#and grieves the fact that those she loved in that world all in the end have died except for her

[dead-salmon]

thinking ob lb2 again and i'm still so sad that it was messed up so badly when the initial themes were really great

like skadis & odin's (which skadis 2nd interlude elaborates on) selfish love, wanting the world and beings they love to continue living even if it's a cruel existence for them. the way you can compare it to surtrs selfish feelings he has for ophelia, or the love sigurd and brynhild have for one another

skadi & ortlinde being unable to understand their loved ones decisions until it's practically too late. the inability of ophelia, skadi and ortlinde to actually take action until it's much too late. napoleon serving as a symbol of hope in that regard, the rainbow finally spurring ophelia into action.

the from lostbalt manga scene of ophelia admitting that she truly had different wishes in life than where she ended up, apologising for not doing better. skadi grieving over this, over ophelia, as a mother who is in the exact same spot of being unable to leave the duty that was placed on her.

lb2 had potential man, skadi's character has so much potential. it just pisses me off that both the game and fandom reduce her to moe scathach when there's so much that could've been done with her character

[dontforgetukraine]

"I watched a film today at the Venice Film Festival titled "Russians at War." Since our film is in the same section as this one, I usually wouldn’t speak publicly about it. However, in this case, I cannot remain silent, because it’s not just about films and art, but about the lives of thousands of people who die in this war— a war that has instrumentalized propaganda as its weapon.

This film may mislead you into believing that it is an anti-war film, one that questions the current regime in Russia. However, what I witnessed is a prime example of pure Russian propaganda. Here’s why.

The filmmaker begins by expressing her surprise at the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In her film, she always uses the term “invasion” and never "full-scale invasion." She does not mention that Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea in 2014. These two events seem to not exist in the world of this film. The filmmaker also states that her country hasn’t participated in wars for many years and that she has only read about wars in books. Thus, the war in 2022 was a complete shock for her. It’s interesting how the filmmaker could overlook the fact that her country has been inherently involved in various wars and occupations for at least the last 30 years (1992-93 Transnistria, Abkhazian War, 1994-96 and 1999-2009 Chechen Wars, the 2008 war in Georgia, and the 2015-2022 invasion of Syria).

The filmmaker starts her narrative with a Ukrainian who now lives in Russia and fights on the Russian side. This is a very intriguing choice for the beginning of a story about Russians at war. Later, this character will claim that a CIVIL war began in Ukraine in 2014. He will also suggest that Ukrainians bombed the eastern parts of their own country (and this is why he moved to Russia). Another character will declare that Ukrainians are Nazis. We’ve heard these narratives before; they are (and apparently still are) widely and actively propagated by Russian media. One of those horns of propaganda is Russia Today channel, for which the director of "Russians at War" has previously made several documentary films.

Throughout the film, all characters express their confusion about their actions in Ukraine, stating they want the war to end and that most of them are fighting for money. In the final part of the film, the battalion is moved to Bakhmut, and most characters die in battle. We then see their comrades and relatives grieving at their graves. All of them repeat that they don’t understand why this war is happening and who needs it. In the end, the filmmaker concludes that these are poor, ordinary Russian people who are being manipulated into war by larger political games. I found this perspective amusing because the filmmaker—like putin and his regime—plays an interesting game with these people. They deny them the simple ability to possess dignity and to think and decide for themselves. To her, these people are merely powerless objects. If those engaged in a war that has lasted over 10 years were not powerless, it would imply that they, in the majority, actually support this war, wouldn’t it?

You will feel pity for the people depicted as dying in the film and for those we see crying for their loved ones. And you should—if you are a normal human being, you should feel pity, sadness, and emotion. However, it is also important to remember that these individuals joined the army that invaded an independent country, many of them willingly, as we learn from the film. You should also recall Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, and the civilians who were murdered there. Remember the thousands of children who were illegally transported from Ukraine to Russia. While I’m writing this and while you’re reading it, missiles are striking Ukrainian cities. The buttons are pushed by ordinary Russians. Are their crimes any less significant simply because they claim to be unaware of why they are involved in this war?

By the way, the director asks one of the characters if he thinks the Russian army commits any war crimes. He answers “no,” claiming he hasn’t witnessed any war crimes. Interestingly, the director echoes this in her interviews, stating she saw no signs of war crimes during her time near the front (https://www.reuters.com/.../russian-soldiers-given-their.../). We can only be happy for her that she was fortunate enough not to witness any war crimes. Unfortunately, thousands of Ukrainians have not been so lucky.

I could continue, but I believe it’s enough to understand that this film presents a very distorted picture of reality, spreading false narratives (calling the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea a civil war; suggesting that the Russian army does not commit any war crimes; presenting those who are part of the aggressors army as victims).

If you decide to watch it, I recommend following it with another documentary about Russian soldiers titled "Intercepted," directed by Oksana Karpovych. "Intercepted" also opens a door into the lives of ordinary Russians fighting in this war. You’ll be curious to explore it, as it will undoubtedly surprise you. You may also want to add "20 Days in Mariupol" to your viewing list, just to be able «to see through the fog of war," as the director of "Russians at War" so aptly put it."

—Darya Bassel, Ukrainian film producer of war documentary “Songs of Slow Burning Earth

[nburkhardt]

Feels Like the World's Gonna End (But I'll Get You Through)

This was supposed to be small, oops. Hopefully it reads okay! Also small warning: panic attacks, flashbacks. Hurt/Comfort, lots of cuddles & kisses at the end ✨ (btw when you see ~ it means a pov change.)

To a regular person, July 4th is a good day. It’s a day to celebrate and enjoy one another.

To Steve Harrington it is everything but.

Getting tortured either on or around July 4th would definitely change your opinion on the day. It would cause panic and anxiety.

He’s kept it close to his chest, what happened behind those steel doors. Kept it minimal with the rest of who was involved with the Russians. Robin especially doesn’t know exactly what happened to him when they separated them. Dustin and Erica doesn’t even know the torture happened, Steve and Robin kept it quiet.

The rest of their group didn’t even believe them about the Russians at first, so he couldn’t figure out how to bring it up. Since at the time Hopper was gone, believed to be dead and Joyce was grieving. Steve felt like he couldn’t speak to her about it, didn’t want to bring it up.

So, close to his chest is where it all stays.

————— July 4th, 1986 —————

Vecna defeated and with that the upside down is no longer around, everyone is finally able to breathe a little easier.

The Byers are back in Hawkins, living in a brand new home that they were able to finally finish putting together to hold the start of a new tradition of get togethers with their group and then some.

Today is the official start of said tradition. Everyone is meeting up and going to enjoy the day together, like normal regular people.

Or make an attempt to be normal regular people, for Steve at least. He’s been more, jumpy lately and luckily not a lot of people have notice. Sure, it’s been a good few months since everything went down and everyone is doing okay.

But the whole first part of July is just not Steve’s favorite anymore. Technically the whole month, if he’s being completely honest.

Which is just shitty, since his birthday is also July 4th.

Not that anyone knows, he kept that particular fact to himself. Celebrates it at the end, so everyone believes it’s the 31st instead. Which is fine, really it is. He’s not too picky when it comes to celebrating, before everything it was stuffy parties full of his parents friends and coworkers. Then it was parties to get drunk with classmates.

It’s been better since Dustin came into his life, since Robin and now with everyone else it’s good. It is.

Just with everything that happened in March on top of his unresolved trauma from last year, he can’t help but feel like something is going to come down.

Something is about to happen and it’s not great that this is going through his head as he’s sitting on the ledge of the Byers’ wall watching the kids run around like the teenagers they are or hearing laughter all around him.

There’s a genuine smile on his face as he watches Eddie spin Erica around and the honest to god joyful childlike smile on her face. It makes his heart beat a little faster, seeing not just Erica be the child that she is but also just Eddie.

He knows he’s in love with Eddie, has for a while. But he can’t bring himself to make a move, even if Robin swears Eddie has to have the same feelings. That there’s a chance but the last time he took one with the L word, his heart got stumped on.

So, he’ll stay right here and watch from his spot, listen to them be happy and enjoy the holiday. All while anxiously waiting for something to happen. His mind is set on it, even if he’s trying not to let those thoughts win.

Before he can even register anything, suddenly his vision is blocked and his heart rate immediately goes up as he’s also picked up and being moved. It’s so sudden that the anxiety he’s been having is loud and clear, telling him this is real.

This is happening. He’s being taken again. The Russians are here or wait- he never left, never escaped and his mind has finally decided to remind him of his new reality. That they’re here to break him more, hit him more, maybe they’ll actually go through and cut his fingers off now.

Still, he struggles and tries to escape. He whimpers out first, a wounded and pathetic sound even to his own ears. Opening his mouth and out comes, “I work at scoops ahoy! I didn’t mean to find it, I swear! You have to believe me, please!”

His mind flashes again to the absolute sinister look the Russian soldier has, shows him the bone saw and he can hear it start. There’s tears going down his face, even with whatever they put on him. Heart beating so fast, he’s shaking and struggling.

“Please, please! I just scoop ice cream!” He’s screaming, his throat hurts and they won’t stop. “I don’t know anything, Please!”

The arms around him are gone, with those gone he hits the ground hard and he scrambles to get away. Sobbing and trying to get away without vision, “let me go, please, please. I just work at scoops ahoy I didn’t mean to find anything! I didn’t see anything, I swear!”

Curling into a ball, he tries to stop but he can’t. He can’t see, he’s stuck under the mall and doesn’t know where Robin is- doesn’t know where Dustin and Erica are, he’s all alone.

Alone with evil people who want to hurt him.

~

Everyone freezes and their face go pale as they watch Steve curling into a ball rocking himself, sobbing into his legs. Pleading to stop hurting him, to believe him.

It’s heartbreaking.

Eddie has to shake himself to get moving, he glares at Lucas, Mike and Dustin as he quickly drops Erica’s hands to make it across the yard to Steve, “what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“We didn’t mean to scare him!”

“It was just a prank!”

