#because i can do something. fix things. make a difference

[izzih22]

My favorite trope is bestie to lovers but you already did a story like that before I believe so do enemies to lovers or friends with benefits

Don’t Make This Complicated

Note: I hope y’all like this I wasn’t to sure what to do ngl

Azzi’s breath caught when she heard the lock click behind her.

Paige didn’t say a word.

Just leaned against the door of her apartment, arms crossed, blue eyes fixed on Azzi like she already knew exactly what she came for. Like this had all happened before.

Because it had.

Too many times.

Too many nights where they crossed lines they swore they wouldn’t. Where it was supposed to just be casual no strings, no feelings, no talking about it after.

Paige never asked her to stay the night. Azzi never expected her to.

But still, she always lingered a little too long.

Azzi swallowed hard. “Hey.”

Paige didn’t move. “You said you weren’t coming.”

“I changed my mind.”

Paige stepped closer, slow and sure. “Yeah?”

Azzi nodded, cheeks flushed already. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“You never can without me, huh?”

Azzi didn’t respond, but the way her body shifted, soft and uncertain, gave her away. Paige loved that how easily Azzi came undone, how she never had to say a word for Paige to read her like a favorite book she knew by heart.

Without asking, Paige reached for her, hand curling around the back of Azzi’s neck. Gentle at first. Then tighter. Azzi let out the smallest exhale, one that made Paige smirk.

“Take off your shoes.”

Azzi obeyed.

“Jacket too.”

Azzi shrugged it off, every movement unhurried, almost reverent. She knew the game. Knew what Paige liked. Knew exactly where this was headed.

But tonight felt… different.

Paige guided her to the couch, fingers brushing against Azzi’s waist. “Sit.”

Azzi sat, legs close together, hands in her lap like she didn’t know what to do with them.

“You nervous?” Paige asked, voice low, teasing.

Azzi looked up at her. “No.”

“Liar.”

Paige moved in between Azzi’s knees, hand resting on her thigh. Azzi’s breath hitched again.

“I don’t get you,” Paige murmured, her thumb brushing soft circles over Azzi’s skin. “You say this doesn’t mean anything, that it’s just physical. But you look at me like I’m everything.”

Azzi blinked, caught.

“I—I don’t.”

Paige leaned in. “You do.”

Her lips hovered just above Azzi’s. “You act like you’re mine.”

Azzi whispered, “I am, when I’m here.”

That flicker of vulnerability… Paige felt it like a punch to the chest. She kissed her then, fierce and unrelenting. Azzi melted into it, her hands clutching at Paige’s hoodie like she was drowning and Paige was the only thing keeping her above water.

This wasn’t just about heat or tension or dominance anymore.

It was the way Azzi always gave herself so completely without needing to be asked.

It was the way Paige couldn’t help but want to protect her, ruin her, hold her all at once.

Paige pulled back, lips swollen, eyes searching Azzi’s face. “You drive me insane, you know that?”

Azzi nodded slowly. “You do the same to me.”

“Then why are we still pretending this is just sex?”

Azzi didn’t answer at first. Just looked at her with something raw in her eyes.

“Because if I say it out loud,” she said, voice shaking, “I’m scared you’ll leave.”

Paige was quiet.

Then, she sat back slightly, taking Azzi’s chin between her fingers, tilting her face up.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Paige said. “Not unless you tell me to.”

Azzi’s eyes closed. Her lips trembled. “Please don’t stop.”

“I won’t.”

And she didn’t.

Not that night. Not the next.

And somewhere between the kisses and the tangled limbs in Paige’s bed, neither of them could pretend anymore.

Whatever this was it was already more.

They just weren’t ready to say it.

Not yet.

But soon.

Maybe next time.

Maybe when Paige didn’t leave the room after. Maybe when Azzi finally asked her to stay.

[goddamnitmahtin]

This Means Break

Someone write a fic where Danny works as a mascot at a theme park because he’s small (I understand the headcanon that he’s tall af and I see you, I hear you. But for the sake of this he ended up staying really short okay?) and the bat boys all get hired by the theme park to be escorts for the characters (mascots) because they are undercover and Danny is walking around showing them all the ropes and basically training them before their first shift except Danny is using all these terms none of them understand. I just need one fic where they all have to deal with people all day everyday and none of them are allowed to punch people. I need to see them all so out of their depth they look to Danny like a hero when he comes and saves them from social interaction in a mascot suit.

*while showing them around*

Danny: Alright! So these are the cubbies where the characters will get dressed. How you help dress them before each walk is dependent on their costume type and head type.

The bat boys: ???

Danny (who forgets easily what words are and aren’t common knowledge): Characters with backpacks are gonna need more help because they of the amount of buckles and straps. Characters with bobbles will have more mobility in head movement but the Velcro comes undone super easy so every once in a while a head might fall off.

