#although I like them in a qpr way

[summershouto]

Hi hi hi hiiiii do you have a favorite One Piece duo?

HMMMMMMMMM this is really hard. but my gut instinct is to say zoro and luffy

theyre just. two idiots.

ones always lost yet they found each other <3 their trust in each other is unmatched... zoro's been there since DAY ONE and he's never looked back

[ser-res]

i heard it was kist day :D

<3

killer - rahafwabas

dust/murder - ask-dusttale

[wren-kitchens]

no big deal (i love you)

2598 words

etho is in joel's house. it should probably be a little more alarming than it actually is, considering the fact that it is two in the morning and joel definitely did not invite him here. however, if it means he gets to make fun of etho for being so obsessed with him that he broke into his house, he'll take it. in all honesty, he is a little offended that etho hasn't already come to pester him—it's not like they’re soulmates or anything. if joel was in etho's house in the middle of the night, the first thing he would do is go to pester etho.

hello i'm back on my bullshit I love qpr boat boys

this took me like. idek how long but it was several months LOL

etho is in joel's house.

it should probably be a little more alarming than it actually is, considering the fact that it is two in the morning and joel definitely did not invite him here. however, if it means he gets to make fun of etho for being so obsessed with him that he broke into his house, he'll take it. in all honesty, he is a little offended that etho hasn't already come to pester him—it's not like they’re soulmates or anything. if joel was in etho's house in the middle of the night, the first thing he would do is go to pester etho.

oh- joel should probably tell you how he knows that etho is here, huh. well, let's be honest, the guy is not subtle. joel has practically memorised the way his claws scratch against wooden floors as he walks from the amount of times etho would pace in double life; when everything else is silent, etho's claws are deceptively loud. for a little while, joel didn't understand why etho wouldn’t use his claws like weapons, until he asked one day only to be told (slightly sheepishly) that he trims them because he hates the way they scratch against metal or diamond boots. honestly, joel gets it—he’s always been secretly pleased about the no-helmet rule in the life series; he would much rather sacrifice protection if it meant he didn't have to squish his ears underneath a helmet.

anyway, it's obvious that etho is attempting to be sneaky and failing miserably, but joel is yet to discover why he’s trying to be sneaky. he expected etho to- well, he’s not sure what he expected, but it wasn't whatever he’s doing right now. although, he also didn't expect etho at his house this late (early?), so it's kind of all up in the air anyway.

on that note, joel has no idea what to do. is it more awkward to pretend he doesn't know etho is here, or to go look for etho and ask what he's doing? honestly, joel kind of just wants to go find him and drag him into bed but- void, even saying that is embarrassing. no- there's no way he’s gonna do anything like that- pretend he didn't even say anything. joel regrets even mentioning it. despite how embarrassing it is, however, the problem remains that etho is definitely in his house, and joel has no idea why.

well, only one way to find out.

grumbling to himself about the blankets being way warmer than the outside world and why etho couldn’t wait until the sun had come up to come poking about, joel drags himself out of his bed and begins the hunt for etho. well- he pauses, grabs a blanket to wrap around his shoulders, and thenbegins the hunt for etho. honestly, why couldn't etho be more outgoing—the guy is way too reclusive to be friends with joel. not that joel is known for being introverted but- oh, you know what he means. 

it doesn’t take long to find etho—he’s curled up against a bookshelf near joel's bedroom, apparently trying to drift off. when he spots joel, he practically jumps out of his skin. 

"joel! you- did i wake you?" etho scrambles to his feet, looking uncharacteristically nervous. joel frowns at it. "i’m- I was just-" 

"are you okay?" joel realises after he says it that perhaps he was a little blunt, but- okay, in his defence, he has just woken up. "I mean- you seem.. uh, not okay."

smooth.

etho's ear flicks in what joel recognises as anxiety, hands clasped together as if to keep them from trembling. "me? oh- i’m perfectly fine! peachy even- y’know." 

joel tilts his head, more worried than he'd like to admit. "you- okay, so." his mind races as he tries to find something to say that won't put etho more on edge. "I- you say i’m obsessed with you, but- y’know, it looks a little like you’re obsessed with me right now."

"oh- no, no, that- I was just- taking build inspiration!" etho says hurriedly, and something about his posture seems slightly more relaxed. "it's nothing like that. in fact- I noticed that you kept that shirt with my face on, which- I mean, I don’t know, that looks pretty obsessed to me."

annoyingly, joel feels his face flush. "wh- okay, you let me keep it."

etho's eyes soften. "it- well. it suits you." joel's ear flicks unconsciously, and etho seems to realise how sappy he just was, because he turns pink and tacks on, "you- just- the shirt- it's oversized, and- you were saying how you liked them. uh- that one time."

joel can't quite suppress a smile at the fact that etho remembered one offhand comment he made two years ago. "whatever you say, etho." it takes a moment (and etho turning even pinker) for joel to realise how fond his voice was. "it- i’m making fun of you. not- y’know."

there's a spark of what joel can only describe as evil in etho's eyes, and he says, "whatever you say joel." with more smugness than he frankly deserves.

"you- no, you broke into my house, you don't get to make fun of me." joel says, indignant. clearly, his soulmate is the worst person in the world, because all etho does is poorly disguise a laugh as a cough.

"it isn’t breaking in if all your doors are open." etho grins. joel is a little annoyed at how well his plan has worked, because whilst he was trying to get etho more relaxed, he did not mean this relaxed.

joel raises an eyebrow, both exasperated and embarrassingly fond. "you haven't said why you broke in."

etho's expression shifts from amusement to anxiety in a matter of seconds, and joel is kind of impressed. "I- well, is that-  important?"

"you- since you asked like that, yeah." joel says, a little worried. whilst etho is pretty awful at actually disguising his emotions, usually he doesn't actually do anything about them unless something is very wrong. "I- y’know, don’t get me wrong, it's not- i’m not mad about it, but. are you alright?"

etho hesitates, looking as if he might try to make a run for it before sighing. he sits back down against the bookshelves, and joel takes the opportunity to sit next to him. "it's not even- it's barely a problem." etho glances at him. "as you would say, it's very dumb." 

joel scoffs, smiling a little. "then I guess it's my job to say that it's not dumb if it's upsetting you." he bumps his shoulder against etho's, who looks a little less anxious now. "what is it?"

there's a pause, in which joel can practically hear etho's brain working to phrase it in a somewhat normal way. "I- it's all-" he gives an exasperated huff. "since we- since double life, I keep getting these.. i’d call them dreams, but they’re really just nightmares." etho pulls his knees to his chest, and joel frowns in worry. "and they’re always something like- like we've won, but now I have to kill you. or you die and i’ve- i’m still there."

joel feels his breath hitch as the weight of those words hit him. "oh."

"so I just- I had to make sure," etho says, quiet. "that it- it was just a dream."

"etho." joel murmurs, resting his hand on etho's knee. etho takes his hand and squeezes. "I hope you know you’re not getting rid of me that easily."

etho gives the barest smile, and rubs a thumb against joel's hand. "I do."

"like, you’re gonna want me dead before i’m going anywhere." joel leans against etho's side in what he hopes is a nonchalant manner, but knows probably isn’t. 

etho makes a noise of contentment, and joel no longer cares about nonchalance actually. "that's unlikely." he says. joel is about to object when etho adds, "I don't think I could ever want you to leave me alone."

joel's tail begins to wag without his say, and he hurriedly grabs it before it embarrasses him too much. etho snorts and he elbows him.

"i’d miss that, for a start." etho says, and joel rolls his eyes.

"I wouldn’t." he huffs, no heat behind it. embarrassing or not, etho likes it, and that's a redeeming quality for anything. because he’s normal. 

etho gives a quiet laugh. "yeah- that's kinda why." he mutters, more to himself than to joel—who elbows him in the ribs and grins as he protests.

joel is quiet for a moment, debating whether what he wants to say is actually worth saying or not. eventually, he decides on, "you know- if you need, i’m not gonna.. kick you out, or anything. you can wake me up. if- if something happens again."

etho nods, staring at his lap. "yeah. I just-" he hesitates, and joel rubs a thumb idly across the back of his hand. "i’m starting to feel like you." he gives a laugh, and joel rolls his eyes fondly. "I didn’t realise just how- it's hard."

"yep." joel says flatly. "you get used to it, after a bit. it gets easier."

"can it get easier now?" etho says, grinning, and joel snorts. 

theres a little pause, and joel shifts a little, getting more comfortable. honestly, etho is surprisingly effective as a cushion—you wouldn't expect it, but he is. who needs a bed when you have a soulmate, is he right?

"are you-" etho starts, and joel looks up to see his eyes crinkle in the way they do when he’s trying not to smile. "is- are you using me as a pillow?"

