#and then has a redemption moment where he writes a note to her saying ‘it wasn’t your fault’ or something

[adyophene]

lucifer x husk is something i never knew i needed and as a multishipper im screaming

literally. king of hell x some alcoholic furry guy

i love them i need to know how they wouldve met, fallen for each other and started dating. and how much thatd piss alastor off

Ooh I am so happy other people are enjoying this pair as much as I am! I've gotten a few asks about my headcanons for them, and I am happy to blab on and on. Fair warning. This is gunna be a long and rambling essay.

I'm gunna put it all under a readmore, just cause I want to insert the art I've done of them so far, since I've been half-heartedly trying to tell a visual story through the doodles.

Okay. On we go!

How they met;

We did see them technically meet in the show, where they shared their singular canon piece of dialogue, which was just Husk saying 'hey'. And then in the finale where we see a literal split second moment of Lucifer holding Husk's arm.

(also seeing the sweet looks huskerdust is giving each other here just makes me feel so delulu for writing this all, but crackships are silly by definition, so lets get back to the lucihusk) For me, what I imagined, is after the Hotel is finished its rebuilding, that is when Husk and Lucifer finally actually meet in a proper manner. I think Lucifer would be trying to make a good impression on all Charlie's friends at this point, endeared to all of them from their actions during the finale. Unfortunately, I think he is also the King of Bad First Impressions.

[Note. I think at this point Lucifer wouldn't even remember Husk's name quite yet. I think he would call him 'Keekee' ( by accident) or 'Dusk' (confidently incorrect) or just be like "Hey!.... Uh... You?" until Charlie or Vaggie finally corrected him. ]

Husk, on the other hand, I feel like maybe wouldn't gel with Lucifer right away. Wouldn't hate him, but also maybe not be enamored with him right away. Same as Lucifer, maybe he would have sweetened on him a bit through the hotel's rebuilding, but I think they'd start out at very neutral feelings. Maybe a vague sense of 'He's okay, but I don't know if we will really get along.'

Despite this, Lucifer is persistent, and he's going to be everyone's (except maybe Al, unless they start getting along by s2) buddy. He'd start hanging around the bar and participate in the redemption exercises.

Now, we know Lucifer struggles with depression, and I think he would be trying real hard to mask anything going on during this time. They defeated Adam! They rebuilt the Hotel! He believes in Charlie's dream, and he's more involved with her life and other people than he has been for years.

His only issue being Husk sees right through it, both because Husk is perceptive, but also because even the King of Hell can't help but have a lonely night or two at the bar where he ends up venting about his divorce and subsequent lingering loneliness.

[snapcube ref aside, )I really do think Husk would start to feel more positively toward Lucifer after Luci would drop the act somewhat. That they could bond over feeling both at their lowest of lows, while also being to admit that things seem to be getting better!

This would be about the point that I imagine Lucifer developing more romantic feelings! Husk would be a bit less prickly, and Luci would just absolutely eat up any and all positive interactions they'd have. I like to picture a lot of little shows of care at the this point, like Husk memorizing what Lucifer likes and even making up 'fun' drinks just to try and cheer the guy up. And Lucifer would fun a fun game in trying to get the grumpy cat to smile, and just, lighting up himself any time he was successful.

And that culminating into the two of them making each other laugh, with Alastor being an easy butt of the jokes, and a good way for Husk, himself, to finally get a chance to vent. I think Lucifer would be one of the only 'safe' options for Husk to do that with, in just so far as Al can't really threaten Lucifer, and Lucifer already sees Al as a bit of a manipulative bastard.

Falling for each other; At this point, Lucifer would start being a bit more caring toward Husk, though with that wonderful, oblivious flair of his. I don't think Lucifer himself would realize he'd have a crush up until he'd start feeling protective or jealous over Husk, and it would really throw him for a loop at first.

Because fake dating is one of my all-time favorite tropes, I have always had a idea for a fanfic (or comic) that I haven't gotten around to yet, based around Lilith coming back, and Lucifer panickily asking Husk to pretend to be his boyfriend, so he can appear well adjusted/completely over her. Of course the whole thing would backfire, as Lilith would see through it (as Lucifer wouldn't be as good of an actor as he'd think), and that Husk would end up kind of feeling hurt by the whole thing.

Husk, who'd go along with the plot with an eyeroll, would find himself seizing up through the whole fake date/encounter. Would find weird, sudden emotions bubbling up and absolutely hating it.

I don't think that man would think about the class difference between him and Lucifer up until someone would say something about it, maybe Lucifer himself trying to rationalize the (at this time still fake) relationship to Lilith. Now, Husk feels uneasy about the whole thing and ends up drinking heavily the whole night so he doesn't have to think about feelings. (Blitz and Stolas who? Ahaha. fuck.) Meanwhile, while the date would be fake, I think Lucifer would really rather like having Husk on his arm and feeling like he'd have a love-life again, while also not really getting why Husk's mood would be getting worse throughout the night. I think they'd still end up on good terms, but both of them would have their feelings in a jumble, and Husk would not like it. (he thinks he's lost the ability to love, after all)

I think somewhere at this point, as they are starting to develop feelings for one another, is when Lucifer finally starts really realizing how tied to Alastor Husk is, and he starts to make it everyone's problem. I do think Al and Lucifer would stay snarky at each other this whole time, but that it'd only get worse, as Al would poke back since he'd find Lu's over reactions funny.

I also think Al would be maybe the last person to realize anything romantic would be brewing between Lucifer and Husk, and he'd just think it'd be a purely platonic thing.

Beyond just bitching about Alastor, Lucifer would really be ramping up his attention towards Husk too. Fully in that 'puppylove/crush' stage, and trying his darndest to make Husk feel good and special. Husk would be resistant to it all, thinking it would just be Lucifer rebounding hard, and not wanting to get wrapped up in Morningstar family drama when he could happily (miserably) keep his head down and just keep drinking the days away.

But then Lucifer would find out about Husk's love of stage magic, and his history as a performer, and it'd be all over for the catman. It would become Luci's new pet project to rope Husk into some joyful self-expression, and after a song and dance number's worth of convincing, Husk would start to come around. I have to post all these images now cause- I drew them with the intention of mimicking a musical number! Husk starting off as a bit resistant before jumping in whole heartedly, and Lucifer overexcitedly dragging him along throughout the music number, hyping him up and just all around being smitten.

And this is where Husk would start really falling. Getting swept up in indulging his favorite, least destructive hobby, and having someone who absolutely loves it to bond with. Especially when it would be over. When they would just settle down and talk, and laugh, and bond over what they love about performing. The spectacle, the audience, the love of the craft. Its about the comradery!!!

@belladonazeppole wrote a wonderful series of fanfics based off these pictures, as well as the songs from 'The Greatest Showman' that really fit the ship! I would be remiss to not mention them here, because Bella and their fics are just wonderful!

How they started dating;

Now. Don't think just cause they both caught feelings for each other, that they'd immediately admit to it. No. I think both of them would drag their heels. I don't think Husk would admit to them at all, without some outside force effecting it. I think he'd stubbornly try to ignore the crush or drink it away, rather than let his heart become vulnerable to anymore damage.

Meanwhile, Lucifer would be struggling between his feelings for Husk and Lilith. (In the actual canon, I do think they might try to rekindle things, depending on what kind of person Lilith turns out to be, but I digress.) Part of him would be so swept up in a giddy kind of excitement, while the other would be set firmly in the camp of 'this is a bad idea, this won't work out, just look at what happened to your last relationship'. It wouldn't stop him from being outwardly more and more affectionate, but it would be weighing on him.

I do think Lucifer would end up being the one who would be thinking; "What am I doing. He'd never like me back." While Husk would be just sitting there (echoing what was said in the ask- sorry I went all wild and wrote this much about the ship dear god)- "I'm just some fucking furry alcoholic, what the fuck would the king of hell see in me??? Am I delusional? What the fuck is going on??" And I feel like this stage would go on for MONTHS and drive everyone else nuts. It would be clear to everyone (except Alastor, who again, would be just this meme

Though that wouldn't stop him from getting a little pissy about it) And then it would all come to a head during something benign, like a board game night. There would be flirting, there would be jealousy, there would be arguing, and then finally, loudly and with a lot of feeling, Lucifer would shout his way through asking Husk out on a date. A real Date. A capital 'D' date out on the town, dressed to the nines and a real good time. The board would be knocked over in the fray, game pieces raining down upon them while Husk would just stare blank faced, trying to process what just happened. An awkward half-minute would pass before he'd finally, trying to play it cool, shrug out a 'sure'.

How much it'd piss Alastor off;

In the aftermath, a radio static would just lowly grate everyone's ears as Alastor would be slowly coming to terms on how just annoying it would be to have his friend (/Unhealthy co-dependent pet friend possession??) romantically involved (ew) with the King of Hell (double ew)??? Then, either it would be something light hearted like 'he keeps trying to break them up but failing cause he hates interacting with romance' or a darker route where 'he keeps trying to manipulate them into breaking up by preying on all their worst insecurities in the relationship'.

And that, my friend, is all I have in mind so far for this delusional crackship au! There is more I could flesh out, of course, like Angel's role as a friend or potential third in the relationship, or what I imagine as Husk becoming like a stepdad to Charlie, but I've typed enough for the whole month. Hope any of that was coherent! I did not bother to edit or proof read it. Just pure stream of consciousness.

[harmonized-disarray]

the things im reading here are really saddening.. this week's episode was a really good one, it finally unraveled the mystery surrounding one of the main characters, and also explained how we got to where we are now. It was fun, it was emotional and it was intense. as well as a declaration of intentions for the characters.

agatha and billy are now standing on equal ground. they're seeing each other face to face (mostly. because there's still more agatha backstory to discover) in the sense that the sigil is broken, the jig is up, and even though at this point they both have issues with each other, they know they still have to work together to get through the road. It's a mutually beneficial treuce.

This happening now is necessary to lay the groundwork for their actual development. Agatha being visibly pissed at him but still telling him he is a witch?? And a survivor?? That's such an interesting fucking moment!!! It's an interesting dynamic and it's so well done!!

It's episode 6! Which means there are still three whole episodes left. Have you people not watched the mid season trailer? (If you actually haven't I won't say anything specific but read at your own risk) the show is still about agatha. It's been about agatha (all along [i couldn't resist.]) Come on now, haven't you all watched wandavision either? It's the same people doing this show and the structure is pretty similar. Have a little faith.

I get wanting to see your favorite characters and their every interaction but that's actually not what the show is about. Is Rio a crucial character of this story and her relationship with agatha a huge deal on this show? Of course. But so is Billy. That's why we needed this episode, because he is important to the story and to agatha herself.

I don't know. To me it's just pretty obvious that the whole thing with Agatha and her past is going to be the big BIG emotional climax because it is the big BIG foundation that makes Agatha, Agatha. It's quite literally the point. To know how Agatha got here, what she wants, what she's willing to give up, to do, in order to get it. Whether she can actually be good or not. Whether this is a redemption story or not. Whether she changes, if the road changes her this time. Whether she forgives Rio or not. Hell, even if she lives or dies. This is what the show is about. Every episode has shown us a different part of Agatha up until now, even this one. And so, the remaining episodes will be the same. They'll be the answer, just like this episode was the answer to Billy's questions (who is, again, crucial to the story, Agatha as a character and a part of the coven). And I believe that will include the coven's history, rio, nicholas, and of course Agatha.

[Also, i find being upset about the heart a little silly. The note had a black heart that symbolized Billy because due to the sigil, he couldn't say his name to the others, Lilia could not write a name she couldn't know or remember. To AGATHA (and the viewers) the black heart symbolized Rio, because that's what black hearts remind her of. That's why she had such a visceral reaction to it, why she hid it from 'teen' and refused to accept it. BOTH things are true and that's fine. It's good writing because it made sense back in episode 2. It makes sense now in episode 6. And it was never an actual lie.]

[sir-adamus]

this isn't directed at anyone specifically, as this is a sentiment i've seen a lot, but i think some people were expecting some kind of catharsis in regards to Neo being punished or just straight up dying in the volume 9 finale because they don't personally like and are therefore dismissive of the character; and then making claims that it was bad writing that she didn't get the shit kicked out of her and was then killed, but instead getting to bow out gracefully and taking the first step to improve on herself and find herself again (which, i have to say, is not a redemption, the claims of 'bad writing' always paint it as such which is weird to me - it's like, the start, at best)

and i've been seeing this sentiment for months and, from the perspective of someone who never really had an issue with the character and liked the way she was handled, every time i've always had the same question of like, is it bad? or do you just not like it? cos let's be real that's been a major, major problem in this fandom for years, and even the people who complain about it coming from the loud vocal minority are often guilty of similar behaviour, just in more 'acceptable' ways

there was this really good post i reblogged the other day, which i'll link here, which basically covers my general feelings on this in regards to media in general, but in specific regard to the show;

a) the main characters' priorities have never been on personal payback, and neither has the show's (which it makes a point with several times, with Yang and Blake giving Adam multiple opportunities to stop and just leave as just an example, which he doesn't take), so there's no reason for them to go after Neo when she's no longer a threat

b) by the time WBY would've had the opportunity to 'punish' Neo for everything she did, Neo was possessed, and in the aftermath of that, was no longer hostile to them because of the events leading up to her getting possessed in the first place

RWB/Y is a show with lots of thematic resonance, we see parallels and layers and one of the major themes in the show is grief, and how you handle it; in the Ever After, Neo serves as a microcosm of Salem - she lost the one positive (though ultimately co-dependent and not particularly healthy) relationship she had after a horrible childhood of isolation and instead of coming to terms with her grief, she dedicates herself to revenge (which was her characterisation click moment when she returned in volume 6, as that return actually gave her motivations and a goal, versus how she was in volumes 2 and 3, where she was just kinda there and didn't have all that much to her) and it consumes her, so when she actually does get that revenge she wanted, instead of there being any kind of catharsis, she's just left hollow and empty because she has nothing left, which leaves her open to getting possessed by the Cat

but after being freed from possession, Neo has no reason to keep fighting because of that prior realisation, and comes to the conclusion that she needs to move on, with the best opportunity to do so being letting the Tree help her. and this is what loops back to the post i linked; Neo is given the option to stop and change and she takes it

does it come too late? sure - but by the same note, better late than never. besides, the Ever After is a fairytale world where the normal rules don't apply, so 'late' isn't as damning as it would've been

[oneatlatime]

A Precariously Stacked Pile of Random Season 2 Thoughts

These are notes I took as I watched the season. Usually after I’d already posted about the episode in question, and I thought of something I would have added to the post. Rather than edit them into my posts, I’m rounding them up and posting them all at once. As such, they are vaguely chronological. Unfortunately, because I made the notes legible to me and me only, I didn't bother to write down what episode I was referring to. I've also added some notes in as I was editing these notes. So this is also a bit of a scavenger hunt. Enjoy!

Iroh poisoning himself: dumbass moment or 5D chess?

My autocorrect corrects “Sokka” to Sock, and “Sokka’s” to socks. This causes double takes when editing.

Badgermoles have excellent eyeliner. Is that where the Kyoshi Warriors get their jaw dropping cat eye?

Why is Ty Lee spelled Ty Lee and not Tai Li? Why is Dai Li spelled Dai Li and not Dy Lee?

Sometimes Sokka makes me think of Mulan. Am I crazy?

Are the swampbenders’ moves based on a real martial art style too?

Why didn’t Aang use his swamp sense to locate Appa post-appanapping?

Where did Toph, who spent her whole life as a prisoner of her parents’ house and a moonlighting WWE wrestler until Team Avatar busted her out, get such emotional intelligence?

Why did Zuko’s dad put forward the plan to disinherit Iron in favour of him less than 24 hours after Lu Ten’s death? Why did he think that moving quickly was the right approach? Does the Fire Nation not do grieving periods? In what world was 'strike while the iron is hot' the correct course of action here?

Looking back, I’m amazed that season 2 didn’t end in Zuko’s redemption. I didn’t much like Zuko Alone, but I was sure that a season that included that much set up for a Zuko redemption arc would prioritise finishing that arc.

I haven’t even met this Firelord guy yet, but I am peeved that that twerp has a name as cool as Ozai.

Why haven't I met that Firelord guy yet?

