#also adam adam seems like the obvious choice here but also adam is ADAM so it feels kind of ooc

[wander-wren]

i’ve found a hole in the market

[hypnos333]

The Garden of Eden

Adam x Angel Reader

Synopsis: You were in the garden alone growing flowers until Adam came and fell in love with you first sight

Warning:Smut

Your palms wrapped into a glowing gold around the rose ready for the flower to grow and it did. Your long hair was flowed around the garden not getting up any time soon to go back to heaven.

You loved earth, the seven days god made it you watched all seven days, to see the beauty of it all.

Little did you know a naked man was peeking behind the tree, observing you, and fascinated with you. He watched as your long hair flowed through the winds and how you eyes were fixated on growing the flower.

“I know you’re back there, Show yourself human” You said without looking up, Adam continued hiding swallowing his pride to correct you. “I’m sorry that a bit rude of me, What’s your name?” You asked him making step out of the tree now standing behind you.

“Adam, What’s yours?” Adam said confidently and pridefully as hum running your hands through the rose.

“My name is ___ I’m am an Angel taking care of Eden” You replied to him with respectfulness and gentleness in your voice. Not even Lilith talk to him like that all she does is sass back at him and just gives out a full attitude but you were different. You were submissive and you always seem to listen with pretending too.

“Why do you want to work here? Or were you forced to-“Oh heavens no, this is all by choice I pleaded God to let me even step foot here” You interrupted him

He nodded standing there awkwardly before you turned to him gesturing him to sit next to you.

“Lemme show you something” You said as he sat down, you took his hands into yours then you put your hands on top of his before wrapping it around another dying flower this time it was a Sunflower.

His hands glowed a golden as it heals the flower. When it was over his face was full of disbelief and shock you didn’t pull your hands away and neither did he. “What the fuck did I just do” He said making you chuckle and his cursing.

“Well you healed a flower of course” You said stating the obvious.

“Ohhh well fuck me” He mumbles to himself making you playfully push him finally letting go of his hand, Adam was a little disappointed but ignored the feeling anyways.

He laid down on the grass making you follow suit as you both continued getting to know each other.

Days past and before you knew it Lilith and Lucifer got banished to hell, so God gave Adam a new wife but before he even gotten a new wife there was a secret that you both will forever keep.

Moans could be heard throughout both your secret spot as his dick abused your cunt in and out multiple times. You were moaning against his ear as he fucked you against a tree. “A-Ah Adam f-faster” You moaned out making his thrust faster as one of his hand moves to squeeze your breasts making Moan louder. “F-Fuck I might as well milk my cum into you and fuck you a baby angel” He whispers into your ear as you moan even louder at that. “Yes Adam fuck a baby into me” You moan out and that when he cummed deep into your pussy making it leak

Yeah but since Adam and Eve as a new wife you both can’t secretly fuck anymore, it goes against the bible and when Adam fucked Eve you haven’t talked to him when he had three children and got banished of Eden for trusting Eve and eating the apple.

You were also pregnant so you could definitely not see him anymore.

Later you gave birth to beautiful boy, Isaac a name fit for an Angel when he was two that’s when Adam died.

A baby Giggling could be heard coming out of your house, Adam was nervous to see you and maybe thought you moved on to someone else. But he had to at least try and make it seem like he’s a pussy. So he knocked it took few minutes but then when you opened the door he was shocked.

It was you as beautiful as ever but holding a baby angel who had his hair and skin complexion, but your eyes and smile. “It’s either you fucked someone who looked like me or that baby is mine” He stated bluntly making you roll your eyes.

“Lemme put him down for a nap, come in if you want” You said opening the door wider for him making him come in and close your door as you went to put Issac in his crib.

“What’s his name?” Adam asked realizing the baby was actually his.

“His name is Issac” You said simply before sitting on the couch across from him. Making Adam move to sit next to you and pull you on his lap.

“Why were you so far away from?” He whispered in your ear before kissing and sucking your neck making you moan quietly. “A-Adam the baby is in the other room” You said as he slid his hands into your dress groping your breasts.

“He’s sleeping anyways” Adam stated bluntly making you thankful that Issac is a deep sleeper. Next you knew your bouncing on Adams thick cock, cum thirsty, Your moans were loud as the skin clapping of you bouncing on his dick naked.

Adam was squeezing both your breasts as you bounce “Yes take as much as you want you dirty whore” He said before he grabbed your hips thrusting even faster. As you almost scream at the pleasure you came hard at the same time Adam came inside you again.

You laid tiredly on his shoulder as he put you to bed but then the baby started crying making him rush to Issac to see reaching out to his binkie on the counter. Adam gave him the pacifier making Issac put it in his mouth before smiling at Adam one more time before falling asleep.

That is definitely yours and his child

[snownorites]

Some disjointed thoughts on Sua and her sister that I had yesterday cause I've seen some people on twt being really adamant that Sua was in the "loved before anakt" category and I don't think that's what the point of Heavenly Garden is personally

For one, I don’t think she's actually looking out for Sua here. (using WhataFruit's translation)

I think her intention was to make Sua feel bad about herself. The word choice is extremely deliberate: "you're so unkempt" "that is unseemly" "you're already dumb enough as it is". That last one is obvious but those first two I think are super important to understanding the kind of competitive environment "being" a doll must have fostered. She's trying to put Sua "in her place" here and make her feel like she doesn't actually deserve any of the favouritism Nigeh gives her because she's "stupid" and can't even play her part properly.

And Sua has every reason to believe what her sister tells her. Outside of her cruelty she's so nice, so gentle, she even plays with her and tickles her. Ofc Sua would assume that she has the best intentions and to me that's the point of why her sister acts that way. It's not about affection or love really, it's something closer to bullying. This way every insult, every instance of belittling however small stays with her and hurts her. Her pity of Sua may be "genuine" but it seems to be more mocking? Saying that she loved Sua to me feels a bit like buying into the performance.

The framing of the comic to me is also very interesting because the contrast between Mizi and Sua's sister is telling us that we need to consider their affects on Sua in relation with each other. Sua did not feel loved before she met Mizi.

Her saying this is supposed to show that her sister was all she ever knew in terms of human connection. "Back then" as in before meeting Mizi.

Sua thinks that her sister was actually the pitiful one all along but something really interesting is that it's not because she finally found self worth or because she knows that her sister was wrong about her being unkempt or "stupid", it goes right back to love. Her sister is pitiful because she didn't know love.

That heavenly garden, Mizi, loving and being loved. If Sua felt love before anakt I don't really see why it'd be framed like this.

And the thing is that love is a super big theme in Alien Stage. You could very well argue that this is just how her sister shows love and since we don't have her pov the way that we do Io's or Ivan's there's absolutely no way to refute that the same way there's no way to prove that. But to me including Sua in the same category as Mizi and now Till feels really disingenuous. Mizi and Till felt loved before anakt and carried forward that love in all their actions. Sua did not and her actions reflect that.

I think that Sua's feelings of self hatred are a pretty important thing to also consider when analysing anything to do with her (and I'll probably have to do a seperate post about that because this is already so fucking long lmao) People don't pay enough attention to this and how a lot of it comes from the bullying she experienced

Before Mizi, Sua was objectified by everyone around her, humans and segyein alike. And maybe her sister was different and we'll see that in another comic but to me heavenly garden's intention is to reinforce that this bullying wasn't just the very overt kind that's shown above. Like with the new Till comic, all the material we get builds onto each other, Heavenly Garden gives context to just how sinister the bullying was.

And I don't say all this to say that people are wrong about her sister potentially loving her, maybe she did, but Sua did not feel loved or experience that love. It's weird that I'm seeing more justification and rationalisation of her sister's behaviour than people actually taking Sua's narrative into consideration and trying to understand how her sister fits into it.

[showtoonzfan]

Also yeah this new Hazbin cast is not it man. I’m sorry. Most of them either sound flat, don’t fit with the character design, or are just not as good as the original. Angel and Alastor I especially don’t like, Alastor sounds so nasally and Amari just can’t top Bosco’s performance, with Bosco not only was he good but when Alastor was threatening, he SOUNDED threatening. I may have made fun of Al’s design, but Bosco’s voice is what made the character interesting and threatening for me. With Amari’s voice he just sounds beyond silly and I can’t take him seriously.