"yep." joel says, shuffling closer. "I had to get out of bed for this."

etho snorts, wrapping an arm around him. "I see how it is."

they lapse into silence again, and joel finds himself wanting to ask something that he knows he would never be able to bring himself to say out loud. the irony is not lost on him- why is there no easy way to embarrass yourself? could he not just- turn his brain off whilst he’s asking and deal with the aftermath later? that seems so much easier than sitting here and trying to just say the stupid thing. it should not be nearly as difficult as it is.

come on. just- say the stupid thing, and then he'll have said it- it's not even bad. he’s, like- almost entirely sure that etho will say yes- he always does. this is so dumb. okay, just-

"do you-" joel manages, apparently startling etho with his suddenness, and- honestly, that alone is worth saying it. "it- 'cause I doubt we're gonna get much sleep on the floor. do you want to- um." he gives a huff of exasperation. "do you know what I mean?"

"I know what you mean." etho says, fonder than he probably wanted to sound, before- "I would love to sleep with you, joel." he says, far too smug for joel's liking.

"you- that's not what I mean." joel splutters, and etho laughs at him. "you’re so rude, etho- I can’t believe i’m helping you right now."

etho is still laughing to himself when he says, "I- really, though. I do- I get what you mean- and I do want to." he hesitates, and joel almost frowns.

"what?" he says, anxiety beginning to creep into his throat.

"I- well." etho pauses, before pulling joel a little closer to him, who almost laughs as he realises what the problem is. "i’m not. uncomfortable right now." 

joel grins at him. "it's not- this isn't exclusively a floor activity. I can hug you somewhere that's actually comfortable." 

faster than joel can process, etho pulls his mask down and kisses the top of his head. "fine, we can move." he pushes himself to his feet, a smirk evident in his voice. 

"you-" joel blinks, watching etho try (very obviously) not to laugh as he scrambles to regain logical thought. he can feel his tail begin to wag again, but he's far too focused on this to try and stop it. "why would you-"

etho shrugs, still grinning as he helps joel off the floor. "I- well, 'cause you do that." he says in a voice that's just a little too sincere to be teasing. "your smile is- it- y’know. 's nice." etho gets quieter and quieter as he speaks, apparently realising how mushy he’s become.

"you like my smile?" joel tries to pull off a smug smirk, but if etho's expression is anything to go by, it's also far mushier than he wants it to be. "aw, etho." he teases, watching with fond amusement as etho turns visibly pink under the mask. 

"that- we are going to bed!" etho declares loudly, pulling joel into a one-armed hug as he cackles. "i’m never gonna bring that up again." etho mumbles to himself, apparently forgetting that joel can definitely hear him still.

joel finds himself leaning into etho as they walk, who squeezes him gently. "you’re such a sap." he grins, pointedly ignoring the way his own tail is still wagging. "it's funny."

etho knocks his hip into joel's. "like you’re not." he says, and joel can hear the smile in his voice. 

"well," joel says, a little quieter than he'd usually be. "it's you." he turns, looking very pointedly anywhere but etho's face.

there's a little pause in which joel can only assume that etho is using to prepare the teasing he will undoubtedly get for the rest of his life, when etho finally lands on, "you- that's- you mean that?"

joel scoffs. "'course I do." he says, seriously hoping that his false nonchalance reads as real. "I- y’know, i’m not gonna- i’m-" he watches as etho's expression goes from anxiety to amusement and huffs, giving up on the pretence. "yeah."

etho pulls him a little closer. "nerd." is all he says, and he laughs as joel splutters in indignation. "sorry, sorry, I- it was too perfect." he grins, and joel scoffs. "I- y’know. I care about you too."

joel leans into him. "I do. know, that is." he smiles to himself a little. "y’know- soulmates and everything."

"yeah." etho presses a kiss into joel's hair, who gives a huff of embarrassed appreciation. "soulmates is a good word for it."

as they reach the bed, etho seems to hesitate a little, and joel—not one for awkward moments—practically yanks him in, laughing as he makes a very surprised squawky noise. after a second of complaining, etho curls up next to joel, who immediately begins to use him as a pillow again. what? he’s comfortable. nothing like a cushion who hugs you back whilst making snarky jokes about you being obsessed (which are obviously false. obviously).

"just to say," joel says, intentionally very casual. "if I got, like- I don’t know, booted from hermitcraft and couldn't see you again, i’d find a way back." he shifts a little, picking at his nails. "nothing could stop me- you know this."

etho is quiet for a moment, and joel is a little worried he overstepped, until- "I love you too, joel."

joel looks up to find etho's mask off, and the man in question smiling just a bit too knowingly at him. "yeah- well." he turns back to his nails. "love you." he mumbles, turning pink.

etho pulls him closer, and joel gets the impression that he wasn't sure joel was actually going to say it back. 

idiot.

[cindersnows]

all devils break down

(green<qpr>purple)

You beam into the mirror, inspecting your hair one last time. It never seems to stay fully flat, but at least your bedhead is gone!

Your outfit is good too. A nice sweater jacket fitting for the spring breeze, as well as your usual black top and some blue jeans. Nothing that screams "trying too hard". This is supposed to be casual, after all. You did think very hard on the colors, though— you considered a pink sweater due to the comfort the color gave you and how cherry blossom forests are super pink, but then remembered that one experiment the humans had done about pink as a color slowly stressing inmates out. Maybe blue, but then you'd blend in with the sky too much, and you don't really have any good blues that don't clash with your jeans. Orange doesn't really look good on you, as much as you love the color, and yellow makes you look weird and desaturated. Not that being desaturated is bad, of course, but something cooler brings out your complexion more. Ultimately, you went with a pale green, something that would still stand out while also blending with the grass. Plus, Green really likes the color green. Self absorbed much?

So. Yeah. Not overthinking it at all!

You double-check your inventory, and then climb down the ladder, heading for the nearby portal. This is going to be great! With the picture Green sent, it looks like he put a lot of effort into the picnic too, so there's no way the feeling isn't mutual. You just have to trust him!

You should've noticed with when you arrived and found no picnic basket. Honestly, you should've noticed when he invited you for a picnic. It's clearly revenge for the prank you played on him with Red— how did he find out you planned it? Did she tell him? Did it piss him off? You thought the two of you were on good terms, but you suppose he was just keeping up a ruse so that it'd hurt more when he "pranked" you back.

Smart.

The word is bitter on your tongue. It's also hot on your tongue, as well as the flecks of lava that entered your mouth when you screamed. Rookie mistake, honestly. You automatically pull out a bucket of water, one that you usually keep around to stop yourself from getting hurt when you crash-land, and you splash it over the lava, trying to get the source. Nothing; Obsidian forms and the lava quickly drowns out all the water.

The liquid burns at your legs. It's not a slow sort of deterioration as one would expect, but jabs of sharp pain every few seconds, as if you're just being stabbed over and over, and you're not sure whether that's better or worse.

Your health's down to two hearts now. Green's holding up his phone and recording, his back turned to you. Still, you know he can see you.

You hope the camera captures your watery glare. You're sure that's what he wants.

You feel your stomach drop, and for a second there's confusion, before your vision goes black and you're back in your bed. His laughs still echo in your ears.

You've been watching his videos, of course. Eagerly liking each one, although you share your comments with him over text. He's responded with enthusiasm to each one. He'll probably post this shit as a video too, and his stupid mindless fans will flock to compliment him without even thinking.

You don't think you'll send him a message for this next one though.

You want to take some sort of revenge, go to his PC and knock his lights out in front of his friends, or maybe destroy his instruments to spite him. You try to recall that hatred you felt back after you'd first met him and gotten kicked out of the village, the anger that propelled you for months to beat him up in League.

There's nothing, though. Instead of fire, you just feel some cold disappointment. There's a numbness in your chest.

You remain where you respawn. For some reason, it's hard to move. It's hard to do anything other than think, and even then, your thoughts feel a little muffled. Like someone else is thinking them for you. 

But hey. At least it makes it easier for you to think logically? Mango would commend you for this, honestly. You're keeping your temper!

You take a look at the facts.

Number one: You helped Red plan a prank on Green. You thought this was normal for friends, but you guess not. It's not like you're very good and figuring out when your friends will be upset anymore.

Number two: Green got upset about this.

Number three: What if it wasn't about the prank, though? Maybe he was just waiting for an excuse to hurt you?

Number four: Even if he wanted to hurt you, it's okay, because you deserve it. You hurt him first, and then again, and then again. He's allowed to hate you. He's allowed to hurt you. It's not like you're not used to it.

Number five: But didn't he forgive you for that? You told him why you did it. You said sorry. You said you were bad. You wear your horns, a reminder that you messed up. He knows that.

Number six: But did he really forgive you? He never said the words "I forgive you." He said to fight back against King.

Number seven: He never said the words "I forgive you."

Number eight: He just needed you on his side so he could win. He didn't care about how you actually felt.

Number nine: None of your friends actually care about you. They only tolerate you because Green told them to. Green only told them to because he wants you on his side in case he needs anything.

Number ten: Mango doesn't care about you either. They just keep you around because you remind them of their daughter. And even then you fuck that up, running off whenever instead of just staying with them so they can cope with their empty nest syndrome.

