#because I love the idea of all their traits being combined into a single human being lol

[cold-neon-ocean]

One day I'll properly draw my fankid for Baatar and Kuvira, but I've been thinking about him a lot recently lol While the idea of Baatar siring like a $70million racehorse and him and Kuv ending up with a lot of kids (like his own parents) is all parts intriguing, ironic, and funny to me, in my mind I always pictured them with one kid they can pour all their obsession into. Especially with Baatar having grown up feeling lost in a sea of siblings.

I've had him in my mind for years but in two very different genres, one being the very light hearted Spy x Family-esque younger years and then the later idea where he grows up to be the sort of "next gen" villain who is even worse than his parents were. I always felt Baatar and Kuvira lent themselves well to being the start of a generational antagonist family because I truly feel like their DNA combined would create the Homelander of the avatar universe or something. I just struggle to combine those two aspects into a character that feels cohesive~ (though that is what AU's are for I guess lol)

[elijahs-dumps]

What Happened to Gonzo's Queerness?

Gonzo is, undeniably, the Muppet that Disney has struggled to keep consistent and in character the most. But why is that? If we take a look at any recent Muppets projects, from Muppets Haunted Mansion, to The Muppets (2015), or even Muppets Most Wanted, Gonzo is simply a shell of his former self. An entertaining shell at that, but a shell nonetheless. Before we can get into the how and why though, I’ll explain a little bit of who Gonzo really was when featured in the Muppets of the past. 

A Brief History of Past Gonzo

Gonzo’s key traits have always been that he is zany, immature, unpredictable, and often takes things far too literally. While “Modern Muppets” keeps these core traits in the Gonzo of today, he still lacks his usual depth. Often people overlook the fact that any of the Muppets have depth at all, but they’re all given their own moments, especially film to film.

I think a perfect example of what I’m talking about is his song, “I’m Going to Go Back There Someday”, from the original Muppet movie. Within The Muppet Show no characters ever struggled that much with overarching plots or even real negative emotions that carried from episode to episode. But in film where an episodic format won’t work, you need these small subtle layers. Your characters all have to have more obvious wants and needs to move the story along, or else it’ll all fall flat. This song is just a testament to the Muppets seamless transition from television to film. The number humanizes and grounds a character that is often perceived as ignorant or carefree by giving him a single wish, a wish to return to the sky like he did previously in the movie. Gonzo wants to be free from the world and view it simply as a spectator, completely at peace. It’s a childish wish, but a real and relatable one. The layers of this song can go deeper when you take into account the fact that Gonzo is the only one of his species, and probably spent most of his life alone or without a true home before the Muppets. Combine this with the fact we’re at the lowest point in the movie where all hope seems lost in the middle of nowhere, and then have all the other Muppets in the scene do backing vocals, it becomes a really somber and special moment for the movie as a whole. It connects well with Gonzo, the other Muppets, the film’s story, and audiences around the world. 

Other moments that showcase this level of subtle emotional complexity can be found in The Muppets Take Manhattan during the song “It’s Time for Saying Goodbye”, or throughout the entire Muppets from Space movie where Gonzo discovers and comes to terms with his own identity and place within the world. 

Muppets Haunted Mansion tried to recreate some form of a plotline for Gonzo, but because there was such little set up the pay off felt out of place. The idea was to have Gonzo briefly struggle with the idea of being alone and losing the attention of his friends, but it didn’t even really connect to any past storylines with Gonzo or even past moments within the movie, and just felt forced. Especially since he never truly grew at all from this experience either. 

But depth wasn’t the only thing we lost from Gonzo in the “Modern Muppets”, we also lost so much of his queer-coding. In the past, Gonzo has always been shown as unidentifiable in both gender, gender expression, and sexuality. Some of my favorite pieces of evidence towards this include the Gene Kelly episode of The Muppet Show where Gonzo distracts Miss Piggy so he can be serenaded by Gene Kelly. Gene briefly acknowledges how strange this is, but Gonzo seems unconcerned and so the two sing a love song together and all is well. Gonzo often does this, flirting with both male and female guests on the original show, as well as cross dressing throughout all five seasons of the show. Gonzo also cross dresses on the original Muppet Babies show from the 1980s, and there is even a Muppet Babies picture book from 1986 titled “What’s a Gonzo?” in which Gonzo and the other Muppets try to figure out what Gonzo is, only for Gonzo to be confronted by other versions of himself and told that he doesn’t need to know what he is because he knows who he is. Then, of course, there is also the iconic washroom comic strip from the officially licensed “Jim Henson’s Muppets” comics from 1981-1986, which I will be inserting below! 

Flanderization

Flanderization is the process through which a complex fictional character’s essential traits are oversimplified to the point where they constitute their entire personality. The term’s name is a reference to Ned Flanders from The Simpsons. 

While the Muppets aren’t exactly “complex”, they do have a certain level of depth like I’ve previously explained. Watering them all down to their most well known traits is what causes most problems with the “Modern Muppets”. Obviously, all new versions of the Muppets have been put through unfortunate amounts of flanderization. However, even though all the Muppets have suffered through a similar treatment, I still feel like Gonzo takes the brunt of it. This is also because Gonzo is one of the only core Muppets who has become less of a main character than before. Meaning he doesn’t actually get a lot of screen time, especially when compared to the movies from before Disney bought the Muppets. 

Why is This Happening?

This answer as to why any of this is happening at all is actually quite simple; it’s not marketable! In order to rebrand the Muppets, Disney has had to take the safe approach when it comes to reminding people why they liked the Muppets to begin with. However, in trying to keep things simple as far as character work goes, we then lose that character integrity which is what makes these “Modern Muppets” feel so hollow. Obviously this did not work at all, because Disney had stripped these characters so thoroughly, they thought they could do whatever they wanted with them and no one would notice. Cough cough - The Muppets (2015) - cough cough. 

So yes, while Gonzo does keep some basic sense of his personality through taking things too literally, participating in crazy stunts, and just acting pretty random, it’s such a toned down version compared to the Gonzo so many grew up with. Especially when it comes to all his queer coding, Disney is often too afraid of backlash to even put things like that into their kids or family orientated media. This could potentially be a reason why they sort of shoved Gonzo out of the main cast in everything but promo. The only time they attempted this was around 2021 with the reboot of the Muppet Babies and an episode titled “Gonzorella”. The episode was actually quite charming, and follows young Gonzo as he decides how to tell his friends he wants to wear a princess dress to their costume party. It���s a nice concept, completely in character for Gonzo, and a good message for children about how you don’t have to look how people will expect you to look all the time. It also helps to break the stigma around “boys clothes” and “girls clothes”. Still, lots of parents were very angry about this episode and claimed it was Disney’s “new woke agenda” that was turning the Muppets into something they’re not. As if the Muppets haven’t always inherently been queer-coded and a part of queer culture! 

Conclusions

So, if the Muppets are being washed out to their most basic selves more and more with each new project, what does this mean for the future of the Muppets?

Honestly? Nothing good, in my opinion. The franchise has been going downhill for quite some time, but I don’t think I’ll ever come to dislike it. If you don’t like these “Modern Muppet” adaptations, then that’s more than fine. I just personally don’t see it improving anytime soon, especially since Disney so rarely puts out any Muppets content that doesn’t get canceled. If they do put anything new out, I’ll obviously be the first to watch and praise it, because I really do enjoy the Muppets a lot.

I think the saddest thing here, and the reason I made this little essay, is that Gonzo’s queer-coding will only be lost in translation the more that time goes on. At least, that’s how I see it. The backlash Disney got for that episode of the Muppet Babies is exactly the kind of thing the company is always trying to avoid, especially with the media they make for young kids on Disney Junior. I doubt they’ll ever try something like that again in Muppets media aimed for small kids. And in the family targeted content Gonzo has only become a less and less prominent character. 

That being said, this is all just my opinion based on what I have seen and studied.  I will always be holding out a small sense of hope though, and I will still continue to see Gonzo as a queer icon in my eyes regardless of what he does in future projects! 

UPDATE: If you made it to the end of this essay YAYY!! TYSM<33 In case anyone was wondering, my next piece is gonna be about Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows and morally grey characters in general. It will not be a critique of the character or his fan base though! I don’t always hate on everything lol. However I will probably be talking about online book communities, like Booktok, so prepare yourselves for that if you plan on sticking around :3

[flower-boi16]

How I would fix Helluva Boss

I've been getting the passion to talk about (and criticize) this show lately, and I'm planning to make a giant post about season 2 covering each of the episodes (and my issues with each of them), so that post will come soon (though it might take awhile since I need to rewatch each episode). We all know that Helluva Boss has become kind of a mess, so how could we fix this show and make it good? With all the writing issues it has how could we fix it all?

It's actually quite simple, really. In my last post talking about this show I pointed out how it barely actually revolves around its main premise and how only 3-4 out of 15 episodes are related to it. So the way to fix Helluva Boss is to make it revolve more around its premise.

Since we're revolving the show more around its core premise, it's best to get rid of every single plotline that isn't tied to it (The stolitz stuff, Moxxie's abusive dad, Stolas' drama, Blitz trauma, his feuds with Verosika and Fizzarolli, etc), and only relove the show around the core premise. This would fix the problem of the show barely revolving around its actual premise and would also make it feel more focused since now there are fewer plotlines to focus on (one of the show's major problems is that it's waaaaay too unfocused).

Basically, just remove a majority of the show's plotlines to make it more focused on the I.M.Ps going to the human world to kill people for clients (like the actual premise). The exceptions here are the Cherub and Dhorks plotlines, since those are tied to the show's premise, they can stay, and maybe make both groups recurring antagonists that get in the way of our main characters doing their jobs.

Just make the show a fun episodic adult comedy show about a group of assassins going to the human world to kill people...ya know, like how it was advertised before Viv decided to make the show into a drama with fan fiction-level writing.

Other things would include developing some of the characters more (please for the love of god give Millie and Loona more than one or two character traits), and of course, with these changes, this would also mean that we would have to remove all the episodes that aren't tied to the show's premise...which is most of them. So we're just gonna delete every single episode EXCEPT for Murder Family, Cherub's, Truth Seekers, and Unhappy Campers. We would also need to change the ladder two episodes a bit by removing any connections they have to the plotlines we just removed, the first two can stay the same.

And...that's it really. Now we have a fun episodic dark comedy show that's more focused and wouldn't have a majority of the writing issues that the show we have right now does. In all honesty, Helluva Boss would have been better off as a semi-episodic show because I think it's clear that Viv does not know how to write a serialized show with an overarching story and character development, which is due to a combination of poor planning and incompetent writing.

Helluva Boss does not feel like it was planned at all, and if it was it was planned very poorly, and looking at the writing it clearly shows. Plotlines so far have gotten rushed and underwhelming or straight-up insulting resolutions and the show keeps throwing so many ideas at a wall it quickly becomes very unfocused. Like I said the show suffers from there being too many plotlines and the writers not knowing how to write them.

That's why I decided to gut all of the darker and more complex plotlines that weren't tied to the show's premise, because it's clear the writers don't know how to write a lot of these plotlines and again, the show has too many of them and removing them makes it far more focused. And I left the Cherubs and Dhorks plot lines because those ones actually tie into the main premise. And trying to fix every single plotline would be almost extremely hard to near impossible so it's best to just gut most of them.

Helluva Boss should have been what is initially promised to be; a fun episodic show featuring some assassins going to the human world to kill people for their clients, not this poorly written unfocused mess we have now.

TL;DR: Revolve the show more around its actual premise and gut a majority of the plotlines so it could feel more focused.

Soooo...ya, that's how I would fix Helluva Boss. See ya.

[jmesther]

This entire blog only being ATLA related is just so fucking sad

You're the human equivalent of a background character, only having a single defining trait

Get a fucking life

Well, I play guitar, I sing, I skateboard, I animate, I play piano, I love my boy Jesus, I will listen to music all day long and never get bored, I love to read, I am a very easily depressed kid, my teachers praised me for being such a great writer. My brother even tells me I have too many hobbies and that I just have to pick one so yeah you’re way off. I’ve been told I’m the best person to vent to, so I was actually going to have a blog about that I kind of scrap the idea though. I just decided to have a blog only ATLA related. Because I saw that that was relatively common. Even though I have things that I hate about my life, I love my life, and I wouldn’t trade it for another one. Because this one I have right now is precious to me. I just thought it would be weird to combine my whole self in one blog. Because I am serious when I say I am all over the place.