Blake Roman is literally just intimidating Kovach, except this time Angel just sounds forced and awkward. It makes you wonder why Viv just didn’t get Kovach back since it’s obvious she wanted to find someone so similar to him, and then you realize…oh yeah, Kovach wasn’t on Broadway or is a big singer. Micheal was really good at what he did as Angel too as everyone has already said so Viv fumbled the bag SO hard with these two it’s sad. I’m especially pissed about Alastor cause Bosco was the reason he was my favorite character and now he sounds so cringe.

Husk and Vox are played by two very talented actors/singers but their voices just don’t fit with the character design, though I’m not that against Christain Borle as Vox, the voice doesn’t fit the twink design but at the very least they got a man who sounds like a full grown adult playing a full grown adult lmao. Husk is a different story however, because it feels like Keith was picked to play him just because he was famous and nothing else. Back in the pilot, Viv had a specific voice in mind for Husk and she found it, aka Mick. He perfectly came off as an old washed up grumpy alcoholic, and Keith’s voice kinda just…erases all that personality. Sure Keith’s voice sounds cool but that’s it, it’s style over substance.

I wish I could say more about Charlie and Vaggie but I’m not sure what to say other then they kinda sound forced and awkward too, and I hate saying that cause they’re also played by two very talented actresses. Stephanie B played Mirabel from Encanto, she’s had voice acting experience before so I hope she ends up sounding good in the actual show. Erika meanwhile…I hate to say this but other than her singing voice there’s nothing really special about her as Charlie compared to Jill Harris, though even with Jill I never felt any strong feelings towards her performance.

Adam meanwhile, dear GOD I was right about him looking bad in animation form, his design sucks so fucking much. Fans were right, that’s Alex Brightman’s voice, he seems to be using his normal voice but just a tad deeper. He’s the only one who’s a fine choice, though I really wish we got to hear him as Pentious here!

But yeah in terms of the voice cast I’m just disappointed man, really disappointed. It makes you really realize how talented the pilot cast was. They were so good cause they were all chosen for a reason that wasn’t just “they’re famous” and it fucking sucks how bad Viv fumbled everything.

[mirroredmemoriez]

John Kramer and The Denlon's

Cracks everything in my body. It's time to yap. I keep going on in many posts about the fact John is just as flawed as those he tries to ''better'', so I want to go over one of my main comparisons in a tad more depth than I have before. John Kramer and Jeff Denlon honestly are very similar when it comes to their backstory and need for revenge due to grief. Even though John always states that he tests people so they become grateful for being alive- It's very obvious in some cases, he's doing it for his own type of gratification too. For example, Cecil Adams who caused Jill Tuck to miscarry and then Cecilia Pederson who scammed John. He didn't put these people in traps just because of his philosophy, but because they were also very ''close to home'' for him.

The loss of a child is very integral to both John and Jeff's character. Both of these men crave justice.... However, the way they want it and how they achieve it isn't exactly the most healthy thing. It leads both of them to neglect their partners, Jill and Lynn. (Just took a break to eat leftover spaghetti I am legit lost in the sauce- I don't plan out these little rants I do, so I just go where rambling takes me.) When it comes to the major differences between them, Jeff is more rage fuelled, at least in how he carries himself. His anger manifests more verbally and physically than John- Which is his downfall, alongside him not listening or acting when needed. This is a bit of a reach, but another thought nonetheless and nothing I say needs to be something I'm 100% on anyway. Danica Scott, the only other witness to Dylan's death didn't cause Jeff's son's demise, however her lack of action and fleeing the scene made her someone Jeff would want to take revenge upon anyway.

Amanda, although she had more involvement with Gideon's death, seeing as she was the one to convince Cecil to rob the clinic, didn't take physical action either. However, outside of her just being a drug addict- It is debated whether or not John always knew about her role in Jill Tuck's miscarriage, another reason for her to be tested.

We've also got basic comparisons such as the fact Jill and Lynn are both in the medical field and having mentioned Lynn again? Her demeanour is more like John than anybody else I have brought up in this post I'd say- I can't really word well why I think that, but it's there anyway. (Another thing to add is how in Saw 3, John in his delirious state starts getting confused and thinking Lynn is Jill.)

Might as well slip some others thoughts in here too whilst I'm fucking rambling this much- I don't have too many complex thoughts on Jeff Denlon I guess, I basically seem him as an example within the Saw universe about a person who cannot let go enough that it results in his trauma and vengeance taking over his life and ending it too. He's not a evil or terrible man, just very flawed. He had some of the physically easiest traps in the franchise to complete, but because he never made an effort to heal and instead remained stagnant within his grief... He takes too long to take action and morally flip flops all over the place when it comes to what decision he'll make- It's that or he doesn't assess the long term consequences of things such as never forgiving. I personally don't think he ever has to forgive someone like Timothy Young- However, I do believe he let's it impact his life and those around him too much. Corbett didn't deserve the neglect she faced and she herself is a child grieving her sibling. Grief and forgiveness are very hard topics to navigate, but I honestly as a viewer felt the most bad for Corbett more so than Jeff or even Lynn. Coming back to Lynn, I believe she ''learnt'' the most or at least came to terms with things faster within her trap than Jeff. She didn't have time to dwell or not be fast paced with her choices, because her life was connected to John's. She was doing her best not only to stay alive, but to get back to her family even if it was dysfunctional. (Me when I come back to this in my drafts weeks later, time to attempt to find the wave length I was on whilst doing this before.) It's an interesting though to picture different people in other traps. For example, if Lynn was going through Jeff's test. Would she have reacted faster than him and made clear cut decisions? Could she forgive? Jeff is no medical professional and his rage wouldn't let him care for John to the best of his ability so we know he'd fumble that, which is why I'm more so focused on Lynn in his test. Lynn's grief is more ''subtle'' compared to Jeff's and as an audience it's hard to pinpoint what her thoughts and opinions of those involved with her sons death would've been. She turned to antidepressants and her fractured marriage led her to having an affair, not to mention the child neglect. But when it comes down to it, we don't see as much as a drive for revenge and justice within Lynn as we do Jeff. This would mainly come down to screen time, setting and general context but it's an interesting thought of how she'd handle someone like Danica or Timothy if they were right in front of her.

This is why I say she learnt the most from her test compared to Jeff in his? After everything she went through with Amanda constantly up her ass and power drilling through a guys skull- All Lynn wanted was to reunite with her family. Like, the only time we see Lynn exert full physical violence is in a deleted scene where she attacks Amanda.... And even then that is because she wants the key for her collar more so than a drive to murder the other woman. On all accounts, she actually won that scuffle as well.

But then for example Jeff when he finally encounters John? He just can't help himself! Lynn literally is on the floor bleeding out, reaching for him not to leave and this man just can't NOT go and fulfil his need for vengeance. He'd literally just acted upon it before too by shooting Amanda, though that is more understandable giving the context of the fact she shot Lynn..... I think overall this is why so many people dislike Jeff but they just can't word it? Like he's been dubbed ''slow ass motherfucking Jeff''- But it's not really the speed of execution, it's either the lack of long term critical thinking and or the fact he's indecisive? Jeff doesn't have the weight of a contraption around his neck and or his life truly on the line like his wife.... However, somehow Lynn is still managing her test better than him with a freaky little lesbian on her ass and doing backhouse brain surgery on some random old dude with a fucking power drill. I'll also bring up the fact that like John and Jeff, Mark Hoffman has a pretty similar drive and motive to the both of these men. Just like how Jeff saw his sons death, Mark saw the aftermath of his sisters murder for example. All three of them feel justified in their actions against those who have wronged them and etc....

And as I always bring up in character studies like these, the perceptions from the audience are so interesting- Especially when you start comparing characters. It will come as no surprise when I say, I am a pretty active Tumblr user... Through this? The interactions with media and popularity of characters from Saw on this platform are decently clear. First I'll get it out the way that screen time plays a big role in making characters fan favourites. Although, Adam is a subversion to this as he's only in one movie (alive) and likely the most popular Saw character- Anyway! Using John, Jeff and Mark as examples here still... As previously stated, these three men can be considered quite alike in some aspects! But our perceptions of them are quite different due to how they're presented and what we know about them. John is an older sickly man, his life being cut short by the fact he has terminal cancer. His wife miscarries and later on then becomes ex-wife and then also somewhere down the line he gets scammed by a fake cancer treatment....All in all? Dude's kinda got fucked over. But what I haven't mentioned yet in this brief is the fact that whilst most of this is going on, peepaw is designing elaborate death traps and testing people in them slash indoctrinating some into his fuckass ideology! He as a character get's quite a neutral response and or a 50/50 split? He's Jigsaw, the face of the franchise.... There is a decent amount to discuss in regards to him. However, when it all comes down to it it I wouldn’t say he’s favoured as much as other characters.

