#and now I’m the current arc I’m not seeing very much in the idea of reformation

[macabr3-barbi3]

Entanglement (Sub Vox x Reader)

A request from the lovely @jurijyuu for a tentacle malfunction Sub Vox 💕📺

Tags: Restraints; Light Bondage; Sub Vox; Teasing; Begging; Dom/sub Undertones; Tentacles? Sort of? are Vox's cable/wire things tentacles? the world may never know

💙❤️💙❤️💙

Who could have guessed that trying to do something nice for his doll could have resulted in something like this?

Vox had been waiting for you to finish up with Velvette for the shoot that was happening this evening. He knew after hours of the fucked up poses that Vel forced you into to get the perfect shot you would be sore- she had had you hanging by your knees from the fucking chandelier on one occasion, insisting that the slight sway to the fixture would result it a cool shot from your camera (it did; that wasn’t the point). Her favorite photographer, Velvette was always fucking stealing your free time away from him. It was good for business, but bad for his plan of simply keeping you naked in his room at all times for easy access.

He had been laying in the bed, lazily stroking himself just in case you showed up, when the idea struck him to run you a hot bath and light some candles around the room. It shouldn't have been too much longer before you arrived so the candles wouldn’t burn out, and you always enjoyed it when he ‘set the mood,’ whatever that meant. He could probably sell you on fucking before your bath, too- even more deep aches and sweet bruises for the hot water to soothe.

He was too lazy to get up though, so he had snaked out a few of his cables from the back of his head, long and prehensile, a few pairs of them diving into the various drawers in the room searching for the candles and matches and two slithering across the floor towards the bathroom. Had he thought to check the floor for water from his shower a few hours prior before sending two very much electrical tentacles into the room he might have had better luck.

Currently though, his luck was shit. The water found its way into his wires and shorted them out, electrical current traveling all the way through to the base and fucking up the other cables as well; they whipped and snapped across the room in wide arcs and twisting wriggles, and his attempts to grab them from the air and cease the destruction to his room only resulted in his wrists getting tangled up in the mess.

So here Vox had been for the last fifteen minutes or so, restrained by his wrists in the bed and still achingly, frustratingly hard. His cables didn’t so much as twitch when he tries to send some power to them to reverse the entanglement, or when he tugged his arms a bit. His cock does though, and isn’t that something interesting that he doesn’t want to think about right now.

And then like an angel, there’s the sound of the door opening and you coming home. “Baby,” he shouts from the bedroom, and he hears the telltale thump of your camera bag on the kitchen counter. “I could use your help in here!”

“What did you do now? If you cracked your screen off the stand again-” Your voice trails off when you enter the room and see him- he’s sure he looks fucking ridiculous, spread out like he is, and he feels the spread of pink pixels over his screen in a blush.

“I was trying to do something nice for you,” he says, “and got some water in my wires. Everything went haywire, and, well, now I’m here. Be a doll and help me get loose?”

The way you’re watching him is a little disconcerting- not bad by any means, he loved having your eyes on him, just a little unusual. You slide your jacket off your shoulders and toss it on the armchair, sliding your hair out of its bun that you wear to keep your hair out of your eyes while you work. When you go for the button on your jeans he clears his throat.

“I appreciate the strip tease, sweetheart, but there’s more pressing matters at hand here.” He lifts his wrists in demonstration, the wires brushing his skin in a way that makes him suck in a harsh breath, dick twitching in his boxers. “Come on, help me.”

You work your jeans and panties down your legs, his eyes trailing the whole way before settling on the space between your legs. Then your shirt comes off, perfect tits on display as you do a rotation, let him take in the visual of your body in front of him before running your hands down your skin and back up- one hand plucks at a nipple while the other dips down between your legs.

Vox’s mouth is hanging open, pixelated lines of drool coming off his mouth as he watches you, cock throbbing out of his reach. He tugs at his makeshift restraints, a little breathless when it sends a bolt of arousal through his body- seriously, what the fuck? “I am in no mood to be teased right now,” he tells you, but the words are a little reedy and almost whimpered. He clears his throat and tries again- “Seriously, help me.”

You come closer to the bed, climb onto it and settle yourself between his legs. “Come on, Voxxy,” you murmur, and the low, dangerous tone to your voice goes straight to his straining erection despite the use of that fucking nickname that he hated. “Tied up all pretty for me and not even going to say ‘please?’ That’s not how you get what you want.” Your hands run up his calves, up his thighs, and your thumbs brush into the dip of his pelvic bone. Your touch sends electricity crackling through him, static sparking between his antennae. “That’s what you always say anyway- you wouldn’t want to be a hypocrite, would you?” You drag the waistband of his boxers down, and he’s half-mortified when his hips automatically cant up to make it easier for you, his dick slapping heavy onto his abdomen when it springs free.

“What the fuck are you doing?” He can feel the manic grin on his face- confused by the turn of events, by his sweet, perfect doll not simply doing what you were told and, what? Trying to get him to beg? As if- even if it was hot as fuck (and it was, Christ). “Baby, I- ohhhh, fuck-” 

Your head ducked down to lick a stripe up his cock, tongue curling around the head- his hips buck up, try to sink into the wet cavern of your mouth but you pull back with a soft smile. “Say please.”

“Fuck you.” Vox says this affectionately- he was the one in control in the bedroom, this was cute and all, but he wouldn’t plead with you for it.

“Not with that attitude, you won’t be,” you snap back with a wicked grin on your face. And you’re gone again, bent over to lick and suck at the hard length of him with your ass in the air, just the way that he likes.

Again, when he tries to thrust into your mouth you pull off, and he tugs uselessly at his restraints, head falling back against the pillows when you bring a hand up to cup his balls, thumb running gently over the sensitive skin. “Haah- you’re going to fucking kill me.” He’s a little embarrassed by that whiny moan that had escaped him, but you’re not even looking at his face, head resting on his thigh to gaze lovingly at his fucking dick while you stroke and kiss and generally tease him.

Vox thinks he might be losing his mind, just a little. But fuck does he want it, want to lose himself in the wet heat of your mouth, sink deep into your slick cunt and watch you bounce in his lap. He could still do that with his hands restrained, right? He wouldn’t be able to grip your hips the way he wanted to, or get his fingers on your clit and revel in the way that always made you clench tighter around him- but he could make do if you wouldn’t release him.

And there’s the thought that does him in- that maybe you wouldn’t let him go, would keep him tied to the bed with his own goddamn wires to tease him endlessly, unable to do anything about it himself, evidently unable to convince you to do anything for him. He was at your mercy here, the thought making him dizzy with arousal and an unprompted whine falling from his lips when he notices you working your fingers between your legs while you finally let the head of his cock slip past your lips, suction on the tip that makes him see stars.

“P-please,” he breathes out, and you release him with a pop, such excitement lighting up your eyes that he wishes he had given in sooner- you were so beautiful when you were pleased and excited, what would you look like when he gave in to you like this?

You move up the bed, legs on either side of his, and slide your drenched folds against the length of him. Leaning down so your face is next to his, you press a deep kiss to his mouth, slipping your tongue alongside his before you pull back and whisper, “again.” Your hands press into Vox’s chest as you slot him against you, rub the head of his prick against your clit and groan in ecstasy.

His hips jerk at the sensation. “Please, baby,” he says darkly, “let me fuck you.”

“Hmm, not quite what I’m looking for.” You lift off of him, slide back and out of reach again. “Try again?”

“What? Come on, I can’t-” He pulls at his restraints again, and the way your eyes go half-lidded at the sight gets the message through. “You wanna keep me trussed up, is that it?”

“Is it so wrong for the photographer to want to keep a pretty picture on display?” Your fingers twitch between your pretty thighs, grinding tiny circles into your clit while you wait for him to give you what you want. “I wish I hadn’t left my camera in the kitchen; I would love a shot like this. I’d have to get some different lighting…” Your hips stop moving for a moment as you look around the room. “Maybe candlelight would work? I think that would cast a nice glow on your skin, so pretty- fuck, should I go get my camera?”

“No!” The word breaks past the dam of his lips when you use one of his own tricks against him- the threat of ending the pleasure when you’re so fucked out and cock drunk, on the brink of cumming. “No no no, doll, don’t leave- fuck, please, alright? Please touch me, fuck me, ride my cock. I’m fucking begging, I need it-”

A shudder rolls through your body, and finally, finally you sink down on him, a slow, delicious slide that has his fingers clenching uselessly where they’re held, wishing he could hold you, dig his claws in like he usually did.

“I didn’t say stop,” you moan, watching him through narrowed eyes. “Come on, Voxxy, tell me what you want.”

“I want you to stop fucking t͖͖̠̬͛ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧa͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅi̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥg̬̬̱ͩ͋͟͟ me-” Your hips slow and Vox bites his tongue, rephrasing- and this time, to his chagrin, the stream of words doesn’t fucking stop. “Please, baby, don’t stop- f̰̰̯͕͊̃̊͞͞͞ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡c̨̨̣̮̝̈́̔ͯ̀͂k̼̼̞̦̞̼̔, so fucking good, I w-want- I wanna cum, please, keep going, you f-feel so f̰̰̯͕͊̃̊͞͞͞ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡c̨̨̣̮̝̈́̔ͯ̀͂k̼̼̞̦̞̼̔i̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥg̬̬̱ͩ͋͟͟ g̬̬̱ͩ͋͟͟o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞d̶̵̯̯̼̘ͨ̓-” An honest to God whimper comes out of him, so invested in both of you cumming that he can’t even find the sense in him to be embarrassed by what was happening. His screen is glitching out, his vision broken when he goes full static every couple of seconds, but the glimpses he’s getting in between of you with your head thrown back are going to fuel his jerk-off sessions when he can’t spend the night with you for the rest of his afterlife. You felt fucking perfect around him, your swollen pussy walls squeezing him just right as you rode him.