I really thought that the older brother character in Zuko Alone would make an appearance later on in the season, giving Zuko a chance to flex some newly acquired morals. But the parallel to Lu Ten and the general message about the evils of war lands better if we never hear of him again.

Zuko in the first half of season 2 had me so annoyed that I was incredibly uncharitable to him in my write ups. Reading through some of the stuff I wrote while watching episodes, I kind of wince now. Zuko in the second half of the season was much less annoying. Which I feel bad for saying, because he’s clearly not in a good place in the second half of the season.

I would love to know why the writers decided to have Toph and Iroh meet in the wilderness. I think it’s a good choice, but I want to know how they came up with it, and why those characters? Is there anything about Toph (especially at that point, when we’ve known her for 1 episode) that suggests that she and Iroh should meet? Or would get along if they did?

Zuko has so many rock bottom fake outs this season: Zuko Alone? Nope, he gets worse in The Chase. The Chase? Nope, he gets worse in Bitter Work. Bitter Work? Nope, he gets worse in the finale.

I’m still peeved that Azula won a 6 on 1 showdown. Sorry, but that breaks immersion.

I bet the Blue Spirit could make lightning.

If water is the element of change, why does the Northern Water Tribe have such strictly defined traditions? I get that it's literally the element of change, in that water can exist in different physical states, but shouldn't the metaphorical interpretation also be true?

I like that Toph can think like an Airbender sooner than Aang can think like an earthbender.

What is Sokka’s boomerang made of? Is it metal? Because if it’s metal, does that mean that there’s a blacksmith somewhere in the South Pole? With a forge?

I still can’t get over how dumb the whole eclipse plot was.

Suki is TINY!!!

I mocked this guy’s 80s aerobics video leotard aesthetic, and I stand by that mockery, because this guy is ugly. Those colours are awful. But do you know who else has those colours?

Jet this season fascinates me. He’s positioned as genuinely repentant and legitimately seeking a second chance and I don’t believe him for one minute. Why don’t I believe him? This show has a theme of learning from mistakes and doing better, so shouldn’t Jet be a perfect fit for this show’s themes? I should be primed to believe him. And yet I don’t.

I have to applaud Iron’s enthusiasm for their new life in Ba Sing Se. A lot of that cheer (at least before the tea shop) is put on for Zuko’s sake. I don’t know where Iroh gets the energy to keep trying with Zuko after years of minimal results, but I’m glad he does.

I think Aang and Ty Lee should hang out. They have similar circus energy. Or maybe it’s that they’re the only two characters in the show so far who are remotely playful.

Aang = surface silliness, core of calm. Not that the silliness doesn't run deep, but he seems to have an untouchable anchor of calm deep within that rarely gets disturbed. Gyatso raised him well.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~Poetry bouncer ~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

I need next season to have more Appa & Mono subplots à la their escapades in The Swamp. Not à la Momo’s Tale.

Tales of Ba Sing Se definitive ranking: Momo Aang Sokka Zuko Iroh Katara & Toph

I love that Momo still sleeps in the Momo bag from The Blind Bandit

Are Suki and her warriors sitting in the middle of some Earth Kingdom forest in their underwear?

So are Smellerbee and Longshot just done? Will they be back in season 3? What happens to their life now? They are known associates of an enemy of the state who was just executed. It doesn't look good.

Everyone on this show has big ears. Zuko has the smallest ears simply because he has the least amount of ears remaining. But everyone else? Big ears.

Can I have more Gyatso? I forgot how cool he was. More Guru too please.

Hakodilf.

Everyone in the SWT has such wonderfully fluffy hair.

I like Sokka’s boots. Southern Water Tribe boots in general.

If this is the grand total of the SWT, I have some bad news about population dynamics.

Is there a proper naval term for what the SWT are doing? They’re a stealth strike force that seems to be going after individual enemy ships, using both direct and indirect tactics. Not pirates, because as far as we know they aren't going for FN supplies. They're doing what submarines do, but above water. There’s got to be a proper name for that.

Is there a raft of FN corpses chilling in the waters in front of the NWT's big wall?

I saw ATLA described as a show where all the characters are Asian-inspired people of colour, but isn’t Suki a blue-eyed redhead?

I had no idea that you could decline an Agni Kai. Zuko should have done that.

Why are the Dai Li so in love with Azula? I get that they're pissed with Long Feng for getting arrested, but wouldn't the logical choice be to direct their loyalties to the Earth King rather than a wildcard princess? I'm not going to pretend for a minute that the Dai Li are loyal to the Earth Kingdom or to Ba Sing Se, but the Earth King is a known quantity. Seems to me that it would be easier for them to re-puppetify him, rather than a FN princess.

Katara & Zuko bonding over their missing mothers is the same “makes sense until you think about it for five seconds” as Song & Zuko bonding over losing their fathers to war. Technically the same, sort of, on paper, but actually kind of rude to equate them once you know the full story. Same with the parallel between Lu Ten and the older brother in Zuko Alone. The proper dead mom parallel is Katara and Jet. Although Katara doesn’t object to the Zuko comparison, so I have no grounds to do so.

I’m really glad that Katara didn’t remove Zuko’s scar with her spirit oasis water. Both because she kind of really needed that water, but also because one thing this show has always done right is permanence. No quick fixes, no fake outs, no take backs. Lu Ten is dead, and he stays that way. Princess Yue is the moon, and she stays that way. Half a dozen people’s moms are dead, and they stay that way. Aang is the last Airbender, and he stays that way. Zuko is scarred, and he stays that way. There are no hand waves, no easy fixes. All the characters can do is learn to live with it, and go forward. And I’m grateful the show is like that, because that permanence, as well as being a good lesson to learn, functions as a reward for audience investment.

Aang did come to a crossroads of destiny in the finale, chose his duties to the world over his friends, and got aggressively slapped down for it. I have a feeling that he’ll take the wrong lesson from that, since he was already inclined to shun that path.

Overall Season 1 was prettier.

Ty Lee was the cause of more than one Beat Up Sokka Quota fulfillment this season. Make of that what you will.

Will Zuko & Azula spend season 3 bouncing between the FN and Ba Sing Se? They could be heavily involved with establishing the FN governance over Ba Sing Se, since the city is already inclined towards royalty.

Favourite episode this season? The Guru. The Blind Bandit and The Swamp are tied for second place.

[samantha-and-her-chaotic-desires]

My perspective on Alastor from Hazbin Hotel, and my ideas on how else to present him: writing AND art.

Hi guys! As y'all know, Alastor is my favorite Hazbin Hotel character. He's one of the main focuses in most of my fanfics, series, side blogs, art, etc. etc.. However, there's a certain way I write/draw/see him. This is gonna be rambly so beware!! <3 (side note: I still don't support Vivziepop's actions xx)

Under the cut I'll be giving personal portrayal, critiques, gripes, issues, compliments, and even rewrites/"redesigns". I do NOT belong Hazbin Hotel nor Alastor (created by Vivziepop). This is an interpretation of what has been produced, how I look at it, and what I can do to rewrite. I am NOT fixing anything, so please do not say that I am.

DISCLAIMER: DO NOT COME AND HARASS ME. This is MY personal interpretation of him. I have issues with Hazbin Hotel despite still being a fan, and I will address them. Any future anon hate will result in me immediately turning off anon, or the inbox itself: that is a PRIVILEGE, NOT A RIGHT.

also this might be messy and all over the place, but bare with me :) The writing portion is in more so personal portrayal rather than the redesign, so heads up!

Without further adieu, let's get into it! :D

1) Personal Portrayal:

For the longest time, I've pictured Al as the "laughing on the outside, crying on the inside" type guy. This was in the glory days of the pilot. I remember the winters where I would read fanfic and draw fanart of any potential Alastor angst. Along with this, I would slowly have him go through character development. The Hazbin pilot was a complete eye opener for creativity, and a break for me. Of course the deer overlord caught my eye, and he led me to where I am today.

To me, he is complex: not revealing motives at first, but slowly guiding us into false hope, then a betrayal. Possible redemption, but he wouldn't be a goody two-shoes after it. He'd still be a dick, he'd still make mistakes, but he's slightly softer than before. Considerate might be a stretch, but it's a start that he is working on...albeit begrudgingly. He grows to love the Hazbins, then after a while supports the hotel.

Him and Husk are more rivals/buddies than what the show portrays. Yes they bicker, but it's lighthearted instead of harmful. There would be moments where hurtful things were said/done, but after reconciliation and consequences of actions, things would get better. Yet with Husk, Alastor is soft: platonically, as I still interpret him as aro-ace. Even during shitty days//arguments, there would still be a time where they could have a drink together, play poker/whatever card game, laugh their asses off, and enjoy the company.

Nifty and Alastor would be a father/daughter duo. He took her under his wing after a mishap, and she's been loyal to him since. He cares for her and is the only one out of two he allows himself to be soft with at first. (The second would be Husk). She cleans up after Alastor's mess when need be, and it never goes unappreciated. He helps her clean some days, and it could serve as a bonding moment. Jazz music in the background, cracking jokes, and things just feeling homey.

Alastor would break the smile when comfortable: it takes a while as someone who would mask emotions, but when he occurs, he feels lighter afterwards. Crying is another story: that'll take a longer time for him to overcome. He bottles it up until it unleashes at the wrong person. After some talking it out with Charlie, he finally lets go. This all happens very slowly, not in the same episode.

He's still a cannibalistic serial killer: he will have to own up to his sins. There's no glorifying them or babying him, he's a grown ass man that needs to own up for his actions. When he does, he probably won't be redeemed for a long while. That's okay though: he needs the development.

Also haha my sona is adopted by Alastor haha /hj (but seriously, he has become one of the closest comfort characters mainly due to my own portrayal. It's fiction after all! Everyone interprets things differently!) Now, moving onto the next topic.

2) The Pilot's Alastor:

My opinion: the pilot is better than the show. Sure I still like the show, but the pilot has more charm to it, y'know?

Ed Bosco's voice for Alastor in the pilot was perfect. It was devious, menacing, dare I even say intimidating. It accommodated the radio effect well, cutting in and out. It had a drawl, yet somewhat of a light tone in certain words. He felt like a radio host that happened to be a serial killer. The laugh. The smugness. It was just amazing. We didn't know anything about him, aside from the story Vaggie told. His motive was unknown (and still kinda is). But it showed us, not told us. It was solid and quite frankly, well done.

Black Gryph0n's singing voice for him was phenomenal! It was and still is one of my favorite voices of all time. It screamed 1920s and 30s. It was witty, smooth, yet eccentric and almost booming. Insane, Inside of Every Demon Is A Lost Cause, Heaven 2 Hell, Thank You and Goodnight: those were songs I had looped for months, even years. Inside Of Every Demon Is A Lost Cause was my alarm for a whole year, then Insane.

Design wise: too red. I still love him, but he's too red. The darker shades of brown/maroon on his lapel and tie were helpful though. Somewhat. Still, he blends into the setting of Hell itself: it's not as intense in the pilot, if I can remember correctly: it was still too much, but it wasn't an eye sore to me. Continuing, I never understood the hair (and it was a struggle to draw the first time around) but I liked the ears. It was overall a cute factor to a menacing character.

We knew from streams and old pieces of work that Alastor was a momma's boy, he's mixe Creole, he's aro-ace (while asexual in canon, I still see him as aro-ace), he has a dislike for dogs, the list goes on. In the pilot days, those were the only notes of info we had, and the fans made our own spin out of it. It was a fun time, reading fanfics during the winter while it snowed. I had popcorn and my iPad out to draw, and I was simply just...enjoying the content.

Moving onto the actual, set-in-stone Alastor.

3) The Show's Alastor:

Amir Talai's voice, while pleasant, is just...lacking something. I commend his work and still think he's awesome at what he does, don't get me wrong! But the way Alastor is presented just lacks what Pilot!Alastor had. While Pilot!Alastor was mysterious and menacing voice-wise, Show!Alastor feels more mischievous and playful, more than anything. An anti-hero instead of an opposing force, per say. It's not that I have a problem with it: it just doesn't fit with what his character is supposed to be. A deeper voice does him justice.

The design, although barely changing, is still too red. Nothing against it, but I have a slight gripe with the white border of the lapel. It feels out of place, plus a frustration to remember when I'm drawing. Same thing with the monocle, but the monocle is bearable.

Alastor's writing in the show is.....I dunno how to put it. Don't get me wrong: I loved when he has screentime! It would've been completely fine...but he's supposed to be mysterious. He was too open, too pushy, and it felt like it was shoved in our faces constantly. "hAhA lOoK aT tHiS sCaWy OvErLoRd OvEr HeRe DoN't YoU sEe HiM hAhA lOoK sEe?" to put it as nicely as possible. It just feels like his potential was butchered.

Him having a feud with Vox? Still clever! Video killed the radio star after all! While Stayed Gone is one of, if not my favorite Hazbin song, it could've had more potential. More banter, more singing than "rapping"/talking (I'm not quite sure if him and Alastor's talking was rapping, but eh, who knows).

His and Lucifer's beef is entertaining but unnecessary. What was the reason? Just for shits and giggles? It might have been, but it could've been done better in a filler episode. The way the banter was and how Lucifer didn't kick Alastor's ass, despite being the literal King of Hell AND the Devil, he didn't do shit. Lucifer could've smited him in an instant, yet he didn't. Because he's a soft uwu baby. /s Though we're talking about Alastor, not Luci.

Adding on, when the scene of him and Husk came to light, I was left conflicted. We're supposed to fear him, yeah? Well, why have him around 24/7? He should be lurking in the shadows, barely participating in hotel activities yet he is always in the background just watching. This would add the mystery factor. It would make the viewers go "wait, where's Alastor?" and have them guessing. With him being shoved in our faces, it feels useless. (deadass that scene where he tortured Husk made me feel a lot of hate towards Alastor. Genuinely: I was not happy. I don't fuck with that scene).

His full demon form in Episode Five is not great. I'm sorry. I preferred the form to be similar to Episode Two, where Vox pissed him off so much. With his [Alastor's] demon form, it should be slowly morphing. Also...maybe no voodoo? Because the show hasn't done actual research into voodoo. I have a book from New Orleans about the subject, and it's so fascinating.

Now: time for more of my creative side (kinda).

4) Redesigns/Overall Ideas:

I'm probably going to get some hate here, but eh. It don't bother me, I'm just a gal providing my own thoughts. ANYWAYS with my redesign/rewrite, it's gonna be a mixture of notes and paragraphs, so please bare with me.

I. Episode Two/Stayed Gone:

The song (as much as it's one of my favs) could've been wiped out completely and we could've had shenanigans with the two! Bickering, bantering, even fighting in the streets: causing Alastor to lose his cool and transform into the demon form he had at the end of the song. Perhaps Sir Pentious was a secret aid all along, tag teaming with Vox to try and take down Alastor. Charlie intervenes, Alastor is humiliated with himself, and there could be a bonding moment between them. Scolding and glaring from Vaggie, but bonding nonetheless.

I don't have many critiques for Episode Two, so let's slide into the next one.

II. Episode Five: Dad Beat Dad:

Yikes....okay. This episode isn't my favorite, but it's somewhat still enjoyable. The Lucifer/Alastor thing though? Entertaining but useless. Also still annoyed Lucifer didn't smite Alastor's ballsy ass. The gall you have to have: then again, it was to get a rise out of Lucifer. HOWEVER: Lucifer is the literal Devil, and we could've seen his potential.

Subtle glares and comments could've been arranged in Episode Five, yet Alastor has to be courteous. It's the King of Hell, the literal Devil. While it's okay for a character to be ballsy, there has to be limits...unless the aim is for the overly smug character to get their shit rocked: in that case hell yeah!

Then, something happens to the hotel: a greater threat, possibly because of Mimzy still, but they could work together to stop it. They still hate each other, but there's still enough respect to not kill the other.

III. Design Changes (Redesigns)

Give this man curly hair, first of all. While I'm not a POC myself, I have scene human!Alastor fanart, or even some canon design Alastor fanart where they made his hair curly! I would like to see more of it, so with my personal redesign, he has curly hair. I don't have my iPad on me (alive) right now, but once I sketch out the possible redesign, I'll share it!

