#also man. killer backstories have gotten LONG

[freddy-oppression-squad]

Alright folks it's been awhile so it's time for part 2 of the Killer Vibes Chart,

I'll be honest I have not kept up with the game in a while so I had 2 do a lot of research for this and I am open 2 discussion on some of the newer ones

As always, obligatory disclaimer that I'm not claiming 2 be a fuckin. Ethical authority or some shit this is all just 4 fun

(Putting more notes under the readmore if ur curious)

I think the categories are pretty self explanatory but I'll add a bit of detail;

"Did nothing wrong" means just that, they were total victims and didn't hurt anyone unless they were already totally fucked and deserved a little murder as a treat

"Not Fully Accountable" means they DID maybe do a little murder, but I think their circumstances were complicated enough that you can't really judge them for it

"Cool Motive, Still Murder" means they did some shit and they DID have an understandable reason, but they weren't Fully justified

"Just A Dick" I made specifically for Legion bc like. Yea Frank was an asshole and they didn't have a good motive but like, they only killed One guy and. Yknow compared to some of the other guys here? Not That Bad, Really. Plus they were all like. Teens. So,

"Evil but Girlbossing" and "Evil but NOT Girlbossing" are mostly the same, meaning they did horrible things that were not justified. The main difference being that some of them were simply Serving. I will not elaborate further.

"Choke." is a special lil corner for the motherfuckers here that Actively Repulse me <3 (keeping in mind that this is 2010 remake Freddy, not og)

Finally, "Literally just a Creacher" is for the lil guys on this list that were never really human and reasonably can't be judged on a moral basis. Like bro that is just a Beast. What do u expect they r Simply Chilling

And lastly some notes on certain rankings that I have more to say about;

I was a bit unsure abt where to put Sadako, specifically if she was Did Nothing Wrong or Not Fully Accountable. I decided on the second one bc she does have special circumstances but. She did just straight up kill a dude for pretty much no reason before anything really happened to her, so,

Similarly, I was also torn about putting Cenobite in Creacher or Girlboss. I'm not fully certain bc I havent gotten into Hellraiser just yet so Im not fully versed on the Lore, but from what I do understand, he's an inter dimensional thing that doesn't have any human concept of morals so. I think that wld put him in the same realm as the Creachers

[void-occupation]

hi! I'm trying to get other peoples opinion on this-

what do you think alastors human life was like?

sorry it took me so long to answer this one, I've been busy lol

are we talking about what I think for canon, or the headcanon backstory that exists purely for angst? Because those are two veeery different answers lol. I'll just answer the canon opinion, and maybe do another part about my headcanon if anyone's interested

As far as I know, it's been confirmed that Alastor's mother was colored, and at least hinted that she practiced voodoo. I think that his father is also confirmed to be white, and I know we're all pretty sure by now that he was abusive. We know Alastor likely became a radio host, and was a serial killer (obviously lol) who hung around Mimzy frequently enough. For simplicity's sake, I'll say that Alastor was born in the year 1900, making him 33 when he died

Now, for the speculation. I feel like his parents only married when his mother got pregnant, which resulted in her being outcasted from the Vodun community. I believe she still would have taught her beliefs to Alastor, which probably angered his father, who was most likely Catholic based on the most popular religions in the area at the time. I don't know if it would be ore likely that Alastor's father killed his mother and Alastor killed him because of it, or if Alastor killed his father because of the abuse and lived with his mother until she died of illness. Either way, his father ends up out of the picture. For this, I'll say that his mother lived.

Something I don't usually see people take into account is that the US got officially involved in WW1 in 1917, and started drafting 18yo boys in 1918 - ironically enough when Alastor was 18. The law that prevents "the only surviving son" from being drafted wasn't even thought of until 1964, so Alastor wouldn't have been spared from the draft. I believe draft contracts were about 2 years long, so unless he was injured, Alastor would have spent about that much time in combat. He likely had PTSD from that, but they didn't know what that was at the time, so it would have gone untreated.

He gets home when he's 20ish, and eventually becomes a radio host, befriending Mimzy in the process, but he struggles when he comes home. Nothing seems to alleviate the awful feeling building in him since he came back, and then his mother dies. He snaps. Based on that pre-canon comic, Alastor typically targets predators/abusers ("I do hate those who can't show a little more respect towards those of fairer means"), which makes it pretty ironic (or purposeful) that his name literally means "Avenger".

He hears a woman screaming late at night on his way home, and sees a man cornering her in an alley. Maybe the screams remind him of his mother, or the things he saw overseas, or maybe he's just angry, but he picks something up and bludgeons the man to death. Later, he can't stop thinking about how good it felt to end such a miserable creature, so he does it again. And again. Until eventually, he's killed dozens of men just like his father, and he's reporting his own murders on a news broadcast for the police.

I like to think he didn't practice cannibalism until he got to hell. But if he did practice while alive, it probably would have been during the Great Depression. Times have gotten hard, and while he still has his job, money is tight, and it would be so much easier if he just took a cut or two from the man he just murdered.

However, he still has to dispose of the less edible bits (clothes, hair, bones, etc), and he does so in the bayou behind his house. One day though, there was a hunter who for some reason thought he was a deer. Barking Alerts Alastor of his presence, and he takes off, dogs close behind and baying loudly. Then a gunshot cracks through the air, and Alastor feels a split second pain in his head before collapsing to the ground. The bullet somehow didn't kill him, but it did paralyze him, so there's nothing Alastor can do to fight when the dogs eventually begin tearing into him. In the end, it was the blood loss that killed him as he was mauled, and it seemed like an eternity before he finally succumbed to that. (this is what breeds Alastor's severe dislike (read: fear) of dogs

this is pretty rough, but I figured I'd probably better just get it all out at once lol. Let me know what you think!!

[mushroommanstan]

university!au please!! infamous!shiggy with average s/o 🤼‍♀️ pls i

Oh anon, how did you know I’ve been wanting to write a college au Shig for a while? You must be psychic or something, very impressive!

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Creepy Tenko Part One:

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Anyways, I know you want the smut and shit but there’s a few things about Tenko that make him so infamous.

First off, his backstory. Basically, he was kidnapped by AFO as usual, but he was rescued by heroes this time a few months after. Unfortunately, a lot of damage had already been done.

The heroes were embarrassed as hell that they took so long to save him, and as a publicity act, paid to put him through elementary school, middle school, high school and hell even college. The big package.

Because of that, his entry was guaranteed since he was like 6. Obviously, this is gonna turn some heads.

Now this guy was infamous around campus for many reasons. For starters, growing up murdering his family and spending a summer with your local serial killer is gonna be the headline of his life. Everyone knows about that, and he doesn’t even deny it.

Also, because of that experience he has major ptsd and schizophrenia, causing a few tiny violent outbursts throughout his childhood. But it’s fine, he’s medicated now… most of the time.

He’s also very aloof, not talking to anyone if he can help it. He’s used to bullying, and at this point has pretty much given up making any friends. He’s so used to people being scared of him, just like his old master said, that he kind of embraces it, not even trying to hide when he stares at people for hours on end.

Oh yeah, and the stares. This guys got a dark ass aura. His blazing red eyes burn a hole in the back of the women he stares at. He’s a smart guy, he doesn’t need to pay attention to the whole lesson to get the gist. So lucky him, he can spend the rest of the class period staring at some chick while discreetly touching himself under the desk. Make eye contact with him if you dare.

The thing that completely tanked his reputation however, was when one guy got pissed at him for making goo-goo eyes at his girlfriend all day. He stopped him on his way to his dorm, punching him which made him stumble.

Something flew out of his hoodie pocket, and the man picked it up, students gathering around as he faced poor Tenko.

Tenko looked mortified, tears gathering in his eyes, but he wasn’t looking at his attacker. He was looking at his stolen object. The assailant hadn’t gotten a good look at what he was holding, and by the look on the freaks face it meant something to him.

The other students who gathered around screamed, some running to hurl in the nearby trash cans. When he finally looked at what he was holding it took him a good second to figure out what it was.

It was cold and grey. Fleshy with a golden back and… fingernails. Wait… was that… oh my god.

He yelled throwing the detached hand into the air, Tenko diving to catch it. He could feel himself losing control, his old senseis voice overtaking his brain and making his whole body shiver. He-he needed to calm down.

Tenko rose, pressing the cool hand into his face as he took deep breaths. He stopped trembling, and for a second, even with the screaming and yelling and trampling, everything was calm.

Obviously he got in trouble for having a murder scene victim’s body part in his possession, but Tenko knew from experience that no matter whatever bullshit they tried to scare him with, they couldn’t expel him.

He was like a mascot for the heroes’s new scholarship program. No way they would let him get expelled just because he kept a memento of his lost family. So, like always they payed them off. But the students remembered, and the guy who held the disembodied hand needed therapy.

So, not only was he a creep who got off to pictures of feet in the bathroom during homeroom, he also was a creep who kept a souvenir of his first murder victim with him at all times. Weird weird weird.

And then you came along.

He didn’t think much of you, that was, until you decided to sit down in one of multiple empty seats bordering his desk. No one ever sits this close.

Well… he had to admit… you were pretty. With your silky (h/c) hair, and your brilliant eyes, and your juicy, plump…. Eh-hum, personality.

He couldn’t stop himself from staring, not like he tried. You’ll learn soon enough that he’s a creep, and then he’ll be alone again. Yep. All on his own. Terrific.

His eyes bore into you, not just in one place but all over. Scanning over your body and memorizing every detail. From this close he could truly see how smooth and soft your skin was. And he could smell your perfume. What was that, lilac?

“Oh, do you like the perfume? I just got it! It’s lilac!”

Shit. You must have a mind reading quirk. He could feel his face growing bright red at the idea of you seeing the foul things he imagined in the last minute or so.

Truthfully you only knew because you could hear him sniffing the air like a puppy exploring a grassy field for the first time.

As the class went on you looked at him occasionally, not flinching whatsoever at the intense eye contact he returned. You had to admit… he was pretty cute. With eyes like those he should be the center of attention yet here he is sulking in the back of the class. Well, whatever, not your business.

The professor droned on about who knows what, making the both of you slump over your desks with boredom. You were praying for an oasis in the midst of this dry, dull desert of a classroom, when you heard a familiar sound.

Beep-boop, boop bleep!

You could recognize that sound anywhere! That was… that was…

You had to stop yourself from slamming your hands on the table in shock. The cute guy sitting next to you was playing the limited edition “Super Hero Adventure Deluxe” for the gameboy advance. (Not an actual game I think)

Aka, the only game in the Super Hero Adventure franchise you had yet to play. The one you had scoured EBay for forever. Holy shit, marry me!

You couldn’t help yourself, despite not knowing this guy in the slightest you pressed yourself into his shoulder, scaring the shit out of him and causing almost everyone to stop and look at you. You looked down at the pixelated screen, currently being death gripped by gloved hands as your cheek smushed against his fluffy black hair.

Tenko could feel his body shutting down from the inside. The sudden physical contact, the fact it was from a hot girl, and the realization she had an interest in his favorite game was all too much. Everyone watched as he pushed you away, screaming at you to stay away from him with some fairly colorful language.

Your expression darkened, and you grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. Having used to people tucking in their tail, he had to say he was not at all prepared for this. He didn’t actually want to fight you, he just wanted you to back off! … don’t make him fight you, you’re the first girl to touch him in years.

You both held intense eye contact for what felt like forever, but in reality was for only a second.

“You do not talk to me like that. Understand?”

Oh boy. Oh-ho-ho BOY you were awakening something in him he didn’t know he had. His face turned tomato red and his ire-filled glare turned into a soft gaze filled with child-like wonder. Not being able to speak he shakily nodded, hand raising up to feel along the one gripping his shirt. His fluffy hair bounced a little as he nodded.

You let go, returning to your seat with a huff and turned your head, and you were met with the utterly shocked faces of your classmates. They looked at you like you had just slain a dragon.

Meanwhile Tenko said nothing, face still completely red as his foggy mind spent the rest of class processing these new feelings that came up. The way you touched him, the way you scolded him! It was so… mean. So entitled. So dominant.

He wants more.

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Believe me, I will be doing a part two! Thanks again for the ask, it finally gave me the kick in the pants I needed to write this!

[anotherrosesthatfell]

killermare first made - written by HP (my writing partner 💀)

[Note: this is unfortunately canon... Why do I even gave him the job to write backstories...]

Nightmare will be called by the name of Alphonse in here while Killer is Amaris.

Also, this is a short one, the full version is on wattpad but I am not sure if I really want to make this canon and publish it... 🗿

It's black, everything is black for Alphonse.

How long has it been since the wars ended? How long has it been since he killed everyone.

Alphonse got up from his king sized bed, if he were still himself, he will be so grateful everyday but now?

He just want to die and meet his family again. Can he even reunite with his family?

No.. His family are in heaven. If he die, he'll go to hell.. He deserves it.

Alphonse was never a man of religion after knowing her deceased wife done witchcraft. He used too because he devoted himself to the empire he served long time ago as a knight.

Now look at him, a sad pathetic king who can't even get himself together.

Alphonse get up and looks at the mirror. He changed so much... He was kind and caring but now he is nothing but an ugly monster.

"... I need to get out." he whispered to himself.

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

The outside was loud, it was a proof that he stay in too long.

He has magic now, he can travel across the world with just using magic. He didn't get a good control of it at first but after years, he manages too.

Alphonse walks around the place, it was full of trees and happy children are playing.

That two words reminds him a lot of the past.

"shit..." Alphonse sighed to himself. 'Maybe this is a bad idea, I should go to more depressing place—' "huh—?"

A girl suddenly stumbled upon him which made him startled. He didn't fall but the girl did.

Alphonse panicked and turn around to ask if the girl alright. Yet as soon as he did that, he was stunned by the girl appearance.

"U-Uhm, maaf tuan! {{U-Uhm sorry mister!}}" The girl apologized as she got up by herself.

White hair, palest skin that he ever know and two pair of black eyes. She looks exactly like his deceased wife when she was younger.

"Fiona...?" he mutters under his breath.

He was shocked indeed, part of him want to hug her so badly.

Just then, a slightly older man ran towards Fiona. Alphonse immediately fled from the scene while still panicking, he hides using his shape-shifting quirk.

"Amaris, jangan pernah lari seperti itu lagi! {{Amaris, don't ever run like that again!}}" Yelled his brother, "You have no idea how upset the doctors are right now..."

