home stretch.

Fun Fluorish

The clear symbolism winner this week has to be the honey in Top Form. They incorporated references throughout the episode and set it up as a storytelling moment that went beyond just sex. I found myself rewatching the earlier parts of the apartment scene more frequently. The emotional tension was delightful when Akin was tormented thinking Jin was avoiding him. But I appreciated seeing something new in an NC scene.

Even if the music did distract me, and I kept envisioning a manic pianist completing his final performance. I don't mind that choice from an artistic standpoint, but any rewatches of this portion happened on mute so I could focus on the honey happenings.

Anyways, the rug is toast, but it was one heck of a first time as a couple. I'm sure some people were put off by the use of the honey, but ... that wasn't me. I try to keep my kinks in check when writing this blog, but I'll play. It did make me curious enough about the sensory aspect that I tested it out on my arm.

I know a lot of people worried about the stickiness. The bigger issue (for me) was that it got stiff very quickly. Maybe that's why they kept pouring it on. It's also possible their honey was just a lot warmer. 🍯

Favorite Fragment

I'm loving all of the astronomy references in Heesu in Class 2. I've spent the last four months crafting creative video scripts about astronomy topics with at least two to three months to go on that particular project. There have been some inaccuracies, but the show is doing far better than most in terms of incorporating scientific information. I particularly loved this line.

Because it's subjectively correct by many people's standards. Many resisted the reclassification just because it felt like a downgrade. But it's also subjectively incorrect. Many people consider dwarf planets to be more extraordinary, because we don't know a lot about them and there are only five currently recognized (although we hypothesize there are more). Whereas most of the planets got lumped together in my video scripts. Pluto got to have its own. And objectively - Pluto itself didn't change at all. We're really talking about perception and labels here. Not facts. And at it's core, that's a key theme of this show this week - perception. Perception of ourselves, perception of others, and perception of the possibilities.

My Queue for the Coming Week:

As always this list is prone to change, and there will be things I watch that are not on this list. It's just "most likely" I'll watch these.

Heesu in Class 2 (Ep 5-6)

Top Form (Ep 5)

Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist (Ep 3)

Love for Love's Sake (Ep 3)

When Life Gives You Tangerines (Ep 4)

#nabi notices #your sky of us #love for love's sake #perfect 10 liners #secrets happened on the litchi island #top form the series #top form #heesu in class 2 #honey #thai bl #korean bl #chinese bl

40 notes · View notes

grounded-gryphon · 4 months ago

Text

I'd Die (Again) For Y'all (episode 14)

The next day was quiet. Peaceful in a way Jason wasn't used to. Business went on as normal, though Hood only went out on a short patrol. He spent close to an hour on the phone with Tim, which was surprisingly… nice. With the pits quiet thanks to Danny, Jason's guilt for what he'd done to Tim in Titan's Tower nearly swamped him every time the phone rang, but he had a lot of practice shoving emotions aside which meant he could enjoy talking with Tim in a way he never could before.

(If he encouraged Tim to talk so he could keep enjoying the guy's voice no one needed to know. Tim would never spend so much time with Jason if it wasn't work.)

Danny was quiet, and spent most of the day resting, but Jason was pretty sure he was thinking too.

Early the next morning, when even vigilante's were in bed, Danny rolled over and looked at Jason, his eyes shadowed.

"You're sure this Lane reporter is trustworthy?" he asked.

"Yeah," Jason said, "Yeah, she's good people, Danny."

"Alright," Danny sighed. "I'll try.

"What now?"

---

From Loise Lane To Sam Manson Subject: Ghost Boy says I'm not a fruitloop.

I've been told you'll know what that means. If you change your mind about talking, you can reach me at this number.

---

As much as Jason was enjoying spending time with Danny, he knew they couldn't just sit back and let the Justice League handle the GIW. Not while Danny was actively being hunted. They needed to be ready to fight back and they needed a plan to take the fight to the GIW. From what Tim told him, Wonder Woman was keeping at least some of the agents distracted, giving them a runaround on the Watchtower. Which meant this was the perfect time to go after them on the ground.

Jason didn't sell himself short, he was a good planner. Even fucked up by the pit he'd put together and executed a plan to take over a whole city neighborhood. But he wasn't the only, or even necessarily the best, planner among the bats.

(And if it gave him a chance to work closely with Tim with/out/ the pits fucking with him for once? Only he needed to know that.)

Convincing Danny to include Tim took a bit. Danny was serious about keeping as many people out of the line of fire as possible.

(He even let slip that he had an 'old team' he refused to contact for fear of putting them in danger. Jason figured that was who Lane had gotten in touch with, and if Danny's team was anything like YJ or the Outlaws, they'd be showing up pretty soon whether Danny wanted to involve them or not.)

But when Jason made it clear that Tim was already involved in his own way, Danny agreed to at least include him in the planning. Jason figured from there Tim could take care of things himself.

So Jason sent Tim a message asking him to meet them at one of Jason's secondary safehouses.

Jason and Danny went in civvies, aiming to be unnoticed. Red Robin arrived at the safehouse a few minutes later and did a double take at Danny. "Phantom?"

Danny blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. I'm… uh… actually only half ghost? This is my human half."

Tim looked him up and down and Jason swore that Danny's flush turned even brighter.

Well. he couldn't argue with Danny's- nope, not going there.

"So," he said, carefully not looking at either of them, "Let's get started."

---

With Cyborg's report confirming that she was safe from GIW targetting, Diana was stuck, officially and permanently, as their liason. It wasn't the worst job she had takeno n, but her headache was reaching truly epic proportions.

"And here," she said, continuing their tour of the 'public' areas of the station, "is our cafeteria. As you can see, we have emegency airlocks at the entrance — the cafeteria serves as a shelter in the event of an attack."

The agents, mostly looking bored, nodded courteously. Diana had managed to stretch the tour nearly three hours, while not giving away any classified information. Even so, they now had a dangerous amount of knowledge about the Watchtower and it's workings if they couldn't be trusted.

Which of course, they couldn't.

Or, they would have if Diana had actually been honest with most of the information she'd given them. Of course the cafeteria wasn't an emergency shelter. It was too large and exposed to be effective as such.

But it had kept them busy and distracted. For the first hour they had been suspicious and critical of everything they came across, no matter how mundane. Not to mention the fanatic light in there eyes when they examined every new person they passed.

Of course, while Diana had kept them distracted since they woke up that morning, J'onn had been monitoring their thoughts. He only dared to follow the surface level for fear they might notice something, but it would still give them a great deal of information.

"From what you have said, the airlocks will not prevent an 'ecto-entity' from getting into the cafeteria, is that correct?"

"Yes," D said, still the main spokesperson for the three agents. "There are no physical barriers that can stop ecto-entities from going whereever they want. That is part of what makes them so dangerous."

"How would you propose we protect aganst them, then?"

"Well, your best option would be to emplace some anti-ghost guns in the hallway here. They shoot… well…" D glanced at the leader, "We don't have approval to disclose confidential information."

"Of course," Diana said. "I would not expect you to. But these anti-ghost guns are capable of harming ghosts? How could we go about getting some?"

--- The real problem, Tim mused sometime later, was that any plan they could come up with the go after the GIW would automatically expose both Danny and Jason. Well, that and, they didn't really know where to find the GIW. Danny was pretty sure their main base was still in Illinois, near his old hometown, but that didn't really give them much to work with.

Of course, it was hard to do his best work when he had somehow ended up /between/ Danny and Jason at the table, both of them leaning over and sometimes /on/ him to highlight this or that thought or visual on the laptop Tim had set up as soon as he arrived. Jason had gotten so focused on the planning (and arguing about the planning) that he had even fogotten to avoid Tim, instead crowding into his space just as much as Danny was.

But enough was enough.