Number eleven: But that's King's problem, not yours.

Number twelve: They only keep you around because you're useful.

Number thirteen: You'd be better off without them.

Your hand moves of its own accord, removing your phone from your inventory and clicking it on.

You'd be better off without them.

You block all their contacts. You don't even hesitate. It's laughably easy, honestly, like you've been waiting to do it this whole time.

You'd be better off without them.

You axe down your house without even realising. You take your essentials. You grab a rocket and set it off, barely feeling the heat as you launch into the sky.

You'd be better off without them, and this is going to prove it.

[fumifooms]

Thistle & Falin

Just my narrative of Thistle & Falin, collection of shippy thoughts and dynamic analysis. Creating some imagery and threads, etc. What if we both made devotion to our loved ones our purpose, what if we both hadn’t lived for ourselves in a long, long time. Who are we? Beyond who we love and our powers, what are we?

Background info: a short Falin analysis touching on Faligon and Thistle + an old thistlin post, compiling most of their moments. Here I delve into further thoughts but for base analysis of what they have in canon and in potential those are good starts. If you want I also have a full Falin analysis.

Disclaimer: Beyond the nebulous 1000 years I place Thistle as a young adult, and though I agree Falin mothers him to some degree I don’t think it’s unsimilar to the way that Marcille is a mom friend that sometimes mothers Falin and Izutsumi especially. Their relationship has layers like every other one in Dunmeshi, reducing it to being incestuously motherly or age discoursy to justify it being problematic is so funny to me, hello did you miss the mind control. Ah yes I love the 1090 yo with godlike powers being groomed by his chicken slave. You can have your own interpretation but canon is ambiguous enough, and dare I say intentionally ambiguous, that I have no qualms with not infantilizing Thistle, same with Yaad at the end of canon. I do ship Thistle and Falin, and although it’s in a nebulous qpr-or-other third secret thing situationship instead of conventionally romantic way, like, I puke on anything giving them a parental framing so don’t come shitting on my doorstep, kid-Thistle truthers be warned. Only nuance enjoyers allowed on this post. It’s valid if you’re uncomfortable with the ship!! Don’t make your issue others’ problem.

I thankfully finished my Falin analysis before posting this, but besides that I also have an analysis coming on the whole Thistle age thing which I think is interesting, beyond the well being poisoned there are things to explore there, idk in how long that’ll be done though. That’s all for plans that are relevant to this, now let’s get into it.

Part 1

So my favorite Falin things are Faligon + her sense of being like a pawn/misplaced, going on autopilot to follow the wishes of others, a feeling of identity being a burden and sort of fleeing from that, and her not really caring in the way/with the intensity that she’s "supposed" to (as per the points I go over in my Falin analysis). Meanwhile, Thistle has a lot of shit going on already but then there’s also how being a dungeon lord is highly wearing on his mind. As Faligon and as dungeon lord Thistle, the way they’re both so out of touch with reality in different ways holy shit?? They have power imbalance between them and it very much comes from mind control lol, but it’s also not something Thistle is fully aware of himself, because the powers are driving him unstable and he’s not even aware there’s someone in front of him really. He’s so out of it that he can’t even recognize that the dragon has been fused with a human and she’s so out of it we can’t even tell how conscious of her actions she is.

And then the interesting thing is that they’re kind of in it together… Mostly from Falin’s standpoint. We see that he does rely on the dragon increasingly so, hanging out with it, being saved by it and embraced by her etc. When he lets them both fall after breaking the web they were hanging from, he automatically, fully and wordlessly trusts her to catch him, instead of relying on magic or anything, and she does. Falin devotes herself to him but he’s devoted to The Cause which is just chasing ghosts at this point. But despite it all there’s a weird comfort here too… From the guy who in his last moment of lucidity reached out for someone, anyone’s hand, from the guy who hasn’t felt companionship in hundreds of years probably, hasn’t taken it slow and slept and eaten in who knows how long, from the girl who feels compelled to care after him like she’s always done with others… And the beast-ness allows her to have some freedom to figure herself out in a weird way, to simply enjoy being beside someone and doing anything her own whims tell her to.

It’s very destructive and weird and layered but like…. I can see the sliver where it works out. Where her kindness reaches him and he has a moment of lucidity where he sees her and it’s like, wait, who are you, you’re not the dragon?? Where finding someone else who feels just as messed up and devoted as them, like they’re just trudging along life like it’s a dream following their loved one, heals them a bit. Where caring for the other becomes a way to care for themselves too, a dark mirror of each other that shows you, oh, this is how bad it can get and I want to choose something else for myself actually. To grow to see the person standing in front of you, instead of only searching with your eyes in what way they’ll reflect on you. In helping each other, finding some companionship that’s weirdly vulnerable and self-healing. He gets her in touch with herself and her own needs again through the arc and conflict they have, and she gets him in touch with the world and his surroundings again. They have clashing ways to be selfless, very self-sacrificial from Falin meanwhike self-centered with Thistle (he ‘knows best’, ‘everything needs to be left to him’, etc etc, he needs the control, but he does it all for others, meanwhile Falin leaves that control to others and only grabs it for herself in exceptional cases like sacrificing herself to the dragon for Laios).

Like just let yourself be, damn!!! So then them being like, zombie mentally stunted babies kind of enhances that theme in a way too lol. The way they communicate together is very… Instinctive and basic, and I’d love to see how it could develop into a functional dynamic. They’re in ‘learning to be your own person’ kindergarten together to me. Thistle looking at her coloring wildly outside the lines and being like "you’re doing it wrong" and then you look at his and he colored everything a weird color. The precision is scary but then his crayon goes 1 mm out of the lines and he blows up into tears. Ok the metaphor has run its course

So yeah like the ship/brotp is very, them being isolated and against the world together and like… Slowly regaining their minds together. Getting their sense of identity grounded into them again. In my mind they have a 50k words adventure where they hang out and he slowly realizes there’s more to her than just dragon and she encourages him to dawdle around and eventually just play in water and shit and it’s like, starting to see life again beyond the laser focus you limited yourself to… And she’s allowed to just chill out and do whatever she wants besides the whole searching for Delgal thing. You can’t tie down a dragon! They are a duo they are an unit‼️ He’d have been fucked without her and at this point in time he sort of made her and he’s her world. Traumabonded kittens do not separate but it’s onesided in different ways haha. Honestly it’s sort of reflavored mickuro wait fuck…

If nothing else, they’re a very interesting dynamic to ponder. The depths of it all… I want to use them as a social experiment. I want them to stop to smell at the flowers and learn to work together… They’re master and servant they’re owner and pet they’re mothering and mothered (in a guardian hound way, in a mom friend way) they’re both incredibly (emotionally and physically) vulnerable in different ways…… Master and monster if you will. Mostly I see them as guardian & leader. Like I said I ship them but it’s not really romantic atp I think but it’s not quite qpr either it’s truly a weird secret third thing… What if we were sort of coworkers but also ?!!!>??????! You should hate me but you fiercely protect me I should appreciate you but I only see you as a tool WHAT IS GOING ONNN IN THERE

He wants to be protected even if he can’t really admit it. Here the catalyst was emotional distress moreso than physical threat. Notice how he lays there under her wing for a bit as he (refuses to) processes what Mithrun told him about Delgal dying and betraying him. She’s becoming his safety net, his comfort hound. Somehow, the both of them find they’re soothed in each other’s presence.

It kills me. Them being so toxic at the start of it, then somehow ambiguously just hinting towards how things could have went on to be better, could have been headed somewhere nice and healing and healthier, she dies and he dies everyone fucking dies and they forget each other and it ends there they never speak of each other again. Canon wanted me dead specifically. Like remember too that I was there when the last chapters where being released, my ass really was like "Oh I wonder how Falin will react seeing Thistle after being revived!" 🤡 But yess at least that means there’s a lot of Unsaid, a lot of space for speculation, and I want to see what could have been. I want to see it so so bad. It’s so interesting

Post-canon is also so interesting, where they’re sort of recovered but not fully not really, them actually getting to know each other… And she doesn’t remember him but he doesn’t remember her either, in a way they’ve never met even though they have, even though she was the first one on his side since so long, the first hint of companionship he’s had, companionship that he’s so unused to getting that he can’t even recognize it for what it is. He couldn’t even recognize a human standing in front of him!! He is so disconnected from others and the world!! He spoke to ghosts like they had no worries in the world and everyone was ok!! He’s out of touch, tone-deaf af!! Has always been tone-deaf!! Being tone-deaf when he was younger, a stick in the mud, caused him to be more isolated than he already was… Autism4autism, anyways—

It’s them not knowing why or how to express it but being drawn together, a bond forged together by the fire of circumstances and coincidences— or is it only that? No one can know for certain but there’s a grip they have on each other there somehow. Weird distant caring thing. I dont know who you are but I feel like I should know you

It’s like my headcanon that she doesn’t know why, but on her travels she feels something when she comes across wild thistle flowers… There are just faint remnants, whispers of feelings like ghosts.