“Say please,” you command, fingers working between your legs, the back of your hand brushing against his abdomen and causing the muscles to flutter under you. “Ask me to make you cum- ask for permission and I’ll let you cum in me-”

And didn’t that just sound like the perfect end to the evening? He doesn’t even question it, couldn’t stop his traitorous tongue if he tried. “Please, doll, oh my fucking- please please p͔͔͚͉̬̋ͩ̾͗l͖͖̰̝ͭ̀͘ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧa͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ, p͔͔͚͉̬̋ͩ̾͗l͖͖̰̝ͭ̀͘ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧa͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ, let me do it, cum with me-” He feels the tension in his entire body, from his suspended arms to the tips of his goddamn toes- he might actually fully fucking short out, he thinks deliriously, processors overloading in his brain at the sights and sounds and the feel of you sucking him into your greedy body. “- p͔͔͚͉̬̋ͩ̾͗l͖͖̰̝ͭ̀͘ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧa͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ let me, baby- oh f̰̰̯͕͊̃̊͞͞͞ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡c̨̨̣̮̝̈́̔ͯ̀͂k̼̼̞̦̞̼̔, I’m gonna-”

You hit the peak of your orgasms together, your body jerking in his lap like you’ve been electrocuted while your cunt wrings him like a fucking towel, tensing and rippling around his cock as he spills into the slickness, long pulses of cum as far inside of you as he can get and its not enough- he can never be close enough to you to feel complete so he settles for filling you with everything he has to give.

Vox doesn’t black out, but its a near thing- the explosion of sudden voltage to his circuits actually jump-starts the core of his cable tentacles and they spring to life, his wrists finally coming free and falling to the bed so he’s spread out like some fucked up crucifixion. They’re numb, he realizes, but before he can get to doing anything about that you shift, reaching for them and massaging feeling back into his limbs. There’s some light bruising, but nothing crazy, not any worse than you had whenever the pair of you occasionally delved into bondage. 

The heavy breathing of you both evens out, and you bring his hands to your mouth to press light kisses to them. When you’re satisfied you release him, and his arms wrap around your back. You press a gentle kiss to his screen and rest your head on his chest. 

“You know,” you mutter into his skin, “technically I didn’t give you permission to cum. That’s gotta count for… something. I’m not sure what.”

He snorts into your hair. “Doesn’t count for shit. You cheated, waiting until I was right on the brink to say that shit.”

You hum, and snuggle closer. “You liked it though? Maybe a repeat in the future?”

His instinct was to say no, but he couldn’t deny that he had enjoyed it- you were a dangerous force in control, something he would maybe have to mention to Velvette so she would let you direct your own goddamn shoots. “We’ll talk about it,” he settles on, still a tad embarrassed by his reaction to the whole thing. “I do think you should have to draw the bath now, though- for both of us, since I think you rode me so hard my thighs have bruises.”

“Oh fuck off,” you laugh into his chest, but you still roll off of him and disappear into the bathroom- the sound of running water fills the room while Vox tries to remember how to make his legs work.

“I better not see that camera in here, either!” He shouts, and your responding giggle brings a smile to his face.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56081230

[stagefoureddiediaz]

I will just be over here screaming until the end of time (and not just because this is a beautiful shot!)

I am trying not to read into this set too much - because it was clearly filmed during the s7 filming (its Eddies old living room rug - hes changed to a striped one now!)- but man is it hard!! Also that red Persian rug is very heavily tied to Eddie‘s wife and his girlfriends.

It’s very interesting to note that that red Persian rug first appears when Shannon comes back and has now left the moment Marisol has gone and the moment Eddie vocalised to Kim his internal struggles and unresolved feelings around Shannon and her request for a divorce. The thing is Persian rugs are very tied to the concept of status and history and they’re quite symbolic, particularly in western culture, of family and familial expectations (I need to write a matter on the history of the Persian rug and it’s meaning in western Society but that will have to wait till hiatus but basically they were expensive and therefore handed down through the family and became attached to the concept of upholding family values) so there is this idea that Eddie‘s Persian rug is about him conforming to society and familial expectations i.e. marriage before children and being a family - divorce being a bad thing, as well as heteronormativity.

The fact it’s now been changed to stripes - which are heavily connected to the Buckley-Diaz family dynamic, and specifically to Chris, and the concept of change being brought about by struggle or danger. A few examples of this or the fact that Chris is wearing stripes at the beach when Shannon tells Eddie she thinks she’s pregnant, we also see Chris and stripes during the tsunami, Chris‘s room is heavily striped with rug bedding and curtains, he’s wearing stripes in the lead up to Eddie‘s breakdown in season five. We also see him in stripes in the build up to the shooting. With the connection to the Buckley-Diaz dynamic - these are all moments that ultimately strengthen the bond - making the family unit stronger. So Eddie striped rug is suggesting to me that the Buckley-Diaz family unit will become even stronger when they get through this current arc (I mean that’s saying Buddie Canon very loudly to me but I’m a clown so take or leave that as you wish!)

Hello gut stuff still being up on Eddies fridge I desperately need to know if it’s actually still there in s8 filming time!

Plus boxing gloves hanging on the wall above the yoga mat - I see you reference to fighting and to finding inner calm. Eddie fighting - fighting to get Chris to talk to him - to tell him things - to be open with him. Fighting to be a father. But doing it in a calm and measured way - moving through the sequence like one does in yoga.

But its actually the sitting on the coffee table of it all that I am screaming the most loudly about - that is a choice - its a place we see him sit when he talks to Chris when things are serious - think when Chris is playing video games late at night and Eddie finds him and they talk, think when Eddie spills hot chocolate over the gingerbread house and Chris throws the house to the ground - both times Eddie sits on the table - he’s also sat on that same table when he asks Buck to try and talk Chris out of leaving (wearing the same shirt I might add!!). So this Eddie sitting on the table is very much connected to difficult parental moments for Eddie - moments when he is super respectful of Chris (hell even the Marisol phone call at the end of s6 plays into this theme - Chris being included in Eddies potential romantic relationship from the start - the lesson learnt from the Ana of it all and showing Eddie is holding open dialogue with Chris), of Chris’s wishes. It’s indicative of the idea that Eddie will be patient with Chris, but he will eventually win out - and that they will be stronger for it as father and son.

Interestingly Bobby also sits on that coffee table - when he talks to Eddie in the aftermath of him smashing up his room - when Bobby is doing a similar thing to Eddie as Eddie does with Chris - supportive but strong and firm right down to the use of same maroon/burgundy for the ‘parents’ shirt.

Right Eddie house screaming done - now on to screaming about Chris on my next post!

[detectivereads]

Batman Wayne Family Adventures Vol 5 by CRC Payne & Starbite

5/5

This post is for Fan entertainment, I’m not being paid.

Click here to see Batman Master List.

Hey Everyone,

I hope you are well.

Yay! I got the volume of Wayne Family Adventures! I always look forward to reading this series, it’s so wholesome and funny. It’s a nice break from some other books I do read now a days. This issue seems to be heavy on the emotions across the board.

Which again, is why I like this series so much. That each of the Bat-family members get their own little spotlight shine on them so its not so focus on one person (i.e. Batman).

One thing I do need to brush up on is Duke, I haven’t read any of the comics that he came into the picture. This series is the first thing I have read about Duke, and the more I read this series I pretty much got the idea of his story, again another tragic story for such a young person to deal with.

 This volume has some major emotions coming from Jason, Stephaine, Luke Fox, Damian. I thought this was really well done in how they dealt with their emotions.

However, this volume has some of the funniest chapters I have read. Roy Harper’s daughter played both Jason & Dick like a kazoo. So, a carnival around and Roy, Lian, Jason and Dick are there to have fun. However, Jason is now in a contest with Dick is who is the favorite. So, all day they are trying to best each other winning prizes and getting carnival food.

My favorite chapter was one the last one, Damian overheard a very stressed-out Bruce and taking the words that he overhears tells Duke, Tim and Stephanie. So, doing some sleuthing they find very obtuse notes in the Bat computer, they find the location and things don’t go to well, but the ending was cute.

I can’t wait to get Vol 6, but it might be a while since looking up the chapter where vol 5 ends is where we are currently at now. With the Joker Arc, it might be a while before we get vol 6, but I believe this series is worth waiting for.

[ask-the-colony-tree-siblings]

How did Riv find out about Saint's third eye? Also I find it kind of wild how they think the colony would care about their 'unusual features' when Riv is literally some kind of salamander hybrid slugcat or something like that lmao (not that I blame Saint for it, given their anxiety) ... though hypnotizing their way into the colony on the otherhand...

The first question will be answered later, (I’m too lazy to draw rn sorry lol) but I’m gonna ramble about the second thing you said now! I love rambling ✨

They think that the colony would hate them for not looking like normal slugcats because of things like in these two examples (from an old comic featuring one of Inv’s flashbacks) that were said to them when they were younger.

In the comic (don’t go look at it the art is so old lol) Inv says that they’re going to run away and find a nice slugcat family to adopt them, and Bountiful’s response is to basically call them a freak. When the thought of being driven out or killed for their odd appearance doesn’t scare Inv enough, she turns to posing the question of if Inv will leave Saint alone with her (not safe) or take them out into a dangerous world that will hate them (also not safe). By making Inv think that running away will get Saint hurt just as much as leaving them unprotected with her would, she makes it so both Inv and Saint stay with her.

Of course, eventually they both ran away anyways, but the idea that they’ll be hated for their appearances is still firmly implanted in their heads. Despite the colony’s obvious diversity, they’re still scared that they’re too different.

But, they’re starting to grow away from that internalized idea of “we’re not normal (derogatory)” and are heading more in a “nobody’s normal (positive)” direction! Inv’s best friend, Riv, was the first to know about the siblings’ true appearances, and had the polar opposite reaction to what Bountiful had said would happen. Riv though that they both looked very cool, and was confused as to why they’d ever hide that. The siblings are starting to question what they were taught, but still think it’s too risky to be themselves.