[doodlepede]

some anon a little whil ago sent me a very grouchy ask demanding that i explain to them what makes someone gay, what would a gay man find attractive in a trans man that he wouldn't find attractive in a woman. yes its exactly as transphobic as it sounds. they gave me zero context, i have NO idea what they were mad about me saying or reblogging, and they didnt return after i answered, so.

i told them, as unsatisfying an answer as it may be, that it literally depends on the guy. sexuality is different for every single human being. a cis gay man may be put off by a trans man's vagina, or he might not be. depends on the guy. gay men dont like every man, maybe he only likes tall butch tops or maybe he likes short twinkish power bottoms, or any other infinite combination of traits

obviously gays and lesbians who get mad as fuck about it and insist that NO that CANT be, those people are actually bisexual they cant call themselves gay!!! are super fucking insecure and need to unpack their baggage and move the fuck on because whooooo fucking cares, youre welcome and encouraged to continue pursuing only people you find attractive, but..... they are raising an interesting question:

where do we draw the line?

this is tumblr not the general public so i assume i dont have to introduce the concept that gender is fluid and individually defined and that labels or a lack thereof are arbitrary but still personally significant. a trans man can still identify with womanhood to any extent he wants to, if he wants to. he can use whatever pronouns they want to, it doesn't matter at all even a little bit, fuck bogus hack pop-biology.

if we can agree that gender is an arbitrary, fluid, personally significant, individually defined performance whose labels or lack thereof don't actually matter that much, why can't we do the same for sexuality?

labels exist to make it easier to communicate, that is the foundation of language as a concept. if we could telepathetically beam thoughts and vibes directly to eachother, there'd be no purpose for all this rigmarole. alas.

we make do with words like "lesbian" to try to eff the ineffable. it mostly works, but it also doesnt. because what does lesbian mean? some will say its when women love or are attracted to women, some will say no that's just wlw or sapphic that includes bisexuals, lesbian is for homosexual cis4cis female uterus ovaries vagina, and some will say thats bioessentialist insecurity, lesbian is for any non-men who loves non-men, and some will say thats fucking stupid being a lesbian has nothing to do with excluding men its about centering women but then what about women who doesn't always or fully identify as women, can they call themselves lesbians, what the fuck does woman even mean, how can you be attracted to a social category defined by a collection of traits not everyone within that category has? maybe you just like vagina, but not all women have those or have them the way you expect them to. or maybe you're more of a tits guy so. and this is, of course, from the lens of someone living in a christian culture whose first language is english. how badly does this spiral when you remember other cultures exist.... does "lesbian" only apply if you speak a romance language?

and to make matters worse, there isnt really a practical difference between kink and "orientation", youre wet either way. hell, orientationplay is a kink and its not even that uncommon. orientation as a concept is supposed to define who youre attracted to even though there's a million exceptions, but there are a lot of lesbians on this website who like at least imagining being fucked by cis men with big ol dicks, there are tons and tons of trans people into misgendering as kink. you dont have to like it, but i follow them, so

as unsatisfying as it may be to some, orientation, like gender, is arbitrary. define it however you want, draw the line wherever you want, or don't, it doesnt matter

the intersection between actual biology, sociocultural concepts, language, and good old fashioned self perception is like. a fucking nightmare if you think about it too hard.

-

in addendum; I would love to more explicitly include intersex people in this post but i don't think i competently can, there are so many different ways of being intersex that i dont think i could do the subject justice. I don't know enough but I need to get this post out of my system. rather than make assumptions and talk over anyone, i encourage you to speak for yourselves.

is tumblr society ready to acknowledge that orientation is a fundamentally shallow and self-limiting understanding of sexuality lol

tldr its just another framework for shoving infinitely complex concepts and experiences into a trinary for ease of communication, backed up by biases and more of the same bogus pop-biology used to justify da sex binary.

ur just wired homosexual or heterosexual or bisexual. uhuh surrrrre. sure. because even though this faulty logic is unjustifiable irt sex, its totally still applicable to sexuality!!!! yeah right

[difty-dift]

Hmmmm actually 🤔

For new people who wanna know your ocs, how's a brief rundown of your lovely guyss?

Sure! and thanks for the ask!

First is K-1! First guy i finalized. He's based off of beefy orc designs (and yes his primary inspiration is Knack from Knack but shut up we're moving on). He's essentially a cyborg, a combination of goblin and human DNA (which is a simple way of explaining the orc like appearance) along with cybernetic enhancements and mysterious ancient technology (seen in his spikes and core). He was created government contracted bio laboratory with the goal of developing a unbeatable super soldier. And they succeeded! He's incredibly strong and dependable, and has never lost a single battle. But he's also easygoing so he knows not to take things too far. The most likely to walk through a entrance sideways

Next is Ing (no torso cause i just love this headshot so much)! He (and Cho) are also products of the same laboratory experiments, but to differing results than K-1. Ing is the combination of the elusive blood of a shadow dragon (the most rare, impervious, and violent species) and the DNA of various beasts needed to keep him alive in the early stages of his development (mainly tiger). Because of all the other elements diluting his draconic essence, the end result was a great lack of any desired traits (wings, protective scales, immense strength, etc.) Deemed a failure by the governement for his lacking potential, he spends his days at the facility at which he was born, helping the researchers and training to be stronger while his friends go off into battle. I made him cause the urge for a tiger oc overtook me, but i couldn't just make i tiger, i needed more. My first 'fursona' i suppose. He is more reserved and quiet than the others but he loves learning and isn't shy about his appearance (though intimacy does get to him sometimes~). Has the least noticeable yawns.

And now Chocoa! You know him, you all wanna fuck him, i get it, it's understandable. He's a bull/bear hybrid, and a chimera like Ing. I saw a artist's interpretation of the mix, thought "Seriously? ", and created him in a feverish stupor. Though the third oc, he was the first successful experiment and had many years of victories before K-1 came along. Developed in a separate facility than the others, he's a an arrogant, bullheaded, boorish, crass, and unpleasant guy, just a right asshole. And his lovely personality shines just as bright on the battlefield, earning him many wins and just as many injuries. There's not really much to him past that; loves to fight, loves to smash, he's a jerk, but can get real soft with enough time. Takes the longest showers.

Onwards to Beryl. He's a lynel, those vicious dudes from Breath of the Wild, yeah? But he was born with a mutation, so his horse half is a lion half instead. Which made him docile as a result. I saw art on twitter of a beartaur i believe and was stricken by a mighty need. And i remembered that lynels are like, so fucking cool. He spends his days mining for jewlel and ore, and trading with passerbys for rupees (which he also admires (cause shiny)). He doesn't really like company and finds being friendly with others awkward (especially cause he cant talk). Never wins a staring contest.

(and yeah just his torso doesn't really do him justice but i very bad at drawing animal legs so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

And finally it's Mozi. He's a forest cryptid, mainly a moose dude. The idea for him sprung up randomly from chatting with a certain someone (⬆) and it stuck in me brain from how good it was. For 7 months. He was so hard to finalize for some reason oh my god. But I managed eventually and i freaking love him. He's just a silly moose guy, wandering the woods and napping. The slowest walker and the fastest sprinter. Though, no one has seen him do either...

And that's that! For now. My mind's always working on new angles and ideas after all. But let it be known i fucking adore all these dudes and seeing other people be like "whoa that's cool!" never fails to make me smile~

[cinnamonest]

Kaeya Alberich - Yandere Profile

YES I love my eyepatch boy!! I really like him as a yandere, because he's definitely got several traits and behaviors that would make him a very unconventional/different yet absolutely terrifying one to have. Him or Diluc as your yandere is basically like playing a game on maximum difficulty. He's so arrogant dammit why does he have to make it hot

More importantly, someone take the ability to write n/sfw away from me I s2g... I go from trying to make serious content to nasty weird kinks and completely feral in .002 seconds the moment I add that readmore

tws: gaslighting, manipulation, yandere, mentions of mutilation

tws (below cut): noncon, a good deal of sadism, mentions of an*l

-----------------

What are they generally like? Lucid, aware? Obsessive? How do they behave?

He's actually one of the worst yanderes you could have in almost every regard, for two very simple reasons: his crippling psychological issues, and his intense selfishness. The first manifests as severe abandonment issues. It's the origin of his unhealthy feelings, most likely. Kaeya doesn't like the instability of people - based on his backstory, people always leave, or die, and even if they don't intend to, somehow it feels like abandonment, and he resents it. People leave him all alone and afraid and uncertain. That's generally all he knows, and despite the smug exterior, he's actually pushed people away quite a bit, keeps everyone at arm's length to ensure they can't become someone too important for him to accept their sudden absence. He can't care about someone, because that someone is fated to inevitably leave him, no matter who it may be.

That's why, once you manage to worm your way into his feelings and heart despite his best efforts, once he finally caves to acknowledging the feeling, he's aware. Painfully aware, because be can't stop worrying every waking moment about you, your well-being, your location. It reaches a point where he can't go about his job because he's simply too consumed with his worry.

The solution that kept him safest in the past was to avoid developing emotional attachments, but when he does, he's terrified of both your safety AND you intentionally abandoning him. Really, the latter would hurt worse, since he can't fault you for dying, but to abandon him? It would break him.

And, to some extent, he's developed a lot of  prideful anger about it, deep, deep down. He feels that he doesn't deserve to be abandoned, doesn't deserve to just be left behind under the guise of some greater purpose, and he'll be damned if he just lets you toss him aside like he feels others did. Even if you reject him, he won't accept it. You don't get to reject him. He won't allow that. What has he ever done to deserve everything that's happened to him? Nothing. You're the one person who has stayed with him, and you're going to continue to be with him. Forever.

That being said, he's still somewhat confident because he's got that arrogance about him. He doesn't perceive rejection, because he's always gotten a lot of attention for his looks, even if he's never actually followed through on anyone else's attention out of those same fears. He'll write off any perceived rejection as being for some other reason, something besides an actual rejection, and he'll seek to eliminate whatever he feels is keeping you from just accepting him.

Honestly, one of the most likely to have a full blown, classic-yandere-style psychotic breakdown. He can be driven to a snapping point, if there's enough stress or obstacles, and in case of that, he'll be a lot more willing to kill, and a lot more willing to hurt you, but it's a point that would still take a lot to reach.

But what's really terrifying about Kaeya is his delusions, primarily his ability to mentally justify everything he does without hesitation. Even most delusional yanderes struggle - they feel like it's wrong, they know it is deep down, and they take time to convince themselves of their delusions, tell themselves it's ok over and over, beg for reassurance, and get defensive when called out because they know they're in the wrong. The same isn't true for Kaeya. He automatically justifies his actions by default, and has absolutely zero doubt or hesitation to do so. He doesn't even need a complex reason for justification - it's a simple one. He deserves what he wants. Anything necessary to achieve that is fair.

How likely are they to kidnap their darling? How quickly will they do so?

Highly likely and very quickly, right up there with Diluc and Razor. And he's absolutely remorseless about it. It ties back into his delusional state and ability to justify anything he does - this is what's best for you. If you don't get that, that's your problem, not his.

He's another one to not want to pull some barbaric move like knocking you out, rather, he'd rather just trick you into walking right into your new home. He gets that you'll be upset about it, but to him, that's just part of the process. Not that he'll tolerate it for too long. 12, maybe 24 hours is enough time for you to reasonably be upset, but if you're still trying to fight him on this after that, he's going to get snappy about it, thinking you should already be over that by now.

How difficult is it to escape from them? How do they keep you restrained? How do they deal with attempted escape? 

You're not leaving.

It's not worth trying, really. How he manages to do it is a mystery to you, but he'll manage to keep you locked in right there at the headquarters with him. How Jean and Lisa haven't found out about you being there, how he convinced all of his guards to be on his side of things, you have no idea. Realistically, if you get out, he's likely to make you out to be some kind of criminal that needs to be found -- just not to hurt you in any way, so goes the order, and the knights know better than to question why.

He has eyes and ears everywhere, it won't take them anytime at all to find you. He's so confident in that, and combined with his pride, he doesn't feel the need to go get you himself. No, it's a lot more satisfying to sit back and watch as they drag you through the doors of the headquarters, slowly pull you to the end of the room and drop you down at his feet, where he can look down on you with that closed-eyed, artificially wide smile that tells you that you have seriously fucked up.

Escape attempts aren't going to be met with a single shred of mercy, really. The thing about Kaeya is he's ultimately a selfish, selfish bastard with a lot of deep-seeded, highly repressed emotional issues, and he has absolutely no problem with keeping you bound hand and foot, or maybe even make some permanent modifications to your body if that's what it takes to keep you. It's not a wise idea to even try unless you're absolutely certain to succeed, otherwise you may find yourself never getting the opportunity again. You don't really need those Achilles tendons intact, you know. And your ankle bones are just so fragile, they'll snap with just a little twist. Actually, that wouldn't be too bad, giving you more reasons to be grateful when he's doing everything for you.

He's not one to just let it go, either. No, escape attempts are the one unforgivable thing for him, the one thing that will make him totally and completely snap. You don't get to do that. You're the one thing that doesn't get to just disappear out of his life in a flash. Half the reason he sends the knights to get you rather than going himself is to give him some time to let the rage settle down, otherwise he knows he might not be able to control himself and might end up hurting you even worse than he intends to. He's not going to buy any excuses and won't go any lighter on you if you beg and grovel or anything. But you will apologize -- you get to choose how hard it is. You can apologize the easy way, or, if you don't want to, there are many ways to force it out. But by the end, he'll get an apology, and a promise to never try again, out of you, no matter what that takes. It's by far the worst state you'll ever see him in, and really, once is enough to dissuade you from trying again.

How easy are they to trick, deceive, or manipulate?