There's also sometimes, with redesigns of Alastor, green added into the color palette. I personally love it, but with the red I don't want him to turn out Christmas-y lmao

I feel like black pants paired with white and black 1920s/30s tap shoes could cause the red to pop out. Maybe no red tuxedo coat.

^ BUT if there was a cold winter option, a red and maroon winter coat (ironically could be made out of deer pelt/skin) could do. The color scheme would be 2019 Alastor color palette.

His ears...OUGH. I would draw out the deer ears on the side of the head, and have the curly hair. Maybe hair tufts in the ears? Optional, but again, when everything is drawn out, it'll make more sense.

I do love the cunty red eyelids and the eyelashes. Keep those. Yesyesyes.

The antlers can stay black, but I'm just more worried about them blending with the hair or not. Design reasonings and such. Also maybe different shaping? Make them look bigger, more intimidating.

OH. MY GOD. Give him radio dial eyes 24/7 instead, but in that genuine look of fear/desperation/vulnerability, the normal eyes can pop out. That's just optional though.

5) Conclusion:

That's all I really have for Alastor. As much as I love him, he's flawed. This is a post that took me a few months to complete, I had it cooking up in here but life got in the way. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not harass me. But I hope you enjoyed my rambles!! <3

[moonlightreal]

The Jewel Riders graphic novel

so, how was it?

What I loved:

-The art. Gorgeous! Flowed well, the colors were good. Love it!

-That they made Merlin creepy. In the cartoon Merlin is clearly supposed to be a gentle, all-wise mentor but something about him always came off as a tiny bit creepy in a way the creators of the show did not intend. The creators of the comic picked up this creepiness and ran with it and I am well chuffed that something that was a fanfic idea I had was also going through these creators minds and they went with it and I love it.

-The creators’ love for the world of the Jewel Riders. They brought back the sheep! They remembered Kale’s evil-baby-deer form! They love Tamara and got her spot on! (true Jewel Riders fans love Tamara, we all just do) they had a scene where Fallon is upset and sits with Moondance mirroring one of the more powerful moments in the show. The writers of this comic must have really loved the cartoon, the silliness and the darker tone both together. This is completely a Jewel Riders graphic novel. It’s got the right vibe, the right worldbuilding, it is so perfect at being what it is!

-The plot driver being Queen Anya/Adrianna’s love for her banished sister, with flashbacks to them as teenagers in training to be Jewel Riders. Setting up Merlin as being responsible for Kale getting denied her magic jewel and turning evil and opening up redemption possibilities. Flashback images of young Kale and Adrianna. This is the perfect plot decision, I love it, 10/10 no notes.

What I did not love:

-The story was presented… not badly, but there were a lot of moments that made me go “I think this is what they’re trying to say, but I’m not sure.” For example, Gwen is getting ready to marry Drake and become queen, and she doesn’t want to. I think the intended plot is…

Land Beyond Dreams, that’s what I think the intended plot is. In the cut-from-the-final-version words of Princess Rosella, “But I’m not prepared to put my freedom on the shelf. How can I share with someone else what I don’t understand myself?” Gwen likes Drake but isn’t sure she wants to marry him and she knows she doesn’t want to marry him right NOW, and she knows she’ll be queen someday but she isn’t ready to stop adventuring YET… is what I think the graphic novel is saying, but it isn’t saying why Gwen can’t just say all that and spend more years as a Jewel Rider.

And it seems like Drake got fired from being a wolf riding boy Jewel Rider to… be Gwen’s full time bodyguard and fiance? But why would that mean giving up his own adventuring? And why does everybody seem to be cutting him out of all the action? There’s no logical reason he isn’t still a Jewel Rider. He even has his Forest Stone in a few panels.

While I utterly love how Queen Adrianna missing her sister summoned said sister back from evil banishment but it happened kind of confusingly. Adrianna summoned her sister, started seeing visions of Kale? Gwen didn’t see them. And then suddenly the land is all thorny and apocalyptic with no “Since Merlin said that Kale had returned, evil thorn plants have been growing out of control!” from anybody.

...is anyone else getting the same vibe that I’m trying to describe here? Like there’s a good plot, but like I’m having to do some long stretches to connect the pieces and the writing could have been changed just slightly to pull everything together in a way that requires less “it seems like” from the reader.

-And here comes the rant.

The thing I really did not love. The thing that made me downright furious with the creators of this graphic novel.

The book had nothing to help new readers who hadn’t seen the cartoon understand what was going on. No little explanatory text, no introductions to the characters and world. There needed to be at least a simple character page like manga have in the beginning… hang on, I can photoshop. The graphic novel needed this:

Ok I made that in like 5 minutes and it’s garbage, but you see my point! This would have added so much for people who just thought the cover was cool and picked up the graphic novel with no prior knowledge of the world. Without it, I’m afraid that the book will only sell to fans of the show, and I can’t imagine that there are enough of us to keep a graphic novel series going. So I think the creators’ decision to write something that’s ONLY for old fans and NOT AT ALL for new fans will result in the series being a flop instead of delivering more Jewel Riders fun for all of us for years to come, and for that I am so angry I could spit nails, so angry I could yell at the people who made a graphic novel that I have so much good to say about!

I hope so much that I’m wrong, and there will be more volumes published because I am just going wild to find out what happens next. What’s up with Kale now that she’s back? What’s up with Merlin now that he’s getting more and more questionable?

And as a longtime fan, what else are the creators going to bring back? Kit the prismfox? That critter made an impression on a lot of us! Ian, the beast of the forest who Gwen kinda had a thing with? The gliders? Will Morgana be back? Will we see any of the other girls’ parents? Will there be anything about Moondance and Cleo being princesses of the unicorns? Might they introduce another zebracorn friend for Shadow, or explore his origins? Could they go mining in the show bible and pull out the biggest unused gemstone: Gwen’s younger sister Tara? They’d have to figure out a way to explain how Tara was never mentioned once in all the show, but maybe she was hidden away for her protection, or kidnapped and the queen was so distraught she swore never to speak of it or something, silly lampshades but why not?

The world of Avalon has so many directions for a writer to explore and I want to see all of them!

[brunossan]

HOW TO NOT WRITE VILLAINS: THE SITH RESURGENCE EDITION

Note: The Post about The Fic resume is still on the oven. This is an extra about a thing i need to complain about on this damned fanfic.

Kylo Ren in this fanfic is more of a punching bag than a proper villain.

But lets start with a point.

A thing everyone who knows Lily Orchard knows is that she hates a certain group of characters. These characters are what she calls "The White favourites of fandom", and they all fall in the same archetype according to her:

1: They are male.

2: They happen to be White most of the time.

3: They usually start as villains or antagonists but get their redemptions at some point or are so loved by The fandom they are used in other media like references or even full participations that makes People change their vision on them.

Her list include characters like Hunter (The Owl House), N (Pokemon), Arthas (World of Warcraft), Silver (Pokémon), Laios (Dungeon Meshi) and a bunch of others, but there is one in the list that gets the crown of most hated one.

Kylo Ren.

Lily hates him A LOT. Like, when i say a lot, i mean that almost ALL HER VÍDEOS INCLUDE HIM AT SOME POINT. IN HER POKEMON REVIEW SHE NAMED SILVER KYLE RON JUST TO "Beat him without remorse", AND EVEN IN HER STAR WARS FANFIC HE IS THE WORST VERSION OF HIM.

Now, lets take one thing clear. Kylo ren is a trash character? Yes he is. He had a cool concept but got a bad execution, thats why in some fanfics People try to make him either a better villain or redeem him. However, in Lily's case, she made sure he is a pathetic punching bag for her main characters.

This is now a resume on how Kylo goes in this history and how to NOT write a villain.

1-Not a Real Threat

A thing Lily claims to love are "Low stakes histories", wich are normally histories focused on small things like personal problems. However, The Sith Resurgence is on the problem lots of histories fall that its called

The villain is not a real threat.

And still, Lily tries to sell the ideia on Kylo being a threat. Like, lets jump to chapter 2 of the fic.

The chapter introduces Kylo Ren as an explosive person, but while in the movies we see his first introduction as being more threatening and serious but with anger issues that make him a bad Darksider, in this fic he is literally a manchild with a Lightsaber. All his flaws are upped to 100%.

In fact, in chapter 2 he senses Aliana's presence and after she denies coming with him, they fight. However, Kylo gets stomped by Aliana and is forced to run back to his ship by her. After that, it becomes a snowball, because every single fight, argue or even a moment in the fic he SHOULD show his strenght...

It fucking falls on ground.

Not only he is extremely weak, Lily sells the ideia that he is actually extremely powerful but had a bad teacher and was a bad student.

A bad student i can excuse but luke a BAD TEACHER?

Go fuck yourself, Lily.

Anyways, right after this loss, Kylo Ren starts getting more and more disrespect, even from his own allies. He is bullied, disrespected and even threatened by his own companions. This makes him wanting more and more to defeat both Aliana and Rey so he could get his respect and pride back.

But

Every

SINGLE

TIME

HE GETS HIS ASS FOLDED BY THEM BOTH. ALL HIS FIGHTS, ALL THE MOMENTS HE COULD BE SELLED AS THE BIG BAD OF THIS FIC, THROWN IN THE GROUND FOR NOTHING EXCEPT MAKING HIM THE PUNCHING BAG OF THE MAIN CHARACTER AND HER WIFE!

Kylo Ren in this fic is not a real threat to any of them. He is just the punching bag. Why?

Because Lily hate him.

2-The Hate blinds a writer, so a cat on a blender.

Its not uncommon doing histories out of spite of things you dislike. But in case of lily, at least 90% of her histories (Iris and Kiera not included) are made because she spites things of a certain média. Pokemadhouse has lots of moments where Lily calls out things of pokemon world, like Pokeballs being the tools to enslave pokemon, and her Warcraft fantiction used to tackle a lot of both Blizzard and Wow mistakes. However, most of the problems came from The fandom itself.

And one the only things i can agree with her is that shippers can ruin a media or the reputation of it.

Yes.

Im talking about Reylo.

You see, Lily absolutely despises Disney Canon, the Star Wars fandom in General and Reylos. But her hatred moved her on this fic decisions, like the Curse on the Beniko Clan and the hatred the Force have for them. She claimed in one post from her now-deleted old account that she took inspiration on them for it, on People who dislike her fic, her vision on Sith not being evil or her critics about how star wars is handled by media. Wanna know the worst part about the Force hate in this fic?

In this fic, The Force is Reylo. Not exactly reylo, but you remember the Force Bond thing in The Last Jedi, where Rey and Kylo share minds and start talking with eachother then Snoke reveals that it was him who bonded them?

Well, it all falls to the ground because of this scene (TW: SA Mention below)

Where Lily compared the Mind Probe, a Dark Side Force technique to read minds.

To R4pe.

Yes. Mind reading counts as S3xu4l 4ssault somehow, and this is a Cat in a Blender situation on the fic.

Cat in a Blender is a term that is used to reference moments where the writers make certain characters do horrible things to excuse the main characters actions. In this fic, Kylo Ren actions are considered the worst of crimes, even when Aliana actions are literally pure evil most of time. She kills, and threatens and even uses mind tricks to get rid of all enemies in her way, and yet the punching bag of the fic is accused on SA just to excuse the "Punishment" he receives. The hate of this character is so big that his suffering extends for 46 of the 48 chapters of this fic. And not only that but ends with not only he losing again but in such painful and destructive way that makes it feel pointless.

The ideia of a villain being ruined because of the writer hating on the character is a reason why i took almost 2 months to finish this history. Because at some points, it was just Cat in a Blender situations all over again. And other points were just Lily using her fic to directly attack star wars and its fans over and over again. Hate can really blind a writer from its own mistakes.

3-The Hatred 4 years after the fic ended still remains.

We all need to grow up at some point, even if we keep disliking one thing. But the thing that lily cant stop doing is remembering People she hates certain characters and considers their existence like the coming of the anti-christ. Kylo Ren hate stopped being cool after the Rise of Skywalker, People moved on of it. But all the time she must remember People on her vídeos that Kylo Ren sucked, that his fans are thrash, that Reylos are thrash...

Girl, move on. Its a bad character and you made the character a punching bag for being bullied and tortured the entire fanfic where the Mary sues could do everything and him nothing. We get it.

But still, its been years the fic ended. Move on. You remember the warcraft reference you made on this scene.

"Its all NOTHING!"

[plusultraetc]

hii three questions in one ask for fun. who r ur favorite charas, what r ur fav arcs and what r ur fav subplots in mha :}} big fan of the todofam sideplot and the endeavor agency arc… bkdk third wheeling family drama. hilarious… 😁😁

genuinely HOW could you do this to me, I am so indecisive and I have so many favorite things </3 Also get ready for the sheer volume of words I am about to throw at you :D

SO, favorite characters. Obv there are So Many Characters in this show, but I still feel like I can count the ones I don't like on one hand and have fingers left over. I definitely have some obvious favorites (Aizawa, Mic, Shinsou) and some only-slightly-less obvious ones (Shigaraki, All Might, Hawks), but there are also some faves I don't yap about as much like Kirishima, Jirou, Miruko, and VLAD KING the LOVE of my LIFE. I queued a post recently about Inasa being an underrated fave, which is still true, but Vlad King is truly the king (haHA) of underrated faves. I love that man a ridiculous amount. THE TL;DR HERE IS THAT I LOVE 98% OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS SHOW SM IT'S UNREAL.

Arcs & subplots under the keep reading bc my main personality trait (never shutting up) struck again ! The short answer is Sports Festival & Todorokis, Shinsou, Rooftop gang for anyone who doesn't want to stare at that wall of text 😭

Favorite arcs: I have almost as many favorite arcs as I do favorite characters LMAO. You are SO RIGHT about the Endeavor Agency arc; usually people are forced to witness Midoriya & Bakugou's drama but oh, how the tables have turned. I also love Fuyumi and Natsuo and am always delighted to see them, even if they <3 punching me directly in the feelings :(

The USJ arc is, imo, a perfectly executed plot point, so from a writing perspective I really love USJ. It's got action, it's got character spotlights, but most importantly, it ties together the plot/character/worldbuilding threads of the first season so perfectly. Like. It's seamless. It was a writing school level moment. No notes.

The Hideout Raid arc (specifically All Might vs AFO) and Paranormal Liberation War gave me grays at 25. Joint Training is always a delight. But if I had to pick One Arc to Rule Them All it might honestly be Sports Festival?? It features all of my top three favorite characters for more than one (1) scene each and it is just. Such a wild time.

There is so much to unpack about this arc but it has a very special place in my heart bc the first time I ever watched it (so, like, 5+ years ago) my sister and I for some reason decided to treat it like people who care about the Super Bowl treat the Super Bowl. It was our Olympics except the team we were rooting for changed depending on the episode. To this day I remember my sister turning on a DIME from hating Bakugou since Season 1 Episode 1 to CHAMPIONING him with her whole chest bc Monoma pissed her off so much when he stole Bakugou's headbands. And now he's like her second favorite character in the entire series so?? Origin story moment ig.

Last but not least, favorite subplots!!

TODOROKIS. YEAH. Their entire plotline was one of the major factors that motivated me to catch up on the show. I was like what do you mean they're trying to give superhero Fire Lord Ozai a redemption arc? What do you mean that other fire guy was actually a Todoroki? Like... you have to remember that where I left off w this show, Endeavor seemed to exist solely to give Shouto a backstory, and honestly I remembered like nothing about Dabi. If getting back into MHA was a pit of quicksand the Todorokis truly walked me right up to the edge of it. It was like that part of TAZ where Taako is like 'okay that's weird enough that I'm gonna go in there.'

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Shinsou's off-screen character arc is EVERYTHING to me. I could write a thesis on this side character who appears like. Three times in the entire show. Shinsou really said 'I will be a mirror character AND undo the First Great Contradiction of this series AND have tangible, believable character growth, all while being given less screen time than Mineta' and I love that for him.

The rooftop gang... I'm not going to say much on this one for manga reasons but it's definitely a subplot I find very compelling. I'm still ruminating on its execution so far but I Did Cry over the Reveal in season 5. It re-contextualized so much, not just about Aizawa and Mic, but about UA and the lives of hero students. Ack.