"Stop," Tim said, cutting them both off. "Just… stop. We're going in circles. You," he turned to Danny, "need to trust us. We know what we are capable of and we will not engage if we can't do so safely, but bending over backwards trying to keep Hood safe just puts you in more danger.

"And you," he whirled on Jason who actually stumbled back a couple of steps, "Need to put the brakes on. You know the importance of good intel, and we do. Not. Have it. Pushing to attack before we are ready is a fools game and you fucking know better."

"Replacement-" Jason started, but Tim was done, just completely done.

"Don't you /dare/ call me that again. I will walk out that door and not come back. You came to me for help and I do not care how much you hate me-" he shoved at Jason, who didn't even try to keep his footing.

"How much I what?!" he squawked from the floor.

"Hate. Me. What, you think I didn't notice that I—"

"Tim!" Jason yelled, cutting him off. "Tim. I don't— I don't hate you."

Masterlist

#dc x dp #i'd die (again)#i finally got it #jess mahler's writing #I am so sorry it took me so long #y'all #y'all I was starting to think I'd never get it #but i finally did it #now if only I can do it again!

47 notes · View notes

starmahgalaxies · 1 month ago

Text

Poor Jou does not know how to begin to explain the situation he is in.

The return of the biggest little shit! /affectionate. I know a lot of it is flashback as we catch up on each of the children, but he's working overtime. Good for him.

->Restaurant patrons and staff speak Japanese. ->A handful of the dishes shown appear to also be Japanese ->Only accepts US$.

I don't blame you, Jou. I would be pissed.

You were the one who threw it.

I was serious when I mentioned indentured servitude in my last rewatch post. Anytime I hear paying off a debt that just keeps growing and growing and theoretically you should be protected under the law (no idea what the legalities in the Digital World are. Digitamamon seems to be one of the few capitalistic businesses around), but you're treated like shit, it's the first thing I think of. It is a bit of a stretch, normal indentured servitude is for years. I don't doubt that they would have kept Jou and Yamato there until they were adults.

Oh, that's another thing, child labor.

(I'm also several years post-graduation on classes with this stuff so take my word with caution.)

They are both trying so hard to be considerate. The value of talking to your friends and being honest aahhh...

One screencap does not do well to show how much the poor lad is shaking. I really admire Jou for how he handles his anxiety despite how much shit it gives him. Guy is prepared to go through med school... THEY WILL EAT YOU ALIVE PRECIOUS BEAN! (this is nothing against thinking he can't do it. It's that med school and field can be hell, as conveyed to me by others in my life) He makes a fantastic doctor.

Sora, please, please talk to your friends. They'll love to hear you are all right. Or were even here at all.

You would really have to hate a coworker to mess up so badly to increase the amount of abuse you receive. That is counterproductive. There are better ways to get out of something or convey the message of screw you to the boss without impacting people you work with who you actually like.

Yamato is a way too close to panicking and worry to recognize this though. Oh, and a child, who shouldn't be working at all at this age or knows how this stuff works.

Little brother interrupts break at work: Day immediately 1000x better.

I would not put money on that. You are much too reckless and stubborn.

The dead eyes of evil management.

This is why it's good to have faith in your friends. 👏

Two angry furry boys.

Love how bristling Ikkakumon looks. Put his partner down!!

ALL HAIL THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!

Two angry furry boys, except one of them is bipedal now.

Speak for yourself, if he's desperate enough and thinks it is the most productive option, Jou will do anything ❤️.

👏 True 👏 friends 👏 talk 👏 about 👏 their 👏 feelings 👏

"And I would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids!"

🤝❤️

I focused a lot on shit work conditions for this, but I do really like this episode for both Yamato and Jou. They're good kids. Should lay off employment for a bit though xD. Saving the world is enough stress.

32 notes · View notes

somegrumpynerd · 10 months ago

Note

HEY. POINTS FINGER… any thoughts on how everyone reacted when the other joined the team? as in how did killer react when dust came, how did he and dust react when horror came, how did they all react when cross came, etc. i love love LOVE your bad sanses thoughts way too much they make me so happy. if i write hurt you write comfort and it’s awesome. also how do you think they slowly started to get closer? just.. bah give me your thoughts on them!!!! any thoughts!!!!!!!!!

You fool!! You’ve given me a chance to ramble about my special little guys and now this post will stretch on forever!! Mwahahahahah >:3c

No but seriously this is probably gonna be wicked long cause I have 1 million thoughts about these guys joining and meeting each other so uh, readmore for everybody’s safety and sanity

(^ I wrote that in the document before I started typing out my actual thoughts and uh

yeah no kidding, this is like a fucking essay so proceed with caution)

OKAY SO

I’ve said before that Nightmare got Dust for two reasons; one being that Dream had just recently started working with Ink (and soon Blue) so he and Killer were no longer able to gang up on Dream. He wanted somebody else to bulk up their numbers and give Killer a little back up. He also was starting to realise that Killer didn’t handle being alone very well, since this was when he most often got worked up and broke things around the castle (and sometimes tipped over into stage 3). Dust would be a perfect fit since he had the same amount of lvl and fighting experience as Killer, and since they were so close in circumstance they would be practically like brothers right?

The irony that he thought this about a guy he was recruiting to help kill his brother was apparently lost on him.

They absolutely hated each other. Like, it was instant. Killer saw him as a replacement, why would boss go out and get another sans - one with almost the same backstory as me - when I’m right here? Does he think I’m not good enough? Am I disposable and this is the backup for when I die in combat? He didn’t take it well. He took it all out on Dust too, not cooperating in battle, trying to start fights in the castle, etc. He couldn’t outright kill him because Nightmare had given him strict orders not to, but Killer loves a loophole. If he roughed Dust up down to 1hp and something else happened to finish him off, technically he’d followed orders.

Dust just straight up didn’t want to be there. Nightmare just showing up and yoinking him had worked fine with Killer, but Dust had wanted to sit in his empty au and die, he had no intention of joining a team or doing work of any kind - good or bad. The only reason he didn’t just lie down and refuse the entire time was that he had to fight back against Killer, as much as he wanted to die he refused to give this ass the satisfaction or lvl. He didn’t intend to be any help out in the field either, but again, Killer was making sure he got fired at so he had to retaliate to stay alive.

Eventually it got bad enough that Nightmare had to pull Killer aside and demand answers. In the year or so of knowing him Killer had never willfully disobeyed orders before, so Nightmare needed to know what had gotten into him. He dispelled the replacement rumour right away, he still wasn’t quite softened up enough to be sappy about it but he made sure Killer understood what a good worker he was and that Nightmare had no intention of losing him. It didn’t help a lot, they still hated each other for other reasons, but it eased a little.

Killer still had pretty frequent dips into stage 3, except now he would go straight for Dust usually. Nightmare had tried to explain what he’d learned about it to Dust, but he didn’t really believe that it wasn’t just Killer deciding to try and kill him for funsies. He only accepted it after a particular episode where he attacked Nightmare instead, which Dust knew Killer wouldn’t try in his right mind.

After he came back to his senses he sought Dust out. The air around Killer was very different after a stage 3, sort of sombre and almost calm, so Dust let them sit together and Killer apologised for giving him such a hard time. They actually talked for the first time in months while Killer was still calm (or tolerable, as Dust describes it), and it didn’t magically fix everything but, things were a little better. They still fought and argued and bothered each other but it wasn’t as sharp, there was a lack of real murderous intent in it all, and sometimes after an episode they would talk a little bit. It was the best Nightmare was going to get for now, so he took it.

They were still completely incompetent about taking care of themselves though. Neither of them would eat unless prompted and Nightmare didn’t have good enough knowledge of mortals to know when that should be to stop them passing out from hunger on the job. Not to mention the stars were now a full team, and with the way Killer and Dust would sometimes rather target each other on the field he could do with more backup.