He shakes his head and decides they aren’t important here, that the one sobbing is who he needs to pay attention to. Kneeling next to Steve, he doesn’t touch; not yet at least. He takes a deep breath before trying to get Steve out of this, “Steve, Steve, you’re okay.”

Steve only sobs harder, shaking his head.

“Stevie, hey, come on. You’re not there, whenever you are. It’s not real” he hopes his voice doesn’t sound as shaky as he feels, “Stevie, you’re at the Byers house, in the backyard.”

“You’re lying, this-this is a trick!” Steve sobs out, “it-it won’t work, I don’t know anything about any Russian code-”

There’s a few gasps around him and he looks over his shoulder to find Dustin’s eyes widen and Robin’s face pales even more, “It’s- it’s gotta be a flashback, he’s- we- Eddie, he thinks he’s in the bunker, from last year- under Starcourt”

“I don’t know anything, I swear. I work at scoops ahoy, I just scoop ice cream. Please, please let me go!”

All he can do is feel heartbroken all over again, feels helpless as Steve sobs in front of him. Eddie looks away from everyone else and focuses on Steve instead. He doesn’t want to touch yet, doesn’t want to make Steve freak out even more.

“Steve, listen to me. You are not at the bunker, you’re safe. I’m Eddie, it’s Eddie. It’s July 4th, 1986. You are not at Starcourt, you’re safe” his voice wavers towards the end, listening to Steve sob is not what he wanted to ever hear.

All Steve does is shake his head and sobs more.

Taking another moment to breathe, he leans towards him slowly and pulls the cloth off Steve’s head. “Open your eyes, please sweetheart. Open them and you’ll see me, see Eddie.”

Behind him he can hear someone else crying, can hear Joyce and Hopper whispering to each other and hear everyone not in the know try and figure out why Steve is freaking out. It doesn’t pull his attention away though, his vision is just on Steve.

He refuses to look away, actually.

Steve’s tears don’t stop, the rocking though is finally stopping, his arms are still tight around his knees but he moves his head up and slowly blinks. It takes a few minutes and Eddie can see when it finally clicks in Steve’s mind. His face is suddenly white and he tightens his arms again, “Ed-Eddie?”

Nodding, he shuffles a little closer, “Yeah Stevie, it’s me. You’re okay”

“No, no- I” Steve’s eyes are red and wide as his eyes jump from him to everyone behind him, “I need to go- I can’t- I can’t-”

Without any words he moves quickly, gets up and helps Steve up. Tucking him under his arm and pulls close, leading him away from the house and now the shouts from everyone else. Eddie ignores them too, focus on getting Steve away.

They end up at his new trailer.

Eddie takes a moment in the kitchen to calm himself down a bit more before picking up the mugs of tea and making his way back into his room where Steve is. He pushes the door open, a small smile on his face as he makes his way over.

Steve has the blankets pulled all the way to his chin, he’s staring at the wall with tears still streaming down his face but there’s no more sobs.

“I got us some tea” he raises the Garfield mug up, “got your favorite cup too”

It causes a wobbly smile and Eddie’ll call that a small victory. Steve lets the blankets fall down and takes the mug, blowing it before taking a small sip. Eddie follows his lead and does the same. Only moving just to get under the blankets, making sure to rest his legs touching Steve’s.

It’s quiet the only noises coming from outside, from the other residents enjoying the holiday.

Even though the tea is gone, Steve still has the mug in his hands. They’ve been in the trailer for two hours now. Eddie doesn’t want to push, but he’s also very concerned and wants to make sure that he’s okay.

“Stevie, are you okay?”

Steve rolls the mug in his hands as he shrugs, “I don’t know, that um, that’s never happened before”

He nods, tapping the mug and once Steve lets it go, grabs it and places it next to his own mug. Looking at Steve, he’s never seen such a defeated look on his face. It’s wrong and Eddie hates it.

“It’s o- well, it’s not okay. I’m sorry the boys were assholes. You don’t have to tell me, not right now. We can just sit here and skip out on the party.” He won’t make him explain it, not right now.

That’s not important currently, what’s important is making sure Steve feels okay and safe again.

Steve just leans against the wall, a sigh coming out of his mouth before he looks at him. “I, I got tortured last year. Um, I haven’t told anyone. It was-”

He shakes his head and pulls him close to hug him, “Steve- Stevie, you don’t have to talk about it right now. We’ll talk about it tomorrow, right now I just want you to calm down and make sure you’re okay”

Steve looks at him and blinks back tears before nearly crashing them down against the bed. He tucked his head against Eddie’s neck and wraps his arms around him. Eddie does the same and holds him, rubbing his back and squeezing him close.

They stay like that, until the tears are gone and they can hear muffled fireworks going off now. Eddie’s on his back now with Steve cuddled next to him, head on his chest.

It’s a lot more intimate than they normally are, they’ve shared a bed before several times, actually. They’re close and both crave touch, but never this close. There’s something different swirling around them.

“Eds?”

He hums out and continues on with the pattern he’s making against Steve’s back with his fingers, “yeah?”

“It’s my birthday” Steve whispers it, like it’s a secret.

He freezes, hand completely flat against Steve’s back now. His whole body goes nearly stiff under him, because what?

“What?”

Steve shrugs, moves slightly to look at him, “today, it’s my birthday. I um, I’m officially 20”

He blinks and sits up more, confusion all over his face, “You- you got tortured on your birthday?”

The only answer he gets is a nod, Steve shifts back to cuddle him. “Yeah, kept it to myself. They, everyone, doesn’t know.”

It makes his heart hurt hearing that Steve was tortured on his birthday and that they didn’t know. It’s only as that thought goes through his mind, that he goes over what Steve said.

“They know it’s your birthday, right?”

Steve shook his head, squeezing his arms and hiding his face. He can feel his shirt start to get damp, making itself known that Steve is tearing up again.

“Stevie, why don’t the-” he shakes his head, deciding questions aren’t needed right now. He doesn’t need explanations, actually.

Right now all he wants is to hug and keep this man safe.

Eventually the sounds of fireworks die out, soon just chirps from birds and the wind blowing against the trees, muffled sounds of people laughing is all the white noise they need to fall asleep, along with how comfortable they both are.

They’re also emotionally drained, Steve especially.

~

He feels warm, comfortable and safe. He cuddles his pillow more and freezes for a split second when it shifts. It takes another second to remember where he is, who he’s with and what happened.

Steve’s cheeks burn as he shifts to look at Eddie under him, he’s still asleep. Looks relaxed and soft, beautiful. It makes his heart start to beat a little faster.

Eddie starts to open his eyes and he squints at him, “Staring is creepy, Stevie”

Quickly he shifts away from him and looks everywhere but at Eddie. He feels the bed move and hopes Eddie isn’t about to kick him out for staring.

“Hey, I wasn’t ready to give up with the cuddles” Eddie whines, and Steve knows that if he looks he’ll find a pout on Eddie’s face.

He shakes his head and fights back the smile, “I’m sorry”

“Don’t say sorry, I want the Stevie cuddles.” Eddie smiles and moves closer, wrapping his arms around him, “come on, it’s like-“ he glanced at his alarm clock, “it’s four in the morning, let’s sleep, okay? I won’t accept any sorry or explanations until the sun is out and I have breakfast with my favorite person”

All Steve can do is nod his head, slowly moving with Eddie to lay back down.

It’s quiet, Steve can feel Eddie’s fingers doing twirls and lines against his back. It’s slowing down and Steve can tell Eddie’s falling back asleep.

It’s nice, this is wonderful maybe even perfect. Steve wonders if this is what it’d be like if they were in a relationship together. If Eddie is even more touchy, if the nicknames extend past the normal Stevie and sweetheart.

“I can hear you thinking, Stevie”

He freezes and looks up to see Eddie already looking towards him, “sorry?”

“No need to be sorry, just, why are you still awake?”

Looking away, he thinks about it. Really thinks about it and maybe, just maybe, he could be a little more vulnerable with Eddie. Thinks that of all the people to immediately act and help him, was Eddie. That he took him away from all the eyes and took him home, gave him tea and held him.

So, he can be a brave right now.

Moving, he sits up and brings Eddie with him. He’s confused but moves willingly. They’re just looking at each other and he needs another moment to get his mind set. Taking a deep breath, he grabs hold on Eddie’s hands.

“Eddie, I need to tell you something and I don’t want this to ruin anything between us. I really, really hope this doesn’t ruin it. Because you’re important to me. So please, just listen to me and promise you’ll still be here”

Eddie blinks, confused and concerned.

“You can tell me anything, sweetheart.”

He nods and tightens his hands around Eddie’s before blowing out some air, “I, I thin- no, I know I love you. I’m in love with you, Eddie. For a while now but I was scared and worried that if I said that word, that I’d be left alone and you’d leave. But after what you did for me, I- I need you to know that I feel this way for you.”

It’s quiet and Steve can’t keep looking at Eddie as the time keeps passing by, he wants to bolt, wants to leave; needs to leave if Eddie stays quiet longer.

Feels like an eternity has passed before he feels Eddie’s hands on his face, as they move him to look at him. Makes him realize not only was he crying but Eddie’s tearing up now.

“Eddie I-”

“Don’t apologize, if that’s what you were going to do, please don’t apologize. Actually, stop apologizing to me today. I need you to realize I don’t need them, and I don’t need you thinking you have to leave, either.”

All he can do is shut his mouth, another sorry on the tip of his tongue. Eddie’s mouth tips to knowing smile, before he moves his hands down and around his neck.

“Stevie, I’m going to kiss you now. Okay?”

This is not where he thought he’d end up, but as Eddie smiles again before coming in close. He’ll take it.

He’s imagined kissing Eddie, of course. Has had dreams that woke him up needing a cold shower, had a million thoughts and wants, but it has nothing on actually kissing him.