"T-Tapi Kakak, mereka akan menembakku dengan jarum lagi! {{B-But Brother, they're going to shot me with needles again!}}" she pouted. "Aku benci itu! {{!I hate that!}}"

"ini demi kebaikanmu sendiri, Amaris... ayo pergi sebelum mereka memutuskan untuk mengganti dosismu lagi. {{It's for your own good, Amaris... Let's just go before they decide to change your dose again.}}" said her brother.

Amaris frowned but she gave up in the end. She wanted to play with those kids, if she didn't stumbled on the eerie man, she would've gotten away.

Talking about Alphonse, she wonders where did he went.

"kakak, ada seorang pria menakutkan dengan penampilan berlendir {{Brother, there was a man with scary with slimy appearance.}}" she said

"apakah kamu berhalusinasi lagi, Amaris? {{Are you hallucinating again, Amaris?}}" he sighed. "tolong jangan katakan itu pada doktermu {{Please don't tell that to your doctors.}}"

Amaris's brother didn't find any concerns behind her words. They left and went back to the mental hospital.

Alphonse was still there, he stop hiding as he tried to keep his calm. No kidding, he is still surprised to see someone who look so much like his wife. As if his wife were reincarnated as Amaris.

"Amaris huh... ..." Alphonse smirked to himself as he feels his darker self is telling him horrible things he should do to get Amaris in his hand.

Alphonse snapped from his thoughts as he get himself back.

'This isn't right, she's not even Fiona and she seems like around my late daughter age...' Alphonse is trying to stay sane but it's hard to do so.

‘’then just wait for a few years, she'll be all yours once again.”

There's it again. The one who keep talking to him after those pass years, it was the consequences for committing treason and ate the forbidden apples.

"Oh God.." Alphonse hates these kind of conversations.

‘’God can't save you, this is your fate... Now you must do whatever you desire...!‘’

"Well my desire is just for you to go away!" Alphonse yelled as he covered his ears. He don't want to listen this horrid thoughts.

“WRONG. That's not your desires at all!”

"I am loyal to my wife bastard... This is just so wrong." Alphonse sighed to himself.

He left the place before he will get told by those dark thoughts again.

He is in the castle again, it was dark and he is lonely.

He need to control himself, he can't lost against someone who is part of him now.

(here I am waiting for my other friend opinion...💀)

[sakurachan7734]

My SCP ocs and fan kids as dead by daylight killers/survivors

Judy r Saturn/ survivor

The shadow/aka Bruno/killer

(Bruno’s default cosmetic was so hard because it doesn’t have a form, it just takes form of whatever its host is 😭)

Judy r Saturn

Backstory

Growing up in Italy she was the daughter of a mafia boss and she was often used as bait or a distraction so her parents could steal money or kill somebody which she never liked doing but it was required for her parents job.

At the age of thirty she had gotten a job at a research lab that contains entities that are dangerous to humanity and research what the entity does to make it so dangerous so dangerous to the point she had her left eye ripped out. Being a level 4 researcher at that facility she had access to much more dangerous ones and one of these anomalies is known as SCP xxxxx aka “Bruno the shadow of anger” which is a large black shadow with no visible human form.

One day she was working like usual the a break out happened but this one was definitely according to the cameras no anomalies broke out causing the breach which they were running away from the chaos she is opened a door to the break room and she saw a large black shadow with clause assuming it was Bruno she immediately ran away again but she felt something grab her leg and drag her into a strange realm

Judy r Saturn perks

Call of injury

Because you were used at bait your whole childhood know how to fake a injury or fake being lost

If you on the first hook stage and you get unhooked you can fake being deeply wound and fake being downed but after you get off hook you will be affected with exhaustion for 1 minutes

Scientific knowledge

Because of your job you know exactly how to handle entities especially ones that try to kill you so you must be quiet in order not alert them you don’t want your second eye getting ripped out 

Every time you fail a skill check the killers aura for 3 seconds but you will be exposed to the killer

Strange feeling

Because your mother was a mafia boss the first thing you were taught since you could walk was to run away from anything and anyone

Once you complete a generator you will be able to see everybody’s aura for 10 seconds 

Judy r Saturns default cosmetic

Judy saturn(head): a long dusty yellow ponytail with hair covering the left side of her face with gold hoop earrings and gold ring around the hair tie

Lab coat(torso): a grey sweater with a long white lab coat and gold bracelets and a lanyard with a level four key card in it 

Black skirt(legs): a long black skirt with dress shoes that she can somehow run perfectly fine in

Prestige cosmetics

Bloody Judy Saturn(head): a once classy but formal ponytail now drenched in blood

Bloody lab coat(torso): a once clean white coat now blood red that’s going to be impossible to get out

Bloody black skirt(legs): a long blood covered skirt and dress shoes

The shadow

Difficulty: very hard 

Backstory

Nobody knows where Bruno came from or if he was formed or was here since the beginning of time but whatever it is it has to be kept away from human it can possess its host by taking over the shadow so it was contained in a secret facility that it escaped from several times.

After ripping out a researcher named Dr. Saturn‘s eye out it started hearing strange whispers telling it to break out again.

One day during a breach it was looking for a new host to possess it checked the cafeteria and saw the fog assuming it was smoke from fire it went through it but when it came out the fog it was in a completely new place..

The shadow man power: mimicking

once your power is will be charged up any survivor you hooked previously you can mimic the scream of and fake a hooked survivor aura and you can leave shadow figures of survivors that will walk around and do generators like over survivors these will disappear if a survivor flashes a flashlight at them  

These hallucinated survivors also also give out the real survivor heartbeat, these fake survivors will be out for about two minutes if they aren’t chased away by a flashlight



The shadow perks 

Blood of rage

You feed off anger and nothing else you know how a fuel anger into somebody

If a survivor you injured or down gets healed to the healthy state they were here whispers of a untranslatable language for 10 seconds because of the skill checks will go 25% faster and if a skill check fails the generator will be reduced by 20% depending on how much the survivor has done of the generator 

Great stealth

Since you don’t have an actual human form You like to blend in with the shadows to not be caught you take great advantage of this in the realm of the entity

You start the trial with 5 tokens after you hook a survivor you are undetectable for six seconds

Hex: pool of rage

you knew that your goal was to see the entire world angry and you will stop at nothing

All totems will be lit at the start of the game and any injured Survivor walking past a lit totem will be revealed to you for 14 seconds

The shadows default cosmetic

The shadow(head): a black shadow with glowing red eyes and sharp, looking teeth and horns

The abyss(body): just a endless pit of shadows with arms and no legs 

Shadow hand(weapon): it’s unknown how just a shadow hurts everybody

Prestige cosmetic 



The bloody shadow(head): not the first time Bruno was covering blood

The bloody abyss(body): whenever Bruno is done with its prey it sucks it up into its chest. Nobody knows where it goes.

Shadow hand(weapon): Bruno often likes when his hands are covered in blood 

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC Review: There is No Devil by Sophie Lark

2.5/5. Rereleases 10/3/2023.

Vibes: still serial killers, trauma bonding, and continuous questionable art choices.

Alastor Shaw is after Mara, which has pushed her further into the arms of Cole Blackwell. As their feelings for each other deepen, they begin to reveal the secrets that have gotten them to where they are--while knowing that eventually, they'll have to face Shaw.

Eh........ I was less pleased with this one than the previous installment. What began as fun and campy (again) turned into a big trauma dump of a book. Also, it felt like we seriously dialed back on the serial killer elements.

Quick Takes:

--The beginning of this installment really focuses on Mara and Cole having fun and enjoying one another, despite the fact that there's a serial killer who most definitely wants to hit them. There's good sex, there's art pretentiousness, she's relaxing as much as she can, she's getting it good. I liked that. I actually really appreciated that the first book ended on a note wherein, while Cole and Mara were definitely obsessed with each other, they didn't really seem completely in love. This book serves as them really falling for each other, and that aspect I did overall enjoy.

--Where I think this book takes a sharp detour for me is the trauma bonding. There is a significant chunk of pagetime that is just Cole and Mara divulging their dark pasts to each other. And to be honest, I expected Cole would get a traumatic backstory to explain why he's a serial killer, but like... It was honestly... more maudlin than I thought it would be. Maybe that's because the first book felt like an opportunity to neatly avoid the trauma dump and excuses? And that was nice?

Additionally, while we got a taste of Mara's trauma in the last book, in this one we get a whole long chapter about it, Cole's POV about it, an illustration about it. While the abuse Mara suffered is certainly not implausible by any means, the way it's described is incredibly over the top (please, authors, avoid caps lock dialogue, you really basically never need it, I would prefer Italics at this point). Where I got annoyed especially is when, though Mara's stepfather was very much an active participant in the abuse, her mother is the one the narrative really centers on.

Now, I'm not excusing the horrendous actions of Mara's mother (she's very much guilty of abuse, especially abuse via neglect) but the way the novel frames this... Cole specifically stating that part of what motivated Mara's mother was the fact that Mara was becoming more beautiful and vibrant while her mother withered and aged... Dude, I know Cole is a serial killer and to be frank a clear misogynist, but it feels like the narrative supports his conclusion. Especially when Mara's mother is actually on the page. It's the "local woman is abusive because of how hot her daughter is" thing that I couldn't deal with.

The thing is, I liked it a lot when it just seemed as if Cole and Mara were a couple of fucking lunatics who just couldn't help but fall for each other. I supported that. I kind of wish they'd just been loons. To me, the book decreases its darkness and steps away from what could make it unique when it becomes this sob story fest attempting to appeal to like, the average reader. There are most definitely romance readers who don't need to have characters' actions explained away, and it feels like that should be the target audience for these books. Yes, some degree of trauma is understandable, but man. It took up a lot of this book.

--On that note, Cole feels a lot less like a serial killer in this installment, and in the end, I really didn't get why he killed, what he was realistically going to do in the future. I super don't understand why he keeps getting away with this; suspension of disbelief is necessary for this duology, of course, but we needed more details.

--There is a scene where Cole puts clay all over Mara's body. First off, not sure if the clay they were working with could actually be applied in that way. Second, it would be pretty uncomfortable, especially during their activities at the time. This is something I shouldn't have cared about, but did, much as I did with the tattooing in the previous novel.

--I didn't love that the framing of taking down Alastor Shaw became almost like... a moral thing? If it felt like it was a purely self-centered move on Cole and Mara's part, it would both make sense and entertain. At a certain point, it felt like they cared about stopping him not simply because of what he was doing to them, but because of the danger he posed to society. This would have been somewhat believable for Mara, less so for Cole.

--In the last book, I felt like Mara actually did want to go toe to toe with Cole. In this book, I feel like she largely just adored him. And I get why in theory, but it led to a much more boring dynamic. She just truly believes that Cole, while doing objectively abusive things to her, is teaching her how to survive in the world (he's really not). It's not that Cole didn't behave abusively in the first book. It's that when he did, Mara seemed to snap back, which also explained his twisted interest in her. She presented a challenge. In this book, she just sort of wide-eyed and compliant.

--Content warnings: still serial killers, still murder on the page, some pretty heavy physical and emotional child abuse in flashbacks and discussions, and Cole once again engages in consensual sexual activities in the book.

The Sex:

It's better than in the previous book, clay issues aside. There's more playfulness to the sex they have. I did appreciate the use of light daddy kink in this one, but I'll be honest. It just seemed a bit shoehorned in for mass appeal. Cole does not really come off as a daddy.

Also, there is a "remote-controlled vibrator in the panties" thing that is pretty fun. However, Mara literally doesn't know what this thing is, even after Cole puts it in her panties. And I've gotta say, romance authors: the vast majority of twenty-somethings, even young twenty-somethings, know what a remote controlled vibrator is. Even if they don't, the context of having your partner put it in your panties? Kind of tells you that it's going to be a sex things.

I actually forgot to mention in the last review. Mara doesn't know what a magic wand is? What? She seems pretty savvy, not sure I bought that she was so unfamiliar with vibration = good.

Unfortunately, this installment let me down. What I enjoyed about the first book was toned down. It honestly feels to me that this should have been one long book, as you essentially got a "fun half" and an "all emotions" half. And I love emotions, but this book needed more fun, especially when you're coming off of the tone of the first. It's not that the plot or ending was dissatisfying, it's the execution. Get it?

Thanks to Bloom Books and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[dreadmenace]

Hi will you do a male horror archetype uquiz soon? i really liked the female one and i want to send it to my men friends

thanks for making a fun quiz!

so i never made a male archetype quiz because imo the eight female archetypes all have a one-to-one male equivalent (with one exception). if you're male-identifying, you can use your result to know which male archetype you would be.

my rambling here got long so you read my in-depth answer under the cut:

The Survivor is also The Boy Next Door. When men get to be the final survivor in horror, the role is often filled by a man who's generally a good person, not known for being book-smart, but very good at surviving against the antagonist or just exceptionally lucky. There's obviously exceptions to this, such as Hostel's Paxton, but if you look at traditional slashers, where the final girl shines, the final boy is typically also used to enforce certain virtuous ideals in the current era's youth. Your patron saint would be Ash Williams.

The Heroine is also The Investigator. They fill a very similar role in horror, where the protagonist cannot defeat the evil with guns or a chainsaw, and they instead have to rely on their wits to survive an unnatural, malicious force. Like the Heroine, the Investigator often spends the majority of his screen time investigating the secrets of the plot, though he doesn't survive the story as often as she does. Your patron saint would be Dale Cooper.

The Slasher is also The Bogeyman. While female killers are more often given specific motives or some kind of tragic past to explain their behavior, she and her male version serve the same purpose; torment the protagonists, and represent whatever kind of human evil scares the creator. Your patron saint would be Michael Myers.

The Lover is also The Stalker. This one is probably obvious haha. People, regardless of gender, are scared of being stalked. The idea of someone we find “creepy” being obsessed with us and refusing to accept rejection is unsettling. An interesting distinction between the two is that the Lover is almost always targeting men specifically, while the Stalker can target women OR men. Most likely because the Stalker is a generic predator, while the Lover is used precisely to punish men for being womanizers or pursuing the “wrong” women. Your patron saint would be Josef from Creep.