Horror was the first of the group to get a choice in joining. Nightmare had taken note of how much Dust didn’t want to be part of things, and while it was in his best interests in the long run given his situation, Horror’s au was still mostly intact - though a little in disrepair. Horror was also the first in the group to have a good (and ongoing) relationship with his brother, so Nightmare knew he couldn’t just pop in and steal him, he had to be a bit more diplomatic with this one and offer a deal.

He gave Horror some time to think on his proposal - he would set up regular deliveries of food to Horror’s au in exchange for him joining their team - and was quite surprised when Horror agreed, with some stipulations. Horror was equally surprised when Nightmare agreed so easily to his terms (that he didn’t want his brother to know what he’d be doing, and that he wouldn’t kill). A little down the line the terms were altered to add that he would also be left to visit his au every week or so.

Horror was not impressed meeting the other two. He didn’t need his power as judge anymore to sense the lvl coming off them both, and given who they were working for he was instantly distrustful of them both (the uh, brother situation did not help). He was also in a place that had an abundance of food for the first time in probably years, so he was doing a lot of going hog wild in the kitchen and then getting very sick as a result.

Dust didn’t particularly feel anything for him. This guy hated him, sure, but it wasn’t forward and slashy like with Killer, it was just quiet loathing which was fine. That’s how Dust felt about himself so, y’know, mood. He did kind of feel sorry for him though, not just because of the whole famine and everything, but also because he was watching this guy eat like his life depended on it and then get sick and undo it day after day. He was the one who suggested Horror getting his food in moderation to Nightmare, which did help but was an absolute ordeal to enforce. Y’know how some people get hangry? Imagine that but you haven’t had a proper meal in years and now these people give you tiny amounts of food and don’t let you eat more for hours. The hunger mood swings were a sight to behold, you would never have guessed in those days that Horror specified not wanting to kill.

When his ability to eat had evened out and he was in better shape, Horror made a point of apologising to Dust for being aggressive with him. Over time he’d kind of softened up on him from his initial impression, since he could see plainly how wracked with guilt Dust was over his situation. It was a little easier to imagine that whatever he’d done was truly out of desperation and not just for fun, as Horror had assumed at first sight.

They also both retained that classic sans laziness, so it was easy for them to share a space while saying and doing nothing. It made Horror the first person that Dust willingly spent time around in the castle (and vice versa since Horror was still largely suspicious of Nightmare and Killer - the deal seemed too good to be true and the stage 3 episodes didn’t help). As time went on, Horror kind of became Dust’s emotional support skeleton in a way. Dust had become quite averse to touch in his solitude and Horror very slowly brought him back out with casual gentle touches, until not only did he no longer freeze or stiffen at being grabbed but Dust would seek him out to flop next to on the couch. Horror claimed it was just returning the favour for helping with his eating situation, but really it was nice to have something resembling a friend here.

Killer, for his part, was going through This is My Replacement 2: Electric Boogaloo. Not to the same degree as with Dust, since Horror was quite a bit different, but Killer was still wary of this new addition. He didn’t really instigate anything though since, to be honest, Horror had the intimidation factor. He was like a foot taller than both of them, he had a cracked skull and completely different magic and it seemed like every time Killer saw him he was eating bread like a wolf eats a deer. So while he was going through his food moderating, Killer mostly just stayed quiet and kept his distance.

Horror had not softened on him like he had with Dust, since Killer didn’t openly show remorse. He still watched him with distrust, especially after seeing the way he scrapped with Dust for seemingly no reason other than for violence’s sake. Killer was still mostly targeting Dust in his stage 3s, but Horror had to be careful to stay out of his way since he was still working with much lower hp than the other two. What did start to convince him was seeing how similar Killer and Dust were after a stage 3 episode. Once Killer was slightly more composed (ie stopped crying), he became so tired and quiet and blunt about things he normally joked his way around. It was a little startling, but also started to bring Horror around to the idea that Killer might regret his actions too, just buried under several layers of whatever the hell is also wrong with him at any given time.

Killer and Horror only really started interacting after talking about Dust. Killer was asking how he got Dust to like him since he seems to hate everyone and everything else, Horror told him very pointedly it was because he wasn’t trying to kill Dust. Killer admitted he wasn’t trying to kill Dust, at least not anymore, he just wanted to fight for fun. It opened up a better channel of understanding, knowing that Killer did not actually have murderous intent behind his swings (stage 3 notwithstanding). It made it easier for Horror to occasionally get involved in the roughhousing which Killer delighted in, knowing that the other two knew how to hold back enough to keep him from dusting.

Speaking of stage 3, it was around this time that Killer and Dust made a very important deal. After a particularly rough episode with a little too close of a call, Killer showed up in Dust’s room and begged him shakily to make a promise - that if he ever got too out of control during one of his stages, Dust would kill him. He’d been told over and over by Nightmare that it was impossible for Killer to hurt him since he was immortal, but now there were more people around him where that wasn’t the case, and he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he came out of a stage and found himself alone. Dust promised.

It’s also worth mentioning that, once they were all close enough to be on speaking terms, Horror started bullying the shit out of these two about eating. Now that Horror knew neither of them were going to kill him, he felt safe enough to pick them up by the scruff and set them at the table to say they weren’t leaving until they had at least a snack. He let them pick what they would eat - he wasn’t that cruel about it - but he had to see them eat at least 3 times a day or they would hear about it.

It was by no means perfect or regular, but after about half a year Nightmare finally had henchmen who ate food and worked together (mostly).

Now here’s the problem… I still haven’t really figured out how or why Cross joined the team. Like, obviously there’s some kind of point in the events of underverse where it splits off into an alternate timeline, but I haven’t really figured out where yet so. Leave that one with me just a little longer. Cross joins.

Nightmare really truly didn’t intend to take anyone else in. They were (mostly) getting along, they were pretty well matched to fight the stars, he had no need of more mortals.

…but he was also pretty soft at this point. Every one of them had taken a blow to his I’m immortal I’m an island I don’t get attached to others persona and he’d gotten pretty damn fond of them all. This was why when he felt the sheer weight of loneliness radiating off of Cross, he just couldn’t bring himself to leave him.

So Cross entered the castle.

He did not particularly intend to stay or make friends, he was trying to get his world back and nothing more. He even revealed a little down the line that he outright refused to kill, and was quite surprised to find that Nightmare was fine with that. At the start he was polite but not friendly with the others and mostly kept to himself.

Dust, as is often the case, did not really have an opinion. Another new guy, this one was self sufficient and didn’t bother him so he had no reason to get involved. He was content to be in the same room as Cross but didn’t start up any conversations.

Horror felt the need to speak to Cross, since Dust would happily stay silent for years and Killer was, well, Killer. Horror was somehow the closest thing to normal they had, so he was the one that made small talk. Mostly asking what Cross would like for meals and encouraging him to pick something he liked when he got the answer of “anything is fine”. As Cross settled in a bit more and actually opened up, they bonded over being the only two to enjoy food. Horror made a point of adding chocolate to the stock they kept in the kitchen and making tacos here and there for Cross.

Horror was also the first Cross kind of warmed to, mostly because he was the one devoid of lvl and Nightmare had mentioned he’d also said he wouldn’t kill. Learning a little about his au’s situation only softened Cross to him more, especially seeing that he still cared a lot for his brother and was trying to protect his home (even if Cross found it unthinkable that he lived away from it). It was through Horror that he also got accustomed to Dust, how being quiet and distant was kind of his default and that he also felt deeply haunted by the loss of his world. They weren’t exactly friends, but it was comfortable enough.

So now boss had taken in another new person, someone who takes orders like a soldier and fights with knives and ruthless precision and aims to be his righthand man, and Killer was ecstatic. By now he’d mostly put his fears of being disposable behind him, Nightmare had gotten a bit less subtle in showing how important they all were to him and Killer felt confident he wouldn’t be replaced. Which was a little bit funny, because the only guy he didn’t feel threatened by was the one who absolutely competed for his spot.