The growth is visible in the banner change btw! In the current banner, Saint is wearing a bandanna instead of a hat. The bandanna shows a lot more of their face, but it still hides their third eye. Inv’s wearing their sunglasses on their forehead in the new banner, not covering their eyes. It isn’t that big of a change, but you can still see that they’re not hiding quite so much of themselves anymore. :3

(Inv doesn’t realize they were ever manipulated by Bountiful, by the way. They think that Bountiful was crazy manipulative with Saint, but never bothered with them. While it’s true that she manipulated Saint more, Inv wasn’t spared from her influence. It’s definitely something that will be part of their arc later, so I thought I’d throw this part of their character out there, since I’m not sure if people have picked up on it yet lmao)

[iikisa]

Hi! I love your BE art, especially Tightrope AU! Rin💔

Do you have any other details you wanna share? I'd love to know more... Teacher!Rin is something I never knew I needed in my life. I know now:3

Hihi! I accidentally deleted my whole paragraph answering this, I’m sorry it took so long to answer 😔 I’m so glad you’ve asked though! It always makes me so happy seeing others just as interested in Teacher!Rin AU 😆

I’ll start under the cut!

So, it wasn’t actually Rin’s idea to become a cram school teacher, much less a teacher in the first place! I mean, who would let the spawn of Satan, prince of Gehenna, unstable half-demon child near a bunch of teenagers? Mephisto and Shura.

He doesn’t even trust himself to take care of Kuro, but thankfully Kuro is a demon who can very much take care of themself. So why would the Vatican trust him near future exorcist children? They didn’t! Shura and Mephisto surprisingly collaborated together to kidnap Rin and slap him into True Cross to do an urgent mission: teach teenagers.

Yeah, they thought it’s be a great way to spice up his depressed lifestyle after all the beatdowns he’s gone through. Safe to say it worked.

Now, you’d probably expect him to teach a practical class considering his talents, but nah! Shura doesn’t want him feeling any more of a weapon than what be probably thinks he is, so he’s teaching.. drumroll, please….. demon pharmaceuticals!!!! 🎉

Haha… guess who chose that.. Mephisto, that bastard.

You see, I wouldn’t say I know everything about what it takes to become an exorcist, but writer’s freedom and all that! Teacher!Rin is knowledgeable in other areas other than just being a knight. His weakest link is probably scripture, because he lacks the patience to be an aria. He’s a proactive guy!!

Let’s talk about some Shura-Rin sibling stuff shall we? You may have noticed Shura has already gotten her haircut from my posts, thats because that whole arc happened already. Yep, Rin and Yukio go on like normal and help free Shura from her curse before Yukio defects and shit hits the fan for Rin! Shura thinks of those two like brothers, so being the oldest trying to take care of Rin, who literally lost everything now, she takes it up on herself to care for him (in her own rough-love-with-hints-of-soft way). She takes him out to go get matching earrings to help distract him from his new image, safe to say it’s the one thing he likes about himself for a while, and it cheers him up whenever he looks at it!

Yikes… poor Rin. 😓

Shura is an anchor for Rin’s current lifestyle, and she helps him in a lot of different ways. Dragging him to be a teacher with her is one of the many things she’s done!

And thanks to that, he gains an even greater pillar of support from it. Although his relationship with his students started off looking like the introduction from Assassination Classroom… he made it work out with his amazing charm. The cram school students gradually warmed up to their semi-unstable, depressed demon prince, son of Satan, demon pharmaceuticals teacher! Learning about his situation and the unfairness of it all brought them to become even more determined to help their poor teacher. Thanks to the help of his amazing students, Rin starts to gain some light into his shadowed life. He starts to let himself relax, have fun bringing back old passions, mourn, and enjoy the life he has even now. His brother may not be there with him just yet, but when he does, Rin will be ready.

And that’s one of the biggest changes I wanted to make clear for this AU! Teacher!Rin doesn’t have the same support system Canon!Rin does. He didn’t have friends, he didn’t have his brother, and he barely liked himself. But when he finally started to gain even just friends, Rin started to get better.

Because Rin thrives off others.

He wants to see his loved ones happy, even if it means he may not be. I really want to bring out these aspects from his childhood. Because while he did love cooking, everyone made it seem like his only good trait. And that’s just messed up, guys. Rin lived for his family at the monastery, despite not amounting to even half as much as his brother, and being reminded of that fact regularly, I’d assume, he still loved them. He loves his brother even after everything he’s done to him. He loved Shiro even after learning about the secrets he’d kept from him. Because Rin can forgive anyone so long as they can be happy, even if it means hurting himself doing so.

Now, this is my take on Rin’s personality, and others may have different perspectives; I’d love to hear them all!! There’s always room for improvement in my viewpoint and opinions, so please feel free to initiate some friendly debate and share some ideas! I love love love seeing everyone enjoy Teacher!Rin just as much as I do!!!!!

I’d also like to mention that this story is focused on healing, meaning this will probably be categorized as a hurt/comfort with necessary hints of Rin whump!! Woo!!

Thanks everyone, for listening to this ramble!! I’ve got lots planned for this AU, but with life’s unpredictability, time flies out the window. I hope to hear more from you all!! 💖

[anxresi]

A Short Zoe Rant Cos I Is Bored

The ONLY way Zoe would’ve been remotely acceptable in the show is if she’d been introduced MUCH earlier.

Like, the very first season.

Show her as a ‘counterpoint’ to Bully Chloe as one who is actually bullied, and how being raised in a completely different country & continent can influence one’s behavior & outlook.

Maybe she can have a few cameo scenes until she’s a full-time regular, show her chatting on the phone to her dad, sending letters to her sister etc.

Then, when she eventually DOES turn up later, give her more personality than ‘feel sorry for me, oh and btw I’m a lesbian’. Not everyone has to fall hard for her the minute she appears, and if you ARE going to make her a superhero, don’t give her the miraculous in her second ever episode!

And Mr Astruc wonders where these accusations of favoritism come from, when all this coincides with Chloe’s sudden descent from being a semi-complex character to a raving lunatic sociopath? Anyway…

Have Zoe perform some actual function in the show: like, give her a pivotal role in her sister’s redemption. Let her have some negative traits, apart from I-don’t know-how-special-I-truly-am (a common trait of badly written Mary Sues). Don’t let the finality of her character arc be a single pink streak in her hair(!) (talk about lack of ambition).

A few other ideas: Give her a girlfriend crush who ISN’T Marinette, because not everything has to revolve around Baker Girl. Quit putting words in the mouths of other characters how ‘perfect’ she is to manipulate and influence the young audience, it’s distracting and annoying.

Basically, the only thing I’d keep about her in her current incarnation are her shoes, which are pretty groovy TBH. Everything else can be ditched, including her name (Too close to ‘Chloe’ idk… I think something like ‘Arabelle’ would suit her) and design, (again, too similar to Baker Girl)

But, as anyone with half a brain cell would’ve figured out by now, she was only created as a flawless counterpoint to you-know-who so Mr Astruc and his lovable team of hacks wouldn’t have to do any real development on Chloe… they gave us a ready-made, blandly nicey-nice ‘cute’ replacement to just simper away in the background without doing anything of value and contributing the grand total of nothing to the dynamic of S4 onwards.

And seeing as how S4 is generally seen by a lot of people as the beginning of a steep decline in quality of the show, I guess she’s in good company.

Welcome to the dumpster fire, Zoe. We have cake! 🔥 🧁

[vodika-vibes]

Hi vod'ika

I'm pretty sure I saw a post saying your requests were open,

If they are please could I get Alpha 17(or fox, rex, wolffe) with some kinda civilian contractor, some kind of pining a lil bit of friends/coworkers to lovers vod teasing about this very obvious crush bit of feelings realisation (my favourite) (there can be smut or not up to you)

I love the way you write Alpha 17 especially but I don't mind really who you write it for!

The Edge Of Dawn

Summary: Alpha-17 doesn’t have friends. His job is to make sure that the cadets survive to adulthood, and that’s it. There’s absolutely no reason that he should be so comfortable with the civilian contractor who is in charge of teaching the cadets how to slice. But if Fordo doesn’t stop making smart comments, Alpha’s going to be down one vod.

Pairing: Alpha-17 x F!Reader

Word Count: 1616

Warnings: None

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni @imabeautifulbutterfly

A/N: Sorry that this took so long to get back to! It took me a while to come up with an idea that made me happy. I don't know if I followed your prompt to the letter, Alpha-17 doesn't do emotions well after all, but I think I'm happy with it!

“Alpha,” There’s a small smile playing on her lips as she hops up to sit on the barricade next to the much taller man, a datapad hanging from one of her hands, “What a surprise to see you here!”

He spares her half a glance, and then focuses his attention back on the ARC trainees that he’s currently responsible for, “Yes. What a surprise. That you found me in my training room.”

She beams at him, unrepentant, “Your little ducklings seem to be doing well.”

“Don’t call them that.”

“Your tooka kittens.”

“Not that either.”

“Your-”

“Is there a reason you’re here, harassing me, and not in your office doing whatever it is the long-necks hired you for?” Alpha asks, finally pinning her with all of his attention.

“I missed you.”

“You saw me an hour ago, try again.”

“It’s been a whole hour since I’ve seen your smiling face-” She continues dramatically, only to yelp when Alpha takes a strand of her hair between two fingers and tugs on it. “Rude.”

“I can be ruder.” He counters bluntly. “What do you need?”

She lightly raps her knuckles on her datapad, “There’s something...but I think it can wait.” She finally says, “You could come to my quarters tonight.”

“That-” Alpha is cut off at the very telling sound of Fordo choking on his laughter. “Problem, vod?” He bites out.

Fordo tilts his head towards her, but doesn’t say anything. Though his shoulders are shaking with repressed laughter. And Alpha is seriously considering shooting him.