The Siren is also The Imposter. Similar to our fear of being stalked, we’re all afraid of being deceived. A charismatic figure gaining our trust and using it against us. The Siren is more likely to be outwardly menacing, making up for her danger with blatant seduction that her target is unable to resist falling for, while the Imposter instead prefers to appear innocent and benign as he lures his target into his web. But both, contrary to the Lover and Stalker’s “feelings,” are completely callous manipulators, and do not believe they genuinely care about their victims. Your patron saint would be Billy Loomis.

The Witch is also The Scientist. Both characters represent cautionary tales about hubris in the face of god and the pursuit of knowledge that humans were not meant to know. The difference being that the Witch seeks out this knowledge through spirituality and witchcraft, while the Scientist seeks it through rationality and science. The primary difference between Victor (or Henry) Frankenstein and The VVitch’s Thomasin, between Dr. Josef Heiter and Helena Markos, is the way they pursue power through either “masculine” or “feminine” enlightenment. Both types used to be villainized almost equally, but the Witch has gotten a more sympathetic (and sometimes flat-out heroic) portrayal with the growth of feminism as a movement over the decades, while arrogant nerds are still fair game. Your patron saint would be Herbert West.

The Spirit is also The Demon. Though the comparison here is the loosest. When men are sometimes specters, it’s very rare that they are given sympathetic backstories or motivations, and even rarer that they are peacefully exorcised or “saved,” though this is the case for some female vengeful spirits. The men that haunt horror stories are malevolent and violent, typically having been abusers or killers even before they died, and are sometimes completely demonic, possibly having never even been human in the first place. Even when female spirits are completely malicious, they are usually given an origin that helps the audience understand why they became this way. However, both represent the same fear: the past coming back to bite in a powerful form that is invincible and unable to be reasoned with. Your patron saint would be Peter Quint.

The She-Beast is the archetype without a direct male equivalent. The horror of the she-beast is centered on a woman losing control of her body against her will in a way that makes her physically stronger but also robs her of some part of her humanity. Ginger Fitzgerald, Raw’s Justine, Carrie White. The she-beast’s physical transformation is often paralleled to menstruation by her writer because, on some level, our society views that specific bodily process as animalistic and disgusting. (Or, in some cases, like Teeth, it’s a metaphor for sexual trauma.) When male horror protagonists transform into monsters and werewolves, they usually are either empowered by this change that they eventually learn to control, or they manage to find a cure to their affliction. They are not permanently altered victims. But the girls are completely under the control of their curse and usually carry it until it kills them. Their story is often a tragedy in some form. (The key here, imo, is that men becoming stronger is expected of them, and not something that our culture views as a perversion of the natural order. Why would enhanced strength and carnivorous desires make a cis man less human?) I think the closest comparison would be the men in horror who lose control of their minds, either due to an outsider’s control or internal instability. Cis men becoming “feminine” against their will (becoming hysterical and illogical) is a similar fear to cis women becoming “masculine” against their will (becoming angry and physically dangerous). (Although, I think this is often a patriarchal fear in both cases; not young women's’ fear of themselves, but society’s fear of an innocent young woman twisted into something degenerate.) Split’s Kevin Wendell Crumb, for all his problematic aspects (as is typical with these characters and their portrayal of “insanity”), is an example of what I would call the He-Beast. He’s probably depicted less than the she-beast because a man being victimized and rendered completely weak and helpless by his own mind (and/or body) is a concept that makes audiences deeply uncomfortable in a way that doesn’t make for fun horror.

(I hope that my use of quotation marks up there makes it clear that I think these ideas in American culture are toxic and need to be left in the past. I’m happy to see the she-beast having more agency in recent films, and new horror creators providing more progressive perspectives in general. Also, there are rare cases in horror media of men transforming into monsters being a metaphor for homosexuality, but I don’t think I’m the right person to discuss that analogy. Monsters in the Closet by James Somerton is a fantastic video essay that briefly touches on the topic iirc.)

Also, I included the Monster as a male archetype on the quiz, but that’s because monsters in horror are often referred to as “he/him” and I needed to fill up eight slots lol. In reality, female monsters, although rarer, aren’t much different than the male ones, such as the Queen Xenomorph from Aliens or some versions of Mothra.

[darling-leech]

Torin Arlen Hugh’s Fallout Character Sheet

I used DarthSuki’s Fallout OC Meme 2.0 and I used this Font.

Here’s A Blank version if anyone wants to use it(Remember to credit DarthSuki tho)!:

ANYWAYS Let’s begin his background… 

Name: Torin Arlen Hugh

Race: White(Irish-Scottish American)

Religion: Agnostic

Gender and Pronouns: Trans Man and He/Him

Sexuality: Bisexual. Also is Polyamorous.

Age: 52.

Birthday: April 1, 2235

Birthplace: New Reno, Nevada

Height: 5′11 FT(71 Inches/180.34 CM)

Weight: 180 LBS(81.6466 KGS)

Hair Color: Grey(#47555E). Eyebrow/Eyelash color are a Dark Grey(#2D3130). 

Hairstyle: Azar Hair Long 4 and Azar Hair Long 2. (Here’s links to several mods I use XX(this one has both the hairstyles he’s wearing in the picture shown above in it), XX, XX, XX, and XX)

Facial Hair: Lone Wanderer

Eye Color: Green(Like #28352C). NOTE: He ONLY has his right eye, he lost his left eye.

Skin Color: I think it’s called the Pale option in Fallout 4(Like #B1937B)

Game of Origin: Fallout: New Vegas(He’s my Courier 6) and Fallout 4

BEHAVIOR/TECHNICAL:

Voice Actor: Connor Byrne

Karma: Neutral/Chaotic Neutral

Aggression: Aggressive

Confidence: Foolhardy

Assistance: Helps Friends and Allies?

S.P.E.C.I.A.L Stats: Strength 10, Perception 8, Endurance 9, Charisma 10, Intelligence 9, Agility 4, and Luck 4

Perks/Tagged: Armorer/Blacksmith/Gun Nut/Science!/Hacking, Barter/Speech, Confirmed Bachelor/Lady Killer, and Commando/Gunslinger/Guns/Rifleman/Survival/Unarmed to name a few.

Weaknesses: Chemist, Energy Weapons, Party Boy, and Wild Wasteland to name a few.

Affiliation: Mojave Express(Formerly, currently retired and living in Boston, Massachusetts)

Rank: Courier 6

Role: Player Character/Main/Major Character/Main Fallout: New Vegas Character/Package Courier. He’s my ONLY Courier 6(So you CAN tag him as Courier 6).

Most Liked Companions: ED-E, Hancock, and Rex. Honorary Mentions? Ulysses and My Self Insert OC, Eugenia Alexandra Everston “Alex”.

Least Liked Companions: N/A

Preferred Weapon Type: Submachine Guns/Rifles

Primary Weapons: Submachine Gun/Silver Submachine Gun

Secondary Weapons: Double Barrel/Esther (GRA)/Maria/Mercenary's Grenade Rifle/Lucky

Preferred Armor Type: Lightweight Leather

Primary Armor: N/A, usually wearing stuff like the Drifter Outfit/Silver Shroud Costume and Desperado Cowboy Hat/Silver Shroud Hat

Power Armor?: NO

RELATIONSHIPS:

FAMILY:

Parents: *I’m leaving this blank for now because I haven’t gotten that far into Torin’s background yet, I’ll update this when I do*

Siblings: NONE

Friends: Several. Arcade Israel Gannon, Big Sal, Christina Royce,  ED-E, Francine Garret, James Garret, Rose of Sharon Cassidy, Lily Bowen, Raul Alfonso Tejada, Rex, Robert House, Nero, Julie Farkas, Swank, The King, Nathan Ian Howard(My Sole Survivor), Leif Axel Gunnar, and My Self Insert OC, Eugenia Alexandra Everston “Alex” to name a few.

Lovers: Several.  My Self Insert OC, Eugenia Alexandra Everston “Alex”, and several unnamed lovers. 

Rivals: N/A?

Enemies: A Few? Like Caesar’s Legion for one.

Children: N/A?

Background(Note: I’m still in the process of writing this so it’ll seem like a mess til I get it finished all the way so please bear with me): Almost identical backstory to the default Courier 6. He was 46 during the events of Fallout: New Vegas, and was born New Reno, Nevada. His parents died when he was in his 20s, so then he moved to Primm and lived there until he was 46, and became Courier 6. He’s also an Engineer of sorts(Mostly with Weapons and the like). He spent alot of his time at the Gomorrah during he events of Fallout: New Vegas and shortly after the events of Fallout: New Vegas. Sorta haunted by his past, he decides to head east, and he ends up in Goodneighbor(specifically the Neon Flats Creation Club) and resides there now, during the events of Fallout 4, and is 52 years old. He also spends alot times at the Third Rail. 

Languages Spoken: English(Native Language), Spanish, Irish Gaelic, and Scottish Gaelic.

I also have a RefSheet.Net for him as well.

[otwdfanfic]

Hiii it's me again with a very specific question, hope you don't mind lmao

I'm currently reading a book on Norse mythology and stumbled upon a lot of similarities between the Norse pantheon and the Anglo-Saxon's pantheon. With that, I remembered Cato is Anglo-Saxon (correct me if im wrong because im not entirely sure-) and thus came the question;

"wait, which Gods does Cato worship?"

Since he's been around hunters who I assume worship the Norse pantheon for such a long time, just wondering <333

Something tells me my appreciation for otwd goes very deep now that I've actually gotten reminded of it by reading a fucking book lmao

Omg hiiii don't worry I have a very specific answer ❤️ Cato's faith is sort of hinted at in otwd and will be shown more in Gustav's short prequel series. In short: Cato doesn't believe in the Norse gods. He's a devoted follower of Cernunnos, the horned god, and worships the "old gods" in general

In long:

Most characters assume he's a christian saxon, since by this time a lot of Britain is christianized (and our archipelago vikings only think of the British kingdoms as those places they go to raid christian churches for gold and silver. Settlement of Scotland and Northumbria has been left to the scandinavian vikings, for now). In reality he's ethnically celtic, or at least a genetic descent of the gaelic scots, picts, and maybe even saxons and romanized celts. That's just a complicated way of saying he's from the Northern Isles of Scotland/Alba. His name is roman because they left a large cultural impact when they conquered Britain. Plus it sounds cool ;)

The big hint is his ship, the Cernunnos. He's the main god that Cato worships from a pantheon of celtic spirits. (One fun and thematic detail is that while the celts viewed him as a god of hunting, wild things, etc, the Romans that Cato is named for viewed him as a god of death and the underworld). Cato was raised by his father in an isolated way as their family was the last holdouts of the old religion near a christian settlement. You can see how a young man of his faith looking for a quick way out of his homeland would be drawn towards a crew of horned hunters working for a woman who is symbolized by her antler insignia

But the rest of the hunters also have diverse and unique backgrounds! In the movies the northern alliance is made up of northerners (Eret's tribe), mainland Scandinavians (Ragnar's army), eastern europeans (Griselda's army) and east Asians (Chaghatai Khan's army). In my hunting crew there are all those backgrounds and more northern tribes, various archipelago viking tribes, and muslims from the middle east and northern Africa (the real life northmen had close trading relationships with the mediterranean and middle east which led to a lot of culture swap including compatible currency systems!). From the hooligan perspectives in otwd, hunters are evil malicious dragon killers. In Gustav's backstory you'll get to know a crew of hunters who are diverse, funny, smart, and even kind

Sorry I wrote so much but hopefully it helps to understand Cato and the pseudo-historical world outside the archipelago. What's the book that inspired the question? I read a lot of reference books to write otwd so I'd love to check it out!

[dadsbongos]

Liebeskummer

Movie/Game/Show: Danganronpa: Killing Harmony Dynamic: Korekiyo Shinguji/Reader (and his sister shit but i actually take it seriously, unlike kodaka) Warnings: korekiyo’s backstory/trauma (his sister), sexual/physical/mental abuse implications (and outright said but not described in detail except the emotional and mental), anxiety in both kork and reader and mental breakdown(s?), airhead shit but it’s sad Summary: It’s all her fault. ~~~

Korekiyo suddenly turned to the girl beside him in his quiet research lab, “Have you ever heard of Jack of Fables, (Y/n)?” at her, albeit confused, nod, he continued, “Well, all those myths, fairy tales, and even nursery rhymes in reference to ‘Jack’ are actually about the same man. What this means is that Jack Be Nimble, of the candlestick, Jack the Giant Killer, who sold his cows then murdered and robbed a giant, Stingy Jack, who tricked the devil so relentlessly that he was banned from both afterlives, Jack of Jack and Jill, who cracked open his skull, Jack o’ Lantern, Spirit of Halloween and Headless Horseman, and Jack Frost, Spirit who ends autumn and begins winter are all one in the same. He made so many poor life decisions that he now serves as an immortal representation of winer with a pumpkin serving as head and flashlight. Is that not fascinating?”

“Aw,” (Y/n) grinned, nodding once again, “Like the American ‘Florida man’.”

Korekiyo sighed, disappointment palpable in his tone, “That is… actually much more accurate than I wish to admit.”

“Wait, wait,” she tilted her head, patting the man’s arm despite his attention already being on her, “So… like, was he also Jack the Ripper…?”

His eyes widened at her statement, “(Y/n), I must be grateful you were not born to the life of a woman of the night in Victorian London because I assure you, Jack the Ripper was incredibly real.”

“Oh, that’s so sad…” she pouted before clearing it back into her usual smile almost instantly, “Well, thanks for the folklore fun fact, Kiyo! I didn’t know that Jack was so dumb! God, I’d hate to be like him…”

“You do realize you’re not so bright yourself, yes?”

She shrugged, “I’m fine with that, but at least I’m not tricking the devil!”

So sweet and kind, the Ultimate Composer was. Against all expectations, she wasn’t highbrow or traditionally genius, but she was more than excellent company. And, to top it off, the idea of turning her into one of Sister’s friends was oddly… sickening.

It should’ve been perfectly fine - she was a deeply respectable young woman unlike Miu and Maki, there’s no reason he could have against her.

It just felt wrong.

“Oh! Oh!” she burst out, clapping her hands together, before turning and reaching into a bag slung around her hip. Rooting through scrapped sheet music and notes, once she found what she’d been searching for she held it up excitedly, “Boom!���

Korekiyo took the item, just barely brushing his wrapped fingertips against hers, “Cleopatra’s Pearl Cocktail… much appreciated,” he pressed the small bottle into a pocket on his uniform, “If you enjoy giving gifts, perhaps we can discuss cultural gift-giving practices?”