The first kiss is salty from tears, it’s soft despite the chapped lips. It’s everything and more. His favorite part isn’t the kiss itself, though this will become addicting eventually, no his favorite part is Eddie resting his forehead against his own and the quick kiss to his nose before pulling back with a smile and, “I’m in love with you too, honey love”

Steve matches that smile, feeling high and happy. So happy, he immediately wraps his arms around Eddie in a joyful hug with tears and laughter. “I love you so much, Eddie”

They spend the rest of the night curled together. The next morning will be filled with more laughter, kisses and cuddles. Eventually they’ll talk about what happened, those explanations will be needed and heard. Someday, in the future, Steve will be honest with everyone and tell them what he went to.

For now, they’re settled on the couch lazily making out. Everything else put on hold, they deserve a lazy day together.

— —

UH, this was supposed to be a short hurt/comfort thing for the 4th of July, but it uhhhh got away from me? Like really got away. Anyway, i hope you enjoyed it! If you saw any mistakes let me know!!

Quick shout out to @i-less-than-three-you for helping out with this! Thanks for listening to me talk myself into this and then help with some of the plot )she came up with Steve’s birthday idea 😈) so thank you and I love you 🩷

Permanent tag list: (if you want to be added let me know!!)

@spectrum-spectre @itsfreakingbats @mysticcrownshipper @artiststarme @thereindeerlady @justforthedead89 @ronniescontinuum @freyaforestafay @littlewildflowerkitten @estrellami-1 @gregre369 @zerokrox-blog @bookworm0690 @flustratedcas @carlprocastinator1000 @marvelmwah @solliesolesito @navnae @i-less-than-three-you

[janewayintersection]

the amount of people who are like "omg i ditched kaidan for garrus after he was mean to me on horizon!!" baffle me. shit on bioware's writing for making shep work with cerberus all you want, but kaidan calling shep out on this and not joining them is NOT the issue. in fact, him reacting like this is why i love him??

he specifically states he trusts shep, just not cerberus. which is the only rational response in that whole entire goddamn game!! like?? you spend all of me1 stopping cerberus operations. they kill several alliance soldiers and admiral kahoku, try to make a rachni army -- they are WELL known for cloning and ais... miranda even outright states she wanted to plant shep with a control chip. there is literally zero reason for kaidan to believe the shep in front of him isn't some cerberus sleeper agent. or an ai. or indoctrinated. or being manipulated (THIS ONE IS CANON BTW). even if he trusts shepard, he doesn't trust cerberus not to pull any of this. quite frankly, i'm baffled more companions don't have this exact, entirely justified concern.

loyalty is important, but blind loyalty is dangerous.

honestly, the crew in me2 is lucky that the illusive man was so weirdly and uncharacteristically insistent on shepard remaining untouched. things could have gotten very bad otherwise.

being best friends with someone, or more notably, being in love with someone, isn't the end all be all magic potion in this world. being in love with someone doesn't mean you should blindly trust their actions. if my significant other joined a terrorist group, you can bet my ass i wouldn't join them! sorry! if anything, it's healthy that kaidan has his own sense of morals and priorities he follows over shepard. he's his OWN person, love shouldn't be something that makes you suddenly give up who you are and what you believe in.

not to mention kaidan is entirely out of the loop for the whole game. his intel states that cerberus is behind the abductions (the horizon incident is partially a result of cerberus' fiddling btw), and that shep has been alive and never even reached out to anyone. he doesn't have the information we the players have. he doesn't know that the illusive man insisted on no control chip. he doesn't know about the lazarus project or its specifics.

and as for the "cheating" discourse if you romance someone new in me2, i do personally believe shep getting with one of the me2 love interests is cheating on their me1 love interest. to shep, they skipped those two years. they wake up as they did during the me2 prologue. no time has passed. and then they immediately get with someone else after one (1) argument with their love interest over them, may i remind you, joining a terrorist group. even if you don't think it's "technically" cheating, it's at the very least pretty trashy and flakey.

if anything, i'm gonna say it! kaidan is more forgiving than i'd be! the fact that he even sends an email saying he still cares and that they can see what happens after this is all resolved is WAY more than i would have done. the fact that kaidan will find out shep got with someone else, and STILL be willing to give shep a chance is like. man. it's saying a lot. i am just saying.

imagine losing someone. you see them literally die as your ship explodes and they burn up in the nearby planet's atmosphere. you grieve. you put yourself into your work. then suddenly, two years, later. they pop back up again. ALIVE. and with a terrorist group. and basically tell you the equivalent of "just trust me bro" despite the fact that while you trust them, you don't trust the terrorist group. so you're like hey, what the fuck. why are you with a terrorist group. and they're like i'm not with them, we just have common goals. and you're like. i'm gonna say it again. i trust you, not the terrorist group. okay?? i can't join you for this reason. please be careful out there, seriously.

and then they immediately jump into the pants of that one guy you knew back on a mission from two years ago.

what would you do?? would you not feel hurt? betrayed? upset? confused?? i'm sorry, i'm completely on kaidan's side. i'd go as far to say that he's far more understanding than he should be in me2.

me3 is all about regaining that complete and undying trust back, and that cerberus didn't fuck around w shep. or that being with cerberus didn't change them. his "loyalty" quest is just visiting him in the hospital and showing him shepard still cares. that they're still the same. that cerberus truly didn't alter them. that there was more going on. that shepard was forced to work with cerberus out of complete necessity and only did what they thought was right. and i think that's neat!!!!

[pixelheartthrob]

Elise & the Duke

Elise's relationship with her father isn't discussed very much. I think it's actually one of the most interesting aspects about 06.

In a flashback, he's shown telling a young Elise "Don't cry" and "Become a strong queen who doesn't cry no matter what happens" in response to her grieving over her mother's death, which is...not great. A child should be allowed to grieve over their deceased parent. Although the Duke means well and says this because he genuinely believes strong leaders never cry (which is far from the truth), that doesn't make what he's doing okay. It doesn't matter that he's saying it in a soft and gentle tone, either. To a child, it's likely gonna seem like a dismissal of their feelings (which it is). This also shows that he was telling Elise to never cry before he used her as a vessel to seal Iblis.

Another thing I find interesting is that Elise says "I understand everything my parents said to me now." It could imply that Elise's mother held the same sentiment as the Duke, but we don't know for sure.

Now, onto the Solaris Project. Some time before the project began, the Duke told Elise that Solaris' power would allow them to travel through time and rectify past mistakes. The main reason the Duke began the project was so Elise could see her late mother again. Once again, good intentions, but the Duke experimenting with supernatural forces beyond his understanding cost him his life and hurt many people, perhaps his daughter most of all.

So long story short, the project goes wrong and the Duke is fatally wounded in an explosion but shortly before his death, he sealed the Flames of Disaster in Elise and pretty much left her clean up his mess. She was cursed to never shed a single tear, had to rule an entire kingdom at a young age, is relentlessly pursued and kidnapped by a madman who wants to harness her power, and when she makes a single friend, he gets murdered right before her eyes by the creature that her father experimented on all those years ago. Elise is suffering the consequences for her father's actions.

And how does Elise feel about her father after all this? She still loves him deeply. She doesn't express any anger towards him or angst about the way he treated her, or that he inadvertently caused her suffering, even though she has every right to do so. You get the sense that she doesn't realize her father's "love" was actually quite abusive, which is just really tragic. At the start of the game, Elise lacks confidence, is unsure of what she can do in her situation, and even blames herself for the things that are happening. Her attitude gradually changes when she meets Sonic, who encourages her to be more proactive and truly enjoy life instead of being restricted by her role as a princess.

Yet people get on Elise's case for breaking down once at the tail end of the game over the fact that she'd lose the memories of her only friend and would be separated from him?

Elise doesn't mean what she said in this moment, and blows out Solaris' flame to save the world seconds later. She had to bottle up her emotions for a decade and now has to say goodbye to the person whom she grew to love over the course of their adventure. Her reaction here is more than justified.

Elise is such a good character 🤍

[briaroftheroses]

Right Here In My Arms Tonight

warnings: angst, grieving dead loved one, no happy ending // wc: 700+

spencer reid x fem!reader (no use of y/n)

A million thoughts flew through Spencer’s mind, as they always did, as if his brain was the superhighway. Rain pattered softly against the window, dark clouds looming in the night sky, as he cuddled himself further into the bed.

He replayed the previous few weeks in his head, recalling every small detail. He always thought it was a gift, that he would never forget the way your eyes sparkled when you were happy, the look of your hair in the soft morning sunrise, the image of your skin in the moonlight. Now, he felt as though it was anything but. Cursed to remember the feeling of your bodies tangled together, the sound of your melodic laughter, the memory of hushed whispers in the dead of night, hidden from the world in a cocoon of blankets, and knowing it was all gone.

He couldn’t help but wonder if it was all his fault, as self-doubt and pity creeped in. Could he have been better? Is there something he could have said, or done? Was he too dependent, too self-critical, or not affectionate enough? Or was it inevitable, like the last embers of a once warm and glowing candle dying out?

A part of Spencer didn’t want to believe that it was all over. He was a man of logic, facts were everything to him, yet you seemed to have stripped that all away. Facts meant nothing when he felt lost, half-convinced he would look up and you would be there, smiling down at him, looking like an angel sent from heaven. That’s what you were to Spencer, it’s what you always had been. His saving grace.

The team had been constantly checking over his shoulder, out of concern, and a worry he would return to his old habits. The thought almost made Spencer laugh. You would be so disappointed if he started taking dilaudid again, so guilty that you drove him to it. No, he wouldn’t do that to you. He wouldn’t let you see him like that. You would come back, right? And when you did, Spencer would be sure that he was ready, not hopped up on drugs.

“Sir,” woman’s voice rang out softly in the room, almost afraid of startling him, as if anything too loud would set him off.

Sir. He wasn’t Spencer there, not Doctor Reid. He wasn’t anything, not without you.

“Sir?” The same voice called as Spencer refused to look up, only burying his face further into the blankets. Spencer was sure it would work, that if he could just hide himself then none of this would be true, just a bad dream that could be warded off with a sheet.