You'd have to try pretty hard. He doesn't have the sheer amount of years of life experience like Venti or Zhongli, but he's not the captain for no reason - he's perceptive, and highly intelligent.

Rather than simply mastering reading human voice and facial expressions for telltale signs of deceit, he's good at learning individuals in particular - memorizing the patterns of thought and action of a particular individual, and predicting how they will act. He can do it with everyone else with ease, how much more, then, with the object of an obsession? If you're trying to formulate some plan to trick him, he'll already predict what you'll do, if you lie, he already knows. It's creepier than the others, really, because it's not just that he can tell when you're lying, but rather he already knows you're going to lie or try some scheme before you do it. It feels so tailored and personalized to your thought patterns, it almost feels like an invasion of the privacy of your mind, which, really, is the one privacy you thought you had left.

He's great at gaslighting himself, too. He's a very good liar, and can make you believe anything he wants. He'll target your fears and paranoias, make you believe you're going crazy, and he'll do it all so perfectly you'll never suspect a thing. You'll end up coming to him for protection and guidance, exactly as planned.

How lenient are they? What privileges can you have, and what will you be denied?

Pretty strict. He doesn't let you have any outside contact, and you're limited on what you can do when he's gone. He'll bring you some books, maybe something to draw on -- no sharp writing utensils, though. In his mind, that should be enough to occupy you.

You won't get outside walks or visits. It's just too risky for him, and he really doesn't like seeing other people look at you. If you really, really beg, and you've been on amazing behavior, and you're well into your relationship, maybe a few months or so, there's a chance he'll take you out at nighttime, or sunrise, but at the slightest sign of intentions he doesn't like, you'll be dragged back, and you won't see the sun for a long time.

You'll have a very limited wardrobe, he doesn't see why you even need to wear anything, but if you're going to be stubborn, he can get you something simple, like an old shirt and some underwear, but that's about all you can have. Any requests for actual clothing are going to be denied. It's ridiculous for him to spend money on something you don't need, and besides, he prefers it this way, y'know?

What kind of rules do they have? What kind of punishment would they use?

Generally, it's a simple one: obey. You do what he tells you to do, and you don't do something if he tells you not to. This stems to similar rules that develop: be submissive, don't be argumentative, don't be defiant. Follow those, and you can both be happy, and that's what you want, isn't it? It had better be - he's not very lenient, and will harshly punish even small offenses. As for that punishment... most of it isn't going to be sfw. That's just how he is.

What he will do is emotionally manipulate you, and he's rather good at it. You wanted to escape? Ok. He'll let you have your way, let you be alone. All alone. All by yourself, in a little room, with no one at all, which is exactly how you would have left him, had you succeeded. He knows very well how that kind of loneliness bites. He's not totally cruel, though, and he won't withhold affection from you by the time he returns -- he doesn't need to, you'll already be crying and apologizing, which is exactly what he hoped for. Not that he won't briefly mock you for it.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're crying like that because you actually missed me. Oh, you did? Being all alone isn't particularly fun, now is it? I'm sure you understand that now."

How do they deal with rivals, or perceived rivals? Will they get rid of them? Will they kill them themselves, or find another way?

Kaeya's an insanely jealous person. It doesn't show on his face, but it eats at him internally. It doesn't matter if it's a love interest, a platonic friend, even a family member. It's all the same -- people who want to take your attention away from him, people who you smile at that aren't him, people you love that aren't him. He's not one to delude himself into thinking everyone secretly loves you romantically, rather, it doesn't matter. Romantic interests are the worst threat, sure, but friends and family aren't much better.

He sees himself as above killing, though. He has people to do that for him, and he likes knowing that he has that much power. He's not going to dirty his hands with it, and frankly, they're not even worthy of his time and effort to kill them. Knights and other connections can take care of it just as well.

How easy is it to make them mad? What does their anger look like?

As somewhat previously discussed, the primary form of making him mad is attempting an escape. That's on a whole new level of anger because it strikes at a very deep, wounding insecurity. On a normal day, though, he's more easily exasperated than angry. He gets frustrated somewhat easily, especially if you're trying exceptionally hard to be a brat. He has very clear warning signs. His signature little smirk drops, he gets quiet, he balls his hands into fists and digs his fingernails into his palms. At that stage, he's irritable and might snap at you, but won't get too angry until you ignore those signs and push it.

If you do push him, though, he gets genuinely mad, which is a very quiet anger at first -- he doesn't talk much when he's mad. He acts. You'll know he's snapped when he puts down whatever he's doing, and just silently stomps over to you, face completely empty and flat, looking down at you with a cold expression. It's enough to put fear in you, but at that point, even if you apologize, you're not getting out of whatever he's planned.

So they see you as above them, beneath them, or equal to them?

Strongly in the "below" camp, a rather unusual stance for a yandere. Like many things with him, there's an inexplicable duality going on there.  You would think that if you loved someone so strongly you'd kidnap them, kill for them, and potentially suffer consequences just to have them, that you would really think highly of them. On the flip side, you would think that if you really saw someone as lowly, you wouldn't care for them, you'd see them as disposable.

But neither is true for Kaeya, no, he balances both obsessive love and complete narcissism regarding you. You're not disposable, no, he can't live without you, he needs you. But at the same time, you're not gonna be on any kind of pedestal. No, if anything, he sees himself on one, more like a throne, and you on the floor before him, how things should be.

He has a similar mindset to Zhongli or Albedo - you're fragile, you're dumb, you're incapable, and you need someone to care for you, protect you, guide you, someone who knows what's best for you, since you clearly don't. However, he's lacking in the attitude those other two have -- there's no seeing you as an angel here. There's no viewing himself as being absolutely honored to take care of you, or viewing protecting and caring for you as some kind of privilege that they're blessed to do, the way those two do.

No, as much as he loves those things, he'll never admit it, not even to himself really. Rather, his mentality is that you should be grateful. Here he is, a very highly respected, accomplished, capable person, and you...? You have what to offer, exactly? That's right, nothing, really, only cuteness and obedience, the latter of which you refuse to give him even though you really ought to. He's taking on the burden of making sure you don't get yourself killed, and how do you repay him? By getting mad about it, throwing a fit like some little kid? He puts up with your tantrums, which are really undeserved, by the way. He puts up with your disobedience and repeated rule violations, your sheer determination to defy him when he's going out of his way to do what's best for you.

One day, he thinks, you'll mature a little bit and understand why he does what he does, and when you do, you'll come groveling and sniffling about how sorry you are, how you'll never defy him again, how you'll be good and obedient from now on, and he'll love every second of it. He looks forward to that day quite a bit.

"Sigh... you know, you're pretty lucky I love you so much. You could stand to show me a little thanks, don't you think?"

How determined are they for you to love them? How hard will they try to make it happen? Or are they content just having you?

He's strongly determined, and yet... doesn't do much to try. It goes back to his mindset that really, you're the one who should be grateful for him, and eventually, you will love him. He's not gonna grovel to you or try different ways of making you love him, no, he's far too proud for that. But he's a smart man. He knows the effects that complete and total isolation other than one other person can have on someone. He's just going to sit back and wait for that effect to kick in, and slowly watch your fragile little mind deteriorate until you're desperate for affection. At which point, well, he can use it against you.

"You were so mean to me before, weren't you? You fought me every step of the way, and now you're just going to turn around and act like that didn't happen...? Well, if you're really sorry, I'll forgive you. But how am I supposed to believe you really are...? Maybe you can think of a way to prove it, hm?"

Bonus: Is there anything that makes them unique, in comparison to other yanderes?

Probably the severity of his degradation. As aforementioned, most yanderes, even the more confident or cocky individuals, either worship the ground their beloved walks on and sees themselves as beneath them, OR sees their darling as some sort of fragile, angelic being, and they are simply a protector or caretaker to that being.

It's a bit different with him, ever the narcissist. It's a strange duality born out of a rare mix of neediness, obsession, and pride. You're more like a toy, or a pet - an invaluable pet that he could never part with, but a pet nonetheless. He certainly looks down on you more than the average yandere - he mentally associates you as naive, fragile, even dumb like a lot of the aforementioned protector/caretaker types, but without the reverence to make up for it.

It's a bizarre duality that not even he fully understands - don't think for a moment that that means he'll ever tire of you, or view you as disposable. No, he's actually one of the most obsessive ones, yet very demanding of attention and praise, rather than giving it.

He frequently tests you - things like leaving the door unlocked, waiting outside just to see if you'll try it. Seeing you open that door, watching your face go from ecstatic excitement and drop to wide-eyed terror, it's priceless.

"My, my, you didn't waste any time at all, did you? Why do you look so surprised...? You should know I wouldn't slip up that badly."

Pet names, but in the most infuriatingly condescending way, and uses them more often when he's mad and trying to warn you that you're pushing his limits. Particularly fond of "sweetheart," especially with a low warning tone and clenched teeth.

General perverseness: how sexual of a person are they? What’s their drive like? How touchy do they get? Do they have any reservations about sexuality?

Horny fucker, all the way. The man has a lot of stress and frustration in his life already, that much more if you're... less than compliant with your new lifestyle. Sex, especially rough and hard, is a fantastic stress reliever.

Very little reservation. He's not crude about it, but he tends to make subtle innuendos very frequently, and laughs at your embarrassed reactions. Definitely the type to pull the whole shtick in which he says something with a blatant sexual undertone, then elaborates in a way to make it sound like having meant something else, follows with that smirk and says, "Why? What did you think I meant?" It's something he really enjoys doing, and loves to get embarrassed reactions out of people, particularly yourself.

"Touchy" doesn't begin to describe it. Pretty much from the moment you meet him, he's got his hands somewhere on your person. He grabs your shoulders when he stands behind you, he wraps an arm around you from the side when he walks up to you, he's always pressing his hands on your back and sides whenever you're navigating the streets, walking through doorways, wraps an arm around your waist when sitting next to you. It's highly uncomfortable, but really, he's just got something very subtly, but very strongly intimidating about him. You almost don't want to confront him on it. If you do, he'll laugh it off, and stop -- for maybe 48 hours or so, and then he'll be right back at it.

To the surprise of, well, everyone who's ever met him, he doesn't actually live up to the rumors of having been around the block, so to speak. His experience is actually little to none - that kinda happens when you push everyone around you away. Not that he'd ever let you know that, of course, and will probably lie if asked, but you can gleam a little bit of truth from slightly awkward movements and a bit of noticeable shakiness.

How forceful are they? Do they care about your willingness?

Kind of like Razor, the issue is that he loves you, and what better way is there of expressing love? He's not much for gift-giving or words of affirmation - no, he's a lot better with words of degradation, it comes more naturally to him. And he's certainly not one to enjoy acts of service -- well, not doing them, he'll gladly take them as a sign of your love, though. No, he expresses love through touch. It's like how, when you hug someone you really love, someone you missed, you squeeze them extra tight - the love manifests as a physical urge for some strong expression. Humans are physical about their emotions -- we punch walls when we're mad, we jump up and down when we're happy, and when you love someone, sometimes you just really, really want to pound them into a mattress as hard as physically possible. That's normal. That, and really, he's got his vices. He's actually fairly weak when it comes to resisting temptations, and prone to give in to urges for physical sensations like drunkenness and sex.

Is another one to be convinced that, with time, you'll come around. And is absolutely the top candidate to be one for using your own body against you - if you get wet, if you whimper, if you cum, that's just proof that you really do want this, that you're just being difficult because you enjoy being a brat, and he'll be sure to tell you that.

What sort of kinks or fetishes do they have, or would they fill?

This is nearly indistinguishable from punishment, sadistic bastard

D/S dynamics

Arrogant fucker wants to be served and worshipped, you could see it coming from a mile away. Anything that puts you beneath him is going to make him happy - anything where you're where you're supposed to be. There's a lot of options, but it doesn't really matter, as long as he feels like he's in control and ownership of you in some way, and as long as you act accordingly.

He wants it to be something that’s not just for sex, but rather, he’ll end up carrying it over into normal life, whether you like it or not. If you just went along with it in hopes of getting it over with once he cums, you’re going to be in for a treat when it starts to carry over. He gets a little too used to being worshipped, and decides he likes that submissive attitude on you enough to want to see it all the time.

Petplay/Collaring

It really helps that he sees you as something of a pet already, but really, the collar is the selling point. Even if you never go outside, there's something unbearably hot about the possessiveness of it all - really, it's there to remind you of your status as property. He wants to own you, and for you to be forced to acknowledge that he owns you, and there's really no better way to do that than something with his name on it. It's even better with a leash, one he can pull on when he's fucking you to pull you back onto him over, and over, and over, hearing it choke you the more he shortens it.

But really, having you crawl towards him on all fours and obey little commands so simple they're humiliating is pretty nice, too.

Impact pain/painplay

There's really nothing quite so powerful feeling as watching you cry and squirm from it, y'know? He's another one that just likes the marks his hands, belts, or anything else can leave all over the skin of your ass and the back of your legs. The thing with him, though, is it's not even always a punishment, he just does it for fun, and that makes it unpredictable. Will definitely make you count, it's a sadistic torture for your mind and body.