Moving to Jeff, he witnessed his own son get killed in a hit and run and the grief and injustice of that basically made him spiral into neglecting himself but also his family. He cannot move forward from the loss of Dylan and this is why during his test he is so slow to act- I think one thing to mention here too, is this is something John likely accounted for. Jeff’s test is designed for him and the challenge isn’t that of " OH CUT YOU ARM” it’s for him to overcome his grief and to choose whether to forgive or let those involved with Dylan’s passing die. It’s easy for us as viewers behind the screen to think that he could’ve done almost everything faster. But we’re not Jeff. It’s shown time and time again mentally he just cannot move on and the only reason he is making progress though the test is due to its nature, average therapy? Jeff just wouldn’t go because he refuses to confront HIMSELF in regards to his own grief and would rather wallow in fantasies of revenge.

Mark Hoffman? Obviously the case I’ll bring up with him is that of his sister's murder. Angelina is his only close relative, with no other mention of Mark’s family in the franchise really. So, when she is killed in a case of domestic violence and he also sees her dead body? Yeah, that’s certainly the kind of thing to fuck someone up mentally. Which is why Mark then developed a drinking problem to cope and started to display more erratic behaviour such as shooting a man three times who’d actually surrendered beforehand…. By the time Seth Baxter his sister's killer is released from prison via a technicality- Mark has no quarrels with taking his revenge via abducting him and placing him in a Jigsaw like trap. However, as we all know, this trap is by no means escapable and is only being used by Mark as a scapegoat to get away with murdering Seth. This act then kickstarts his life as an apprentice for John when he himself is abducted.

(I legit forgot this was in my drafts- Months later. I’ll post this now even if it’s not really complete…)

[lnkedmyheart]

can you name every time in which dazai has expressed care for chuuya?

Sure, I can try. Dazai has a unique brand of care and it shows less as the more obvious show of affection and more as an interest in people. Lets go chronologically

Dazai's irritation at the meeting with the sheep in 15. He has imo already started his own weird bonding ritual with Chuuya by that point and wants him as his personal friend, his dog in Dazai lingo cause he is a moron. He gets irked at the way Shirase, and by extension the sheep, make demands of Chuuya. That being said, this is still early and he more or less just uses this info to exploit for later.

Dazai's fascination from the GSS squad vs Chuuya fight develops into Dazai wanting to keep living. And I think that is some kind of care because Dazai legit is vibing with the guy by this point. Him wanting Chuuya to be assigned to him and not Koyou and printing out newsletters about him etc all seem to point towards some weird way of wanting to be on talking terms with him.

In stormbringer Dazai carrying Chuuya all the way across the city to the Old World so he can see Albatross and hear his final words is very important to me.

Dazai's growing agitation at them not getting to Chuuya in time during his capture. Its not as noticeable but he was uncharacteristically insistent.

Dazai's insistence on Chuuya's humanity in general.

Dazai's entire plan in sb was so he could get his hands on details about Chuuya. Like he flat out admits that Mori and the mafia dont really matter to him here and Chuuya even understands that.

That one scene when Guivre first appears and Dazai whispers to Chuuya to not look. An underrated scene imo.

The very well known scene where Dazai gives Chuuya a genuine choice and was willing to put the entire city at risk because he believes Chuuya has a right to his humanity and past. Also him explicitly laying out everything in front of Chuuya.

Obviously him catching him as he fell and holding him or whatever. But also another underrated scene where when Chuuya feels lost at the care shown to his person by Adam in the epilogue Dazai has the softest most fond reaction.

In the day I picked up Dazai he talks about Chuuya to Oda. I think its cute.

Onto dragon head now: Dazai completely flipping from completely unbothered about the war to deciding enough was enough when Chuuya calls him out with a punch and is genuinely mad at him. He is very subdued throughout the manga panels. He doesn't evem tease him. Him quietly accepting that Chuuya needs to use corruption and despite him telling Dazai not to stop him he nullifies corruption by touching his face and then letting him rest on his lap and even puts his hat on his head. Hell Dazai's entire perception of events changes because of Chuuya, from making light of the colonel's death to angrily telling Shibusawa that he had crossed a line with that act. Also Dazai's "get shot and die" line is explained to be a code warning Chuuya of an incoming grenade.

Onto the manga timeline: Dazai is generally far nicer and more civil with Chuuya than any of the mafia members post defection. He gives Chuuya a choice with Lovecraft again, he is very gentle with Chuuya when nullifying corruption, not letting go of him till he knows Chuuya would be able to handle his own weight unlike with say Atsushi. He folds his clothes and brings his hat back. Note that the hat is very important to Chuuya.

Dead apple has Dazai's face when he touches Chuuya to nullify him and then holding him down post corruption. And the sheer trust he has in a Chuuya to follow through on a plan that was never discussed. And Chuuya's hat magically appearing in his line of sight when he leaves. Also you can't tell me he doesnt care when he makes that face.

Dazai's anger at Fyodor bringing Chuuya to Meursault is self explanatory, his bond being questioned is too but particularly his whole speech in 101 where he starts thinking back on their moments is proof enough that he genuinely cares about Chuuya in some weird obsessive way.

[scekrex]

Hiiii💕💕 me again I really loved your story and writing style<3

But any way I have a other idea, here it goes when Adam meet male reader for the first time and when he first saw him quickly thought of Eve and Lilith? But he tried brush those thoughts out of his mind when they start to know each other more but Adam can not stop looking at him this time y/n wanted to make a joke so he says.

"Do I look like your girlfriend?"

"No.. My late wife (or something else)... I cannot believe it"

"You could've been her twin!"

"Your face.. Your voice... Just your hair and clothes are different-"

"My name, is y/n l/n"

If you can thank you 💕💕

You'll be from now on known as "💕💕", also really love that idea!! So here ya go babes xoxo/p

Pretty baby with the sun in his eyes

pairing: Adam x male!reader

warnings: language

note: not beta read bc fuck you I don't have beta readers

You had first met him when Sera had introduced you to him in her office. It had been a little weird to meet the first man to ever be created, not because you had been nervous but because he hadn't been able to stop staring at you. It had seemed as if his eyes were glued onto you, no matter what you had done, his eyes had been onto you, drinking in every tiny little movement you had made. His expression had been blank, though, there was no way you could've known what had been going on behind those eyes of his.

To Adam it had been quite the shock to lay eyes on you for the first time. Your facial features looked so similar to Lilith's, your voice reminded you of Eve’s, it made him feel home. He shook that thought out of his head immediately, Eve wasn't supposed to sound like home and your face that could've been the face of Lilith's younger brother made his stomach feel heavy and his heart skip a beat every now and then. Fuck no, he wasn't seeing his ex wives in you - at least he told himself so, he was very aware that was a total lie.

And that was something that never really changed. Because once the first man had found out that you were a fellow rock enjoyer, he had been quick to give you calls every now and then, inviting you for jam sessions, the concerts his band played and sometimes even for small things like grabbing lunch together or getting ice cream. You two had been quick to figure out that you enjoyed a lot of the same things, you were quite similar. But Adam's eyes never managed to truly leave your body, one way or another they were always onto you, always putting you in some sort of unique spotlight.

Three months after first meeting him you were on the way to his apartment, he had invited you over - why you didn't really know, he had simply sent you a text that read ‘Pull up, bitch’. And given the fact that you had nothing better to do for the day, you went.

Arriving at Adam's place was surely something, he was living in that huge flat, of course he was. The first man seemingly only got the best of the best. You snorted as he swung open the golden door that you had just knocked on, he was wearing an oversized band shirt - of his own band, no way that dude would wear any other kind of merch than his own - and a pair of white sweatpants with golden stripes on the sides. His mask was somewhere, it was definitely not covering up his handsome face this time and you thanked God silently for that gift.

“Sup, babes,” he smirked as he stepped aside in order to invite you in. The second you set foot inside his home his eyes decided to never leave your body again.