“We need to prep the body,” those words seemed to somewhat knock Spencer out of his stupor of denial as he glanced up. He still refused to look at the nurse, his gaze trained solely on you, on the bruises and cuts maring your face. You were still beautiful, you would always be beautiful to Spencer. You could be covered in scars, and violent purple bruises, and be bald, for all he cared. He would never meet someone more perfect, more ethereal.

“She’s going to wake up soon,” Spencer voiced adamantly. The heart monitor had flatlined long ago, but it was as if Spencer never even heard it.

He did, he absolutely did. It’s what threw him into a pit of despair and agony, the sound being the final note in Spencer’s life, the soundtrack to the end. He couldn’t possibly go on, not now. Not while you lay still beneath him, body battered in from the ubsubs attacks, breathing stilling to a halt.

No, this wasn’t right. None of it was. You were supposed to wake up, hold him, kiss him, and marry him. Spencer’s fingers toyed idly with the shimmering ring on your finger.

“She’ll wake up,” he repeated, with such conviction you would’ve almost believed him, if not for the way his hands shook and you lay lifeless in the hospital bed.

Spencer always knew everything, something he took great pride in. He had his whole life planned to the moment. But, with every second that you remained unresponsive to his hushed words, and delicate kisses to your face, his future slowly swirled around the drain, leaving only blackness behind.

And the million thoughts in Spencer’s head finally stopped, replaced with only you.

written by @briaroftheroses, august 15th 2024

tags: @fear-is-truth @slutforgarlogan

a/n: woke up in an angsty mood today and made my first spencer fic 🤪

also i’m so sorry i haven’t post a fic in like five months 😭 i have been writing, just nothing’s been getting finished

[saintsenara]

Opinions on Tonks/Snape?

thank you very much for the ask, anon!

here's where i confess that i've got quite a soft spot for stonks as a ship - and not just because of that ship name - because it's a great vehicle for one of my favourite post-war questions: how the hell do you put a life together in peacetime if you never expected to have survived the final battle?

that this would apply to snape is obvious - it's pretty clear in canon that [much like harry] his experience of the entire period 1981-1998 is that he's following a script written for him by dumbledore which he believes [and, i suspect, hopes] will end in his own annihilation. while i don't think he imagines dying in the exact way he does [and while a hill i will die on is that dumbledore tried as best as he could to arrange things so that snape would survive], i think the only post-war survival scenario he envisions for himself is a lifetime rotting in azkaban, continuing to punish himself and consider himself unworthy of absolution for his role in lily's death.

but - perhaps more controversially - i also think that this can be said to apply to tonks. while i would absolutely reject the suggestion that she would have imagined herself dying because she was a bad mother, i think that several things she says in deathly hallows - above all her recognition that she's locked into a battle to the death with bellatrix - would lead to her sharing the view lupin's shade expresses to harry when he summons him with the resurrection stone: that the greatest act of love she can show her son is to die for a world in which he can live freely.

[and i also think - indeed i am convinced of it - that she also thinks it's her duty to die trying to off bellatrix because her decision to join the order means that andromeda and ted's safety in the first war - something voldemort can be plausibly said to grant at bellatrix's request on the proviso that they keep their heads down and their mouths shut - is forfeit in the second.]

the post-war tonks - a widow at twenty-five, navigating life as a single mother to a tiny baby, dealing with her own cavernous grief over the loss of her father and her mother's grief over the loss of her husband - can be written about really interestingly as someone who's unmoored within her new life and looking for something - anything - to anchor herself.

and a snape who survives nagini is a really interesting tool in all sorts of post-war ships [snarry and snack chief among them] in how he serves as a connection to a lost generation. and, in this case, he is the only person tonks will know who - no matter how negative his assessment of him - actually knew lupin well.

and it's so clear that tonks' relationship with lupin in canon was shaped by her searching for answers about him which he kept hidden behind the mask of his own self-loathing. i can absolutely see her being devastated at the knowledge that his death means that she finds herself with no chance of ever actually uncovering the reality of him, and i can see this leading her to snape's hospital bedside out of a desire to grasp at someone - anyone - who might help her fill in those gaps.

but tonks is also clearly very bolshy and very brave - two traits you need to help you survive grieving the loss of one love and still have room to chase after another.

she's also clearly very curious and very kind. and so i think she's the order member - other than harry - who would be most able to accept the fact that snape was on their side all along and to believe that he should be pardoned. i think snape would find that show of trust in him terrifying - obviously - and i think he'd go out of his way to push her away as a result. but she's got plenty of prior experience at dealing with emotionally constipated men...

and i think you can make a very credible case for the idea that snape must genuinely quite like tonks. i think it's often overlooked just how clever she must be to be admitted as an auror, and how one of the areas in which she would have been required to be clever was potions. she's also clearly one of the youngest people in the role, and her position as a junior auror who ends up doing far more for the war effort than many of her seniors mirrors snape's experience as the youngest teacher at hogwarts. i also think her shock at just how horrible to her snape is in half-blood prince when he mocks her new patronus can be read as evidence that, during the order of the phoenix timeline, she and snape had a cordial relationship. and cordial for snape is transcendentally fond for anyone else...

[plus, his disappointment in her being interested in lupin is clearly because she's someone he respects - if he didn't think she was far too good for lupin, he wouldn't have bothered saying anything.]

i genuinely think you can do something lovely with the two of them initially coming together because they view the other as a life raft in a world they don't think really belongs to them, but then something which looks a lot like dry - and stable - land coming into view as they realise they have more than that in common.

snape's terrified, obviously, but tonks is a woman who understands how to go with the flow. she'll follow love where it takes her - no matter the obstacles she finds in the way - and he's going to have no choice but to come along for the ride.

[mallahanmoxie]

one thing about ham dani that nobody seems to get and why I'm always fighting for my life in the webtoon's comment section is that in all her fear and reticence around opening herself up with her friends, believing she belongs in this world, trusting in her place and relationships is that SHE'S NEVER WRONG ABOUT THE NEGATIVES. i think it's very easy to look at dani a hundred chapters in still going on about her place as a side character and what she can expect from them realistically, what she can allow herself to feel for them, and feel frustrated, like she's being deliberately obtuse. but dani. is. not. wrong.

one thing that many isekais do is that they will take the premise of "being transported to a novel" and use that simply as a vehicle for the FL to use her knowledge of the future to her advantage and turn the odds on their head. beyond the initial "ehhh why is the ML flirting with me??" which tends to wear off rather easily, there is little questioning about what being in a story means. and inso's law takes that question seriously. because dani IS inside a story, her friends ARE characters AND THIS IS EASILY PROVABLE SINCE THE BEGINNING. How? because she leaves.

it has happened to her before! It happens multiple times in the novel! that's why march 2nd is SO terrifying for her, because everything she's built can be taken from her in the blink of an eye and SHE will be called crazy and SHE will be left grieving and nobody else will remember what ONLY SHE LIVED. she is effectively, practically, tangibly separate from each world by this experience. when dani insists on the labels of main character, side character, the tropes and the narrative possibilities happening within them SHE'S NOT WRONG!! because those things are TRUE!!! I know it's easy to gloss over it bc we as readers just take everything in as a story, but the crazy plot points? they're insane to her too because SHE is a real person and others are not! They're characters! That's why it's called The Law of Webnovels because dani is making sense of the rules of a world which factually functions distinctly different from hers. she's not making that shit up, it's not (entirely) an emotional hold up. that's shit's fucking real.

the nuance is brought on by the fact that the characters are, in fact, also people. they behave like people (albeit inside the margins of wild webnovel logic), they feel like people and they see her as a person. but she does not entirely reciprocate, because to view them as people means assuming the hurt that will inevitably come when 1) she gets sent back into the real world and loses them all or 2) the plot to the novel finally kicks in and who knows if the guy she liked was the ML and will end up with her best friend and all her love and all her trying were for nothing. No matter what, dani loses.

there's also the fact, which i think is exemplified very clearly in her feelings towards her grades and being compared to yeoryung, that even outside the character/real person dichotomy, ham dani and the boys come from WILDLY different backgrounds. when they graduate high school, they will go to different colleges and they will get different jobs and the wide wide gap which dani had managed to bridge due to the magic of webnovel rules will be opened once again. in the social hierarchy of modern korean society, dani will be left behind. ban yeoryung is somewhat immune to this despite sharing similar socioeconomic status because she has 1) better social capital in the form of her beauty and intelligence and 2) plot armour immunity bc she's destined to be with one of the boys anyway (and again it IS destiny bc she's the FL and according to the genre clues dani's been gathering that seems to be the most likely outcome). yeoryung has resources and tools beyond the story that dani cannot access. even IF this wasn't the world of a webnovel, if they existed in the real world, yeoryung COULD feasibly climb her way up but dani? she's realistic about her prowess and she knows very well that being a good friend and a good person does not mean she will get to remain close to her friends who are much much much richer. my point here being that even if she weren't under the assumption (WELL TESTED!!! SCIENTIFIC, EVEN!!!) that she's in the world of a story ruled by story laws, she wouldn't be silly for guarding her heart against the possibility of drifting away from byr+the boys.

all of this is why i love dani's character arc and her as a person. she doesn't act irrationally. she only acts very, very humanly. it's why i loved the kidnapping arc and her confrontation with choi yuri. she has to learn to treat them seriously, as human beings, because despite factually being characters, they don't have the awareness of it and their lives are every bit as real as any other to them. it's part also of dani learning how to be a person herself, because she's still a kid growing up and learning what's what, and doing so in an environment much more stressful than the usual. i think people are being irrationally mean towards her simply because they do not make the effort to understand her.