They should be remnants in each other’s lives. A deja vu of a person in the way Falin hugs small dolls to her chest, or how Thistle reminisces of something when he sees bird feathers discarded on the ground. < This paragraph courtesy of @cabinette’s huge brain

He canonically writes poems btw… Poems would be such a good way for him to get in touch with himself again post-canon, find desires in again and get creative fulfillment. He should make poems about her. To explore and vent and express all the vague feelings and memories he has, both those of during canon and after canon. He doesn’t remember her but he remembers her, slivers of kind eyes and warm gentle hands and healing magic like a blanket…

Yaad, an unlicensed therapist but the best you're gonna get in fantasy land: Maybe you should try journaling.

And too the thing is their relationship with each other in a way is ONLY about themselves, even when Falin is being self-sacrifical it’s less about him and more about how she generally is, that sort of instinct to latch onto someone and just follow along with whatever they do and ask, meanwhile to Thistle she’s only ever been a factor in his plans. Idk idk them getting to that point where they see and know each other, stumbling into that through canon or actively working towards it post-canon, there’s weird beauty in that Like. Thistle cares about her because he’ll take anyone as long as they fit the job description well enough, he’s desperate to find Delgal and will grasp at straws to find him. In a similar way that he’ll reach for someone, anyone’s hand on the verge of death, she seeks to protect someone, anyone. That’s how she centers herself, makes someone her compass and her world. Falin wants to protect someone and Thistle would use anyone, pushed to the states they were in they would latch onto anyone for comfort (caring for him, grabbing Marcille’s hand).

Mirrors truly truly. And Thistle likes to shatter those, and silence anyone who tries to talk to him about reality, so then the option left is to be by him quietly and subtly gradually, gently (her specialty) nudge him in the right direction … Nooo but actually why did he shatter those mirrors. Very interesting to think about. Would seeing himself in others anger him?

I like to call him a ghost of who he was sometimes, a ghost of the past, he’s so haunted, and I think there’s fun imagery there too. The care she offers Thistle somewhat reminds me of the one she offers ghosts. I wonder if part of it is that she sees herself in ghosts, that she wants to offer them freedom and peace of mind she can’t get for herself.

And of course meanwhile on her end, the thistlin arc is also about growing self-respect. I don’t want to see Thistle as a lost cause in saying that her efforts are wasted on him, but being so permissive and invested in him is obviously not healthy for her. She needs to learn when to put her foot down

Oooh, just realized that choosing to eat in this scene was a big character moment all things considered. By eating she faltered in her task, stood up for herself and her needs, was selfish for once (/positive go get your damn food girl). She chose to eat. Anyways

I bet he’s the one who healed her wounds after the Shuro party fight. And on that note— it’s interesting he could change her form from Falin to Faligon without touching her isn’t it? Healing by everyone else like Marcille and Falin always required touch, physical contact between the healer and healee, which some like Chilchuck say is a negative, but… The dungeon lord not needing to touch to heal makes a nice metaphor for how isolating the powers are I think. Truly clinical instead of warm. Theme of community and freely offering affection in Dungeon Meshi etc etc. Like I said, Thistle is out of touch.

The way that he has the powers to change her form and heal and like soo much magic power but he can’t even realize when he’s hurting himself and she’s the one who has to heal him. He’s so fully devoted to the cause even when he acts selfishly that he neglects himself too, and she has to remind him to take care of himself, to eat, etc. That she feeds him. Eating is an act of love to yourself and to life. The berries, the curry, the soup that Thistle refuses to eat—

Do you see the vision. Do you see all the narrative relevance and themes and parallels of their dynamic. To chase ghosts, to cling onto them so they stay with you no matter how warped and ugly they get, and to soothe souls, purifying them and helping them depart for the afterlife… Both magic prodigies whose lives revolve around protecting and caring after their loved ones more than anything else. A family member who looks elsewhere while they are their whole world. They can flee their emotional issues together 🤝 Who are we? Beyond who we love and our power, what are we? I think about the way she cradled him in her arms just before they fell down into the dungeon all the time idk idk

^ End notes from the one fic I wrote about them so far: Slivers, on AO3. For a moment, they were both slivers of themselves, bound together.

Thistle feverishly holding onto ghosts of the past and his source of power, meanwhile Falin cradles the people she can protect in the now with the powers that reside in her… Him cradling his book, her cradling her master……… Parallels

Interlude

And yess it’s important to remember too, Thistle became a mage only after delgal asked… He had innate talent, but moreso than Falin it’s through studies that he learned to actually harness his magic etc. Idk I think it’s an interesting parallel that could have interesting stuff be done on it. People often characterize him as predominantly bratty but. He’s smart and composed he’s mainly smart and composed… He’s unstable and everything during canon was happening all at once with the winged lion being freed and Laios’ party and the canaries and agh </3 He can have a meltdown as a treat he’s smart and cool-headed if it wasn’t for the dungeon wearing on his mind ok… Obvi I love my chars with anger issues but saying he’s overly childish is having tunnel vision I think

Ok so the elephant in the room… First of all how present is Falin in Falugon exactly…… We have no clue. The end sequence does show her in purgatory with a dragon foot holding her down, which can easily be read as it suppressing her personality- with how it’s shown though it feels like she’d be fully suppressed by that? And we know that’s not the case, since not only does she recognize Laios and calls out to him, she hesitates to hurt Kuro because of the dog association, she’s excessively kind towards Thistle, the latter which her Adventurer’s Bible profile confirm to be "her kind nature remaining as the chimera". Maybe it’s a dream-like state? Maybe the dragon is the driving force with the instincts, and it’s only bits of Falin and her personality that show through? A state of mind very primal and not very think-y, even if Falin has enough brains to think of sharing the berries, gesturing and oh- of course, casting magic. No issues with controlling the human half of her body as well. To some degree, her and the dragon are working in tandem. My own preferred interpretation is the driven by instincts one, a state of mind like an actual dragon’s, which in my Falin analysis I delve into the significance of it for other parts of Dunmeshi too. So yeah, dreamlike mindless autopilot… I think exploring her pov as Faligon would go super hard. Aware of her surroundings but sort of disconnected with it, and disconnected from herself too, entirely living in the present… And like with her talking to Laios— the only time she speaks in her chimera form, a simple observation, "Laios, brother", sometimes her human thoughts peek through more sharply, short moments of lucidity… I think it’d be interesting to see an arc where as the chimera, she learns to share the "brainspace" more with the dragon.

It’s also unclear if Thistle had a say in how much of ‘Falin the human’ is in control? He very well might have suppressed her somehow when he changed her form to be more dragonlike. That might also be due to just getting back the dragon meat though— and the dragon meat itself might be why/how the brainspace is shared. There is a lot less of Falin’s body in the chimera than there is of the dragon, body mass wise. Dungeon Meshi is a lot about physicality so I wouldn’t be surprised with this reasoning. But there’s the whole mind control soul bond situation too…

The mind bond is another thing that’s left mostly to interpretation when it comes to the details. She feels compelled to listen to the dungeon lord’s orders as a monster created and owned by it, like the dragons Thistle summoned during the fight at his house, but again like we see with the dragons, if the monster has a "strong will" it can disobey to some level without being punished by the bind or anything. The eyes of the magician, the small wyverns, level-of-control wise can’t be accurate examples because they’re sort of like familiars, Thistle can see through their eyes in real time no matter where they are but it’s only this species as far as we know. So otherwise the mind bond is more subtle… There’s also the question of how much the control is shared between the dungeon lord and the demon, which again Thistle’s situation is exceptional because he managed to seal his demon in a book, presumably all the power goes through Thistle without the intermediate of the winged lion, though we do see he has some reach since he reaches Laios through his dreams. ANYWAYS all that to say. I do really ponder about how a dungeon lord's monsters get their orders, like... For the fight on the first floor, did Falin just feel Thistle's agony in her bones and came clawing and barging her way in desperately and angrily to protect him because of his distress, or did he more directly demand she come, consciously or not?! Idk, since Falin is actively protective of him unlike the dragons who reluctantly listen to him, her being very fast and intense about it doesn’t have to be forced… It’d be interesting if she can sense his feelings, wants or thoughts, bc I don’t think it’s as conscious as like, telepathically communicating "hey you, do this"…? Pondering, pondering. Mind bond <3 Soulbound <3

They’re both very trapped in the past… I wonder if as Faligon a lot of her mind goes back to memories of Laios and such, if she’s in a dreamlike state and not just sort of absent, where would her mind retreat... I don’t think so like I said I think she’s mostly driven by dragonlike mindlessness, but still… Thistle stuck in the search of Delgal, thinking back to everything they’ve shared and where it all went wrong obsessively, and Falin, sort of larping that she’s still beside Laios, not unlike how Thistle treats having the corpses of the royal family at his house like them being safe. Delusions. Idk I just want more character studies.

