#and idk maybe its obvious actually. but for some it may not be. i dunno at this point

[passthroughtime]

Was Sawa-sensei really the only argument Yagami had? The answer may shock you

So, few people know that I fucking despise this take. It's been fun and still can be fun to me sometimes, but as time goes, I see more and more people thinking that unironically and even hate Yagami for this, among other things.

(Huge spoilers for both games ahead. Obviously.)

And I do a lot of (over)thinking myself, as I am writing a looong fic (first three chapters already live on ao3, sorry for shameless promo), and I always love to delve into characters' motives in canon events, goes with writing exclusively canon compliant things of course, and adding to my ever existing brainworms. Moreover, I'm revisiting Judgment atm for the first time since early 2020 if I'm being correct? And I see a lot of things I've forgotten which give lots what has happened in Lost Judgment pretty damn much sense. The Sawa argument is among these things.

First things first, what was the takeaway of the first game for Yagami? His trauma at first was that he fucked up bad and felt he had lost some crucial evidence that Okubo was actually the killer, but during the events of the game it transforms into "I haven't done anything to get to the truth". His trauma, as well Kuwana's, has its core in their inaction during the critical events of their lives. They were never the same again because they didn't do anything while they could, and yes, in that regard they are wounded in the same way.

How have they both responded? In a similar way. Yagami swore to always get involved there he can do something to change the situation before it escalates. Kuwana does the opposite, he tries to punish for the mistakes already made. (Which is funny considering that Yagami as a lawyer dealt with consequences while Kuwana as a teacher had the power to navigate people's lives to prevent the same mistakes, but it's the whole other theme in itself, and has little to do with the initial one.) Let's focus on Yagami though.

The only reason why Yagami repeatedly gets involved on his own in the Lost Judgment plot time and time again, though literally nobody asked him to do so, is the lesson which he learns in the first game. He says explicitly that he wants to get to the bottom of things, and not forget about cases when a trial is done. That's the reason why he doesn't want to be a lawyer again and why he can never be one again, not full-time at least.

And then Sawa gets murdered. Yagami draws parallel to Terasawa Emi (because of course he does) and is determined to bring everyone who is responsible for her death to the light. For now, it's Soma, the direct murderer, and Kuwana, which made Sawa the connecting thread between his crimes. Yagami realizes that Sawa's death was a tool for everyone to get what they wanted, like Emi's. He references it here:

At this point, Yagami has no proof to think otherwise. He thinks that everyone has forgot about Sawa and that she shouldn't have died. The very least Yagami could do, is to make sure everyone will answer for what they did to her. He sees that Kuwana feels guilty and quite shitty that the student which he thinks so highly of was murdered. Kuwana feels responsible, and Yagami knows that someday he will break.

I think it's also important to say that at no point of LJ has Yagami says anything remotely identifying the goal of his words and actions as "murder bad", but that's more obvious than anything else though requires explanation too if I'm to be believed that Yagami isn't after justice for all the murders.

This whole scene is the Sawa argument summarized, but if you look closer, it is really the only beef he has against Kuwana.

BTW he's not as goody two shoes as you prefer to see him in LJ, if his "I get how you feel" doesn't convince you.

And then the one person Kuwana is determined to do anything for has betrayed him, right before Yagami's eyes. What does Kuwana do? Abandon Yagami when Soma has said to his lackeys to do anything so he wouldn't escape, even murder him perhaps?

Great question, Yagami. This really does contradict everything he has thought of Kuwana since forever. After, instead of a goodbye Kuwana makes sure Soma couldn't stay on the boat longer and kidnap/kill Yagami. RK had no time for that, fleeing was the priority over someone they can find some time after.

First thing Yagami does is visit Kusumoto at the hospital, where he learns she has no regard to Kuwana's life, as long as her son is safe and her crime stays uncovered. Which is fine, I guess, though it's sad because Kuwana would do anything for her and for Mitsuru, but whatever. Ehara doesn't come around too, which also understandable, though Kuwana has risked his life to give Yagami the crucial evidence, he is nothing to him and has already played his part. He is just a tool in his revenge. Wait... What?

Yes, actually it's Kuwana who is being brushed off as collateral damage by everyone. Everyone he has helped actually. And he hasn't come clean during the time before Ehara's trial (he at least could leak the information or point to the body without endangering himself, idk) nor he disappeared to save his skin.

After the trial he thanks Yagami for helping Ehara (which Kuwana wasn't able to do himself) and points to his, and Kawai's body, location. Kuwana knows damn well he can die, but getting to the one who murdered Sawa is more important to him. So, Kuwana has no one on his side, even himself.

No one is going to save him. Sure, he isn't as innocent as Emi, he has fucked some shit up. Does he deserve to disappear for good and be forgotten, or even worse, be remembered as a psycho teacher who killed his student? Yagami doesn't think so. All Yagami sees is that Kuwana desperately tries to protect everyone who did everything right or did nothing at all, every victim of bullying. He has no other motive.

Yagami takes no shit from Kuwana, he isn't afraid or angry when Kuwana threatens to blow up the warehouse (as Sugiura and Higashi for example). He knows that Kuwana isn't capable of killing anyone who doesn't deserve it, he takes no pleasure in murder and doesn't do it for personal gain. Yagami, Kaito, everyone else aren't guilty of anything which deserves death as punishment.

If not for the gang, he would set off the bomb though, I'm 100% sure. But that's besides the point.

So, returning to the question: Was Sawa-sensei really the only argument Yagami had? An answer is yes. Because he really doesn't fucking care bullies are being murdered, slay worstie. But it's not because he's such a crappy lawyer, but because he realizes the importance of a person's life above everything else. And a person who cares is not necessarily stupid or unprofessional.

You can argue all you want who was right and who was wrong. It doesn't matter for the characters.

It was never about justice. They don't argue from a legal point of view. It was about remembering about the importance of a person's life.

I beg you to look at this story from another perspective. Not as a technical coldly-perfect story it should've been. People are imperfect, and Yagami, first and foremost, a person. A person who cares. And JE with LJ as stories can be imperfect... but also realistic.

Terasawa Emi is murdered for the greater good. Sawa is murdered for selfish reasons. Kuwana is almost murdered for the both. I can't imagine Yagami would want to go through lots of red tape to do something someday. He does this something right now. Because the lives of people, living and breathing, should be protected right now and valued above what's right legally.

Please, stop looking at fiction as something which should be perfect, or make more sense, be more logical and emotionally detached than the real world. Some can be like that, but Judgment hasn't been from the start.

[xtinaangelicax]

Random Theory: Hu Jing's Weapon

Barges into the DR:DT fandom half-asleep I just had some random theory yo.

Idk if this will have anything to do with the outcome of the chapter 2 trial, but: I just remembered that Hu Jing's weapon given to her by MonoTV was a Wire. And the thing that Nico used to try and kill Ace but failed to? Was also a wire. Somehow, I can't help but feel like that's too coincidental and that they might be (or are LIKELY to be) the same wire, and I haven't actually seen anyone point this out yet, so imma do so now. (I didn't even realize it myself until I was re-watching the Chapter 1 Trial.)

If I'm correct, then I wonder what it would mean for the trial 2 outcome if anything.

Nico's murder attempt may or may not be irrelevant to Arei's death. But still- if this is the case, like, was Hu Jing complicit in Nico's murder attempt? Did Nico steal her wire? Maybe Hu caught them stealing it, and was stunned or threatened into silence? (Or since she likes Nico so much, maybe they made an excuse and she bought it?) Hu has a complex about needing to be "useful." And combining that with Nico asking for her weapon either via threatening means or feigning innocent intentions, and maybe this is a stretch because it'd probs be pretty dumb and I'm half asleep, but what if Hu partially kinda always defends Nico in the trial cuz she's intimidated by them or she doesn't want it to get out that Nico almost killed with her weapon... or maybe Hu's desperate urge to be helpful is that deep (probably not, but, I'm talking off the top of my head)

(OR: maybe the obvious explanation my primitive brain is not considering: Hu Jing rly just doesn't know Nico stole her own weapon for murder and it's gonna be a point of drama in the next episode lolz. Actually, I think its that.)

CAUSE in that case, Hu might have an arc of being betrayed twice now: First David, then Nico pulling this… considering Hu's hidden quote: "I want to pay for what I've done. But I also want to live." (not the exact words, but-) I strongly suspect she'll be a blackened, if probably not in chapter 2, then in the near future following it.

I dunno, this is probably making less sense now, I just wanted to explore the possibility of Nico's murder attempt wire and Hu Jing's wire, being one in the same wire and it turned into a trainwreck of thought. take my rambles I guess lol!

[collisiondiscourse]

CODI CODI CODI

opinion on dynamight? :D

WKSDKEK HI AJ

okokokok if ur honestly... asking—i dont have any genuine hate for the name dynamight. its cute its fun and its very 4 year old kacchan. BUT i have this theory that it isnt his actual hero name. maybe i possibly am reaching very far and will pull a muscle with all this stretching and jumping to conclusions but... here are

Farfetched Reasons Why I Think DynaMight Isn't Bakugou's Final Name (SPOILER ALERT, duh):

1. It's too similar to his previous rejected names

We all remember how in the start of the series, Bakugou's whole naming problem stemmed from the extravagance and... overbearingness of his chosen aliases. From the most famous 'Lord Explosion Murder', the written kanji version being '爆殺王' and pronounced as 'Bakusatsuo'. In comparison, we have DynaMight: The God of Great Killing Bomb—which, taking the latter part is written '大爆殺神' in kanji and pronounced 'daibakusatsu-shin'. For a name that took maybe 4 or 5 years to FINALLY get introduced, its oddly similar to all the names that were already rejected or shot down. They even use 2 of the same kanji characters which denotes that they may even be said in the same aggressive tone like how it is in English (but take this point with a grain of salt bc i am NOT formally educated in Japanese.)

2. Narrative-wise... the timeline placement of the reveal just doesn't make sense.

I dunno about you, but in the middle of the war during the deconstruction of the pro-hero society seems like one of the weirder places to put Bakugou's hero name reveal. Especially when its something that doesn't have an immediate link or visibility to Bakugou's character aside from his personality. We've already seen that Bakugou's supposedly changed a LOT ever since his first days at UA—so I find it weird that in the MIDDLE OF HIS CHARACTER ARC and not even ten chapters after Bakugou Katsuki: Rising (where *ahem* important things occur...), we get a name like this which is awfully reminisce of Bakugo's choices pre-character development. Why make us wait so long if it was gonna be something so similar? Is the only change/nuance going to be the All Might pun? Hori-sensei may give us answers soon, but for now the timing seems incredibly out of place.

3. The other characters don't take it seriously.

Most of the other characters including the likes of Spinner absolutely do not take it seriously. Iida and multiple other actors at the scene poke criticisms at it and react in the same way class 1A did when Bakugo introduced Lord Explosion Murder. The only positive reaction being Mirio, who we all know is the human version of sunshine and puppies (and also just a really good senpai). The key reactions I wanna note are Deku's and Best Jeanist's.

- On Best Jeanist's reaction

BJ (its for shortening purposes i SWEAR) is seen to depict a lacklustre, disinterested, and almost even dissappointed response. As Katsuki's mentor figure and someone that was implied to have inspired Bakugou to reconsider his hero name—I find it odd that he was depicted to disapprove of it so offhandedly. His arrival and participation at the war was something I very much looked forward to due to the amount of things that Bakugou might do now that he knew Best Jeanist was still alive a la shounen anime 'I'm empowered by my mentor figure' style. I think that if Bakugou were to do a name reveal, he would've chosen something that Best Jeanist would immediately recognize as something resultant of Bkg's character development.

- On Izuku Midoriya's reaction (or lack thereof)

I won't elaborate bc it will actually take me weeks to formulate an essay, but Deku is currently at the epicenter of a lot of Katsuki's character development. From One for All to the tear jerking panels of Chapter 285, we know that Deku inexplicably is the no. 1 person that wants to know Bakugou's hero name.