Throatfucking

May be used as a punishment measure, may just be because he's craving it, either way, even if you have a gag reflex, you won't for very long. He'll train it out of you gradually, grabbing the back of your head and just slamming all the way down into your throat, holding you there, making you choke - it's a beautiful sound, really, listening to you gag, all while your throat spasms around him, it's the best feeling, really, and will definitely be used as a threat if you need incentives to behave.

Choking

Ties into the dynamics, but really, there’s not much to say on this one. He likes the power trip from having his hands wrapped around your throat, seeing you struggle, watching your face go red, hearing those little choking noises. It puts power over you into his hands, and if you get pleasure from it against your own will, that’s even better.

How do they feel about pregnancy or babies? Do they want them?

Absolutely one of the ones to use it as a tool. If you have a baby, you'll be so much more bound to him. You'll need him more, you'll want him around more, you'll be much less likely to leave, and in a way it feels a little bit like a sign of ownership over you.

That being said, he's also acutely aware of his jealous tendencies, and realizes he would also be very likely to become jealous if he felt like you loved a baby more than him, or gave it more attention and affection than you do him. He doesn't like the thought.

So ultimately, the latter side prevents him from willingly trying, but if you really, really have defiance issues even after he's tried everything he can to break you help you adjust, he might consider it.

What kind of (nsfw) punishments would they use?

If it's mild enough, he can just take the route of extremely rough fucking - it gets rid of the frustration, he likes hearing you whimper and squeal, and he can leave lots of little bruises as reminders of what not to do in the future.

But, again, he already gets off to putting you in pain - it'll be that much worse when you've done something to deserve it. Harder hits, no mercy whatsoever, and he just loves all your little cries, wiping away your tears and smiling at you, right before bringing down whatever instrument of pain he's chosen again. If you really, really make him mad, and he really wants to make you cry, he's not above fucking your ass, either, watching you cry and beg, but you'll learn with time that begging doesn't ever get you out of anything.

What body parts of their darling do they like the most?

Definitely an ass man. Likes fucking you in doggy, seeing the ripple every time you bounce back off of him, pulling your hair or arms to add some force. He likes seeing all the little red marks that his hands and belts and anything else will leave on the skin, views it like marks of possession. Grabbing, beating, fucking, it's all good.

[shinimout]

Oh you’ve really opened pandora’s box with this one buddy—

BUT YES, I WILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING. Good luck understanding any of my ramblings

First and foremost,, i’ll share that the funniest thing is that Vaati initially wasn’t going to be a character in ode to love & lament. I happened to need another villain, and was considering bringing a sorcerer to the mix,, when Vaati came to mind and I decided the gremlin was the perfect addition. And despite being a last-minute addition, he was the third villain to get designed (after only Shadow and Ghirahim). Once his design was done I took a look at it and thought “haha he looks like he could be Ganon’s concubine.” Followed immediately by “WAIT WHAT IF—”

That idea was paired with a decision to not put Vaati on the same level as the other villains. Seeing as he’s been a stand-alone antagonist and actually has the ability to kill Zelda, dropping him in the same block as characters like Ghirahim and Volga felt a little ehhhhh.

The combination of the two slowly evolved to what we have now: Vaati and Ganon being nearly on the same level and decimating Hyrule together as the world’s most feared power-couple.

THANK YOU FOR SPECIFICALLY ASKING ABOUT HIS ARMS!!! This is a trait that I gave the Minish- based on the type of magic they use, they get markings on their arms themed to their respective element. So Vaati, a wind mage, has wispy, blue markings.

It’s because of how these markings present that he’s exiled. Vaati has a knack for dark magic from a young age, but is warned by Ezlo not to use it. But during a conflict between the Minish and the humans, Vaati uses dark magic to protect his home. But it’s hard to be discreet about using forbidden magic when your arms visibly change when you do. As a result he’s shunned and forced into exile.

Shortly after, he stumbles through the Gerudo desert and meets Ganon,,

Ganon’s reaction to Vaati is exactly like the little Gerudo girls in totk,, struck with the “a boy!” surprise, he brings Vaati back with him to Gerudo Town. Rules are broken and Vaati is allowed to stay as a “unique exception.”

Fast-forward several hundred years and due to issues regarding sexism and racism they’ve laid 3 sieges on Hyrule Castle, defeated each time by a different Hero of Time and Zelda.

What starts off as a morally-sound attempt at revolution at the first siege eventually gets lost in the hate towards Hyrule as a concept. While Ganon retains more of a semblance to an actual goal and desire to topple Hyrule’s social and political constructs -albeit overpowered by his hatred- Vaati is just here to see the world burn at this point.

After their 3rd siege, Ganon is banished to the Sacred Realm (because the dark realm failed last time) and Vaati is sealed away by the Master Sword.

Ganon ends up getting the Triforce, it splits bla bla bla,,, NOW ONTO THE SAGES I WILL EXPLAIN MY DECISION—

I used windwaker’s sages, making Makar and Medli the sages of Farore and Nayru respectively. But then there’s no sage of Din?

And what better candidate than Vaati? Whose desire for power may as well outweigh Ganon’s? Who at this point has the single goal of pure chaos? But will still stop at nothing to see Ganon’s visions realized?

Plus I now had the excuse to add the symbol of Din to Vaati’s markings and that’s a win no matter how you look at it hghfhfijk

I’ll also go into the malice concepts, since they’re here! These were concept designs for Vaati’s phases in the final battle

In botw/totk the ability to create malice and gloom is generally reserved for Ganon,, but in to ode to love & lament I made it so that the creation and use of both is credited to Demise.

Because of this, Ganon -as the reincarnation of Demise- has the ability to create gloom. And Vaati, the more vindictive of the two, inherits the ability to produce malice when he becomes a demon.

It’s also thanks to the abilities being able to use malice gives him that Vaati is able to create Shadow!

k that’s all I can think of right now gjegdyrgf

In conclusion I love them very much, so thank you for asking me to talk about them~

can—

can you tell who my favorite is

[snarky-art]

I do know that a lot of people don't like Lovix for how impractical it is, which I don't agree with bit I definitely get. Personally I like them wayyyy more than Believix so they both hold a special place in my heart

The orginal vibe of Lovix is everything tbh. I love it when the girls outfits are impractical in character defining ways. Bloom getting her magic Winx in the middle of combat and still getting a skirt, Tecna's magic winx being mostly practical but being unable to resist a pair of heels, the Trix with their skinny tall heels. There's something so fun about these and idk I love them

Like like, I just love the vibes from your Lovix

Tecna: I am going to be so warm in this winter transformation. Everyone is going to wish they were as fluffy and warm as I currently am

Musa: so anyways, both my leg and arm are going to be out for the fashion

It's just??? So much fun???

Bloom also looks like she actually wants to look like she's realistically warm, while Stella Aisha and Flora were all separately like "lmao maybe, but what if I made it fashion instead" 😆��💕💗 I just adore it so much

My favorite ones are probably Bloom's and Flora's. Probably because I love that shade of blue and pink 🥰 and I'm a sucker for winter dresses 😅

Flora's top is v good like it a lot. It has the most amazing of vibes. That and Bloom's wrap around thingy

Oh and stupid question, but is there a reason that some of the Believix wings are three tiered and some have a normal two parts?

Also those are some funky and fresh Tecna wings /big positive

You are SO SWEET THANK YOU SO MUCH😭 you get the vibe

Tecna is super covered because of Practicality since they like to dress for the occasion combined with this outfit being similar to their home planet’s clothing. This is the kind of weather they grew up with and their fit reflects that.

Flora’s was my favorite of the og designs so I tried to keep the most elements from that in hers and Bloom has always been more practical in their stuff so I thought it made the most sense for her to have her clothes reflect that. Her body runs warm because of her Dominion traits so she has a natural slight resistance to the cold actually but her more human sensibilities definitely shine through in her transformations.

And as for the wings, I’ve tried to keep the shapes and tiers similar to their winx wings! In my mind winx is basically what they are at their core, so I think it makes sense to try and keep certain elements from that present in their later forms.

Stella has 3 on either side, so I try to keep that element. I also try to make hers seem more intentionally gaudy because she loves attention.

Bloom has more of an earth view of fairies from having that be her hyper fixation her whole life so she has a more butterfly style look to hers in most of her transformations.

Flora only has the single wings that look like leaves, so I try to keep her tiers connected most of the time and have them look like flower petals or leaves. This also represents her more closed off and shy nature.

Tecna has those single funky diamond ones, so I try to keep that vibe most of the time.

Musa has the thinner ones that go up and down and thicken some near the end so I try to keep that curve in hers and have separate ones. They also look like they have a cd shine so I try to keep a music style motif in a lot of hers.

For Aisha’s, I basically took her more jagged looking wings from canon and spaced them out after she gets her enchantix as a way to symbolize her breaking free from her more rigid court protocol stuff that’s been ingrained into her. I also love the idea that her wings are always kind of showy and big but unlike Stella’s it isn’t intentional since Aisha is genuinely very sure of herself all the time whereas Stella’s is sometimes based on covering insecurities and desperately wanting to be the center of attention.

There’s more of a departure from this in forms that involve a more outside source like Enchantix which is based off of their culture from their home and cosmix which is tied to the universe assigning celestial elements to them, but yeah!

[my-writings-and-musings]

Could you do Fort Max and First Aid for the oxygen loss?

Seriosuly loving it, angst and comfort/fluff is the best combination lmao

It is the best combination and those are two of the best boys so I am ON IT! Fort Max is in part eight listed below, but here's First Aid!

Part One: Here!

Part Two: Here!

Part Three: Here!

Part Four: Here!

Part Five: Here!

Part Six: Here!

Part Seven: Here!

Part Eight: Here!

Part Nine: Here!

Part Ten: Here!

Part Eleven: You're Here!

Part Twelve: Here!

First Aid

·Ever one for new experiences, he'd been quite enthusiastic to have a human join the crew, and perhaps it was his penchant for thoroughly appreciating every unknown he came across that had led to your fast paced courtship. The bot had simply demonstrated an almost overwhelming fascination towards you from day one, and in short time the connection between the two of you had been discovered through his efforts. Now you were nearly inseparable. Off days and breaks are always used for bonding, and today is no exception. Atop his lap as he sits comfortably, you happily listen to his enthusiastic and commentary filled reading of a Wrecker's Declassified, loving how he has the most obvious and adorable starstruck look while doing so. You could listen all day just to see his schoolboy crush play out before you.

·For him, having someone who listens and values his opinions without hesitation is enough to get his spark humming. He's rather accustomed to being passed over for bots with more experience and fame, so seeing your eyes focused on him with such rapt attention is... well, it's just nice. Finding you exceptionally adorable doesn't make it any less sweet. Being human also means a great deal of his favorite topics are new to you, so he gets to introduce you to all the wonders of the Wreckers, something that he loves every moment of. It's also not unpleasant to have your tiny body close to his, practically snuggling against him... Cuddling is something more or less new to him as well, so having it at all is yet another wonder you've brought to his life. There's a vague hope in the back of his processor that he'll be brave enough to suggest sharing a berth someday, just for a nice nap together, as he's not yet been brave enough to ask such a thing of you.

·Unfortunately, the universe has very little respect for his plans. Accustomed to interruptions as an always on call medic, he can't help but be a little frustrated when Ratchet starts comming him out of the blue, but he knows better than to show it. Something serious must be going on if their CMO needs assistance. Still in your partner's lap, you watch as he answers the communication, quite used to sudden messages like this pulling him away. It's a part of dating a medic; but nothing about this seems standard. First Aid shifts his expression to one of concern as the voice comes through the comm in broken static, though he's experienced enough to put together what little there is. A warning of failing systems gets him moving on instinct, his arms scooping you up as he moves to stand, and the instructions to head to his emergency stations is almost unnecessary when the line goes dead.

·You're surprised but not offput by the sudden change in your position, if only because being swept into his arms is... very nice. That doesn't prevent you from knowing something is off though, and thankfully he is just as aware of you as he is his responsibilities as a medic, more so of you to tell the truth... A calm visor reflects your face as he lifts you close to relay the situation. Something is wrong with the ship, he explains, and it's bad enough that Ratchet made a preemptive call for medical bots to get moving. That means he needs to get to the medical bay, and before you can ask he brings up the possibility of you coming with him. Worry is just perceptible on his face as he hesitantly expresses that having you there would be safer, and thus he'd feel better... The bashful look is so cute you momentarily forget the danger to give him a reassuring kiss on his faceplate while accepting the proposition.

·Ignoring the stars you make him see with a tiny smooch, he gets right to work, securing you in one arm and ensuring his room is locked before heading out. He can't help but feel protective as he does so, almost like your guard against the threat that feels omnipresent in every hallway. You feel the same, and he can tell by how you hold him tighter in his grasp, something that stirs his spark with almost overpowering affection. It's enough to make him certain he'd fight like a Phase Sixer to protect you... For your part, a similiar drive to keep him safe is present, despite the difference in size between you. Hopefully you help him feel a little more secure as the two of you move through the eerily quiet hallways.