The metaphors in this truly… It’s not literal, like def not something that happens during canon at no point are they or could be ever atop a mountain of frames and paintings of the Golden Kingdom’s royal family and fine art lmaoo, so then like the meaning behind it all… She offers him reprieve, an outsider from all the Golden Kingdom expectations and drama, just someone warm to lean on, someone who’ll stay…….. I love Faligon pushing him to rest and nap so much. Man has first nap in a thousand years. Feather duvet like a nice warm pillow. The peace she offers him man……. Live in the present bbygirl Unfortunately it doesn't help. Look at them eyebags… Man needs to sleep!!

Part 2

^ This panels drives me crazy It’s the possessivity. It’s the "my". It’s the "stealing".

What if you have fear of abandonment and think you have to prove your worth for people to stay by your side. What if belonging to someone makes you feel like you belong and you feel loved and soothed by it lowkey, feel like it makes things easy. What if I was bought as a slave and servant but I was adopted into a pretty loving family. What if ownership is what love looks like to me. What if that’s why I have no problem rationalizing keeping people against their will in a glorified kingdom-prison, because that’s just what someone with the power who Knows Better does, and… Did he always call her his dragon hello? Feelings

He is not letting it go damn He hates when people mess with what's his. Or Delgal’s.

But imagine. The dragon is like, the last thing he has. The Golden Kingdom has moved on from him, everything is shit, but his dragon is the last thing he still has some realm of like. Ownership over. But that ownership is kinda just his sense of belonging. His role, his duty.  So it’s like "Don’t steal the last thing I have" especially if post-canon… It’s thinking from his time as a jester bought into a loving family that ownership is natural in love and care. It’s thinking that’s the way you get to belong beside someone, beside earning that through achievements and being useful and capable. Everything is being stolen away from him. Control and things and people and even the importance he has to the Golden Kingdom as he becomes part of the background & past history and the kingdom switches into new hands aka Laios’…

My dragon, not the dragon. I do like to imagine especially after the berries he’s starting to feel differently about her. He keeps being like "you’re acting odd, dragon". His dragon is special. She’s not just another regular monster npc to easily replace, there’s human contact in there. His dragon just for him. <3

I do think Falin has some issues with like, asking to be with the people she loves, feeling safe in asking for that, that she’s worth that. She follows them and is quiet and just takes the crumbs of love that they offer, she doesn’t ask Marcille at the academy to spend lunches with her, doesn’t ask anything of her distant busy father and ill anxious mother… The person she did ask things of, Laios, who she always asked to go travel the world with him and whatnot, left her behind. Like how Delgal left Thistle. Theme of leaving </3 theme of family and abandonment issues </3 So she just follows and cares after them and makes herself useful and is grateful she gets to be beside them at all. So yeah what I’m saying is being owned/belonging to someone might feel yeah like, belonging. Being One Person's. He’s seen her at her worst and most bloody and raw, and still wants her? Very comforting And especially post-canon he doesn’t need her to be witty or useful or such, he just needs her love and that’s what she has lots to give.

Do you think Falin wants to be needed… Do you think she’s a little restless if she doesn’t feel like she is, like she thinks just like Laios people might leave you behind and you never see them again.  It’s also because of what she said, that she put others before herself, that she just followed/imprinted on her parents/Laios/Marcille. She avoided conflict, she wanted to be liked and live in peace. The only times she was selfish, she hurt people (left school for Laios, sacrificed herself for them, teleported them out despite possibly hurting people on the surface), so she chooses to be selfless instead. "One of the most selfish things i've ever done was barely even for the sake of myself" - Falin and Toshiro both hah Falin is often told she doesn’t care the right way or not enough, you’re cutting classes Falin, I’m upset you left me and you don’t even seem to think it’s a big deal Falin, you shouldn’t have sacrificed yourself to save me (her not noticing her ostracization in her village wasn’t told to her but I’m including it also). And with Toshiro when considering her proposal, she was worried to accept because yeah it’s have been convenient but she wouldn’t be reciprocating his feelings in the way he wants and expected her to with what he asked of her… And she’s worried it wouldn’t be right… Bc she doesn’t care about the proposal on the same level he does….. I just think that’s neat I think that Falin caring both too little and too much, with laser focus on Laios & Marcille neglecting even herself, is a big part of her. She focuses on others and their emotional needs so so much always, babygirl be selfish for a while…

Thistle’s interaction with Laios is interesting too, especiaoly when Kaios heals him. How he looks at his shoulder, surprised and confused… Guy who's used to not having his personal needs met because he's so busy doing everything for the people he cares about receives care??? Woah that’s crazy Something something being so unused to human contact and affection that you don’t know how to process it and don’t recognize it when it happens/stares you right in the face. Thistle the Toudens are gonna make you open up ur heart to humans again on god…

What if… He doesn’t want to admit she’s not the dragon. If he admits it’s not the dragon that means giving up some control… This was not in his plan, he doesn’t know how well he can control a chimera rather than a dragon, it’s weakness it’s vulnerability it’s feeling like he’s losing his grip on everything again and thus losing his place and purpose. Hmm…

Finding yourself through someone else… Because defining yourself through others is what you’ve always done… Yeah. Yeah.

I do love it tying into Falin’s arc of finding herself. Like, she doesn’t remember her time as a chimera, she just remembers this guy she has conflicted but fond feelings of for some reason, so say if they travel post-canon, traveling with him would also be a way to figure out more how she’s feeling, and then there’s how when looking at him she gets the feeling that it’s been a long time he hasn’t lived for himself either… And like for him traveling is about seeing the world a bit too. Seeing it not as something to control or always dangerous but something to explore, and just enjoy the little things instead of worrying about the court. And just. Aghhhh. He hasn’t had someone on his side for centuries. Sighs. Of course Yaad also becomes that largely but traveling post-canon with Falin… Would love to see that in fancontent

Them growing to SEE each other, with the film in front of their eyes slowly fading away. Both of them coming out of it more genuine than they’d been even before meeting, before becoming warped, growing more comfortable in their skin and with the thought of connecting with others. It’s the mutual care <33 it’s having been on each other’s side at both your ugliest <3 Unconventional caring...

Toshiro saying "you can’t tie down a dragon" is always so good… Someone should so do stuff with that. "But you can tame it" / "I tried to once" / "but she chose to stay with me anyways"… Musical theme of How to Train your Dragon starts playing in the distance

When/after they get together, I feel like their relationship isn’t something they like to label… If anything it’s like. Partner. Or calling each other by name… Him calling her my dragon, except now it’s warm and personal would be so. Aughh <3 But then that just also makes the first time he calls her by name so huge.

Conclusion

They and their relationship is weird and unusual but that’s just how they are, and how they need to accept themselves (again: as they are) and roll with it! And make a place in the world for them anyways!

Magic forced them to be vulnerable in front of each other but it’s them who have to like… Be pushed out of their passivity and do something with that vulnerability.

BROTHERSSS THEY’RE BOTH ALL ABOUT BROTHERS. LEAVING. OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY. OUT OF TOUCH WITH THEMSELVES AND THEIR OWN IDENTITY. In a twisted way only the other would understand what it’s like.

Thistlin is so crazy, in humanizing you it humanizes me, in recognizing you for what you are I get more back in touch with the world again.

Flighted birds have hollow bones. With freedom there are risks and drawbacks. Thistle was Falin’s.

It’s not everyday you can have a ship where both characters are out of touch with reality and others and themselves and have this weird almost innate bond of her being compelled to protect him and care for him and him holding onto that unknowingly… Even if he didn’t need to, keeping her by himself and sitting on her while he plans and has a panic attack….. And also he owns her and robbed her of her freedom & body & full mind but she still wuvs him. Weird intimacy with the guy who horrifically changed you into something else, and yet is not even aware he has done it.

Falin loves nature and Thistle is named after a flower… Her post-canon coming across wild thistles and feeling a rush of fondness and she doesn’t know why… Thistles have thorns, but they taste sweet. Just gotta peel them off and enjoys the sweet taste of it once it’s open <3 Eat it like them honeysuckles

Slice of life 40k words thistlin sitcom I need you. Don’t make me write it myself. Sob

You are so so close sweetie…

wutiwant

I don't know what I want But I know it's not this These words don't mean nothing Once they left my lips More awake inside of my dreams Was that really you, next to me? Give me what I want, who am I supposed to please? Who am I supposed to please? Who am I? Who am I? I? Give me what I want Give me what I want

Some links, since the pair is small enough that finding stuff for them can be hard: Falin & Thistle search on pixiv Falin & Thistle search on danbooru Ao3: Thistle x Falin, Thistle & Falin Ship names: ファリシス / シスファリ. Thistlin

My own spotify playlists: Thistle & Falin, Thistle, Falin

source v

[bloggingboutburgers]

Heya

If it's ok I'd like some advice on how to ask someone to be in a qpr with another someone (namely,,, me)

I'm aroace and they're demiromantic ace... i don't how to approach this lol

Really struggling on how I should do this and I don't want them to think... I don't know what they would think, but I don't want things to be weird between us if they say no.