So why isn't he there?

We don't get to see Deku's reaction to Bakugous huge name reveal because he's too far and too busy fighting. You'd a thunk that if it was so significant and powerful, Deku's reaction would come out. While it IS possible that Deku's reaction is on another chapter entirely bc he's just THAT excited about it, I highly doubt Bakugo would announce such a thing where Deku could not hear.

But Codi! you say, arms sore and floppy from reaching so far with me. Why? Why would Bakugou make and announce a fake name then?

Well. Prepare your ankles because I am about to jump to some even FARTHER conclusions.

First of all, they ARE in the middle of a war. Bakugou, while heavily injured, still is smart enough to see what's happening and be able to parse when they're on the losing end. Mans is a 4/5 on the intelligence rank if I'm not mistaken, and it's pretty obvious the heroes are losing. The whole hero society has been absolutely turned up on its head with the Todoroki Family Drama, and I think that Deku jumping back into the fight is the best indication that Katsuki will follow suit. I think that Deku knew about the hero name DynaMight before hand, ESPECIALLY because it sounds like something only he and Kacchan could come up with (the All Might pun is just TOO good ok). I think that there's a reason Bakugou's okay with Deku being so far away when he reveals it

But what of it?

I think that to understand Bakugou's decision to name reveal now involves taking a look into the actual name DynaMight/Dynamite.

Dynamite, as we know, is an explosive made from nitroglycerine and stabilizers in 1867. The reason it became so popular was that it helped with a lot infrastructure projects to speed up construction and mining. It was available soon as well in the civillian market because of its powerful but controlled explosions. Instead of a fiery explosion that burned for extended periods of time, nitroglycerine was more of a one and done kind of explosion.

Later, it was used as a military weapon that caused mass destruction and a sudden interest for innovations in explosives. Alfred Nobel, who's name you now might recognize, was ashamed of his past inventions and alias as 'The Angel of Death' (Bakusatsuo, anyone?). He hated the fact his explosives had been used to cause war and death and thus created the Nobel Peace Prize so that his name would be associated with Peace and Hope instead.

If you're picking up what I'm reaching really hard for... then you already know.

The reason I think Bakugou faked DynaMight as his hero name is to act as an actual sort of Dynamite in the tide of the war. I think this was, in actuality, a code word or even tactic of some sorts for an actual plan he had with Deku. Now that he's both revealed his name AND joined the fight again, the attention of all the villains and actors (including us, the audience) are on him and him only. Because 'Dynamite' is a controlled explosion. Because 'Dynamite' works once nefore its done its job. Because Bakugou mfing Katsuki does NOT wanna be associated with his past decisions and history of destruction and wants his name to be a symbol of winning and saving.

A symbol of peace.

Or. maybe its actually just DynaMight. idk. who knows? Maybe Im just really really really really deep in denial.

Thanks for reading!

[confusedbutstillgay]

Oh Don’t Mind Me, Rambling About a Side Character

Backstory, this is about a character from a really funny K-drama that doesn’t have a huge community but I’ve seen people post about it Tumblr. Anyways little things I noticed about Hoon-seok while watching a second time and I will def add to this later on when I rewatch again :>

(Slight trauma trigger warning up ahead)

Let’s just jump into this. 

1. So apparently Hoon-suk (Cheol-bum’s bodyguard) has the title “Director.” He’s called this to his face by Jang-ryang and even Dong-ja. Could be a fluke in the Korean to English captions, but... yeah. I guess I’m gonna have to explain a little bit of stuff here.

Since the only other characters with the last name “Kim” besides Hoon-suk are Hae-il, the female nun, and Kim Gun-Yong (who I don’t believe had the title of Director, I’ve been trying to dig around but it isn’t working :/), Hoon-suk is the only person who has the chance to be known as “Director.” Besides, Dong-ja wouldn’t address them as such. Now in Korean culture calling someone by their first name is actually only reserved for people who are good friends and such, and it’s almost disrespectful if you call someone you don’t really know by their first name. So you call them Mr. or Ms. or Mrs. [enter last name]. But if they happen to have a title to their name, yeah, you also call them by that, since it would be a little awkward if you didn’t (much like American culture). 

2. On occasion, Cheol-bum will call Hoon-seok “Hoon-seok-ah.” Why is this important? Adding “-ah” to someone’s name is a sign of endearment, it shows your bond. It’s usually, from what I know, used by lovers but can also be used by friends. This is odd to me because it would signify that either:

a. They’re secretly dating (yes this is a ship, yes I kinda ship it, yes there’s stuff on Ao3 about it, and no I have not contributed to the ship yet).

b. They’re good friends. Could completely and entirely be true since we know nothing about Hoon-suk’s past and very, very little about Cheol-bum’s. 

or c. Cheol-bum just throws out random endearments to Hoon-suk, maybe as a way to show he doesn’t really care about their relationship in particular, maybe he just does it without knowing. I dunno.

3. I’m gonna talk about a little scene. Boy, oh boy, do I have some FEELS about this scene. 

Okay, so first we have this pic. 

Hoon-seok seems mildly surprised; Cheol-bum rarely pauses to talk to him, which we see throughout the majority of the series. If he does it’s to bark a quick command or to unleash his anger. Then Cheol-bum asks him if he’s tired of the life he lives. Hoon-seok’s answer? “I’m just trying to take care of you.”

Okay, so you’re trying to take care of him. I believe this is what lead many people to think that Hoon-seok was Cheol-bum’s bodyguard; I’m not confident what he is myself, but I like that headcanon. Then Cheol-bum, at its core, asks Hoon-seok if he would be willing to die for him. 

There’s no hesitation on his man’s face. He looks almost proud, even, as he says (again, at its core, the actual script was quite a bit different): “Of course.”

Okay, look. These two are either childhood friends or lovers and you cannot convince me fucking otherwise. Hoon-seok is either obsessed/in love with Cheol-bum or he’s just really, really, REALLY good friends with him. 

LOOK AT HIS LITTLE SMILE HERE. Not only is it fucking adorable, it’s filled with absolute pride. And it’s the only time we see him smile (besides his absolutely hilarious oxygen-drained smile in the vault) in the entire series.

I don’t believe this is a coincidence. This is Cheol-bum pushing Hoon-seok’s feelings aside and twisting his words into something he never meant. Hoon-seok made himself vulnerable and he got nothing in return for it. In my mind I think he just wants praise, since it’s obvious Cheol-bum never gives him any. 

He wants to be told that he did something good for once, he wants to be commended and appreciated. But nothing. 

Now look at him. We see that he’s crushed, we see everything I just talked about in these two little frames. But of the most heartbreaking things about this is he’s not even surprised. Just... sad. 

So that would insinuate that this has happened before. Or maybe it’s just something that happened in his childhood. Anyways

4. Oh, god, another scene I have quite a few feels about.

(If you’re wondering’s happening in both of these scenes, a gun got fired. This is from before they got sent into the vault.) 

Now, you may be thinking, “Well maybe it’s just his normal reaction to those things!” Okay, I get your point. But lemme give you this.

Exact same thing happened; a bullet was fired. In chronological order this happened before that last gif, which I’ll talk about a little later.

Look at his reaction. He completely and entirely flinches away, one could even say his arm is trying to protect his body. Usually when a gun is fired people jump, look scared, maybe a bit shaken, but are otherwise okay. 

This, on the other hand, is just... not that. A few things this could be, and I’ll let you chose which one.

1. Maybe he just doesn’t like loud noises. That’s understandable, I semi-relate, but I can’t imagine someone taking on the life of a criminal without being able to handle loud noises. 

2. Maybe trauma of some sort. Again, you pick and choose; childhood trauma (maybe his parents were abusive and very loud, so he’s sensitive to loud noises), first-hand experience (he himself or someone he cared about got shot once. The latter seems a bit more likely in my opinion), idk.

(Actually talking about the second type a little more maybe someone he cared about got shot while he doing this, because once you get in you don’t get out and he wouldn’t be able to back out of this if he decided to leave). 

3. Maybe he’s just... really scared of guns. Again, this goes with #1, can’t imagine someone deciding to take on this life while being afraid of guns.

Look. I love this man, okay? I want his character, his backstory, everything to be elaborated on more in season 2, or at least some day, along with Jang-ryang (another character we really don’t know that much about). So anyways if you read through all of this thanks for being here, hope you enjoyed and I may come back with a few more things to add <3

Edit:

Photo credit goes here

This is a small note. But it shows the difference between Hoon-seok and Cheol-bum rather well. Cheol-bum would make a more demanding statement, such as: "Leave now while I'm showing mercy."

However, Hoon-seok's statement is less challenging and more "Look just leave and everything'll be fine" type of statement.

This isn't a really huge thing, but I wanted to add it :)

[under-the-green-eyes]

Chapter 1

Okay this chapter starts with Jin talking to Madam Chairman on the phone about this piece of land where they're planning to build a new art museum. It also seems pretty urgent, even though she's tight on money she insists on building this (maybe bc of the rivalry/conflict with the other construction firm?) But isn't it a coincidence that it is an art museum which is built and Matthew is majoring in arts? I sense some future connections there... Also, Jin seems to be in real trouble if he doesn't get the land in any way possible (Also smells already like drama is coming up if it's get mentioned duh)

Then they have their fateful encounterment. Matthew finally found his muse. That's pretty clear.

Now all this talk in the museum about this sculpture by Vanderbilt is pretty interesting and also, at least for me, obvious that it represent a direct parallel to Jin's and Matthew's future relationship.

"The model for this creation, Albert, was Vanderbilt's Lover... and his muse. He remained by Vanderbilt's side until his final breath".

(Funny, how "muse" is "only" the secondary trait of him though we're talking about art) Big oof. If it is really foreshadowing... it seems like we have to endure some really tough stuff. Just bc of that, as I read it for the first time, I have this strong theory that one of them will die. Actually, I believe it is pretty likely that it is Jin bc of his gang activities. But all this talk indicates it is Matthew (which I strongly doubt) The roles seem to reverted.

(I mean, it happens pretty rarely that someone dies in BL/Yaoi, but still there are cases. Idk I'm not so sure about this theory but let's just say the chances are 50:50. Plus, dunno if anyone has noticed it yet but someone pointed out that on the cover u can actually see a fucking murder happening in the background aha... (°ㅂ°╬) )

"Their fateful encounter may have been the touch of perfection that was needed to complete his greatest work."

Well, if this isn't obvious then idk what it is. I mean they just had their first encounter seconds ago lol. Also, Matthew said stuff like that Jin is "meeting all his ideals" or "ideal person" etc. So this whole theme of perfectionism is seen through the whole plot. Plus, he waited for this perfect person to sculpt, so he isn't one for half-hearted things.

"I know about Vanderbilt's famed promiscuity - that he slept with as many men as he could."

From more than one occasions we know that Jin is the more sexual active part here and also pretty "desperate" for it if u could say it? But that's for later. So this isn't fitting as well. And I doubt that Matthew's gonna sleep with anyone else cause this boy is wHIPPED. (I mean who wouldn't (ﾉ´ з `)ノ)

Well, isn't it kind of familiar? While their first time Jin said exactly the same thing. Okay here I'm buying it but it raises the question for the second time... Can he not see that Matthew's totally whipped for him? Lmao this poor boy just ran several blocks to see u. Matthew's gaze is also an always reoccurring thing. He said he's expressionless but his gaze seems to be very intense. Maybe it is one of the things that will draw Jin in. We don't say without a reason "The eyes are the windows to ones soul."

Two important things in analyzing are a) space and b) colors. The shift in perspective of the statue is interesting. While the first time it is central and majestic in its full height, the second time it is kinda distorted and grotesque, also of the lighting. It seems more forceful and less sensual. I'm wondering what exactly Matthew is seeing or is it just the artist in him? Maybe bc of the history of origin? Also there is a shift in the color scheme. As they're talking about the sculpture it is getting more reddish. For one I would say green and red are the main colors in this manhwa. That's bc they're complementary so it makes quite sense to use them this way. On the other hand, red is often used for more steamy scenes to highlight tension, desire, etc. Y'all know what I'm talking about ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (There was also this one significant chapter in Walk On Water, where the whole chapter was in red basically)

[knightofameris]

Hiii! I was wondering if you had any fluffy fic recs? If you use AO3 and have any recs from there that would be nice too! Thank you!!!