TYSM FOR THIS ASK, this week has been three weeks long but I had so much fun writing this exhausted ramble <3

[justabitscrewy]

Just want to say I adore your OC Izen! I don't know his whole story but the snippets I've seen are tantalizing and I really enjoy him. Also his design is so cool like, I'm a tiny bit afraid of spiders but he is adorable and epic and utterly amazing.

Thank you for sharing him and your art!

THANK YOU SO MUCH. i know i should've just answered this ask when i received it, but i was so excited at your words that i spent like,,, two weeks drafting a primer? just so that way you'd have more context?? Theres a LOT of lore that provides the foundation for Izen's backstory, so writing a primer of any kind was DIFFICULT. I've parsed it down substantially. The vibes are there, and i think it all tracks, but I haven't broken down any specific timeline or events, because a) it would be way too long, and b) some of those events haven't come up at the table yet.

Summary:

Izen fled the Monks of Mercy after becoming a drider, and found sanctuary with a formless voice that lives deep in the underdark, a voice lingering on the boundary between life and death. This voice would become Izen's undead patron and friend, and provided Izen with magic and means of defending himself. The patron is missing pieces of himself (ancient relics that were scattered to the surface) and Izen has made it his mission to leave the underdark in order to find his friend's missing pieces.

On the surface, Izen first met Phaela -- who would quickly become the greatest friend he ever had. She would offer him safety and transportation (in the form of her truck) and more importantly, a kind hand and an eagerness to show him how beautiful and wonderful the world can be.

Now, Izen and Phaela are traveling with three more people -- and the more people Izen meets the safer he feels. The world is a kinder place, and these people are good. He believes in them, he trusts them, and he wants to help them.

Breakdown of Themes and Lore are under the readmore!

THE THEMES BABY:

Pre-Campaign:

Izen sees his drider transformation as a victory over death — society told him that he was cursed, condemned, and in need of redemption. He refused to internalize the guilt and blame and fought tooth and nail to separate himself from anyone who would manipulate him.

Izen is driven by equal parts hope and fear. Fear of death, fear of captivity, fear of pain — but an unwavering hope and raw belief that life has to be good, that freedom is obtainable, that there must be a kinder and softer place for him out there somewhere.

Now:

Izen is trying so hard to embrace the second chance at life and freedom that the surface has provided him. He has a best friend in Phaela, someone who has proven to him that he was right all along. He was right to never give up, never give in, that the world could be better and kinder than what he was raised in.

Izen is absolutely enthralled by what he finds on the surface. The moon, the stars, the changing of seasons. And he’s torn between being fully enamored with the people he meets while still harboring a paranoia at being found out and returned to the drow. But every person he’s met, from Phaela, to the party, to strangers along the way, has only reaffirmed that the cruelty he experienced in his past was the outlier.

He loves bright colors, clashing patterns, soft blankets, scented soaps, and beautiful candles. Simple and beautiful things that brings such small but profound comfort and vibrancy

AAAAHHHHH Lore Notes:

Enlightenment: The Drow are a culture that lives in division. There are the days of Enlightenment — the days of now, where they have agriculture, cities, infrastructure, mining, industry — and the days of Descent — the days of a previous age, where they were nothing more than primitive warriors who had to fight to survive in a savage time, barely more enlightened than the monsters and beasts they fought against.

Death: The Drow believe that the moment of death is the most important time in a drow’s life. Death is when they return to Lolth, death is when Lolth sees how far the drow have come. For every drow returned to Lolth, her judgement of their entire progress shifts. This is why the Drow believe that it is imperative for each individual to die with pride and dignity — to never fear death and always welcome its embrace. Only animals fears death, and the Drow are not animals. And the individual will be held against the whole.

Drider: The Drow believe the drider transformation is a divine punishment from Lolth. And given that Lolth has not spoken to the drow in generations, it’s the only form of contact she has with them in this age. The Drow believe that the Drider are a lingering scar of the Descent — a time when they had to become monsters themselves in order to survive. When Lolth turns a beautiful drow into a hideous drider, she’s revoking their progress — reminding them that they haven’t grown at all. It’s a warning that they are still no better than their primitive ancestors that crawled in the dirt of the under dark. And worse of all — given that ever drider transformation is given to a drow near death — its a rejection. Lolth only wants to receive the brave and the enlightened. For Lolth to seeing a dying Drow and instead of ending their misery and welcoming them into her embrace — she prolongs their life by twisting them into a monster that isn’t even a drow anymore. It’s a rejection. A guilty verdict. That drow was so fallen that she spit them out and left them to be an example and warning so that others might learn from their mistakes. This is what they believe.

[nogoawaytism]

My second thingy for Nitpick November, because I'm not gonna do this consistently the way God intended.

It's just so... interesting to hear RWBY stans bitch about any sort of criticism regarding how certain male characters are treated. Apparently if any of us commit the unforgiveable sin of saying something like "I wish Sun/Adam/Mercury/Ironwood was treated better by the narrative + explored the unique themes that are a part of their identity as characters." rwby stans freak the fuck out and start whining about how RWDE only wants a show about a white male character. And I'm like

*looks at the vast majority of the cast, especially the heroes*

*looks at V9*

It's just so... interesting how these double standards work, because I guess a white male character getting the spotlight is ok when it's Miles's self-insert.

Meanwhile, Sun has a Chinese allusion despite being a blonde, Ironwood was modeled after Jason Rose who is half Asian (Oh wait, I bet we don't count mixed people). Interesting.

Also, Sun is an established, in-universe minority, an abuse victim thanks to Blake, which is frequently downplayed because Blake is a girl and a main character, and is therefore perfect, and Sun is evil because he isn't psychic, and expressed attraction to a main character. How evil.

Also, Ironwood is a veteran with PTSD facing a horrible situation, a triple amputee, and the only one of the cast who actually has a feasible plan. Oh wait, losing his arm made him lose his humanity, what an evil bastard. He probably lost over half his body on purpose.

Also, Adam is an established, in-universe minority, a former child slave, who has the SCHNEE FUCKING DUST COMPANY logo burned onto his fucking face. Adam should be a good faunus, and not complain at all about faunus oppression, otherwise he's a fucking nazi.

Also, Mercury was trained for an extremely dangerous job as a young child, and abused so badly to the point where he LOST BOTH LEGS. Man, white men really do be the worst.

Yes, two of these characters are villains, and yes, we should hold people accountable for their actions instead of inborn characteristics. Oh wait, y'all already did that when you bitched about them being "white men", while almost every important non-white character has been presented as a villain at some point, and the two non-white characters in our main cast, Ren and Oscar get treated so poorly compared to the other heroes. Sure, complain about how RWDE "wants to center white men" while Ren's mental state and feelings are invalidated at every turn. Sure, complain about how RWDE "wants to center white men" while Oscar the literal child that got dragged into this war is constantly the one bearing the brunt of physical abuse that we haven't seen our other characters experience + half of that physical abuse is by characters who ARE heroes and by Hazel who got the last-minute redemption treatment. Sure, complain about how RWDE "wants to center white men" while y'all treat this show like the best shit to happen to media since Charles Dickens when *checks notes* it's written by white men, which isn't inherently bad in my opinion, but in this case they write every fucking issue in this show in such an insensitive light, and are still horrible xenophobic people. Miles and Kerry ARE stereotypical horrible white men, but y'all still defend their stupid writing while bitching about white men abused by the narrative.

Oh, and might I add: the fuckers saying this stan Coco. I wonder what her allusion is.

So you mean to tell me, that expressing just a little bit of tact about Adam being a branded child slave, or Ironwood losing three limbs and being traumatized, or Mercury being abused and losing his legs, is super duper evil, but this Nazi insert is an absolute slay queen. Y'all really made a doodoo with this one, whoopsies!

Anyway, take the historic moment before Mercury rightfully whooped this Discord light mode-looking mf who's also a Nazi:

[bonebabbles]

What are your thoughts on Thunder himself, btw?

ughhh I want to like him, I like the IDEA of him, but he sucks just as much as everyone else.

We get our proper introduction to him in Thunder Rising, Book 2, through a magic dream with his dead mom who "Feels Right And Loving" unlike his 'adopted' mom, Hawk Swoop

DOTC HATES adoption. His sole interaction with Jackdaw is finding out that actually he resents him because he suckled from his wife. Incredibly unpleasant

That's not an issue with Thunder himself, exactly, but this series is deadset on concluding Adoption Bad like a moth making a beeline for open flame and this character is used for that purpose.

It is important to remember that characters are storytelling tools... and Thunder is a brush to paint an ugly picture.

So Jackdaw, Hawk, Acorn, and Lightning occupy a shitty space where they're not his family, but closer than friends, with whatever book you're in flipping wildly between these things

Lightning Tail really suffers here because he is most compelling when the series accidentally hates women so much it clips into looking gay. The first time I was legitimately invested in Blazing Star was when LT seemed jealous of Thunder spending time with Star Flower.

And speaking of that; Thunder's romantic relationships are some of the absolute worst in a series that is already rock bottom

Him and Star Flower are not compelling, it's not cute, it's boring. This is slop.

Same with Violet Dawn, who appears out of thin air later to be his wife because god forbid a single member of Clear Sky's family go maidenless

In his early appearances, he's already whining about His Faaather despite Sun Trail closing out on the famous line where Gray Wing announces, "ILL be his father from now on."

It's a huge let down from the previous book, which ends on such a good note. Absolute waste of setup.

That Magic Dead Mom dream, btw, is her saying that one day she'll "Help His Faaaaaaaaaaaather see the good in himself" so right from the get-go, Thunder is set up to be responsible for saving his piece of shit dad.

I can't lie; I think that is a downright evil trope and I'm immediately uncharitable towards any piece of media that peddles it unironically. No, you CANNOT SAVE your abusive parents through being a good child. People who put this in books for minors should choke. In minecraft

So the moments that I LOVE Thunder are when he's rejecting that idea, like in First Battle where he spits at Clear Sky and tells him "I will never be cruel."

THAT'S my favorite Thunder, that's who I wish he was. Someone who cuts through Gray Wing's quibbling to speak the truth, for justice, for righteousness.

But unfortunately that's rarely who he is. Most of the time, he completely unironically swoons and fawns when Daddy Looks At Him.

He is also really bad about towing Gray Wing's line at times, like when he was freaking out that the Moor cats wanted to train for combat as Clear Sky was becoming more violent towards the border, cheering on public 'gladiator' style battles between his own cats

And the constant crying about Self Defense Makes You Just As Bad is insufferable. Which, of course, they've just unceremoniously dropped now that One Eye is an Evil Foreigner who hurt Clear Sky's feelings

The most consistent thing about him is, unfortunately, that he's annoying. He wants Clear Sky's approval and the page has to remind you about this constantly. He joins the same Clear Sky Pity Party that everyone else does in Blazing Star, totally forgetting the first three books where he was an abusive monster completely responsible for every bad thing that happened.

Thunder deserves so much better than this. The writing is a disservice to how complicated and painful it feels when your beloved family loves someone who's bad for them, for you, and for everyone. But unfortunately, DOTC is Clear Sky's story, and every other character revolves around his pathetic "redemption arc."

[space-mermaid-writing]

The witchling and the god [Loki x Witch!Reader] Chapter 18

Summary: The Avengers were looking for someone to help Loki fit in with the team. To become socially acceptable, so to speak. He had been given the choice of sitting in a cell in Asgard or serving some sort of community service probation on Midgard. The Avengers and Shield both felt that as long as Loki was on Earth, he should be under supervision. This is now your job. Why? Because you’re a witch. You’re not sure why this qualifies you, but here you are, giving it a shot. What could possibly go wrong?

Tags: Witch!Reader, Magic, Witches, slow burn, everybody lives in the tower, character development, Loki‘s redemption, Stephen Strange is a friend, Loki and Stephen are frenemies, Tony Stark is a good bro, kids love Loki, Tony has stupid nicknames for everybody, eventual smut

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist | Read it on AO3 | Previous | Next

Chapter's Note: Since some of you were wondering: this story will have about 31 chapters in total. I'm currently writing the epilogue. So, we have only crossed the halfway point recently. Beta by @zaria-04

Chapter 18: The moon convergence

Loki put his hand on your cheek, his forehead resting on yours. You are so glad that the misunderstanding has been cleared up. More than that, you now have the assurance that your feelings are reciprocated in some way. It's more than you dared to hope.

"My little Witchling," Loki murmurs, and you look up at him with a smile.

You put your hand on his, turn your head a little and kiss his palm. Loki intertwines your fingers. Your heart throbs excitedly with joy. You can hardly believe you're standing here with him. Only peripherally do you remember that you are not alone, that you are actually here at a festival. Your sister is probably already waiting for you somewhere.

"So..." you say quietly, pulling yourself out of the bubble you've retreated into. "I met your mother, the Queen of Asgard... She seems really nice."

"She is." Loki smiles fondly. "Is your family here too?"

"They are. You can meet them later if you want."

Loki nods. "I'd love to."

For now, though, you go your separate ways. You know you'll see each other again later. With one last, fleeting kiss, you break away from each other and head in different directions.

You find your sister across the square and step up beside her. "He's here," you inform her with a grin.

She looks at you puzzled. "Who?"

"Loki."

Elizabeth's expression remains irritated. "Loki as in...?" She notices your face and finally understands. "Oh, that one! You never mentioned his name. So you haven't cursed him yet? That's great." She looks around, "Where's he?"

You roll your eyes, but your good mood isn't dampened. "You'll get to meet him soon enough."

Together, you walk across the meadow in search of Gabriel. It's not unusual for him to just disappear. Most of the time you find him in the middle of a party. Even when he was a child he had been like that: you just look in the other direction for a moment and he is gone. Now that he's grown up, you don't worry about him getting in trouble. And not among like-minded people anyway.

The convergence takes place at night. The day is one of feasting, eating and drinking, meeting people. It is an opportunity to see old friends again. Your mother was right: it is a beautiful day. Music is played and everyone is cheerful. Every now and then you run into someone you know, and linger briefly to chat.

"Did you know Mama is friends with the Queen of Asgard?" you ask your sister.

She shakes her head. "Always good to be updated on that family business."

Finally, you two spot Gabriel among the dancers and step to the sidelines, clapping along with a few others to the beat.

Your brother's fun is evident. And he's a good dancer. It's his Irish blood, as he always cheerfully claims.

He spots you among the spectators and the next time he's near you, he grabs your hand and pulls you into the middle, grinning.

Laughing, you let it happen, you would have joined in sooner or later anyway. The dance is a mixture of different styles from the last centuries from different planets. Everything is allowed that is fun and fits to the rhythmic music. You both stomp your feet to the beat, your holding hands raised, spinning around.

"So, who wanted to see you?" Gabriel asks you, while you are changing direction, repeating the same steps.

"Just another god," you reply nonchalantly.

"Another?"

"Third one this year I met." You shrug while moving your hips to the beat. "You know… just the usual."

Gabriel laughs and you join in. "You have to tell me your secret as to how to get favors from a god." He leads you into a spin, but he can only do it halfway because he's missing his second hand. You still manage the steps without any problems.

"Not sure if I've earned favors or if I'm just lucky I haven't died yet," you admit. The Asgardian gods you've met so far were all really nice. Even if some of them took a little while to warm up to you.

As if you had summoned him with your thoughts, you spot Loki in the line of spectators. He catches your gaze.

"Speaking of, my god is waiting for me."

You break away from Gabriel and move over to Loki, pulling him into the circle of dancers.

"Looking for me?" you ask him.

"You seem quite busy," he replies, but still puts his arm around your waist and leads the dance. You two are closer than you have danced with your brother. You like the feeling of it. You take two steps to the left, then right back again. He moves forward towards you, you step back the same. Then he guides you in a spin under his raised arm.

"Gabe will find another dancing partner."

Loki casts a curious glance at the ginger, who has indeed already found someone new. You see pointed ears under the short blond hair, probably elven blood.

"He seems quite interested in you," Loki comments on Gabriel giving you both a look.

"Believe me, he is far more curious about you right now," you chuckle.

You already knew that Loki is an excellent dancer, based on your experience in the hospital. Nevertheless, it is different now, back then it was about the children, now it is about you two. He puts his hand on your waist and pulls you close to him.