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

every so often i see people complaining that the rules that govern the endless are unfair and shouldn't exist, and it's always just kinda funny, bc im here like oh you do NOT want to get rid of the rules, trust me

is it unfair that desire gets away with so much bc they're the only one willing to break the rules? yeah, probably. but the solution to that is more rules, not less, because we're dealing with 7 immortal siblings who've been around since the dawn of time and have the maturity levels of teenagers

and in that context all of the rules make so much sense

like there's probably more rules than we know about, but let's focus on the main three - no loving mortals, no interfering in each others' affairs, no spilling family blood

1) endless can't love mortals. the one rule we know was instated later than the rest, almost entirely because of dream. for two reasons. the more obvious is that dream and desire are never gonna stop fighting, and when you put a mortal in the way of that, they are almost definitely gonna get murdered or worse. but also, there's lifespans to consider. not every dead mortal can end up in the dreaming, and not all of them want to. dream dating someone mortal means at some point, he is going to outlive them, that's not in question. and dream... doesn't take loss well. he stood outside in the rain without moving for three weeks when thessaly left, and they'd only been dating a few months. and then we have lucien's word on what happened after nada...

if the dreaming entirely comes to a halt for weeks or years or centuries after a girlfriend leaves him, dream grieving an actual death of a partner is actively dangerous. you can't stop dream from dating, and from those relationships going poorly, but at least it has a much higher chance of being a mutual breakup if death has been taken out of the equation

(and, you know, might as well make it a universal rule, both just in case, and so dream isn't constantly aware that this one was made because of him)

2) no interfering in the affairs of other endless. think, for a second, about the sibling rivalries in this family. and that's just the ones that exist now, when several of them have had a chance to grow up - it's said they were all a lot more immature and prideful, even death, back in the day (she grew into the older sister position).

i saw someone say once that everything in the dcu makes sense when you consider that the universe is being run by seven warring siblings, and honestly i'm inclined to agree! they're all a mess

but at least they're messes that mostly leave each other alone. which means their domains are at least protected by the fact that they all individually care about what they were created to do - there's only one person making decisions and that person generally wants the best for those that enter their domain

death in the show talks about how when she was young, she had a hard time seeing her purpose, because everyone seemed to hate her and she didn't know what to do about it. what she says in the comics is that she did stop. once it really started to get to her, she refused to collect souls. no one and nothing died. and it was only through realising how much more that was hurting the world that she started to learn how to be okay with it

when any of them stop or get distracted or kept away from their jobs, it's the mortals who suffer. and even if they all meant well, which they often don't, have you ever tried running important projects with seven people leading? at best, it slows you down, at worst it can ruin the project entirely. given how much they try to tell each other how to live their lives already, if they were allowed to get up in each others' business, you might as well be jamming up the cogs of the universe

3) can't spill family blood. so, it's easy to look at that and see orpheus, and rose walker, and all the traps that dream almost or did fall into. but as far as i'm aware, other than orpheus and unity's descendants, we don't know of any other kids of the endless, and those were all pretty recent, on a universal scale. honestly, given how dream is the only hopeless romantic of the family, i'd be willing to bet orpheus was the first. so it's extremely unlikely when this rule was put into place that children were on anyone's mind. time and night are on such a cosmic scale of power i don't think even all of the endless combined could kill one of them. which means this rule is about each other

and given everything we just said about interfering with each other, can you imagine if they were allowed to kill each other? because endless reincarnate, death amongst their family would lose all meaning. you could kill one of your siblings for annoying you and get back a potentially less annoying version of them almost immediately. but every time you did that, you'd be disrupting the functions of the universe. and with siblings like dream and desire, who don't see the other's domain as important at all, they wouldn't care. if they'd been doing it since the start, it's possible none of them would see that as a bad thing

you'd have the universe falling apart before it could even really begin. and they might not even notice

[saphflare]

I know Mizisua is like the main doomed yuri thing here, but like can I talk about MIzihyuna because like I feel normal about them, so much.

Just Mizi, and her loving her saviors. That we have Sua who was in the dark and Mizi had showed kindness to, shining a light for them. But return they were someone human that understood them and stayed by her side enduring and reciprocating of her affection. That in the end saved Mizi by sacrificing her own life, whether fully planned or not so that she may advance the round and live on.

Then there is Hyuna who saved Mizi from the stage where she was supposed to die. That despite the tragedy and the loss of her world, she is given another one by the grace that is the rebellion and shown something that could be hope. That perhaps it isn't the same kind that she once had before, but it is another chance from Hyuna that guides her to loving life again.

And another point in that Mizihyuna is its own flavor of tragedy because oough I can't see this ending well.

That Mizi still grieves Sua and even if she was with Hyuna, she likely hasn't moved on from her old universe, after all how could she when it had defined her for so long. How could she ever do so without it hurting and perhaps making it feel like a betrayal to the person that died so she could life. Moving on from the one she devoted herself to for so long in loving. That despite everything that Hyuna has become to her and might ever be, it will never replace the empty half that was taken from her. And that even Hyuna might not be long either when there is a darkness in them, something seeking the destruction of not only a system greater than either than them but Hyuna's old shadow of her past. Because the narrative has its pattern and the world it is rooted in is one that is uncaring for any kind of love between those trying to survive and live again.

And I don't see it ending well. That in some way, when we finally see Hyuna and Lukas get their own little number together, it won't end well for whoever is going to be involved. And all I can think about is the fact that the hope in Mizi's life is going to be taken from her again and I fucking can't do this T-T

[vendettasfanfictioning]

Sam-coded: Analyzing the parallels between Destiel and Sam's arcs with his love interests.

PART 1: JESSICA MOORE

FOREWORD & DISCLAIMER

With a fan community as enormous as Supernatural's, it is fair to assume that most, if not everything, stated here has already been pointed out or dissected multiple times before—especially considering the long span of time that the show has aired and the three years thereafter. The goal of this post is not to claim these ideas as my own but rather to compile and expand on them.

I also want to add that regarding Jessica, specifically, the canon facts about her are incredibly limited what with her only "real" appearance being at the Pilot episode (though she is referenced and alluded to in multiple episodes all throughout).

That said, she had a critical role in shaping Sam's goals, with emphasis on earlier seasons' Sam's development so it felt fitting to start this series off with her.

There are many instances that the fandom has pointed out cinematic parallels between Sam and Jessica & Dean and Castiel. In this post, I would be elaborating on all of the key points I have found, namely: 1. The scripted meeting, 2. Grieving a lover, and other random findings.

1. IN THE BEGINNING (WITH REGARDS TO GOD'S PLAN)

To start, both Sam/Jess and Dean/Cas were fated to meet to serve a higher narrative purpose.

Frankly, I think that is fucking beautiful, but not only that; it can be argued that, if we were to speculate that Sam met Jessica right after he ran away from Dean and John, then Jessica and Castiel did the same thing. They pulled their respective Winchester brother out of hell/a dark place. (That may just be me talking out of my ass, but it's such a poetic concept, isn't it?)

Most importantly though, both parties were doomed by the narrative, but in polar opposite ways.

(Screenshots taken from 5x20)

Sam was destined to love and then lose Jessica for two reasons: to start the story, and to make Sam go down the "dark" path i.e. adjacent to Lucifer, demon blood, evil. Their story was scripted from the get-go, even before Supernatural decided to go metatextual with God.

(Screenshots taken from 15x17)

On the other hand, Dean and Castiel were never meant to be anything more. God himself says that Castiel was supposed to continue obeying heaven, do what he was told, and it is one of (if not the one) that completely separated the Supernatural storyline from any of Chuck's other drafts.

(GIFs from 15x18 and 15x19)

Furthermore, Castiel's love for Dean and Dean's loss of him marks the end of the story and makes Dean defy the role that God made for him. Admittedly, it's a flawed parallel, as Dean has already moved on from being Michael's Sword and the Righteous Man. To that, I say it only further proves the point; their unscripted "profound bond" directly opposed God's word. It was what should have broken the cycle.

And still, both ended in tragedy. It's just that one was written to end that way and the other wrote itself.

2. THE WINCHESTER BROTHERS ON GRIEF

(GIFs are from 1x01 and 12x23)

This segment can't start any other way than with these iconic shots of the Winchesters holding their brother back from running towards the love of their life (as the lover, in question, dies/walks to their death). These shots are the very reason I started this whole analysis, and they speak for themselves.

Even their clothes are inverted here, because Sam and Dean are experiencing the exact same thing. The grief, pain, and helplessness that comes with losing a partner.

(While compiling these, I stumbled upon the eerie realization that the shots attached above and the ones below have swapped color palettes in a way? Granted, that may just be some editing thing. Technology and video quality aside though, you can't deny that the vibrance of the fire vs. the bleakness of Apocalypse World juxtapose aesthetically well with the shots below. Just another one of those, "is it intentional or did Supernatural just run out of options from the sheer breadth of it?")

(Screenshots taken from 1x05 and 8x07)

This parallel in particular is what makes me believe that Supernatural either has amazing writing or just a terrible retention for continuity and reflection. Because, again, Sam and Dean are going through the same damn thing here: guilt. Specifically, the guilt of their lover's death—how both had reasons to believe they could've prevented it.

Also, these are cinematically shot the same way: Jessica and Castiel by the road, a deadpan stare at the Impala as the brothers drive by, then disappearing from sight at a second glance. How else are we to take this other than Dean grieving a lover the same way Sam grieved for his girlfriend? Did they just forget this scene from 1x05 when they filmed 8x07? (Most likely, yeah, but that doesn't disprove its contribution to the narrative.)

The premise is also similar, damningly so, the only notable difference being the formatting, with season 1's monster-of-the-week almost-standalones and season 8's continuous, over-arcing conflict with hell and the tablets.

(Screenshots taken from 1x05 and 8x07)

At the very core, though, is Sam and Dean with their, "I could have—" statements. Sam had visions about Jessica dying, he could have warned her. Dean had Castiel right there at the portal to exit Purgatory, he could have pulled him out. It is that guilt they must carry around and that burden they must bear.

(Screenshots taken from 1x05 and 8x07)

They even give one another the same damn pep talk. Dean saw that Jessica's death was slowly killing Sam, the same way Sam saw that Dean's return from Purgatory without Castiel was tearing Dean apart.

(Screenshots taken from 1x05 and 8x07)

Lastly, here are the verbal acknowledgements of their grief. Because hey, who am I to try to explain subtext and nonverbatim connections.