The bat boys: !???

Danny: If there’s a costume malfunction you need to go back stage as soon and possible, fix it, and then go back out. Walks are 30 minutes unless we are on a heat plan and in that case, the supervisor will give you a new walk schedule that’ll have walk times and durations.

Bat boys: *just nodding at this point*

Danny: Head time is 3 till walk so 57 if your on the hour and 27 if your on the 30s. Once the head is on, you can only have us out for 30 minutes because OSHA will be on our ass if you keep out past our head time. Between each walk is a 30 minute break so the characters get 30 minutes without the head on. Another OSHA thing. Now technically this building is supposed to have a bathroom in it and the fact that there isn’t one is an OSHA violation but we’ve yet to get caught about it.

Dick: Why is it an OSHA violation?

Danny: Because every building that serves as a character green room needs to have access to a toilet in case someone over heats and throws up. Which reminds me. If someone does throw up or passes out and they are fine after a few minutes, don’t call first aid. Most of us will hate you eternally for making us do paperwork.

Tim: Noted.

Danny: Oh and uh while you are escorting a character, remember that you aren’t just there to look pretty. You are not only eyes and ears for those of us with limited visibility because of the heads but you are also kind of like our body guards. People can and will try to attack us while in costume.

The bat boys: ?!?!?

Danny: Okay! I think that’s all! Jason, you will be with me all day today so I’ll tell you how to dress me as we go. The rest of you can look at the walk schedule and I’de suggest talking to your walk character ahead of time because we all have different preferences when it comes to walks. Like I have worked here for a while so I need less guidance visibility wise and I like to run so Jason, I hope you have your running shoes because you aren’t allowed to leave my side.

Jason: I think I’ll be okay.

Danny: Oh! And one more thing! Characters can’t speak while on a walk so we will communicate with you through sign. It’s fine if you don’t know what you’re saying. It’s mostly so it looks like we are real and not statues. It keeps our hands busy. But the one thing you really have to pay attention to is this sign. *makes a hand motion like snapping a twig in his hands* This means break. The break symbol means we need to leave immediately and go backstage. Get the characters head off immediately. Break means something is wrong. This is for our own safety. Most characters, if you don’t see us break, we will just drag you backstage but that’s because we’ve been working here long enough to not pass out or throw up until we are out of the way. Cool! That’s everything! I’m gonna go put my parts together and I’ll see you Jason for my first walk! *walks away*

Dick: Did anyone understand a word he said?

Jason: No.

Tim: Um- kinda?

Damian: Break.

Dick: Cool me neither.

[kkumq]

꒰ঌ some saja boys x fem! reader ideas ໒꒱

disclaimer — none of these thoughts are fleshed out AT all but the saja boys literally make me so sick i had to get these out there in the form of rambles…

demon fangirl to accidental manager :: i absolutely LOVE the idea of demon!reader who usually minds her own business and tries to steer clear of gwi-ma’s schemes (protect your peace girl) accidentally stumbling upon the saja boys during one of her many trips to the human realm (she’s got a human disguise) she becomes quite enamored with them and honestly starts to watch them perform as much as she can and collect some of their merch, not realizing they are demons just like her (like i said, she’s very oblivious to what’s happening down under bc she literally does not want to deal with it AKSKKD). that is, until she sees them doing a little free fansign event, which she of course joins. she’s got her merch ready to sign and has been practicing what she wants to say as she waits for her turn. once that time comes, she’s practically shaking with excitement and everything goes really smoothly until she gets to the last member: jinu. the interaction starts off okay, but then something about the way jinu looks at her, she can tell something is off but she can’t quite put her finger on it. as she’s saying her goodbye and making her way down the stage, jinu grabs her arm and stops her in her tracks. he doesn’t say anything, but he does study her before letting her go. demon!reader doesn’t really know what to make of it, but she leaves thinking all is well. and all would be well, if not for an hour later (once the fansign ends) she is summoned to gwi-ma to be presented as the manager for a group of five she is now horribly familiar with.

rumi’s twin :: okay, i know this concept has been going around a lot, and like i’m no different (obviously), but it’s popular for a reason! this idea leans more angst than the other two on this list, given that a main part of what i was thinking is twin!reader searching for their demon dad. i think maybe she’d be grappling with the concepts of being good since she isn’t able to tap into the honmoon despite her family having multiple people able to do it. perhaps she feels like there must be something wrong with her and the only way she can find out is delving deeper into her demon side. maybe she feels like that’s all she good for, being evil and selfish and conniving because obviously she must be those things for the honmoon to “reject” her. this would talk a lot about how celine raised the girls and what that did to their psyche beyond what the movie covers. this would also lean more jinu x twin!reader than the rest of the saja boys, since it’d be like both of them healing each other, where twin!reader is able to show jinu that he isn’t his guilt and shame and jinu can show twin!reader that she doesn’t have to be this impossibly good person to matter. it would also have a lot of rumi and reader sister interactions along with the rest of the girls because i love them.