You two don't break eye contact as you dance in circles, copying each other's steps. You feel carefree in his arms and safe, secure. You wish he would always show this side of himself.

Smiling, you let him lead you until your side stings.

Eventually you leave the dance floor, breathing heavily and grinning happily. Some way away from the crowd, you sink into the grass to catch your breath.

The day has slowly turned to evening, the light has grown dimmer.

You look at Loki's hair and the braided strands. "That crown suits you." It really did. He looks soft, but also royal. A wild king of nature.

"You think so?" he chuckles. "I'm sure it would look good on your head, too."

"Flowers in my hair? Yeah, maybe." You think of your red kite feather, touching it with your fingers. Next time, you might add some flowers, too. You drift off in thought for a moment that you completely miss Loki's muttered "A crown." completely.

Suddenly Gabriel drops in the grass beside you, for which he gets an irritated look from Loki.

"So... you're her god?" your brother asks, addressing the Asgardian. He has a bowl of snacks with him, which he offers to you two.

"And who might you be?"

"Gabriel." He sets the bowl down in the grass to offer his hand to Loki. He shakes it, but otherwise shows no further reaction to it, which is why the ginger adds. "Her brother." He looks at you. "Have you not mentioned me? I'm deeply offended."

"Ah, she did mention you. I just didn't know your name," Loki explains with a gleam of mischief in his eyes. "Said you weren't good with hugs."

You nod. "What can I say, one arm hugs just aren't the same."

Gabriel stares at both of you. But instead of being offended, he starts laughing out loud.

"Are you bullying our little brother again?" you hear a voice as your older sister joins you. She sits down next to Loki. "Nice to meet you. I'm Elizabeth, their more responsible, older sister," she greets him.

"Pleasure to meet both of you," the Asgardian replies. He starts to see another side of you. You seem more open and carefree with your siblings. It makes him think of his own family.

"Will you sit with us later?" Elizabeth asks him.

"I don't want to keep you from your mother," you object. "You haven't seen her in a long time."

You don't want to assume you can hog him all evening. You didn't arrive together, he probably has his own plans for tonight. Besides, you've noticed the slight change in his demeanor, almost unnoticeable. A careful withdrawal of his own person whenever it comes to new people, whose behavior towards each other he wants to study first before getting involved. You know that strange company can be irritating sometimes, and you don't want to force him into it if he prefers some quiet time.

"It would be an honor to watch the event with you," he replies primly to you, which you acknowledge with a broad smile.

"Great! We'll see you two later then," Elizabeth replies, signaling to Gabriel with a nod for the two of them to leave and give you some privacy.

Loki and you sit together some more until the sun is about to disappear behind the horizon. Then the time has come for everyone to gather around the stone square. The atmosphere has become quieter, the music has died down. The exuberance of the day gives way to buzzing anticipation. You settle down in small groups on the grass. Loki and you sit with your siblings. Nearby, you see Frigga, who smiles at you as she catches your gaze.

You don't see your mother. She is probably sitting on the other side, but it is too dark to distinguish individual figures there.

The moon is big and round in the sky. Behind it two smaller points shine in the distance, their sisters of convergence. They are getting closer and closer in line.

The witches and mages around you begin to create sources of light between their hands. Each in their own way. Loki's light shimmers bright and slightly greenish. You already saw this spell from him on the mission in Los Angeles, when you went through the boiler room, and you smile at the memory of it.

You yourself create a small flame that blazes between your fingers. Gabriel does the same to you, while your sister pulls out a small glass orb. On her hand, a tattoo begins to glow, whereupon the orb becomes a shimmering sphere.

More and more lights appear all around, a whole sea of them. It lights up the faces of their creators in a wide variety of colors. Some flicker, others are completely still. It has something unreal, something mystical. It is a beautiful sight.

The convergence is about to happen.

The lights rise into the air, floating upwards. Those who have not mastered a levitation spell themselves are carried along by the others. Higher and higher. It is a small offering in hope of another blessed century. Filled with light and hope.

The moons push into a line. Briefly they go dark as they cover each other, then a bright beam of light shoots through them, hitting the center of the stone plaza. On the way it hits the lights and they explode into a hundred tiny sparks on contact and rain down on the crowd.

Everyone looks up in awe. There is absolute silence, not even the sound of the wind in the trees, not a night cry of an owl interrupting.

Loki's hand finds its way to yours, and intertwines his fingers with yours. You squeeze it. It feels like a promise in that moment.

The convergence seems to last as long as it is quickly over. The moons move on, the light fades and plunges the square into darkness. Only the pale light of the full moon remains.

Slowly, the first ones rise and leave in silence.

Your group sits together for a while, until you also decide that it is time to leave.

Loki separates from you, stepping up to his mother, who looks at him with a smile. "Are you coming to tell me you've found a better option to go home?" She glances at you and your siblings, who are looking for your own mother.

"My home is not on Midgard," Loki disagrees, "but yes, I will travel with her."

"Home is wherever you decide it is. Or whoever." Her words are kind, but she sees him press his lips together, trying to show no reaction. Softly, she lets out a sigh. "My son, always so fast to close up your feelings, your thoughts. I am your mother, there's nothing you need to hide from me." She places her hand on his cheek and Loki closes his eyes for a moment.

"You are not the root of the issue," he says softly, not bitterly, just a matter of facts.

"We all have our own shares in all our relationships. But tonight let's focus on what is good." She smiles as he looks at her again. "She is a lovely woman. I expect to see her over tea one day."

Now Loki returns the smile and nods. After all, his mother's approval is still important to him.

He says goodbye to her and then returns to you and your siblings.

"My mother sends her regards to you," he informs you.

"Thanks," you reply with a smile. "Unfortunately, we have no idea where ours is. Apparently, she's already left."

"That's always a bad sign," Elizabeth adds.

Loki looks at her questioningly. "Why?"

"It means she can't give us a good goodbye. And that means something will happen that we won't like." You turn to the steps leading you down the mountain through the forest.

"Surely if it were something bad, she would warn you," Loki interjects. He has created a light that flies before you, illuminating your path. You see many similar spells in the air and around people.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," is your comment on this. The Asgardian frowns at this, but drops the subject, as the three of you don't seem too concerned about it.

You enter through the round stone gate and step off the path a bit. There you join hands and you and your siblings start chanting. Loki is transported with you by the spell and in the next moment all of you are standing in Elizabeth's study.

It is already late, so Loki and you travel on to your cottage immediately after a brief but lovely goodbye. The house is dark, but it is more familiar to you than any other place. It is your home. You have no desire to return to New York tonight.

"Do you want to go to the tower or do you want to spend the night here?" you ask Loki, who walked next to you.

"It depends. Are you tired yet?" he asks back.

"A bit sleepy," you reply and take off the fur around your shoulders, laying it on a chair. "But I don't mind being kept awake."

"Then I will stay."

You lead him to your bedroom, which is on the second floor. Instead of the overhead light, you turn on the lamp on the nightstand with a flick of your wrist. For the late hour, this is bright enough to avoid bumping into furniture.

Slender fingers wrap around your waist. Loki pulls you to him, your back rests against the rise and fall of his chest. He feels nice, protecting you against the cool night with the warmth of his arms. He brushes your hair behind your ear, kisses your neck. You tilt your head on the side to give him more space to play.

"So..." he murmurs, suddenly scraping your sensitive skin with his teeth. "I am your god?"

You shudder involuntarily at the sound of his voice. It's so possessive. You turn in his embrace so that you are now looking at him. "You once told me to swear to you. So I did," you breathe against his lips, not quite touching them. "I am at your mercy, my generous god." You can see his face change from soft and caring to dominant and dark. You bite your lower lip at the heated gaze he is giving you.

"You're going to regret that, pet," he growls with affection and maybe a hint of guilt.

"I trust you."

"Undress." Loki orders simply, letting you go.

You step away from him to the middle of the room. He walks to an armchair, where he places his own coat before turning back to you. You wait until you have his full attention. Only then do you begin to unbutton your dress. Slowly, you are in no hurry, your gaze remaining fixed on Loki. You are making a show of it, while testing Loki's patience.

But there is still that gleam to his eyes. He knows you are just as aware of the fact that you play a dangerous game, and it seems to delight him. He watches the show you are making like a predator watching its prey.

You take off your dress and it falls to the floor. Then your underwear follows just as carelessly. But you keep on your jewelry, as well as the feather in your hair. It's part of your heritage, of who you are. You are not a mere human, but a witch, a creation of magic and a whim of nature.

He drinks in the sight of you, his dark eyes scanning your naked body – red cheeks, chest rising and falling.

"Kneel for your god." His voice is velvety, like a soft blanket wrapping around your shoulders. Dark, but not heavy. It is much that he asks of you, and he knows it. You, who have never let him capture you from the beginning. You always called him out on his behavior, told him to back up, whenever he got too close into your personal space. You have never let him intimidate you.

He doesn't ask this to humiliate you, but for your devotion. He tests you to see if you're willing to give yourself to him.

You step up to him, close, your nipples grazing the fabric of his tunic. His eyes follow you, watching your every move. His lids fall half closed as he looks down at you. He has no idea what you'll do, how you'll react. And that's new to him. It intrigues him, it has from the beginning.

You lean in as if for a kiss, but stop just at the last second. Your warm breath grazes his lips and your eyes flutter up to him.

Maybe he asked too much, he thinks. He can't capture you, you're too free, too independent.

But you stay where you are, without slipping away. Instead, you begin to undress him. You open the buckle of his tunic, slip it off his shoulders. Then his pants and shoes find their way to the floor. You constantly maintain skin contact with him. Sometimes your fingers tingle his arm, sometimes your breaths brush his chest. You are all around him and on him. Only his flower crown remains untouched. It's part of his heritage, of who he is. He's not a mere Asgardian or Jotun, but a god. A creation of magic and chaos.

After he is as bare as you are, you take him by the hand and lead him to your bed, pushing him gently onto its edge. Only when he is sitting there do you step between his legs and lower yourself to your knees in front of him.

He looks at you in awe, sneaks his hand into your neck and finally takes the long denied kiss. Your body is pressing against his and feeling his hardened length you moan into his mouth. Loki tastes your lips, pecks them until they are red and swollen. Then he sits upright again and pushes your head to his core. "Show me what your mouth is good for."

You lick your lips.

Oh - he loves to see you like this. Truly the perfect match for him. You brush your hair back, briefly shooting your gaze up at him. Then you dive down.

A moan leaves his body when he feels your lips tight around him. The grin has left his face and he now looks ravenous, his eyes dark and full of lust. You dip your mouth down over him, hot and wet and perfect and Loki lets out a strangled moan as you take him as deep as you can, covering the rest with your hand.

You move your head, your fingers. Your tongue licks the shaft and you taste a drop of his pre-cum. Loki rests his hand on your head, gripping a tuft of your hair. All the little sounds that escape him are music to your ears.

Loki enjoys your doing, very much. His gaze wanders down to you and the sight of you between his legs gives him an incredible feeling.

He grabs your chin and turns your head up towards him. His fingers are firm, but their touch is gentle. Your mouth slides off of him and you look up at him, curiously, hands still in place and panting in the silence.

"Look at you, so hungry for me," coos Loki. "You truly look beautiful like this."

You prop yourself up on the bed with your hands to the left and right of his hips, straightening a bit to steal a kiss from him. All too gladly he meets you, conquering your mouth. You use this distraction to straddle his lap. Wrapping your legs around his waist, you're so close to him that your folds rub against his length.

"L-Loki… "

You want more of him, want to finally feel him inside you.

"That's it, sweetheart, just say my name over and over again." Loki stares at you with delight, while you grind and rub against him, trying to get more friction. But just as you lift your hips to ride him, he grabs you by the waist and turns you both so that you're lying with your back on the mattress and he's over you. His statement is very clear: he keeps control.

You squirm under him. "God, please, Loki."

“Keep asking your god, pet, and he might answer.“ He pushes your thighs further apart and lifts your hips. Now it's he who is on his knees in front of you. He pulls you close to his core and pushes himself into you.

You are in heaven and hell. Your eyes roll back and your head falls into your neck as you make the most heavenly sounds.

Loki thrusts deep, laying over you and shaking the bed with each hard jolt of his hips. He peppers over your collarbone and throat tickling kisses, easing his thrusts for a moment before gripping your hips and taking you as if you were his, and only his.

Your nails bury themselves in his shoulder in a desperate search for support. Loki smells like sex and the salty heat of clean sweat, and, under that, something particular, something fiery that reminds you of the immense power he holds. He could set the world on fire if he wanted to. He already set you on fire.

It’s perfect. It’s perfect and it’s everything you need. You can’t stop yourself as you throw your head back, chanting Loki's name — like a prayer on your lips. Then it’s the final mark, sending you into overdrive. Your thighs clench, your body tightens up on Loki's length. He takes you with such passion as you come onto him, screaming his name and squirming under his body. Your orgasm reaches every nerve in your body, leaving you in a bliss. Loki doesn't take long to follow you. His hips twitch as he rides out his own orgasm.

He doesn't pull out of you right away, but lowers your hips and you feel his proud gaze on your body. Your eyes are closed, but you sense his happy smile. You still feel the echo of his movements in your thighs, feel the reverberation of his thrusts in your lower body.

Finally you detach from each other and Loki lies down next to you. Seeking closeness, you put an arm around Loki, cuddling close to him. You slowly catch your breath as you lie still, listening to his heartbeat as it slowly returns to normal as well. Leaning closer, his lips brush your forehead in a feather-light touch. You hum, enjoying being close to his warm body.

“Get some sleep, darling,” he murmurs.

_______________________

(This is probably on of my favorite smut scenes I've ever written)

Tag List: @lokisgoodgirl @lokixryss @itsybitchylittlewitchy @yokshi-unbeliebubble @fictional-hooman @elennair @all-envy-suyu @purplekitten30 @elisadmaggiore @nothing2113 @baebeepeach @ceo-of-stfu @moonlightreader649 @ronipiamka @fluffybunnyu @ninjarose23 @ozymdias @huntress-artemiss @thedistractedagglomeration @rosaline-black @sofi786 @moonlightreader649 @paetonnn @eldriidd @r4inlov3r @eleniblue @eleniblue @maeisonline @marvel-love24 @sinsandguilt @kalinaselennespeaks @ohtellmelove @eleniblue @msrawog @hyojin-2579

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[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Chaos Chapter 18

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The following day was set aside for everyone to relax and catch their breath. There were plans for a meeting between the Discordant Gods, The Arbiters, and the city council, but that was being saved for the next day. Tusk was taking it easy at the monastery, trying to get his wedding plans in order. Sigmund hung around as he wanted to attend the big meeting. Razor and Mizuki approached the two in the courtyard, with the former having a slight spring in his step.

“Hey, Tusk? Can I go back home now that we’re done?”

He looked up from his notes. “I don’t see why not.” Tusk smiled. “Feeling a bit exhausted?”

Razor nodded. “I think I’ve had enough fun for one week…”

Sigmund chuckled. “Go ahead and take a rest, Razor, you’ve earned it.” He then shook Mizuki’s hand. “Also a pleasure to meet you, Mizuki Kitagawa. The Forest has been telling me about how you’ve been helping my son.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Chief Sigmund, but how did you know… how did the forest know?”

“The Forest of Old is vastly more expansive than it appears. Not only that, it can speak with entities you wouldn’t think possible. And since Tusk and I are grown from it, it can communicate with us no matter where we go.”

“Subarashī…” Mizuki remarked. “Is that how you were able to show up to help us?”

“Indeed. The Forest was panicking, so I checked my divination crystal and nearly had my heart stop. And if I may say, Tusk, you realize how dangerous taking on Gratiana was, right? And taking on the form of the Ancient Tree Titan? By the Source, my boy…”

Tusk sighed. “I know, but I had to give Torunn and the others a fighting chance.”

Sigmund shook his head, then chuckled again. “No more grand scale adventures, my boy. You’ve earned your redemption and then some.”

“No promises, dad.” The two laughed.

“I had no idea Lady Gratiana was so powerful,” Mizuki admitted after going over what had happened the day prior in her head.