2.1. TO BE JOHN WINCHESTER'S SON

In this segment, I would like to point out two of the instances that Sam and Dean accepted being compared to John Winchester, both in regards to losing Jessica and Castiel respectively.

(Screenshots taken from 1x20)

Again, this is what the story was all about. Sam and John could or at least find solidarity in this, as was intended for the plot. (They even mirror God and Lucifer here, which is an entirely different can of worms I am not opening today.)

Keep in mind, Sam's always hated how John raised them, but it is evident that he found some comfort with John given their undeniably specific situations.

(Screenshots taken from 13x04 I talked a little more about this arc here)

Sam openly calls Dean out on his John-esque behavior; an irony in itself given that the brothers have long since established that Sam was the one who resembled John the most whereas Dean was always, "yes, sir!" until the very end.

In this very same arc, there is a concerning increase Dean's alcohol consumption—and the use of alcohol as a coping mechanism in itself, rather than the leisurely treat it recurringly was in the show—which are telling signs for the headspace Dean was in.

They both lashed out in John Winchester ways they've internalized over the years growing up. Sam went down the path of self-destructive revenge-seeking, while Dean lashed out by rejecting being a father role to Jack, becoming the "drill sergeant," instead. These traits were what hurt them as children and were the crux of John's grief over Mary's murder. Round and round the cycle goes.

2.2. TO BE LUCIFER'S VICTIM

(GIFs from 5x03 (a) and (b))

Again, another iconic parallel considering Lucifer's go-to trick to getting what he wants was to pose as the person his victims want the most. Another example of this exact same scenario is when Lucifer appears to rock star Vince Vicente as his dead girlfriend (and Vince ended up saying yes.)

In the earlier seasons, the most obvious choice for Sam was of course Jessica, as Lucifer was desperate to get ahold of Sam as a vessel. That was narratively sound, right? Even though 5 seasons (so about 5 years in canon) have passed since Jessica died, Sam hadn't forgotten her and she remained his greatest weakness.

(GIFs from 15x19)

Then on the flip side, during a time the story's well past the Script and God's most definitely free-styling, Lucifer appears again—and it is on God's orders. The devil chose Dean's weakness (Castiel) to blindside him, so Dean ends up running on emotions instead of questioning it.

This happened right after the episode Castiel confessed, and before the episode that Should Not Be Named... That also speaks for itself, doesn't it? Insane, absolute insanity to me.

3. MISCELLANEOUS: SYMBOLISMS & OTHER COINCIDENCES

(Screenshots taken from 1x01 and 14x12)

This is where I might be reaching, but it's a small observation I noticed while bingeing the Pilot episode. Of course, at the time, production likely didn't even put much thought into Jessica's costume, but it's a funny thing to point out all the same. (I screamed a little about Cas' healer motifs here in comparison to Cesar/Jesse if you're interested.)

(Screenshots taken from 1x01 and 10x09)

They both have the same Look when their boyfriend is talking down on himself, I can't even make this shit up.

+ I'm so frickin' tired I cannot look for screenshots anymore but Jessica's cookies plus Castiel's "you don't understand, I need pie," moment in the convenience store resonate with me.

+ Might edit and add more to this later, for now I sleepge.

REFERENCES

1x01: Pilot 1x05: Bloody Mary 1x20: Dead Man's Blood 5x03: Free to be You and Me 5x20: The Devil You Know 8x07: A Little Slice of Kevin 10x09: The Things We Left Behind 12x23: All Along the Watchtower 13x04: The Big Empty 14x12: Prophet and Loss 15x17: Unity 15x18: Despair 15x19: Inherit the Earth

UP NEXT: SARAH BLAKE

[vechter]

Top 5 Dick ships?

hello anon i think this is prolly gonna be the last one i do i've procrastinated enough today, also forgive me for not peppering this with enough comic panels i just can't be bothered to look for the issues 1) dick/roy- in my ideal world, dick moves back to new york after his batman stint and he and roy go on a crazy, adrenaline fuelled, bonkers mission to find lian, who is obviously not dead. brings things full circle to when they first got roy custody of lian from jade in nightwing: old friends/new enemies. they talk about roy's questionable titans for hire choices, dick's fear of being batman (let alone a really competent one) realized. they are both irretrievably changed from the last year but despite it all, they still fit. they find lian, cue heartbreaking reunion. and then they kiss <3 honestly tho they have so much history, roy started a whole ass team to help dick deal with his grief over donna despite the fact that roy loved her immensely too and was probably grieving her just as much. outsiders (2003) once again i am unable to be normal about it. 2) dick/kory- kory was probably the best thing to happen to dick. at a time in his life where he was hurting and struggling to figure out who he was beyond batman's partner, kory was a breath of fresh air. both she and dick have core desires of freedom but for dick, it tangles with the discipline and bruce of it all. they were so cute with their terms of endearment ("honey", "gorgeous", etc.), their pictures in each others' apartments, the way they were always touching. also just the fact that she can fly. the deeper meaning to kory will never let dick fall. it ended awfully and hurtfully but their love for each other changed them. for the better. they will always have that love for each other, even if they aren't in love with each other. i do think they are soulmates but very very clearly right person, wrong time.

3) dick/joey- im sorry none of those initial interactions were anything less than deeply, deeply homosexual. the way dick spent his entire birthday on tamaran monologuing at joey and joey heard it all. they have inside jokes! dick feels awe when he looks at him. also the fact that joey chooses to possess dick in titans. ahhhh what a fucking fantastic nuance to their dynamic.

4) dick/midnighter- when i do accept the existence of a post n52 world, midnighter is prolly one of my fav things to come from that era. i love the idea of a dick losing himself as a spy and subsequently choosing to engage in awful, awful self-destructing behaviour and midnighter clocking that but not rlly able to do more bc he's grieving his relationship with apollo, too. their relationship would just be a lot of adrenaline and lying and covert ops and it would be short-lived bc both of them know it isn't what they want, esp not even the person they want. also a lot of attempts to extract information from each other with progressively unhinged ways of flirting and stalking.

5) dick/being single i'm so serious,,, this is prolly my top one. he needs to be single bc either he is a staggeringly great partner or an awful one, no in between. i love him but if i were a fictional character and ever had to date him, i think i would combust from wanting to clock him. unfortunately, therapy will not fix him, i think it would just make him worse so he should just be single, untethered to any place or person (well, as untethered as you can be when you are as insane about bruce wayne as he is) and able to swing away. but also swing back to the people he loves.

[sweetmariihs2]

A headcanon-like thing I would like to share about Queen Lorelei

Tw: death during childbirth and some light mentions of suicide and grieving

I love Queen Lorelei (King Roland's deceased wife). She barely appears or it's mentioned in the show? Yes. But oh well. Fandom.

We believe she's that genuinely kind deceased character, that everyone remembers as sweet and beautiful, always more gentle than the world was to her, like a ray of sunshine. She's absolutely adored by everyone and her beauty and kindness always brought all the eyes in the room to her and her sweet laughs and smiles.

But unfortunately she died some time after she got married, during the childbirth of the princes that her body wasn't made to support, because the only reason she got pregnant in the first place was the wishing well, and that action had consequences, which means, she got pregnant indeed but that didn't changed the fact her body wasn't capable of enduring this.

And well, she died because of that. I usually feel really bad about childbirth deaths, because I feel like that could have been avoided months earlier. She was well and healthy but trying to have children took her life, and that just happened because she wanted to have a family and live a happy life.

But well, despite being something that lacks information, her story and character fascinates me, and we try to suppress that desire to see her story through fanfiction and fanmade content.

In my case, I have a constant habit of relating characters to songs, in some cases to whole artists if their whole discography match this character or fandom. For example I can't hear some of Aurora's songs without thinking of Cedric.

In Lorelei's case, it was something I never spoke about, but since we're in a fandom and in constant search for STF related stuff and fan content to keep enjoying our favorite show, I decided to share this.

Basically, I'm a HUGE Lana Del Rey fan since around 2019. I know 90% of her released songs and I also listen to some of her unreleaseds (that despite me knowing a ton of unreleaseds there are more than 200 wandering through the internet so there's no way I know all of them)

During the start of her carreer (actually, her first albums, since her career started years before the debut album) Lana's songs told us stories. Some key words that I would like to relate to her songs are: girlhood, nostalgia and melancholy (+or tragedy if you think about it)

In her first albums (Born to Die + The Paradise Version which is a deluxe of BTD) her songs were centered around nostalgic stories and feelings surrounding girls' experiences. Because she is so beautiful and often delicate while singing about darker topics, it's like her voice and lyric choice just interconnect. She sang about girls who lost their lovers, about beautiful girls that felt unhappy or/because they wasted their youth, about tragic endings, like being taken away from your friends during your teenage years because you guys were doing all kinds of crazy stuff at that time (this song is called This Is What Makes Us Girls), all of this surrounded by a feeling of nostalgia, as if those stories had happened a long time ago.

(Her songs weren't made to romanticize anything, like some people say they were; in fact, a huge part of these songs were inspired by her own life and feelings, and Lana is just telling us stories.)

So, going back to Lorelei, some of Lana's songs remind me of her. Based on what I said you can understand why. But not only that, Lana has some very specific songs that kinds match the fandom's headcanons of how Lorelei would be like (since we have no official info about her character).

Like in the song Blue Velvet, which is a cover from Bobby Vinton's song, but Lana brought a whole different feeling to it. Bringing it to the context of her album, her version sounds a lot more heartbreaking than the original one. The lyrics are about a male character missing his lover, singing about her blue velvet dress and how he will never forget about his love for her, even after she passed. Lana's version has a whole orchestral instrumental through the song and mostly at the end of it, making the song sound nostalgic, tragic and even sounds like some kind of anthem close to the end.

There's also the song Carmen, where there is a girl called Carmen, who attracts all eyes to her and is known for her beauty, but deep inside she's not mentally well, and people seem not to care about or notice how she's feeling. By the end of the song she even gets a love confession (in french), probably hinting at the fact that she receives many of them, but it doesn't matter because those who give them don't really know her or care about it. Despite her state "she's still shining" (in Lana's words), because even though she's suffering, she's still beautiful and loved by people.