“Ooh, Kiyo’s gonna teach me?”

“Hmm,” Korekiyo hummed quietly to himself, “Well, perhaps… you would prefer I tell you of a composition piece in relevance to mythology, yes?”

“That’d be nice,” the girl giggled softly, rubbing the back of her neck, “To be honest, I just like when you talk… you sound so smart all the time!”

“My thanks, (Y/n),” he nodded curtly, muttering to himself before coming to speak up, “Alright, I believe that the composition for you would be The Ring of the Nibelung, of Germany.”

“Oh, I know that one!” she knew most ‘ones’, to be fair.

“I had suspected so, but have you heard of the heroic legends behind the pieces?”

“Ah, no… are those what you’re gonna explain?”

“I had planned to, yes. Alright, well, the four parts, as you know, are The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried, and Twilight of the Gods. Nowadays, they are most commonly played as individual, separate works despite making one complete story. They were always intended as a sequence - as The Ring cycle, cleverly. Each piece revolves on a loose basis to German heroic tales and Norse legendary sagas, with the overarching tale of the magic ring forged by the Nibelung dwarf, Alberich, which grants the power to rule the world,” he paused at the sight of (Y/n) yawning, his lips pursed and eyes shot down to his shoes before flickering back up to the girl, “Ah, my apologies for taking far longer than necessary. You must find this- “

“Ah, no!” (Y/n) shook her head, waving her hands about as though it would physically prove how far from needed his apology was, “That’s not it! I’m just kinda tired, ya know?” as if to prove her point, another yawn washed over her, “I hadn’t slept well last night after Kirumi…”

“I see,” Korekiyo nodded, closing his eyes to think over his words, “I apologize for making it about myself. If you wish, I could walk you to your dormitory. Now that you mention it, it has been quite the long day.”

“You don’t have to, Kiyo, I’d hate to bother you so much in one day let alone one sitting,” the composer puffed her cheeks out, “That’d be so obnoxious…”

“I don’t find it obnoxious whatsoever, especially if it’s to aid- “ he hesitated, “to aid a friend.”

He hadn’t had friends before. People usually found him creepy and that was the end of the story - nobody approached him and he didn’t branch out. Life went on. The world spun. His loneliness was everlasting and yet nonexistent. He has Sister. Though, deep down, he knows. She’s on another plane of reality with loneliness stronger than his, that’s why he sends her respectable young women.

Just like (Y/n).

But just… not (Y/n). For reasons he personally chooses to not disclose to even himself.

“Aww, Kiyo! You care!” the girl placed a hand over her heart as if to show that the organ itself was squeezing in delight at his offer.

“Of course, I do,” Korekiyo didn’t like how quiet she made him. How jittery and nervous. And he didn’t like how it made him question the way Sister made him feel.

She also made him nervous but it felt different. He liked to pretend it was the nervousness of a love you don’t quite have yet, but he fully knows he’d be lying. She was a mean girl, a bully in school before being hospitalized. Prone to violent and outright frightening outbursts when she had the energy to do more than force him to her side.

But he didn’t like questioning those feelings for Sister. Who he was, was based on her. His uniform. His passion and talent. His hair. His perfect complexion. His life as the universe knows it is an ode to her.

It’s too late for him to go back now… he’s already done so much in her name it’d be cruel to give up now. He might as well continue for Sister.

“If you really don’t mind, then yeah, I’d like it if we could walk together… I get a little nervous going around at night, you never know who’s gonna snap…”

“And you trust me?”

Shit. That’s what gets him in trouble. It’s as Sister always said. ‘Too naive to make his choices, and once he’s free, too inept to make the right ones.’

“Well, yeah,” (Y/n) spoke as if there was hardly any thought to the answer, “All you’ve shown me is somebody worth trusting,” then, she’s quick to remember poor Kaede, “Well, maybe I’m being silly. But hey, if I have to choose between dying trusting my friends and paranoid beyond myself, then maybe I’d- “ she paused, “Ehhh, I don’t like the way that’s coming out.”

“I understand what you’re attempting to say,” Korekiyo reassured, turning towards his research lab’s exit, “Let us start towards the dormitories, yes?”

“Right!” (Y/n) nearly found herself jogging to catch up to Korekiyo’s long-strided head start, she clutched the strap of her bag as she did so, “So… you heard about Angie’s plan, right?”

“To perform a resurrection?”

“Do you think it’ll work?” she seemed antsier than was typical for her, “I mean, you’re into anthropology, so, like, has there ever been a case where that did work? Do you know?”

“No, besides, that would be more akin to history, remember?” she probably didn’t, her memory failed her at an ungodly amalgamation of best and worst of times.

“Oh, yeah,” she murmured and nodded, pretending to recall the difference between the two.

“Who would you desire back into this game, if you could?”

“Rantaro,” her answer was quick, her fingers looping together nervously, “We didn’t really talk much, but uhm, whenever we did - he was really nice. He said I reminded him of a sister of his… so that’s a good thing, right?”

Depends on who you ask, really.

“You grew attached to him so quickly?” there was no jealousy there, he tried to convince himself.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish I’d gotten to know him more. He was always running around, trying to save us, and in the end… it got him killed.”

A lot of things will get you killed.

Korekiyo shook off the thoughts racking his brain, “Your care for him even through his estrangedness and peculiarity is truly beautiful, (Y/n),” he fiddled with the locket piece hanging around his shoulders, “Even your care for myself. I’d be lying if I’d said it wasn’t endearing.”

“You’re not…” her words died out, not wanting to lie to a dear companion of hers, “You’re a little off-putting but you’re not undeserving of love, Kiyo.”

It was a complete 180 from what Sister had told him his entire life. A new lesson coming in far too late. He had to earn love. He should’ve been crawling on his knees and pleading for affection, but now he was supposed to simply receive it? It sounded so incredibly fake. A fictitious tale told alongside gumdrop fairies and candy trees.

No place for someone of realistic standard.

No place for him.

“You’re far too kind, (Y/n).”

“Maybe you just haven’t known nice people,” she suddenly stopped, slapping a palm to her mouth and muffling against it, “I’m so sorry!”

“Worry not,” Korekiyo continued walking, “I’m unphased.”

Because maybe it was true.

Maybe Sister wasn’t so nice.

There was an itch at his skin in the thought and he shook his head.

Sister was kind enough to love someone like him. Who was of rotted soul and rancid heart.

“I shouldn’t have just said that, especially since I don’t really know your life…”

“Would you like to learn it someday?”

(Y/n) was fairly shocked at how quickly he seemed to breeze by her insult to his family and friends - well, if he had any friends - but she wouldn’t refuse. It was extra time with Korekiyo! Who could turn that down?

“I’d love to.”

~~

“Tea and cookies,” (Y/n) pumped a fist in the air, “What could be better than enjoying those with a friend?”

Korekiyo felt his lips twitch up behind his mask at the rhetorical question, he reached out for his teacup, “Perhaps freedom from this killing game?”

“Oh, yeah, huh…” she deflated, “Jeez, I can’t believe I’d say that…”

Oh, great, of course, now he’s gone and made the local ball of sunshine in this school upset.

“Nevermind that, (Y/n), it was a tease…” he gripped the cup a little tighter, cheeks heating up in humiliation at his failed joke, “I apologize if it seemed like anything other than such.”

“No, don’t apologize, it’s fine! It was kind of a dumb thing to say, now that I put some brain into it,” so it made sense she’d said it, (Y/n) frowned at the bitter thought.

“Ah,” the clink of a cup against the table caught the girl’s attention, “I must change my mask in order to properly enjoy this tea and these cookies,” as the anthropologist went to turn, he was stopped by another outburst from the girl.

“No, don’t! Uh, here!” she clenched her eyes shut, papped her palms over her face, and turned her head downwards, “See? Now I can’t!”

“You don’t have to go to such lengths, I could simply turn- “

“No, no, I want you to feel comfortable and I heard once that doing things to make your friends comfortable is, like, a way to make them like you more?” she huffed at the wording, “Just, I don’t know… I want you to know that I care. Ya get it? No need to turn yourself away like that when I can just not look.”

A tuft of air passed through his nostrils at the girl.

Sister would adore a friend like her.

Korekiyo pulled down his mask, brows drawn tight towards his eyes at the new realization. It was no longer a matter of her being respectable, it was now the knowledge that someone as tender-hearted as (Y/n) would be loved beyond comprehension by Sister.

But… no. Sister couldn’t have her. She’d understand, right? Of course. She could have someone else - the other bubbly girl, what’s her name? Angie. She could have Angie.

Korekiyo just… he just needed (Y/n). Something about her was calming and sweet. He picked his mask for eating from a pocket in his uniform and carefully adjusted it over his lips so as to not smudge his lipstick. It wouldn’t anyway, he knew this, but it usually never backfired to be too sure.

The lipstick in itself was quite the hassle. Another homage to Sister that she might not even be seeing. So was the hair. It got tangled and knotted and was hell to dry after a shower.

“Not to rush you at all, but are you done? Cuz my eyes are starting to hurt… I think I’m squeezing them too hard.”

“Right, yes, I am.”

He really shouldn’t think like that… Sister deserved to be honored.

As if she’d been reading his mind, (Y/n) leaned over slightly, pointing at Korekiyo’s hair, “Hey, hey, how do you manage that? It always looks so silky and soft and well-kept.”

“Ah, well, it is quite troublesome most days, but with patience and rather expensive products, I keep it together.”

“I was wondering, too, do you ever put it up?”

“Not usually, though, that would be… nice on occasion,” he sipped at his tea, enjoying the way (Y/n) shyly glanced away to prove she didn’t want to invade his privacy. She was too delightful to be in a place such as this, even if he did enjoy the beauties of law-absence.

“Uh, I don’t want to come off pushy or like you have to let me, but if you want, I’d love to put your hair up! To be honest, I’ve been wanting to for a while,” her eyes widened at her own statement, “Oh, that sounded creepy. I’m so sorry.”

“I am hardly one to judge,” he reached over for a cookie, “But, if you’re so inclined, I won’t protest.”

“Yay!” she bounced slightly in her chair, “Oh, that’s great, Kiyo, thanks.”

“Shall we go to your dorm after finishing our refreshments?”

“I’d like that,” (Y/n) grinned.

And to think she almost didn’t approach Korekiyo on that first day in the school. How ridiculous could she have been to judge based on looks? Sure, he was a little strange and the way he spoke was unlike any teenager she’d ever met, but he was still a person. He deserved to be given companionship.

Besides, he’d only ever shown her kindness and support.

He didn’t even make fun of her when she said something stupid in front of everyone.

She cringed at the memory of every time Kokichi or Miu or Maki prodded at her. Even Ryoma and Kaito had picked on her when she misspoke during the first trial and just brought up a point the class had already proven. It made her heart wrinkle and shrink at the mere thought. Kokichi still made fun of her for questioning Tsumugi’s whereabouts during Rantaro’s murder.

“You’re staring into your tea, it will grow cold if you only look at it.”

“Oh, yeah,” shaking her head, (Y/n) silently cursed herself for spacing out. What an awful habit of hers, it was, “Sorry for taking so long.”

“You shouldn’t apologize, I’m not upset in the slightest,” he felt his heart lighten at the tiny smile that illuminated her face, “I simply enjoy spending this time together.”

“You’re too nice sometimes, Kiyo,” she giggled, but they both recognized the tingle of nervousness jumbling within it, “If you’re not careful, I might fall for you or something…”

“Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing?”

I wouldn’t mind, she wanted to say.

If you’ll have me, he wished to murmur.

Then he felt his chest tighten.

“Can I…” he tapped a finger to the table, “ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Have you ever been in love?”

“Uhm,” she bit her lip as she thought back, “No… why?”

“How do you think it feels?”

“Like, you could be free and yourself around the person? I’m not too sure, but I think if you and someone else are in love then you’ll accept each other completely, you know? Sure, there’s flaws in every person, but I think you accept those, too.”

“I see…”

“Kiyo, why do you ask?”

“I…” his brows furrowed, “A lot has been on my mind as of late.”

“Alright, I won’t pry,” standing from the dining table, (Y/n) clapped her hands together, “Now, if you’re still down, I’d love to put your hair up!”

“As it stands, I am still, as you put it, ‘down’,” Korekiyo nodded before joining the girl and starting towards her dorm room.

“Nice!” she pointed directly ahead, “Now, onward!”

A total airhead at her truest, Korekiyo thought. He didn’t usually partake in the type, but something about (Y/n) just pulled him in tighter every time he tried turning away.

So, what’s the harm in giving in? Swimming against the tide only ever led to drowning anyway, so why fight it?

Sister… Sister was dead. Is dead. Resurrection isn’t possible and hasn’t been in human history. And she had changed so much of him. (Y/n) would never force him to bend to her ideal.

The more he thought about Sister in comparison to (Y/n), the more he realized that Sister felt like a ball and chain - and (Y/n) felt like a breath of fresh air.

Just her name inside his own head sounded as sweet as the best form of heaven.

“Here we are!” (Y/n) cheered upon their arrival to her room, “There’s probably a bunch-load of unfinished works in here so just… don’t judge them too harshly, okay?”

“I could hardly judge an unfinished masterpiece.”

“I don’t know about masterpieces…”

“If you create them with heart and soul, there’s nobody who can effectively say they aren’t except for yourself,” Korekiyo enters the room after her, legs carrying him towards her desk as she roots around her bathroom for a hairbrush and hair tie, “Sadly, this is also applicable to disasters with effort put into them. However, just from skimming these, I can tell you they are not such disasters.”

“Aw, thanks, Kiyo, you know - I know I’m the Ultimate Composer and junk, but jeez it gets so nerve-wracking when people hear my stuff. I like what I write, but who’s to say other people will?”

“I understand that. Showing others your work is extremely unsettling at times,” he followed the girl to her bed and sat between her knees on the floor, “I recall feeling that way when I would dabble in artistry.”

“You can draw?”

“I would when I was much younger,” he felt her fingers run over his scalp and through his hair and the weight looming over his shoulders practically melted off, “I haven’t held onto any of them, and they’ve likely aged poorly, but I know how I felt showing them around.”