“Aye,” Sigmund replied. “Those ties go all the way back to Feuerland, back when the Arlotti family had power. They were one of the founding families of the kingdom and cemented their status by offering the first child of every generation to Leonard. Oddly Sir Gideon Arlotti rejected this tradition, causing the honor to go to Gratiana. Given the blasphemy and the fact that each champion was supposed to be a man, It makes me wonder if the family didn’t incur some form of misfortune over that upset.”

“Ha, funny how the irreverent always stub their toes,” Tusk pointed out. Sigmund cleared his throat, causing Tusk to groan.

“That battle yesterday really put into context what Torunn’s team have had to deal with,” said Razor. “I feel really bad for them.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much, Razor,” Sigmund assured. “Torunn is no slouch on the battlefield and Weaver knows how to fight.

Mizuki thought about her skills for a moment, realizing she could have done more. “Chief Sigmund, would Torunn take me on as a student? I feel as if I need to learn more.”

“Of course she would. Just hold off until The Eternal Church is gone as things are about to get messy over in Shadowland. You are more than welcome to stay in the village as long as you like.”

“Arigatō, Chief Sigmund.”

“Oh, Razor, tell my mom everything’s alright before she has a conniption” Tusk requested as Sigmund opened up a portal.

Razor laughed. “Will do, Tusk. Follow me, Mizuki. You’re going to love the Tree People village” he said as they vanished, the portal closing behind them.

Tusk gave a massive sigh of relief. “Do you know how worried I was about those two?”

“Understandable. It was a bit out of the blue for Magnus to spring that upon you. I think you did a great job regardless.”

“Thanks, dad.”

After a couple minutes of writing things down, Randalph paid the two a visit. “Tusk, Chief Sigmund!”

“Oh, hey, Randalph,” Tusk replied.

“Randalph, good to see you again!” Sigmund gave him a hug. “How have you been doing? You haven’t visited the village in a while.”

“I’m doing fine, chief. Got my staff fixed, Grendel’s doing fantastic with his alchemy, and dad and the Thundee council are considering moving the city to The Unlight.”

“Well that last one is a surprise,” Sigmund remarked. “What prompted that decision?”

“The Gods of Order. They’re causing Limbo to become unstable. We’ve had multiple poor footing incidents in recent times with the city.”

Sigmund nodded. “That would do it. Where are you planning to put the city?”

“It’s up in the air at the moment, but The Iron City region is a strong contender. The Valley of Eons is also on our radar.”

“A good call if you ask me, Randalph,” Tusk complimented. “I never did trust Purgatory…”

“Oh, Tusk; recently Lucanus and Lilach’s domains stabilized, making them explorable. Would you like to come along with me, Mayhem, and Faustus to explore them?”

“Who’s Faustus?”

“He’s a fire devil I met recently who’s been looking to explore beyond his Inferno. I’m aware of his affinity, but I think you’ll like him regardless.”

“Alright then, as long as things don’t get too hairy.”

Sigmund tapped his staff on the ground. “Call for help if anything serious pops up, you two.”

“Don’t worry, dad, we will,” Tusk reassured.

Randalph checked his watch. “Tusk, want to go shopping for your wedding? I spied some stores full of stuff Donia would love. Good stuff at that.”

Tusk got up, stretching with a yawn. “Alright then. See you later, dad.”

“Best of luck to you, son,” Sigmund said as he began to walk off. “If you boys need me, I’ll be speaking with Master Ealdhelm.”

Once Tusk and Randalph were in the city proper, Tusk realized something was missing. “Hey, Randalph? Have you seen Maxima? I wanted to thank her for the help she provided.”

“She said she wanted to go check out The Magician’s Labyrinth, but I believe she may have accidentally gone to the wrong time.”

“Oh, well that’s not good…” Tusk stated. “Well it can’t be all bad if we’re still here.”

The rest of the day was spent getting Tusk all squared away. All of the ruckus with the Discordant Gods had kept him distracted, but Randalph and Mayhem had managed to get him back on track. Donia was going to love her presents and Tusk could finally sleep easy. It was a bit funny that he was more concerned about his wedding than the fate of the Cosmos itself.

Everybody was up early for the big meeting the next day. Seeing all of the Discordant Gods in one place was surreal, but the addition of the arbiters made it a grand sight to behold. The citizenry present were eager with anticipation while everyone else watched their televisions with utmost attention. Presiding over the meeting was Mayor Rubenn Mattssonn, an older yet sharp man of the law.

“Alright, everyone settle down” Rubenn called out as he took his seat at his desk. “It’s been a long time coming, but we are finally at the end of our conflict with the Discordant Gods. Would you like to speak, Ealdhelm?”

“Actually I’ll let my brother speak first. Wulfric?”

He cleared his throat and stood up. “Thank you, Ealdhelm. Now I know all of you are probably fairly annoyed at me and I don’t blame you. As a Discordant God and leader, I apologize for how boneheaded I’ve been up until now.” There was a round of applause for this. “Now I don’t want to sound militarant, but that attack we dealt with tells me we need to work together. Driskoll, could you take it from here?”

“Of course, brother. Wulfric is not suggesting we conquer the Cosmos, rather we need to be ready for the threat Karnage and the rogue gods pose. Kleitos and I have looked into it and we’ve concluded that The Running God and The Crimson God are in league with The Eternal Church.”

“That is very serious, Lord Driskoll,” Rubenn agreed. “What are your reactions, Ealdhelm?”

“It is certainly troubling. The Arbiters and I have resolved to start looking for ULTRAMagic neophytes again. The quicker we can bolster our numbers, the better.”

“That’s easier said than done…” Wynstan interjected.

“Boy, have some faith in your uncle,” Wulfric replied in rebuttal.

Delphine nodded. “The finest gemstones don’t form overnight.”

“I’ve been keeping tabs on the Unlight through Gratiana” Leonard pointed out. “It sounds like The ULTRAMagic Guild has us partially covered, aye, Tusk?”

Everyone looked at Tusk, causing him to laugh out of nervousness. “Er, yeah, um… talk to Ultimatum here.”

Ultimatum looked at him. “But you’ve been recruiting the most people so far.” Tusk tapped him on the arm. “Oh, alright” he said as he stood up. “Given the steps Achasiah, Deimos, and I have been taking in combating The Lich of Old and Milosh Proch, we are moving ahead with the guild. It’s still in its infancy, but we are making progress.”

“Will you be working with the Arbiters?” Rubenn asked.

“Well obviously given that our enemies are working together.”

“Very good. Now Wulfric, you realize that for the longest time Karnage has been under your command, right?”

He nodded. “Yes, Mayor Rubenn.”

“How do you plan to deal with that fact?”

Wulfric sighed, reflecting for a moment. “Karnage has left a massive stain on my honor and I am not happy about that. I created that ungrateful little…” He finished that sentence with a growl. “I feel like saying sorry isn’t enough. Ealdhelm and I have talked about it and the two of us are going to duel. No ‘to the death’ nonsense, no ‘winner takes all,’ just a friendly bout between brothers” The audience was whispering amongst themselves.

Ealdhelm continued. “This will also be accompanied by a festival tomorrow. Everyone is welcome and there will be food, music, and activities for all ages. We figured after all of that conflict, everyone needs a fun, happy fair of sorts to wind down and whatnot.” The audience clapped again.

“The duel thing worked for Englehart and Dunja, so hey, why not try it out ourselves?”

“Well then, that’s quite the pleasant surprise,” Rubenn stated. “If you feel that is the right thing to do, then Droomoplolis would be more than happy to assist you.”

Adelheid stood up. “I would also like to announce that after this festival, Ealdhelm and I shall be getting married.” The applause resumed with some cheers.

Kleitos laughed in excitement. “Wow, I think this is the most orderly we’ve been in some time” he said to his kin.

“Fine with me,” Ulrich replied. “It’s about time we all came together as one big happy family.”

“We just have to face off against the rogue gods, no pressure,” Rahela commented with a nervous chuckle.

Leonard patted her on the back. “Don’t worry, kid, we got this.”

Wulfric made his finishing remarks followed by Ealdhelm’s. Droomopolis was excited and very proud that day. The conflict was over and they were all united. The Discordant Gods could not shake their worries though. Karnage being so brazen was an ill omen. And what Audawakrs had revealed did not bode well with Tusk and Ultimatum. Only time would tell what would happen. Thankfully they all had a festival to attend to ease their nerves.

Next: Chapter 19

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[cherrynojutsu]

Title: Like Gold

Summary: Sasuke grapples with love and intimacy regarding his developing relationship with Sakura after returning to the village from his journey of redemption. Kind of a character study on Sasuke handling an intimate relationship after dealing with PTSD and survivor’s guilt in solitude for so long. Blank period, canon-compliant, Sasuke-centric, lots of fluff and pining, slowly becomes a smut fest with feelings.

Disclaimer: I did not write Naruto. This is a fan-made piece solely created for entertainment purposes.

Rating: M

AO3 Link - includes author's notes

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It feels as though the earth has ceased its tireless turning for a smear of seconds as Sakura returns to awareness slowly, lashes sparking. Her eyes catch gold, too, once they open; there’s just enough light streaming in through the thin curtains to skew her irises warm, though her pupils are unfocused as of yet. 

He tries to resist the urge to snort when she immediately squints as if said light has personally offended her, expression the utter picture of someone who is being assailed by a hangover; she must have been out pretty good. Her hand in his twitches as if to rise to her head in reflex, not remembering that their fingers remain intertwined between them.

That prompts her to open her eyes fully in clear befuddlement, though her brows are still sort of furrowing. Jade eyes then widen, rapidly shifting to his to make contact. 

Her cheeks redden. It’s fascinating to watch, he finds. He barely manages to catch the stupid smile threatening the curvature of his mouth when she raises her left hand to her head instead, choosing to keep her dominant hand right where it is, intertwined with his in an orphic edict for hereafter. It’s as real and as tangible as gravity exacts its will on rock and crag, or perhaps as five calloused digits re-crease years-old letters, the reaffirmed slide of pell against parchment laden with meaning on sleepless nights.

“...Hi,” Sakura breaks the hush by saying, voice cracking a little from disuse and possibly dehydration as her fingers begin to glow green and the earth resumes its revolutions.

At that, he can’t help but exhale a tired, breathy wisp of a laugh, humor and something else warming his chest.

“...Hi.”

A long pause fills the air, and her expression relaxes as the minute passes, as whatever headache she must be experiencing fades with the aid of chakra. It’s rather impressive how little time it takes. He wonders absent-mindedly if it requires similar focus as ocular healing does; he imagines threading chakra into one’s own head must take a lot of practice, yet her ease indicates that she’s done this hundreds of times. 

“The power’s back on,” she remarks, likely in reaction to hearing the vent currently pushing air in the otherwise soundless room. It started back up a couple of hours ago.

Not too inebriated to remember, then, he thinks to himself, recollecting their conversation before she drifted to sleep. Somehow it still doesn’t feel like an overly enormous admission, now that all’s said and done. Conceivably it’s the mutuality of it that’s granting him enough repose to be okay with it.

“Came back on a couple of hours ago,” he offers quietly. His own voice comes out a bit hoarse from disuse, too, and he realizes that his own throat is slightly parched. 

Must be the alcohol. Duly noted, though he’s going to avoid losing to Naruto in the ensuing months at all costs. He has little desire to give himself additional headaches; his lack of a coherent sleeping schedule forces him to contend with the affliction fairly often.

Sakura nods after a moment as if this makes sense, gaze dropping momentarily to their intertwined fingers.

“...The storm kept you up?” She asks tentatively, gaze rising to his steadily.

Sasuke blinks, then nods, as it’s an easy excuse for the reality of his disturbed sleep patterns and a good way to proceed. He probably will need to sleep at some point today, which means he won’t make the best company for part of it. Best to be honest about that, at least.

Sakura examines their hands once more, as if his response has prompted some variance of study there. Sleep is edging at the corner of her eyes, he sees now that the light appears to be bothering her less. Eventually her green chakra dissipates, and her left hand drifts back to her side, the action seeming almost… listless.

She then says the most severely nonsensical thing she could ever come up with, jade eyes still cast downward at the space between them. There’s something in her expression that screams of disquiet, lips pursed sideways.

“I’m sorry.”

His brows knit together in puzzlement, mouth contorting into a hard frown.

“For what?” He asks in bewilderment, because she’s done absolutely nothing wrong. He could write pages upon pages of all of the reasons why she never needs to apologize to him. She’s never-

“For pushing you,” Sakura’s voice cuts through the speculatives invading his brain at a mile a minute. Her mouth is pulling to the other side at present, as if in dismay. “I didn’t mean to… Or, well… I just would have worried, is all-”

“You didn’t push me,” he cuts in, clearly enunciating every syllable. His issues have nothing to do with her. If he was just normal, it wouldn’t have been a question if he wanted to stay at all. He would have greedily jumped at any chance to get closer to her, to be invited into her bed, as innocent as it was.

It’s his own stupid issues that cause all the problems, without exception; she has nothing to do with his sins. He’ll tell her again if he needs to.

Green eyes stewing with guilt meet his and pink brows jump closer together.

“I think I did,” she insists. “I mean,” her gaze pitter patters to the side again, as if she’s suddenly very interested in studying the exact hue of her pillowcases. “Or, well… I know it hasn’t been very long, and I… Well, it was maybe moving too fast, and I really didn’t mean to… to…”

Her vocal train of thought comes to a screeching halt when he very gently squeezes her hand, fingers still interlocked with his. 

“Sakura,” he says quietly, insistently, because he urgently needs to squash this line of thinking. While he appreciates the unending evidence that she cares deeply for him, Sakura has also always had a way of somehow interpreting that his exigencies are her problem, that some sort of fault lies with her, when that has never been the case. His choices are his causatum to bear, as are all of the rest of his shortcomings. 

Doesn’t she know that she’s the paramount jewel of his life?

“You didn’t push me.”

Her mouth stubbornly stays set in a solid line, worry evident as she searches his gaze. He stares right back, unusually so, as his left eye remains uninhibited by the shield of his hair as it typically is, still positioned such as to capture her sleeping form with both Sharingan eyes; he didn’t move much throughout the night in the hopes of not waking her.

She exhales slowly, face relaxing; it’s calmness he finds there now, as if she’s satisfied that he's told her the truth. The eaves above their heads settle with it, the maxim that follows a squall.

“Okay,” she says finally, pupils flashing from him to the pillowcase again. She then flushes darker for some reason, and her gaze drops to their hands once more.

“Um,” she says, shifting her shoulder slightly. Her cheekbone catches the sunbeam cradled through the parting of her curtains, freckled cheek on perfect display. She really is beet red; he wonders what she’s thinking about, a lone dark eyebrow raising in curiosity. 

“Well. Should I…”

She seems to struggle for words, as if the same gravity afflicting him earlier has snatched them out of her lungs. Maybe she can heal the headache itself but not the scattered thought processes that he’s heard tend to accompany a hangover; it’s hard for him to gauge, considering he himself has never had one.

“Well, do you want… breakfast, maybe? Before you go back to your place, I mean. I assume you need to sleep? Um. We could have okonomiyaki, ochazuke, or… Or, maybe just tea? Decaf, of course, so you can… Or, you don’t need to stay for breakfast, if you’re too tired or if you don’t want to-”

He squeezes her hand once further, as gentle as he is capable, because there is little he wants more.

“...I would. I’ll help.” 

It takes a handful of minutes to plan out the morning and rest of the day from there, plans made for evening tea and a sweet smile that he will never tire of being the cause of. Despite his fatigue, he is loath to untwine his fingers from hers, and he thinks she is perhaps of the same mind. He’s not sure if she notices - he doubts she’s doing it on purpose - but her thumb twitches slightly against his at irregular intervals, as if she’s checking to ensure he’s still there, and it feels eerily like she’s pressing a sort of poem into his skin, alliterated by the soft cadence of her voice.

When they finally do rise, he helps make his side of the bed as she makes hers, adjusting the pillow at its conclusion; it was off kilter from lying on his side the majority of the night.

For some reason, Sakura stares at him openly as he reshapes it to a typical pillow shape, and her cheeks stain incarnadine nearly immediately as he catches her gaze questioningly, wondering what about the action is odd. Sporadically he wishes he was capable of reading her mind, uncovering what she’s thinking; he often wishes to know just what exactly she’s preventing herself from saying, as most of it is probably for his benefit when it needn’t be.