This time you made the choice to address it, you were low-key sick of dodging the topic even though it was as obvious as it could get. “What’s with the staring, big guy, do I remind ya of your girlfriend?” your lips had curled up into a small yet cocky smirk as you raised an eyebrow at him. The brunette rolled his eyes at that, you knew he had no girlfriend, that well you knew each other at this point. Yet he couldn't deny that you did remind him of Lilith and Eve. “Nah babes, no girlfriend in this guys life, you know it,” he casually hummed as he wrapped an arm around his shoulder to guide you to the living room, “However, your ass reminds me of my ex wife.” You raised your eyebrow even higher, giving him a side eye, “What, you're saying you're staring at my face all day because my ass reminds you of some bitch you were married to?” That didn't really add up to you and you called bullshit on it. It simply made zero sense. But Adam was quick to clarify, a sigh left him before he explained, “No man, what I mean is you remind me of both my first and my second wife. Your face looks so much like Lilith's, in the name of the holy spirit, you could be her fucking twin brother,” he paused a moment, then continued, “And your voice, fuck, it reminds me of Eve’s, it sure sounds fucking deeper, duh kinda obivious, but… it holds the same warmth as hers.”

Now it was for you to stare at him. He had just told you you looked and sounded like two women he had been married to, that you could be their brother - twin brother even. How were you supposed to react to that? Was it even meant as a compliment?

“Well, quick reminder that my name's Y/N Y/L, I'm neither fucking Lilith nor Eve, get that shit inside your head.” Adam raised his hands in defense, “Nah, trust me I know. You look and sound like them but your personality is so fucking different from them, they were whores.” It really didn't surprise you how he talked about them because from what you knew, he wasn't wrong and had every right to be upset. “Good,” you crossed your arms over your chest, “Because if you ever fucking dare to moan their names, I'm fucking out.” It was a joke, clearly, but yet you saw a faint brush on his cheeks.

Oh you would definitely continue to tease him like that.

[chatonarya]

This will probably come across as exceedingly petty, but I'm a little disappointed with some of the word choices in the official EN translation of Keen-Edge, Silver Blade. I think they leave out some small but important nuance to some of the dialogue that is oddly present in the JP translation and seems to capture the spirit of the original CN dialogue better.

Both in CN and JP, Gnosis specifies that Enciodes "was insistent" upon the investment, which adds an extra layer to the whole thing. While it's already implied in chapter 1 when Gnosis snaps at Enciodes for blowing all that money on Degenbrecher, this line further underscores that it was a point of disagreement between them but Enciodes was adamant about it, and Gnosis is now reluctantly admitting that Enciodes was in the right. It also underscores that Enciodes was very firm on his desire to buy Degenbrecher's freedom and bring her aboard.

I also have to raise an eyebrow at Degenbrecher using the word "succor" in such a casual conversation; it doesn't really sound like her. While I appreciate the effort made to have the dialogue throughout the manga sound very Victorian in a real-world sense, that is, reminiscent of that historical time period, this doesn't really mesh well with Degenbrecher's more laidback and casual speech pattern. While I absolutely believe she would use it during the ball itself, right now when it's just the three of them, she should be lapsing into something a bit less florid.

This moment, however, is the most egregious one, because it's so important to the story and spells out part of why Degenbrecher is so loyal to Enciodes.

In CN, he says, "I knew the people I brought [with me] will not let anyone hurt me."

In JP, he says, "I knew those who I brought with me would never let me get hurt."

Yet in EN, he uses a rather more nebulous and modest word: anyone. It makes it sound almost as though he was worried about Viscount Walden or Baron Stuart, when that's not the case.

While it's obvious that he's referring to himself primarily as Degenbrecher is asking him why he made no move to dodge the Baron's sword, and the same sentiment is there, namely that Enciodes trusted her to keep him from harm (and this vagueness and implied meaning is actually likely quite appropriate for the real-world Victorian Era aristocratic manners), it doesn't hit quite the same as him explicitly and earnestly admitting that he placed his life in her hands with total faith... particular as it's this faith that so startles Degenbrecher and wins her over. This is also the final emotional denouement of the story, where Degenbrecher decides to stay with him despite having repaid her debt, and the entire conversation from the point where Gnosis passes out onward is between Enciodes and Degenbrecher discussing the events of the party and emotionally reinforcing their relationship. For him to throw out "anyone" here just feels kind of wrong. It diminishes the sincerity of the moment.

Much like the first comment, I'm not sure why this choice was made, as it seems to detract rather than add to the narrative. He should be saying, "I knew that someone/the person I brought along wouldn't let me come to harm."

[deer-carcasses]

"Great Alastor, altruist, died for his friends"

a deeper look into Alastor's solo part of the final song

The entire soundtrack has been stuck in my head since the show ended, but Alastor's part of the final specifically has been playing on a loop in my brain since I first heard it.

The slow downward pan from the Vee's feeling like they are now finally able to take over the city to the upward pan with Alasto's song starting was a fantastic choice, the contrast in their emotions, in the music, and still it all fit perfectly together.

"This place reeks of death," is such an underrated opening for this song in my eyes. We know Alastor is a cannibal, we've seen him eat a dead deer before, [^1] which would point toward him not having a problem with the smell of death and decay, but he goes out of his way to mention it smells of death. I don't think he truly meant the smell of death in this scene though. He might be talking about the death of his career if he had gotten killed in his fight with Adam. The line "Great Alastor, Altruist, died for his friends" is not him referring to himself as an altruist, it is the headlines he already sees if he truly would have died, seemingly for his friends, for the hotel. The way he follows it up with "Sorry to disappoint, this is not where it ends" shows this. It's him stating how absurd it is, but that this would be the story everyone would be thinking should it have happened. But I also feel like he says it because he knows there's the tiniest of truths behind it. Why did he fight Adam alone? Why did he fight in the first place? For the hotel, for his friends. As much as Alastor hates to admit it, he has gotten closer to the people in the hotel for sure, especially when we look at how he interacts with them all. He seems friendlier, even if it's just for show and to keep up his facade, but he truly does act like he at least cares a little but about them. The look he has while even saying it speaks volumes, he looks truly terrified of the implication that hell could see him as an altruist in this fight.

At first, his smile was an angry snarl, aggression about being humiliated by losing this fight clearly written all over his smile. But then it turns genuinely afraid like he fears the mere concept of being seen as a decent person, not even a good person, just decent enough to fight for the people in the hotel.

He digs his nails into his scalp, dragging his hands down the side of his face, but not at the prospect of dying, but at the idea of what would've come after he had died. [^2] At the idea that all of hell would know he not only died but died for someone else. Before this thought of what other people in hell would think of him, he looked more angry, enraged that Adam even dared be an opponent that Alastor had to run from in order to get out of there alive. His reaction is surprisingly human considering how Alastor normally holds himself. Sure he was alone ignoring the eyes following him around his destroyed radio tower, [^3] There's no one here that he would have to lie to, but he knows better than anyone that you're never truly alone in hell, so it still surprised me how honest he was with the viewers in this moment. It's the most we see of him that doesn't seem to be a character, a facade.

His whole persona is this blatant mask he wears constantly, obvious to everyone who knows him. He even admitted to Charlie that his smile is not real in the slightest. But it works. Every scene where Alastor was talking before his Breakdown Ballad in the finale, I second-guessed every single word that left his mouth. Wondering if it all is a performance. I see a lot of people online with the same thought, looking at everything he says twice, trying to see any hidden meaning, any clue as to what he truly wants to say behind words that, if said by any other character, would've been the least interesting thing ever. And even then, his fake smile keeps in place, even if the actual emotions behind it are clear as day, while alone in his destroyed tower. It might be to fool himself like he fools others, but I think his smile is not able to be dropped, let it be part of his deal or part of his punishment, Alastor will never be seen without his smile. [^4]

Overall i feel like Alastor does care about the Hotel staff and guests to a certain extent. I can't fully trust it, and I'd be less than surprised if I were to be wrong, but there are scenes where he seems too much like he cares.

Moving along on the song, the next lyrics are rather straightforward forward "I'm hungry for freedom like never before. The constraints of my deal surely have a backdoor" circling back to what I mentioned above. His current goal is to escape this deal that is constricting his powers, powers that would most likely have saved him from the injury he sustained. The next and final lines"Once I figure out how to unclip my wings. Guess who will be pulling all the strings?" strongly point towards how he is unable to use his full strength, that his full potential can't be reached while he is still under this deal he made. The thought of Alastor not being at his full potential in his fight with Adam is on some level truly terrifying, a Sinner can reach these kinds of powers in hell that he is able to fight someone like Adam, the first man, someone with approximately the same amount of power Lilith must have? I've just today talked to a friend of one about it. Yes, Alastor lost the fight, but he held up quite well and was a worthy opponent to the point that Adam had to seriously take a second, stop joking around, and concentrate on the fight to get a single hit on Alastor. All of this while Alastor also got a few hits in, not as strong as the ones he had to endure later on, but still. They were hits.