“Why’d you stop? If you don’t mind my asking,” reaching around, (Y/n) threaded her fingers through Korekiyo’s bangs and, as gently as humanly possible, pulled the hair hanging over and around his face back into a slicked style.

“My… sister, she always rathered that I participate in anthropology with her. I wasn’t all that good anyways.”

“Aw, that’s kinda sad. Even if you weren’t good, you could’ve improved over time.”

“Do you truly believe that, (Y/n)?”

“Of course, I mean, talents are just developed over time, right? Angie didn’t pop out of the womb an art genius and I didn’t start off great at writing music, you just keep at it and eventually your skill level is way better than when you started.”

Sister always said he’d be garbage at drawing. Somebody like him could never learn.

She tied off and twisted until the bun was perfect - well, not perfect. It was presentable enough, and it was just a bun anyway! Not like they had anywhere to be.

“Sorry it’s messy,” she scratched at her cheek, feeling anxious that he’d be upset with her work.

“I…” he felt another little smile peek over him, it was indeed messy with stray hairs sticking out here and there and a few tiny bumps running over his head, but even so, “I love it.”

“You do?”

“It’s a gesture from you, why wouldn’t I?”

Standing beside Korekiyo at the mirror, (Y/n) twiddled her thumbs before spewing out her question, “It’s totally cool if not, but can I hug you? Sorry if that’s weird!”

“No… it’s…” Sister never asked to touch him, and now that he thought about it, she never seemed to care when he told her to stop, “That would be wonderful.”

As her arms slowly came around him, he felt truly at ease. With Sister, there was always this fear of never being what she wanted. That she hated him deep down. With (Y/n), it felt like finally being attached to someone you were meant to. Returning to a place of deep affection.

“You truly do care about me, don’t you, (Y/n)?”

“What kind of question is that?” she back-pedals, “I mean, of course, I do. You’re very dear to me, Kiyo.”

Maybe even a little too dear, considering the current climate of the killing game.

But even so, neither of them pulls away. Neither cares enough to wrangle themselves from indulging in the other’s touch. It feels too good against their skin.

It’s then that Korekiyo’s brain strikes the flint to create the burning thought - maybe Sister wasn’t all that great. Maybe Sister didn’t love him.

She’s only ever made him miserable, now that he recalls it all.

(Y/n) doesn’t. She makes him feel human and alive and adored. He likes the way she makes him feel. And between the two, he much rather would be praised than berated.

~~

Oh God, what did this mean again?

Where do the creation myths go?

Who’s Princess Kaguya?

Her head throbs at the thoughts rumbling through her. She tried to get Korekiyo to get someone, anyone, but her to organize his notes.

Shuichi would love this stuff! You two should bond!

Gonta could learn about being gentlemanly from you! It’d be a great learning experience!

I know you don’t like Miu that much, but maybe spending more time together could make you understand each other more?

Anyone.

And yet, Korekiyo denied. He liked spending time with her. He wouldn’t mind answering every question she had - no matter how many times she asked it. He was a patient person, he could handle it.

(Y/n) looked at all the books and stray papers surrounding her alike, bottom lip tugged between her teeth in focus and face beating hot in vivid embarrassment. He wasn’t even looking at her, thank God, but still… it was so mortifying that she’d already lost track of what she was doing.

She tried so hard to pay attention, she really, really did!

She wanted to help so bad. She wanted to be useful so bad.

But she knew… she’s not a smart person, per se. It was beaten over her head repeatedly her entire life by her family, schooling, peers, and even her friends. She was an idiot who couldn’t do anything right.

It’s why she wanted Korekiyo to ask someone else.

But how could she say no to him? He was always so nice, it’d be downright mean to refuse him. Right?

She felt her eyes burn, vision growing blurry through tears. Setting down the papers in her hands - (Y/n) covered her eyes to keep any wetness from splotching the notes below. It was the least a fucking moron could do.

“(Y/n)? Are you feeling okay?”

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

She nodded shakily, just wanting Korekiyo to ignore her and continue his work. Better yet, he’d kick her out and she could dodge the incoming humiliation altogether.

“Yeah,” her voice cracked, lips trembling.

Goddammit.

She heard papers rustling before she could feel the presence at her side. Fingertips just barely grazing her body before hesitating back, “You’re lying.”

Understatement of the year.

“I just… I’m so sorry, Kiyo. I’m such an idiot, I knew I couldn’t do this,” she whimpered, desperately trying to grab and suffocate down her bubbling sobs before they wracked her throat, “I’m too fucking dumb to do anything right… I’m sorry…”

“No, no, don’t apologize. You’ve done nothing wrong and you’re no idiot,” he’s immediately slammed with every memory of every time he’s called her such a thing. No matter how nice he tried to be about it, he still aided her insecurity, “I’m sorry for ever saying you were. Intellect is not measured by how well you can do a task nor should everyone’s mind be measured the same. Intelligence is fickle and is spread over a vast variety of subjects. You’re not an idiot for not being able to do something you’re not accustomed to.”

“I just… I- I wanted to help you but then I forgot everything you said about organizing them and then which regions are which and what even is a gorgon?”

He chuckled quietly at her question, “A creature in Greek mythology most commonly in reference to three sisters - Medusa, Euryale, and Sthenno - with hair made of living, venomous snakes that turned those who so much as looked upon them to stone,” he glanced around at what (Y/n) had gotten done, “I see that the filing in relation to music is nearly completed for your half.”

“That’s about all I’m good for.”

“And I would not have managed that so easily, music was never an incredible strength of mine - though I do admire it.”

“Don’t lie to me, Kiyo…”

“I would never,” he moved his notes away to sit more comfortably next to the girl, “In fact, if you’d be willing to listen…” his throat tightened and heart thumped in his chest, “I would like to tell you of something that’s been troubling me for quite some time.”

“Yeah,” she wiped away her tears, sniffling, “of course.”

“I told you of my sister, correct?” he waited for her nod of confirmation to continue, “Well, it’s my belief that…” his fists clenched.

What if she didn’t believe him? What if she blamed him? How do you tell someone your older sister raped and abused you when you’re barely even coming to terms with the fact yourself?

“(Y/n), I…” he stopped, gut bunching in knots before he suddenly ripped down his mask and turned to face her, “I think I need help…”

“What? You’re just wearing lipstick, Kiyo, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“No, no, no, no,” he shook his head, hands shaking wildly as he pulled out the ponytail (Y/n) had done up earlier and yanked through his hair, “E-everything I am is because of her! She consumes me even in death! She- she- she hurt me…”

“Oh,” the girl moved to sit up on her knees, hands reaching out but not yet touching him, “What happened, Kiyo? You can tell me, I’m listening.”

“She told me I was an awful boy, nobody but her could love someone so foul and creepy… she- “ he moved to grip his sleeves, “She touched me,” he looked into the girl’s eyes, “Is it my fault? Am I so disgusting? Why would she do this?”

“Do you want me to hold you or no?” at his shaky nod, she instantly took Korekiyo into a hug, cradling his head and shoulders to her body and stroking through his hair, “You’re more than what she made you. You’re bigger and better than her manipulation. And it’s not your fault she did what she did. It’s completely and totally on her. She took advantage of you, Kiyo, that’s not your fault.”

He grabbed her arm and pressed his face into her shirt as she held him, “Am I rotten? Am I lovable?”

“You’re the best person I’ve ever met. You’re worthy of love and care.”

His lipstick smeared over her shirt and across his cheek and neither of them minded. It would wash off eventually. Her stain on his life would come out.

“When we get out,” (Y/n) began again, “do you want to seek professional help? You can get it, Kiyo.”

He was slow to nod, beginning to grow tired from dosing out tears and trauma at once, “I do… thank you, (Y/n)...”

“No need to thank me.”

“(Y/n)?” she hummed quietly in acknowledgement, “Even if it isn’t for field work… I wish to travel the country with you. I want to show you the beauty of humanity as I know it… for our sakes.”

Looking down, (Y/n) caught the gentleness in his eyes, tender and soft and awaiting her response, she smiled softly, brushing back his hair, “I would love to, Kiyo. If it’s truly something you want to do, I would be happy to go anywhere with you.”

~~

Nighttime was quickly approaching and with the atmosphere and turmoil of the class, (Y/n) didn’t feel very safe being out so late.

“You’re certain you don’t wish for me to walk you to your room?”

“No, you finish up here,” (Y/n) waved off Korekiyo’s offer, “Don’t be such a worry-wart, yeah? I’ll be fine! You better take care of yourself while I’m gone, though.”

He nodded, a small smile stretching over him, “I will, dear (Y/n), don’t worry.”

The girl’s eyes widened slightly before she returned his beam, “You have a cute smile, Kiyo.”

“Oh,” right, he didn’t have his mask on at the moment. It was refreshing to wake up and not trouble himself with makeup for a woman he wasn’t sure even cared - dare he say it, it was nice, even.

He’d only taken his mask off around (Y/n), it felt intimate. Sweet. Something passed only between them.

“Thank you.”

She nodded before turning back and pressing outward from his research lab, “I’ll see ya tomorrow, Kiyo! You better have the sweetest dreams, ya hear me?”

“You as well.”

He returned to cleaning up his lab, occasionally stumbling over a floorboard looser than the others. How troublesome.

That’s when her voice picked up from within his brain.

“You never loved me.”

He looked around despite knowing exactly where the voice was coming from.

“You let her do this to you. You let her take you from me.”

Pushing past them, he persisted in rooting through his notes and organizing his papers.

“She hates you. She’s scared of you. She’s just trying to be nice. You scare her. You scare all of them. You rotten, rotten boy. You’ve been ruined - only I could love a face so hideous and broken. A horrible, horrible boy lucky enough to be given the love I did.”

His hands shook, fingers twitching and heart thrumming heavy, “No. (Y/n) likes me. She enjoys my company.”

“Why would she enjoy the company of someone so lonely and depressing? So gross and foul? She probably hates you for partaking in your own sister’s touch.”

“No, she- she doesn’t… she knows it’s not… it’s not my fault…”

“Are you inside her head? How do you know? How are you certain? I’m the only one who ever loved you - and you’ve abandoned me. Left me all alone.”

“No, I- I haven’t abandoned you, Sister! Please, believe me, I never abandoned you.”

“So, you know what you must do to prove yourself to me.”

“(Y/n) wouldn’t like that…”

“(Y/n) wouldn’t like you anyway.”

She’s right, right? She’s right. Someone as wonderful and beautiful as (Y/n) could never adore him the way he does her. He loves her and she must find him repulsive. Staying out of fear.

Out of pity for the boy abused by his sister. And so, who better to return to than the more predictable of the two?

(Y/n) may have felt more like coming home than Sister - but Sister was home. (Y/n) was comfort. Sister was familiarity.

He found his foot planted against the loose floorboard once again. He knew how he had to make up for his misdeeds and abandonment.

~~

“I’m truly relieved to see that you got to your room safely,” Korekiyo murmured to (Y/n).

“Huh? Oh yeah,” she pointed over to their local gentle giant, “Gonta and I crossed paths on my way and he wanted to walk me to my room and I just couldn’t say no to him. It’s nice to have someone you trust in this ‘game’. Well, other than you,” the elevator jumbled slightly as it dove down into Monokuma’s makeshift courtroom, “I trust you, obviously.”

She shouldn’t. And he wants to tell her that.

But as Kokichi and Shuichi take glances at him from across the elevator, he knows that she’ll figure things out soon enough.

And, during the trial, when Shuichi’s convicting Korekiyo of the murder of Angie Yonaga and Tenko Chabashira - she does. And she cries and screams and throws a fit. Demanding Korekiyo to fight back harder. Demanding Shuichi to stop lying and get serious. Because Korekiyo would never kill somebody.

He was nice. He was a gentleman. He cared about people. He had stolen her heart - and a man who managed that wouldn’t kill anybody. So, of course, Shuichi was lying.

“Do I have to remind you of what’ll happen if you don’t vote?” Monokuma bit out.

(Y/n) clutched at her hair - she knew what she had to do. But every time she went to vote for Korekiyo, her body wouldn’t let her.

Reaching over, the boy himself took her hand in his, “Allow me,” as he guided her hand over her voting panel. No matter how she swatted at his hand or tried to wrench herself from Korekiyo’s grip, he pressed her vote into his name.

She was forced to watch as he was strung up and spun. Made dizzy and sickly. She was made to watch as he fell into the melting pot. Fires eating at his body until he was no more than spirit.

As Monokuma and the sister who had harmed him so horrifically worked as one to rid the world of his soul.

Eyes went to (Y/n) as the execution subsided. Her sobs and hiccups drawing everyone’s attention.

Gonta was the first to approach, a large hand settling on the girl’s back as she cried, silently taking her into a hug.

Her heart wrenched, fingers squeezing at Gonta’s suit and throat rubbing raw with her wild wails.

He could’ve gotten help. He could’ve gotten out with everyone. If she’d just stayed with him then she could’ve done something. Angie and Tenko would be here. Korekiyo would be here.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Kaito’s voice peeked through, “Don’t cry because he’s gone, (Y/n). Move forward - for both of you.”

“I…” she shook her head, choking on a sob, “I don’t think I can…”

Shuichi placed a hand on Kaito’s shoulder, “Just give her a little time.”

As the group moved out of the courtroom, Gonta stayed by (Y/n)’s side up until she clumsily made her way into her dorm room.

Immediately, she collapsed into her bed sheets. Dreading tomorrow. And the next day. And the one after that. And the one after that. And so on. And so forth. Maybe she should’ve known better than to go around falling for a guy in the killing game. Maybe she should’ve held herself up in her room all alone.

There was no escape from this feeling. No hiding. It may get better over time - but Korekiyo would always be gone.

A buzz at the door caught her attention. Her movements were sluggish, honestly just hoping that whoever was there had given up and left by the time she finally answered.

Shuichi stood there, classically uneven, anxious smile and all, “I think there’s something you might be interested in? If you’ll follow me.”

No verbal response was given, only (Y/n) stepping out of her room and shutting the door behind her to give him her confirmation.

He began towards the casino. With a sigh, (Y/n) was about to tell Shuichi off - she didn’t need to start gambling to get over Korekiyo’s death - until he stopped in front of the building.

“I mostly just wanted you to get some fresh air,” he says earnestly before digging in his pocket and pulling out a key with a heart-shaped handle, “I got this from here. You can get your own or keep this one, I think you need it more than I do,” at her confusion he continues to explain, “It can take you into this weird dream-like state where you can see what ‘ideal’ you play in our classmates’ minds… I think you know who I gave this to you for.”