Instead he focuses his attention on her and flicks his fingers towards the door, “Beat it. I’m busy.”

“Yeah, yeah. Who isn’t? I mean it, Alpha. I need to talk to you.”

“I’ll come find you when I can.”

“Great!” She hops back to her feet and glances at her datapad for a moment, before she beams at him and motions for him to duck his head a little bit.

Alpha eyes her suspiciously for a moment, but does as she instructs. She presses her lips, soft and warm, against his cheek, before she turns and scurries out of the room.

He stares after her, jaw slightly slack, as his hand comes up to press against his cheek. And then he’s jolted out of his shock at the sound of Fordo laughing. Alpha decides to table his, admittedly conflicted, thoughts about the slicer who has wormed her way into his heart, and decides to turn his annoyance at Fordo onto the baby ARCs.

He’s always had an easier time working through his emotions physically, after all.

It’s later, much later, when Alpha is able to pull himself away from his work for long enough to go and hunt down the little slicer. And yes, he did ignore the knowing looks his vod’e were shooting him as he left his barracks.

They’ve been giving him shit about how he treats her for months now.

All of them claim that he obviously has a thing for her (one of his brothers used the word crush and Alpha kind of wanted to punch him for it). He disagrees.

He respects the hell out of her.

He wants to protect her from the long-necks, he doesn’t like the speculative way that they look at her sometimes. And yes, okay, he likes looking at her.

That doesn’t mean he has a thing for her.

Sure, maybe he’s had a stray thought about wondering what it would be like to kiss her. And maybe he’s wondered if her skin is as soft as it looks. And maybe he’s considered what she’d look like if she was pregnant before.

But that doesn’t mean anything.

It can’t mean anything.

He knocks on the door to her suite, and it slides open surprisingly fast. Fast enough that his hand is still raised when she drags him into her suite.

“Were you waiting?”

“Yes!” She slams her hand on the control panel, shutting and locking the door before she turns and hurries deeper into his suite.

There’s a strange humming noise coming from a small device sitting on her coffee table, and it takes Alpha a moment to recognize that it’s a jamming device. Slowly his eye brows creep up as he looks around the suite.

Like all of the suites on Kamino, it’s small. About the size of a studio apartment. Though her room seems much smaller due to the sheer amount of stuff covering every inch of open surface.

“What’s going on?” She scurries around the room and Alpha takes note of a packed backpack sitting at the foot of her bed. “Is that a bug out bag?”

“No!” She pauses, “Well, yes. Technically.”

“Are you running away from Kamino?” Is he...hurt? He is. He thought she liked it here.

She grabs her datapad, her personal datapad based on the ridiculous looking purple protective case wrapped around it, and she turns her panicked gaze towards him.

All of his hurt feelings fly out the window at the look on her face, and he immediately shifts into, what she’s called, his badass soldier mode. “What happened?”

She won’t meet his gaze, and her free hand is fluttering over the designs on the protective case. And Alpha’s heart sinks. He’s not going to like what she’s about to say.

“Um, so...you remember why I was hired in the first place, right?”

“Yeah. The Jedi were worried about Seppie slicers getting into these computers. You were hired to update the security. Which you did.”

“Yes! Yes, I did.” She lifts her gaze from where it was tracing the paint on his chest place, “I…” She takes a deep breath, “I have a thing.”

“A thing?”

“I don’t like secrets. And I don’t trust the Republic. And I really, really don’t like the Kaminoans.” She says quickly, “So…”

“So?”

“I left myself a backdoor in their system.”

“...okay. Okay, so what. Did someone, other than you, use the backdoor?”

“No. You’d only be able to find it if you knew it was there.” She says quickly, “But, well, I’ve been perusing their system and...and ten years is a lot of stuff to go through, but I learned a lot.”

“Like?”

“Like the fact that the clones were commissioned by Count Dooku on the order of someone called Sidious. Like the fact that all of the clones have a chip in their brain to overwrite their free will.” her grip tightens around her datapad, “Well, all of the clones except for the Alpha Class.”

He was right. He doesn’t like this.

“I think…” She hesitates.

“Well, don’t stop now.”

“I think the clones were created as a trap for the Jedi. I think you were created to kill them.” She says quickly.

Alpha doesn’t say anything for a long time. And then, slowly, he exhales. “Okay. So how do we fix it.”

“You believe me?”

“You’ve never lied to me before.” Alpha pins her with a look, “I assume you have a plan.”

“Chips can be hacked. There must be a computer or terminal somewhere here that will allow me to overwrite the code on the chips. I just...need to find it.” She finally loosens her grip on her datapad, “This computer isn’t hooked up to the regular network, I know. I’ve looked.”

“You’ve looked.”

“...your brothers are very talented. But a lot of them are going to die if they turn against the Jedi. I don’t want that. I...don’t want any of this.”

Alpha stares at her for a long, long time. His brothers were wrong. He doesn’t have a crush on her. It’s so, so much worse.

“Alpha?”

He’s in love with her.

“Hello?”

Obviously he needs to claim her as his before they go any further with this.

“Do you need a medic? Should I call for help?”

Alpha snaps back to attention when she waves her hand in his face, worry written clearly on her face. He catches her wrist, and pulls her arm to the side.

“Oh, there you are. You went somewhere else for a bit.” She says, the worry fading away now that he’s moving again.

“I was thinking.”

“Oh, I know this is a lot-”

“Not about that.” Alpha interrupts.

“I...what?”

His grin is sharp, “I was thinking that I’m going to kiss you and claim you as mine, and then we can work out a plan on how to save my stupid ass brothers.”

She just blinks at him, startled, but she doesn’t try to pull away as he leans in and presses his lips against hers. In fact, she enthusiastically kisses him back.

Alpha releases her wrist and cups the back of her head to hold her close, deepening the kiss in the way that he’s been dreaming of for longer than he’ll ever admit to, and then he pulls back and presses his forehead against hers.

“Now,” He murmurs, “Is there anything else you learned that I should know?”

She blinks at him through hazy eyes, “Uh...Jango Fett is alive and in cryo in the basement.”

“What!?”

“Um, the Jango Fett who died on Geonosis was another clone who took his place. Apparently.” She says quickly.

Alpha stares at her for a long time, “Oh...kay. We’re going to table that particular crisis until we deal with this one. I’m going to go get Fordo and General Ti. You-” He pauses, “You’re going to hide your bug out bag and clean up some of this mess.”

“Oh. Right.”

He moves his hand so he’s able to brush his thumb across her lips, “And then, we can talk about us.”

And a small smile crosses her lips, “I’d like there to be an us.”

“Me too.”

[kybelles]

so after a recent conversation with my friends we’ve come to a realization: fandom loves Slave Rights Advocate laurent trope. whether it be an arranged marriage au, a time travel au, an auguste lives au or any kind of setting where slavery is still in motion; it’s always laurent who opens damen’s eyes to the horrors of slavery and insists they can’t be with each other until slavery is abolished, that slavery is a deal breaker on whether they can be together or not. now i certainly don’t want to sound like i’m policing anybody’s creative choices but it’s become such a common trope in the fandom that it is baffling at this point because. here’s the thing. slavery isn’t one of laurent’s battles. at all.

allow me to explain further before i make people angry. it’s clear laurent is against the fundamental premise of slavery and finds it inhumane. but through the series (counting out taofc where he and damen are trying to build an empire together), he doesn’t actively fight or challenge the system or slavery. i don’t even think this is a hot take when you remember that he;

i. didn’t protect the akielon slaves in arles until damen begged him to and sold them to torveld for personal gain (which was the best course of action he could take under the circumstances but as i said, he wasn’t above using them)

ii. referred to damen as his slave constantly in both a technical and romantic sense

iii. got turned on by playing master and slave and master and pet

iv. used isander as a way to get back at damen: was fed by isander in the feast, stroked him, allowed him to kiss his feet and boots etc.

in fact here are plenty of instances where it’s clear laurent enjoyed the type of power he had over damen:

and here’s the only part where i can remember damen and laurent discussing slavery after damen’s identity is revealed and they have the possibility of a future together. as you can see, laurent’s attitude towards it is pretty neutral. he doesn’t approve, but it’s clear he’s not a passionate champion of the anti slavery movement.

let me make it clear that none of this is a criticism towards laurent. it’s important to remember that capri started as a slavekink fic (in pacat’s own words) and though it evolved, by the final draft she still kept some of those elements: like making the first night between lamen a romantic, sacred, precious thing between them; laurent telling damen he’s his slave by feeding him as a slave would, damen calling himself laurent’s slave as a sign of submission/love/romance before their first kiss, laurent saying damen is still his slave before sleeping with him… the narrative still eroticizes slavery to some extent and uses it as a vehicle of romance.

the thing is, laurent finding enjoyment in these practices is not the problem. when the fandom loves to pretend like laurent would be so disgusted by the idea of slavery (even though the text repeatedly shows he’s not) , that he; a perfect civilized blonde veretian angel would come to akielos and educate those barbarians about how horrible slavery is and damen would only open his eyes to the truth through laurent’s guidance, that’s when my issues start. because, like i said, this was never laurent’s battle and it pretty much reads like laurent is some sort of white savior, someone who comes to damen’s country to “fix” the problems of akielos without understanding their history, needs, or the region’s current state of affairs.

another very important thing to underline is that the whole slavery ordeal in the series was damen’s character arc, not laurent’s. he’s the actual slave in the scenario, and as much as laurent doesn’t like slavery, damen didn’t come to the conclusion that it was bad because of laurent’s preachings. it leaves a bad taste in the mouth that damen was the one who actually experienced slavery and faced countless humiliations in vere and yet people still insist on making laurent educate damen about why it’s wrong, even though he himself has never experienced slavery in his life. (one might argue in aus where damen was never sent to vere as a slave he wouldn’t come to the same realizations but that still doesn’t mean laurent would have a passionate agenda regarding slaves. at best i believe he would demand damen to stop sleeping with his slaves as they are monogamous.)

choosing laurent as The One who firmly stands against slavery is bad from a narrative pov too. making this specifically about laurent makes no sense because it's got nothing to do with him. it's not his country! he doesn't care about akielos the way damen does. everything about it thematically relates back to damen; who exists as a metaphor for akielos - any insult or injury done to him is an insult to akielos. he embodies it’s values and it’s people, and by becoming a slave he’s reflecting the current slave state of akielos, and through finding liberation for himself he’s also finding liberation for akielos. it’s a powerful symbolism for how akielos is changed and freed directly BECAUSE of his own personal liberation. laurent has nothing more than an intellectual interest in anti-slavery and he only ever begins to care about akielos because he cares for damen. but damen was raised with it and experienced it and cares very deeply about it. it’s his country! it's his story!

tldr; through the series, it was damen’s journey to experience what it was like to be a slave, to see the true horrors of this practice and decide he doesn’t want to rule his country that way anymore. so taking his agency and giving it laurent, someone who was neutral at best about slavery, feels incredibly insensitive and wrong.