AHDJSJD. okay I honestly do not mind giving out fic recs. Just for starters tho I do have a fic rec blog @knightofreaders !! You can also search through my blog with the tag “ameris’ fic recs”

Otherwise for now I’ll rec some AO3 ones and tumblr ones rn!! Mostly AO3 because you can find the tumblr ones on my rec account. I’m just giving recs I can think of off the top of my head rn. I’m sure I’m missing some.

Some of them might actually be GN!reader and not fem!Reader. I may have fucked up when labeling. Hmm.

Also I curse a bit on this. a lot. LMAO also terrible spelling throughout. good luck. 

Fly High, Baby! by beartea on AO3

180k+ || slowburn || series ; completed || reverse harem || fem!reader

This one is one of my favorites. I’ll probably go hunting for the post (here!) I made for it but I went so hard on my lil review. It’s a reverse harem, slow burn. But they have such a beautiful writing style and their characterizations are spot on. I don’t know if anyone else have ever understood these characters this well with how they break down the characters. Literally break them down, make them raw because they’re crying and you’re crying suddenly too. The MC is incredibly relatable IMO. She has a personality while also being written where you can relate to her. I see myself in her. But I also see my friends. And my friends are themself in her. And she’s annoying. And frustrating. And she’s human. Reverse harem includes: Ushijima Wakatoshi, Kuroo Tetsurou, Sugawara Koushi, Akaashi Keiji, Iwaizumi Hajime, Oikawa Tooru.

Times I’ve cried reading: probably like at least 5x. MC does have a given last name but that is because she’s adopted. Also, I’m not an Ushi fucker at all, but tea made me like,,, just love ushi,,, a lot

Ghosts We See by Renesis on AO3 // @renesis-jj here on tumblr

200k+ || slowburn || isekai || series ; ongoing || fem!reader || reverse harem

Another masterpiece, also a favorite. I think Ren does a great job world building, she truly makes it an experience and at this point I’m not even reading it for the haikyuu boys LOL. I absolutely love how she brings us into the story (as the MC or just as a reader) and submerses us into this world she created. she does a great job showing us the world rather than telling, keeping us in the dark like MC, and guiding us through the world like MC as well. Ren also has an incredible way of understanding the characters, even their alternate forms because at the core they’re all the same. But because the ones in the alternate world grew up in a harsher environment of sorts, they seem different. Harem includes: Ushijima Wakatoshi, Bokuto Koutarou, Kuroo Tetsurou, Miya Osamu, Miya Atsumu, Kita Shinsuke, Suna Rintarou, Oikawa Tooru 

Ren has multiple side stories intertwined as well which makes it just absolutely amazing. I should ALSO mention, I was already an inarizaki fucker but Ren made me go oh shit. also the same as I said about Ushi from beartea, I was not an Ushi fucker but Ren also made me like him a lot more

Next Time by @\dorkyama (I am not tagging her I’m too shy lol)

??k+ || slowburn || exes to lovers || completed || fem!reader || Miya Osamu

UGH one of my favorite series (I keep saying that) for osamu this time. I love the way remy portrayed MC. She’s frustrating and annoying but so real. She also did a great job showing the relationship with MC and Osamu. It’s funny people were always angry at Osamu but personally I was always angry at MC. I think more so because I’d do what she’d do lol (i was going to add all the chapters word counts but lol)

Sugar Sweet series by @kuroos-babie​

parent AU??? lol || ongoing || fem!reader || multiple  

So this is actually connected to all of her single mom!headcanons. I haven’t read all of them but I DO know that the one’s I have read make my heart just throb. If you know me, you know how much I do Not Like Kids. Well it’s not that I don’t like them, it’s more like I would not want to be a parent lol. I’m fine with being that older figure someone looks up to, but not in a parent way,,, but like Chiqui makes me question it every so often LMAO. But I’d like to be the cool aunt or idk. 

embroidered hearts by memento_amare on ao3

2.1k+ || one shot || strangers to friends to lovers || fem!reader || Sugawara Koushi

This is just insanely fluffy. And. It makes my heart cry with how cute it is. Because MC is scared of love and yet,,, Suga shows her it’s okay to be scared but to let herself love. 

the comfort of your hand in mine by memento_amare on AO3

1.2k+ || one shot || childhood friends to lovers || fem!reader || Sugawara Koushi

Another fluffy one. I just loved it for the mutual pining and childhood friends to lovers and the revelation. Ugh. It’s also on tumblr now :3c

Read more because I have a lot lol.

Claustrophobia by melremade on AO3

11.2k+ || two shot || friends to lovers (?) || Sugawara Koushi || a lil spicy || fem!reader

I thought this one was cute LOL. Sugas adorable in here and it’s only a lil spicy cus it had a pretty detailed make out session

Miscellaneous by Thisisforthebest on ao3

?.?k+ || multiple parts || fem!reader || has some SPICEY moments but it’s cute fluff mostly.

This ones hard to group. This one has a bunch of stories split into parts throughout different chapters of this uhhhh AO3 fic? I’ve admittedly only read Suga’s and Oikawa’s. I love both and Oikawa’s is still unfinished. suga’s is childhood friends to lovers and ugh it’s just so cute. Oikawa’s is also cute and I wanna scream. There are also other characters on here, but I haven’t read them oops. I only was interested in Suga’s and Oikawa’s lol. 

Drop the Guillotine by rosequartsy on ao3

13.7k+ || one shot || friends to lovers (?) || a lil SPICEY || fem!reader || Miya Osamu

I’ve gone back to this fic once or twice. It’s well written and it’s obvious about the pining going on in both sides and. Well I like it kol. And idk how to talk about it without giving out spoilers

All I Want by declaraso on AO3

44.5k+ || series ; completed || slow burn || childhood friends to lovers || fem!reader || Miya Osamu

The slow burn in this one was so FRUSTRATINF. and yet I kept reading because I loved it so much. You really want to bonk MC AND SAMU.

Crush like WOAH by herecomestroublr on AO3

9.2k+ || one shot || established relationship || fem!reader || Sugawara Koushi

HINATA goes to his two upperclassmen for help on confessing. And MC and suga explain their relationship development lol. This one was just really cute cus it focuses on Mc and suga but at the same time not.

too easy by @\kuroopaisen

3.2k+ || one shot || friends to lovers || Sugawara Koushi

Another fic I go back to a lot. I JSUT love friends to lovers. And I can see how this relationship developed so well and realistically??? Because there were moments in there I could relate to with my former relationships lol

pillow fort rituals by @\kuroopaisen

3.9k+ || one shot || childhood friends to lovers || Kuroo Tetsurou

My one single kuroo rec on here. lol. Well not counting the reverse harems. Anyways this one I absolutely LOVED. it was just well written and it was another type of relationship I’d want, one that kinda eases into one from friendship. I love that shit. I also think about this one a lot. I also enjoy this one a whole lot because, well, I like the idea of a relationship developing naturally in a way where there are no declarations of love or likes. It just happens and you know it’s there and the other knows its there. and maybe eventually you both do talk about it but. it’s there. 

Can you guys tell I have a strong preference towards gray haired characters 🤡🤡 and can you tell what my favorite tropes are ajdhajjd

Anyway I’m sure some of these you may have already seen. But these are my absolute favorite. Or maybe they are ones you’ve seen while scrolling through AO3 or tumblr but never gave a chance because I dunno. Some ARE long which is understandable. But hopefully this will convince you because hngngh

[pinktatertots99]

🔥 Feelings on the canon ships of Homestuck?

Send Me a 🔥+ a Topic, and I’ll Tell You My Honest Opinion About It

god am i gonna need to go with the sequals too? just og or all ships that’re considered canon by the end? whatever i’ll just go in order in what might be the ‘canon’ ships from all three of these categories. this is gonna be fucking long so anything and everything is under the cut. also i’m SO not gonna add hiveswap that can be its own separate ask. so:

roxygen: it’s a cute ship...but the sequal vers is garbage considering how inconsiderate roxy is to john’s feelings and his house burning down like damn rox this is the guy who sat with ya as ya mourned doom rose’s death give the guy some fuckin time himself.

rosemary: also cute ship...sequal versions are fuckin godawful tho. their barely a thing in meat from wha i can gather and then there’s candy...oh CANDY kanaya deserves better fuck this sense of her sayin she’s over it idc if it was off screen, even then half the cast ate stupid pills during that time so WHY must i be surprised that this is wha happens?

dave/kat: i dun like it. in either universe. meat is just perfect gay bois who have occasional deep talks and literally do nothing else while candy they split up thanks to jade which, geez ya guys must’ve been shit to tell her to fuck off like come on. og hs wise i barely consider them canon if we only get pictures and them just being on equal footing on quadrant talk. not to mention dave implied to be crushing on jade and JOHN not karkat, idk where this couple even came from other then love triangle situation with terezi but like, that’s barely much of a reason to become canon. i’d go with em bein pale/moirails more.

jadedave: i’m guessing candy and meat i thought meat implied they were dating but may aswell. so....it sucks but thats because candy and meat suck, meat dave’s basically cheating on her i didnt hear any implication they broke up and she’s like...chill??? and then there’s candy where she literally forced him and kar to break up and dated after dirk apparently died, i do not like the implications of this whole thing. course candy dave is dead and a robot now so...anyways canon wise dave had a crush on her and if jade does like him i’d hope it’s not cause of davesprite cause despite both being dave’s they were different. it’s cute otherwise.

davepetajade: it’s...cute? i guess? idk i kinda found davepeta a bit...idk overwhelmingly overrated? like i know where their popularity came from but readin the series now after all that hype i dont really see it anyways tho it’s basically davespritejade with nepeta in the mix. and idk nothin implied much of nepeta liking jade, or talkin to her much. and davepetasprite is a mesh of both so idk. it’s a ship with cute fanon works of em hanging with outfits but that’s bout it.

janejake: i hate it. legit. this is disgusting and completely throws out jane’s character. like even in the fixed timeline the talk she had with dirk probably still happened on the god bed’s and how she acknowledged wha she thought was wrong on wantin jake’s kids and so on trickster still happened and how she also realized she might’ve overhyped jake. but lets throw it ALL out the window to force jake in an unhappy marriage in both universes and possibly force him to stay in candy due to having tavvy if i’m reading the implications right. even then jake isn’t good for jane either both got their own needs this ship would’ve been sunked in canon and WAS but the sequals are beyond it so maybe that explains it but it disgusts me.

roseterezi: guess in meat specifically. yeah i kinda dont...care for it, like i still cant tell if rose and kanaya broke up or if she just fucked off without breaking up either one is fucked up on kan’s behalf. even then i just dont care for their kismesis it got brought up once and that was it.

jaderose: candy wise i guess even tho it was a fling. it disgusts me still mostly because of kan’s behalf on bein fucked over and both goin through a ‘surrogation’ process without her notice. like fuck this shit the jaderose fans deserve better.

roxycallie: idk if this one’s canon but it’s heavily implied callie lives with roxy least in candy. it’s cute, cant deny it even in og it was pretty cute, dont really care for candy vers tho but then again maybe their not a couple in it idk what’s canon couples anymore.

johnterezi: literally fucked in meat universe and john has kismesis feelings for her in canon. it’s...interesting, idk tho i feel like it’s one sided on john’s side.

ms paint/spade slick: i cant deny it’s cute, he’d least know how to treat a lady but god i’d hope it wouldnt be his only defining trait with her. also want ms paint to call his bullshit out pls and thanks.

dirkjake: honestly i cant tell if their STILL canon in og or not god forbid the sequals. in general though...i dont. i honestly dont really like em together much. they seem like the type to least stay friends but idk bout another relationship would be a good idea for em. maybe later down the line but otherwise canon wise they need a break.