“Kiyo…”

“Yeah. You can see him again, if you want.”

She wanted to be strong and push the key back into Shuichi’s hand - instead, she just looked between him and the key in her hold and nodded slowly, “Thank you, Shuichi…”

He placed a hand on her shoulder, “Sleep well, (Y/n). I know you can grow past this.”

Because he did.

“I’ll try.”

But he wasn’t her. And Kaede was gone far before Korekiyo. And their grief was not the same.

“Thanks again, Shuichi.”

“Just take your time, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”

~~

Her knees felt like collapsing under the weight of her nerves, hand falling to the doorknob of the hotel room.

She pushed through her anxiety and found herself in a red-tinted room, a large heart-shaped bed in the center with a merry-go-round circling it. Then, she found Korekiyo standing to the side.

What would his ‘ideal’ version of her be? A friend? An out-of-touch acquaintance? A lover?

Her heart throbbed at the last possibility.

“Ah, my dear, back so soon?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry…”

“Why are you apologizing?”

“I’m, uhm, not sure?”

I’m sorry I couldn’t help you.

“Then don’t,” he seemed to glide across the room, taking the girl’s cheeks in his hands, “You’ve always had a problem with that, my love.”

My love? My love.

“Ah, yeah, sorry,” she huffed at her own word selection, “Oh…”

Korekiyo chuckled quietly, pulling down his mask to kiss her forehead, “I already took my medication while you were out.”

“Your medication?”

“Yes, from the doctor. You were the one who pushed me to go, have you forgotten?”

“Right! No, no, I just blanked,” she quickly lied, giving the boy a broad grin, “I’m glad, though.”

“It’s only medication, dear.”

“Still,” (Y/n) reached up to cup Korekiyo’s cheek, “it’s good that you’re following through with your meds.”

“Your support always helps,” he pressed another kiss to the girl’s forehead, “We’ll be leaving early in the morning tomorrow, I should warn you,” at her furrowed brows he explained, “In order for us to catch the first train to Iwate prefecture. Did you forget, darling?”

“Wait, wait, let me guess…” she waited for his nod before tossing out her suggestion, “We’re traveling for field work!” she was then quick to tag on, “As a couple that’s, like, super in love?”

“You didn’t forget at all, my love,” Korekiyo pulled away slightly, and sat on the bed, removing his shoes, “You play that memory of yours down too much. You’re far more intelligent than you think.”

“You think that?”

“Of course, I do. It’s not just because I love you dearly, either. You mustn’t let the words and actions of others control your opinion on yourself - you’re better than they say.”

This is his ultimate fantasy. He’s her lover. They travel and see the beauty of humanity together, just like what he said he wanted. He loves her. He thinks she’s so great.

He’s wrong.

She should’ve stayed with him that night.

He’s wrong.

She could’ve done so much to keep him with her.

He’s dead.

Because she should’ve stayed.

“Kiyo,” her eyes burned and began to soak, “I’m sorry!” her lungs rapidly expanded and contracted with her sporadic breaths, her hands clutching at her shirt. Her knees finally buckled and she collapsed to the ground, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry for being a stupid, stupid, stupid failure! Please… forgive me…!”

Korekiyo immediately stood up and rushed to (Y/n)’s side, bringing her into a tight hug as she fell to the floor, his fingers running through her hair. He kisses at her temple and cheeks, waiting until her cries settle enough for him to be audible in the room, “It’s interesting, dear, I first realized I’d fallen in love with you in a situation similar as this. I desired to comfort and reassure you just as I do now. You’re not stupid nor a failure, and I adore you above all else.”

Shaking her head, (Y/n) only began to cry harder into Korekiyo’s chest. This could’ve been their future. This could’ve been what they had to share and hold between only each other. If she’d only stayed. If she’d been with him that night.

“Oh, my dear, I’m sorry for upsetting you.”

“It wasn’t you,” she clamped a hand over her mouth, trying to keep back her cries, “I- I- it’s all my fault… it’s all my fault…”

“You haven’t done anything wrong, darling,” Korekiyo held her tighter, “I love you, my dearest (Y/n). No matter what you’ve done, I will always forgive you.”

And once again, her tears only came out harder. Her head pounding ruthlessly at the ache and consciousness fading out in her exhaustion. Korekiyo was dead. And no amount of her tears could ever bring him back.

[hood-ex]

So from the looks of it..Robin and Batman #1 is so far better than Seeley’s Robins?

Robins #2 is mostly cringe. The character voices, for the most part, aren't the best. Some of the diction is siiigh. I don't like the implication that Dick and Tim are the goody two-shoes while Jason and Damian are the opposite. And even though Dick proved that he wasn't, it was weird how Jason and Damian acted so surprised about it.

The Robin and Batman #1 storyline is a bit more interesting to me. I think it shows a different view to Dick's grief for his parents while also showing his doubts about living with Bruce:

Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe I never should have gone with him. But what was the alternative? At least I’m not alone anymore. When I’m alone for too long, the ghosts come.

The line, "What was the alternative?" sticks out to me since Dick didn't have a choice in where he ended up. Depending on the iteration, it was either be taken in by Bruce or stay in the orphanage/juvie.

I think it makes sense for him to question his place in Bruce's life since he's still new to the manor and also having a rough patch with Bruce over being Batman's partner. At this point, he wouldn't see himself as Bruce's son. He would be viewing himself as Batman's upcoming partner. If Bruce takes away Robin from him then what is he to Bruce? What is he supposed to do?

(That was touched on in RYO when Dick ran away from home. “You don’t want a partner. And you don’t need a son. I’m sorry I failed you.”)

So I like to see him questioning his purpose in that way.

And then it all snowballs into something worse when Alfred suggests that maybe Dick can go out into the field in a few years, and Dick is like, "That's not why I agreed to come here! That was not part of the deal!"

It seems odd that Dick "agreed" to come to the manor. That doesn't match up with him having no say on where he was placed in some other iterations.

Unless it's like Dick's first appearance in comics where he agreed to help Batman, did that, and then Bruce was like, "So you wanna head back to the circus or what?"

And Dick was like, "Nah, mom and dad would want me to continue fighting crime. And I love adventure."

Robin definitely helped Dick feel like he had a purpose in the family (and in life) rather than just being the orphan Bruce took in but didn't really interact with (depending on the iteration). So I just think it's interesting that it's implied that Dick never would have agreed to come live with Bruce if he didn't get to help in Bruce's crusade. Referring to it as a "deal" he made is a bit odd.

ANYWAYS. Dick sewing a Robin costume is kind of fun if you imagine his mom or dad teaching him how to sew in case he ever needed to sew part of his circus costume or something like that. Or maybe even if Alfred had already taught him some basic sewing stuff. But him knowing enough to sew a whole outfit for himself is... maybe a little questionable sladkja. Maaaybe. Whatever. It's not like his handmade costume is his official one.

Killer Croc recognizing Dick's costume from the circus because he was part of the circus as The Monstrous Crocodile Man is... I don't even know, really. Actually, no. I do know. I think it's just another Gotham villain somehow getting personally tied to Dick's backstory unnecessarily. Dick's already got the Owls, Raptor, and Melinda. Now we're adding Killer Croc to the list? Aight. Regardless, I'm curious to see where Waylon's storyline in this issue is going.

Oh, and about the soldier thing. Bruce referring to Dick as a soldier is something I ignore at this point. It's been a word used to describe the Robins so many times, and I've gotten to a place where I'm mentally like, "Mhmm. Kay. Moving on."

All in all, some things about this are a bit questionable, but I'm looking forward to the next issue. It's interesting since it takes place around the time that Dick was newly orphaned. And it's nice for us to get an insight into how overprotective Bruce was in the early days (even if he does come off like a bit of an asshole in the process). The art is also a plus 👌🏻.

[bluebeetle]

Continuing my quest to read (almost) every Jason comic because I am unwell. Still on pre-crisis Jason and from I understand he’s still a few issues away from the Robin costume alas... But it was the same for Tim, too; really only Dick got right to being Robin.

Batman #360

Opens with a prologue about a cop being stabbed. So... a normal day in Gotham.

Love seeing Bruce do all these lil flips without his cape. He’s definitely less acrobatic these days... I guess it’s not seen as ‘manly’ enough?  It’s been a month since the previous arc. Also, Bruce calling him Jay is always so cute, he does it a lot back in the 80s but very rarely these days. Plus, it shows they’ve gotten closer over the last month. 

Bruce gets a call from Gordon about the plot, and shoots down Jason’s attempt to be Robin and go with him. When he points out that Dick was younger than 12 when he took up the mantle, Bruce says it was a mistake.

You can always tell who isn’t very familiar with the comics by if they insist Bruce loves raising child soldiers; he almost always goes against it and doesn’t want any of the kids in danger--only real exception I can think of is Post-Crisis Jason but really I think that was just because they wanted a much shorter introduction to the new version of him, since he had already been around for a few years and had been absent from the Batman comics for a bit then because of the Batman Year One storyline. Much easier to cut to the point, especially when Jason was Robin just a few months ago, in another universe.

Bruce says child soldiers are bad, guys. Anyways, Bruce digs around for answers about the cop stabber, noting that the cops don’t really want his help as they want to take him down on their own.

Remember, Bruce: ACAB.

Yeah, it is a little sillier seeing a man dressed as a bat in broad daylight.

Anyways, Jason’s gone for the rest of the story; killer turns out to be a cop who lost his job and friends because he killed an unarmed black teenager by shooting him in the back, claiming it was self defense. This is how you know this story is fictional--that cop would be forgiven in no time in real life. The guy--Jack Crane, no relation to Scarecrow--hits his head on a pier and drowns, though, so he’s gone for good and Bruce doesn’t have to feel bad about it.

Detective Comics #627 It opens with a reprint of Detective Comics #27 from 1939--the first appearance of Batman

I love golden age art, it’s so charmingly awkward.

For anyone unfamiliar, this story is the inspiration for the Red Hood backstory for the Joker--but in the original it was on purpose and Bat-man didn’t give a shit if people died. How times change! But not the disappearing act; that is a forever trait.  This issue also includes a few retellings of the story, usually with Bruce not being at fault for the man’s death--but sometimes still calling it a fitting ending. I enjoy this one where he fishes out the man’s corpse with a really long hook:

Anyways, Jay’s not in this issue, I just thought it was a fun little thing. 

[dreamties]

Slashers Meeting Their S/O’s Parents

A/n- Requested by a very lovely anon !! <3

T/W: Suggestive Content (in Brahms' section)

Characters: Bo Sinclair, Michael Myers and Brahms Heelshire

Bo Sinclair

I think part of him is worried about meeting them. Bo's spent most of his life in Ambrose, there's a comfortable familiarity there. And since you've happened upon it, he's had to accept you into his own life. Make a place for you and him to co-exist-- but there's something daunting about letting others stay in Ambrose any longer than victims would OR leaving the town for any longer than a day or so.

Ambrose? It's safe. Outside? Who knows

Side note- it might take a lot of convincing to get him on board with this idea

If your parents live close enough- Bo will drive the of you to meet them

If not?? Well,, you get the horrible completely wonderful experience of taking this man to the airport. I think he'd fair alright, but as a general rule I would not recommend taking any of the slashers flying...:/

There's no way in hell he's letting your folks stay in his town. Lest risking it's secrets coming out....

Bo is a lot of things, but he ain't rude. Not unnecessarily so that is- he's a good southern man. And while Bo can also be a bit an asshole bastard of a man- he can put on that decent, town welcomer front as long as he needs to

He'll lay on that charm nice and thick. Maybe a little too well. Trying to be the perfect church man for your parents. They might be a little suspicious of him if he doesn't ease off on the act though

Overall your parents seem to like him alright

Your parents would definitely love to meet the rest of the family ( Vincent and Lester, and of course Jonesy, she's just as much part of the family as everyone else ) in the future...but maybe give them some time... 😂

Bo won't be too thrilled about that either...but he's feeling more comfortable to being away from home. As long he has you, maybe it'll be okay <3

Michael Myers

Michael doesn’t understand the point of meeting your parents. At All.

Besides, it is such a hassle getting him out of town, undetected, and to make up a whole damn backstory for all his scars and his life. It’s kind of insane

It’s a miracle you’ve gotten him to go, maybe it’s because he’s been promised tasty food and the fact you’ll be by his side all night....the world may never know

Thankfully, your parents live well outside of Haddonfield- and haven't heard of (or experienced) all of the terrors the town had to offer. They're familiar with the Haddonfield killer, and vaguely aware of the person behind the mask. But seeing Mr. Myers himself, in person? They would never even know it was him!

...you do have to give him a fake (last) name though...

Michael is not the type of guy you want to be bringing home to your parents.

Not because of the whole he murders people and sometimes animals thing- though that was a huge contributor- it was more so his personality. He tends to rub most people the wrong way and scare them off.

He gives off some very intense signals. His stare is very blank and disconcerting. Michael totally creeps out your parents (to no one's surprise).

For his lack of talking?? Your parents just write it off as him being super shy tho !!

Despite being on his best behavior, Michael probably won't be receiving an invitation to come back anytime soon

Brahms Heelshire

He does not want to. He figures he has everything he needs- right now, in this house, with you. and he doesn’t want anyone impeding on that life

basically anyone besides you feels like a threat. He can’t lose you, what if your parents come and try taking you from him? He’d be so hurt  :(

Anyways...

This goes for both Mikey and Brahms- they’ll have to take off their masks during the visit. More questions- that will be hard to avoid- will pop up if they go with it on.

That is a challenge all on it's own though. He's gonna throw a fit and be all upset about it- but maybe if you promise him a little something afterwards, he'll be more cooperative ;)

You ain't taking Brahms outta that house though. Your parents better be ready to come to England- Brahms is just,, not accustomed to any rules outside of what's in the manor. Also, it probably would not have been easy to sneak him out...It would've made the meeting with your parents much more difficult, is all I'll say.

You'll have to tell Brahms quite well beforehand. It takes time for him to prepare for this. He's been slowly getting more accustomed to living as an "adult" since you (permanently) moved in with him...so it won't take too much preparation.

He still has many of the mannerisms of a child, but he's slowly growing out of that.

Brahms has the ability to be a gentleman if he tries. And he really does try to be on his best behavior for dinner.