magical girl isekai :: i know that kpdh is technically a magical girl movie already, but i was thinking more so traditional magical girl!reader who’s got the frills and magic and scepters and fights like really big disgusting evil monsters on the regular. she’s mid fight when she gets transported to the world of kpop demon hunters and now suddenly she’s a popular kpop solo artist (she still has the ability to fight but it’s just adapted from her normal like magical girl powers into what is more grounded in the kpop demon hunters universe). i’m also thinking that her presence in the world shifts a lot of things since she isn’t supposed to be here which causes a lot of weird rips in the honmoon that the huntrix girls can’t explain or fix as easily as they could before. the saja boys can also feel this shift and become very intrigued by this new energy (so does gwi-ma). the whole plot would be the huntrix girls trying to get magical girl!reader back to her universe bc she’s literally ripping holes in theirs and gwi-ma ordering the saja boys to capture her and take her soul because she could be the key to how he is able to best the hunters and take over the world.

roommates :: just a fun little mini idea of like the saja boys not having a place to crash as they do their evil hot demon boy group things and so they end up following some poor human home (that’s you!), basically charming their way into crashing at her place (i can figure out the logistics later…) i just think cute to think that the saja boys are slowly learning what it means to be human through living with a human roommate!reader. lots of domestics moments, also like the saja boys go rouge and stop responding the gwi-ma’s demands and so he sends a bunch of demons her way…that hater. it’s okay, the saja boys (and huntrix girlies!) are there to save the day!

a/n — okayyy that’s all <3 thanks for reading this nonsense! idk if any of them are going to get full works bc i’ve never finished anything in my life buuuut i thought i’d put them out there to motivate me more! and please let me know what you guys think of these :OOO but i’m begging, do be kind :’) i’m just one girl who hasn’t written anything substantial in forever…

this may get proofread and edited in the future to be more readable!

[dark-lord-of-awesomeness]

Wizard AU idea(b/c i love parallels): Ford screws up some really important spell/ritual for Stan(shakes his belief in his abilities somehow-something it feels like only Ford could do at that point) and it has serious consequences for the magical ecosystem. The other wizards involved blame Ford, and while Stan is arguing otherwise(or has no idea in a different room), they escort him out and politely but firmly say come back when this is over. Does this make any connections happen for Ford?

Oh man. Love how how we're taking this parallel direction with wizard life. Ford gets to learn how it feels to be like Stan, except with something to fall back on (house and science job).

Stan's getting the hang of magic, he's doing magic! He's a wizard! Or at least convincing all these other wizards he is one and while it might not last forever he's having a great time curling his fake mustache and wearing ridiculous outfits and doing funky spells and living in a tower with a bed.

And Fords also here! And sure Fords upset about the whole tower and wizard thing, at least they're sort of hanging out? Fords grumpy half the time and seething but when he's not they have fun messing with the magic in the tower or doing fun magic quests before Ford remembers Stan's a wizard and he's not. But its fine! They're bonding, eventually Ford will get his own wizard tower or impress the wizard council enough to get them to bestow the title on him! Fords a genius, and actually knows stuff about magic, its only a matter of time! Then all the weird anger mood swings will be gone and they can go back to being brothers and this weird world where people prefer Stan more will get fixed!

Then Stan figures out some spell or other, or something that can maybe only be done under certain conditions, and its a big deal! All the wizards are excited to see it! Maybe Stan's summoning something, maybe its some kind of flow of magic thing, whatever it is its cool! And very important! Stan's got it all ready to go, its gonna be fun! and cool! And very critical? (sort of freaking out about that part) And Ford can come and see wizard stuff, since he's Stan's brother and Stan wants him to be there!

And Ford does want to see it. He's been studying magic for years at this point and he knows how magic works, and he wants to see this work! So he'll just... help Stan. With his shoddy spell work so that Stan doesn't mess it up entirely. He's genuinely trying to help Stan get the stuff he needs and helping him prep but the whole time he's grumbling about how Stan's going about it and correcting things Ford 'knows' about how magic works.