Regardless, in the end, Alastor came very close to dying, and that was for a cause that wasn't just for himself. Seeing what Adam did to the Hotel (or Sir Pentious while we're at it), Alastor has to honestly be glad he even survived that blow directly to his chest. There surely was some plot armor behind this decision, but it's still believable when we trust the theory that Alastor made a deal with someone far more powerful than anyone expects.

This show, and Alastor specifically, has taken over my thoughts completely.

[^1]: in my eyes his being a cannibal points to how he has a need for superiority. To always prove his worth. In his days alive he was a serial killer, a hunter, and now in hell, he has aspects of a deer, a prey animal. The cannibalism is purely to show that he is still on top, that he is superior even to those similar to him, to those that are the same as him. He might have characteristics of a prey animal, but he stays the hunter.

[^2]: this strengthens my theory that Alastor is also afraid of dying whiteout escaping the deal he is currently still bound to. I touch on it in this post a bit more clearly, it's almost at the end of the post.

[^3]: I'd like to link everyone to this post for some thoughts on the eyes in this scene. It's incredibly well written and I couldn't have phrased it better.

[^4]: the closest we ever get to not seeing him, or more part of him, not smiling is shortly before he vanishes from the fight with Adam. His shadow can be seen frowning in the background before quickly correcting itself. It's a blink-and-you-miss-it kind of situation.

[emmys-grimoire]

The Nightbringer, how lesson 9-A tells us everything, and why it’s (probably) not Barb

I’m working on lesson 3 summary, but now that a good portion of the fanbase seems to have gotten through lesson 10, I feel it’s timely to get my thoughts out there ahead of covering lesson 10 because the story will likely continue before I’m done.

And I think a lot of you are ignoring some of the contextual clues.

Don’t read this if you don’t want lesson 8+ spoiled yet.

Ahead of the game releasing, most of the fanbase thought the prologue was a peek into how Barbatos met Solomon because it matched up with the lore in the OG game and Solomon was narrating. There were also other hints that Barb was behind things via promotional media and art. Pair that with his well-known time travel abilities, and it all seems very straightforward and obvious.

We learn in lesson 8, though, that the boy in the prologue video isn’t Solomon -- it’s Adam, and it’s heavily implied that he’s Lilith’s lover.

This fact alone doesn’t actually change much beyond the implied relationship between the Nightbringer and Solomon. It is relevant that Solomon is narrating, though, because they do have a significant relationship.

In lesson 9-A (and the node in lesson 10 that’s a continuation), which I have not gotten to myself yet, Solomon has a telling conversation with the Nightbringer after being confronted with illusions of Diavolo and Simeon meant to test his resolve. They’re squabbling over him, the obvious metaphor for humanity.

Solomon chooses neither, because he believes humanity doesn’t need either demons or angels guiding them. This is meant to mirror a choice he made in the past, as the self-appointed steward of humanity.

And furthermore, back then... the Nightbringer was likely one of the advocates of one of these sides. Furthermore, whatever this agreement he made with the Nightbringer is meant to ensure his “freedom”, even though...

The Nightbringer clearly wanted him to choose one of the presented sides, not neither. So which side was he on? He reveals his hand here, too, if you read into it far enough.

Why on earth would Solomon make this retort if the Nightbringer was actually a demon? If he was a demon, of course he’d be acting like one. It’d be no surprise, and certainly not considered an insult.

We got an angel who acts like a demon. This conversation doesn’t make any sense otherwise.

The Nightbringer is an angel? But that’s CRAZY!

Is it?

Is it really?

There’s one angel in particular who has a similar connection to Solomon as Barbatos, who has also had a significant role in his past: Michael.

We find out in the dream sequence flashback in S3 that Michael was eyeballing Solomon before the Great Celestial War. We know he’s the one who fished us out of that sequence, and warned us that the effect we had on the brothers past selves will carry on into the present (though admittedly this never manifests later). We find out he approached Solomon when he was lost and confused and we know he gave him his Ring of Wisdom, which grants the power to control demons. We find out in Nightbringer that Solomon waged war against the entire Devildom in an effort to leverage his newfound power to better humanity’s position. We learn that war was ultimately inconclusive. At numerous point in the story, Michael is referred to as a “demon in disguise” and a sadist like Lucifer.

We don’t know why Michael would give his very powerful ring to Solomon, but it likely was part of some agreement.

What doesn’t line up with this theory is a lack of motivation. I have no idea why Michael would want us to fling us back to this point of time, after the war. It sounds like he’d want to prevent the war entirely. Adam also meets the Nightbringer in the Devildom, and I can’t see the Devildom allowing Michael to just waltz in and meddle with things, particularly after the Great Celestial War. I’m not sure why they’d let any of them in, but I digress...

The other small details

There’s other small details strewn throughout the story that point to an angel, or at least someone that isn’t Barb.

Adam says he heard trumpets heralding the Nightbringer’s arrival. The king in the prologue also blows a trumpet.

You know what trumpets are associated with? Angels. According to this wikipedia article:

“In Christian Eschatology, all the first six trumpets are used to serve as a wake up call to the sinners on Earth and a call to repentance. Each trumpet blast brings with it a plague of a more disastrous nature than the one before it. The trumpet is used to build anticipation and tells the reader that an alert, announcement, or warning is about to take place. The seventh trumpet does not bring a plague with it. Rather, it is sounded so that glory is given to God and His kingdom is announced.”

There’s a bunch of other biblical associations, too. Barbatos has no trumpet symbolism in any point in the story. His callsign is portals.

Additionally, Barbatos interacts with time via doors.

The Nightbringer sees time as mud, which just might be the liquid swirling around in the Nightbringer trailer.

Who is the king?

The prologue implies that the Nightbringer is summoned via trumpets, and the trumpet is blown by a king. The Barbatos puppeteering art implies it’s a human king, but I’m not so sure.

Understanding who the king is may be instrumental in figuring out who the Nightbringer is. Is it a human king? Is it King Solomon? Is it the Demon King? Is it God? Is it someone completely different? It implies the Nightbringer acts at the behest of someone else, but so far it doesn’t sound like he is right now. And if he’s acting against Solomon, it would be quite problematic if he was tethered to him via a pact like Barbatos clearly is.

My conclusion

It’s either Michael and his motivations are simply more complex than I give him credit for, or it’s another angelic being that has gone rogue without falling somehow. I’m leaning towards the latter, honestly. I’d be really happy if we got a multi-season big bad.

It could still be an alternative timeline Barbatos if Barbatos was once an angel, and this is an angel Barb which has managed to avoid falling and doesn’t have the door motif thing going on. 

This is kind of why I hate time travel shenanigans. You have to account for so many damn possibilities that it gets tiresome having to sort through it all.

[novastarrart]

Banban/Devil Headcanons

Just wanna get my thoughts out there so here goes. It's a lot so, there's your warning lmao

*Note: For simplicity's sake I’ll refer to normal Banban as Uthman and the actual researcher/genome donor as Dr. Uthman*

Banban/Uthman:

All the mascots seem pretty tall so I hc him to be like 6'5"?

His tongue hangs out of his mouth constantly, it was done this way to make him more appealing/cute to kids.

That being said, When he's aware, he can keep his tongue in his mouth, usually to talk. But absentmindedly it just sorta lolls out.

He has a form of body dysphoria, being that he sees himself as a human, even when looking in a mirror.

This is why he hates being called Banban and not by his "true" name Uthman (or Adam if he knows you well enough).

However, he doesn't get too angry if you don't know about all that in the first place. Still, he'll correct you with some annoyance (Like he did with Bittergiggle in part V).

He has some memory problems, due to his own memories mingling with Dr. Uthman’s. Sometimes he’ll forget who another mascot is (Like when he referred to Nabnab as “That thing down there”. Or when Sir Dadadoo first appeared: “Hey is that a friend of yours?”)

The party hats hide his horns, this was partially his choice, and partially the researcher's. They were worried the horns would scare the children, so they decided to hide them with something “fun”. He doesn't mind them though, he wants to look as human as possible.