and now for the canon one timer ships this involves any ships implied, uncomfirmed, ex-relationships, crushes, etc:

arasol: it’s cute, best ship. their quadrant was never confirmed but regardless their cute. sol tho in the sequals deserved better then to get abandoned by aradia goddamn.

fefsol: also cute, i live for both of em bein ass’s together.

erisol: oh boi this one...this was...yeah i cant even deny they wouldnt be too healthy, i like lookin at fanon ways tho for em. canon wise tho yeaaaah no these guys definietly wouldnt work.

gamtav: it’s...cute but boi gamzee needs some help i think.

gamsol: -sollux did imply he either wanted a kismesis or matesprit with him in one of the flashes- again same as gamtav.

aradia/equius: BIG NOPE nope nope nope equi that’s weird wha ya did never do it again thank fuck aradia hasnt been around him since.

karterezi: their actually kinda cute, looking back on em they could’ve worked. stupid doomed timeline bullshit.

daverezi: also kinda cute, idk tho if i got flushed for em tho i get more pale vibes but it was semi-a thing.

kanvris: it’s baaaaad kanaya deserves much better and vriska never seemed much the type for cementing into a relationship.

vristav: even worse, like i’d like to thank fuck tav one up-ed her in the end cause fuck wha he had to go through.

karmeenah: it...could be cute? maybe? only iffy part is the ages, i thought the dancestors were like sixteen tho since the kids said they were teenagers even tho they were at the time about fourteen? idk tho if eighteen is considered an adult in alternia or not tho it’s kinda implied to be? anyways tho it’s just off puttin maybe a bit tho.

meenahvris: it’s kinda cute, it was atleast, idk lookin back it does feel more unhealthy.

rufidama: baaaaaad i love rufi but he’s got some bullshit he needs worked out and damara deserves someone better.

rufihorr: just as bad as above, both deserve someone better or atleast horrus does with some therapy on it rufioh i think should just chill on relationships but it’s so obvious their not meant to be.

mitula: it’s cuuuuuute i cant deny it, ...okay fanon vers is canon is barely anything and tula does give more pale implications for tuna but with how protective she was over damara near him it’s sweet, but god do i wish canon tuna gave more feelings for tula.

kantula: it’s...creepy. like it’s so obvious the vantas bois cant communicate well but kankri’s crush feels almost pressuring on tula when he kept goin about them and goin “oh but we’re totally friends and i’m celibate so it’s okay its whatevs” like kan go to a corner give tula some air to breath.

crotuna: BIG NOPE cronus needs to learn fuckin boundaries thirsty fish bastard.

should i even add cro//eri due to the fact he literally asked an eridan out? regardless gross, ew, no, i’ll take the fanon ampora brothers anyday canon i didnt fuckin need that thx.

porrnea: it was implied to be more of a fling. idk considerin aranea’s track record i cant really say i’d trust her in many flushed quads. and porrim seems the type to have hers open and not a closed off thing so idk they got different cases.

aranea/jake: i cant deny it’s fuckin cute, i’d would’ve loved if they tried to do somethin but aranea was definietly uhhh not a good choice for jake. least she backed off when he didnt wanna be kissed but man yeah, it was cute while it lasted.

kurmeu: i cant deny the idea kur forced himself quiet due to hurting meu hurts me in a sweet way but as of rn them bein ‘pale’ and him mind controllin her when we dunno if she’s alright with this or not is...disturbing.

vristerezi: i am HIGHLY doubtful this is canon considering everything but i guess i gotta cement this. i dont see em as canon in og or sequal wise since vris is still gone in both, even then i dont like, see it, i see it but idk man i like em more pale then pail.

erifef: honestly no. both are much too different for a relationship, kinda glad they uh...got cut short cause honestly even their moirailship wasnt healthy what’s to say a matespritship would? on BOTH sides mind you.

rosejohn: thank karkat’s shipping board. anyways, i think their cute cause fuck it rose is a bi-con to me, canon wise probably wouldnt work but i’ll take fanon.

vriseri: kinda glad they got cut short of their kismesis cause boi eridan deserves a better one with how shit vriska was in breaking up with him.

johnvris: it was cute, i cant deny i’m soft over how the two talked things about vriska’s life and john’s it’s just kinda cute. it’s obvious tho canon wise with wha john went through it wont work out. would’ve loved if they became moirails tho but o well canon is god i guess.

spadePM: i dont like much of their implications, would be an unhealthy relationship regardless considerin spade’s flushed and PM’s pitch, they deserve some therapy and other people.

dadbert/momlonde: their cute i like the implications of em, sad they died though, it was cute while it lasted.

meowrails: may aswell count moirails in this shipping mess. anyways their cute, they gimmie sibling vibes course equius early into it was so...not a good moirail.

kurtuna: i guess it might be cute moirails? idk tho with kurloz’s implications it concerns me.

gamkar: as moirails...karkat was fuckin shit at his job i cant sugarcoat it. i get where it’s from he’s not gam’s lusus and shouldn’t be forced to check on him during his time of gettin high and such, i get they were kids, but god gam kinda deserved a better moirail. and then later on in the series it gets more fucked up between kar gettin stabbed by him and both in a pretty unhealthy moirailationship to the fixed timeline where gamzee is just shut into a fridge and kar doesnt fuckin care, like dude, wow. gamzee was bad yeah but damn, harsh a tad.

terezigam: as a kismesis it’s almost disgustingly unhealthy to me and honestly terezi deserved better and gamzee maaaaybe shouldn’t get a kismesis, ever, unless he can sort his shit out -the sequals tho wont do that lol-

minorly gonna count johndave in this: idk if i can see john reciprocating for dave so dave’s crush on him almost kinda hurts, especially since fixed timeline dave’s john is well, dead and our john is probably still different from his john, has angst but man i kinda dont mind it as a one sides crush it’s nice confirmation of dave bein bi atleast.

nepetajasper/jasprose: i cant see it, it’s disturbing i guess. i like em more as friends but jasprose is probably more creepy bout it.

signless/diciple: i think considerin the implications they were fuckin adorable and deserved the best.

summoner/mindfang: it’s kinda sad considerin its implied mindfang’s love for him might’ve been one sided, they could’ve been cute tho.

orphanor/mindfang: probably sounded like the best kismesis’s until he murdered dolorosa.

dolorosa/mindfang: BIG NOPE i dun like the implications.

condence/orphaner: since it’s implied orphaner had a crush on her, gonna say tho big nope considerin condence is a bitch.

condence/lord english: its hard to decipher their relationship in canon, but to cover all my bases it’s big nope to me somethin bout it makes me uncomfy despite both bein bastards.

[pog-through-the-suffering]

ive . never made an original post on this blog besides being completely head full of thoughts regarding the dream smp these past months so, 🎉here’s to my first og post

The Traitor!!!

(yeah i know it's already been a day and none of this stuff is new hsjfhj just let me be a drama queen that really likes analysing characters)

can i just say before i get into it that i love the descent into pretty much grey morality for most of the "characters" involved in the smp. like. pretty much nobody is morally correct! other than niki nihachu because niki can do no wrong :) also i'll be referring to the characters... of these people? and not who they are

now, i've got a couple people that i think are traitors and i'll explain them a little further down but here's some things i noted when i was watching the vod that might be interesting owo

dream says, quote, "[you] may have traitors in your ranks" which,

could be a double jebait; he knows there's a traitor but he wants to sound like it's up in the air

there really is no traitor and this is just a ruse to get pogtopia to implode on itself

the traitor still hasn't made up their mind on whether or not they will betray pogtopia

and i think the last one is the most interesting, at least from a semi-meta perspective, to have a traitor that's not fully into the role and doesn't decide until last minute. idk, something about the angst really fuels me :)

either way, here's my predictions on who could be the traitor ranked (more or less) most compelling to least compelling, and i'm not accounting for realism because... this is my tumblr post and i get to pick how i order things :) i'm hiding the (long) analysis in read more because... i just realized how much i have to say and i am Not concise.

tl;dr

tubbo, while unrealistic, makes for an interesting twist and, for angst reasons, would also be cool to write about if he betrays pogtopia

similar to tubbo, tommy betraying is unrealistic, but for angst reasons would also be cool

technoblade is kind of obvious, but the continuity (if he’s the traitor) would make me pretty happy.

wilbur soot would be a little null, since he’s already planning on blowing everything to smithereens either way, but would be another step in his spiral downwards (jeez how far can this guy go) so i’m not mad.

georgenotfound would not be super surprising per say but would continue with his general characterization as an arbiter of chaos (i’ll maybe elaborate in a different post) it would be :)

badlands folks would... not be surprising. they never formally aligned with pogtopia, and aside from sam never really... offered their help? concretely, at least.

fundy already used up his secret traitor card.

same with eret, i love her, but his betrayal wouldn’t be super impactful. plus, they’re more aligned with badlands?

niki nihachu... i said i won’t care about realism but i sincerely cannot in canon imagine this. but if she did... oh the angst would be *chef’s kiss*

hbomb, ponk, purpled, itsalyssa, punz, other people? they never really were involved with this season aside from like,,, maybe helping schlatt hunt down tommy and wilbur right at the beginning. so the betrayal wouldn’t. matter.

tubbo - look, ik i said i don't care about realism, but the chances of this actually happening are... pretty slim. i love tubbo. i support tubbo. but they... like, the confused "no?" when he first came on VC with tommy makes me think it probably won't be him, unless they're really that good at acting. which, i mean, i guess would make for a fantastic surprise. but there's something deeply compelling about this kid, who largely has been relegated to third in command/less important than his friend, and who has been treated like a work horse a lot of the time (being asked to farm netherite for this upcoming war, being forced to decorate what ended up being his fucking funeral, otherwise grinding for shit in the earliest war only for it to get ruined by dteam), fucking snapping. plus, it's not like tubbo hasn't demonstrated his penchance towards chaos. also, i think there's something to be said about the lingering effects of manipulative authority/paternal figures and how that would manifest in tubbo, but that's a post for another day.

tommy - okay, yeah, maybe i just like kids my age popping the fuck off because of terrible parental figures, but shhhhhh. for real though, i think it would be really interesting for the person who up to this point has largely been the moral compass or otherwise the hero of the smp. for him to turn out to have always been as bad as the "villains" he's fighting... i dunno. also, something about him betraying because he's so fucking done with the people who are supposed to protect and lead him? mghhghh. but i like this probably mostly for the pop off factor LOL

technoblade - i mean... this one's a little obvious innit? i'm not mad at this, for sure, because techno's always made it clear he is ultimately here for chaos and anarchy. plus, i'll be able to stew in the dynamics of dream and techno fucking the server up LOL. all that aside, if techno turns out to be the villain i will be happy about the (now) fired chekhov's gun. like, i appreciate the continuity between "schlatt suggests techno is a pogtopia spy when he joins" to "techno admits he's just an anarchist" to techno's accidental or forced, depending on how you read it, betrayal of pogtopia by killing tubbo, and it all culminating in techno's final betrayal. while not the most surprising, it would be narratively fitting. and that's always nice isn't it? when things end with a nice bow on top-

speaking of nice bows on top, wilbur soot! i mean,,, as the man has said himself, there's really nothing more he can do to betray (if not pogtopia) tommy's values. the bitch wants to blow up manberg! and that's super fucking sexy. i love his corruption arc, it's *chef's kiss.* so... is he gonna be the traitor? probably not. but something about being driven to the very brink, that you've got nothing else even after you want to destroy it all that you seek out your former mortal enemy to cause even more pain and destruction... very compelling, very nice.