Thing is- he's very attached to you and in general is a very needy person. Your parents don't totally vibe with that- you should be able to depend on your partner as much as they depend on you and they don't totally see that when they meet Brahms.

Of course, they also don't see all the things Brahms does for you behind the curtains, he's a good listener, and a very excellent snuggle buddy, and y'know...occasionally kills people for you. Your parents don't need to know about that....

Afterwards Brahms will want nothing more than to cuddle up next to you he isn't much of a people person, and he missed all that time he could have spent with just you!! He needs to make up for that !!

also, please tell him how good he did for getting ready and following through with the dinner !! even if he really didn’t want to !!

[ladyloveandjustice]

Fall 2020 Anime Overview

I started out watching the a ton of anime for the Fall 2020 season, but then ended up not being caught up with most of them by the the time the end rolled around. I still pretty much intend to catch up with Yashahime Princess Half Demon someday (I do like the three leads, it just the plot’s been dull as dirt and the fights aren’t very inspired either) and though I dropped Wandering Witch after bad press started rolling in (I CANNOT deal with pointless tragedy in my current state of mind) I might check out a few more episodes someday just to from my own opinion. For now, let’s just quickly review the anime I DID manage to finish on time this season.

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is exactly what it says on the tin: Princess Syalis isn’t too bothered about being captured by demons and locked in their castle, but she does value a good night’s sleep, and she is absolutely ruthless when it comes to getting it- so ruthless, in fact, that the demons realized it might not be that she’s trapped in here with them, but that they’re trapped in here with her.

Sleepy Princess is top tier comedy comfort food. It rarely got a huge belly laugh, but it always but a smile on my face and was a great thing to watch before going to bed. Syalis’s single-minded search for some shut eye is a joke that could have gotten old very quickly, but the show consistently found creative ways to expand on the gags and build it’s world and a fun cast of characters along the way. 

Though Syalis is downright brutal to the demons when it comes to getting what she wants (and has a knack for getting herself killed at well), thanks to a demon cleric that offers easy resurrections, you never feel too bad for anyone involved. In fact, the demons and Syalis form a strangely heartwarming bond over the course of the show , and it’s clear by the end that Syalis definitely has the ability to come and go if she damn well pleases and just finds this castle a fun place where she can find respite from her princessly responsibilities. 

A nice bonus for those of us who like a little subversion is that the show has a lot of fun playing with standard adventure tropes- the demons often lament that Syalis is not at all what they expected from a captive princess, for one, but my favorite fun little twist is how Syalis feels about the hero currently on a (seemingly endless) quest to rescue her- she manages to both hold him in contempt AND consistently fail to remember his name. That level of disregard takes some impressive effort.

The show has the same director as the Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun anime and as such has a similarly nice comic and visual flourishes throughout. It definitely gets two sleepy thumbs up for me.

Jujutsu Kaisen

Jujutsu Kaisen follows a young man named Yuuji Itadori who, after tangling with a demon, ends up with one inside him. With a death sentence hanging over his head, he’s inducted into a school for “jujutsu sorcerers”, and begins training to use his newfound powers to defeat demons and curses.

Jujutsu Kaisen quickly tells you on no uncertain terms it is Action Shonen, introducing a huge cast of a characters and powers and super high stakes and hey there’s even gonna be a tournament arc soon. It is really, really pretty to look at, with a killer opening and ending, some seriously great animation and cool visuals for the fights especially. But is it particularly memorable otherwise? Noooooot really, so far. The sea of technobabble it tends to descend into when trying to explain how the various powers work often has me zoning out and wishing they’d just let me watch the pretty punches. The villains and the general plot isn’t particularly compelling. The characters are nice enough, but haven’t given me much to be attached to so far. Though I do appreciate this one dude who is the embodiment of millennial ennui:

I’ll keep watching though, because it is a visually stunning, action-y thing to my turn your brain off to and god knows I want to turn my brain off all the time lately. 

And the characters do have potential- the One Girl of the main group, Nobara, has a really fun personality in that she’s a total shitlord doofus brawler who can thus doof around with our equally dumbass protagonist, which is an pretty fun, unusual personality for the One Girl to have! Her interactions with Maki, the weapons expert senpai girl, are promising too. I’m just waiting for her to actually, you know, DO something that really shows off her skills- I’m told she DOES eventually get to (gasp) win fights on her own and do cool stuff, but so far show has kind at that of failed miserably and underused her like most action shonen underuse their girls. Plus, taking Yuuji out of the group for such a long stretch seems like a weird choice, we’ve been deprived really seeing him for relationships with his peers. The pacing seems off. But maybe the upcoming tournament arc will make up for that and actually be worthwhile!

Talentless Nana

In a world where kids with superpowers are sent to island schools to fight mysterious “enemies of humanity”, one class of such kids is thrown into chaos when they find themselves targeted by a deadly force.

It’s pretty much impossible to talk about Talentless Nana without discussing how it deviates dramatically from what its premise appears to be in episode one, so I’ll just say if you like stories with superpowers and intrigue, you should definitely sit through that first episode and see if the plot that’s eventually revealed is something that you’re here for. But if you want to avoid spoilers, DON’T GO BELOW THE CUT, because I’m about to get very spoilery.

Basically, Talentless Nana pulls a bait and switch, starting it’s first episode posing as generic superhero anime where the protagonist appears to be your standard meek-but-powerful anime boy (Nanao) who just needs some support and encouragement from a pink haired mind reading manic pixie dream girl (Nana) to unlock his self-confidence and ~true power~ (ugh)...only to take SHARP swerve when  Nana ruthlessly murders Nanao and reveals she’s been sent by the government to take out the superpowered kids one by one because THEY are the considered the true enemies of humanity. Oh, and she doesn’t have any superpowers, or “talents”- she was just able to sus out everything Nanao was thinking through basic deductive reasoning because he was so flippin’ obvious and basic.

As my love for a certain character in a certain game may have clued people into, I am ALWAYS delighted when what appears to be a generic, underwritten girlfriend character is then revealed to be an interesting, ruthless mastermind. And having an anime appear to be about a bland boy with a Dream Girlfriend but then actually turn into a show about a deeply cynical, morally dubious girl who’s clearly holding down a lot of messy feelings as she considers everyone her enemy...well, it may be a cheap trick to some, but it also feels a little bit like justice for all the underwritten female characters sacrificed to bland male leads. It’s still rare enough that I dig it when it happens. And the metatext of Nana zeroing in on this kid as the most standard of main character boys, assessing him as the biggest threat because of it and knowing the perfect way to take him out, is pretty inherently funny to me.

But if the show JUST banked on that twist and was about Nana brutally and cynically slaughtering these kids, it would get boring quickly and Nana would be a bland character herself. Fortunately, it doesn’t go that route. Nana struggles and grows a lot over the course of the show. She finds opposition in transfer student Kyoya, a stoic (and socially awkward) young man who pretty quickly becomes suspicious of her. A lot of the tension from the early episodes comes from her sweating as she tries to outmaneuver him and she makes plenty of mistakes along the way. She also slowly but surely starts to question her mission, and we get an idea of her backstory and how the government specifically has groomed her into believing people with powers to be evil. That belief is one that’s challenged by her friendship with another girl, and it’s pretty rewarding to watch Nana’s feelings and world expand little by little.

The show is definitely a little schlocky-some of the plots (as well as the general premise of the government thinking this is the optimal way to get rid of their superpowered kids problem) fall apart if you think too much about them, and some of the kids Nana goes up against are sleazy and unlikeable in over the top ways (which makes it easy for her to stick to her convictions all these kids deserve to die at first). In particular, I have to give a heads up for some sleazy guys doing and saying sleazy things, though the show never gets too overbearing or graphic with it (and the gore is generally PG-13 level as well). 

Basically. There are some truly ridiculous happenings in this show. But how ridiculous and pulpy and over the top it is can be part of the appeal, and it’s fun to just sit back and watch the spectacle of Nana and her peers head-scratching machinations. 

So, while certainly not an anime with airtight construction or flawless quality and depth, I found Nana an overall entertaining watch, especially as a fan of cat-and-mouse murder-y shenanigans, and thought it has a very compelling main character and managed to end on a heartwrenching (but earned) note. I definitely wouldn’t say no to a second season and would be interested to see where things go from here.

[violetfaust]

I'm interested in hearing more about why you think Margot should've been Rumbelle's daughter. Sounds interesting, but what would that mean for her enchanted forest life? I think her being Robin Hood's daughter would've been fine if not for Zelena

Okay, Nonny, since you sent this a few days before Mother's Day, I'm gonna finally take the opportunity to try to sum up and speed-run the Belle's Daughter Margot feelings that have haunted me for THREE YEARS. Buckle in; this will be more than you or anyone asked for.

Disclaimer 1: It's been, well, three years, so my memory of Curious Archer and their story is not perfect; could be off on some details here. And Disclaimer 2: I really loved Tiera Skovbye as Robin/Margot; she did a lot with not much screen time, and she and Rose had fabulous chemistry. So although she was well cast as Robin Sr.'s kid, Tiera would be perfectly believable as a Rumbelle daughter, too--maybe give her some low-lights and call it a day. We keep Tiera as Margot in this rewrite. Okay: onward.

(Since one of the few things that would have to change about Robin if she were Rumbelle’s daughter is her name, I’ll just mostly use her Hyperion Heights name “Margot” throughout this post for simplicity.)

First and foremost, the foundation of everything: Margot is so like Belle! She is so like her. They have the same love of adventure, a similar sense of humor. She took Alice on a date to a bookstore. Most of all, she has Belle’s ability to see past “the mask of the monster” to a person’s heart. There was a great scene where Tilly explained that she didn’t want Margot to see her “bad days” because she thought it would be “too much,” and Margot said words to the effect that she was there for the bad as well as the good.

Obviously, people don't have to grow up to be exactly like their parents (Belle and Rumple sure didn't)...BUT. In fiction, one of the fun parts of next-gen stories is for the audience to see how their favorites' personalities are passed down. It's just more fun to see a Henry who has parts of Regina/Emma/Neal than one who doesn't; it's fun to see Lucy resemble little Henry. And it would be fun to see Margot be like her parents (she is very like Robin Sr; not so much Zee). Seeing a character who has so many of Belle's traits becomes just more...fun...when she learned them FROM Belle.

The family feud Rumple/Hook angle turns Alice and Margot’s relationship up another roman tic notch. A classic trope! It’s about reconciliation and love remaking and erasing those old grudges. Which is even more important when we’re supposed to believe that the evidence of Rumple’s final redemption is his saving Rook.

On a more macro level: the entire claim that OUAT is "a show about hope" COLLAPSES because it ends with the annihilation of the Stiltskin family. Rumple, Belle, and Neal are all dead; Henry doesn’t acknowledge them as his family; and Gideon is a friendless and forgotten orphan in another world. I did my rants about this three years ago, but long story short: the show’s not about hope unless it’s hopeful for EVERYONE. And having at least one of Rumbelle’s children alive and happy at the end (with her True Love and friends and acknowledged as part of the family) would fix that. My objection has never been that Rumple (and even Belle) die, but the way it happened.

And of course, Rumbelle needed to have at least one other child because Kitsowitz managed to deny them even one single shared happy moment surrounding Belle’s pregnancy with Gideon and his birth. Even if the audience didn’t get to see it (and we could have gotten a glimpse in Beauty), we deserved to know it happened.

Finally: Zelena did not belong in S7, period. I know it was fun for her fans! (Although apparently there weren't enough of them to positively affect the ratings, meow.) I do know! But it was bad storytelling. She served no point in the larger season arc, and the serial witch killer plot that was invented to serve her was one of the worst and most stupid things Kitsowitz came up with in seven years, and ate up time that could/should have gone to develop other characters. (Driz and Ana come immediately to mind, instead of having them shunted off to another universe, but also Henry/Cinda/Lucy and of course Rumple since his plot was coming to a close.) Zelena didn’t even get any significant growth herself, or develop her relationships with Regina or Robin. She still didn’t express regret for the horrible things she did to characters we love (Rumple, Neal, and Robin Sr.); the only result of all that screentime was to give an unrepentant rapist a love story with a person--we barely see and have zero investment in. And even that was ultimately negated at the end of the season, because in the finale Zee’s back in Storybrooke sans Boo Bear.

So, all that said: what would have to change about Margot’s, and Curious Archer’s, FTL storyline to give us Margot Gold?

Her name—but actually very little else. (And frankly it would have been more respectful to have Belle name her daughter after Robin Sr., who was actually her friend, than for Zee to name her kid after the man she raped, manipulated, and ultimately got killed—but that ship had sailed.)

Belle and Rumple could have given their daughter any number of fairytale names after people they know, aka fresh take on a Disney character. My favorite possibilities are Aurora (and then Curious Archer could have been Curious Beauty, and done a riff on the Sleeping Beauty story as part of their FTL backstory, with a built-in TLK) and Merlin (very pretty for a girl, I’ve always thought).

But the character herself would have been very much the same: she could be Rumbelle’s jock daughter, trained in archery and swordsmanship by family friends (Merida/Mulan/Charming), but always feeling out of place in her family of scholars/sorcerers/nerds.

I am SO sorry for the length of this--there's even more under this cut!

Robin/Margot felt insecure about trying to live up to her father’s name; Rory/Merlin/Margot could have similar anxieties trying to live down her father’s Dark One rep. There could even be a similar story where she was born with magic (like Robin was) but loses it or chooses to give it up—something that would estrange her further from her family. Or, if she was Merlin, she could keep her magic but be reluctant to use it, and part of Curious Archer’s Hyperion Heights arc would be both Margot and Tilly discovering and accepting their magic. (Sapphic sorceresses for the win.)

Now, one of the cutest things about Alice/Robin’s FTL dynamic was Robin being a girl from the Land Without Magic finding her feet in an enchanted forest, with Alice’s help. But it would only take a little finessing of S7 Rumbelle’s story to get that for Rory as well. (Of course, any decent story would have a LOT of finessing of Rumbelle’s plot so that Belle didn’t die and put Rumple on a suicide mission, but again—assuming the ship has sailed…)

Say that Rory is five to six years younger than Gideon. The Rumbelle family spend a dozen years or so traveling the realms, but then Rumbelle decide that they want Gideon and Rory to be comfortable in the LWoM with their extended Charming family, so they settle back into the Pink Palace so the kids can get a LWoM education. They still take occasional journeys, often Rumbelle going to save some hapless souls, but Rory grows up primarily in SB with very few, vague memories of all the fascinating places they visited when she was a small child. This feeds her hunger for adventure along with some envy of Gideon for having so many more fairytale experiences—another thing that makes her feel like a misfit in her family. So, presto, when she moves to FTL she and Alice have pretty much the same meeting/adventures.