Cross needed to prove he was useful, he had to feel like he earned his keep and that all the training and suffering he’d done was for a reason. When Nightmare sent them on missions, Cross aimed to be the fastest and the most efficient and to report to Nightmare without question. Horror and Dust looking on would have expected Killer to see this 100% as a threat to his position as (self proclaimed) Nightmare’s second in command, and to go for this guy’s throat when nobody else was around.

But Killer was fascinated. Cross was completely different from any of them, bar Nightmare whose au is a whole different kettle of fish, so he had a certain element of unpredictability to him. Horror and Dust were both based on classic sans just like him, so to a certain degree he knew how they would feel about most things and what they might say, the only differences being in what they had experienced through their own timelines. Cross was based on a swap sans and his au had taken wild twists and turns away from usual events, so Killer had to learn everything about him by poking and prodding for answers or observing from a distance, much like back when it was just him and Nightmare. Cross was something new to be studied and Killer loved taking notes.

Cross did not see this as friendly. He was competing with Killer for approval, not realising Killer was playing their contest like a game. When he saw Cross training he would jump in to spar for fun, but Cross saw his rival trying to get a jump on him and take him out of the running. When Killer would hang around and pester Cross in their off time with questions, it didn’t seem like someone taking interest, it seemed like someone being nosy and looking for weaknesses to exploit. When Horror mentioned that Killer was being surprisingly contained and friendly, Cross really thought he was fucking with him.

The first time Cross was willing to even consider this was the case was when his locket came loose on the field and Killer ran back to find it, since one of the notes he’d taken was how the locket wasn’t something Cross would play about (the same as Horror with food). It didn’t make sense for someone who was seriously competing to have him kicked out to just hand his necklace back, no ransoms or attempts to crush it to upset him, just some vague remark about “owing him one” and then right back to Nightmare for orders.

Cross had to give him something of a chance after that, Horror helped a lot by telling him “he doesn’t want to hurt you, he just doesn’t know how to be normal”. It was mostly a playful jab at Killer, but reframing their interactions changed it significantly for Cross. Now they were sparring playfully and having friendly competition on jobs. He wasn’t as put off when Killer went into stage 3 because he knew he could match him in combat and the others were always on hand to help restrain or distract him. Cross also took note of how Killer calmed down a lot for physical touch, not unlike how Dust had warmed up to Horror. It went a long way into not only making him a little less combative for attention every day, but it seemed to put longer stretches between his episodes (which Cross had also started tracking so they wouldn’t be caught out by them as much).

For his part, Killer has disobeyed instructions in the past to benefit Cross, usually ignoring the task to help him if he’s hurt. He’s also given Nightmare nudges towards praising him because he’s noted that that’s what Cross needs in the same way he needs touch (not that Nightmare doesn’t praise them normally, but when Cross is going through it and needs something). He also doesn’t particularly like chocolate but has made a point of not admitting this to Horror so he can give his chocolate to Cross.

(It’s also worth noting that Cross is the only one, besides Nightmare, that has been to Horror’s au. He offered to help out during the food delivery and got to meet Horror’s Papyrus (who he is a little intimidated by but ultimately friendly with, even though it’s a little weird since he’s a good bit different from his own Papyrus). Dust and Killer can’t really visit for a few reasons, mostly because everyone will notice their lvl immediately and know what they’ve done. Dust especially doesn’t know how he would react to having a Papyrus in front of him again and doesn’t want to put Horror's family at risk to find out. Whenever he visits, his Papyrus asks about Cross now and sometimes tries to make tacos for him (key word tries, he’s still a Papyrus after all). He may have joked that seeing Cross sometimes is “like having another brother but younger and less lazy” and when Horror told him this Cross may or may not have cried.)

And that’s where we are now!

They’re a very strange group who’ve been through some inexplicable events and have all changed each other in one way or another. And whether or not it can be admitted, they are a family c:

Now onto how Nightmare was made emotionally open by each of them!! In this essay I will no just kidding could you imagine this is already like 7 pages long

If you got to the end of this post please drink some water and get yourself a snack

#Ask #Wickjump #UTDR #UTMV #Truce au #Tagging that since this is the events I'm working off for these guys #My fanon canon if you will #Also I am SO sorry oh my god #This is like an essay for a degree I could submit this for peer review akdghjdjfsjl #I didn't mean to say so much I swear this was me trying to keep it concise!!#I think I've genuinely spent like 6 hours writing this between last night and this morning #Which is wild because like whose attention span is this??#Anyway I have a lot of thoughts about these guys (clearly)#I have given them a lot of events that I haven't really drawn or written about yet #There's a couple of things in here that I've referenced before here and there #But I guess this is kind of a masterpost for it all #Man I have to go to work in like an hour this was wild akdguigfgy #WICK THANK YOU!!!! This was really fun to do and it's got me excited to work on my other stuff in the background :D #And when I get back from work I'm gonna think of an ask to get you rambling next >:3c #But for realsies thank you so much this was super sweet and really fun <3

95 notes · View notes

jaycegonewild · 2 months ago

Text

Viktor manages his pain in various ways: braces, ointments, stretches, medicine, and smoking. It's a roulette wheel he often spins when he's delirious and shaking from the pain.

His episodes leading to a swimming vision, splitting headache, and aching limbs. If he was any other man, he'd take the easiest route and wallow in his own pity about his condition and rest as everyone else tells him to do.

But, no. He is Viktor, cofounder of Hextech.

So, he sighs from the deepest caverns of his scarred lungs and carries on.

Today, Jayce finds him smoking from his spindly cigarette holder while parsing out the new line of runes for their projects on his stool in front of the chalkboard. He takes a long drag from it, as his eyes dart from left to right, and exhales when he writes the next clause of runes with a shaking hand. The new blend helps with the splitting sensation he feels in his major joints but doesn't erase the more physiological effects like the tremors. Eh, its one or the other.

Jayce stays quiet at the threshold of their lab as the smoke wafts from Viktor. It's actually quite.... beautiful.

The spiced smoke curves around Viktor's lithe fingers and form, forming a lazy ring above him.

"Jayce, If you're going to gawk like I'm some merchandise in the window, at least buy me first."

Viktor spins around in his stool, using his good leg to push from the floor while his braced leg rests on the foothold. His braces shining as it catches the stray rays of light from the window as he spins. He quirks an eyebrow with a small smirk that reveals his snaggletooth, revelling in Jayce's gaze.

This blend must be doing something if he has the mood for toying with Jayce while suffering his flareup.

While Jayce stands there caught red-handed, Viktor takes another lazy drag from his pipe while keeping his eyes on him. Jayce blubbers once Viktor moves, " Ha Ha, but you're not some appliance or dress in the window. How can I buy you?"

Viktor blows a smoke ring to Jayce, not choosing to pick on the fact he's actually missing the racy undertone of his joke or avoiding it. He chuckles, "Nevermind that, where's the breakfast you promised me?"

Jayce chuckles too. He joins Viktor in front of the chalkboard and places a steaming paperbag on the table beside him. He watches with rapt attention as Viktor joyfully pulls out the egg tarts and pastries. The pipe lays beside him on the ledge of the board, smouldering behind Viktor's hunched back as he eats.

Jayce notes the chaotic way the smoke forms in the air. He never knew how pretty chaos could be. Hextech was all about taming the raw nature of the Arcane with his runes.

"Never knew you smoked." He regards the pipe with a flick of his eyes.

Viktor glaces at him mid-bite into his buttery roll. He chews before replying," What? Can't a man gain some peace from his daily torture?"

Jayce picks up his journal to start his morning entry for today's planned experiments.

"Hm, I thought alcohol would be more your thing. Downing a shot to save time, that sort of thing."

Jayce looks back at Viktor, who is now sucking the leftover custard from his fingers from the oversized eggtarts he bought him.