·The protective instincts First Aid has honed in his career as a medic give him a half second warning that danger is inbound, but all he is able to do in that time is curl around you protectively when the world seems to shake itself asunder. Hard floors meet his back in a painful rush, and you're similiarly jostled against him, though thankfully the worst of the blow is softened by his reflexive brace for impact. Tremors continue to rock the ship once you both realize you're on the ground, but a great cacophony of noise fails to die down when the shaking does. It's not a noise you've ever heard before; though you can compare it to metal being torn, the echoing and overbearing sound is at a scale you can't even comprehend.

·First Aid, having a natural coolness under pressure, is able to collect himself even as the situation continues evolving. The alarm begins to go off as he gets himself off the floor, and he notes that had it not the entire crew would probably still be mobilizing. There was no way anybot didn't feel what he just happened to be a front row spectator towards. While being on a ship of soldiers meant backup would soon be available, he had a few concerns that just couldn't wait for the guards to be scrambled. With one path to the medical bay now inaccessible, and you being so vulnerable, he needs to get somewhere safe to plan. He holds you close as the first open room becomes a makeshift shelter.

·Still reeling from the shock of everything, you find yourself atop a table in one of the Lost Light's many maintenance rooms, watching as First Aid attaches a portable operating flashlight to his helm. Before you can ask a single question the light is covering your body as he looks you over, asking for clarification on your basic functions while checking for injuries at the same time. Only when he's satisfied you're stable does the opportunity for speech present itself. Half expecting another massive tremor to hit at any moment, you ask what on earth made the ship move and sound like it had hit a Titan sized can opener, and his visor darkens with worry. You take hold of his hand to reassure and encourage him.

·The explanation is a bit rushed, but understandable; the ship has been ambushed, no doubt the enemy is preparing to board through the makeshift docking station they just created, and enemies will soon flood in... Also, most of the ship's systems appear to be offline. It's bad enough news that you feel suddenly woozy and need to sit back on your little table. Seeing you afraid drives First Aid into action, his processor working overtime to formulate a plan that will get you to safety, though admittedly the situation is a tough one. It's only when he takes proper stock of his surroundings and notes the monitor station that an idea takes shape.

·Intent on finding a clear path, he lays out his plan as he starts typing, explaining his thought process as he hacks into the virus addled program to get what he needs. Though you find solace in his confidence, the surprise from before is still wearing you down. Exhaustion seems to be the only thing you can truly comprehend... First Aid breaks through the enemy programs holding information back, but his victory proves short lived when the many systems start showing their current status, and his triumph turns to horror at one in particular. Critical to your survival, the atmospheric generators are among the malfunctioning systems. Oxygen levels are dropping by the minute. Without a word, he turns on the spot and begins looking you over again, earning a cry of surprise as he scoops you up.

·Alarmed and confused, you haven't a clue what might have spurred the usually in control bot to act so rashly, and have to sputter out the question when your clouded head fails to settle. Something like an explanation pours out of him, but there's very little you understand due to an increasingly sluggish mind. The growing exhaustion alarms him further. There's precious little time before you reach critical levels of oxygen deprivation, and the hypoxia has already rid you of the ability to process the situation... An ache in his spark is joined by one in his head as he tries to formulate a plan, and when he is left with only a long shot, he's forced to take it for your sake. There's a shake in his hands as he cannibalizes the room for parts, throwing together a makeshift air scrubber that will generate just enough breathable oxygen to get you to the medical bay. You smile as you watch him make it, suddenly too tired to stay awake but wanting to watch him craft, if only because his ingenuity is one of your favorite traits. The pleasant haze is still there even as he lifts you again to bring a makeshift oxygen mask to your face and begin running.

·All he can really do is hope, but there's precious little optimism in his spark as he makes the journey to the medical bay in a blind run, not running into enemies by sheer luck. The countless mistakes he's made so far are all that exist beyond your terrifyingly expressionless face. It's distracting enough that he's surprised when the team of Autobots appears from nowhere, particularly as Ratchet is amongst them, but before the CMO can say a word First Aid is pleading with the more experienced medic for help. He feels like a student on their first bad rotation in a hospital ward, facing the possibility of death for the first time, only a million times more agonized because you're on the line. The older bot is mercifully understanding as he gently takes you and guides him back to the medical bay, where he enters a fog and settles in to his job without conscious thought. He sees everything; Ratchet stabilizes you with proper equipment, wounded bots start to come in with news the battle is over, the systems maintaining the ship all come completely online... None of it registers.

·All he can think of is how he failed. The machine he built could have been more effective, he should have predicted oxygen issues from the start, and had he not been distracting you with his foolish interests to begin with... It physically hurts, but he doesn't allow himself even a moment of reprieve from the self admonishment, and dedicates himself entirely to your wellbeing. Every tiny facet of your recovery is microanalyzed, down to the thousandth of a percent. He won't risk losing you to more of his mistakes. It's bad enough that he doesn't permit joy to show on his face when you finally begin to stir, not even cracking a smile when your beautiful eyes finally blink open and you look into his visor. Your own expression, however, immediately shifts to one of exhausted but emphatic relief. Seeing the bot you love alive after the chaos you remember enduring is more than you could have asked for.

·He can't help but be incredibly gentle as he asks how you feel, his affection too strong to ever suppress in its entirety. But you can see the struggle in his actions, having become so accustomed to his presence that the out of character reservation is as obvious to you as a fireworks display, so you quickly ask if he's okay after everything that happened. The innocent question actually makes him flinch. Not a moment later he breaks and loses the calm air of a medic, collapsing into a nearby chair to confess that your injuries are his fault, caused by a myriad of failures he can't reconcile. Head in his hands, he's caught off guard when you make an effort to move from your little bundle of blankets and tubes keeping you stable.

·Before he can say a word to stop you, he is silenced by a little hand taking hold of his digit, and though the mask is firmly fitted you still speak loud and clear enough for him to hear the firmness in your voice. As lovingly as you can, you insist that he stop what he's doing. Loving him is worth any risk, but because he's as resourceful and brilliant as he is, you had made it through a situation most wouldn't have survived. The rest of the universe may not always see his worth, but you do every time you see him. Growing dizzy from the force of your conviction, you're gently shushed and encouraged to lie back, yet to your exhausted delight First Aid appears anything but pained as he works. Adjusting your blankets and tenderly ensuring your comfort, he doesn't need to say thank you through anything but his actions. As always, you've brought him back down from that exhausting despair he grappled with so often in the past. After all, he must be capable indeed to have earned the love of someone so wonderful and unique. The least he can do is show his gratitude in a gentle brush of his thumb over your palm as you drift back to sleep.

[thenexusofsouls]

Muse: Leeloo

[Bio and other information below the cut!]

Type of Character & Fandom/Source Material: Canon character from the 1997 movie The Fifth Element. I used to write Leeloo over at @me-protect-you​​, if you want to peruse her blog, which is left on hiatus for now.

Full Name: Leeloominaï Lekatariba Lamina-Tchaï Ekbat De Sebat  Meaning Of Her Name in Divinian: You can read about it in this post here!  Nickname: Leeloo

FC: Mila Jovovich as Leeloo

Race: An synthetically-engineered carbon-based living being

Age: Unknown; Ancient

Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Bi/demisexual and bi/demiromantic

Occupation: Saving the world? Is that an occupation? XD

Family: None that she knows of.

Potentially Triggering Material in Threads: Violence, depression, death

Negative Personality Traits: She’s impulsive, sometimes too assertive, she takes things much too personally, and she really has no shame with regard to getting naked whenever she wants, haha.

Positive Personality Traits: She’s brave, helpful, curious, optimistic, and tries to see the good in everyone

Background: Leeloo was the fifth element to the other basic four (earth, wind, fire, water) that together would create a weapon of goodness and light that would destroy an all-consuming evil bent on eradicating all life. She could be regenerated from a single cell with the right technology available, and is thus able to survive death. She was a philosophical embodiment of love, goodness, and purity, in addition to being a physically perfect being.

Referred to as perfect or as a “supreme being,” Leeloo’s DNA is far more complex than that of humans. Although she appears human except for her psychedelic orange hair, her DNA contains within it the potential for infinite knowledge and infinite ability. This potential can only be realized, however, through experience and education, both of which she lacks at the beginning of the movie. Through the events of the movie and the experiences she has, she learns about life, love, and hardship, becoming incredibly disheartened. It is only when she feels love for herself and knows that she is loved that her full potential is realized and she is able to combine with the other four elements to vanquish the approaching evil.

Personality: If you’re a fan of Firefly/Serenity, she reminds me a lot of River Tam. Leeloo has no filter of concept of social norms, mostly because she doesn’t understand the point of censoring herself or conforming. She’s incredibly honest, curious, and caring, but she can also kick ass like the badass she is. She’s also… pretty damn hyper, haha. She’s a ball of energy and doesn’t like to sit still when there’s a big wide world out there to learn about. Although, she can easily get absorbed in reading encyclopedias. She loves to learn.

Leeloo is a strange combination of gifted but naïve, wise but innocent. She is innately very wise and has great intuition, but lacks experience and education to start. So she sometimes seems wise beyond her young looks but then at other times she’s very comical and almost childlike. One moment she can fight for her life and the next she can be amazed by make-up. She can be assertive and strong and then suddenly entirely vulnerable. She also thinks in flight-of-ideas and acts on impulse, which goes along with her hyperactive demeanor and her open and honest personality.

One of the most beautiful things about her is that she feels everything to excess. When she’s happy, she smiles and giggles like there’s no tomorrow. When she’s in pain, she cries with a sound that will break your heart. Sometimes this is fun or advantageous for her but at other times, her emotions can hinder her understanding of something or cause her to recoil from those who are only trying to help her.

Potential Starter Ideas:

Unless I get some Fifth Element RPers up in here, I am detaching Leeloo from much of her canon material. I am keeping her appearance, personality, and genetic makeup, but her purpose, origin, and backstory will vary depending upon her starting point. Plotting is probably best for threads with Leeloo so I have an idea of where she came from an what-all she is, heh.

Because of the implication that she can be revived at any time and has existed in storage in some way for thousands of years, she is also able to fit into just about any time period or setting. She could have been found frozen in a glacier somewhere. She could be in cry-storage in a lab. She could arrive in a crashed meteor. An alien ship could land. Use your imagination! =)

Fun facts:

Leeloo’s favorite food is chicken! She can eat an entire bucket of fried chicken all by herself in one sitting.

She loves animals, particularly cats and rabbits. Animals with warm fur are her favorites, although she does think lizards are pretty cool too.

She loves learning in general, but especially languages. She’s a social butterfly, so anything that helps her communicate better with other people makes her happy.

[androgynousblackbox]

Thoughts about the fifth season (spoilers)