One of the key notes of Rumple and Alice/Tilly's relationship, showing his growth and making it so special, was how he chose to set her free of being the Guardian or whatever, allowing her to be free and get what he never had, the chance to grow old with the woman she loves. And that would be weakened if Rumple knew that by choosing Alice's happiness over his own, he was also choosing his own daughter's happiness (because we know Rumple picks his kids over himself ever time). But--he doesn't have to know WHO Alice's True Love is when he makes that choice. He could just know that there is someone, or simply realize that Alice deserves her freedom for her own sake. (Rumple's daughter also getting happiness would be a side benefit that he didn't learn about till later, and have the added perk of Rumple actually getting a narrative reward for doing something good. Which almost NEVER happened! Bonus.)

Finally: I do understand that Robin's presence on the canvas was important to fans of Robin Sr.--getting to know he's remembered and having someone carry on his legacy. Of course I get it--Rumbelle and their family not having that is my biggest complaint (of so so many).

But we don't need a grown-up Robin Jr. to be Robin's legacy. Let her stay a cute background kid with perennially baby Prince Neal. There's already a character, one we're invested in, to carry on for the Hoods: Roland. And again, it would be satisfying for the audience to learn that a five-year-old orphan wasn't shunted off from what family he had left (Regina and Henry) into another universe and never heard from again. If Kitsowitz didn't waste time with Zelena, they wouldn't have needed the idiotic Jack-is-Hansel-the-serial-killer twist, and we could have have had Roland filling the role of Henry's best friend/little brother (and therefore Lucy's fake HH dad--God, that plot was bad all the way back in season 1; why Kitsowitz why?). We'd see Roland onscreen, part of the family, at the end of the show, perhaps with his own True Love (Drizella, maybe, or better yet Gideon) and happy future.

So, that's it: the combination of Margot Stiltskin-Gold and Roland Hood tightens and heightens the storytelling throughout S7, closes some plot holes, and actually fulfills some of the show's stated themes. Who knew!

Anyone else want three years of OUAT theory vomit? 😋 Shoot me an ask!

(I actually have another one, god help us all, but I might save it till Father's Day...)

[lindwyrmrelinquished]

So....what are some of your headcanons for Ranbutler?

OHHHHHHHHHH BUDDY, YOU ARE OPENING YOURSELF TO A WHOLE NEW CAN'O'BEANS HERE

OKAY SO FIRST OF ALL-

(everything else under the cut because there is a L O T )

Butler's human form is predominant(which unfortunately means he does not have a tail :(), but he can make Ender noises/speak Galactic. He's got a bunch of stims and tics, and making the Ender noises is one of them! He often makes them to fill the silence, or in times of high emotion(positive or negative. just imagine a Butler bouncing on his toes while excited Ender chirps keep coming out of his mouth, or he's rambling about something and half of it is layered with Galactic). Following from that, Butler has something that Billiam calls the "monochrome form". If he's under high levels of stress, whatever dark tint of color is in his right side will start spiking into the left side, making his skin darker(and, if he has enough color in his skin from NOT FUCKING OVERWORKING HIMSELF, it can get dark enough to blend into shadows) and spreading from the little black scales on his neck and cheeks and hands(which are already claws, that's why he wears gloves), and if he's really stressed/pissed, little horns are gonna start poking out of his skull and he's gonna be completely gray/black, his teeth are already deadly but they're gonna get sharper and if you look him in the eyes he will s c r e a m and very likely tear you apart if Billiam isn't there to hold him back/calm him down.

Speaking of! Butler very much dislikes eye contact. It makes them extremely uncomfortable and the Ender part is gonna start screaming to attack attack attack and the pupil-slit thing is gonna happen. Unfortunately, he's frozen by the eye contact and cannot move of his own free will, it's all going to be instinct to either get away or attack, if he moves at all. And the moment the eye contact is broken, he starts to calm down and all the screaming in his head starts to dissipate, so he doesn't really get the chance to consciously act on the Ender side's instinct.

NEXT OF ALL, throwing canon out the window and saying BILLIAM AND BUTLER ARE FOUND-FAMILY. The way they acted in the episode is just that, an act. In reality, they actually Care each other Very Very Much and have adopted each other into their respective hybrid groups(i.e Endermen have their hauntings, Piglins have their sounders{that part's not canon to mc but i yoinked it from a fic}). Hubert jokes about how Billiam accidentally adopted Bu as his son, but both Bu and Bi deny this. Hubert also got Liaria and James in on the joke and now these two are being constantly triple-teamed.

ON THAT NOTE Liaria and James know about the Egg. It happened at the tail end of Bu's first masquerade when they started accusing Billiam of committing all the murders, and Bu kind of panicked and outed himself as the killer, he pulled out the knife and everything. Billiam admitted that he knew about this, and showed them the Egg as explanation. Now Liaria and James willingly give up their bought lives to the Egg on the regular(we might get into the lives thing later{it was also something i yoinked from a fic, and then I gave it more explanation}) to keep Billiam and his family alive, but they're not all that affected by it due to not even being near it half the time.

AND ON THAT NOTE, let's talk about Butler's relationship with the Egg! Bad. It's bad. Absolutely terrible, the two despise each other immensely. I like to say they're the closest thing to caliginous that a teenaged hybrid that lived off spite and an ancient crimson demon can be. The Egg's hurt Bu a lot, and honestly that's part of the reason his contempt and fear for it is so high. But that's also part of the reason why Billiam was pulled out of its influence despite living right above it. Because he cares for Bu, a literal child that's suffered severe mental and physical trauma at the hands(well, vines) of the Egg. Honestly? Billiam wouldn't be the way he is now if he didn't have to take trips to the Nether. Short explanation, too much time away from their home realm gets hybrids really really sick. So, about a few months or so after Bu arrived, he had to yeet back there for a week and just told Butler and Hubert to take care of the mansion. And you know what Hubert did, that bitch? He took advantage of both Billiam's absence and Butler's skill and pampered himself while throwing the entire load onto the child. And then like halfway through the week, he got the idea to introduce said child to the Egg, who before then has had no idea it ever existed aside from the crimson red aura around the mansion(it's a whole thing about Endermen and magic but again, another thing I might get into later). He hadn't even attended a party before then. So, yeah, Hubert just left him down in one of the old cells for three days. Didn't even check on him, that bitch. And then when Billiam game back, suffice to say he was PISSED. He may be a rich bastard who causes murders biweekly, but even he has standards, and hurting a damn 7-8 year old child that bad was not one of them. he can't be held responsible for child labor, bu followed him home by his own choice. again, another whole backstory thing

Bu's genderfluid! He usually switches between he/him and they/them, and the direction he nods is a little indicator of which one(up for gender, down for no), but sometimes he uses she/her. Adding on that, due to Weird Enderman Genetics, he can manipulate his hair to grow real fast and likes to experiment with it in the mornings for Maximum Gender Euphoria This means that one day his hair could be barely touching his neck, and the next it's all the way down to his waist. It's a fun little anomaly and sometimes Billiam likes to play with it when it gets longer :3 travelling on the lgbt train, Bu is also ace/aro! This doesn't have much impact story-wise(usually), but it's just a fun little tidbit :3 On other, more Ender notes, he has pretty much all the traits an Enderman does, even if he looks fully human aside from being 6 inches taller than Sir Billiam himself. With the eye-contact thing, I've got a headcanon that Endermen can kind of read minds to an extent if they look into another entity's eyes, but it gets loud and borderline painful if anything but another Enderman does the same. Meanwhile, Bu's about the perfect mix of an Enderman and a Human(later called Players and Villagers depending on their capabilities) to be able to take at least a few seconds of eye contact. He can also teleport! To about the same extent as Endermen, if not a little less. Unfortunately, spending too much time in the void between teleportations(i.e a few hours for him, though an hour in the void is a minute in reality. It's why teleporting happens in the blink of an eye to anyone but the user) has some adverse effects. Bu's either glitched, gotten some sort of void-sickness like a flu but worse, and/or lost large chunks of memory each of the separate times he stuck himself in there for too long. Pure-blooded Endermen have a longer tolerance, but even they can succumb to the void with enough time.

Bu's also hurt by water, and the first time Billiam really figured this out is when he dragged him to the roof because it was raining and for some reason, Bi really likes the rain. Bu, on the other hand, was hospitalized for a day once Billiam actually realized, "oh, he's burning" Unfortunately, Bu can still produce tears, so he's got some scars on his cheeks and hands from those, Luckily, though! Billiam got him some gloves and a facemask reminiscent of cc!Ranboo to hide those scars because bu's. really self-conscious about them :,D

But also he's got TOE BEANS,

[ahem] So Endermen are basically giant block-holding teleporting cats and no one can convince me very much otherwise. So on the one hand, they have giant hands shaped for holding blocks. On the other hand, T O E B E A N S

So Bu's got beans on the pads of his fingers and feet(which also end in claws with a black gradient because Peak Character Design <3). Billiam likes to hold his hands on the rare occasion he doesn't wear his gloves because mans likes to stim with those toe beans. Meanwhile Billiam himself has nicely-textured hands because of his Piglin hooves and Bu also likes to stim with them, so just. them holding each others hands for mutual stimmage

[ahem] anyway

Bu stims!! He flaps his hands and does thing really rapidly and harshly when he's really high-strung, which doesn't happen often, at least in front of people. Boy's got anxiety so he's had his fair share of panic attacks :,D he just knows how to disguise them so people don't see, but Billiam knows the signs at this point. But he also has a lot of vocal stims/tics, mainly lots of Enderman noises, some popping and a little screechy thing here and there. Sometimes he picks up a sound and then repeats it a whole bunch because it feels nice on the tongue :] there's also these poofs of particles that happen when he's happy, they look like mini purple fireworks and they're like an expulsion of magic, he can feel when they happen and it feels nice :]

(cw for self-harm in this paragraph and the followed copy-pasted convo)

[ahemhemhem] So y'know how Butler's an Ender-hybrid? His hands and feet reflect that(along with the ears, the eyes, the height, the abilities, but we're talking about about the hands here). Part of why he keeps those gloves on almost 24/7 is to dull his claws, which are not so much an intentional danger to others rather than an unintentional danger to himself. He's got tics and stims and is very neurodivergent and has anxiety(me projecting? noooo /hj), so he gets very nervous very easily. And one of his nervous habits rather than wringing his hands, fidgeting, and (if really bad)a heightened amount of tics, he tends to scratch at his arms. His claws can tear through the fabric easily, and more than one or two suits have been sent back to the tailors for repairs to the sleeves. However, having both padded sleeves and padded gloves nullifies that, so he always wears them special-made. If he didn't have that habit, he likely wouldn't have the gloves on as often as he does.

Friend Hey good headcanons 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀 Also ohhhh my god Billiam fussing over him and his gloves until he gets them to be the right amount of padded where Bu can still do things but also not hurt himself

Me gbfhdgbhgsfhbgsfdhdf He keeps examining them every time the tailors try but it doesn't feel right until That Specific Try so he just plops the gloves back on the counter and says "Do it again"

Friend They spend an entire day doing nothing but making gloves while Billiam & Hubert take turns watching Butler to make sure he stays safe

Me Absolutely Problem is Butler can feel eyes on him. And eyes make him nervous :,) so when he gets nervous. he starts to scratch at his arms again and anxiety is too much for him to ask them to stop watching him

Friend It ends up with them just having to hold his hands, looking at random things (they can go sit on the balcony or something so they have something pretty to look at)

Me That hold on actually that's adorable-

Friend Fhhdjdjdjsjsj they're friends your honor

Me Absolutely Even Hubert contributes to keeping him safe. And Hubert's afraid of even being near Butler

Friend And then we get bonding via the oh no Billiam is busy and Hubert has to take care of Bu for the next 3 hours

Me GHDSFGSHFGS THAT IS A GREAT IDEA Butler insists he can do everything himself, nothing's different about the routine, and then he has a mental breakdown when he tries to make food without anyone else in the kitchen- Cause usually Hubert's there, even if he's making something else. There's at least another presence, and that's the sort of thing that's calming for Bu. But Hubert's off setting up the table for lunch/dinner or something and Butler makes One minor slip-up and spirals from there until he's struggling even handling spice mixing The same thing happened with cookies one time, and both times Hubert found him borderline unable to function because he panicked too much and helped him out of it.

Friend Butler is just curled up in the kitchen, trying to have a quiet panic attack because he can't cause the others any more trouble than he already is, and Hubert is very quietly upset about helping him because he was doing so good at avoiding Bu but here he is again being the only thing that's letting this kid breathe

Me Absolutely

Friend Do you think Bu passes out on him? Like Hubert (probably reluctantly) gives Butler a hug cause those help, and Bu was just supposed to stay there until he felt better, but panic attacks are exhausting and he fell asleep at some point-

Me Oh my gods he would though, especially with the amount of sleep he gets He'd have to try so hard to even stay conscious, much less do things in the manner he usually does, and Hubert just quietly tells him that it's okay to sleep; he'll take care of everything. Hu never forgets that of course Bu's always in danger around him - he has fleeting thoughts and quite often knows how to act on them - but he stands up holding an exhausted child and takes him to his room so he can rest. Butler may want him to stay; Endermen usually want someone around when sleeping. It's the security of having someone watch for nightmares, but Hubert doesn't stay. He has to go back to the kitchen and finish that meal Bu was making. But if he's still asleep by the time Hu's done with everything, he might linger outside his door, listening in for anything bad.

(Okay the cw is over now, you may now go back to your regularly scheduled content :,D)

Also, one last thing: Billiam gives Butler a bunch of gold things(including the masquerade mask) because that's what Piglins do with their sounders, they cover them in gold to show they care. And after Bu finding out the reason why Billiam's been handing off a bunch of gold things to him he does not cry, because that would hurt his face, but he does feel quite a lot of things that make him want to because holy shit Billiam feels the same

Butler is Billiam's sounder and Billiam is Butler's haunting, they are family your honor