[homestuckreplay]

dave strider piss arc :(

(page 1430-1447)

This update begins by explicitly confirming that Rose is the Seer, which is still surprising to me, so I want to crack into the meaning of these titles for a moment.

John is the Heir, which relates to inheritance and family, something he’s really surrounded by. His sprite is his own nanna, he found an important message in his heirloom Colonel Sassacre’s (passed between three generations), and his dad’s notes, safe and room loomed large even after Dad himself was kidnapped. In their episode covering the LOWAS walkaround, Serious Business podcast mentioned that John has escaped his house but is still surrounded by items from his house that fell to the ground and were adopted by the salamanders, which I thought was a great point. So the first part of John’s title, ‘heir’, describes how he’s (unwillingly) defined by his family, while the second part, ‘breath’, relates to his windy land in Sburb. John’s quest is to free the fireflies and get rid of the oil (p.1358 – CHECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!) which relates to escape and no longer being trapped, as well as free and open communication via the mail system, and a clean, natural environment (something very unlike the suburbs, perhaps). It’s possible that a Sburb player’s quest almost subverts the first part of their title.

Rose is the Seer, which relates to understanding, transcendental knowledge, and magical divination. Rose definitely sees herself as smarter and more objective than the average person, and her superiority complex is one of her clearest flaws. So her quest could in some way involve opening her eyes to alternative viewpoints and coming to understand that she’s wrong sometimes. I love this idea, because these titles are presumably temporary and only exist while the characters are within the Incipisphere – they don’t define their whole lives temporally and they also can’t sum them up as entire, complex people. So it makes sense for the players’ quests to be about exploring beyond their current self conceptions, and learning how to be otherwise.

I don’t know who is messaging Rose with the fancy on-screen dialog boxes, but it’s similar to what we’ve seen in walkarounds on page 253 and 1358 when clicking on a player or interactable item, and has already been extended to still panels with PM’s sequence on pages 1417-29. So, this must be a way to clearly indicate terminal commands without having to make a full walkaround game, and this is a natural transition because we’ve seen it so recently. I like the idea that each future construct (each terminal?) uses a different font, like an analog to the different Pesterchum text colors.

This sequence explains why Rose wasn’t answering John or Dave for a while after entering (p.1391, 1393). In act 2 she was very critical of John for being ‘completely unresponsive’ (p.508), ignoring messages and behaving strangely, not knowing about WV’s commands. Now she’s experiencing the other end of it, and it could explain why she’s currently smiling and claiming to ‘like it here’ (p.1402) if her mind is being influenced by someone else. I can’t imagine Rose enjoys someone else thinking for her, so I’m excited to see her reaction once she realizes what’s going on.

These two panels side by side (p.1433-34) are extremely cool – Rose and John facing opposite directions, each with a nearby light flickering on their face. Despite the different art styles it’s like they are wordlessly looking at each other across a fire or something, and is a very smooth transition between the characters.

John sees two new enemy types on his land – the TAR BASILISK and COPPER GICLOPS, with some imps and salamanders for scale. Looking at this side by side with page 1081, the giclops doesn’t look much bigger than the crude ogres, but is probably tougher and has spikes or something, with better attack patterns. This is good from a game design standpoint to vary enemy types instead of just having them get bigger with more health, so props to Skaia I guess. It didn’t need to make its game this cool but it did anyway.

From there we move back to Jade and Dave playing Sburb, and get some parallels with Act 1 as Jade tries to figure out the mechanics and Dave is left powerless to her bathroom destruction. Dave gets over four hours on his cruxtruder countdown, so Jade being proactive installing the game actually did help! And instead of prototyping the sprite with the dead crow because she’d seen it in a vision, as I expected, she just did it due to feeling sad for the bird. And maybe because, just a few pages ago, Dave told Jade ‘i always keep birds in here its sort of my thing’ and that he was a ‘lame gothy supervillain’ (p.1400). That was to waking Jade, so it doesn’t carry over, but I still feel like Dave has no right to complain.

There’s now a ‘first prototyping’ gif for both John (p.185) and Dave (p.1446) but Rose’s was within [S] Enter, and not a page in itself. If Jade gets one I’m gonna be so annoyed by the asymmetry of it all.

We see more of the distinction between waking Jade and dream Jade. Waking Jade is pretty good at Sburb, has some amount of common sense, and is aware of the basics on what needs to happen. Dream Jade is flighty, very emotional, disconnected from the situation and nearly impossible to reason with, She almost feels like a receiver for information; it goes through her but she’s unable to actually do anything with it – see Dave asking Jade not to prototype the sprite, and Jade having this thought immediately overwritten.

Anyway I gotta talk about the worst part of this update, which is Dave’s piss prank. From what I know about cultural stereotypes of teenage boys, this could happen, but it’s still bad to think about and a shitty thing to do. I don’t care that it’s gross, but it says a lot about Dave that his reason for wanting to trick John into drinking piss is to punish him for having bad taste in movies, and his reason for not pulling this prank is that he can’t be bothered. What a brutal and toxic mindset to think that it’s okay to make somebody sick for liking a movie. What a defense mechanism to paper a ‘don’t want to’ over meaningfully considering his actions.

That being said, I like the panels on page 1441, and how they perfectly lay out Dave’s plan. The caption and followup page aren’t even needed – these tell the whole story in an impressive shorthand.

[a-bad-case-of-the-stephs]

Hey, I was wondering your thoughts on the theory Stephanie is currently going through a negative character arc in main continuity comics? You make very interesting analysis of Stephanie’s character and I thought this theory might interest you.

Ohhh this is so so interesting as a concept thank you sm for bringing it to my attention!!

Quick disclaimer: I’m probably not the best person to answer this. It’s been a while since I read Tynions Rebirth run and I’m probably missing so many things in this post. As always I’m more familiar w post crisis than new52 onwards so if I’m missing some stuff feel free to let me know!!

That being said, I can absolutely see where this idea might come from.

Especially given how Steph’s most recent ongoing is Batgirls (2022), I totally get that. To me, Steph’s portrayal in Batgirls was absolutely a regression in her character.

Both Cass and Steph are portrayed as significantly younger and less mature than their current development should account for (along with a laundry list of small inconsistencies which Batgirls indulges in with absolutely no compunctions)

However I’m also hesitant to use Batgirls as an example, given that Steph’s portrayal in Batgirls isn’t really as much a Stephanie Brown problem per se as it is a Batgirls 2022 problem. As mentioned, Batgirls does this to Cass as well as Steph.

My hope is that the trajectory of Steph’s character will stray from her rendition in Batgirls, much like how Cass is currently getting a (so far) pretty fantastic and heartfelt/serious portrayal in Batgirl 2024. But it’s kinda hard to say for now.

I would garner that it might be a bit harder for Steph to bounce back from her Batgirls regression, given that Batgirls kind of builds off of the bubbly/quirky/optimistic/silly personality that gets established w BQM’s Batgirl 2009, which is Steph’s only solo series and therefore something more engrained/easier to fall back on. (I do have rose tinted glasses when it comes to bg2009 and I will defend it for the record. I like Steph’s characterization in Bg2009. Steph has always been silly at times. We see her use jokes to deflect from heavy situations/alleviate her insecurities super often in Robin 93. The issue is when these are the only aspects of her character which are transferred over, or when she is almost aged down maturity wise like she is in Batgirls 2022, which I don’t think happens in bg2009.)

Additionally, the reboot reset a lot for Steph. It did for a lot of characters, given it was a reboot. For instance we have to see Nightwing move to Blüdhaven again for the ‘first’ time all over again. However this gets especially messy when it comes to characters like Steph and Cass whose histories were completely erased w the New 52.

Characters like Steph and Cass suddenly have no canonical history, for Steph, that’s like two decades of history just erased.

So, when Steph is reintroduced, we get her biggest hits played again. To preserve her character to transfer her over, we have to see her try to ‘spoil’ Cluemasters crimes again for the ‘first’ time, we see her adopt the corresponding ‘Spoiler’ mantle for the ‘first’ time, and in Rebirth, she gets together with and dates Tim Drake for the ‘first’ time. We even have a sort of Steph rebelling against Batman, (despite how this plays out very differently than their post crisis disagreements).

That’s inherently a kind of regression, though obviously not entirely unique to Steph, and since then a lot of Stephanies original history has also since been restored.

However some parts of Steph’s character seem to be stuck on replay, even now.

For instance, the refusal to let Cluemaster leave Steph’s life.

Arthur Brown has shown up in pretty much every book Steph has starred in since (and including) Bg2009 as an antagonist.

While the portrayals vary in effectiveness, the general trend to me this indicates that Steph is being pushed back to her literal roots as a hero again and again, instead of letting her square up against someone new. It’s not like inherently bad to have Steph fight her dad, but there’s only so many times I can see it before it feels like we’re treading the same water and that Steph’s character is a little stuck.