His voice is very apathetic and monotonous, he doesn't have much control over this, it's just natural at this point. Whether or not his donor, the real Dr. Uthman, spoke like this, I haven't decided on. He definitely has an accent of some sort, which he picked up from Dr. Uthman.

He's actually a lot more emotive than he is in the game! Although he does usually default to that goofy smile

He doesn't really blink! He can close his eyes, and has eyelids, but for some reason he just cannot blink. He does not realize this at all, and it unintentionally  scares others.

Thanks to his donor, he's very intelligent and can actually perform a lot of different surgeries and has a vast knowledge of medicine. He obviously uses this to his advantage to uhh open up victims.

He can consume human food and drinks, but it really doesn’t do anything for him nutritional wise, this is more than likely why he feels consistent pain near his abdomen

Hellish Banban/The Devil:

So comparing the models, bro is taller than regular Banban, so he's probably like 7ft tall

Definitely more muscular and stronger, has better endurance too

VERY FERAL. He relies on pure animalistic instinct in this form, although he is still capable of speech if he needs to speak.

Loses his "human" side and gives in to his more monstrous side. Any human memories are probably just gone at the time.

Speaking of which, If you call him Uthman, he'll probably just laugh and rip you apart. He does answer to Devil/Demon or just Hellish for simplicity's sake.

As said before, this feral side is triggered by adrenaline. Usually triggers when Uthman is about to die or is severely hurt (sorta like a Bruce Banner/Hulk sorta relationship).

His horns grow longer and sharper in this form, as well as his teeth. This is... probably pretty obvious why.

He seems to lose his pupils in this form? Uthman's eyes turn all white when he's turned or about to turn.

And that's an indicator you should start running!

Relies more so on his sense of smell, then his sight to find his prey. I like to think his tongue is like a snake which he uses to pick up scents/vibrations (another reason it hangs out).

He can DEFINITELY smell human's organs/blood/etc.

He can probably also pinpoint if something is medically wrong with their organs too (Diabetic, kidney failure, heart problems, etc.). This would be very useful, however he's not really thinking of helping you right now.

He's a lot tougher and can handle being banged/smashed around (Like that fight with Jumbo Josh). He’s VERY hard to kill.

He'll eat any organ honestly, Pancreases are just his favorite! (Maybe they're sweeter due to them producing insulin? Who knows!)

Still has some intelligence, but this is mostly overridden by adrenaline and instinct to eat and kill others. Overall, he doesn’t think correctly when in this form and will do things that are harmful to himself and others without much thought.

Aaaaand that's about it for now? Let me know what you think if you want!

[taradiddled]

I might end up spoiling this chapter with sneak-peeks, but I genuinely do love sharing snippets.

So, here is a snippet where Ada helps put things into perspective for Lucifer about how he's communicating with Charlie.

--

Heaving all her remaining frustration out in one big sigh, Adam reached out and pulled Lucifer half-way into her lap. Her belly made it a bit difficult to seat him, but Adam managed thanks to Lucifer’s smaller size.

“Okay, goony. No weeping. You didn’t do anything really wrong. You’re just…making some dumb choices." She sighed. "What parent hasn’t done that kind of shit?” She pulled his head towards hers and pressed her lips to the side of his head. Almost instantly, Lucifer’s misery seemed to freeze in place. He leaned into Adam, closing his eyes, soaking in Adam’s touch. Pulling her lips back, Adam took told of Lucifer's chin, turning his head to face hers. His eyes opened, and red eyes once against stared into gold eyes.

“I get that you want to be Charlie’s friend. It’s not a bad thing. But you need to work on being her father first. You can only go up one level at a time, and right now it looks like you’re trying to skip a level.”

Lucifer released a miserable sigh. "I just want us to be able to bond." He put his hands, shaking them. "When we had our Big Talk together months ago, she told me that she appreciates that I'm taking an interest in what she's passionate about. But I'm finding it hard to talk to her without seeing her as that cute little girl who just wanted to spend time with me." He clenched his hands into fists, the expression on his face entirely stuck in uncertainty. "So I thought that, maybe if I talk to her like other kids her age do, then talking with her would be easier."

Huh.

Adam had to admit, Lucifer's thinking (though erroneous) made sense. If Charlie was receptive of Lucifer communicating with her in that manner. Obviously, Charlie was not. Lucifer might have isolated himself for seven years, but his estrangement from Charlie had definitely started long before Lucifer and Lilith's separation. To Adam, Charlie and Lucifer were still in the process of reconnecting, and getting to know each other as they were now, as opposed to who they had been before their estrangement. They were different people. Well, Charlie definitely was a different person, and though Adam hadn't been there when Lucifer and Charlie first reconnected, she could deduce that Lucifer had tried far too hard to appeal to the person Charlie had become in their time apart.

Must have been an absolute shit-show, Adam mused. She could just picture Charlie's unease and uncertainty, and though Charlie and Adam weren't close, Adam had already witnessed how Charlie seemed to struggle-buggle her way through awkward situations. Adam had seen that strained smile, the tense shoulders, and the underlying hesitance and borderline reluctance. But where Adam would have said "fuck this" and bowled her way through if she were in Charlie's place, not caring how the other person in the situation felt, Charlie seemed to not want to cause any hurt feelings. Even if her own feelings were inevitably in forfeit.

Lucifer probably didn't see how his obvert, awkward attempts to connect with Charlie were actually making Charlie uncomfortable. Though it was obvious to Adam, Lucifer had never really been able to see take in the full scope of a situation, when he was setting his entire attention on something. He'd been like that since Eden, when his desire for Lilith had caused him to push Adam to the side, and even ignore Adam's own feelings. He'd been like that when he'd wanted Adam to join his and Lilith's campaign for Free Will, believing that everything would be all right in the end if he could just get Adam to see things how Lucifer saw them.

It was selfish thinking, but it was also...so human.

In Eden, Lilith had been encouraging Lucifer's behavior, so of course he hadn't seen how what he'd been doing was never going to be acceptable, even IF it could have produced the results Lucifer wanted. However, now, unlike Eden, Lucifer had Adam to give him a second point of view. To help Lucifer step back, take a second, third, fourth look, and see the things that Lucifer was missing.

Adam stretched her tail out to wrap about Lucifer's waist, giving him an affectionate squeeze. "She doesn't need you to change yourself, Lucifer. Just talk to her like you would anyone else. Don't baby her. Don't try to be a Cool Dad. Just be yourself. That's the person she is getting to know again, just like you're getting to know the person she is now."

She'd had to learn this her own way, when she'd first reunited with her children in Heaven. Things had changed so much since she'd last seen them on Earth, and they'd also grown even more after Adam had died. Adam had to relearn how to communicate with her family, and adjust how she interacted with them. Shared interests had changed, and Adam learned a thousand new, wonderful things about her family, and came to appreciate them all the same. It'd taken time and effort (as most things do) but it'd made Adam so happy to be able to be with her family and know them again.

Her heart ached as she remembered that they were still in Heaven, most likely still unaware of Adam's true fate.

It's for the better that they don't know, Adam told herself, sucking back her dour emotions of longing. If Michael suspected that they knew anything, he wouldn't hesitate to hold them against me. Or worse. Adam wouldn't put it past Michael to consider Adam's family as acceptable collateral if it ultimately helped him achieve the results he wanted.

Her worry must have been apparent, because she felt Lucifer wrap his own tail about her torso, and his hands gently holding her face. When she focused back on him, his eyes were looking into her own, filled with concern.

"Are you okay, Ada?" he asked, voice soft and gentle.

[lured-into-wonderland]

Continues from [x] with @asinusxdomi

“I don’t make friends with this kind of journalists…if you can even call them that…And I was hardly of any interests to them…so far” – until you appeared. Her voice was calm and cold; but there was a clear hint of contempt in it. All her life she tried to protect her privacy as much as she could; with her father being involved in politics, it was a difficult task. But Nunnally usually managed pretty well, trying to appear as boring as she could. Klaus’s accusations were ridiculous, but she was not to cause commotion in this building. With all these people around. Though he'd surely like that. That's why he's provoking her.

“Do I appear to be laughing?” – that was a rhetoric question, but obviously the man in front of her believed in his own delusions. Or perhaps he was playing some sort of a game with her. Pretending to be a victim? How ridiculous!