Okay, so normally I would make these posts as neutral as possible because I want them to reach anyone who enjoys the show. Even if you are someone that really fucking hates incest ships you can read them and still have an idea of what I liked, what didn’t, etc, without me bringing up that element. You can disagree or agree without being reminded “oh, yeah, he is one of THOSE fans I don’t like” and that is totally fine by me. Curate your own online experience and all that. But this is season is quite literally about the relationship between Rick and Morty, so as a rickmorty shipper I just can’t separate that from what I enjoyed about it and thus I am going to be talking from that position during all of this. If that makes you uncomfortable, that is cool, I get it. You can skip this one if you want. Also, this is going to be a general big mess of thoughts and whatever because I have lots of them so, bear with me. -Some of the shippers I was with on a server will know this already, but from the very first episode I was sure we were going to have two major themes: 1. Rick is a flawed human being, not a god, not a ultra genius who is always destined to be on top of everything and knows how to get out of any situation. Just a man. And that is why he needs other people, which is somethig he had to accept and understand about himself, especially after the fourth season was all about dethroning him as the patriarch of the family and break away the illusions that Beth had about her own father. We have standed too long having Rick win on everything and coming out like a badass, so it’s time to kick him down a bit and let him lose. 2. Morty’s heart is always going to get fucked over, which is something that gets even more explored on the Planetina episode: he wants a place to belong with a person who doesn’t make him feel like the odd one out. Combine the two and my idea was: they want to assure us about their relationship on some kind of way, this is about them and what they feel regarding each other. Probably about why or how Rick became so jaded because why else include Rick freaking out about Mr Nimbus just mentioning Diane’s name and how much he changed, on a first episode no less, if this isn’t something we are setting up to see later. They explicitely brought someone from Rick’s past to talk about that past and make a point to tell us that changed Rick. -So, we have the two major player set up like this: on one hand, Morty aspires for that companionship but he is not willing to compromise his own moral for it, whatever he has left after starting to take on some Rick’s traits. He is desperate for that connection and if that means leaving Rick behind, so be it. Rick will still be there anyway. On othe other hand, Rick also wants that connection and companionship but it’s too disfunctional and can’t make it quite work because there is always a part of him that wants to keep distance. With the alien lady, evne with the crows, it’s all about escapism and pretend like everything is fine, it’s just fun and he doesn’t have to care because they are just having a good time together. He tried to do that too with BP by keeping away the info about his daughter, but he called his bluff because BP knew Rick too much to not see that comic. It’s rebound after rebound because he is missing the one person that can keep him in check, that truly knows what a piece of fucking shit he is and somehow still comes back to him. BP saw that, knew what was happening, and prefered to get the fuck away because he didn’t want to compromise his own values like that either. But Rick doesn’t have that problem with Morty. It truly is Rick and Morty one hundread years because, no matter how fucking bad it gets, they still choose one another. -Now, the way they keep building up this relationship, these connection, even regarding the rest of the family, to me is brilliant in restrospect because it perfectly illustrate how much they have changed from what they were before and what that means. Morty is more independent and less afraid, right, but that doesn’t make him more happier because he is still lonely and Rick is being reminded, over and over again, that he can’t be alone either. -Regarding the way Morty have behaved, I have seen some people being concerned about how Morty is becoming more independent and therefore not relying on Rick as much for anything, so it’s like what is the point of their relationship anymore. And like, to me it makes sense they show because they have already told us on past seasons that Morty has stopped viewing Rick with that wide eyed expression for a long time. He is learning from him and can defend himself, so why does he need Rick at al? The answer is because he loves him. You can read that as platonic or romantic or whatever, but for better or for worse Morty just loves Rick. You shouldn’t love people because you need them, or at least that is not a healthy basis for any relationship. I said this on another post: you cannot make anyone to be your center for your mental health like that, and I feel like they aware of this point, which I really fucking love because it would have been easy as fuck to write any pairing like that.  -If you stay for the “Behind of scenes” scenes, the writers talk about how this season is about building trust between Rick and Morty. So it starts with Morty going around cleaning up some of the messes Rick left behind without telling Rick and then fucking the portal gun because he doesn’t trust Rick to not “kill him” to finding out he did that, just like Rick in fact doesn’t trust Morty to not be doing unnecesary bullshit. So Morty, hurt because his suspicions were right, puts an ultimatum and Rick, being the petty fuck we all know him to be, takes it kind because of course he would. -What does Morty does immediately after this? Latch onto another sketchy as fuck older man whose name ends with Ick and hope that is the connection he craves, because after all “we are like brothers now.” So rebound for him, rebound for Rick, rebounds for the crows, rebounds for everyone. Yay. -I know it has been however many years have passed since this show started, and it was obvious for fucking everyone who watched it, but I do really like that they use the exact words for how their dynamic has been: unhealthy, toxic, abusive. Lack of trust, lack of boundaries, secrets. Just straight up calling it as it is. So they have both of them confronting that fact, being aware of it, and to top it all off, make Morty the only being now on their universe that knows everything about Rick, every single thing he has kept even from BP, like the true reason he joined to their guerilla group, and still makes the conscious choice to go after Rick even when, as far he was aware of at least, there was another option.  -So, okay, now what, might someone ask. We have put everything out there and we have talked about what is wrong about their relationship, does this mean we are doing the boring healthy bullshit now? Well, nope. Considering that Morty did went out of his way to guilt trip Rick into getting back and Rick admits point blank admits he get it, Morty refusing to demand things be different because he is just desperate... they are still and probably always going to be a condependent mess, but hey, a condependent mess that at least is kinda self aware about it and won’t pull the “I am going to break up with you on a whim” move again, hopefully. I do think and expect some things to change, but only as far their dynamic during adventures goes and regarding the rest of the family, with everyone being on the know that those two are an item neither of them can get in between. Rick is probably still going to want to keep some things in control, he is still not going to express his feelings to Morty directly and Morty is still going to be a little shit that will want for validation that won’t come his way. It’s a shithole house, but at leat it’s their home kind of thing, and personally, that is how I like it. -The “adventures as a metaphor for a relationship so this is not like a real break up” is real funny when you hear the writers literally calling it a break up and a relatonship. Also, the amount of times that they say “my partner”. Like, I am sorry, but how the fuck I am supposed to believe this wasn’t for the shippers, fucking how? Like even if you aren’t one, and you go “it’s a metaphor!! it’s not like an actual relationship, they are not saying they are together as a couple”, that is flimsy as fuck because we have determined already that Rick uses adventures as an extension for all his relationships. There is a intentional paralel between BP and Morty and how Rick treats the both of them, like he would do anything for them but still be kind of a lying piece of shit too, so it’s definitely canon on the sense -Omg, we had miniature cute Mortys who like crayons and also big hot adult Morty, fucking finally. I cannot fucking believe they wouldn’t know the blessing they were throwing to fandom with that one, they know what they are doing.  -Rick as a boy dressing on the same colors of Morty could have been a cute little detail, like aww, they are family, so they pass down those colors from one generation to another because family, but fuck all of that, let’s make it creepy and fucked up because why not. But it’s also interesting because if Ricks breeded Mortys and put those colors on them, isn’t that another way of saying “you are connected to us just as much as we are connected to you”? Because they didn’t had to chose those colors, but they did it because it meant something for them. On a very fucked up way, I think they might even feel themselves more fathers to Morty than even Beth, because many of them didn’t cared manipulating her in order to gain more Mortys even if they could just clone them easily. -”You all really are bred for forgiveness”... Not really, or else “Evil Morty” wouldn’t exist and Cop Rick, the good one, would have never been attacked by using the attachment of Ricks against him. But Morty had made his choice and that choice was Rick, and even then Rick cannot fucking believe it so he has to reduce it to his breeding. -So, the finite curve has been destroyed and almost all Ricks were killed, the ones that weren’t coincidentally fucking off to another place just when that happened. That means that now there is true infinite universe where Rick is not the smartest man on the universe, where Rick doesn’t even exist at all, so we may have adventures where other people where the smartest people on their universe and Rick could finally meet his equal or someone even worse.  -The final speech of Mr Poppybutthole is kinda the perfect ending to everything, because he is talking avoid being afraid of the people he loves finding the “true” self of him and not loving him anymore, but Morty did that and he still loves Rick and, listen, I have FEELINGS about it, okay.  -After exploring this, which was the true only canonical mistery of the whole series, while also dumping off the backstory of Rick so nobody has to theorize about it anymore, it feels like they going two routes: either we are dumping anything about serialized anything, at least for a while, and we are back to just silly adventures with asshole grandpa and traumatized kid, or... we are introducing another big baddie that we are going to drag to hell and back. Maybe Evil Jerry? That could be fun to explore on the show. My bet is on the second option because I think that is the kind of thing that Justin really enjoys doing and that is why it appears on Solar Opposites as well, with the whole Wall as a central points behind all the shenanigans of the aliens.  -The only misteries left are: the weird Rick that killed his family, if he wasn’t killed already on the Citadel, and Birdperson reunion with his daughter, for which he might ask Rick’s help in the future when he cools down or maybe Rick gets his daughter back for him on a ridiculous plan to make him return his calls, because that is something he is going to pull. The Jessica thing and her quest for becoming an actual character with her own thing going on. -This finale made rickmorty canon on all the ways it could without having them literally making out willingly, and after Naruto, I don’t think that is a line they are not willing to cross at some point in the future, even if it’s just a joke. They already did with the parasites. I honestly don’t even know how you can watch the show and think “fuck yeah, they hate those ships just as much as I do!”, because with the way the writers talk about it and literally this entire season being nothing but a building up for their relationship, I would have been turned if I didn’t ship it already.

[prismatales]

Hi there the writings are amazing. Can I pretty please have another nighteye one where we just see him as a doting dad before his death with him being that amazing dad. Like just fluffy goodness. Thank you again X

𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑺𝒊𝒓 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒚𝒆

Word Count: 1.2k

Category: Fluff.

Content/Warnings: Just a tiny pinch of angst, No beta read, Nighteye's partner is left ambiguous.

It feels good to catch up with my askbox for once lol. Hope you guys enjoy it ❤.

This man, I repeat...This man has been wrapped around his little girl’s finger since the moment she was born.

He had been away on a mission alongside All-Might a few days before the birth. So he spent the whole time being such a nervous wreck that it almost ended up with All-Might giving him a “Carolina slap” in order to calm him down.

As soon as the mission was over and they were on their way home, Sasaki received a call from the hospital, telling him that the labor had started earlier than the due date and his child would be born soon.

It’s a unique sign for everyone around, to see someone as calm and collected as Sir Nighteye turning into an anxious mess. Literally vibrating in anxiety and paranoia at the idea of something going wrong during the birth while he’s not around.

And as soon as he steps out of the train, Sasaki’s already making his way towards the hospital, unable to think about anything else but getting there as soon as possible for his family.

When he finally arrives at the hospital, disheveled as if he had run a marathon. The first thing he does is rush towards the receptionist and ask for his partner’s room. Completely ignoring a doctor’s shout not to run in the halls as he makes way to the assigned room.

Once he finds said room, he nearly kicks the door down out of panic, and immediately freezes on the spot at the sight in front of him. There’s a pink bundle in his spouse’s arms that won’t stop wiggling and cooing at them.

With shaky steps, he approaches the two of them, being welcomed with a huge smile and a kiss before turning his attention towards the little being cradled in his lover’s arms. A little newborn with the perfect combination of their parent’s traits keeps yawning widely before shoving a tiny fist in their mouth.

“Here, you should hold her.” His eyes go wide open as soon as he hears those words...A girl? He had a daughter? A little girl…?

There’s no wasted time as the small newborn is carefully handed to him with instructions to support her tiny head full of hair, which he meticulously did.

As he observed every single thing, every single detail about the little girl looking at him with eyes full of curiosity, almost like she already knew who was the man holding her. In that moment, Mirai Sasaki was instantly wrapped around his daughter’s finger.

On one occasion, his spouse asked if he’s ever been tempted to use his quirk on their daughter in order to see what awaits her in the future. But as tempting as it is sometimes, he refuses to do so for a simple reason; Because he would rather leave every moment of her daughter’s life as a surprise.

However, there was this time he was close to doing it, after she got sick to the point of having to be hospitalized when she was two years old. A severe case of pneumonia that had both Sasaki and his spouse worried out of their minds.

He refused to leave his child’s side, even All-Might himself told him to take as much time as he needed to take care of the little girl. 

Once his child was finally out of danger, Sasaki refused to leave her side for an entire month, worried and terrified at the thought of losing her.

He’s never missed a single thing concerning his child. Learning to crawl? He was there. First steps? He was the one she walked to that time. Her first words? Well, she actually called out for the other parent. Sasaki kept sulking for three days after that...

An important part of this man’s daily routine is saying goodbye to his spouse and his daughter with a hug and a kiss, resisting the urge to take her to work whenever she starts whining, pouting and leaning over while making grabby hands at him.

But he always makes up for this once he’s back, and the small toddler is sprinting her way towards him with a huge, toothy smile and a loud, gleeful squeal as soon as she hears her father say “I’m home!”.

Everyone at his agency always makes jokes about asking their support agency for an armored baby carrier so Nighteye can bring his child to work...The email with the request has never been sent after he got the stink eye from his spouse.

There’s a running bet at the agency. Will Sir Nighteye arrive with his regular hairstyle or covered in ribbons and glitter after a beaty session with his daughter? You never know which one it’ll be, but during those days he comes looking like the human version of pinkie pie, Miss joke constantly sends him an invitation to team-up.

The day his daughter started kindergarten was a nightmare...at least for Sasaki.

For a little girl that would cling to her father 24/7, she’s awfully calm during her first day of school. Waving goodbye to her parents through the other side of the gate. Her parents however, are making an effort not to weep in front of the other parents as their princess is already making friends with the other children.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go home, princess?” “Yes! Now go save people!”

Did she cry after her parents left? Not at all. Her parents were both pleased and disappointed.

“...What if she doesn’t love her daddy anymore?” “Sasaki, I’ve never seen a child who loves their father more than our daughter.” “But what if--”

His partner was already threatening to call All-Might, ready to ask the hero and ask him to smack his sidekick all over again, that made him shut up in an instant.

He never, I repeat...never misses anything concerning his daughter’s school. A school fair? He’s more than ready to help her out with her project. School play? He’ll be in the first row. and on the rare occasion he’s unable to attend, either his spouse or another sidekick will be there to film the whole thing.

Graduation day? He made sure the camera charged overnight and left it near the keys so he wouldn’t forget it….he also took an additional battery just in case. Every single minute from the moment her class is standing at the front to the moment the teachers handle the diplomas are recorded in HD.

Whatever she decides to do with her future, Sasaki will respect her decision and support her in every step of the way...But that doesn’t mean he’s not worried out of his mind if she decides to go into UA’s hero course. 

That night after dinner the memory of his former mentor won’t stop haunting him, even morphing into some twisted perspective where it’s not All-Might, but his little girl who’s lying in that cold, dark room.

He’s close, so close to forbid her from joining the hero course, let alone allow her to attend UA at all or any hero school...but then again, he knows it’s not fair to forbid her from doing what she loves just because he’s scared of losing his only child.

So, although hesitant, he’ll still support her decision in every step of her career...With one condition…

“Promise me you’ll join your father’s agency after graduating…" “Bold of you to assume I wouldn’t, dad.”

𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕: @bnha-ra @godtieruwu @hanniejji @savagetrickster @shoobirino @sugacookiies @unbreakableeiji @pixxiesdust @hawks-senseis @yikerb @definitely-yours @khemz1312 @sadskater25

[dogduocatquartet]

@kung-slinger i genuinely almost don’t know what to say to this reply, it reads as if you didn’t even look at my post before responding. i specifically said very clearly that i don’t have anything against pit bulls and nowhere did i imply anything about violence being a need for that or any other breed of dog.

dogs will more often than not prefer to avoid fighting, they have a complex language which in large part consists of navigating around conflict (similar to wolves, since you bring that up, since they’re both social species and good communication skills are essential for functioning in groups). there are many breeds of dog that, due to a number of factors, have weaker or less clear body language than others (language between dogs is also in no small part learned, so socialization is also a factor here). pit bulls are generally considered one of these breeds, which makes a lot of the signals they send out disappear or get misunderstood, leading to heightened stress and may accidentally end up in a fight/bite even though the pit bull may have been trying to signal “i need some space”. the exact same could be said for a retriever with poor body language due to lacking socialization. a lot of owners also punish dogs’ ways of communication, such as growling (“leave me alone”), unintentionally leading to their language growing even poorer and instead of a ladder of escalating signals, the dog in question may end up jumping straight from “this is starting to become uncomfortable” to biting, rather than modifying their language accordingly and having opportunity to remove themselves from the situation. none of this is exclusive to pit bulls, but a higher tendency of conflicts CAN be seen in breeds that have poor body language, just as with dogs that are poorly socialized with other dogs.

if the word “aggression” makes you uncomfortable, let’s call it “stress” instead. a stressed dog may engage in behavior we consider aggressive, so these often overlap or are basically interchangeable anyway. some breeds are more predisposed to stress around either other members of the same sex as them or just other dogs in general, though again there are many factors to consider as to why this is. it’s been a while since i read up on this specifically, so anyone is free to correct me on this, but breeds with same-sex stress often have a higher production of hormones, making them more “competitive” with members of the same sex. for wolves, this can be a useful trait if they break off from their original family group (that’s generally what wolf packs are; two parent wolves and their children) to mate, establish their own territory, and create a new familial group (aka pack). akitas, frenchies, shibas, and st. bernards are some other dog breeds that have a relatively high occurrence of same-sex stress. terriers, guarding breeds, and herding dogs tend to have this in higher degrees than hunting or companion breeds. but again, ymmv.

stress, aggression, fights etc. between dogs are also often triggered by resource guarding. any dog can have issues with resource guarding, but breeds that have typically been bred to guard often have a higher tendency of this, and may be quicker to escalate the situation, because that’s what they’ve been bred for. dogs that have been bred to be independent and guard the home also have a higher tendency to “deal with” conflicts on their own, than dogs bred to be more handler-oriented. again, these are things to consider when getting a dog. for some people, these traits are desirable, for some they’re a downside that other traits weigh up for, for others it’s a dealbreaker. all of these are fine, and should honestly be encouraged more, because, as i said, not all dogs are suited for any person, and not all people are suited for any dog.

the reason pit bulls are often overrepresented in discussions of shelters/rescues is partly because it’s more of an umbrella term than a very coherent breed, referring to bull-type terriers and mixes thereof. there technically IS the american pit bull terrier, though this is not a breed recognized by the FCI or the AKC. regardless, a lot of different dogs often get lumped into the same category, especially when the history of the dog is unknown and it kind of looks like a bull-type terrier breed. ive seen plenty of “pit bulls” that probably have more pinscher or molosser/mastiff in them than bull-type terriers. so just on that alone, you have a huge span of dogs with varying temperaments and historical uses, and that’s before you consider more “immediate” factors like genetic lines and socialization (or nurture, if you will). there’s also the fact that due to their appearance, history, and reputation, there are a lot of terrible bull-type breeders out there, who breed for unethical reasons or for profit, which in turn produces a higher amount of dogs with poor backgrounds and poor parentage, which in turn makes a lot of these dogs end up in shelters (good breeders will commonly take the dogs back if there’s an issue or the owner has to surrender it, so more bad breeders = more dogs in shelters). this is not the dogs’ fault, obviously. in my experience, huskies and border collies are also breeds that make up a big chunk of shelter populations, because they might be cute when they’re puppies, but they often end up being more demanding than someone just wanting a family dog can handle. no amount of nurture can change an individual dog’s energy level or need for stimulation. what you CAN do is meet the dog’s needs. this is not the same thing as nature vs nurture. i cant love or train away a husky’s energy level, but i can let it use its natural resources by taking it for longer/more frequent walks/runs, maybe do some sledding/pulling/packing with it, making it a happier and more well-adjusted dog.

i recently saw a family with a staffordshire bull terrier who was very sweet with them and all around a great dog, but who would bark and pull incessantly whenever he’d see another dog. they had no idea how or why this happened, as he was otherwise really nice and they’d tried to socialize him a lot as a puppy. turns out, what they’d done when the dog was younger was let him meet every single dog they saw or walked past on the street, which created an expectation which created stress which ended up in very strong “stay away from me!!!” signals (barking, showing teeth, leaning forward). this is extremely common for dog owners of all breeds and it’s honestly both annoying and saddening, because no dog needs to befriend every dog they happen across, and it’s often counterproductive and create stress instead, especially since leashes limit a dog’s body language. your dog can hate every other dog in the world, but as long as they can walk past them without acting out, it’s literally not a problem. some dog breeds are less inclined to get along with other dogs, and that’s fine! they don’t need to hang with other dogs to be happy and if you train them to walk past other dogs it’ll likely never be an issue. like i said earlier on, dogs will almost always try to avoid conflict when they can, so you’ll be doing you, your dog, and other people and dogs a favor if you stop trying to “socialize” your dog that doesn’t like other dogs with said other dogs, and instead focusing on walking well on a leash. which is something that all dog owners should be aware of, not just owners of breeds that aren’t generally sociable with other dogs or people outside its family, which are typical traits of bull-type terriers.

and just to sum it up and really spell it out: i don’t think any dog is born “aggressive”. i think genetics, socialization, instincts, and training all play a role, and sometimes you can do everything right and still get a stressed dog that may lash out. dogs have also been selectively bred for all kinds of purposes by humans for thousands of years, so dogs of different breeds and origins may have very different behaviors, reactions, and instincts that we’ve often deliberately created. it’s bizarre and just plain wrong to state that all dogs and all dog breeds are born essentially with the same configuration and everything else is just “nurture”. pit bulls are often singled out or used as examples like in the post i reblogged because of their high density in shelters combined with their bad reputation, media sensationalism, and stereotypes. they’re not inherently worse or better than other dogs. they’re similar to rottweilers to me; fine dogs, can be great family pets, but you should know what you’re getting beforehand because they’re big strong dogs that may possess strong prey drive, same-sex stress, or guarding instincts + for which there are a lot of shitty breeders. id say the same for poodles or retrievers honestly; they can be high energy and were originally hunting dogs, so you should do your research, as with any other breed. i feel like over-defending and figuratively “defanging” pit bulls may end up doing more harm than good, even if the intentions are good, because downplaying a dog or breed’s potentially negative traits and specific needs will likely just result in the dog ending up with people who don’t know what they’re doing and who were expecting, like.. a bichon in terms of temperament and drive. how about we all just have a normal, neutral, informed approach to these breeds instead of this insane, eternal discourse where both sides can be equally fanatical? thanks

[popculturebuffet]

Carl Barks: Back to the Klondike Review: Blinkus of the Thinkus

Welcome one and all! If your a longtime reader of this blog, you know I love a good birthday celebration, having started with my first year reviewing animation last year with Donald’s and deciding to do Mickey and Scrooge’s later that year. But since I misseda  LOT of disney birthdays, and found several Non-disney birthdays and anniversaries I just gotta celebrate, this year i’m making it up and style and have a whole calender set up to tack these big milestones to the wall. So over the year expect tributes to the greats of disney, looney tunes, and mgm both behind and in front of the scenes, as well as to various shows I like. It’s gonna be a good time. 

So to start us off, it’s only fitting my first duck birthday since Scrooge, is for the love of his life and the stealer of his wallet, Glittering Goldie O Gilt! And I felt the best way to celebrate this storied day was to go back to her very FIRST apperance, one of earliest Scrooge headlined comics and a forever fan faviorite, Back to the Klondike!

But before we get into that, a little history on our gal in gold. Goldie was created for this story by comics god, the late great Carl Barks. Barks ended up just using her once, which is a shame but understandable as he probably only thought of her for that one adventure. While some characters like Gyro ended up being used again and again he probably just didn’t have any more stories in mind for her and figured Scrooge would return to her one day or he wouldn’t, but it wasn’t up to him.  Fans however loved the character, her feisty dynamic with scrooge, and the fact she brought out his good side, so naturally other writers would bring her back. In paticular Barks Superfan Don Rosa cemented her as the love of his life and wrote several more stories with her, fleshing out their backstory and saying that at least in his personal canon, Scrooge retired to spend his final years with her. And while his fanboy was clearly showing, and that can end nasitly just ask Dan “Hates Wally West because he’s not barry allen” DiDio, glad he’s gone.. Rosa’s work with goldie is an example of what happens when it’s done right. Less DiDio or Bendis and more Al Ewing. Using the continuity and what’s there to build on a character who deserved better.. to me that’s one of the BEST things you can do in comics and Rosa’s work is proof of that, ironing out the.. questionable elements we’ll get to and leaving the gold in.  So Rosa’s work combined with Ducktales not only adapting this story but bringing Goldie back a few times after that has elevated the character to a storied and permenat part of the duck canon, with her excellent heavily revamped Reboot counterpart currently carrying the torch with the help of the wonderful Allison Janey, perfect casting there. So with a legacy of gold behind her, let’s take a look at where it’s started and see if it still glitters after all these years under the cut. 

We begin our story at the Money Bin. Scrooge has been counting his money.. but has already forgotten, and forgot where he put the slip he wrote the number on and even forgets who Donald is when he shows up until Donald, while having some fun with him as Scrooge is trying to phone him while he’s right there. As for how he got into the most secure place in the bin.. the story actually answers that both worringly and hilariously: Scrooge left the door unlocked.  Naturally he’s not happy about this and Donald states the simple solution: Go see a doctor something’s CLEARLY very wrong, and the fact this could possibly be something like Demntia is VERY bad for someone who runs a zillion dollar company. Scrooge of course scoffs at “wasting his precious money” But Donald not only points out the obvious, that two bucks now saves him from having someone rob EVERYTHING, but Scrooge’s attempt to tie a string around his finger.. instead triggers a trap. And this entire sequence is decent with some good gags.. it’s just hampered a bit by making light of something that’s kinda bad. Not old people forgetting things.. but an old person with a disease as we find out forgetting things. Not helping is I laughed at first at the gags.. till I remembered a kind, old, friend of the family who had it and forgot me entirely by the end. So yeah, not the worst gags and the boxing glove and donald bits aren’t terrible, but it hurts now my brain’s made that connection. 

Our heroes head to the doctor’s office where Scrooge is diagnosed with... 

That.. might be the best name for a fictional illness i’ve ever heard in my life.. just inching out “Brain Cloud” and “Whale Cancer”. Still not the most SENSITIVE gag.. but it was the 50′s and mental issues weren’t given a lot of respect. IT’s why the above sequence and this whole part of the plot dosen’t scuttle things: It’s not the most repsectful.. but it wasn’t a time where these things were givne proper respect, treatment or knowledge, so barks wasn’t being an insentive douche on purpose, he just didn’t know. It dosen’t make it 100% okay btu it dosen’t wreck the story like say his blatant racist caractures in Voodoo Hoodoo. Seriously that’s.. not okay, and given he’s the kind of guy who researched locations he used, unlike with mental illness i expect BETTER of him than most men at the time. Still respect the guy, but it dosen’t mean i’ll overlook the fact he made some pretty bad mistakes. Same way while I love and miss Stan Lee I won’t ignore his blatant sexisim or racisim towards Chinese and Vitamise people. You CAN like a creator even if their work has some questionable and unjustifable elements, times do change and people do mamke mistakes when their young. It just depends on exactly WHAT they did or wrote that makes that distinctoin.  So on that bombshell, Scrooge is given medication after a needle gag. He needs to take his pills every 12 hours. It’s then he starts to remember something, mubling abotu skagway, goldie and dawson and telling Donald to get the boys, their going to Alaska! Once they get on the boat Scrooge explains: he remembered thanks to the medcince he left a stash of gold nuggets there from his prospecting days.. and part of why this story ended up being one of the single most important to Scrooge’s character. While it establishes some character traits, something I dind’t realize till wikipedia pointed it out, it also establishes Scrooge’s days as a prospector. While other things made him what he was and got him to that point as Don Rosa would later flesh out, it was his days in the yukon that, for better or worse defined who he is now and shaped him into the man he is today: Tough, fair, badass as all hell, mean as the devil and richer than god.  This time would be used a lot to set up stories, which made sense as it was the cleast and most agreed upon part of his past by all writers, and him at his abosltuely peak physically and mentally and the gold rush motif of the time perfectly fits someone defined by being rich. It’s also honestly nice that the Yukon is used, as Canada sometimes gets lost in the shuffle wise and hell until reading life and times I gneuinely had no idea what the Yukon was or where Calvin was headed when he and hobbes ran away from home. 