speaking of brunet british twinks,,, georgenotfound. even if george wasn't really on the smp or never formally betrayed manberg, i think they kind of accepted that he's on their side. and while this wouldn't necessarily a surprising twist, this would continue with dteam's (accidental?) characterization of themselves as arbiters of chaos. maybe i'll write a whole nother post about that, stay tuned :)

any of the badlands people - i mean... i love them. i love what they stand for. but they never really aligned with pogtopia, did they? so one of them, any of them, except maybe sam, would make for a pretty weak sauce twist. like, perhaps with skeppy? and it continuing the trend of enemy between tommy and skeppy? but really the most compelling is sam in that he agreed to help tommy but as a final reveal he doesn't join tommy's side when tommy does whatever with the creeper head.

as for weak sauce twists, fundy being the traitor would be pretty fuckin' weak. i'm sorry! he already used his secret traitor card, and everyone knows, once you've used it once you can never (until the next season) use it again.

other characters on the smp... yeah, i love eret! i love her! he's fucking fantastic! their gay castle? best fucking build! but like i said, already used secret traitor card. plus, she's part of badlands, so i don't think his betrayal would be surprising. and niki nihachu,,, i know i said i wouldn't care about realism, but i honest to god cannot imagine her being the traitor. i guess if she was there'd be some nice angst about her realizing that everything is shit, no matter where you turn, pogtopia's being run by a fanatical JD, manberg's run by a dictatorial senile goat man, badlands isn't even strong enough to have its own territory. so, what can a woman do when she has nothing left to lose? but for real, within canon it just... wouldn't really make sense to me. hbomb hasn't been involved in the plot, punz + ponk + purpled + alyssa + others haven't really been involved in the plot aside from. like chasing down tommy and wilbur that one time.

and... yeah! those are my thoughts :)

[squeeb100]

Dec. 30th episode, 8min 4s. Danganronpa act 3 guesses, spoilers under the cut

Could Hifumi the sculptor have faked his own death in order to kill Taka (his rival for Alter Ego’s ‘love’), then taken the “body” away before they got over the shock and realized it was fake? In this scenario, he was attacked and seen by Celeste, disappeared, killed Taka, then showed back up, injured, and asked everyone to leave him in the infirmary. When he was alone he was  killed--why didn’t RJ kill Hifumi right off the bat, but came back to finish the job later? Because he was Hifumi’s alibi, created by Hifumi, a pop culture fan who also “had been calling” the character Robo Justice while its initials are RJ. A stretch, but I felt like Mondo was a stretch, and the game’s insane logic definitely could have had something like this go on.

Celeste also seems awfully suspicious in that she’s the one responsible for all the distractions and all the “oh I see him over here! oh, Hifumi’s body is gone!” but she also was upstairs when Hifumi died (or ‘died?’). She has been shown to be a flawless liar (and the ultimate gambler has an ultimate poker face), but students have no incentive to work together and she hasn’t been in the right place at the right time. UNLESS whoever was the killer offered to pay her part of ten million dollars for being a distraction. Could she be working with Hifumi to pull off the ruse (would explain her hanging around with the camera).

And Kyoko (who is not the murderer because she, like Sakura, Hina and Makoto, has an alibi) said there was a 3rd person who stole Alter Ego--not Hifumi or Taka (she might be pulling a Byakuya and causing problems on purpose, but idk why she’d lie about that). The other missing person, who Alter Ego was not watching out for, is Hiro. Dan will be heartbroken if Hiro was the killer in this scenario, but he was my initial guess before my insane Hifumi/Celeste theories. He would have killed both Hifumi and Taka in this scenario because he saw them as threats to Alter Ego, who he has some kind of relationship with or attachment to. 

Or someone could have done it for the money. These are my ideas before seeing any additional clues--Celeste JUST said Hifumi’s body was gone. I’ll be adding to the post when my ideas change because I like to look back and see how wrong (or right) I was lmao. My ideas get more insane as this game gets more insane so we’ll just see how this goes

EDIT 22:47

Arin my LOVE could you please check the locker in the rec room which seemed very suspicious and important when you first looked at it several episodes ago

Also yeah in fitting with my insane theory Celeste could have called them down to distract them while Hifumi ran up to hide Taka’s body. Hiro is a red herring like Byakuya was last case, there is NO WAY the game would give you the answer like that. Hifumi may have just been laying there pretending to be dead since there’s no drag marks for his body while there were for Taka’s (thanks Dan for spotting that), and because his body was ‘moved’ so quickly, but I think there was some way they confirmed that he didn’t have a heartbeat? OH IT WAS THE BODY DISCOVERY ANNOUNCEMENT. So either that really was Hifumi’s dead body, or two people discovered Taka right before that announcement played (Kyoko and Hiro are fucking WHERE at this point???). That’s a real problem that the body discovery announcement played BUT the fact that the game focused in on it and explained it again makes me think that yeah just maybe it wasn’t for Hifumi. Also it didn’t play right when they discovered him, I think they had a little discussion before Monokuma came on. This one’s a stumper though. 

There’s probably much more to it than this theory because the trials always add huge convoluted twists that I couldn’t have guessed lmao 

Also if Hiro shows up like “ahhh sorry I slept innnn” I’m losing my shit. What’s up with Alter Ego disappearing though? 

EDIT after 12/30 episode

Oh I truly HATE waiting for the next episode. Some new ideas though: Hiro is definitely NOT the killer. Hifumi is suspicious as FUCK and nothing concrete has really come up to contradict my initial theory yet. Dan noticed that the hammers were missing, obviously taken and painted, so that’s another point for Hifumi who makes models and shit all the time and was initially hanging out in the art room. New theory about who took Alter Ego: Hifumi in a mask he made (RJ?). 

What I cannot figure out is the body discovery announcements. A new one played when they all got into the repository; was that the discovery of Taka’s body? Didn’t several people initially discover him? And NO announcement played, if I remember correctly. Okay, so that makes sense if he was the body the first announcement played for (Monokuma said he would wait on it though so maybe he decided not to). Hifumi wasn’t dead the first time anyway, since he magically woke up in the repository. Maybe the announcement plays again when they REdiscover a body? But aaaasdfasdjlfkasdf didn’t Celeste and Byakuya (and Sakura and Hina) already rediscover Taka? I dunno that Celeste would count since she may know about it, but I can’t think of any other reason for the announcement to play only when Makoto got there. Was Taka not dead yet when they first found him? I have a lot of questions about the body discovery announcements and I know nobody is reading this but if somehow my other guesses are miraculously correct this should be the point at which you realize that I truly have never played this game

EDIT 16:48 12/31 episode

I think I'm actually right??? And the bodies were discovered at the same time which explains the announcement. Celeste locked and unlocked the repository door. Hifumi got up and walked himself everywhere, but they had to use the dolly for Taka. I'm not sure who actually came up with this, but it may have been Celeste. She's using Hifumi's love of Alter Ego to get him to help. Being content at the school may have been an act, or she may just want ten million dollars. She's probably who Monokuma called the "true blackened."

EDIT after 12/31 episode

Okay Hifumi locked the door. The grumps are catching on that Hifumi may not be innocent here. I strongly suspect that Celeste was the brains of the operation and was the distraction so Hifumi could move around so much. He used the blood packets on himself which is nasty. Very obvious that he's not dead. Too obvious for him to be the blackened. It's Celeste. Hifumi may have killed Taka but it's Celeste. And we're framing Hiro but the handwriting isn't gonna match. I am having so much fun.

[jujutsu-headcanons]

Yes to Yuji wrecking Mahito! Just so much yes my boy needs to avenge those wrongfully killed!

See I wanted Geto to be on my shit list (as I'm not normally a bad guy lover) but I swear he wore me down reading the manga. Plus he's just so pretty he makes my brain all static noises 😳 Not to mention that backstory between him and Gojo like YES give me all the drama I need buried drama 🤩

Totally agree on the Mai thing. See I wanted to hate Todo too bc of well him beating on Megumi but the moment him and Yuji were just like "Big Dumb Meat Heads" together I threw that out the window! Those two together are *chefs kiss* Absolutely stupendous I never get tired of them 👌👌👌

Mai on the other hand is just crawling more and more under my skin. Like why you gotta be like that gurl? You wanna go in the crusty corner with Mahito? Cuz you gotta crusty attitude that needs fixing like yesterday 😐

Literary brain tells me it wants more drama/character growth between Megumi and Toji. But my useless overly big heart wants to punch Toji and protect Megumi at all costs bc he just showed up on the screen like the kool aid man and burst right into my heart and I shan't forgive Megumi for that but now I will die for him so ¯\_( ツ)_/¯

But I'm not the only one who lowkey fantasizes about self inserty type day dreams??? Like every day all day I got my thoughts flowing into 500 different lil oneshots I'm too chicken to post anywhere bc I havent written anything in a while and I feel I'm rusty. But your idea! YOUR IDEA WOO BOI- I'm not even a Gojo fanatic (like I adore him but my heart dick thudded elsewhere RIP) but that scene you described of straddling him just to rip his blindfold off in the heat of an arguement that's clearly deadly to either party- Just to see him on the brink of tears fighting back every emotion to slate his composure to cocky/uncaring. Only to have it obviously failing, and the metaphorical reality around you both crumbling along with Gojo's emotional state- Oh God I would read that crap outta something like that. It fills me with the angst and I thrive on it daily *heavy breathing* You should think about posting more of your original content too! Self inserty or not bc that sounds down right brilliant on so many levels

💛anon

Bro I can't help but feel had for Gojo. That shit must have hurted. Like he looked so calm and collected when it all happened but was he really? His best friend potential lover went feral and murdered an entire village AND his family then he tried to kill his first years once and now AGAIN what is happening. Did you see the look on Gojo's face when Yaga told him he went rogue? That was a face of hurt and betrayal he couldn't even begin to understand at the young age of... What was it, 17? 18? He was practically a little itty bitty baby compared to now. I haven't read the prequel yet don't laugh at me but I've heard it hurts so much worse having to face Getou back then AND now. Stupid brain worms, stop fucking around.

I wanted to hate Todo too hut before he even turned good I couldn't. I have a thing for big buff boys who have zero brains and too much brawns I'm looking at you Metal Bat, Captain Ōbi I just wanna adopt/marry them because in all reality they're trying their best. I'm really glad Todo exists and has his big brother delusion because honestly I think that's something Yuji needs, especially in the current arc. Yuji needs as much support as he can get.

PFFFT CRUST CORNER I cannot with you omg they do need to sit on the time out chair for s bit and think about what they've done lmaooo

DID YOU CALL TOJI ZENIN- FUSHIGURO THE FUCKING KOOL AID MAN AHAHAHHHSH oh my god i hate this so fucking much or were you calling Megumi the koolaid man bc really each one is absurd n e wayz I dunno bro I rlly can't wait until Megs wakes up post Shibuya arc and actually has time to process what the fuck happened to him back then. I really want to know if he can connect the dots by himself and realize holy shit that was the source of my daddy issues right there in the flesh and how he reacts to him being a curse and all that. There's so many ways that can go too it's scary to think about.

Low key unrelated but I have a theory that Gojo can see everything from his little cube prison and knows what's going on. Its probably because of the six eyes, or because he's just fucking Gojo, or even because Geto seems kinda sadistic and would do something like that. But I can imagine him watching Megs and Toji fight and it absolutely destroying him. For starters, Gojo killed him .... Right? Wtf is he doing back? What? Second don't commit suicide in front of your kid oh my god Toji what (I'm probably just salty because of a past experience, but also, calm down Toji oh my god) and third I can see it hurting Gojo because in a way it feels like he's been trying to protect Megumi. Its obvious Gojo has this attachment to Megumi, and maybe it's because they've known each other so long, but I don't think Gojo is prepared to deal with the aftermath. Does he have to tell him, if Megs doesn't put the pieces together? Will he have to knock some sense into him to actually tell him? Because he DID try to tell Megs once before and he avoided it like the plague. Its also gotta hurt when you feel like someone's dad and you witness them have a bad interaction with their other dad.

Throw in his daughter being on the brink of death, his other son being emotionally demolished, his second year kids lost in the void and not even his void, his best friend locked him in a box, his other best friend exploded, etc. I think Gojo I pretty distraught even if he doesn't show it

Bro okay my brain is riddled with ideas like this and 90% of them are always angst. Idk where tf they come from half the time but they exist and I hate it. They're always self inserts too.