Thank you!! Your comics are awesome :D <3

Sorry I'm replying so late TwT Tbh as I've said before I'm probably the most clueless when it comes to asking someone to be in a QPR, considering it was my partner who asked me...

The way they went about it was asked me if I knew about the context, explained and gave me time to do my own researched, asked while explaining their feelings, and gave me time to process it. The thing about explaining their feelings really helped make sure things wouldn't be weird if I said no – although, as you can see, either way, it did end up with us being in a QPR, so... Yeah TwT

I don't know. It really depends a lot on the person, so it's always hard to tell what the right way is. But whatever happens, I sincerely wish you the best, and sorry again I replied so late TwT

[lasbiarez]

One of my favourite qpr emukasa thoughts is Shousuke thinking Emu and Tsukasa are dating

He went to give Tsukasa The Big Brother Talk and Tsukasa simply stares at him with increasing confusion. The longer he talks about Tsukasa and Emu's supposed romantic endeavours, the more Tsukasa's eyebrows dip in awkward sympathy as it dawns on him what Shousuke is trying to do

Shousuke stepping up to be a good, protective older brother says things like "I approve of your relationship, you are a good kid, but don't hurt my sister because her happiness is precious to this family" but then—after an awkward laugh filled with just a little bit of poorly concealed pity that Shousuke flushes in embarrassment—Tsukasa explained that Emu and him are not, in fact, dating

Shousuke spluttering afterwards like "H- huh? What? Wait, huh? You're not dating???" to a Tsukasa who can only shrug and offers him a consoling smile (Although, Tsukasa still promises to preserve Emu's happiness with a determined nod)

But then what about all the hugs they always share?? And he's sure he'd seen them trade small pecks of kisses on each others faces?? Was Tsukasa getting all friendly and helpful to the family NOT an attempt to woo his future in-laws?? Is the stack of Tsukasa-owned jackets and sweaters in Emu's closet NOT a romantic gesture of trading pieces of clothing that teens do these days?? He's pretty confident they always share the same bed during sleepovers!! Emu talks about Tsukasa all the time and there's always something fond about the way she does! She likes to buy things just because she thinks Tsukasa will like them or it made her think of him, how are they not dating?!??!?

(He fails to notice that Emu does these things with many of her friends, especially wansho)

Surely, SURELY Tenma is just messing with him—just like how Kamishiro likes to do that. (Strange, Tenma doesn't seem like the teasing type)

So he had to ask Emu, who would never lie to him about this, and she's just blinking up at him with those big sparkly eyes like she doesn't know what he's taking about! But then she had the nerves to giggle about it as if there's an inside joke there somewhere!

Flustered and embarrassed Shousuke never mentions it again...

[expectiations]

I can't believe it's been four months since we've been given the absolute gift that is the NineRiver audios. I remember weeping at 1 am over them and just melting at the way Nine became the most protective, most gentle, caring person after understanding River. Oh to be able to listen to Star-Crossed again for the first time!

On one note, I have seen people claim that for this particular regeneration, they're in a QPR. I object, but that's not what I started this post for.

Just like what is said in this post, the Doctor and River constantly fall in love with each other because River is River and the Doctor is the Doctor. They just click. It's evidenced by this specific pairing too. Sure, Nine may have been brash and rude to her at first but it changes once he processed the fact that apparently, he'd open up enough to marry someone in the future.

I may have said this before but one of the things I love about Archipelago is how it dispels any notion that the Doctor is forced to have sex with River. I have seen too often enough the (loudly incorrect) takes over that idea which irks me out because frankly, which version of Doctor Who did they watch? Cause it was clear af that the Doctor's very much into her and is always the one who instigates physical affection—cheek kisses, nose bump bops, see-you-next-adventure kisses, etc. Their marriage isn't built around sex. There is mutual trust and respect (and steamy, hot sparks) between these two. While some have chosen to gleefully point out that they're in a QPR, once again I respectfully disagree. If you insist, just scroll away.

I also love how he tries to understand, to *know* her. He reads her diary and tries to fathom the timey-wimey life they lead. He is basically acting the way any other regeneration of the Doctor would when they meet River, except this one is fresh out of the Time War and the wounds are still too raw and the loathing still too loud. Not that it got better by the time they met in the Library but relatively and all that.

Have I mentioned that I melt over how he's also *reaaally soft* with River? When River cries out of disappointment, he asks her what's wrong. She tries to 'hide the damage' but he shushes her and tells her to tell him what is wrong. When River tells him he should have left her in the time storm, he quietly tells her that that was never going to happen. And mind you, that was even *before* he read her diary.

For an endless moment, they had their happily ever after. They got to grow 'old' together. They got to exchange secrets no other version of the Doctor or River will *ever* know. And while there are conflicting interpretations of the part where River says 'they finally lay again together', I choose to believe they somehow found a way to have sex. Although I wouldn't be able to comprehend how considering they had crystals all over their bodies but unless I'm taking things literally, it's River and it's the Doctor and between the two of them, they're very much likely able to work it out lol

The penultimate part for me was right before they reset the timeline. When River told him that it's *the most romantic thing* he's ever done, that he's not just doing it for the timelines but he's doing it for them. He's giving up everything they had for everything they will have. And he responds that if it works, he'll have a lifetime to prove otherwise.

Oh and did I mention that I started sobbing uncontrollably AT ONE AM IN THE MORNING when I realized that their time together has left an indelible imprint in the universe??

Literally peak soulmate-ism.

[faeriekit]

🥭 Rank from most enjoyable/fun to write to least: Fluff, Smut, Angst, Crack.

I can't remember which fic got me into your writing but I am really enjoying health and hybrids I think the attention to detail with language barriers is neat 😊 I feel like these options can be mixed a lot in writing would the ranking change depending on the combos?

I need you to know before anything that I had half this post penned and my computer randomly refreshed my post and burnt all of it. 💀

So. I can't. Uh. I can't do all of my fics on a scale, because of, um,

that. So. I'm just going to do a straight best to worst. Sound good? Great because I have no other idea how to tackle any of this.

Fluff:

Best: Snowdrift Sanctuary. Although even my best fluff has a little bit of angst in it, this is a sweet, warm story of inter-species fostering and the care it provides. What's not to love? It was even a Phic Phight fill, so I got to surprise someone with it.

Worst: Rituals and Rites. There's nothing wrong with this one; it's a cute ask fill, it's got some great silliness in it and a little irreverence, and I'm always happy to archive my stuff on ao3 lest tumblr finally pull the plug, but I always dislike uploading individual lil' things onto ao3 when there isn't much to them. It's not bad, I just...don't have a lot of fluff to pad out this binary lol

Smut:

Best: Lazy Sunday. By the time I got to this one I'd largely already hit my stride writing smut stuff, I liked how this couple gelled (and even have a few as-yet-unwritten scenes of their relationship I may never get around to!) and I like the couple as they are: weird and complicated and persevering into a yet-unseen realm of intimacy! I'm also not super into the kink in question, so it was super nice to see the piece well received by people who are into it and thought it worked well lol. How sad would it be if you tried to write a niche kink and it ended up completely flopping lmao T_T I'd never show my face in this town again.

Worst: A Visitation. Do not get me wrong, I love this fic, but you gotta remember that I wrote the first chapter completely exhausted and out of my gourd with fucking cauvid. 😭 I'm shocked it came out coherent at all! And everyone helped me workshop the last chapter, and it took forever to the point where I was writing like thousands of words a day and it was eating up my whole life...and sometimes I still go back in to reread it and I find MORE errors! 😭😭 This fic had all the birthing pains! Worth it, but OW!

Angst:

Best: Dig Three Graves In Apartment 31C. I rreeeeeeally almost put Hybrids here, but in the end, Hybrids is a hopeful recovery fic. This fic is all grief and loss and the stench of the aftermath of acute trauma in the air. It is sad— sometimes I still get comments shocked at how well it worked lol— and although the excruciatingly tough epilogue yon author had to write lifts it a little, it's not... There's no cure for this. Everyone in this picture is dead. That's just the way it is.

Worst: Feet on the Ground. A similar deal: I really like this fic but there wasn't a great ending line to close on so it's just...mediocre. I probably should have just waited to see if time would fix it, but it was a Phic Phight fill and we're kind of on a timer during the event, and I wanted to get it out so I could start working on other people's asks, so... 6/10. Fascinating concept, mid execution.

Crack:

Best: Infection versus Infestation. It was either this or one of the MPreg fills lmao, and I just. There's just so much going on here. The support network. The mental health. The powerpoint presentations. Bees. Medical pamphlets. Aliens. QPRs. Maybe the real fic is in the groupchats you made along the way. No notes hands down my one true rec for weird fics; all the way up and all the way down, it's inherently GenderFucked and surreal and young idiot adult bullshit. I love them your honor.