Scrooge also first mentions Goldie and while clearly remembering her fondly.. goes into a rant about her howing him a thousand dollars which has compounded to a billion the second the boys catch on he was sweet on her with Donald assuming he’s just not a good person. But this is really just setting up another vital part of his character and the other thing: his heart. Before he’d been show as a pretty heartless, greedy asshole. While the previous story, Only a Poor Old Man, had softened him up a bit, this is the first to show that beneath the pile of greed and mean lurks a decent human being. Just don’t tell anyone or he’ll throw his money at you.. then tell you to bring it back to him. It’s what makes the character who he is: he’s cruel, onrey and selfish.. but he CAN care when the chips are down and can do the right thing.. as we’ll see later. 

God I love the little poems Bill Watterson would put in the books. I didn’t as much as a kid, but god I do now. Anyways before our heroes can get going Yukon Ho, they stop in Skagway for suplies before heading out, Scrooge softing at taking a plane as “Soft” and him and the nephews hiking a week.. before running into the same flying service again, and finding out Scrooge OWNS it and forgot, because being scrooge he forgot to take his meds. Something I can relate to and i’m not proud of as staying on them is important to my well being. Seriously always take your meds. Unless their not working for you then talk with your doctor to get new ones. 

So we arrive in Dawson, as our heroes will have to walk rest of the day Scrooge takes the boys to the Black Jack Ballroom, which used to be a hot spot and was where he met Goldie for the first time. After another covering for his reminscing with greedy bollocks, he tells the boys the story.. one that was cut from the original printing despite introducing goldie and something the editors dind’t bother to tell carl till they berated him over trying to sneak a blackjack saloon and a kidnapping in there... and to them, or their long dead skeletons probably, I say. 

Yeah not wanting that in a kids story, while bollocks, tha’ts their perogative.. not having him send in replacement pages to keep story flow.. is dickish and underestimates kids intellegence as Don Rosa, while loving the story felt something was off till he saw the missing pages years later thanks to a fellow fan. So yeah kids, and adults, into the work noticed. Nice job. Again I can’t BLAME them for not wanting Scrooge to be a kidnapper as we’ll see and Don Rosa had to massage the hell out of that, but I can blame them for not caring enough to fix the obvious hole int he story. Though it’s now complete and unabriged and has been since the 80′s so there's that. 

So in a nutshell Scrooge came to town for a coffee, and while the bartender ignored him he didn’t once he plunked down his goose egg nugget, what made his fortune and one of Scrooge’s most treasured possessions. It’s here we meet Goldie. 

Yup.. just in case you thought her being a thief and greedy as hell was a new thing, and I kinda forgot how much, she dirves for the nugget, has Coffee with scrooge.. and drugs it, but makes the mistake of NOT clearing town, so Scrooge fights his way through the ballroom to her, gets the nugget back, forces her to sign the money for the iou he spent.. and then uh.. kindaps her to force her to work on his claim for 50 cents to try and teach her how to work honestly. 

Yeahhhh as I said Don Rosa tried his best to fix this , and did so in his final story, which we’ll get to some day, revealing Goldie had a shot gun on her the whole time and was going along entirely to find out where Scrooge’s claim was. That.. actually makes more sense with the character and is far less horrifying and Scrooge finds this out fairly quick, so them forming an attraction out of this becomes 100% more plausable. So yeah good on Don Rosa for fixing the implications here. I may give out on him from time to time.. but he is a genuinely talented writer and did what a good comic book writer in an established continuity should do: update elements so they aren’t so... eugguuhhh after they become horrifingly outdated. And look YES she did do horrible shit to him.. but you still can’t kidnap someone over that. just put her in jail. What was any of that. 

Anyways Scrooge HAS been taking his medicine, and proves it by showing the boys his pills and the next day they head to Scrooge’s old claim.. only someone’s living there and using it, and his old cabin.. and a shot gun. Yeah so they aren’t getting through in the day what about the night.. well they get attacked by Blackjack, who turns out to be owned by the claim jumper.. and is also you know a bear> And Donald left his back in new quackmore so their outmatched. 

So outgunned and outplanned, if not outnumbered or outmanned, our heroes make a camp fire and whiel Donald again suggests the obvious, call the police.. Scrooge can’t. He didn’t pay taxes on the claim so he’s technically jumping his own claim and techincally she has a right to it. So techncially.. Scrooge is the bad guy here as he left the money here, didn’t pay his taxes and didn’t ever come back for it. Still beats trying to terrify your nephews or deny orphans a train because your an asshole buffet. 

So the next morning Scrooge dosen’t want to rush her because “We Daren’t Get Rough with an old woman”. Two things.. 1... think before you put images in my head scrooge.. brrrrrrrrr. I mean Goldie. is not in the best shape in thie story as you’ll see and neither are you. In the reboot sure you two kept up a lot better but here.

And it’s not even an old people thing. Ann Margret was still fine so fine by the time of Grumpy Old Men, not to get creepy jut to prove i’m not being ageist. For a still alive example Keith David is also still a smokeshow at the tender age of 64. So yeah, not an age thing just not these paticular old people. 

But they need a plan so the boy suggest luring the bear into a trap with honey. Donald and Scrooge build the cage while the boys.. find the jar of honey. 

Regardless since the boys won’t do it for what Scrooge pays and neither will donald Scrooge goes to lure the bear with the honey. Once that’s done, and Scrooge is being covered with honey and licked by a bear...

So while he washes that off, the boys come up with another plan: they run around back while Donald makes noise to draw Goldie’s fire, with that being Dewey’s plan to meet her since he’s figured this out already. But Goldie has a backup plan and when she figures out they disabled Blackjack unleashes mosquitos... ugh. Having been stung like hornets about 50 times in animal crossing I feel you boys. So while Scrooge and Donald run off naked... troy if you will. 

Thank you Troy, the boys confront Goldie who reveals her identity... and that she’s broke, her dance hall having failed with the rush and this claim being all she has.. and her suspecting scrooge woudl gladly take it. The boys vow not to tell scrooge.. but he’s on his way so they kinda have to and he primps to go visit and Donald starts to see through his BS about collecting the debt. Sure enough despite being taken aback by her putting on her old dress , he takes her for all she has and is.. genuinely suprised as she thought she’d have more and she’d actually changed since the old days, donating her profits to orphans from mining disasters. Scrooge.. is clearly rattled by this. Whiel it turns out to my shock he was clealry after the money, though givne who we’re dealing with I shoudln’t of been really, he still cares and still realizes he’s being kind of a dick. So he challengers her to a gold digging race, and if she wins the claim is hers and any gold she finds.. and naturally, while he seemingly puts her soemwhere where there isn’t she finds the claim and Scrooge bemoans not taking his pill.. but while the boys boo him for it, Goldie who fondly waves them off and Donald know better: Donald points out he counted the pills this morning.. and recently. SCrooge DID take one today... he’s just has his cane shoved firmly up his ass with pride so he coudln’t ADMIT he was wrong and instead simply staged that whole thing with the full knowledge Goldie would win. It, again, sets up one of his defniing traits; how he keeps people at arms length. How he’s just so proud and full of himself he can’t bear to admit anything resembling weakness.. but WILl find a way to do the right thing without that or forgoe it as a last resort. He may project being a stingy cretionus old man.. because he is.. but he’s got a heart as big as that nugget.. it’s just locked tight in it’s own bin... his body is complicated and weird that way Final Thoughts:

This story is a classic with a decent setup, great backstory for scrooge, and a great guest character and unquestionable impact on the character. However.. it does have it’s problem; As Don Rosa, who as i’ll remind you is both a huge barks fanboy and huge scoldie shipper, himself pointed out he wrote his final story, and had planned to for years ENTIRELY because this one never quite explains how Scrooge and Goldie went from old enmies to lovers.It did lead to one of his best stories and one of the first I read post life and times so, props to that. And of course as I pointed out some things have just.. not aged well, especially the kidnapping so their relationship kinda comes off like stockholm syndrom as a result of both of these. 

That being said.. warts and all.. it’s still a really damn good story and a good one to try if your intrested in barks work or where Goldie came from: it has adventure, some really good jokes and if you can get past the dated bits the plot is solid. And while it goes without saying i’ll say it anyway Barks art is goregous as always ESPECIALLY in the flashback sequence. Overall not the best AGED Scrooge story, though not the worst either see Voodoo Hoodoo, good god, but defintely a classic for a reason.  If you liked this review, follow me for more, and for more duck content as I still have more of the three cablleros to work through, another chapter of life and times coming up this week befor ewe break again for feburary, and some other fun stuff. Until the next rainbow, it’s been a pleasure. 

[terrence-silver]

please share any silver/daniel thoughts, ideas or head canons. as twisted as you like! i’m so starved for content.

Alright, I'm gonna drop some random headcanons, for starters - -

- Terry knew just how lonely Daniel was from the get-go of stumbling into his life. His mom wasn't around. No biological dad on sight. No siblings to advise or protect him. His girlfriend situation was very on and off. He wasn't the most popular kid in school even before this. He was practically homeless in a big city. His only actual friend was an elderly Japanese man and he was spending his collage fund (throwing away his future?) on opening up a store that might or might not bring in any profit. Really, the kid was ripe in vulnerability and guess Silver just sensed it from a mile away. 

 - Second of all, if only begrudgingly, Daniel vaguely reminded Terry of himself, at one point in time. Specifically when his parents died and left him nearly destitute at age seventeen and all alone to fend for himself before lying to join the army and entering a world full of shit in Vietnam. He was a nice kid too once. Honest, ambitious, athletic, sensitive and kind of a sweetie - just like the Larusso boy. Main reason why he knew exactly how to manipulate him so damn effectively. Because he knew exactly which signs to look for and which weaknesses to target and exploit. Because it was like looking straight at a mirror of his own past. 

 - In a very convoluted way, outside of revenge shenanigans in Kreese's name, Terry probably felt he was doing Daniel a huge favour. Breaking him the way Terry himself was broken and turning him stronger in the process. Preparing him for the real world, the way he saw it. A real world that's hardly as nice and forgiving and kindly. Erasing this nonsense about pacifism and respecting your opponent and all that crap Miyagi has thought him. Terry had to be thought his lesson in an actual war. Daniel's lesson would be much softer in the long run. Being harassed by Mike Barnes, Snake and Dennis is hardly as bad as running through a minefield in a jungle somewhere, right? Right. It's a twisted logic, but to Silver it made sense. 

- He probably love-bombed him. It's possible that Daniel didn't receive the amount of flattery, praise, enabling, complements and just overall sucking-up as much as he did while Terry was briefly his teacher in his entire life. His goal was just to make this kid feel as good as he possibly could. Not just make him feel invincible as a combatant - but make him feel loved. Cared for. Like a student. Like a friend. Like an anything. It didn't really matter, so long as Daniel let him in. Relied on him. Your mom is rather off taking care of some sick relative? What a shame. Your would-be crush is suddenly seeing her old boyfriend? Unbelievable. Your old teacher wont teach you anymore? Well, I would never do that to you. I'm thus better then all of them combined.

 - Also appealed to Daniel's financial situation and upbringing to further manipulate him. Yeah, he probably immediately knew Daniel's just some poor Jersey kid from a single parent household. His whole guise wasn't just to appear humble for the sake fooling someone. No. He wanted and needed Daniel to fundamentally relate to him and see him as a kindred spirit lost in a sea full of rich LA households lining the hills in this city he hated and didn't wanna move to from the get-go. You know, those large houses inhibiting those same kids that bullied him? That didn't really accept him in the first place? Terry wanted to be the exact opposite of that image. See, I'm just like you. I never fit in either. I've a broke-down car that sometimes doesn't start - just like your mom did. Don't I feel familiar to you? Yeah, sure, you can trust me. Why wouldn't you? I'm not like them. Except he's even worse then all of them combined. 

 - Probably felt a tinge of jealousy over the father / son relationship Daniel and Miyagi had. Because first of all - why cant he have that? Why cant someone respect him so much? In his own eyes, he's by far a superior fighter, so it would logically reason he'd garner the admiration and closeness these two have, right? Have someone look up to him the way Daniel looks up to that - that - ugh. His own actual father wasn't much of a figure to look up to either so it probably irked him doubly so - and he did literally have to pay Mike Barnes to be his student in this tournament. So, that was strictly transactional and a mutual business arrangement. Nothing more. But, Terry was rich, Terry was handsome, Terry was cool, he had all the traits necessary to be someone's role model yet he couldn't make that sheer, warm human connection Daniel and Miyagi had and he probably resented both of them for it. And if he cant have what they'll have, he'll just destroy it and destroy both of them in the process. And then possibly even usurp Daniel from Miyagi too if he can.