So I actually read this ask last night, but due to personal reasons I didn't reply to it now, and I actually started experimenting writing out this scenario. I had to stop when I wrote the line "Approximately one year after the first finger was consumed, Itadori Yūji was formally executed. At three minutes to midnight, Sukuna Ryomen was expelled from his body, destroying the vessel along with it. The executioner was none other than the teenager's teacher and mentor Gojo Satoru. When Y/N awoke to this news, they attacked on sight."

Oh god I made myself so sad with that line

And i do really want to post some of my fics, like I did with Nobara Meeting Sukuna For The First Time. However, I only posted that because it was short and simple lmao it was basically just a meme I didn't even run it though grammarly like I do with the headcanons.

I like sticking to the headcanons as of right now because I feel like grammar didn't exist when I make those. I can spell things wrong and leave off punctuation and word then like I'm a third grader just learning English and no one will laugh lmao. Fanfics kinda stress me out because i want them to be perfect. I also have a hard time with fight scenes and transitioning and it's s mess.

I REALLY want to write out my Guardian Angel! Junpei AU because I think it's so cute. Just the idea that this boy is assigned to fight against fate and the higher ups and keep Yuji alive despite him being an idiot and a target is cute to me. Like I just canon him being the plantonic equivalent of in love with this boy and he feels like he rlly owes it to Yuji for trying to save him it's the LEAST he can do. Plus I need the mental imagine if Junpei annoying reader-chan into finding Yuji because "they play a pivotal role in Yuji's future" just for the "pivotal role" to literally be playing therapist and just being there for him and being a medium between Junpei and Yuji because guardian angels aren't allowed to reveal themselves to the person they're guarding but also/// he might risk his wings being stripped just to talk to Yuji one more time////

Okay I'm going to stop now

But yea, maybe if I have time and create little mini works like Nobara Meeting Sukuna For the First Time I'll def post them! I'll work on casually making them longer and soon I'll be confident to posts longer ones. But until then I hope just the headcanons at alright ;-;

[lumilasi]

A writer’s musings about personal biases as a reader

Now that my more emotional reaction to the latest chapter is out of the way, I kind of went back to look at the situation more, idk, objectively maybe? At least, I’m trying to look at it more from a writer’s perspective so to say. I dunno if any of this makes sense so please bear with me.

I’ve seen people here and there question why Torino is getting so much ire, and I think I can at least personally acknowledge what might cause this from me. I’m not saying it is the same story for everybody, but I figured maybe this could give some food for thought? IDK, I just felt like sharing my musings. Take things I say with a grain of salt as it is naturally mainly discussed from my perspective, and people are individuals and see things differently.

There is a bit of a ”hero” and ”villain” bias going on, perhaps (ironically, like in the story itself)

The reason why many of us mad at Torino don’t talk about the fact that Tomura has done bad things (or why I don’t, personally speaking) is maybe because, well....it’s bit of a ”water is wet” statement when you think about it. He’s a villain, villain’s purpose in a story is to do bad things, that’s why he’s called a villain. At least I, personally, don’t feel the need to constantly mention this point because it’s obvious, and, it’s irrelevant to the issues I have with the hero side specifically.

One’s wrong doesn’t make other’s wrong right, or something along those lines. The society within the story is already punishing villains for their bad actions. What many readers want is the heroes to be held accountable of their own wrongdoings. It’s probably what the narrative is (hopefully) building towards.

(Side note, because I probably need to say this; I don’t condone any of the villains’ bad actions obviously, let alone similar things in real life. I’m talking about this more from I suppose writing/writer’s perspective, how narratives can shape our understanding and reactions to a story - and mainly from my own experience, these thoughts may naturally not apply to everyone)

(And in case someone wonders why I can like the villains despite the bad things they do, it’s because they’re well written, interesting characters with fun personalities and engaging story and designs I like. Literally the exact same story as to why I like some heroes, such as Aizawa or All Might. The alignment of a character in fiction is irrelevant to whenever I enjoy following the character’s story.)

Now, when it comes to Heroes, due to how the good guys are portrayed in many stories, there might also be bit of a bias towards heroes; we might naturally hold the good guys to a higher moral standard, and when they don’t live up to it, it feels like a betrayal of trust, and may result in harsher critizism because the excpectations were higher to begin with. At least, I can recognize personally that I have this bias, not saying everyone has or thinks this way.

As I’ve seen some people mention, Gran Torino of course doesn’t know the circumstances behind Tomura’s current situation. There might even be a seed of truth in the idea I saw that he might be projecting his hate of AFO onto Tomura.(Which, again, isn’t very heroic behavior, but it is admittedly very human, which is probably the point from narration perspective; these heroes are portrayed more like flawed humans than paragons of virtue overall)

The same way, people’s reaction to Torino’s words and getting frustrated/angry over it is also pretty human; nobody likes their favorite character being accused of that one thing they’re actually not really responsible for, it’s just kinda how we seem to work.

”If you’re gonna call him out, call him out of something he’s actually responsible for dammit!” - in other words.

(Also, again, this is just from my perspective. Of all things Torino could call Tomura out on, he blurts out that one thing Tomura’s not really directly responsible for. That’s all AfO in my eyes)

At least I don’t really bat an eyelid at people pointing out the bad stuff Tomura and his gang has done, because.....well, its just true. They’re villains in a story. They’re supposed to do bad things to drive the narrative forward and play their role.

That is perhaps also why I (and maybe others) am more critical of heroes when they do bad things because I have higher expectations of them as the supposed good guys due to my past reading experiences about stories like this, and what the term ”hero” means to me.

(And well...people are naturally more likely to sympathize with their favorite more, over other characters regardless of circumstances I suppose. It’s just how things work, probably gotta throw this out here too heh)

So...TL;DR

I, personally am probably harsh at Torino in this situation, because I subconsciously had higher expectations for him as a reader, morally speaking. I don’t constantly critisize the villain side because their badness is obvious (its in the job description for story villains!) and my issues with heroes are a separate issue from the villain’s obvious bad actions. If the heroes and the society would be held more accountable, the amount of villains being created could also lessen (which again, I feel might be the point of the story narrative here)

Also, humans are emotional messes and can react strongly even to fictional situations when its about characters they enjoy. I try not to take things too seriously given it’s fiction, but understand it’s sometimes difficult because emotions are fun.

More neutrally speaking, both sides in bnha’s narrative are bad in their own way, even as a fan of the villain characters, I can easily acknowledge that and know my favorites do bad things I obviously don’t condone. I don’t like them because of the bad things they do, but because (as stated before) their story/personalities are interesting to me. It’s just that the other side is not being held accountable for their wrongdoings, which is frustrating as a reader and thus I feel the need to be more critical of them than those who are already getting punished in-world anyway.

[electrozeistyking]

ZIMVOID KING ARC - Headcanons and Facts for the AU

So! I spent a few days working on headcanons and facts about my Invader Zim AU, the Zimvoid King ARC (or ZKA for short). All written along side of installment three, "Dark Claws of a King", and now here on the net to burn your eyeballs, here's the master post on the ZKA facts and ideas I've recently spawned for the AU. Enjoy!

if you manage to read this all, you’re a certified creature

   ~   ZIB RELATED    ~ Facts that mainly surround the cockroach (and i'm pretty sure the majority of this post mentions this guy).

-Zib has fobidden himself to go on any adventures involving Zim. He's decided that it's not his place to try to stop a version of the Irken that is not his own. Plus, he's a merger. (This is all just nonsense he tells himself. The real reason is that he doesn't want to get involved with that shit all over again. PTSD and stuff, yanno?)

-Zib has a real problem with keeping his hands from doing things. He's actually gotten a Rubrix Cube to keep his hands occupied, and he keeps the cube in one of his pockets at all times in case he needs it. It's probably due to a deep, insatiable urge he has to build, build, build; creating his mech, modifying Voot Cruisers and such... once he'd had nothing else to make, he'd been left with an itch in his hands.

-Zib can also be seen tinkering with some forgotten technology Professor Membrane has laying around. The professor has actually only caught Zib doing this once; the roach had almost finished with an invention Membrane was only preparing to start working on.

-Zib's senses are all heightened and improved. His eyesight has never been more perfect, his hearing (despite his obvious lack of ears) has never been clearer, and though he regrets having it, he does happen to have a perfect sense of smell. So he knows if something stinks, it fucking reeks. Ugh. Awful, dude.

-Sometimes Dib will be like "Oh, lookit us, we're a couple of Dibs, ain't that cool" and then Zib does something very Zim-like and he goes "Fuck, I totally forgot he does that".

   ~   PAK!ZIM RELATED   ~ Facts that mainly surround PAK!Zim.

-Zib and PAK!Zim occasionally do something I like to call "syncing", where the two act and think as one entity, one mind instead of two. When synced, these two can be caught using terms like "us" and "we". Neither of them knows how this works, but I like to think it's like fusing in Steven Universe, minus the dancing and stuff; any distruptions to their sync (like if one of them really doesn't like something), they become two minds opposed to one again.

I like to think this is syncing in a nutshell:

   ZIB: We'd love to!    DIB: We?    ZIB: aw shit    P!ZIM: nice going genius

Zib finds syncing to be very relaxing. PAK!Zim likes how powerful syncing feels, even if he won't provide a comment on it.

-These two may have overcome their differences (well, were forced to), but Zib and PAK!Zim are still a Zim and Dib duo. From time to time, their little playful fighting turns into a real spat, and in the Zimvoid, it always hurt Zib whenever PAK!Zim tried to pull the silent treatment on the bug boy.

-PAK!Zim still occasionally threatens Zib that he may dig one of his PAK legs into the roach child's shoulders again. He feels too weirdly guilty about doing it the first time (as mentioned in the first installment of ZKA, "King of a Barren World"), so he'll never actually do it... but Zib doesn't know that.

-PAK!Zim calls Zib "stinkbug", since I thought that was more fitting, as people do call him a roach (this is especially true for me). He's a little cockroach.

-PAK!Zim can only talk in Zib's head. Zib once wondered if PAK!Zim's voice is real, or if it's false. He quickly remembered that inner voices you typically have in your head cannot change volume. PAK!Zim can yell, and it gives Zib headaches and nosebleeds every time he does. PAK!Zim often tries not to yell when the duo are around other people; both are worried if people would think the PAK is ruining his head, and they don't want to know what could happen.

-PAK!Zim has terrible eyesight. And by that, I mean he can't see. The only time he can see anything is when he and Zib are synced. Neither of them really mind it, but they always try to avoid syncing when Zib's showering. Despite how comfortable they are with each other when synced, that is the only discomfort both of them have. They just... I dunno, I'm kinda getting uncomfortable about it myself.

-Zib finds himself to be weirdly possessive over PAK!Zim. Maybe it's because that he sees the sentient robotic backpack to be an anchor for him when shit's getting tough. Having had four years to get over their differences, Zib has actually befriended the PAK and doesn't know what he would have done without someone to talk to all that time.

-To branch off that last one, I have the firm belief that because of Zib's weird attachment to the PAK fused to the back of his head, Zib would probably cease to function if PAK!Zim is ever removed. Ever since PAK!Zim officially woke up, Zib has developed this seemingly comfortable, permanent sense of knowing that someone is there for him, will always be there and they're not going to leave him alone because guess what? PAK!Zim has no choice but to go wherever Zib goes. He occasionally forgets that, though.

The idea of having the PAK (his PAK) removed terrifies him; you'd be tearing that feeling of never truly being lonely away from him. Removing the PAK would remove his buddy, his pal, his Zim. He'd be lost, confused, alone, and he'd have no idea what to do. It's just him by himself all over again, no one else. Plus, who knows what else could happen to Zib? What if it turned out he relied on the PAK to survive, and removing it could potientially kill him? Neither PAK!Zim or Zib are willing to see what could happen.

TL;DR: Take away the PAK, and Zib gets crippling depression and he might die.