Worst: Percy Jackson, God of the Shrimps. A discord in-joke never makes sense as a discord out-joke. I am astounded people read this to this very day. I make it worse every time I even mention it in a post, but hey, that's showbiz. If you read this and actually found something there, more power to you. If you read this and were like "???"...yeah lmao

I'm glad you're liking health and hybrids so far! It's so funny to think that Hybrids used to be my downtime fic to recover from my other fics lmao...now it's beating Blister Pack to the tune of an additional 100,000 hits. I genuinely can't even conceptualize that number in my head. It's a such a bonkers concept that so many people could be glancing at a medical trauma fic from lil' ol' me. High school Faer who took anatomy classes for fun would be ecstatic. In the end, I tried to get a couple of unique fics to fill each category just because I like them so much. Sue me. It's my fic and sometimes I wanna talk about them with people lol.

Thanks for asking! 🧡🧡🧡🧡 This was fun!

[canonically47]

As a way of saying goodbye to DC, what are your headcanons for where everyone ends up after All Stars?--review anon

ooooo such a cute question!!!!!! tysm for this

yul ends up being cancelled on his socials and he has to start working a regular job, he becomes miserable being yelled at and harassed by customers like he deserves yippee!

riya is also cancelled following the events of DCAS - seriously she CANNOT gain a following after this and she cannot find roles, realistically speaking - but she manages to sustain herself with her prize money for now. however, she does begin job hunting. it goes horrible for her, her digital footprint is too massive to ignore.

ashley continues living her quiet life on the farm with will, occasionally meeting up with lill & nick, as well as with jake, ally, lake and other contestants of DCAS! she even eventually reaches out to season 1 contestants left out, and organizes a get-together for the season 1 cast with everyone :)

ally, hunter & tess all eventually get together after a lot of denial and pining, and co-manage their channels. they become more and more popular, regularly attend cons, & overall just lead the awesome lives they deserve. tess also becomes popular for her art!

lake eventually gets into a qpr & goes to university to study psychology. she keeps in contact with aiden, james and friends she's made on DCAS. she goes on to live with rosa-maria after university, and the two will organize, years later down the line, a meet-up for the cast of season 2, even being kind enough as to invite yul and riya, although neither show up.

miriam gets to enjoy retirement by travelling around the world, sometimes even tagging along with friends, even with the group of james, aiden, lake and rosa-maria. why not :3

james & aiden continue travelling the world together, growing their following on social media, and eventually aiden pursues a career in theatre and earns a lot of success! i mean have you HEARD his VA sing. my god, can he sing.

ellie & gabby lead a happy life with ellie as an artist and gabby carries them with her income by becoming an environmental scientist !!

fiore moves in with alec, alec adopts fiore, and the two unlearn their bad habits together; alec, his bad parenting, and fiore, being this evil gremlin child. she still has her outbursts, but alec stops feeding into this idea that she is a monster or a mistake and pushes her to grow. the two also meet up with some other contestants, and eventually befriend rosa-maria, so she helps a lot with parenting tips :)

grett becomes a gym trainer & fitness influencer and uses her social media platform to encourage and lift up others. my queen

jake and tom begin dating and they talk a lottttttt of things out... and eventually tomjajakeden becomes a thing & they all move in together and it's awesome. tom and aiden aren't dating but the rest of them all are and it's kinda funny actually. tom also realizes he's aroflux and that explains a lot about how his identity has impacted his love life. they're unstoppable

also tom quits his job as a cop and becomes a firefighter instead. and gets an autism diagnosis. also jake gets a BPD diagnosis. and aiden gets a shit ton of piercings. and tom gets fatter. and james also gets a shit ton of piercings. and they're all happy together and they have movie nights and game nights and they love each other a lot

the cast generally meets a lot, the casts even merge at one point despite some of them never having been on DCAS. it's so funny how some of these guys meet. deadass alec and fiore go camping one night only to find they've come at the same camping site as kai and maggy. another time gabellie runs into dan at a bookstore. and so forth. they eventually get a super large groupchat and it's hilarious. they all meet sometimes and they have to book a huge venue it's so funny

also gabgrellie becomes real too why not. i love gabgrellie. grett moves in with them and they're all super cool and awesome and in love

maybe i should write some of these hmmm

[hiwelcometothemonstersancturary]

How is Angel’s parents/family getting along with their newly adopted kids and “husband”

Angel's parents are going to LOVE the newfound family of +80 toys! I'm working on a small comic to show how their first meeting went before I write it post-factory arc, but although confused and extremely worried for Angel's one week dissapearance and experiences inside PlayCo, their family is, ultimately, extremely supportive of them. Angel really is their mother's kid, because Mrs. Oliveira is instantly head over heels for her surprise grandkids. Angel's dad is almost collapsing, and their brother is Very Confused. Sister-in-law is already reaching the #1 aunt spot, she's wasting no time.

The human family will be extremely helpful for Angel, helping them house hunt and get enough supplies and groceries for ALL the kiddos. They'll also babysit the kids for when Angel is away helping the Smiling Critters in the hospital, or having to run in order to talk to their lawyers and what to do against what remains of PlayCo. When Angel and the kids move to the farm house, they're there to help, and when they get better homes thanks to Angel's money, it's the toys' turn to help. I think they end up being a very close family, despite the initial distrust from the toys!

Now, for their reaction to the Prototype...

Angel's mother, Marlene, got herself mentally prepared when Angel told her about how there was one final experiment for her to meet. "He looks like an actual horror movie monster, mom. He isn't like Marie or Oskar". Marlene listened closely, and, when Prototype stepped out of his hut to say hi and introduce himself, she somehow managed to not stumble her words or look weirded out. Angel and her really are alike.

Angel's father, Roger, was way more prepared than when he first saw the toys. However, what he was expecting was for Prototype to be at least humanoid, not that centipede-looking thing. He could not look even more weirded out than he was, but he was still very nice to him, and probably asked a lot of questions before Angel told him to calm down a bit.

Angel's brother, Miguel, was a bit quiet the whole time, letting their mom do the talking and nodding along. Internally he's just "yeah, I thought he would look worse than that, but oh my God he looks this close to collapsing". Introduces himself before telling Prototype he better help Angel with the kids. Miguel can't do shit against him but he gotta protect his big sibling! Somehow!

Angel's sister-in-law and Miguel's wife, Amy, was lowkey a bit heartbroken as she thought about all the horrible things PlayCo. must have done to their first EVER succesfull experiment. She's a bit sensitive over the idea, having heard firsthand from the toys what living there was like, and gently slaps her husband's back so he can shut up. "Please ignore him, I'm very sure you are doing your best in there, you look very tired! I-I MEAN, you must be, of course you must, you-" and she goes on a rant before Miguel calms her down.

Eventually, they all get along just fine with Proto! They all have different reactions when they find out he was originally Elliot Ludwig, and as the years go by they just see him as another member of the giant household. Angel's brother, however, knows from a mile away a QPR is on the making just from the way Angel treats Prototype/Elliot. When Angel tells him about it he's just "well, took you long enough!". Angel is offended (affectionate). Amy is SO happy for them, also probably knew it since Miguel told her (he tells everything to her). Angel's dad is just "oh thank goodness you didn't get a weirder partner, I was worried someone would try murdering you for the money". Marlene was going to reprimand him but she's thinking the same.

However, when Angel and Elliot DO decide to get married on paper, Angel. Straight up forget to tell Miguel and Amy about it for a whole MONTH before dropping the info, thinking they already knew about it, before being bombarded with questions.

"Well, that's on YOU for forgetting to tell me you and Amy got engaged, Miguel!"

"TWO DAYS. I FORGOT FOR TWO DAYS".

"AND EVERYONE IN THE FAMILY KNEW. I TAUGHT YOU HOW TO FIGHT AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?"

"YOU FORGOT TO TELL ME FOR A MONTH! DO MOM AND DAD EVEN KNOW ABOUT IT?"

Angel pauses, trying to remember. Miguel is in shambles, Amy is trying not to laugh at how stupid this whole situation is. "I think I did".

Miguel looks up.

"You. THINK. You told our parents. About the fact that you are going to be LEGALLY MARRIED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YOUR LIFE?"

"YOU FORGOT TO TELL THEM YOU EVEN HAD A GIRLFRIEND".

"I DID NOT FORGET, IT WAS A STRATEGY TO AVOID MY OWN EMBARASSMENT IN CASE SHE GAVE UP ON ME".

Angel points at Amy: "As we can see, that was for fucking nothing".

The sibling fight continues.

[obsoleteozymandias]

MCD Rewrite Aphmau! Feat. Some Headcanons (more will be added as I think of them.)

The most important part of this Aphmau is that, due to her having been slumbering in the Irene dimension for a long time, she no longer speaks modern language, and has to learn from Garroth and Emmalyn.

Thus, she has a distinct accent and way of speaking, as the newer languages are not her first. She learns quickly though.