"Nursing a cigarette between your lips feels more like something the councilors do than you." He continues.

Viktor rewards him with a lopsided smile and an eyeroll. "Well, I'm feeling like playing with my vices today," his smile drops and Jayce sees the tension lines of pain in his face," It's strong today, unfortunately."

Jayce shoots back a bittersweet smile, while he'd prefer Viktor not do anything that could make his condition worse, no amount of effort could stop the inevitable nature of Viktor's pain. A cigarette or a risky pill isn't going to kill him, or so he says.

So, Jayce shoves all those ugly worries aside to plant a hand on Viktor's shoulder.

"We'll do this together."

#my post #arcane viktor #arcane jayce #arcane #arcane season 2 #jayvik #viktor x jayce #jayce x viktor #jayce talis #viktor

30 notes · View notes

onehundredthousandflies · 3 months ago

Text

First off, let me say that I DO NOT hate the prison arc. I'm a whump girly (gn) and if my blorbo is suffering, I am giggling and kicking my feet, I can't help it. Even aside from that, there are things it actually did well. But there are also things it did... not so well. I'm about to rant about the latter.

*clears throat, taps mic*

Mr. Scratch's suspected involvement in Reid's Mexico setup AND Reid being innocent are two concepts that CANNOT coexist if you think about it for longer than four seconds.

Mr. Scratch first appeared in his title episode of 10x21. He had a targeted victimology and a unique MO. I'm not going to go over it in detail because the only part that's important is this: Scratch used a drug combination that induced suggestability and hallucinations to manipulate his victims into killing. People who had NO VIOLENT PREDISPOSITION brutally murdered LOVED ONES under Scratch's influence.

I'm not going to hunt down the episode and direct quote rn, but Tara acknowledged out loud at one point that Scratch NEVER KILLED DIRECTLY. He used drugs and suggestion to manipulate OTHERS into killing.

Never. Once. Did. Scratch. Kill. With. His. Own. Hands!

Do you see where the Hell I'm steering this thing?

So.

Mexico. (Please read that in the voice of Reid in 1x19 Machismo trying and cringe-failing to say it with the Spanish pronunciation)

We've got a dead woman in a motel room, a missing knife, and a stoned off his ass Dr. Spencer Reid who remembers exactly fuck-all about how he even got here.

And the first suspect is Scratch?

Ok, fair enough, I guess. The slippery little shit had already been terrorizing Hotch and Tara, so it's not a stretch to think he might have been dicking around with Reid.

But even while the team thought Scratch looked good for the murder of Nadi Ramos, they believed that Reid was innocent.

They thought a man who's entire MO was predicated on manipulating OTHER PEOPLE to commit murder (including one that was EVEN A STABBING OF A WOMAN WTF?) and has, as they had very clearly established, never killed directly... they thought he DIDN'T drug and manipulate Reid into killing Nadi Ramos?

The math doesn't math, I'm sorry. Thinking that Reid was 100% innocent and that Scratch held a knife in his own hand and stabbed Ramos instead of doing what he ALWAYS DID and puppeteering Reid to do it makes a negative amount of sense for a team of seasoned profilers to even entertain or for the writers to expect their audience to buy.

Obviously, Scratch was never involved, and it was a lesbian sociopath on behalf of her bisexual psychopath wife who framed Reid for murder. But for the longest time, we had no way of even suspecting Lindsay or Cat. We were meant to hold two beliefs: Scratch did it, and Reid was innocent. Even though those two statements both being true at the same time was completely nonsensical.

TLDR: Reid obviously didn't kill Ramos. That was Lindsay and Cat, and Scratch was never involved. However, if Scratch WOULD have been involved, Reid WOULD have been manipulated into doing so.

#criminal minds #spencer reid #criminal minds season 12 #fly's rambles

21 notes · View notes

dice-sociation · 10 months ago

Text

AP Review: Reckless Attack - Main Campaign

Listen Here: https://www.recklessattack.com/episodes/

Quick info:

Audio Quality: High Quality and Edited, Effects, Music. Vibes: Lord of the Rings, Ghibli, Never Ending Story, Avatar the Last Airbender, Frogs Extras: Discord and Patreon rewards. System: 5e DnD Average Episode time: 1 hour Uploads 1 Episode per week. Campaign/ Show Length: Long Term Campaign Platforms: Podcast, Audio Only. Accessibility: Content Warnings Language available: English Diversity: AAPI/BIPOC Number of Episodes Review is based on: 100 (This is my first review so I decided to start with a Podcast I’m already caught up on) ** If you want the TLDR, scroll to the bottom of the post **

Why Reckless Attack?

I honestly believe that part of the draw of listening to people play a TTRPG is not just the story telling but an assurance that adults can somehow actually and consistently come together, in person, to pull off a full long term game. Reckless Attack is one such podcast. They are a small indie podcast with excellent audio quality and editing.

But, why should you listen to another high fantasy podcast? Well, have you ever wanted to see what a post-apocalyptic High Fantasy world would look like? The deeper you delve into Reckless Attack, the deeper the lore gets, and we have barely scratched the surface a hundred episodes in. You’ll join the players as they explore a world recovering from an apocalyptic event, ripe with magic and unstable artifacts, an undead army, and frogs.

Starting The Pod

Right out the gate, the listeners are greeted by a Lord of the Rings style opening monologue, giving relevant history and context to the kind of place the characters live in. I personally get the feeling a lot of the world was established in a previous game or between the DM and players prior to the start of this campaign. If, as a listener, it feels like you're missing something, don't worry; you'll get a lot more context down the road, especially once the players make it to the city of Agmar (Episode 15). The first 15 episodes are a nice slow build up.

Conveniently, the first recap episode covers Episode 1-14! (Though I really enjoyed the first 14 episodes, I know not everyone has the amount of listening time I have). If you are so inclined to start from the first episode, you'll get nicely eased into the characters and their relationships with one another before a lot of the bigger world building really starts to soar.

(My one caveat is that I listen to this podcast at 1.3-1.4 speed since the players and Nathan speak with a good amount of pauses, and that can be a little too slow for me.)

About the Team

Nathan, the DM for the main campaign, paints some amazing pictures of his homebrew world. He has a real talent for creating larger than life NPCs and Big Baddies for his players to interact with. They all have clear motivations, flaws, and personalities that truly rounds out the overall story. When it comes to plot, Nathan kept me on my toes with plot twists that would literally snap me out of whatever multitasking I was doing. And I must recognize how often Nathan opens the floor for the players to build parts of the story and describe longer stretches of downtime. Those moments are like the equivalent of cinematic montages to represent the passing of time.

The players, Sophie, Steve, David, and Jonathan, deliver wonderful descriptions and leave plenty of space for each other to speak, balanced with just the right amount of crosstalk. Each character has a very unique voice which is helpful for listeners (especially because David and Jonathan are twins and have similar voices).

Sophie plays Valeska Carter, the Human * Cleric. "Valeska is a young woman in search of answers. Like, compulsively."* I quickly fell in love with Val, an exhausted nerd who can never have enough notes and organization. If you're the kind of person who is always rescuing animals, you will love her too.

Steve plays Selv Asterlin, the Dragonborn Monk. "Selv’s years at his town’s icy mountain monastery has trained not just his body, but also his mind and emotions. The large dragonborn seeks to be a peacemaker in conflicts, exuding strength, calm and serenity while straying away from violence and lethal force when possible."* But don't be fooled, Selv is often one for the occasional good prank, and I always appreciate Steve's references even when the rest of the group don't understand them. (I got you Steve)

David plays Kascorin "Kass" Brightmane, the Dwarven Warlock. "Tomorrow (Kass leaves) this city for the Golden Tree adventuring guild, and in leaving this city, (He leaves his) friends, (his) family, and (his) comfortable life behind."* Kass is very grounded, serious, and focused, until he runs into tasty dried meats. Kass has all the charm of a warlock and the grit of a soldier.