-Though he can't see, PAK!Zim can hear pretty damn well (even if he barely listens half the time).

-No one else knows that PAK!Zim is alive. Dib wants the PAK removed because he thinks that if they remove it, Zib's thoughts will stop being so... "corrupted". In his own mind's eye, Dib thinks that if they remove the PAK, it'll be helping Zib, but what he doesn't realize it would absolutely DESTROY Zib's mentality.

   ~   FAMILY RELATED   ~ Facts that involve the Membrane family as a whole.

-The fact that his other son has claws perplexes Professor Membrane to no end. He pretty much tried to see if he could study Zib's weird claws once he found out about them. So far, what he's found out from his studies is that Zib's claws are really fucking sharp and they really hurt (mentioned in installment three of ZKA, "Dark Claws of a King").

-More facts on the stinkbug because yes, Zib has another huge problem: it turns out rants from his "brother" Dib helps Zib conk right the fuck out. It unfortunately works every time.

-Zib, Dib and Gaz just... they kinda see themselves as siblings, even though Zib and Dib are just alternate versions of one another. After a while, they kinda got over it and now it's just:

"This is my brother! I have a brother! We're brothers! We're practically twins! See this? This guy right here? Him? That's <my> brother. I love my brother, and I'll kick your fucking ass into the goddamn dirt if you insult him in front of me." (this is all just from zib btw.)

   ~   GOOFY   ~ Facts that are INTENDED to be goofy.

-For whatever reason, I enjoy the idea of Zib having a weird addiction to eating sticks of butter. Yes, his new family decides to have an intervention about Zib's addiction, but it totally fuckin' flops, so they end up having to try to hide the butter and cut him off from it instead. (they gave up trying when it all disappeared from its hiding spot later that very same day.)

   ~   IDK FACTS   ~ Facts that I've no clue where they should go.

-On Keef in ZKA: the little red head has actually mellowed out now that he's a teen. He still adores his friends, but he's calmer, not as clingy, and is an excellent listener, so he'll let Zib ramble, but will occasionally interrupt to ask questions. He's like Zib's mini therapist.

-I like the idea of Keef being bisexual.

   ~   AUTHOR TRIVIA   ~ Trivia from the author that you totally won't need but may find interesting anyway! why was i speaking in third person—

-"King of a Barren World" was posted on the fifteenth of May, but Archive kinda fucked up and it says I published it on the sixteenth.

-You'll see me call Professor Membrane "the professor", but only because I totally forgot he's a scientist. Not sure how, because his schtick is REAL SCIENCE, but—

-This AU was made by accident. And by that, I thought up a scenario, wrote about it, thought up another scenario and wrote about that one too, and then found out people actually liked this nonsense I was writing, so it's an AU now and forever -or at least until I die-.

-The Zimvoid King ARC is not a real arc. I just thought the name sounded cool.

-Before anyone asks "what does ARC stand for", it doesn't stand for anything. I just capslocked the word arc because I just thought that looked cool.

-I accidentally made a Discord server for ZKA.

-Speakin' of accidents, I may have accidentally started shipping Keef and Zib. Oops?

-I really like calling Zib a stinkbug. As user MelodyoftheVoid once put it: Half man, half bug, all stink.

-I have strictly forbidden myself from making Zib's hair-scythes antennae. I love headcanons on them being antennae, sure... but I decided that I'd have no idea how to write them in ZKA, so I was like "Nah, dog".

-Of all my IZ AUs, ZKA is the one I haven't dropped yet. Maybe because it's only four days old at this point, but still. omigosh zka is a baby au :0

[turtleneckseve]

I love that we got villaneve kiss and their scenes this season are great, but how do you feel about side characters? Every season we had some new faces, but this time I find most of them annoying and uninteresting? Also it feels all over the place, like it lost its focus. Anyway, maybe it's just me, but like.. is Carolyn's daughter only there to annoy her? is Jamie gonna be another Niko? why are there so many old white men around? I hope it's all part of a plot but for now I'm bored to death

Slightly irrelevant to what you asked but I will say the plot regarding the Twelve was always kind of confusing, especially when you take into account Konstantin and Carolyn’s shiftiness, but this season it feels even more disjointed and difficult to comprehend. I’m assuming threads will be tied up but we still may not even see the Twelve until season 4. Whatever I guess. I’m not that fussed about it as a whole. I have my theories but I try not to think about it a lot because the confusion of all the hints and symbolism fries my brain. 

I’m still yet to finish the books but I wonder if it will go a similar route. Probably not although things seem as if they’re shaping up to go the direction Luke did with Villaneve. (I read spoilers about them specifically). IDK if it would go down well, doubtful, but I guess we’ll see. At least it would change up the formula.

Back on your actual question, I feel the same way although I wouldn’t say I’m bored because I constantly feel like I’m waiting for some sort of revelation. Mo is pretty okay, I like his scenes with Carolyn. Carolyn’s boss is obviously shifty and he’s probably going to find out about her off the books investigation with Kenny. Geraldine is fine but I don’t really understand the purpose of her being there. She’s clearly just there to replace Kenny but she’s not involved in the investigation so what’s the point of her? I’m not sure if I like Jamie. I think he likes Eve and while I’m confident Eve wouldn’t precipitate that I just....IDK. Maybe it’s him she’ll tell about being sexually attracted to Villanelle. I dunno why she’d tell Niko since he obviously already knows. Jamie can offer some sort of opinion on it since he barely knows anything that went on. Overall I’m interested but I’m waiting to see who’s dodgy and who isn’t. It’s already obvious Dasha is playing Villanelle, I just wonder in what sense and how it will be revealed.

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

also can we talk about Lorelei for a hot second here

long Lorelei analysis post incoming (also i have a friend named that in real life so... hiiii this isn’t about you, promise <3)

listen,,, i’ve been on since the beginning that i don’t trust her yet and i think its pretty reasonable. we’ve got all these returning characters (seriously, like Axton, Gaige, Salvador, Krieg, Maya, Zer0, Lilith, Brick, Mordecai, Tina, LB, Gortys, Rhys, Vaughn, Fiona, Sasha, shit maybe even August or Cassius, Claptrap, Timothy, Aurelia, Hammerlock, Moxxi, Marcus, Tannis, Ellie, well you get the idea)

all these returning characters and they introduce a new one! and she’s the only new main character we know of so far outside of the twins and well the new VHs (who are very good for obvious reasons)

And ive seen it mentioned multiple times that Lorelei was “a beautiful siren who sat upon a rock in the Rhine River and lured sailors to shipwreck and death”. Well we know she’s not a in-game Siren (that we can see. her left arm is left uncovered, but she’s got no tattoos) and we know name meaning isn’t a great indication of allegiance in the borderlands series. I mean, we’ve got a Lilith... and she’s our new leader lmao

so its entirely possible she could become a Siren during the events of the game. I’m worried about that because, so far, the only one we know who can take Sirens powers is Tyreen, so we can assume that means she’d be the one who can transfer them, as well. (for simplicity’s sake, i won’t talk about how i think troy is the output here lmao)

It could also be shown in-game how people can get Siren powers in the Borderlands universe, I know in one of the interviews it was stated we might learn more about that, though iirc they wanted to keep it a little bit of a mystery. I like that a lot tbh, mostly cause they seem to enjoy fan interpretations (notice me senpai goddamnit)

from the interview (i promise im getting to the full analysis lmao i am working thru a lot of old drafts):

“Are new Sirens created when old ones die?

Danny Homan: These are all great questions. You might find out some of that in this game. Who knows?

Can existing people become Sirens?

Danny Homan: Um, that’s an interesting question. I mean, there’s a lot of ways that someone can become a Siren. It’s not a de facto X-Men kind of thing. There’s some different conditions that kind of arise. Yeah, Sirens are unique and I feel like we like to keep it a little amorphous. What we like the most is when fans kind of create their own myths and stories about how this kind of stuff happens. As a writer we try not to definitively say one thing because there’s a lot possible.”

personally, i think his “um, that’s an interesting question” kinda confirms we will at the very least learn something about this. the best thing that could occur is that we get to see it happen!

sooo let’s theorize now!

Was Lorelei a Siren before the twins? well the timeline doesn’t really match up. In BL1 we have Angel, Steele, Lilith, Tyreen, Amara, and Maya all alive. If we’re going with the theory that Tyreen isn’t a natural Siren then it could be possible? Maybe they found a different way to steal Siren powers before Tyreen had powers, or Tyreen was gifted her powers from the red Vault and became the 7th Siren. 

I personally dunno about Lorelei being a Siren before the game begins, but it is possible! She’s got that hombre look a couple of the Sirens we know have (Amara and Lilith with their dyed tips- shit Maya’s hair is even darker at the ends) and her outfit seems to account for Siren tattoos with the exposed left arm. It could be possible that Tyreen took her powers and sent her to go work undercover with Atlas to get information on Vault (which we can’t get until we talk to Rhys) and/or weaken Atlas from the inside while they’re under attack by Maliwan. I think I mentioned back when she was first revealed that she was the mysterious woman on the MoM. She’s not shown to have wings, so I don’t think she’s a Siren before the events of the game, unless she is that little girl we see to the right of Troy (which I hard doubt because the girl has gauges and Lorelei seems to just have regular-ass earrings. Personally, I think the little girl is an Angel-type situation whose powers either have some use to the cult (eg future-sight, brain-washing) or she had her powers stolen by Tyreen already (and maybe became Little Blue? I like the theory that Little Blue betrays us and becomes her, though. we’re too trusting of little kids in these games. I’m looking at you, Pickle))

Is Lorelei a Siren now? iiii dunno about that. Again with the timeline and the whole “Tyreen may not be a natural Siren” shebang. But, also, she doesn’t have the tattoos. Maybe her powers have something to do with deception or illusions? but I don’t get why she’d hide her tattoos if she’s on our side. If she’s on the Calypso’s side, then why send a Siren out to work for Atlas? Again, she could be used to weaken the inside of Atlas/get information, but you could send literally anybody with half a brain instead of one of the most powerful beings in the universe. 

Will Lorelei become a Siren? it’s possible. i think this is the most likely thing that could happen. her outfit design would 100% allow the tattoos to show up without sacrificing anything. 

How does she become a Siren? well... I dunno lmao, there are so many possibilities.

She could be working with the Calypsos and gets her powers through Tyreen

She could be gifted powers by some Eridians/a Vault/weird alien bullshit

She could be the next one chosen (?) to take on Lilith’s/Maya’s/Tyreen’s powers after they die. 