She’s dressed in armor because I imagine that although she forgot what life was like before, she knows the world is very dangerous, and she wanted to protect herself.

I imagine this Aphmau to be very competent, as I imagine that she is actually Irene, but an Irene who wiped her own memories due to her sadness, and occasionally has dreams of her past life that startle her. She knows how to do most things on instinct, and is an impressive fighter.

Also she’s ripped.

She’s persistent, passionate, willful, and willing to do anything for her people. She’s also intelligent and an excellent strategist. Despite this, she can be a dreamer who wants to see the best in everyone, and can be too trusting in that aspect. She’s also got a temper, and when anyone she cares for is in danger, she loses it.

Garroth falls for her as he watches her grow alongside her repairs of the village. He watches her become the lord he could never be, and the one he always knew he would serve loyally.

Laurence falls for her slower, not until after he gets back from the nether and she helps him rehabilitate. He considered her a good friend before that, but as she guide him around when he’s blind, he gets all crush-y.

I think she falls for Garroth in the end tho, like romantically, and she and Laurence have more of a qpr type deal? I can’t decide honestly. I just know she and Garroth are soulmates. (I also don’t want to say that one relationship is inherently less valuable because it isn’t romantic, so you’ll probably see me fiddle around with these ideas.)

Being a goddess that can’t reincarnate, I think she’d be unable to have biological children, hence why she adopts so many. She really wants to be a mother.

She coparents Levin and Malachi with Zoey.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

wibta if I told my best friend they can no longer move in with my family next year?

Me (17f) and my friend (17) have been friends for about 5 years. Around 6 months ago we were discussing university and they mentioned they wanted to study at the university that is in my city. We discussed them potentially moving into my house while they study here. They would still be paying rent, it would just be a bit cheaper for them and we would get to live together. I discussed this with my parents and after a while they said yes. 

The problem is recently I haven't actually been feeling very supported or understood by my friend. This feeling kinda started when I expressed doubt about being able to succeed in the career I have been working towards because my mental health is shit and idk if I can deal with the pressure involved, and they said that they were glad I reached this conclusion myself because they didn't think I could do it either. Which kinda hurt yk like they were correct and I have switched plans as of now, but I feel they couldve been nicer. Other than that I feel like neither of have done anything wrong I just think this is an aging thing, we're no longer 13 and have changed in similar ways, but I've begun to realise the way we see the world is vastly different. Also we recently keep getting into petty arguments, which is kinda my fault bc im autistic and have very strong opinions and never know when to shut up, but they're also like that we're both just very stubborn and opinionated people. Basically I feel the friendship isn't as strong as it once was and I don't like the idea of having to live with them during uni (also dont really like the idea of living with anyone tbh I fucking hate socialising and want to live alone). 

I feel like it's important to mention that although them living with me is cheaper, their family is financially very stable so they could comfortably afford to live in the uni halls or some apartment. Telling them they can't live with me wouldn't be financially that bad, its more so that I said they could and I feel that going back on my word might be quite cruel? 

Also recentlyish we've been making plans of living together and buying a house etc and yeah basically a lot of commitments have been made at a young age and I feel quite trapped. Also feels relevant to add that this feeling is definitely not mutual and they have no idea I feel this way, I'm 99% sure they are still very eager to go through with all this. I'm generally quite a communicative person, it's just these are all pretty new feelings and I'm not sure exactly what I feel.

Also sorry another thing that's probably relevant, they're aroace and our relationship idk what it is but I think it kinda goes deeper than the average friendship its kinda like a qpr but not lol.

So yeah wibta if I told them they couldn't live in my house for uni and should find somewhere else?

What are these acronyms?

[howlsofbloodhounds]

Opinions on Horror x Delta?

We need more of them. It’d be both funny (because Delta dunks on Epic and Color for Killer and Cross), but potentially sweet as well. I mean it challenges Delta’s beliefs in a cool way, they can grow and develop together!

And I mean Horror and Delta did meet because Cross was attacking a Horrortale AU, was about to take control of Horror or something, and then Delta came to save him!

There’s so much potential. Especially with the Bad Sans Gang Horror!Sans. Does the version Delta protected join Nightmare, how does that affect their friendship or relationship? Was this Horror considering it until Delta came along, offering food and protection and companionship?

How does Delta being able to travel AUs and having taken on a very serious mission to protect the Multiverse effect Horror? Does he ever worry that one day Delta won’t come back? What if he joins Nightmare, with one reason being he wants to see Delta more or just be able to check on him?

What if that choice happens when for whatever reason, Delta just doesn’t show up for weeks after months of visiting and Horror can’t help but worry about that hothead?

And since Delta’s a mechanic, maybe he could start trying to work on fixing this Horrortale’s CORE! And maybe that provokes Horror into feeling indebted to him (totally not because he cares of course not 🗣️ 🗣️) so he joins Nightmare as the only available way to gain access to the Multiverse.

And like Horror’s pretty sadistic but it’s okay because Delta can take a lot of hits and Horror will have to work on landing even a single strike on him 🗣️ 🗣️

(Maybe we should give this version of Horror a different nickname. What type of nickname would Delta give him?)

Although tbh chat, I have a hard time seeing Delta in romantic relationships—he is so aromantic to me. So..perhaps they have a qpr?

(This is me spreading my qpr agenda. and maybe also my aromantic allo and/or greysexual Delta agenda.)

[fallenrain40]

AVM RELATIONSHIP HEADCANON TIME these are literally all just based on random feelings I get from them. TSC and Red: so I imagine Red and TSC are both aroace and don't do relationships, but they both care very strongly for their friends. Blue and Yellow: they are just together. they are gay. I love them both sm. yes its cause of those captions in that one video saying "I ship it". but also like they just work SO WELL TOGETHER whenever they are paired up they get along really well and don't really have any problems, like they both naturally understand each other and communicate rlly well. It just makes me very happy. And also just the way Yellow takes Blue's hand in that one ep and just HHNNGG I love it sm. I actually don't think they've ever fought like in the sense where they were mad at each other- and I definitely wouldn't want to see them to. Although I CAN also see them as friends, they'd be like. Very affectionate and super close friends if so. I also imagine these two are probably like... the two least likely to start a fight with someone. Green and Purple: I love these two so much, maybe even more than Yellow and Blue. Green is definitely the closest to Purple out of the gang, but I'm not sure whether I see them as platonic or romantic though. Like they could totally be either and I'd be 100% cool with it. I like to see them as QPRs. It makes me very happy seeing lots of people ship them cause even if theirs isn't a QPR, it still works as one. They both adore music. Green loves drama and sad backstories and Purple has THE sad backstory of all time so imo they get along very well. Like I just imagine Purple probably feels like nobody would like them cause of everything that's happened, they feel broken and then Green just comes along and is like. Hey. You are so cool. And Purple is liek "what omg they like me even tho im a mess???" n is probably very happy about that. And I bet Green loves the attention from Purple too. That new short with Green and Purple is everything to me. He's tryin to impress them rahh. I also imagine Purple being aroacespec? They are also both gay bc I say so. (also getting sidetracked here but King Orange/Mango is also aroace to me hehe.) I wanted to write more like how I think red is the second closest (/platonic) to purple after green and how I could see green being QPRs with other characters as well (namely red and blue) but omg my laptop's on 7% and i havent eaten in like 8 hours so yeah. I will add onto this later.

[bloggingboutburgers]

I find your comics very cute and informative as an allo person. It's always interesting to see things from someone's perspective that isn't my own. Although I do have aspec friends who run the gamut of identities.

Sometimes I think that there's a lot of pushback around aspec identities because the way that people define sexual attraction and romantic love can be so wildly different from person to person and it confuses people on all sides of the equation. I've noticed it similarly when I try to explain how I'm nonbinary. Because not everyone understands or defines womanhood (which I rejected) or being nonbinary in the same way.

You said it yourself in an ask once that you weren't totally sure how to define what you feel for your QPR and how it was different from romantic love and that's definitely felt true to me sometimes. A few years back I read a post from a romance repulsed person who described a very cheesy (for lack of a better word) kind of concept of romance that was all about hearts and flowers and lots of big gestures and I can honestly say that I don't find that romantic. Their definition of their feelings for their QPR were actually far closer to what I would define as romantic love for myself.

It's kind of amazing how human beings can have so many experiences and some of them even very similar and just feel completely differently about them. I don't feel that person's definition of themselves as aro is wrong but my considering it love isn't wrong either because our feelings are different and that's honestly beautiful to me? Sometimes I feel like being queer is really all about your own vibes which is why I don't try to define anyone else's experience for them, lol.

Anyway, I love your comics and being able to see another person's perspective on love and sex. I wish you all the best in your continued endeavors!!

I'm so sorry, this is definitely another ask I'm sharing wayyy too late but – honestly YES. Yes to all of this. I agree whole-heartedly about everything you've said and I'm grateful some people share this perspective across the board TwT Thank you so much for sharing!! And thank you for the kind words, I wish you the best too!!