In conclusion?

Hard for me to say Steph is having a negative character arc given she’s hardly had a chance to have an arc (at least not recently).

Batgirls regressed her character, and she was generally regressed early in her reintroduction in the wake of the new52 through how she went through many of her past character beats. Currently, I’m hoping that Steph will have a chance to grow more from her post crisis characterization and largely disregard the worse parts of her Batgirls characterization much like Cass has as of late.

Anyway, thank you again for the ask! Would love to hear other people’s thoughts on this because I’m worried I’ve missed something stupid obvious. If anyone has heard more abt this theory and would like to elaborate I would love to hear it!!

[thestobingirlie]

steve harrington has powers

and they will be revealed in s5

steve’s power reveal has been hinted at from the very beginning, and now we’re in the final season, all our waiting will have paid off, and his status as an escaped child from the lab will play a key role in defeating the upside down and vecna for good.

first things first, let’s think about two factors that define steve as a character. ask any fan, no matter how casual, about steve, and they’ll know these two things; he gets into fights every single season and his hair is a key part of his character.

steve’s hair plays a role in his character arc.

as steve grows fully into himself as a character, his hair changes with him, becoming longer, wilder, less neat and styled. his hair represents his growth within his current arc.

who else is a character with an arc that can be well represented by their current hairstyle? eleven.

as el’s hair grows, we watch her figure out who she is as a person, learn to style it, grow and even lose it. this is no coincidence.

steve’s hair growth is directly tied to his status as a lab child. his rejection of the abuse he faced growing up can be seen in the care and attention he directs towards his hair. as he becomes a more fully developed character, who is learning and changing as he interacts with more environments, his hair changes with him.

not to mention that steve using women’s hairspray and stying products for his hair clearly show that he was raised outside of the bounds of normal gender roles. he has no issue with using woman’s shampoo and condition because he wasn’t taught to. his ideas of masculinity don’t revolve around social expectations, much like el.

steve’s fights are the biggest indicator of steve’s abilities.

or rather, should i say the aftermath of those fights.

we watch steve get obliterated in a fight scene every single season, and yet not five minutes later, he’s walking it off! he has zero repercussions of these fights. no headaches. no scars. no lingering wounds.

he routinely throws himself back into the fray. no matter how badly wounded.

this is NOT an accident, nor was it a choice made so that the duffers could beat up their favourite punching bag and still use him as a key player in fights. it’s obviously there as a hint to the audience as to the true nature of steve’s ability.

now, it’s fairly obvious where i’m going with this: steve has accelerated healing as a result of the experiments performed on him by hawkins lab.

now, you might just say, “so what? he healed from battling humans.”

but it’s so much more than that.

steve fought and was eaten by upside down creatures.

no other character has survived that. no other character carries wounds and scars from surviving a run in with a demo-creature.

bar one.

eleven.

coincidence? of course not.

steve is the only character that wears a wristwatch in near every single scene he’s in.

not only is his watch constantly on, it’s takes a prominent place in key scenes. the duffers want you to look at it.

why else would they refuse to show his wrist in every single scene? they don’t want us to see what’s underneath. so what could the duffers be hiding under there? his number.

and the number, god it’s so obvious. STEVEN. SEVEN.

i mean, it’s staring us right in the face!!!

steve’s past

now, this point is so obvious, everyone can see it: we’ve never even met steve’s parents.

the only teenage character from prior to s3 whose parents we haven’t met. we don’t even know their names.

in fact, tommy and carol even seem used to the fact that steve’s parents aren’t home. implying that they’re never there. because they don’t exist.

we’ve seen his house! and yet… empty. the room is blank. there’s nothing in there to even suggest it is steve’s house. he has no personal effects.

every single other character has identifying objects in their room. but not steve. why would the duffers do this? because they’re hinting to the audience that steve doesn’t belong there.

there’s not even any reference of steve prior to the beginning of s1. jonathan? we see flashbacks. nancy? we get mention of her playing dnd years before. all the party have pictures. we watch max’s childhood memories play out.

and yet. the closest we get to characters remembering steve in their own past, is steve from the year 1983. naturally, that isn’t the year that steve escaped the lab, but it does bring up interesting questions about steve living on the edge of hawkins population. he may have been the most popular boy around, but it seems no one truly knew him.

steve didn’t go the college.

and it’s not because he didn’t get in.

steve was getting c’s in classes nancy found difficult.

steve was in at least two different sports (basketball and swimming), he was a lifeguard and co-captain of the swimming team. that takes work and dedication, and it looks good when applying to college.

to be in all these sports, steve had to have been getting above a certain grade level. certainly high enough to get into college.

the duffers know that steve could’ve gotten into college, so why would they make it so obvious that steve is lying?

because steve didn’t apply in the first place. because as an escapee from the lab, he doesn’t even exist in the real world. he has no birth certificate, no records from being a child. attending some high school in the middle of nowhere would’ve been easy, but attending college? drawing attention to himself? steve couldn’t risk it. he knew he’d be found.

TL;DR

el and steve are purposefully paralleled to hint towards steve’s past and secret abilities. there’s a reason the duffers have never allowed prolonged interactions between el and steve, because they want to drag out the reveal as long as they can. there is so much more, but god, it would take forever.

we still don’t even know the full extent of steve’s abilities (i personally believe that steve has some variation of a charisma ability. i mean. every single character that’s disliked him has spent a very short amount of one on one time with him and immediately come around.) and we likely won’t until s5 finally comes out. and then the world will know…

[novankenn]

Saints of the Sword (v1-9)

(I am going to very BLUNT with this statement, even though it seems like it... THIS IS NOT an everyone betrays Jaune fic. There is much more going on including Jaune's own low sense of self-worth.)

It was well into the early afternoon before Jaune was rested enough for the entire company to head for the cafeteria. All wearing their gambeson, with sheathed baselard daggers, either hanging from their hip, or horizontally held in the small of their back. The expansive room grew silent upon their entrance. As a third of the group moved towards the serving line, the remainder took possession of an empty table.

A short distance away, Pyrrha frowned. Something sparked in her memory. A small, nearly imperceptible notion that she knew the young man the group was keeping surrounded. He was obviously important, considering how the group moved like an entourage protecting a VIP.

"P-Money?" Yang asked, noticing the targeted stare of the four-time champion. "Something wrong?"

"I feel like I know him." was her response.

"Who?" Nora asked, also now looking at the group who had just taken their seats a couple of tables away from the trio of young women.

"The one... they're protecting?"

"The lanky one?" Yang asked, now also taking a closer look at the indicated individual. "Now that you mention it..."

“You’re right.” Nora added.

“I think we should introduce ourselves.” Pyrrha commented, as she rose from her seat. The trio had been meeting to discuss peculiarities they had been noticing with JNPR’s team leader, Jade Hedera.

“Yeah, sounds like a good idea.” Yang agreed. “Maybe we can get some advice, they are, if you believe the stories, an accomplished group.”

“I’m coming too.” Nora added.

 /==/

Glynda Goodwitch was more than a little annoyed at this recent events. Currently standing before her, or more accurately bracing himself against her desk with both his hands as he leaned forward, was Jade Hedera, leader of JNPR. Just behind him was Pyrrha Nikos, the so-called injured party. To their right stood Cardin Winchester and Jaune Arc.

“They threatened my partner with knives!” Jade ranted. “That is unacceptable! How are they allowed to carry weapons about the school? They could have hurt her!”

“Jade it’s okay…”

“No it’s not!” Jade snapped, looking over at Pyrrha with a look that made her recoil inwardly with disgust. It was angry, yes, but there was an unpleasant undertone of possessiveness.

“We are sorry for the altercation.” Cardin offered with a genuine tone.

“You drew knives, pressed them against her neck and shoved them in her face! It’s not acceptable!” Jade raged.

“Mr Hedera, what do you expect me to do? Mr. Winchester has expressed his regrets.” Glynda asked, her voice tinted with frustration.

“Punish them!”

“As they are not students, I have no authority to do any such thing.”

“Kick them out!” Jade snapped in rebuttal.

“They are guests of the Headmaster, and here at Beacon at his request.” Glynda informed the agitated young man. “You will have to take this up with the Headmaster if you wish to pursue such actions.”

“Then… then…” Jade’s eyes narrowed as he glared at the forms of Cardin and Jaune. “I want to challenge them to a spar.”

“I have no author…”

“We accept.” Jaune spoke up for the first time. The sound of his voice causing Pyrrha to stiffen at the familiarity of it.

“Jaune?” Cardin asked. “Are you sure? I don’t think a one on one…”

“No, not a traditional spar.” Jaune cut off his companion.

“Well, it is with your rights to accept, but what are you suggesting.”

“A group exercise. Three teams versus our company.”

“A war game?” Cardin asked.

“Yes.” Jaune replied.

“I accept!” Jade snapped.

“While I can see the benefit for teams to take part in such an exercise, I must ask if you are certain about this course of action.” Glynda commented.

“We are.” Cardin spoke up on behalf of himself and Jaune.

/== Table of Contents ==/

[ominus-potato]

Genuine question, how do you make the dynamics for ships such as TrashCube, Chris x Swag, SMG34, Marware Etc

You mean like how do I see them? Ooo I love this question!!

Trashcube:

I haven’t entirely nailed down their dynamic yet. They’re old man Yaoi tho. I can see them balancing each other out. Bob helping SMG1 live on the edge a little and SMG1 encouraging Bob to do less illegal stuff.

When they started hanging out, Bob probably found SMG1 boring at first but then after living in the chaos that is his daily life, coming back to SMG1 at the end of the day to just relax and read or spend time together would be really nice.

I also love the idea that they just hang out bc they enjoy each other’s company and I could see something growing from that. We’re apparently gonna get a Medi fan episode about the two tho so we’ll see what their dynamic is really like in the show.