Give it time, he thinks as she metaphorically curls in on herself again, green eyes gradually realizing that he’s looking at her inquisitively.

“Right. Um, I’m going to, uh. Use the bathroom. But if you want to start the water to boil, you can!” She squeaks the tail end of the words more than she speaks them, turning rather abruptly in pursuit of said bathroom. 

He reasons it is a little strange to see an ex-rogue ninja doing something as inane as making the bed; presumably it’s that, he thinks as the bathroom door creaks slightly: open, then closed.

His focus wanders to the ornamental fan displayed atop her vanity, where it lingers. He watches as the iridescent thread catches the light, twinkling atop aged wood unaffected, as if eagerly soaking up every last drop of metaphorical adage.

It fills him with an odd feeling. Something numinous and presaging, but also… complicated.

He shakes it off in favor of proceeding to the kitchen to start the water to boil, resolving to reflect on the why of it later on. He has better things to focus on at present than the drowned memories of the past.

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Following an hour of tossing and turning in his own bed, Sasuke manages to find rest; it seems his brain has seen fit to reward him with a break, which is good, because there are other things that it’s decidedly not offering respite from: namely, the fact that his own bed does not smell like Sakura, and also the cavillous sense that he is metaphorically standing atop the precipice of a rather important realization, obscured by the mist of morning much like fogged or frosted glass.

Later, he urges his brain resolutely, banishing the thought of freshly-watered soil and drenched paper boats, giving in to sleep.

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The mission summons arrives just as he’s finishing up the preparation of a simple dinner: onigiri with plain broiled salmon, making use of leftover rice. He covers the pan for the time being, removing it from the burner to temporarily cool before making his way to the Hokage’s Office. He’ll eat it later.

“Sasuke,” Kakashi greets as he pushes the door open, greeted by an otherwise empty room. Naruto’s not there, and Sasuke supposes that makes sense; this is likely to be an assignment for guard duty in anticipated absences for the Chunin Exams. Security coverage is the foremost concern for Shinobi villages during such events.

“...Kakashi,” he acknowledges quietly, shutting the aged wood door behind him.

“How are you feeling?” The copy ninja asks, smiling jovially in a manner that is entirely too knowing. “A little birdy told me you were forced out to the bar last night.”

Sasuke rolls his eyes, exhaling a quiet sigh through his nostrils.

“...Two drinks.”

His old sensei’s smile only grows more exponential.

“Ah. Had fun?”

Sasuke holds his sensei’s gaze disparagingly, frowning and refusing to give in to the twitch. While it wasn’t really so bad, he has short regard for a repeat situation in which he’s forced to consume more than the two drinks. He doesn’t intend to lose to the dobe again anytime soon; he’ll drag it out for months if he has his way of things.

“So, you don’t intend to lose to him again anytime soon,” Kakashi beats him to the punch by saying, Cheshire grin wrinkling the edges of his mask. Sasuke, in turn, betrays nothing, deeming the frown encapsulating his iwn mouth confutation enough.

“At least you have Sakura,” Kakashi continues, at which Sasuke’s neck warms and his brows furrow. “Word on the street is she can heal a hangover like nobody’s business.”

“...I’m not hung over,” he concedes after a moment of pause. Best to pummel that implication into the ground, truth of it set aside.

The Hokage waits a beat to respond, as if he’s carefully assessing him. But no, that’s not right; Sasuke’s pretty sure he is assessing him. He has the faintest sense of sharing commonality with an artifact being looked over, like sand slipping through one’s fingers on the beach, falling away to reveal tiny nacreous slivers of shell and rocks weathered smooth.

“...I know,” the copy ninja finally says, dark mask twitching in the manner that suggests additional ribbing is imminent. “But…” 

His voice trails off, dark eyes evaluating him as if waiting for him to speak, and Sasuke knows that his sensei isn’t actually spying on him now that he’s been back for the better part of two or three months, but the manner in which he can read Sasuke like an open book is eerie, so he chooses to not be baited in the slightest.

Apparently gathering that Sasuke isn’t going to gift him any supplemental information, Kakashi looks to his desk, rifling through a stack of papers and looking entirely too pleased with himself despite the fact that he provoked no rejoinder.

“Well... Maybe next time, yeah?” 

Sasuke’s ears redden and his left eye twitches in annoyance, but Kakashi doesn’t look up once. 

Damn copy ninja. He supposes he wasn’t exactly subtle, all things considered, but he finds himself wishing now that he had said that goodbye privately; it may have earned him less importunateness in the long run.

“Well, not particularly exciting, again,” the Hokage elucidates further, pulling out two sheets stapled together, one of which clearly has Sasuke’s name inscribed at the top. “Given we’re taking a large number of our ranks to the Chunin Exams, I want to play our remaining forces rather close to the vest. I didn’t have any bigger tickets come in, so…”

As expected.  

“Guard duty?” He questions, already perceiving the answer and still internally fighting down the warmth licking at his neck. In confirmation, Kakashi nods, not looking up from the array of papers littering his desk.

“Yes. We���re spreading the shifts out a bit more; two instead of three like usual. Kotetsu and Izumo are coming with to help with staff and security. Shino, too. I’m afraid you’ll be pretty busy; six to six, day shift indefinitely beginning tomorrow, though you’ll still be able to make our team dinner on Tuesday, of course. Length of assignment pends on how long the first round of exams take; obviously once that’s concluded, we’ll be back for a month, so you’ll get some time off then, should nothing bigger come up.”

Sasuke’s brow furrows, briefly wondering why Shino’s presence would be necessary at the exams prior to realizing he’s likely going to watch past students and also that his insects would be an excellent safeguard for all involved. He’s caught off guard once again at the different roles everyone he attended the Academy with are playing now. He anticipates, then, that both Kiba and his sister will be rounding out the night duties; if Aburame's insects are absent from the village, canines are the logical next best defense. 

His brow furrows further, wondering who will be assigned with him, as the dobe will be out of the village. Shikamaru is out, too, as the coordinator of the Shinobi Union. He still isn’t sure if Sai or Choji are attending the exams, come to think of it.

As if on cue, heavy footsteps resound from down the hall.

Ah. Not so bad, then; at least it’s someone he’s familiar with. The shifts will be free from any sort of disdain. They might even be… enjoyable. Free from teasing, most notably.

“Hokage-sama,” Choji greets genially, laughing as he pushes the door open, then closes it behind him. “Just when I thought I might’ve escaped guard duty…” 

Kakashi simply smiles through the mask. “Sorry to disappoint, Choji… though I’m told you bring quite the spread for lunches while on duty. I’ll make sure to say hi to Karui for you while we’re away, anyways.”

A hearty laugh escapes the ninja’s chest as he grins, coming to stand within a few feet of Sasuke to accept the paperwork Kakashi’s offering him.

“Well,” Choji begins at the tail end of a chuckle. “Karui’s not likely to focus on anything but work during all this Exams stuff, but you can attempt it if you want.”

A ninja, then, and likely high-ranking. A Chunin or Jonin, he expects, based on the comment he recalls about her right hook. He briefly finds himself wondering if she’s instrumental to inter-village politics, given she’s attending the exams.

“And anyways, it’s hard to beat fresh roast duck, but I’ll always give it the ol’ Akimichi try!” 

Sasuke exhales something near a snort in response to that. It meanwhile earns a chuckle out of Kakashi that implies he understands exactly what an Akimichi try entails, at which point Sasuke realizes that his old sensei gives orders to the elder ninja in addition to the younger, inclusive of Choji’s father. 

How strange that must be. He rarely remembers that most people have living parents, and also that, in the grand scheme of things, Kakashi is still fairly young: only a few years into his thirties. Yet he is charged with the difficulty of governing an entire village, giving orders to ninja who are decades his senior, an instrumental piece of the puzzle that is the Shinobi state.

It’s a monumental task. He doesn't always consider that Kakashi is holed up in this office more than Naruto is.

“I’m pretty sure I read a report from the Fourth once, actually, that heralded that as a family tradition,” Kakashi says as he passes Choji his paperwork of assignment. “Perhaps I’ll have to stop by sometime. When the exams break, maybe… I have it on good authority that your family makes incredible barbecue.”

It also must be difficult, Sasuke reasons on the walk home to his apartment, to read through old reports of your former sensei who is now deceased, let alone the huge ask it is to train his son to become Hokage in his stead nearly every day.

He supposes he can take the teasing. It’s not much, in the grand scheme of things, especially given what Kakashi has done on his behalf. Their sensei deserves a bit of happiness, too.

He carefully avoids any further thoughts of family and the dead much like he avoids the small collection of puddles percolating in the street, back in his kitchen at a flash of residual gray and green from what must have been a midday rain. He resumes quick preparation of his dinner, fastidiously examining the salmon as it sizzles in the pan. It’s the perfect distraction for thoughts he is unwilling to reckon with at this particular hour, bland unseasoned sight and smell and taste cajoling him to a more docile state of mind. He counts the grooves he’s managed to carve into the specialized cutting board, too; they add up over the weeks. Maybe he’ll examine the one at Sakura’s the next time they cook together at her apartment. There are bound to be many more shared meals in the coming month or two.

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Sakura is kind.

There is no avoiding that thought, no running away like a coward; it washes over him suddenly, remnant spring raindrops in the thick of summer as he calls her name, slipping off his sandals in a threshold he entered without knocking. He finds her submerged in a sea of paperwork, ebbing tides of documents surrounding her every which way on the couch.

She works on her day off, tireless in pursuit of goals that he’s sure, whatever they are, will help others far more than they will help herself. She's altruistic, affable, caring, and far too intelligent for him. She may well be developing a cure for cancer for all he knows.

Yet she also piles it up without so much as a second thought, beaming at him with jade eyes refulgent as if she's delighted to see him, even though he’s here far earlier than the agreed-upon time. He dragged out the process of doing the dishes, trying to ditch the melancholy in an exsiccate of clarifying lemon-scented dish soap that he definitely didn’t buy just because it’s the same scent she uses, but even that wasn’t lengthy enough. There’s only so much one can scrub away one-handed. Clean and shining to the eye, certainly, but to the other senses…

“Tea?” Her voice is soft. It shimmers in a way no other sound does, glitters like sea glass in a lamp-lit apartment with shoal floors, a kind budding breeze afore a hard evening.

He can only nod, struck dumb and voice ensnared in his throat at the disarming dichotomy of what he’s just realized, the last intenerating puzzle piece of the past twenty-four hours sliding into place.

He doesn’t say much the rest of the evening - thankfully, he doesn’t have to, with her - but he does choose to sit serried by her side on the couch, his thigh a scant inch from hers. His bad shoulder bumps hers once, twice, thrice, and the contact helps him feel less emotionally numb, less like he’s going into shock after a grievous injury.

It helps even more when Sakura returns from her trip to the kitchen, alone at her insistence: “No, it’s okay, Sasuke-kun; I’ve got it.” She shatters their routine completely, taking up residence on his other side, just as close as they were previously whilst interlocking her clement fingers with his.

She doesn’t say much then either, but she rests her head against his good shoulder after they’re halfway through another movie that he’s barely processing. He basks in it, the way the weight feels against his bicep, the way her digits smooth patterns against his.

It’s nice to have her closer than ever. That helps the most, really, but he still tries not to stay too late, to put it off for too long. 

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He spends the better portion of an hour, then two, sitting at the memorial stone, gazing at lily sprouts and trying to determine if they've drowned, reaching for childhood optimism and failing in the attempt to reconcile what the storm has stirred up.

It is freshly-watered anger, and it is directed at his brother.

He is angry with his brother. 

It’s not necessarily a new emotion. He was angry with his brother for years, prior to learning the truth; he’s no stranger to it. 

He has not, however, been quite this enraged in the after , since learning the provocation. But no, that’s not quite honest, either. He was angry afterwards. He directed that anger many times, fought for it, killed for it. He's the textbook epitome of a quick study in it, for all he stewed, not knowing how to put it down as weaponry needs to be put aside in exchange for a meaningful life.

But seldom directly consolidated at Itachi. 

Until now.

Sasuke is aware that his feelings in regards to his family are complicated. He is also cognizant of the fact that everything Itachi did, everything he gave up, was out of love for him.

So why is he livid ? 

How can he be so infuriated? 

He wants to scream, overwhelmed with the feral urge to dig up all he’s planted, blotted with rain, and throw it to the wind in some misguided attempt at gaining his brother’s attention, at having his ire recognized in some way. 

It still never feels like Itachi’s here, no spirit from beyond touching stone or soil. And Sasuke supposes that makes sense, because his brother died later, separately from the others, but…

Didn’t a part of him die when he murdered their family, too? 

How could one emerge from that unscathed? 

Sasuke's earliest memories are hazy, half-recollected minutiae pleasantries stained with the positivity of jejune childhood. Most of what he recalls of his clan, his family, are the few short years prior to the massacre. Sure, his father’s favoritism for Itachi over him colored it less sunny, but he had his mother and his brother and all the rest. There were shared sweets at the bakery, shuriken practice in the backwoods behind the clan compound, evening treks back from the pond through grove and brushwood, clutching freshly caught flowers or a pail of perch as he learned a new distant cousin’s name and how they were related.

But when he was twelve or thirteen? His memories were well developed by then, which means Itachi's were, too; double the recollections that Sasuke had at the point of the massacre, at least. Itachi would have known what he was about to give up, what he was about to rip away from Sasuke, that it would scar him for life and leave him alone in their family home to cook dinner in the dark, because the kitchen light had a string pull system on the ceiling and their mother used to scold him when he climbed up furniture to reach things-

"You could fall and hit your head, Sasuke. Just ask me or your brother to get it for you; you'll be taller in a few years-”

-and Itachi did it anyway.

Complicated as their past is, Sakura is willing to set aside her work for him in a heartbeat, to choose kindness over and over and over when he deserves anything but, when he's not good at words or explanation or conversation, when he left her on a fucking bench , when he tried to kill her. She didn’t give up on him, even when she wanted to, even though by all divine rights in existence she should have; he's certain that he's been the cause of her tears countless times. 

But Itachi? Itachi was thirteen when he killed their family, a prodigy with devastating outside influence, sure, but capable of at least some level of higher reasoning. Sasuke had memories at thirteen. He loved his team at thirteen, he loved Sakura at thirteen, messy and scattered and covert as that love was.

Itachi saw the effects wrought and continued the charade that got their family killed with barely so much as a glance back at him. 

Did I make it that easy? He questions inwardly, bitterly, heirloom frown overtaking his being, lone remaining fist tightening at his side as he realizes he's never going to fully move beyond this feeling: the unalloyed abandonment , the feeling that his soul has been sliced by the gilt of a razor. It's just as fresh as it was on that night, years ago, exposed to the light and raw . 

Was I that easy to walk away from?

Maybe that's why he loves his team so much. No matter what he did, they didn't abandon him like his kin did. Even Sakura couldn’t. She tried, but couldn’t, burst into tears, and he-

And maybe that's part of it, too: his attempts to be alone. If he chooses to be alone, it stands to reason that he won't lose anyone. No one can leave you alone in the dark if you leave them first.

But no, that's… not quite true either. He isn't making any sense. He seldom does, not when he's like this. He's briefly overcome by the desperate urge to visit the pond - to do what he's not sure; to scream at abandoned air, perhaps, for all the good that will do, toss excess confessionals to the wind that have already been thought a million times over - but he doesn't, because he's pretty sure that would break him on this particular day. 

In lieu of ripping the buds from the soused soil, he shoves his lone hand into his pocket and begins to turn a pair of keys, soft onomatopoeia gambit clinking over and over and over.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ultimately he lets them be, angry as he is, for his mother and his aunt and the woman in the alley with her newborn and all the rest who might like them. 

For his past self, too, maybe. If the green grows tall enough, it might grasp the mnesic stardust that slipped through his fingers.

He returns to his apartment, examining empty walls and thinking about the photos that would have lined their houses were they all given the chance to age instead of ash. They would surely be more formal pictures than Hanako’s are, given clan traditions: formally posed for major events and wrapped in traditional garb for weddings and Shogatsu and Kodomo no Hi and Tanabata. He tries to imagine what their yukatas would look like, Uchiha emblems blazed upon their backs. All of his own family’s pictures, he recalls, were old-fashioned, solely black and white or sepia toned, so it’s difficult to place what colors they were wearing in retrospect. Their relatives’ pictures were much the same, he’d seen on any occasion he was taken elsewhere for dinner as a child, kept under foot and at his mother’s watchful side. 