Jonathan plays Checkers, the Gung Druid, with his trusty pals Mango and Junior. "Joining the Golden Tree adventuring guild on a dare, Checkers and his frog pal Mango are here to prove that it’s better to find your own path than to follow someone else’s. After all, where’s the fun in looking before you leap?"* Checkers is a lot like the characters I personally play. Someone who doesn't stand around for too much planning and prefers to "leap" into action. In my very humble opinion, every group needs an instigator.

I have also come to really admire the level of trust and respect the group has for one another. They handle both wonderful whimsical beats as well as solemn moments with great care (Episode 108 was magnificent.)

*Quoted from the official Reckless Attack website. You can find this and more at their website www.recklessattack.com. (Be aware, reading the available character sheets may contain spoilers)

About the World

Ryxia is built on a world where long ago, the Gods walked among mortals, but one day they left. As if in consequence, magic in this world seems to ebb and flow, and monsters roam the wilds. Until, the "second of Ryxia’s twin suns disappeared from the sky, the Ultragiants appeared, and the Pentarchy’s great capital city of Narhasur was turned into a smoldering crater." *

You can think of the Ultra Giants as the Titans of this world, being elemental and colossal. These Ultra Giants terrorized mortals until one day, the mortals managed to kill one " wielding their city’s Object of Focus… The object was destroyed, as was much of the army. But strangely, within days, the Ultragiants no longer stalked Ryxia."*

As the mortals re-emerged, they started to rebuild despite the incredible amount of monsters who now roam the lands.

*Quoted from the official Reckless Attack website. You can find this and more at their website www.recklessattack.com. (Be aware, reading the available character sheets may contain spoilers)

Extras

Aside from the main campaign Nathan has his own series called Reckless A-Talk. This series Nathan or others on the team interview incredible people from all over the TTRPG space. Nathan's style of interviewing is mostly allowing his guest to speak more than he does, followed by the wonderful lightning round questions. I highly recommend listening to these (as a little treat) if you are interested in learning other perspectives and other aspects of the industry.

Bonus one shots are another part of Reckless Attack, allowing the players to take the reigns. They serve as fun filler for when you just can't wait for the next episode to drop.

And if that's still not enough content for you, you can always subscribe to their Patreon for even more content, including the very relaxed Reckless A-Snack.

TLDR

High Fantasy world rebuilding the world after mortals were nearly wiped out.

Listeners will get a good feel of the world within the first 14 episodes. (IMO, the pacing starts to pick up after Episode 14)

Here are "Tale Til Now," recap episodes for those who want to catch up faster. (Episodes 1-14, 14-42, 42-66, 67-84)

Non Player Characters are larger than life, with clear motives and personalities.

The Dungeon Master and Players share a lot of world building and you can feel the love and trust they have for each other.

Recommended listening at 1.3x-1.5x speed if you are one of those people (you know who you are).

Find more details about the world and characters at www.recklessattack.com.

Lots of extra content for those who just need more, including; interviews, one-shots run by the players, and patreon bonus content. https://www.patreon.com/recklessattack/home

Do you have ideas or suggestions? Please feel free to comment!

Special thanks to Artax of Who's Taking Watch for helping with editing!

No Context Spoilers:

#High Quality Audio #Edited #Effects #Music #5e DnD #1 per week #1 hour #Podcast #Audio Only #English Podcast #BIPOC #Long Term Campaign #Content Warnings #actual play #frogs

55 notes · View notes

velvet-vox · 1 year ago

Text

My Top 10 Favourite Male Villains of all time.

"How arrogant of you to think that any of us are anything but irrelevant". -John Greer, Person of Interest (2011-2016).

There comes a moment in a blog's life where some things are just long overdue, and while the argument could be made that this happened way too early, I'd say that as long as this helps me to find my groove, I am free to experiment as much as I want.

So..... Villains.

Gotta love them. As long as I do not meet them in real life. This post is in particular about male villains since I have one dedicated to their female counterparts in the pipeline so expect that to come soon enough and for this part to be rewritten. By the way, "villain" is a generalisation, I can totally put antivillains, antagonists or more general antiheroes in this list; your definition of "Bad Guy" can vary greatly and so can mine, someone like Walter White from Breaking Bad could have made it in here. My taste is very unusual, so prepare yourself for some unexpected picks.

Also, since these are meant to be some big celebratory posts, for the occasion I'll reveal my Italian heritage and translate every line of dialogue in Italian and publish it separately with a link, so that English readers who are learning Italian can exercise.

Here's also a follow up to this post, the first part of my top 30 favourite female antagonists of all time. Check it out, if you are curious to see more.

The bad girls

But first, some honourable mentions:

Oropo (Wakfu): Once you see the number 2 spot for both this list and the female villains list you might notice that I tend to gravitate towards characters with wasted potential more often than not, but while we're just talking about this guy, I cannot stress enough the amount of unceremonious mishandling that lies within his concepts and execution. Really needed two seasons of 25 episodes each to explore it to their maximum.

Tai Lung (Kung Fu Panda): I love him, but not as much as others, it's a matter of personal preference. He's an amazing antagonist, so even if he is just an honourable mention, I wouldn't call him a lesser villain by any stretch of the imagination; I once felt like he was too sympathetic for his movie's sake, but looking back at it again, he's actually moderately evil for a lot of reasons, even if Shifu is the main one.

Bill Chyper (Gravity Falls): It's been way too long since I watched Gravity Falls, I really can't give you an accurate opinion on this guy anymore.

Flintheart Glomgold (DuckTales 2017): That season 2 episode. If you know what I'm talking about, you KNOW. Also the music for that whole sequence was a banger, really driving home the deranged nature of that twist reveal.

Big Jack Horner (Puss in Boots The Last Wish): I feel like when people praise Jack for being a breath of fresh air in a stale environment, they often forget just how good of a villain he was in his own right without the larger industry wide void of truly devious antagonists that act out of pure malice.

The Wolf (Puss in Boots The Last Wish): Two villain entries from one movie? Of course it was gonna be The Last Wish, what else could it be? Honestly I don't even wanna talk about this guy, you need to experience the movie for yourself.

Rob (The Amazing World of Gumball): Everything I have to say about this guy gets talked about much better by the number 6 Spot on this list, but as it stands Rob was my first villain OTP and the guy who opened the box of Pandora for me on what an antagonist could and should be, since then my perception of villainy only widened and now I enjoy their role in a story in much different way.

And now, with that out of the way, let's finally start with the ranking of my personal favourite male villains of all time.

Major spoilers down below:

Number 10: Silco (Arcane)

This guy is the reason that brought me to specify who or what counted for this list as trying to simplify Silco into one specific group of characters is a challenge that can only end in a misunderstanding of what makes Silco such a complex and fascinating character with an amazing character arc, that ends with him not being redeemed, mind you, but allows the audience to grieve in such a way that would make a side character death jealous.

When writing an antagonistic character, Silco is my goal and high standard, and just for that he deserves all of my respect and endless praise.

Now, admittedly, Silco's arc takes a while to kick in, but it works out to his advantage by the end of it since you don't realise just how much you've grown to care for him until he's dead and you're left with the surprise.

10 out 10, the nation of Zaun would have been much better (worse) with him than with Vander.

Number 9: The Riddler (DC)

The Riddler is literally my ride or die villain, when I'm in the mood for him, he's literally my favourite antagonist ever; when I am not in the mood for him, I completely forget about his existence.

When compared to many other entries on this list, Riddler is definitely more on the pop culture side of antagonism, and when you've been around for almost a century, you tend to have many different versions of the same character written by different writers, so I wanted to highlight here my favourite versions of him:

Arkham Games: He's hilarious. He's not my ideal Riddler, but whenever he comes on screen, his whiny rat's ass voice stimulates my pheromones.