Chris x Swag:

Ohhhh boy I love this one!! I thought for a while about what their dynamic could be. I thought that maybe Chris is Swag’s side piece since he’s married to Sonic but after seeing Swag and Sonic’s relationship, I’ve come to accept that Swag would never leave nor cheat on Sonic. He loves him too much.

So, I’ve come to the conclusion that Chagmaster is one sided!

Chris has harboured feelings for his best friend for the past few years but since he doesn’t want to mess with Swag’s current relationship, he’s learnt to live with them and not let them show.

I think that’s why Chris is often threatening Sonic with a sniper when he’s on dates with Swag. Like a “you’d better treat him right” kinda thing. He just wants Swag to be happy, even if he’s not the one who’s able to do it.

SMG34:

I think their dynamic is pretty cut and dry. Enemies to lovers. Petty rivals with feelings. Enemies with benefits. Take your pick.

I love them as a ship and would love to see them be canon however due to the homophobic fan base I doubt we’ll get that anytime soon.

Their dynamic changes every time I write/draw them tbh. It can fit whatever narrative I need it to.

Hopelessly in love? Easy. Flirting? Alrighty. Shit talking each other and then proceeding to make out? Can do!

Depending on the story they can fit any dynamic which I do I like about them however it does make them feel very vanilla.

Marware:

They are my OTP. I love them. My faves.

Their dynamic is very much just YouTube Arc SMG34 atm but they have great potential to be a funny one sided rivalry type of thing.

Mario couldn’t really care less about how Puzzles feels about him. He just wants to watch tv, eat spaghetti and spend time with his friends.

Puzzles on the other hand is absolutely seething at the mere thought of Mario. He hates him so much. Almost a little… too much yk? 😏

I can see their dynamic shifting from what it is now to Mario just mildly annoying Puzzles and Puzzles just having to put up with it.

They’re a really funny ship to me and I love that bc that means I’m able to make jokes about them and come up with fun ideas for their relationship!

But yeah I love them.

Thise are all of my main ships. I also have others like Mar34, Mar4 and Mar3 and I’m always open to hearing new rarepairs like Bob x Shroomy (bad boy and good kid. COME ON HEAR ME OUT!)

But yeah! This is how I see the dynamics of the ships you’ve listed.

[shierak-inavva]

Feral for how many people love your art of Rogueneto. Beautiful. I’d love nothing more than marvel comics to give them a proper chance for once, comics are all about new and fresh ideas. It’s a new era, they deserve it, the fans deserve it. Everything in marvel always comes full circle so I don’t see why the harm is, look at Spiderman and MJ, divorced after how many years in 616??? Still together in other comics like Ultimate S-M and they’re BETTER for it. That’s what it’s all about.

I used to be romy but I don’t ship them anymore, too much, too long, too boring. Give them something new. I’m not even a Rogueneto shipper but they’re sweet and it’s joyful to see Rogue’s new era (with what could have been but kept getting crapped on) I know a lot of Gambit fans feel the same as Rogue fans on wanting something new and exciting like how comics used to be. Personally I jumped off the ship when KT refused to let the characters go and made them an item again & the wedding was all for shock value and meaningless imo. I miss them being fleshed out characters instead of a tunnel vision trope that’s doing them both more harm than good - I love BOTH characters, that’s why I want what’s best for them & Mags is a hottie. Let characters grow and change damn it!!!

Very glad SL is doing so well, it’s a cool comic, love the art and the validation for TS for all he’s had to suffer over it. I’m not hopeful for change but if x-office knew what was good for them they’d switch it up. If they can divorce Spider-Man and MJ… romy isn’t something to sweat. Look at Thinkfast and all the other loved ships that have been shaken up, nobody died from it, it can happen again somewhere some time once the characters grow and change and get their own arcs for a while - what comics are all about! And the new ships that are being explored!! Currently obsessed over Kwannon & Greycrow. New, exciting!! Keeping fans engaged. How it should be.

Love your art, so soft and pretty. Thank you for sharing!

first off: thank you so much!! i'm so glad you like it!!

i'm still a relative newcomer to this fandom, something i've talked about in other asks i've answered, but i've been trying to do my reading and keep up with things/get deeper into the history behind everything. reading the comics in a binge rather than waiting for issues and new runs to come out has definitely given me a lot of fatigue for rogue/gambit; it's pretty clear most writers have no idea where to go with them as a couple and it shows in how their stories are all just about the same thing over and over or else the two of them get sidelined--and then there's...whatever is going on in UXM's current issues.

i agree with you that the x-offices need to figure out that change is good; what's fascinated me so much is that rogue & magneto's breakup in legacy set up such a GOOD arc for their characters (at least very much for rogue specifically) and after a while of them being apart, to bring them together again could have been incredibly satisfying especially if it happened when rogue was leading a team, buuut unfortunately i don't work for marvel or write for the x-folks, and now rogue is married and we're all dealing with whatever this is that gail simone is doing right now. savage land's success so far has been so great--i cannot wait for the rest of that run to release!! i'm hoping that its reception helps things, but i'm really not holding my breath, alas. still, who knows what will happen! them releasing this new savage land run at all was a surprising enough development.

again, thank you so much for the praise and thanks for the ask!! hopefully we'll get some good stories from the x-offices soon for rogue and magneto, and more hopefully some good stories where they're together again 😘

[angeldrawsstuffs]

Ok call me emboldened from my last post on Ninjago and Dreamzzz and how the former’s flourishing is unfairly used to claim the latter is doing poorly (also how trying to make direct comparisons between the two is, for the most part, unfair), but I’ve really been thinking a lot more today about how a lot of the criticisms levied against Dreamzzz as proof the theme is doomed to failure (or, if not that, on the downward) are also criticisms that could EASILY be applied to early Ninjago.

Occasionally clunky dialogue and delivery? Early Ninjago was absolutely riddled with it (also in Dreamzzz’s case at least three of the five main characters’ VAs have little to no credits I could find outside of Dreamzzz- they are FRESH).

Characters retracing arcs/lessons because the writers said so? How many times did Kai learn “punch first, ask questions later” isn’t a good mentality? Or Jaya constantly flipping between being fine and healthy or on the rocks for because plot?

Sets being largely good but having some noticeable duds in the mix with objectively not the best builds, particularly in the lower price range of sets? As fun as they were as a kid, Ninjago did have its duds, like any theme.

All this to say, to add onto my earlier point: I think Dreamzzz is finding its footing and thus is going to have hiccups along the way, but, if the theme is given time, those hiccups can be fixed and polished. Ninjago’s had 14 years to buff out its dents because that’s just what happens with time, you improve. And, if Dreamzzz’s second year and season is anything to go by, it’s improving too, finding its unique identity and place among other Lego themes. Also I feel like there might be a biiiiiiit of nostalgia blindness in terms of early Ninjago and what problems it contained (I’m guilty of it too), as well as the prevalence of those issues.

Not to mention, as I said in my last post on the matter, both themes stated in VERY different eras of media consumption. Ninjago was in the tail end of the cable era, while Dreamzzz is peak streaming wars. Thusly, in the time of Ninjago’s early days (almost 14 years ago oh my GOD- /lh), the norm was a much slower forming of opinion about a given thing due to the way both shows and sets were released. Hype could be built much easier because of the slowly building anticipation for the next episode and Lego’s announcement of the new sets. But now? It’s a lot more common to form a snap judgement of a thing, oftentimes based solely on the opinions of someone else or initial impressions from a brief clip as opposed to engaging with the thing and forming your own judgement. This isn’t any one person’s fault and I’m guilty of the some thing! It’s just unfortunately the current culture around media consumption.

So that’s Angel Talks About Why Dreamzzz vs Ninjago Is An Unfair Comparison 2: Electric Boogaloo (see: Jay).

Also, before I close out: can I say how absolutely UNFAIR it was that Dreamzzz’s show premiered two weeks before Dragons Rising season 1 did? Because that was unfair as hell! Like- I know it was probably just a bad call/mistake on some Lego employee’s part, but holy hell whose idea was it to debut the show for your new theme you’ve invested four years and a LOT of money into making TWO WEEKS before the long awaited and anticipated sequel series to what one could argue is one of, if not the most beloved and recognizable Lego themes?? Dreamzzz was being (unintentionally overshadowed from that start, man- /lh /hj

Once again, none of this is in bad faith and I in no way intend to stir up issues or hurt anyone (if I did), these are my own thoughts/observations that I’m putting on my Tumblr for all to see!

[yuseirra]

Today's analysis/thoughts~~ I really should leave the story at that but the thoughts keep coming to me, here's what I thought of today!

It's the final arc, isn't it? So if the author goes: "5 chapters until the finale!" now or something - I’ll have to grab the author by the collar… because that would mean they just threw the story away.

But when you combine the chapters, they’re connecting ones that don’t make sense together, so I’m left wondering, “What is this supposed to achieve?” That’s what I’ve been thinking.

The author will handle it, of course, but if this is the end, the movie arc seems unnecessary. Even if it existed, if Hikaru’s reaction had been a little different, or Ai hadn’t told Aqua, “I’d love it if you could help me save this person together,” everything would’ve clicked into place. However, those chapters really stand out to me, and I judged them to be crucial, so I based my interpretations on them. I really like those chapters and consider them to be my favs, too...

I feel like the psychological bridge between the movie arc chapters and the current developments could actually be tied together by the two songs. They work like a sort of adhesive, making me wonder, "Oh, could this be it? Is this what it's about?" Otherwise, I’d just let the story go, thinking, “Whatever happens, happens~~”

Anyway, Ai imagining a happy little family with this person, where they’re pretty and happy…

Or, when Kamiki was in his happy times with Ai…, with a bright smile that’s identical to Ruby’s—something you’d never see now, and a smile that Aqua would never have because of his personality— smiling that brightly…

I very liked those kinds of things.