Mikoto Uchiha had a navy blue kimono she reserved for such occasions, emblazoned with finely stitched shooting stars. It just looked plain in the pictures, washed out from multidimensional blue to a dark swath of gray; he was just a baby in her arms in the most recent one of her wearing it he can recall, long lost to time and neglect. But he remembers it, the fabric of her sleeve billowing at eye level as she led him through Konoha’s streets by hand during festivals so he wouldn’t get lost in the crowd, his father and brother nowhere in sight. Cataclysmic lantern glow arched across Konoha’s streets, seeping between each booth and crowd intermingled with the rich aroma of roasting nuts and the warm spice of fried rice.

He realizes, sitting at the kitchen table and staring and thinking, that his father disliked festivals; he was not present in a single one he can remember. He must have disliked having his picture taken, too. He appeared enormously unhappy in all of them he can recollect, even in the last one Sasuke has left.

That is another thing Sasuke inherited from his father, he realizes as he finally reaches out to swipe his sole thumb across the aged photo, dug from its grave beneath Sakura’s stack of letters; he also dislikes having his picture taken, though he recognizes now that such things are… rather important, in retrospect. He’s clutched onto their team photo from years ago on countless nights.

He is like his father, though he doesn’t wish to be.

He then stares at the eyes that are encased currently in his own sockets, frowning at his brother. And this has consistently been Sasuke's problem: setting down his anger, abiding injustice. There are stages to grief, he's been told dozens of times, though he's rarely experienced them in any sort of coherent order. 

His gaze inches away, frown tugging at his mouth, until he's looking at the lamp. 

The details of the picture aren't as clear after he's shut off the overhead, an echo of a perpetually dark kitchen an age ago. He can barely see his father at the edge of the aged paper if he holds it just right, his face a shifting shadow in the mirk. 

But he looks at the four of them, studies them catalyzed in the subtleties of lamplight, easier to bear when the colors are less saturated. He looks at himself and his brother a lifetime ago. He stares even as it feels like his insides are being scraped clean with a rusted kunai.

Take notice of what light does, to everything. 

It still doesn't feel like he’s found what he’s truly searching for, but he manages to endure the elegy for nearly ten minutes before deciding he's not yet ready to confront this particular demon. He buries it beneath Sakura's letters with the rest of his good sense, anger to be confronted another day.

Because did he really need to toss him into Infinite Tsukuyomi again when he was thirteen? A simple genjutsu would have been plenty to stoke his hatred. He didn't need to make him relive the entire ordeal, to drag him back to hell as if he hadn't relived it hundreds of times by then in his own nightmares.

He's remembering the names again, a salient group autopsy carved in concrete and lost to history. 

He's also remembering that he put Sakura in a similar genjutsu in a misguided attempt to protect her, too, so perhaps he and his brother aren't that dissimilar, because he didn't have to do that, yet he did. He always hurts her, loving her from afar without telling her a damn thing about it, while his lost hand burns with the phantom pain effort of pushing her away, of holding her forever at arm’s length, of aiming his Chidori at the blurred pink of her head where he knows it will wreak the most drastic damage, at- 

He is like his brother, cruelly, horrifically so, just as he wished to be when he was little, though now he-

His arm hurts-

He doesn’t know a thing about love, really. He never has, has he? That part of him is stunted, twisted, cleaved off, cut from the same bark as the rest of his ilk. He always-

His arm hurts, the pain radiating up nerve endings that are no longer there, and he always-

Sasuke chooses to do what he unfailingly does when it feels a bit like he’s losing it, like he’s forgotten how to breathe or exist.

He trains and trains and trains in the grounds at the furthest edge of the village, far from anyone’s home. He repeats sword formations until they feel like a second skin, as if that will protect him, swiping at imaginary foes and endlessly wondering if he’s made one fucking bit of headway in the years since the war.

He then gulps caffeinated sencha, barely tasting it before reporting to guard duty at six, plain onigiri shoved half-assed into a container for lunch. He’ll eat dinner with Sakura after as they planned, so it’s not like he needs anything more than that to make it until six. He’ll endure his arm’s surging pains, too, until she can look at it. If he spends a day contributing to a greater good, perhaps it will feel more like he earned it.

They take over for both Inuzukas, as he expected. Hana Inuzuka says little, still studying him warily and maintaining a healthy distance, to which Sasuke can take no offense. Kiba acknowledges them both, at least, though he seems tired. It makes sense; guard duty is invariably an uninspired endeavor, and less so when the shifts are lengthened.

They’re two hours into duty when Sasuke arrives at the conclusion that Choji talks less than he remembers he did in their youth.

It’s not that Sasuke isn’t aware of this. People change. He’s been on two missions with the man now; obviously people develop beyond the time that they were school children. Gods know he has, to everyone’s unfortunate detriment.

But, it still surprises him. He’s not sure if it’s out of politeness for the fact that Sasuke has always been lackluster at best as a conversationalist or if it’s out of simple contentedness, as guard duty in an era of peace is uniquely suited to allow a snack here and there. Missions in the field don’t frequently allow such a privilege; Choji is as cheerful as he’s always been, chomping away at a bag of chips and for all intents and purposes seeming as if he’s enjoying this assignment, even without the aid of any conversation to help the time pass.

What doesn’t surprise him one bit is when his partner for the day creates a shadow clone prior to pulling out a miniature iron griddle, kindling, another container of signature spices, and all of the fixings needed to make teppanyaki in the umbra of the gates, save a lighter.

“Say, could you…?” 

Serpent, ram, monkey, boar, horse, tiger.

The real Choji continues his rounds opposite Sasuke as the clone prepares what he gathers must be the standard Akimichi lunch. The fire is small, but it doesn’t take long for the pan to begin its sizzling.

Another surprise arrives in the form of the clone handing him a fair clutching of neat kebabs. Sasuke stares at them in absolute fucking bewilderment.

“You can eat first,” his old classmate of a lifetime ago tells him cheerfully. “It’s tradition.”

The clone then sidles back to the grill to rotate a mass of remaining skewers in the shade, as if the kindness cost him absolutely nothing.

It’s significantly more substance than onigiri, that’s for sure; it basically melts off the stick and into his mouth, fragrant and filling and way higher quality meat than he typically buys for himself. It helps with his tiredness at the very least. It makes the light of day bearable, too; less grating on the eyes and his arm’s phantom pain.

“...Thanks.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

If you could only keep one sense, which would you choose?  

Sasuke finds himself reflective on past conversations following an evening well-spent with Sakura, throbbing phantom pain freshly healed in his bad arm and eyelids drooping with the didactic endeavors of the past day and then some.

Perhaps losing his sight wouldn't be the worst option after all. Like any Uchiha, he relies on it far too much, has worn it thin. He thinks of revolving keys passing between his remaining fingers. He thinks of Sakura’s hand intertwined with his, of the sound of a storm roaring overhead and the poetry of her berry scent and soft breaths beside him, the pumping of her heart akin to the ticking of a clock, concatenation all within his grasp.

He walks, tethered to a shaky impetus and contemplating the nature of smell as he tries to avoid peeling back his own skin in his urgency to get to the fucking point. Did his own kin smell like fire, smoky yet with enough bite to sear sustenance? He must have been so used to it that he never noticed. 

And he needs groceries, anyway. Not that he remembers that once he’s there. 

Taste is a good sense, as Choji said. Maybe Sasuke hasn't fully appreciated it. It seems a safer alternative than shaking down the sky.

There are many varieties of jasmine tea at the market, he learns, even at the handful of places that linger open after the pitch has swallowed the last trace of the sun, stars twinkling into existence stretched across a lacquered navy sky. He picks the one that seems the most traditional, because of course he does.

Sasuke then reaps the smell of summer, the twinkling of green grass and azaleas and fresh drizzle saturating everything once more, intermingling in the street as he wanders at a snail’s pace back to his apartment, trying to summon an appetite or further mettle for what he’s about to do. 

It's easier, he finds, if he doesn't look at the puddles for too long, if he passes beneath the cherry blossom tree across the street on his way home, ramified branches flourishing emerald and juniper.

His eyes prick at the smell alone, steeped in wistful memory contained within a steaming cup anew. It's been years since he cried at the simple smell of it - you’re fucking hopeless, it’s just tea - and that's a shame, because he was really hoping that his journey had helped him get somewhere, broached common ground in the form of miles marked and exchanged endearments. Instead he’s still blistering with the same old wounds, scarred and bruised black, smearing the metaphorical ink before it’s even dried.

Sasuke manages two assiduous sips. Corrosion, he reflects.

The first is alchemic, transcendental, synodic threaded memories hooking scattered stars across a navy blue kimono sleeve that was once the scope of his entire world, come alive from where they reside trapped in his every neuron, tucked away for safekeeping.

The second sears his insides with demise, croons down his capillaries and trickles into every cell like the sweetest poison, violently dissolving brittle bones and haunted flesh and reminding him of things that are no longer his. Things that will never be his. And he is lacking, lacking-

The taste is good: fragrant and salt of the earth. 

The memory is not: always bitter, always biting, exposing his turpitude for all to see.

The problem is him, always him. He is not like his mother, but he wants to be. He wants to be worthy of it, all of the love and smeared sacrifice and the chronic weight of expectation.

Instead he is himself.

He dumps the remainder of the cup unceremoniously down the sink. The remaining box of tea is shoved to the very back corner of the lower cupboard in short order, hidden behind his meager collection of pots and pans to be forgotten before heading to his bedroom and slamming the door shut to lie in the dark alone. He plummets beneath the weight of dark bedding and the dispiritingly neutral aroma of clean laundry.

And memories. Memories burning at the windows, memories snarling and tugging at his eyes in saturnine demand, colossal bleeding mazarine blue just waiting to be let in with the summer air and the distant susurrus of night herons and crickets counting time against their fresh wings and swishing grass. One small step, then another. It takes a century on little legs, wisps of the past haunting the present: wildflowers clutched in both tiny hands, utterly oblivious to the damage it would cause, far worse than a stray thorn or the tender sting of a bee. And how could he emerge unscathed, when he was plucking away their sustenance?

He can’t hear anything currently, save his own heart, beating incessantly on. 

He shuts his eyes. He relies on seeing far too much, apotheosizes it beyond everything else. His sight and his propinquity for anger and running and beating something bloody never got him anywhere. He needs to feel.

He can imagine it: natant sunshine atop tide rolling in, how it would feel to trace the lineament of her face with touch rather than his brother’s vision. He could leave something tangible behind, something that doesn’t hurt, a careful but purposeful fingerprint or ten across the caress of her cheek instead of simply stealing his mementoes while she’s asleep like a coward.

The empty spaces between his fingers ache like loss, like liminal longing, like the border between land and seafoam, palpable with resolved desire to close the distance.

[illmetkismet]

Hiiiii ~

If it's alright to ask, what's your opinion and thoughts about Leon's relationship with Luis and Ashley? :)

I'm asking cuz i love how remake improved then vastly and now they've become such loved characters. Even if we might never see them again 😭

Hiiiii Anon, thanks for dropping in! You're not gonna get a nuanced answer from me: I love the RE4 remake passionately and unconditionally. What they're done with it, particularly with the writing and voice acting, blew my mind. I love how Leon slowly comes to care about both Ashley and Luis, how we see these little moments where he lets himself be tender with them (Luis' whole death scene, Leon and Ashley's talk after she stabs him where he comforts her, the way he rushes to hold her hand as she screams in pain during the plaga removal).

I love how they carefully tied the characters with the themes of the game: hope in the face of horror, what it means to grow and change, and most importantly, I think, that we have to look out for each other.

I'm thinking about Luis' note on how he ultimately betrays Saddler because he can't stomach how he treats the people of Valdelobos, all the co-op segments in the game where you can't progress unless you work together with Ashley, even the after-credits bit where Ada realizes what Wesker is planning and refuses to be a part of it.

And Leon..... The difference in him from the start of the game to the end! He arrives in Valdelobos at the end of his rope: he's traumatized, he's alone, he's desperate for something different than the ongoing pain and loss he's been going through since Raccoon City, and.... He gets just that....! Look at him at the start of the game vs. the end:

He saves Ashley, things are different this time, and like he says after the plagas removal procedure, the two of them are alive thanks to Luis. Leon let himself trust, to get attached, and the narrative rewards him for it.

They did such an incredible job with this game and with these characters. They feel real, their relationships feel real. Running into Ada and working with Luis and fighting to get Ashley back doesn't feel like you're just racing to some arbitrary quest marker, it feels like you're progressing a story, and that's a rare thing in a video game, much less a resi game.

Anyway, thanks for letting me gush about them!!! My one and only complaint is that I WANTED LUIS TO LIVE, oh god how I wanted him to live. Right up to the end of Separate Ways I was hoping they'd say 'sike you thought he died??'.... I mean, I get it, he has the tragic redemption arc, but in my head he's alive and well.

Aside from that, perfect game, no notes, love every single character and their relationships. Capcom did an incredible job remaking this, which gives me hope for future remakes and installments. In particular, I know ppl hate on RE6, but I think there's actually a lot there to work with, and if they can do with it what they've done with 4 it could turn out incredible. I'm filled with hope!!

[justamagicalpurpleshark]

*SPOILERS* for ML Episode 11: Deflagration (Transmission Part 2)

So, I just watched Deflagration and I have some things to say...

First thing I simply loved about this episode was seeing Gabriel doing the snapping fingers dance/song sequence. Our man was unhinged and insane in a really fun way (he's going crazier and crazier by the episode and i kinda love it). Especially in front of Natalie and her "no fucks given" reaction. I thought it was hilarious.

Spoilers for Emotion in the next paragraph:

Also, tanking into account that this episode comes before Emotion, where Félix does a very similar dance/song of "snapping my fingers", it seems to imply some connection between the two. I'm starting to think Félix and Adrien are sentimonster twins or something, because the similarities between Félix and Gabriel seem to indicate more than an uncle-nephew usual similarities...

On another note, that cute little scene of Djwifi was incredibly cute and I adored Nino's entire character in this episode - super suportive and ready to lead the Revolution (Resistance), eheh

However, can we please talk about Scarabella and Kitty Noire for a minute. I think Alya was really good in her substitute Ladybug role (and was a good throw back to the Origins episodes) with a good amount of foreshadowing and reasoning and to how it works and then didn't.

Kitty Noire and Zoé as a character, however, irritates me to no end. I mean no offense, she's perfectly fine, and it's of no fault of her own. I just don't like that the writers couldn't be bothered to write the redemption arc Chloé deserved, so instead doubled down on her mean girl antics (since season 3) and just created a new character out of nowhere to replace her. Like, do your job correctly, please. I know it's Thomas Astruc's fault because he has always had a strange little hate boner over Chloé - a character he created - and thus Zoé was born. But like, idk i just think her character is incredibly bland and boring (she's just too nice) and feels a bit out of place in our main cast and especially as the Bee Miraculous Holder. She doesn't feel very "queen bee" to me (or "vespera" or whatever, but you get what i mean) ...

(Also this episode was filled with the usual Chloé character assassination *sighs*, oh well...)

Zoé rant aside (sorry about that), i feel like she falls behing Alya a lot in these two episodes in terms of temporarily replacing Chat Noir: she has no relation to Adrien, has never expressed any motivation/traits taht would justify her getting the black cat miraculous; she also doesn't get any in suit moments to justify why it had to be her and no one else (at this point, Nino would have been a better Chat Noir for a narrative stand point but I guess...)

On a lighter note, her last scene with Plagg (although it felt a little "undeserved" for a lack of a better term) was quite sweet and gave me a little hope the writers will do something interesting with her character in the future (I haven't read the bible leaks, so please no spoilers in the comments/reblogs). So, here's to having hope for character development.

Anyway, all around, i think it was a good episode - nothing special but a fun little side quest where our heroes find out they have responsabilities they can't abandon (even for romance) and get saved by the Power Of Friendship (TM).

Feel free to comment on any of my points :)

Now, to thank you for reading my post/rant, have a meme (Spoilers for Deflagration and Emotion):