Batman The Animated Series: I've heard somewhere that this version of him is disappointing, and to that I'll say... yeah, but only when he wasn't on screen, because otherwise, he kind of slayed.

Matt Reeves The Batman: This is the version that rekindled my love for him after so long. Out of every interpretation of The Riddler throughout the years, this is the one version that treated Edward more as a character rather than an obstacle for Batman to overcome, and for that I'll be eternally grateful.

LEGO Batman The Videogame: My very first introduction to The Riddler and the Batman universe as a whole, this version has a permanent place in my heart , I love how much information and emotion you can get out of him by just looking at his mannerisms and quirks alone; unironically, being silent helps him reach that quote on quote idealised version of Riddler that I was talking about earlier.

Number 8: The Snatcher (A Hat In Time)

There are many things that can carry on a villain in a story, their evolution, stage presence, complexity, thematic contrast to their counterpart, and so on and so forth. While an antagonist can check off many of these boxes simultaneously (like the one pictured), there's one box that is almost impossible to truly nail perfectly: comedy.

You see, comedy is subjective, and when your main antagonist is also the funniest part of a given story, it becomes hard to also match a sense of gravity and menace that allows them to also be an imposing threat, even harder is to give said antagonist depth and a tragic backstory.

But somehow, out of nowhere, The Snatcher from A Hat In Time manages to simultaneously be the funniest character in his section of the game, carrie said energy throughout the whole experience even down to the DLC, simultaneously strikes the balance between being scary, wholesome, sympathetic and tragic, exude an insane amount of charisma, all while having a deeply disturbing backstory that touches on some heavy themes and re contextualises his actions into something more complicated and out of a broken man, everything I just said + he's the biggest bastard in his videogame and never repents nor does he have his actions called out.

Snatcher really has all the right cards that make a stationary character work and uses them to his maximum potential, and it works because his character arc throughout the game is more about becoming affectionate to Hat Kid than it is about redeeming himself.

Lastly, his voice actor, Luke Sizemore, aka Yungtown, really sells the performance of this devious soul eating worm and burns his catchphrases into your brain for the rest of eternity, much like his boss theme,

Your Contract Has Expired

A song that switches around being scary, epic, energetic and desperate in a short, yet perfectly paced amount of time. You need to listen to it regardless of if you've played the game or not.

Fool.

Number 7: Judge Claude Frollo (Hunchback of Notre Dame)

You can never say no to a classic.

There's nothing that I could say that hasn't already been said by thousands of videos on YouTube, but I'll try anyway: you see, Frollo is the reason why we need a new term to identify certain villains that aren't "sympathetic" but still make you feel some sort of human emotion and a form of "I wish someone could give you the care you need to fix your life", I guess the term empathetic exists, but when do you really see it used?

Now, don't get me wrong, Frollo is absolutely not sympathetic in the slightest, he wants to r##e a Romani woman that's way younger than him, but you can still feel that he's very troubled about it in the Hellfire scene and has definitely a lot of unidentified issues and internalised bigotry that could be worked through, even if it's too late to work through them right now.

In general, I feel like people forget that the main reason why past Disney villains worked had to do more with their human traits juxtaposed to their malice rather than just their plain wickedness, otherwise the Horned King from the Black Cauldron would be top of the Disney villains league and that couldn't be further from the truth.

We should really strive towards writing more villains like Frollo, less omnipotent beings that end up falling flat because they don't have much thematic relevance aside from being a threat (Bill Chyper works because he represents Ego and he's used sparingly) and more average vicious individuals who use their power and influence to get what they want.

All in all, if you've seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame, then you know why this guy is here, but just to cite a couple of repeated points, the Hellfire scene is perfect. It's immaculate. It's unreproducible; there will never be another scene like this coming out of the House of Mouse or animation ever again, the excessive amount of stars and elements that came together to create this gothic classic is so vast that it's literally a miracle.

Frollo is truly the personification of the dark, twisted side of humanity peaking through the door and into your mind, from which he shall never escape as his performance still remains perfect to this very day.

Number 6: The Spot (Spider-man across the Spiderverse)

"You've hit me with a bagel!" It's still the greatest villain origin story of all time. There's truly something maniacal about this reveal, like the entire universe was shattered and reality was shocked at the mere realization that while Miles was having his coming of age moment back in the first film, this guy was having his normal life completely and utterly shattered by a combination of both our heroes stepping up to do the right thing and our doofus lack of foresight and self reflection; all of this stuff is hilarious and completely made up for the film but good god they did such an amazing job tying all the elements together in an unexpected way that makes sense and parallels the journey that our protagonist faced in the first movie.

Like with Rob from The Amazing World of Gumball, and a little bit like number 2 on this list, I just really enjoy the concept of turning background characters who had no relevance whatsoever into the big bad of the story who's been there all along and the heroes (and the audience) just couldn't notice.

With The Spot in particular, there's that sense of satisfaction of turning the wasted potential of a villain who has been underestimated for literal decades and treated as a "villain of the week" (God do I love the meta narrative of this movie) into an actual competent, well written antagonist that is aware of his reputation and strives towards bettering himself and his powers.

He's also the funniest character of his movie too and the voice acting of Jason Schwartzman only accentuates his mannerisms and pettyness.

He also has the coolest usage of portals I have ever seen and his whole "There's a hole inside all of us" metaphor is simultaneously hilarious and very deep personal information that can only be understood if you put yourself into his shoes.

I can't wait for Beyond the Spiderverse to come out and see how his arc resolves, more importantly, I wonder if he's going to rank higher in the future.

Number 5: Lord Shen (Kung Fu Panda)

"Happiness must be taken. And I'll take mine"

.....

What a character.

What a movie.

You cause so much pain and suffering, because you don't understand the people around you, and then those people banish you, and you can't understand why, so you start to believe that they hated you.

They never loved you, so you keep causing pain and suffering but it's not that easy anymore; the guilt starts to resurface, all those bodies keep piling up, but you can't stop because then it would have all been for nothing; so you keep chasing those dreams of grandeur because that's all you have left; the emptiness in your heart can no longer be filled by love, so you try to fill it with something else.

You try to fill it with power. You try to fill it with glory. You try to take everything else for yourself so that you can fill that cup, but it doesn't work, because that cup has no bottom.

And so you're left... with yourself.

And the damage you've done. But now it's different; you've failed. You are left with nothing. Nothing.

And so you outrage, for the last time... And then it all ends. Forever. And you've finally come to accept this, after all....... Who could ever love you?

Number 4: Spamton G Spamton (Deltarune)

You know, in retrospect, it's kind of insane what Toby Fox managed to achieve when creating Spamton.

Not only because Spamton feels like the most insane combination of ideas ever conceived, but also because Toby Fox created such a complex character with such a complicated language and personality and then not only shafted it all aside for the players to go out of their way to interact, but also made all of this in what are officially 2 or 3 cutscenes at most (4 if you consider his shop encounter as one) and only one of them being truly mandatory.

You spend so little time with Spamton, and most of that time is spent fighting him, and yet by the end of it you've become enlightened by the knowledge of him, that after a while... you forget how scary it all was.

All the memes comparing Spamton with Turbo are 100% correct and justified, Spamton truly is Turbo but better; you go through an insane rollercoaster of emotions with this character that you are left absolutely dumbfounded when it all comes to a stop and you go back to play the rest of chapter 2 normally.

His insane mannerisms and mood swings are pretty funny at first, but once you peel back the layers a bit they reveal a pretty realistic and sad portrayal of mental illness, mania and hysteria coupled with an unhealthy amount of social distancing, loneliness, and abandonment issues, that reinforce into your brain the idea of someone lacking proper healthcare and needing to be locked away from society for their (society) own good, simulating the vicious cycle that Spamton lives by: nobody wants to help him but he's still expected to act like a regular individual despite the amount of hardships he's facing and the lack of a support system keeping him from falling back into his bad habits.