“Yes, this is exactly why I did that…” – Nunnally complied immediately with his idiotic statements; her voice dripping with irony – “Oh, wait…why should I care…? Would you mind explaining it to me… I remember you were so good in telling me what I should think and feel…”

A pause, when she sharply breathed some air. Her irritation was growing.

“Oh, well so full of yourself as usual, aren’t you?” – she said that in a quiet, almost tired voice – “Don’t flatter yourself. The only person that has anything to gain about this whole situation is you. Are you trying to get your fame back? Have you grown bored of being a high school teacher and decided to take your chance? Or did you and that man at the cashier actually frame me?”

She turned away and looked through the window. There was already a pretty big crowd around her car. She should have come by taxi, but if she was to be photographed, it might have tuned out even worse. But Klaus’s last words made a quick thought run through her mind that perhaps he didn’t do it, either. But since he was rude (he was actually rude almost all the time since they had met), she decided to ignore it for the time being. Instead Nunnally shrugged her shoulders: --

“Grow up yourself. I am not going to put myself into any further mess because it would serve you well. I can already see you in the spotlight talking how poorly I treated you…”

But she didn’t really have any plan. Coming here, she hoped she could convince him to leave her alone. That they could make a reasonable plan to deal with the situation. But it seemed he was adamant on using her to gain back public attention. And that was the last thing she wanted.

“Why me?” – she suddenly asked? She was sure there were more women that would serve his cause better. Or perhaps that was precisely his choice, because she was not obvious? And therefore more probable? No-one would accuse her for having this romance for publicity. And then it would also make him safe. And she was warned so many times not to trust people.

[applecherry108]

Your Cherub choices for the Deadly Sins are interesting, would you mind explaining who is who? Some are obvious but for others it is confusing.

Totally!

A bit of preface: I based these cherub designs on the forms Lucifer took during his fight with Adam, so I was limited by that. Also, I’m obsessed with the rings of hell being color coded, so they’re also color coded lmao

(also what a great excuse to post the cherubs individually. Thanks!)

Satan: Sin of Wrath, Virtue of Patience

Since we haven’t seen Satan yet, he’s a bit of a wild guess, but of the forms I had to choose from, I thought Horse fit him best. We know the Wrath Ring has a western/cowboy aesthetic, and we’ve heard Bee say he’s hot without a shirt on, which made me think of the phrase “hung like a horse.” 😅 Plus, I think horses are a great representation of the dichotomy of wrath/patience—it takes a lot of patience to keep one calm, and they can do a lot of damage when riled up.

Also, the icon for his app we’ve see kinda looks like a horse skull, so here’s that next to Bombproof as a comparison:

(side note: for no other reason than Because I Can, I gave him the coat colors of Epona. Because orange. 😂😂)

Beelzebub: Sin of Gluttony, Virtue of Temperance

Only at this moment do I realize Lucifer never took the form of a bee, but because we’ve seen multiple bee cherubs before it felt like a no-brainer. 😭😅 I made her the smallest of the cherubs because, as Temperance, I felt she should be the smallest/least of the virtues. I also headcanon that she’s the largest of all the sins physically, because why shouldn’t gluttony get to take up the most space lol. Also, while trying to adapt her more canine features into a bee cherub, I realized her shirt as a sin looks a bit like a bib as a cherub and I thought that was cute. :>

Mammon: Sin of Greed, Virtue of Charity

I know there’s a ton of debate about what Mammon’s true demon for is (whether of not he’s a spider), but personally I think he’s a centipede. Also, apparently some male centipedes can spin a web, which is cool. But as a visual metaphor, I think snake fits him really well. What better representation of charity than a creature that has no hands to hold on to things? And I would consider (within hellaverse lore), Lucifer giving Eve the apple an act of charity. Also, once banished to Hell, he’d sprout arms with which to grab lol.

I would also like to point out that I think his design is partially based on the sandworm from Beetlejuice, as a nod/inside joke to Fizz’s voice actor playing the broadway version of the character.

(Sources: https://www.deviantart.com/highvoltage-art/art/Sandworm-Beetlejuice-891922450 and https://sinnawii.tumblr.com/post/732544584927870976/caught-trapped-in-his-web )

Asmodeus: Sin of Lust, Virtue of Chastity

Alright alright—I know Ozzie’s extra heads are *technically* a ram and a bull, but I chose to base him on a goat. They’re all hooved animals. So…tomato, tomato. 😅 I also sorta liked the idea of “chastity” being a sort of “completeness” in heaven, which is why he has both sets of horns (like demon goats are sometimes depicted as). I imagine once fallen, there’d be a sort of…splitting, or ripping effect, creating the torn face in between, forever separating the two sides and creating the desire to “reconnect” them. (Yes I think Ozzie has every bit. All the bits. It’d seem silly not to lol)

Leviathan: Sin of Envy, Virtue of Kindness

Given that we’ve never seen Leviathan, and the Von Eldritch family is probably not Leviathan, I have very little to go on other than: a) ocean. octopus. b) virtue of kindness = many arms to hug with. 😅

(I’m really hoping Levi ends up being Cthulhu. Just. A Captain Davy Jones mf with an octopus for a head lmao)

Belphegor: Sin of Sloth, Virtue of Diligence

SHE’S A NIGHTINGALE. GET IT? FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE, FIRST LADY OF NURSING? BUT BIRD? 😂😂

Aight, but for real, I think it’s either confirmed or heavily implied that the baphotmet hellborn (the goats w candles on their heads) are native to Sloth, and I think that’s a really funny pun about “burning the candle at both ends” as a representation of Diligence morphing into a melting candle with excessive wax buildup. That sounds random, but I originally intended to draw Bel with a candle. But that…clearly didn’t happen. But I felt it was important to know. 😅 Also I envision cherub Bel was being that hyped up on caffeine, doesn’t sleep more than 2 hours, assistant that’s always on top of everything. The divine scheduler of heaven. 😂 And once fallen, her scheduling scroll burns to ash and she can finally relax. 😌

All in all,

I had in mind that all the cherubs actually enjoyed becoming demons, that they were finally able to shake off the constrictive and stifling demands of heaven and just get to be themselves. We’ve already seen that becoming demons didn’t make all of them shitty people (or at least, there was probably a learning curve that some/most of them conquered), because most cardinal sins on their own aren’t inherently selfish. Mammon almost by definition is selfish, which is why he sucks so much, and based on the pre-series lore Viv has mentioned about the Von Eldritch family, I think Leviathan is going to be a shitty or at least very toxic person, but I think Satan is going to have similar character traits as Tom from svtfoe. Like he has a short fuse, but he also does the workout app, so he’s clearly trying to channel that rage into constructive outlets lol.

[basingstokemercury]

Thought experiment for when you need to clean out your brain:

Those Bonanza Boys playing DnD. What sorts of characters do they build? What are their play styles? Who DMs? Who should ABSOLUTELY NOT ever DM again?

This should be fun! Let's see...

Ben isn't too keen on the idea at first, but the boys convince him they need another player and he warms up to it. My own character based on him is a dwarf druid, and I think that's likely close to what he'd play; a cleric or maybe paladin, with personality and motivations similar to his own. I think of dwarven characters' connection to the earth as including land and therefore agriculture, so my reasoning for choosing the race might not make sense to others but it's become inextricable in my mind at this point. In play, he also tries to assume the role of the sensible, protective one - to his sons' annoyance at times, as they do enjoy some chaos to varying degrees. Of course, that just makes it more fun when he does pull a wacky but successful gambit. Which he definitely does every so often.

Adam... Well, Adam is a paladin. He just is. But he's playing a game here, and I'm not a loyal soldier, cagey spy, or percipient cowgirl, am I? He'd probably be drawn to the artificer class: the most complicated to play, and the one based around engineering and mechanics (except for the alchemist subclass). It's also the only official class not in the PHB, so he gets to buy more sourcebooks and be extra nerdy. I think I get high elf vibes from him? In play, he's all about the puzzles and strategy. I tend to zip through puzzles while the other players are still putting things together (my area of skill, of course we have all kinds of playstyles at the table), and I imagine Adam would be the same. He's solved the riddle, but Joe already burst in with a wild guess and set the trap off (again true story, why table communication is important). Oh well, time to show the kids how it's done. He never trusts NPCs. Just as a matter of course. Insight checks everywhere and a Wisdom score far higher than his class really needs. It doesn't particularly matter because the others keep walking into ambushes anyway. And, of course, he loves figuring out sneaky ways to cause trouble for the rest of the party when there's nothing serious at stake.