In the song Born To Die, Lana sings about enjoying your life while it's still happening, because we're gonna die sooner or later. In the music video the scenes interwine with her sitting in a throne and spending time with a lover, who seems to give her an unhealthy relationship, judging by his aggresive behavior. At the end of the music video they're travelling together by car and her boyfriend, the driver, tries to force her to kiss him back, and because of that their car crashes and she dies in his arms, making him face his guilt because he was the one who did this to her. Tragic ending.

Dark Paradise is a song about grieving a loved one. It was made based on her feelings and her life.

These are some of the songs that match because of the lyrics, but being honest, because of the album being so concrete, the lyrics don't even need to match for me to remember her, because as I said this album is about nostalgic girlhood and melancholia, and she often sings about memories like in the song This Is What Makes Us Girls, that was also inspired by her teenage years when she was taken from her friends, but the memories she carries with them last till this day and it makes her miss those times.

Going to the unreleased, there are so many more. Like the song Angels Forever, where she's singing about memories that at her youth she never thought they were going to end: "we were angels forever, forever angels".

Or Fine China, where she is watching a friend having their first child, and remembering that at her own wedding years ago her groom left her at the wedding, depriving her of the dream life she would have liked to have had, singing "I'm going down now, with all of my fine china and fresh linen, all of my dresses with them tags still on", hinting at what was left of the wedding, of a life she couldn't have, but that she was watching others around her having it in her place. This song kinda reminds me of Roland to be honest, even thought his story with Lorelei isn't really related to their wedding, he was also deprived of a life he wish he could have had. And he had her dresses packed, her stuff still there in the castle, just like in the song the pov had her fine china and dresses with tags still on (they were never used).

It kinda fits even more with that headcanon that Cedric was in love with Lorelei. He never had the chance to live a life with her, and he's a bachelor till this day, watching all the weddings and happy lives through the years but never being a part of them, thinking about what would have happened if life wasn't so cruel.

I had these thoughts and despite being a bit niche I still felt like it should be shared. I know that not many people are fans of listening to recommended songs (at least in my case that's true), but I also made this post for those who already know some of those songs and didn't noticed these connections with Lorelei's story. Those who don't know the songs and want to listen to them now are also very welcomed.

I think about how amazing would be if I made a fanfic about this and using these songs. But I won't do it, it's just a thought. Feel free to do it though, I would absolutely love to read that.

[phantom-thieves-official]

i'm doing ng++ of p3p because i failed to max all my social links last ng+ lmao. anyway I really like the p3 cast a lot. I've played p3 and p5 and have seen a full playthrough of p4g so I know the cast from all 3 games. and obv p5's cast are my darling little guys. but I really do like p3's cast a lot, too. I don't think there's anyone in sees that I dislike. i have a clear favorite but past that it would be difficult to rank them tbh.

I think I've said this before, but imo p3 has the strongest overarching thematic elements of the persona games I've experienced and has several characters that reflect those themes both in sees and outside of it, which is another thing I like. there are so many characters in this game learning the meaning of being alive, or making their own meaning, or learning how to live on after loss or guilt, or making peace with the reality of death & dying.

(LMAO shitty analysis under the cut, this post got so long)

Aigis is learning what it even means to be alive in the first place; to feel and grow and change. She is learning that life always comes followed by death. To be alive is to connect with others; to love. But to love always means to grieve; to face loss and pain. To live is to change and grow and feel everything life has to offer; the good and the bad, the joy and the sadness. It's all two sides of the same coin, one can't exist without the other. You live, you care for others, and in the end someone dies and the other is left behind. But it's worth it, even when it's painful.

Ken is struggling with finding a reason to live after a tragedy, stuck between anger and grief; ultimately clinging to the hope of vengeance before he comes to see that living life that way is no way to live at all. His meaning is to kill his mother's murderer, at first, and when that's done he plans on dying himself. But he doesn't get that chance; and then his whole purpose for staying alive is gone. He has to find a reason to go on without his mother and without a purpose anymore. And he does - he decides there are still things in the world worth living for; worth fighting for. He decides his meaning is to live for his mom. to live for shinji. to go on and face forward for them.

Akihiko is dealing with the 'accepting death' part. he's stuck in the past; in the guilt he feels about his sister and the inability to accept that she's gone - he never could have saved her, and living his life in the single-minded pursuit of strength means he's been blind to other things; being strong doesn't change the reality that people he cares about will die, inevitably. He can't accept it, and he strives to be strong enough to protect those he cares about. But no amount of strength can change the fact that people die. This is reflected even as far back as the fire that killed Miki - he says he wasn't 'strong' enough to save her. But even if he'd been strong enough to get past the adults holding him back, no amount of strength could have gotten him through a burning building to rescue her. He can fight it all he likes, but reality is that people die. he does come to see this; to realize that he can't save everyone. that there's more to life than being strong. that bad things happen and sometimes there really is nothing he could have done - and yet life goes on.

Shinji's living a life of atonement for his guilt. His life has become defined by the accidental killing of Ken's mom; he sacrifices everything he can (up to and including his own life) to atone for that mistake, but it doesn't make it go away. It doesn't bring her back; it doesn't lessen his guilt or Ken's pain. It just drives his life into the ground. He dies believing that he deserves to - that his death in defense of Ken is right. he doesn't get to learn that destroying yourself over guilt doesn't fix anything and it doesn't help anyone. His life's meaning becomes to atone for his mistake; everything else gets thrown aside - his friendships, his future, his own health and wellbeing. To him, his life has no value anymore. he's dying and he knows it; he accepts it. he thinks that's the only meaning his life can have anymore - to die as a final act of repentance for his mistakes. But living just to die isn't really living, is it? Living in the past, blinded by guilt, that's no way to live, and his life has meaning beyond what he feels - there are people who care about him and a place he can make a difference. but he doesn't see it. he and Akihiko are both clinging to the guilt that hangs over their past, but only Akihiko gets to learn that clinging to the past and carrying that guilt around forever isn't living; not really. it's existing, but not living. They both make their lives completely about their guilt. It's only with the loss of Shinji that Akihiko is able to see where they both were wrong.

Mitsuru is facing the struggle of making a life for herself in the face of what she's expected to do as heir of the Kirijo group - she's stuck saddled with expectations of a life she doesn't want; has to accept that living a life where she bows only to others' whims and expectations is also not really living. It seems life is happening to her rather than her living it at times; she has to take an active part in deciding her future because there's no meaning in living your life to other peoples' specifications.

Junpei even gets some topical thematic moments with Chidori. Her life has no meaning to her, and neither does her death - at first. She doesn't care one way or another what happens; if she lives to see tomorrow or not. But then she meets Junpei and suddenly she does care, because there's something (someone) in her life that makes her feel. And despite the fact that now she does fear dying, she still gives her life for Junpei. And Junpei wasn't very serious about anything, his life and future included. But now his life is Chidori's life, too; she lives on in him, she died so he could live. Her love for him allowed him to live, and his love for her inspires him to work harder in his life so he doesn't waste the sacrifice she made for him - she gives his life new meaning by making it her life, too; she says 'if you can't take life seriously for your sake, do it for my sake.' Junpei's love for her shows Chidor that there's more to life than the cold apathy she's used to. Chidori's sacrifice gives Junpei a literal second chance at life and gives him a newfound purpose & vigor for life. And if you do things in game correctly, you can encourage Junpei to keep seeing her right before strega breaks her out, which leads to her reviving after her death (in reload, he brings her flowers that she is able to take energy from to revive) which brings it full circle - Junpei's actions thus revive Chidori and allow her a second chance, this time without the memories of the experiments done on her, personas, or the dark hour. His actions give her a second chance at a normal, happier life. It's so poetic - they give each other purpose; she gives everything so Junpei can live on, and his devotion to her enables her to come back and live the life that was stolen from her by the Kirijo group when they chose her for their experiments. In the end, they can't be together - whether because Chidori is dead or she's revived and doesn't remember Junpei. But in both scenarios, neither one regrets it. Chidori doesn't regret sacrificing herself to save Junpei. And Junpei loves her enough that although it hurts him to be forgotten, he's just happy to see her alive. I could make a whole post about them alone. Junpei's new purpose is to live on for Chidori's sake. And if Chidori comes back, she gets a new chance to define her life and find meaning even though she'd initially been denied that opportunity.

Akinari is fighting the 'what is the meaning of life' battle. He's sickly and suffering, and he's bitter about it. He feels there is no point, really. He's accepted his condition and the looming death that awaits him, but takes no pleasure in having been alive at all. When faced with the cold reality of dying young, he decides there must be no meaning to any of it. What meaning could his life possibly have, anyways? His life is defined by his illness and the knowledge he will die soon; he hasn't made room for anything else. But he learns that even a short life has meaning - he just had to find it. You can't wait for someone else, or fate, or god, to give your life meaning. You have to make it yourself. He'd been so busy asking why him; why this sickly dying body; that he hadn't actually found any meaning in his life at all. But he does. Maybe it's something small like finishing a story. Maybe it doesn't change the world. But it's there. I think there's something to be said about the alligator in his story as a mirror of himself, too. The gator, sad and alone, with no purpose, dies before finding any meaning in his life - but his legacy lives on. Even when he could never know, he touches so many lives indirectly; even when he felt he had no purpose or meaning in his life, there is meaning there. he may not have seen it, but it was there all the same. One life touches other lives, which go on to touch other lives, like ripples in a pond. Meaning in life exists for everyone, whether they see it or not. AND you can talk to his mom at the end of the game and she says so many sweet things, showing how even when he didn't see it, his life had meaning to her. even when he felt bitter and lost; like there was no reason for him to be alive in his sickly, miserable body. His mother felt so much joy in each day she got to have with him - for her, his existence was meaningful regardless of anything else. His life had meaning the whole time. he couldn't see it, but it as there.

and, of course. the protag. idk. do I have to explain this one. the meaning of their life is all the people they've met; all the bonds they've forged. they've touched so many lives around port island, and each person they've met has touched their life, too. and in the end, they make the ultimate sacrifice - not out of guilt like shinji, but out of love. They love the world and their friends. they know there's meaning out there, even though so many people think otherwise and are wishing for The Fall. And ultimately, even though nobody but sees will ever know, they decide that dying so the world can live is a sacrifice they're willing to make. it's like the gator in Akinari's story - the world will be touched by the protag's actions, even if nobody knows. In the future, people will sit outside and feel the sun on their skin and that will be part of the his legacy - just like the gator, who dies and leaves behind a pool of tears that become an oasis for the animals of the forest. he leaves something behind that will touch lives even long after he's gone.

um. anyway. this game is so rich with themes about life and death; about accepting both and finding meaning in both. this isn't a carefully thought out theme analysis or anything just some off-the-top impressions. so don't roast me if its kinda all over the place lmao

[blacklegsanjiii]

I love the warlord!Sanji acesan shovel talk sm <3 also this is really sad but what would have happnd if sanji's execution had succeeded and he really did die? i nkow the warlords prbly wouldve still declared war on the wg and the straw hats would wreak havoc as wle, but do you have any thoughts? how does each parent grieve, how do the crew react upon finding sanji's secret only after his death? can sanji ever be brought back- maybe reiju pulls through again somehow with germa tech that somehow revives sanji- or is he gone forever? these thoughts are haunting me

JESUS OW! THAT HURTS I LOVE IT!