She could be the one to get the powers after Tyreen gives up the ones she’s collected (be it through death, willingness to do so, or otherwise) and one of the people they were meant to return to is dead... so it just goes to Lorelei (?)... maybe its a proximity thing. like Fruits and Devil Fruit powers. iunno

i got no concrete ideas and idk if I know enough about her character to say affirmatively what’s gonna happen

tbh i doubt she will actually betray us/work with the calypsos and then either NOT rejoin our side or straight-up get killed, mostly because she’s a side-quest giver and i don’t think gearbox would lock away all those quests by killing her off. i mean, roland had no direct side-quests in bl2 so i don’t think they’d be dicks and make it so you can never complete her side quests in that playthrough by killing her off or making her join the other team without reversing that decision by the end of the campaign. 

still don’t trust her yet tho

[woozi]

*waves* hi yza!! car crash anon here, it was nice to hear from you too!! I’ll be honest my first thought seeing ur response was “wow the shirt in that reaction pic is red, too” so u can fully see the extent of my brainrot. but I’ve actually gotten some more motivation to pick it up and am enjoying it! ok genuinely tho I was analyzing the coke zero lyrics half as a joke but now I am fully serious. I actually think my theory abt woozi not knowing abt the redesign is Crucial to the concept of the song *clears throat* so like, mv aside, the whole song “ruby” is obsessed w/ like… ruby and the color red. this person thats making the narrator go crazy over them. however, red isnt just what the person of interest (poi) wears or has (lips)—red is like… symbolic of the attraction itself. it’s what ties them together + reflects them in each other—as many things as the song references I feel like there’s a consistent pattern of the narrator being touched devoured or otherwise connected to red, as much as the poi? special attention to the “I see myself in you” line—the narrator is seeing red, the colour of infatuation, attraction, a children’s hospital (lol)… but like the poi is red, the narrator is red as well. idk mv this was obvious and I’m saying nothing new but like even the whole prechorus w/ the “making me a beautiful jewel” and “every time I look at you, I keep turning red” “go color me like you” so it’s like idk. the way red is literally inescapable and devouring him? the narrators had his heart taken captive so like, because everything about poi is red, everything abt him also becomes red. so like… even a Coke Zero, which hasn’t, until quite recently, become predominantly red, also becomes red… and it’s like. wow even in the most mundane bits of life the red will stay. not only will it stay it’ll change things into red. like idk maybe it’s not that #deep BUT I do think it’s interesting how the narrator has like lyrics of. wow he’s drinking a soda. he refers to the poi as “my forbidden fruit” right like it’s all… there he almost seems to suggest that this sort of obsession or love is some kind of desire that it’s his choice to fall into—a fruit he’s chosen to consume… but if anything, it seems like the other person here is the one consuming him—his attention, his attraction, his love, his vision, etc. ALSO the like sorta edited vocals in the back during his guitar part r like “ruby eyes, ruby ocean […] baby my eyes are ruby” (I hear it as maybe personally but my analysis doesn’t actually change with that) SO. idk I feel like eyes r always important conceptually window to the soul etc etc so I feel like that’s the moment u know like. ok now narrator has become like fully enamoured or whatever. now for what purpose am I saying all of this? well nothing really. but ALSO may I propose ruby: halloween (specifically vampire) ver. everything lines up. blinded by the shine? easy peasy theyre like the twilight sparklepires. ok w/ that joke out of the way lol. uhhh the infatuation situation have where the narrator is being consumed but also is infatuated. same way a vampire might enchant / seduce it’s prey. the forbidden fruit. poi is literally a vampire that’s all very dark and unreachable. but it’s also something u literally can’t reject? the whole go color me like you turning red thing… blood drinking. other vampire motifs u can have a blood moon somewhere too. what is a ruby ocean but blood really. easy. at the guitar solo now the narrator gets to turn into a “ruby” vampire too. ruby lips WOW ITS ALMOST LIKE IF YOU ENGAGE IN DRINKING BLOOD UR LIPS GET STAINED RED… etc etc. ill take my leave now lol ty for ur support once again! also I dunno if it was weird to use narrator and poi instead of like. saying woozis name but I wanted to be formal and like the person singing the song does not always = character / concept theyre embodying hence my choice ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. have a good day/night/ambiguous time of day!

reading through this was an experience to say the least JKFDFKJDFKDJ

[donnieluvsthings]

also idk how far along u are with the skysie oneshot but im lowkey curious what u do have thus far may i see 🥺👉👈 - boop (no pressure though ofc ofc ofc)

OH yes sure i am admittedly...not as far as i should be seeing as its been literal months but i will put it under the cut for u lmao 😎 also i kinda just am winging it so sorry if it doesnt line up with shadowstruck canon akgjskf

It’s just supposed to be a normal battle.

No, not even a battle, just a small fight! A skirmish, if Sam wants to get fancy.

Ky is headed towards a small town a few hours away to do Prince Things that Sam isn’t entirely clear on, and as his primary bodyguard, Sam is tagging along. Ky had rolled his eyes when the Queen said he should bring a guard, but he grinned when he saw Sam waiting by their horses, so Sam figures he’s secretly okay with it.

They talk as they travel, discussing everything and nothing at the same time. The energy that seems to linger under all of their conversations is especially prominent now, away from the kingdom, alone. Or at least, Sam thinks so. It’s also entirely likely that he’s just reading too far into things and all the tension is just stemming from his awkwardness.

He almost sighs in relief when they’re ambushed by a group of bandits, because he really doesn’t want to go down that thought spiral right now.

It isn’t as if these bandits pose much of a threat, anyway. They’re wielding probably-stolen swords so horribly that even Ky should be able to defeat them easily. Sam says as much out loud and gets a scoff in reply before Ky leaps off his horse and draws his sword in mid-air.

“Showoff,” Sam snickers as he slides off his own horse, and Ky grins, tossing his sword between his hands a few times before fumbling with it and scrambling to regain a good grip without stabbing himself in the foot.

“I meant to do that,” he says, all fake-confidence, and Sam just laughs again. The bandits have finally seemed to realize they’re facing trained swordsmen, but as they try to flee Sam just waves a hand and spreads their energy throughout the surrounding open air; they don’t quite collapse, but Sam can tell he’s exhausted them, at the very least.

“They don’t have powers,” he reports. Sure, it makes his own powers pretty useless, but at least he won’t have to strain himself. His brief dispersion was enough for Ky to quickly knock them out and trap them in a cage of dirt and stone.

“Teamwork!” Ky cheers, smiling over at Sam, and Sam’s heart does not flutter. Nope.

Sam turns away to hide his definitely-not-infatuated expression, beginning to collect the loot that the bandits had scattered around in their attempted escape. He hears Ky hum curiously and glances up to see him moving towards some sphere-shaped thing that almost seems to hover in the middle of the road.

“What is that?” Sam calls, and Ky shrugs.

“I dunno. It looks like it could be power related.” Ky reaches out to grab it.

“Don’t touch it!” Sam shrieks, but Ky is already holding the sphere in his hands. “Ky, we don’t know what it does, you can’t just go around touching random magic stuff—“

“I’m fine, Sam,” Ky interrupts, trying to spin the sphere on the tip of his index finger. “See?”

Sam pinches the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes in fond exasperation. “Okay, but it’s still a mysterious object that might have magic.”

There’s a light thump in response.

“Oh,” he hears Ky mumble, “you were right.” Sam’s eyes fly open just in time to see Ky’s knees buckle, the sphere at his feet. Sam darts forward to catch him before he can hit the ground, and is relieved to find that he’s still breathing, just unconscious.

Unconscious after touching an unknown magical object that does who-knows-what and what if he doesn’t wake up?

“Oh my Nja,” Sam says, staring at the prince in his arms. “Oh my Nja. Ky?”

He gently lays Ky on his back, hands fluttering around uselessly because what can he do? There was some weird object and now Ky is unconscious and Sam is supposed to protect him, how did he let this happen?

“Okay, okay,” Sam says to himself, focusing on his own voice to distract himself from his rising panic. “This is fine, it’s fine, everything’s okay!”

(It is definitely not fine.)

He gathers Ky back into his arms to push the prince up onto Sam’s horse. Thank Calli for trained royal steeds, because if the horses had run away Sam doesn’t know what he’d do. He ignores the bandits, whose earth prison had crumbled as soon as Ky passed out, instead grabbing the sphere (with gloves on, because he’s not an idiot, Ky) and throwing it in his bag. Surely there’s a book or something at the castle that has a solution, right?

Sam has to hope so. The horses take off towards the castle, and Sam feels his heart pounding in time with the hooves.

~•~

“It’s not your fault,” the Queen says to him later, after they’ve arrived back in the kingdom and the situation has been explained. Ky is lying on a bed in the medical wing, and if not for the doctors rushing all around him, he would just look like he’s sleeping.

Sam wonders if his guilt is really that obvious because this is totally his fault. He doesn’t say that to the Queen, of course, instead smiling weakly and then slipping out of the medical center with a glance over his shoulder. He doesn’t really want to leave Ky at all, but he has a feeling even the royally trained doctors don’t know what they’re dealing with. To the library it is.

He begins methodically pulling sections of books off the shelf and skims through them quickly, finding no images that match the mysterious orb, not even a mention of weird objects that make you pass out. Then again, maybe he’s looking in the wrong place completely, because if he hasn’t made it clear, he has absolutely no idea what he’s even looking for.

There’s a book on official royal Artifacts, on various powers, on the different deities; Sam brings a huge pile of books over to a table to look through them, but he finds nothing. He really hopes this isn’t some evil curse with some evil guy in a tower who needs to be defeated.

The door creaks open some time later, and Sam couldn’t say how long he’s been there. At least two hours, surely. He glances up to see Sophia entering the library and freezes.

It’s not that he’s afraid of the princess, but he completely failed to protect her brother from a little ball while she managed to maintain a clone of herself for weeks, so yeah, maybe he is a little afraid of her, actually.

“Your Highness,” Sam says quickly, ducking his head in respect, “I am so sorry about Ky—“

“Sam, it’s okay,” she interrupts. “It wasn’t your fault. He’s the one who touched the weird magical item. Also, please never call me ‘Your Highness’ ever again.”

With a quiet laugh, Sam raises his head, watching as Sophia approaches out of the corner of his eye.

“Do you have it?” she asks, sitting down next to him.

“Have what?”

Sophia raises an eyebrow. “The thing that knocked my brother out indefinitely?”

“Oh,” Sam says, though it comes out as more of an embarrassed squeak. “Uh, it’s in my bag, let me just—“

He slips on his gloves and pulls out the orb that he’d shoved out of sight after staring at it for far too long.

“Huh,” Sophia says, pursing her lips. “Well, it sure is ancient.”

“You know what it is?” Sam says, sitting up straight in his seat. The princess reaches out and takes the orb from Sam, just holding it in her hands for a moment.

Holding it with no gloves.

“Wait, no!” Sam exclaims, standing up to snatch it away from her. His heart pounds in his chest when she takes a few steps away, still not releasing the orb. “Sophia—“

“Look. I’m fine.”

Sam pauses, staring at her for a moment. It wasn’t instantaneous with Ky, either, but it definitely hadn’t taken this long.

“You’re...fine,” he says slowly. “How? What is it?”

Sophia smiles and it’s almost awkward. “Well, it’s less of a curse and more of an...enchantment. This thing—well, I thought it was a myth, but I guess anything can be real when people can move the earth and manipulate light itself.”

Sam blinks.

“The orb isn’t evil,” Sophia says. “It wasn’t created with malicious intent. Actually, it was created because some person was tired of their friends dancing around their love for each other, so they made something that would force them to acknowledge their feelings.”

“You’re kidding,” Sam says. “It’s a magic love ball?”

“A magic love ball that only works when two people with feelings for each other are present.”

Sam takes a moment to think about that.

“No, I don’t—“ he starts, but Sophia just raises an eyebrow at him. “Listen, I don’t like Ky. Not that I dislike him, I mean I don’t—love him, or have a crush on him, or whatever! And he definitely doesn’t like—love—me, that would be ridiculous—“

“Sam,” the princess says gently. “You’re not really that blind, right?”

“Gee, thanks,” he mumbles, directing his eyes at the ground.

“You must see the way he looks at you—“

“Sophia, we couldn’t,” Sam protests weakly. “He’s—a prince, and I haven’t even been a royal guard for very long—“

“There’s no rules against a prince and a guard dating,” Sophia says.

“We couldn’t,” Sam says again, because what is he supposed to do if they can? Tell Ky? Ask him out? Sam has no idea how to do any of that, and whatever the orb’s origins might imply about Ky feeling the same, Sam is not risking this friendship over some magic ball.

“Okay,” Sophia relents. “Fine. But the only way to break it is to kiss him.”

“Ha ha, very funny.”

“It isn’t a joke, unfortunately.”

Sam looks up and just stares at Sophia. “What.”

“Listen, it was a very long time ago—“

“There are literally so many other ways to show affection for someone—“

“It’s not like I made the orb, okay—“

“I am not kissing him while he’s unconscious!” Sam practically shrieks, running a hand through his hair.

“Okay, okay, it’s alright!” Sophia says, finally placing the orb down on the table, but it doesn’t make Sam relax in the slightest. “It’s—maybe there’s another way. I’ll look into it, okay?”

“Okay,” Sam murmurs, dropping into his seat and wrapping his arms around himself.

Maybe an evil curse with some bad guy to fight would’ve been better, after all.