Druid feels like the obvious choice for Hoss (horse Wild Shape, anyone?), but I'll go creative and say bard could be his thing too. He could have fun as a centaur for the bit, or just plain human and rely on other things to make his character distinctive. He doesn't really have a specific style of play aside from trying to keep the group good-aligned (JOSEPH FRANCIS CARTWRIGHT, ARSON IS NOT THE ANSWER), preferring to go with however things are progressing and have as much fun as possible along the way.

Joe is a rogue. Specifically Arcane Trickster, for maximum troublemaking potential.

Adam: You should be a halfling. Joe: Why? Adam: Well, it just seems to make sense, Little Joe. Joe: I'm 5'9! If you guys were normal height- Hoss: Yeah. He's puny. Joe: Just for that, I'll play a goliath.

(I'm 5'1 playing a 6'5 yuan-ti. Height envy is not fun.) As a player, Joe is chaos incarnate, stopped only by the DM forcing consequences on him and other players getting fed up. He'll find the most creative solutions in combat, somehow bypass puzzles without anyone being quite sure how, and flirt with every remotely interesting/interested NPC. Yes, including the very obvious femme fatale who the DM never expected anyone to actually trust.

As for DMing... I think Ben wouldn't be interested, finding it enough work to wrangle his sons in the real world. Adam is a meticulous planner, setting up intricate traps and fights that require perfect use of environment and abilities for top performance. He keeps making attractive young woman NPCs who are definitely up to no good, just to see if Joe keeps falling for it (he does. nobody's sure if he's doing a bit or really that naive.). Where he struggles is when things go off-script, dealing with improvisation and players who mess around for the sake of it. Which means that while I'd love to have him as a DM, his style ends up just not suiting the rest of the group. Hoss is the best DM. Five stars, knows how to set up a story and keep it flexible enough for player agency. He misses being on the player side though. Joe comes up with just about everything half an hour before the session, turning up with a page of half-developed ideas and adapting them on the fly. He does it fairly well, but it's a hard thing to keep up. After a few weeks of "PLEASE JUST PLAN YOUR CAMPAIGN AHEAD OF TIME YOU'RE MAKING IT HARDER ON YOURSELF", they mutually agree that maybe it's not the best role for him.

[kikokus]

Sanji Since the Time-Skip, Part Eight (Chapters 810-813)

…So it’s been almost nine years. I’ve recently gotten back into One Piece and am caught up with the manga again, and since I’ve had some requests to continue this series (and there’s obviously been a lot of Sanji content in that time!) I thought I might as well go and do that!

This covers the few chapters of Zou but there’s actually a lot of great Sanji character moments within those four chapters so it seemed to make sense to keep it as its own section. As before, standard disclaimers apply.

[Part One] // [Part Two] // [Part Three] // [Part Four] // [Part Five] // [Part Six] // [Part Seven]

Let’s see if I still remember how to do this...

So not only does everyone seemingly accept that Sanji’s the obvious choice to fill the position of captain in Luffy’s absence, there’s actually an entire chapter named after ‘his’ crew which really emphasizes the point that we’re supposed to look at him as taking that leadership role for the time being.

And, because of that, most of the examples in this part have something to do with Sanji stepping into said leadership role, and that starts here once they can clearly see the city’s been destroyed and Sanji’s first reaction is to leave the others behind where it’s at least relatively safe and go off by himself to make sure he doesn’t put them in any danger.

Chopper threatens Caesar a lot during this part as well but with Sanji here you can tell how much emotion there is behind his words and how angry he is because at this point it’s not even a request anymore, it’s just an order. I really do like how this is set up because the reveal with Sanji’s new wanted poster being ‘only alive’ is before this, but there’s really no other indication as to what that means and once you find out more about his birth family it makes sense why he’s able to take charge as easily as he does. 

But for as emotional as he’d been with Caesar, he recovers very quickly here and is the only one to point out that they shouldn’t let their guards down just because it seems like the enemy's gone. Caesar also tries to deter him from deciding to help the Minks by painting them as hostile towards humans and really, all Sanji has to go on right now is Law’s word that his crew is there so he has to make a decision on the spot as to whether trying to save them is a good idea.

Sanji being observant is nothing new but at least in this case we really don’t see what Wanda’s holding until he warns Nami so it’s revealing it to us as readers, too.

I like that this is stated so plainly because the last time we saw Sanji he was very adamant about escaping with Caesar and not letting Big Mom get her hands on him since that was the promise he made to Law, but now that Doflamingo’s been taken care of he sees that as going along with the fulfillment of said promise. He’s also obviously weighing the option of whether or not Caesar’s worth all of the potential trouble both to his crew and to the Minks (and being snarky while doing it, which I always appreciate.)

Though I think he quickly realizes that it’s not quite that simple as just handing Caesar over and being left in peace, and I feel like by this point it’s probably hard to keep track of all the people Luffy’s picked a fight with but Big Mom’s obviously a significant one and Sanji’s not ignoring that.

This is about the most authoritative we see him when it comes to giving orders and it’s very brusque while also keeping Nami and Chopper safe and shutting down any sort of wild ideas Caesar might have. The focus on the panel of him looking down at Bege and giving that little cocky nod is also some pretty great foreshadowing but has another purpose in showing us how easily he can slip into that sort of role when it’s needed.

Sanji doesn’t really have to say this because conceivably this negotiation doesn’t involve the Minks outside of Pekoms being there but once again it speaks to his inherent kindness that he doesn’t want to cause them any more trouble after what they’ve already been through.

This is more just about how well Sanji knows Luffy and knows that he would never agree to becoming a subordinate of one of the Yonko, but at this point I think he’s still trying to find a way for all of them (except Caesar) to get out of there safely. It’s also interesting that earlier we get Brook talking about vaguely about the Vinsmoke family and Nami remembering that Sanji had told them before he was born in the North Blue so it wasn’t as if he was afraid to share that part of his past, but that was as much as he was willing to divulge.

Sanji’s expressions in this chapter are so telling, and I think it’s very effective considering that we don’t know exactly what’s happening but we can tell from his reactions how serious it is and because he’s not saying anything one way or the other that’s all we have to go on. But this is where it turns from him wanting to escape with everyone to him realizing that, now that he’s been told Zeff’s in danger, that’s no longer an option and it’s more about getting the others out instead. There’s a panel directly after where he lights a cigarette which is a very classic ‘I need some time to think’ move from him as well.

That little sad smile says so much…he’s accepted his fate and is saying goodbye in the only way he knows how, and I think he’s being honest here: he never intended to hide anything because, for him, he’s left that part of his past behind and cut all ties with his family so he didn’t consider it a factor or something to dwell on but now circumstances have made it impossible to ignore.

His dialogue goes with what I was saying earlier but I really put this here because it shows him using Observation Haki again and while he can’t say for sure that it’s the Minks, he knows they’re likely the most powerful beings left on the island and he’s willing to take that chance if it means getting the others to safety. I’ll also point out that through this entire section he never even tries to frame it as just ‘getting Nami out’; he wants all of them out of there and goes so far as to hug them (even if it’s with the excuse of making it easier to toss them all out at once).

Sanji’s definitely taking a chance here but even with the little he’s been told about the current situation it’s one he can afford to take because it’s not as if he doesn’t know what Judge is like and he can already infer that Big Mom has some sort of use for Caesar so threatening him is about the easiest way to make his point and gain the upper hand for just long enough to do what he needs to.

And I think Sanji’s also banking on Bege being smart enough to realize that, too (which he does) so while there was a lot that could have gone wrong he’s managed to accomplish his goal of making sure the rest of the crew is safe. If you look closely at some of the panels in this section there’s these little double curved lines around Sanji which are usually an indication of trembling/shivering but even though he’s obviously emotional he’s still holding it together enough to at least make it seem like he’s in control.

I’ve seen some comments that after so long Sanji should know the crew would back him up regardless of what trouble he’s in but Sanji’s nothing if not consistently self-sacrificial and this time, because it’s dealing with a part of his life that’s existed since long before he met any of them, I think he truly does see it as something he needs to do on his own. His smile still hurts me, though.

…And that’s the end of this section! That…probably went on longer than it needed to but I guess it proves that almost a decade later I still have a lot to say about Sanji so please feel free to like/reblog if you found this interesting at all and we’ll…see about working on the next part…