First, his execution if succeeded, would have been taped and possibly broadcasted after the fact, ensuring the fact his death is in fact truthful. The only person up on the platform who looks pleased is Akainu the fucker. Kizaru, usually so unbothered, and Sengoku watched this kid grow up in Warlord meetings but justice comes first and Sanji is a pirate. When Sanji is asked if his parents would be proud Sanji just smiles and in a way similar to Ace and says his parents would be proud, but not the ones the Government wants. After all, he was raised by five Warlords. He's smiling at Akainu, smiling in the face of death and stabbed by the spear/trident things they use in the executions.

The next the newscoo brings reports of Doflamingo and Boa Hancock declaring war on the World Government, the day after Mihawk, a few days later Crocodile and those he rounded up from Baroque Works. Jinbei doesn't but the crew sees how stricken he is. It is immensely heartbreaking to hear Jinbei cry about Sanji, his son, which rocks the crew. They plan a funeral and send out the calls to inform everyone when and where.

Everyone turns up, Law and his crew, Vivi and Karoo, Ace and the White Beard fleet, Perona, and the four warlords who declared war against the government. Law and Vivi are immediately ready for a fight but Jinbei stops them, reminding them they're all here for the same reason. They don't entirely let their guard down and when Zoro asks Perona how she knew Sanji she looks at him like he's dumb.

"We grew up in the warlord meetings together, dummy. He was my baby brother basically." Perona huffs and Mihawk sends a glare at them both.

"Does Moria know you're here?" Crocodile asks her.

"He let me go to Mihawk's for weeks on end to see Sanji, I don't see how his funeral would be different." Perona says solemnly and Crocodile nods. After the "service" if you could call it that everyone parts ways. The crew deals with the fact Sanji was raised differently. Zoro and Nami are angry at the secret, Franky and Robin understand the necessity of such a secret. Brook tries to comfort Jinbei but no parent should have to bury their child. Luffy is angry that Sanji is dead, furious, he doesn't care who Sanji's parents are, doesn't matter. Usopp and Chopper are crying, they've always been pretty free with their emotions so more secrets are just more tears for them.

As for the warlords grieving? Crocodile has always been a workaholic so he's definitely rebuilding his empire while waging war. Boa retakes Amazon Lily and builds a shrine to Sanji that's private, for her and Sanji's fathers. She sits by it every time she gets home and just sobs and lets her anger fester until she goes out again. Doflamingo lets his fury guide him, he's never really had to mourn before. He doesn't understand it and so he just kills whoever is in his way to get to whoever sanctioned the killing of his child. Similarly Mihawk has never really had to mourn before, but he understands the process in theory. He probably calls Shanks up at one point to ask when he stopped crying about Roger and Shanks admits he still cries about it, not as often, maybe a couple of times a year but in the beginning it was a lot and often.

Below is if Sanji is saved, miraculously.

IF SANJI is brought back by Reiju, or in my beautiful world of all the siblings defying Judge because the brothers are learning emotions, 0124 bring Sanji back I can't imagine them bringing Sanji to the Sunny is a safe option. Nor is Amazon Lily or Kuriagana and Doffy doesn't even have a ship which leads to four genetically modified siblings dropping off the least modified sibling in front of Daz, Croc, and a few others as they rush to explain they saved Sanji and revived him and they can't see their brother's crew because of the pact Judge has with Luffy. Sanji is also probably a mess because he died and now he's not dead and is having several issues with that and being away from crew.

Croc's first thought is to get his dumbass kid re-acclimated to being alive first and reuniting him with his crew second. The first does involve some of the best doctors Croc knows running tests on his kid to make sure he's alright because he knows Sanji has been revived before when he was a kid in Germa, also they used Germa tech to do it which makes it worse. But once Sanji is relatively calmed down and used to being alive again Crocodile calls the parents and lets them know A. Sanji is alive thanks to Germa tech and his siblings and B. Is taking him to his crew.

His crew is ecstatic to see him and there's happy tears all over but also he's alive. Reiju explains everything and Sanji is tucked away in a pile of Strawhat Pirates.

[fractiflos]

awww poor Yoichi :(

Hmm, do you have any immortal headcanons?

I felt so sorry for him the whole time I was writing that AU. But yes, I do have some immortal OFA users headcanons.

Note: This time, an immortality quirk got mixed in with stockpile, so the users all had to fake their deaths. The headcanons go from there.

Yoichi had fun writing the books he always wanted to write, but under a pseudonym of course. His brother hates his books of course and vows to hunt down the author. (Yoichi does change pseudonyms and stuff every few years)

Also, once every few years, Yoichi will get HOOKED on some trend. It lasts about twice as long as it takes for the trend to die down.

Second married Yoichi and while he wanted to just steal what they needed; Yoichi convinced him to get money in a more ethical way. So, he became a mechanic. The only bad thing is they have to move every few years as they look the same age they were when they passed on OFA. Like the vampires in Twilight.

I headcanon Third as aro/ace, so this is a duoholders universe.

Also, Third becomes a therapist. He figured he would be qualified after so many years being the therapist friend. And he is good at it, but he also runs into the Twilight issue. Even so, the 3 are never far apart from each other. Third does have his own place, but he's always there if the other two need anything and vice versa.

(I have a weird version of trioholders where, while the first two holders are romantically involved, their friendship with Third runs so deep, that if he died, they would be destroyed. Same with Yoichi and Second. They all need and understand each other in a way so deeply, it goes beyond any normal intimacy. Like, platonic soulmates I guess is the best word for that.)

Hikage lives in the woods. After 18 years of being chased around, he decided to fake his death and give OFA to Banjo. So, now he lives with the forest creatures in peace. Third still drags him out for the occasional family dinner though.

Banjo uses his extra immortal time to become talented at, not just normal hobbies, but really weird stuff like peeling a banana with his feet like a monkey. In addition to bothering Hikage, he decided to try his hand at a childhood dream and become a cowboy. That didn't work out, so he travels the world instead.

My headcanon for En is that he had 5 siblings, so immortality would give him a lot of grieving to do. However, I also headcanon him as a lover of reptiles and technology, so he used his immortal time to get acquainted with all the new tech coming out each year and finally get a pet chameleon. He also got a degree in Graphic Art. However, he chooses to make his money by doing commissions.

Nana did give away her son after her husband died, but only until she faked her death. Then she got him back, so Kotaro doesn't end up being as bad, but there's definitely still some tension between them as she didn't tell him about her plan. She hides away, with Gran Torino helping her try to raise Kotaro as normally as possible. Meaning his last name does end up changed because Torino adopts him, but he co-parents with Nana. It's complicated. At least Hana and Tenko are happy children with grandparents who spoil them and a better dad. Nobody wants to be on the bad side of both Nana and Gran Torino.

Toshinori did not know about the immortality thing. Nana forgot to tell him, and he just thought his master had really good genes. So, he has the same knowledge in canon. In fact, his life is pretty much like canon, as they figured it was best that he goes to America for a bit to keep AFO away from Nana's hiding place. He also gets into the same fight with AFO, but sustains the same damage. You see, the immortality quirk doesn't keep them from getting hurt, it just keeps them from dying.

Oh yeah, remember the family dinners Hikage gets dragged to? Those are between every OFA user. Toshinori just thinks they're historians who love to joke around. He has to believe it at this point. At least they only happen once a year, unless there's an emergency, like a new user or a faked death. Or, AFO dying (is he dead?)

Then Toshinori brings Izuku to OFA family dinner. Cue the awing over the new user (who looks oddly familiar). There was some worry over how Izuku would adjust to the quirk, but they all assumed All Might had it figured out. That man was taught by someone who beat the crap out of him daily. All Might did not have it figured out.

(After the AFO fight, the other users convinced All Might to get a hobby or something, so he decided to try and get the credentials to become a teacher, because he always loved children. The credits to become a kindergarten teacher that is, so the jump to high school is still going to take some adjustment. Not to mention training a middle school boy to handle a quirk you gave them. I don't think there's a book on that.)

After the entrance exams, out of worry for their new user, all the vestiges move to the Musutafu area around UA to help with Izuku's training. The users get along great with Inko (who was told about OFA.) And Yoichi's brother and Inko's husband sure have a lot of similarities. What a coincidence...

From here they get upto all sorts of school-themed hijinks, but I'll let you imagine them. (The eventual meeting with Aizawa is always a fun one to imagine)

Uh... this did not turn out how I thought it would. It was supposed to be random headcanons and not a story outline. I did keep some stuff vague on purpose. Anyway, I hope you liked it :)