I'll admit, I've considered putting Spamton in place of the Number 3 spot on this list; but then I've realised that on an objective level, the next entry totally deserves to be ranked above Spamton; plus, with at least 5 more chapters of Deltarune on our way, whose to say that one of the next gremlins won't be able to dethrone even the number 1 spot?

Drumroll for our top 3:

Nox, the Watchmaker (Wakfu)

There will never be another experience in my life as cathartic as watching the first season of Wakfu for the first time ever again.

On a later rewatch, the initial problems that you've noticed throughout the first half of the season and a little bit in the second half become too apparent to ignore, but the first time everything that goes from the ball tournament to the finale is one of the best paced arcs of television, and everything that happens when the team reaches the Sadida kingdom is just peak Wakfu.

And the king, the culprit, the crown jewel of properly paced stories and arcs is no other than the sad clockwork dilf himself: Noximilliem Coxen the Watchmaker.

Arguably, the greatest sympathetic villain of all time. There has never been another case of a character who has committed such vile, unspeakable crimes, and yet still managed to make me root for them while simultaneously not putting down the heroes.

And let's not be mistaken here, Nox is pretty evil:

Aside from the generic murder, Nox also defiled and stitched together the corpses of multiple victims and turned them into his obedient puppets in order to commit even more murder and genocide in order to achieve his goals.

Also, this is one of the funniest crimes Nox has committed: he abused his dog. It's really not that hilarious nor is it that important in the context of the show, but if you look back at it from an outside perspective then it's really like: Oh yeah. That happened too. Lol.

One of the best parts of his entire arc is his defeat. The "20 minutes" scene deserves a "One Villainous Scene" coverage video to forever immortalise it amongst the greatest. Everything from the music, the subversiveness, the cinematography, the voice acting and just the general art direction of it is worthy of an Eminem award at the Oscars, there's genuinely nothing wrong with this scene, it's truly immaculate.

Words alone cannot do justice to the treacherous, gut wrenching emotional rollercoaster that is experiencing his story for the first time. An hour long video essay would only serve to cover the basics and fundamentals, while for the real deal you need to watch the first season of Wakfu for yourself.

Number 2:

Bradford Buzzard (DuckTales 2017)

And now it's the perfect time to pull out my final wild card, the hole of the sink of my autism, the masterpiece of wasted potential that is Bradford Buzzard from the DuckTales remake of 2017.

When you'll also see the number 2 spot on my villainesses list, you'll come to realise that this spot is more of the "I really wish I could put this at number one but I can't because objectively he doesn't deserve it and the majority of things I love about him in canon were probably an afterthought and in fanon were never plausible to begin with."

And that's how I feel about Bradford Buzzard, an antagonist I spent more time thinking about than probably anybody else on the Earth.

The show runners were so genius for this: we are going to create an original character that will probably struggle to maintain a foot print on the franchise due to the way the Duck verse works, we'll give him an insanely cool backstory and motivation, all coupled with interesting character traits and ideology, we'll make him the ultimate foil to Scrooge McDuck that has been working with him for literal decades, we'll make him the one who has got the closest to isolating Scrooge and destroying his family, and THEN we'll turn him into a generic anime villain that shoots lasers and fumbles his own plan and loses because of insane plot armour and contrivance. Good job writers.

Anyway, I should probably make the case for why this guy ranks so highly in my mind to the point of almost taking the podium for my most liked villain of all time, especially when compared to the stiff competition that we just went through.

Now, part of it is just because this is a personal top 10 and so I can put whoever I want in whatever order I want. But also, with Bradford in particular, there's a personal aspect of relatability, various interests, and passions all coming together to make him stand out in my brain.

The thing is, I've had a pretty strong connection to Disney's Duck's comic books my entire life, even if my love for them came dwindling over time, so when I finally started watching the Reboot and it was amazing, all of that buried passion and love finally re emerged back to the surface, turning me into an annoying super fan. But while season 1 and 2 were great, season 3 actually gave me something to latch on for the rest of time even after the show had ended: the character of Bradford Buzzard.

You see, DuckTales, both in the shows and comics, always had a plethora of villains; from the crazy, megalomaniacal millionaires, to witches, demons, and other mythological creatures, to power hungry aliens, to straight up super-villains. But while all of that is true, there has never been another villain, aside from Magica, Glomgold and Rockerduck at traits, that was built specifically as the anti Scrooge McDuck, and even further, there has never been another antagonist who challenged the very core ideas and concepts of the entire franchise.

Bradford is like the Frank Grimes of DuckTales: just a regular, average, real world guy who's fed up with the nonsensical constant state at which their fictional universe operates and seeks to correct it in the most logical way possible. And while Frank was ultimately a victim of a world in which he couldn't conform, Bradford's outrageous and extreme plans and methods put him on everybody's hit list until he was left all alone, but not before indirectly causing every major disaster throughout the reboot's runtime.

A cold, calculating, machiavellian mastermind whose impact and presence secretly permeates the show, right till the very end.

Shame he wasn't written better.

And now, for the one and only,

Number 1:

Qilby (Wakfu)

Qilby is the biggest example of an anomaly that you could ever observe in a work of fiction. The first time experiencing a story is the most important and impactful moment of that story, as every future rewatch won't be as good as the first. In particular, this is an important aspect of twist villains, as they can only surprise you the first time, since at future rewatches the twist becomes predictable.

Furthermore, if the twist ends up ruining the character that was established up to this point, or it doesn't make any sense, then the story is kind of ruined and it only gets worse on future rewatches, since now you know that everything that you are seeing right now is ultimately worthless and doesn't provide any value.

So why do we love twist villains and keep churning them out? Well, you see, it's a matter of execution. A bad guy introduced in an unconventional manner is much more memorable than one introduced in a straightforward way; the twist can also serve to showcase different aspects of the character before becoming an obvious obstacle, be it quirks, interests, personality in casual settings, or cunning.

Let's not beat around the bush.

If Nox is the single greatest sympathetic villain of all time, then Qilby is by far the greatest twist villain of all time, and the crazy thing is, that he surprises you two times in a row, at first by revealing himself as more evil than you could ever imagine, and then, by outing himself as more complex than you could have ever anticipated.

Let me paint you the picture: you just finished the first season of Wakfu, and you are still pretty fresh of the hype surrounding Nox, so you think to yourself "Oh, now every future antagonist is ruined because nothing could ever top the emotional gut punch that I just went through. Whatever, I'm going to stick around just to see if the story gets worse" and you start the second season.

So far, everything is normal, even better of the first season in terms of engagement value, but you can't help but feel the lack of a Nox like figure inside of the story, but at this point, you just accept it.

Then the final six episodes roll around and OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING, HAS THE WHOLE SHOW JUST GONE INSANE?

Somehow, in some mystical, french, magical way, the season 2 finale is arguably even better than the ending of season 1 despite the fight having less buildup and introducing a lot of brand new characters and an entirely irrelevant faction into his conflict.

The entirety of the scene in Emrumb is some of the best writing I have ever experienced in any work of fiction, and the music accompanying it only accentuates the repressed dopamine being released after various episodes of filler, all of them important for this moment to be as impactful as it is.

Qilby is also just a great, tragic character, that is simultaneously an unforgivable bastard that tried to kill his family and doomed his entire race for a family trip, and a sad, nihilistic man still trying to reconcile his love for his family and his need for knowledge and discovery; his curse never truly allows him to move on or relate to others but his ego and need for his forgetful brothers attention just pushes him even further into resentment, ending up damaging himself and those around him, until he's finally isolated again by the vary people he harmed and showed his love towards.

He's as good as the evil secret sibling trope can get and I never get tired of watching him on screen. His reveal scene to Adamai still gives me the chills to this very day and demonstrated me just how good the surprise villain concept can get when it's executed correctly.

Just an all around great show.

64 notes · View notes