Like them holding hands or being wrapped in each other's arms… I think they had a beautiful relationship. It could have been that way if not for the terrible life situations Hikaru had to put up with.

That explains why Ai left those words behind.

And it also explains how Kamiki couldn’t give up on Ai and couldn’t bear the fact that she was gone. They did a lot in reaction to that to somehow reverse the situation from their own point of view, and in that process, they completely broke down. If this person hadn’t loved Ai so much, or if they didn’t love her at all, they wouldn’t have fallen apart like this…

Really…I'm sure they never anticipated Ai’s death, nor did they ever wish for it, so that's why when it happened, the shock was immense, and they became so desperate that they completely changed.

If they had knowingly caused this to happen, they wouldn’t have been so extreme, risking everything, pouring their entire life into risky behavior. Why would they go through all of that? They have talent, good looks, and seem to make good money, so what’s there to be unsatisfied about? If they had some idea of what might happen, they’d have gone through a process of rationalizing it. He wouldn't be all about "feeling Ai's presence" the way he is, that seems like the only thing he wants.

From their actions, you can see Kamiki hasn’t come to terms with Ai’s death at all.

He loved Ai so much, and in a world without her, he felt like he simply couldn’t go on. He just can’t break free from those feelings…

If you look at this person’s life, Ai was the only one who ever gave him real happiness, love, or cared for him in a meaningful way. And regardless of how good or bad you are as a person, when someone like that disappears from your life, no one can stay sane. The narrative structure really supports this well. Ai had the president and his wife, her B-Komachi team members(although it wasn't completely friendly), and eventually her children. There were at least people she could share affection with, however small that might’ve been. Even toward her fans, Ai expressed love in her own way. But… if you look at Kamiki’s portrayal, he had none of that, and the relationships he did have were either destructive, indifferent to his situation, or not bad but still not dependable. So, even if Kamiki’s base personality was really good (actually, it's because he had such a good nature that he could smile and endure as long as Ai was there with him, even if she was the only one. He would have recovered; he could have lived if Ai existed. Looking at it, Ai really was that kind of person for him. Despite that, Kamiki never clung so unhealthily to her. It’s only after her death that he lost his mind. When she left, he let her go, and later tried to send her flowers with a smile. If he had been obsessed with her—most people would have been to some degree—then the songs wouldn’t have come out this way, and Ai wouldn’t have left behind so much regret about him. Ai was a character who had the insight to recognize someone’s true character. That’s why I believe Kamiki really was a good person. It’s rare to find someone like that…).

Anyway, I don’t think I can discard the reactions from the movie arc… Since many aspects of Kamiki's emotional state and why he acted the way he did can be derived in those chapters. I feel what he had with Ai was indeed genuine.

When you combine them with the songs, everything meets in the middle and harmonizes perfectly.

The movie arc’s depiction (where they really did love each other and had a good relationship) and the current chapters (where the character has completely lost his mind)

and the songs (something had an influence on Kamiki while he was in a desperate, unstable mental state, wanting to meet Ai again after her death)

—when you put those together, it makes sense.

If you just look at only the movie arc and the current chapters, there’s a gap in between.

Really, this manga…

It’s strangely keeping so many things hidden. If Kamiki were the final boss or the true villain, they wouldn’t handle it like this. I don’t think he can be the final boss or the true villain, anyway… The author will figure it out. But if they were going in that direction, directing it this way would backfire. If Kamiki had done all these bad things, they should show everything and make us cheer for Aqua. But I can’t bring myself to think Aqua’s in the right. He just seems foolish, and it’s frustrating to watch him. He’s not cool at all. It’s annoying. How can he not understand his mother’s heart? He doesn’t listen. He’s stubborn.

Kamiki's a depressed person who’s suffered too much, gone mad, and had no one to help him…

In the song "Fatal,"

“How many times have I wished for it? For a hand to soothe the festering wounds in my heart” < doesn’t a lyric like that come up?

Haha, isn’t this exactly Kamiki? It makes sense that he’d miss Ai so dearly. How would he NOT long for her? She’s gone!! He has no one!!! He believes she died because of him. That’s why he’s gone insane!!!

His own son is trying to kill him, self-harming, drowning him… If he dies, then seriously, what was this person’s life even for? I don’t feel sorry for Aqua. He’s not cool. No one ever wanted him to die, not even Kamiki, who was trying to send him away. Aqua is such a fool!! And anyway, he’s not going to die, is he? So it doesn’t even matter. Saltwater will only make his wounds worse, that idiot. I don’t feel sorry for him at all. He stabbed himself! (I’m so mad). No, I care for Aqua, but the current situation frustrates me~~~~~ why is the story making me feel this way about the main character? And it's not like I'm a person who can't read between the lines. I think A LOT. and I think that's why I've been suffering from reading this piece, UGH.

Honestly, Hikaru’s character analysis can be summed up in just a few words if you look at it simply:

A guy who went insane because he missed Ai too much. This is basically the summary, and I don’t think this will change. After all, the songs are about that—those are the parts of the story that have already been concluded, fully complete.

But when you delve into the details, there are contradictions, lots of unanswered questions, and things don’t seem to fit together. It’s confusing.

However, it doesn’t seem like his character has actually changed that much either. I feel like this was somewhat expected. I just didn’t anticipate the extent of how far he’d gone off the deep end. It was always about the extent for me.

But, when you think about it…

If Hikaru hadn’t really intended to harm Ruby, then Aqua’s actions would have looked completely foolish, so perpaps it was inevitable that something would show he had truly gone mad.

Aqua was trying to avenge Ai by going after this man, but when you think about it, this man really was the one who loved Ai more than anyone else in the world, wasn’t he? They were mutual—both loved each other deeply, and they cared for one another. Kamiki was genuinely a good person, but because of Ai’s death, he broke down because he missed her too much.

So, if Aqua wants to kill him and get revenge for Ai, there’s actually not much justification for it. The address he gave? Honestly, I think that was completely done out of good intentions. Given how he was described as noble, he probably wasn’t such a strange guy up until that point. Considering the fact that Ai and he were mutual, and Ai wants to save him, I think it’s highly likely that he wasn’t guilty of anything major, at least when it came to things involving Ai.

Therefore, if Aqua really planned to die together with him for the sake of revenge or tried to kill him, it'd have just resulted to Aqua just having made a huge mistake. (I mean, in the movie arc, Ruby’s understanding of her mom grew, but Aqua seems like he doesn’t even understand his mom and, despite playing the role of his dad, doesn’t understand him either. Is this because there’s some hidden backstory where he knows his dad’s true nature? What’s going on? Is this because Hikaru really did target Ai on purpose and try to kill her? But if that’s the case!!! If Aqua wanted to kill him over Ai, we’d hear something about Ai, wouldn’t we? He’s only talking about Ruby. In their conversations, it’s Kamiki who brings up Ai directly… even when he’s sinking into the sea he’s thinking he wants to feel Ai’s presence forever. From what I see, aside from asking Ryosuke to deliver flowers, I don’t think he did anything wrong concerning Ai. Maybe he just wanted to deliver flowers, but everything spiraled out of control, driving him insane.)

It all happened by chance. If this guy hadn’t gone insane to the extent of targeting Ruby, then Aqua completely messed up this time, and Aqua is lucky that Hikaru turned out to be such a strange person.

Honestly, this whole development is frustrating.

I can’t even root for Aqua right now, and it just leaves me feeling conflicted. And isn’t Aqua the protagonist? But this whole revenge thing—I'm not even sure if the basic premise is solid. I used to like Aqua, but now I’m left confused—did he really do the right thing? Has anything really been resolved? I don’t know.

This is nothing like a satisfying, cathartic revenge. I’m not even sure if he truly protected Ruby. I mean, sure, maybe he did? But this resolution isn’t good for Ruby either. I don’t think this aligns with what Ai wanted or what Ruby wanted.

Even the dramatic scene of Aqua falling into the water—he’s doing the exact opposite of what Ai wanted, saying, "My mission wasn’t about revenge." That’s what makes me mad. What’s he doing? He said he’d grant Ai’s wish, right? Well, then what he’s doing now is not that!! What would’ve happened if his dad wasn’t as crazy as he thought?

So, plot-wise, even though this direction might fit with Aqua being the protagonist,

I still don’t understand what any of this is supposed to be… Two people who lost Ai and fell apart are now trying to kill each other. It’s frustrating. This doesn’t feel right. It’s like there’s some other culprit who caused all this, but instead, it’s just these two broken people destroying each other.

This isn’t the end of the story, no way. I’m not worried at all, the plot is too weak for that to happen.

I’m not even a bit concerned about Aqua’s life; it wasn’t a wise choice he made to begin with.

Maybe Taiki will come and pull him out of the water, take him to Kana’s concert in his car.

And as for Kamiki… if Ai’s wish holds any meaning, maybe he has a chance for redemption.

Honestly, if he’s saved somehow, that would be something worth watching. The fact that we don’t know anything concrete yet suggests that his thoughts and words may be insane, but his actions might not have amounted to much at all (yeah...I also think that's really low chance). Still, I don’t expect much—I just hope there’s a reason behind why this character’s life was written to be so miserable.

I have some idea of how the manga might progress overall, but as I’m reading it chapter by chapter, I can’t help but get caught up and swayed by everything happening in it… I should probably just read on and accept whatever comes. As long as Kamiki doesn’t have hundreds of hidden corpses somewhere (because then the genre really would take a turn… lol), I think it’ll be fine. That would be so freaky and scary and ridiculous and it'd make me go what is this manga even??? Hope that won't happen because Ai, really did love this man with all her heart. And I think he tried...to do his best for her in his own way but somehow that made him turn this way... hope that's handled as something tragic and melancholic, not just.. some disastrous, freaky, undesirable mess.. it wouldn't contribute to the story in any way.