Except all he's doing is shaking Stan's belief in himself. This spell was fun and cool but what if Stan does mess it up. Fords the real wizard here, Stan's just a guy who lives in a cool tower and sorta knows how to make magic happen. He's barely read the spell books and mostly just goes by what he thinks it means more than what its probably actually saying. Ford should be the one doing this spell, not Stan, but the wizards can tell the difference for magic reasons so it has to be Stan (they pay attention to their hands and half the time Fords got something stuck to the back of him that says "this is Stanford!" that they've spelled so Stan can't see)

Except magic works differently for everyone, Stan's doing Stan magic and Fords doing Ford magic and Stan can't do Ford magic unless he translates into Stan magic (thats what spell books are really about. Not learning spells from others but figuring out how to say it in your own words type deal. Stan's magic works because he's translated the spells into Stan speak)

So he goes to do this spell, confidence shaken and spell altered from Fords help and.. it doesn't work, not the way it was supposed to. and this is it. Stan's messed up in front of all these wizards and they're gonna know he's a fraud and kick him out and he'll be back on the road again. Its over.

Except no he's a wizard and the other wizards know it. Just like they know Fords spell work with the way he shows off and how sciencey it is. There was no way it was going to work with just Stan doing it, and regardless if Ford knows that or not they all blame Ford for tampering with Stan's spell. Doesn't matter that he was trying to help, he's not a wizard, this is a wizard matter now, trying to fix how it going wrong affected everything, he needs to leave.

Come back when its been fixed.

So Ford gets kicked from whatever secret wizard sanctuary or whatever this was taking place. And there is no way to demand reentry, the last thing he saw was Stan's devastated face as the altered spell went wild, and, and.

And Ford messed with it. He was trying to help, he didn't mean to make the spell go wrong so catastrophically, but it did. He knew it worked before, before Ford helped, and even when they Ford was practicing with Stan. It did work! The only difference was the uncertain expression on Stan's face and the fact that Ford wasn't also doing it with him, and the wizards were yelling at him about that too. About how dare he add his own work to Stan's then expect Stan to do it by himself.

And now he's standing there, on the side of the road. Its eerily familiar in the wrong direction, except Ford can just go home. He can go home, sleep in his bed, distract himself with his other, non wizard work, and hope Stan's home if he goes to visit his tower and. do something.

It was an accident. He didn't mean to-

But that doesn't matter. The spell worked fine before Ford put in his input on how it was supposed to go. He was trying to help Stan improve it, and now there's some kind of magic disaster that's happening and Ford can't fix it.

It was an accident. A mistake.

But Ford has a house. What did Stan have? A car and a duffel bag? The idea of having to sleep on the side of the road after what happened is horrifying and its exactly what Stan had to do. Stan did not have a house. He did not have a job. If he had the same feeling of guilt churning away then-

Then he goes home, to his warm house. Has dinner in his kitchen, lays down in his bed, stares at the ceiling and doesn't sleep.

(if we really want to drive it the parallel Ford keeps calling Stan's crystal ball number and hanging up because what's he even supposed to say? How can he apologize? Does Stan even want to see him?

Then he goes over and they have a big fight about it)

[loudmouthnobody]

!!SEASON 3 SPOILERS AND RANTING!!

my sangihun heart is absolutely torn after season 3, partly in the fact that sangwoo wasn’t even a thought in gihuns head that whole time, partly in the fact that BOTH of them died by suicide. they’re two sides of the same coin. they both died the same way. im hurt.

im also mad that sangwoo really was made out to be this homicidal maniac for killing people just to live in the games and was shamed by gihun (though I don’t hold it against either of them, I understand that sangwoo was in fact killing people and gihun had every right to be ashamed with sangwoo) BUT, literally the whole time in season 3 gihun was doing THE EXACT SAME CRAP AS SANGWOO? you’re telling me he didn’t once stop and think, whilst his hands were around daeho’s throat, that maybe Sangwoo wasn’t so bad? maybe he was exactly like sangwoo? and you’re telling me he didn’t see sangwoo underneath him during that scene? didn’t get flashbacks from when they had to fight each other to the death?? didn’t maybe, in the glazed look over daeho’s eyes when he laid unconscious, see sangwoo? wdym.

ik this is the exact same point as before but it’s a little different, im so mad gihun didn’t have atleast one hallucination thing where he saw myunggi as sangwoo. the amount of parallels between myunggi and junhee and gihun and sangwoo had me hoping that they’d be mentioned and it didn’t happen. all of the s2 characters in some way were meant to mirror a s1 character, even in the smallest ways, ex. junhee and saebyeok, ali and daeho. myunggi was 100% meant to mirror sangwoo. with how he was so quick to do anything to survive, even if it was things he’d never in a million years do, and eventually lost himself to the games, he was absolutely supposed to mirror sangwoo. gihun didn’t have ANY thought while he was fighting myunggi to the death about sangwoo? he didn’t see the person he used to know behind that pole? in the suit his best friend died in, he didn’t once think about him? you’re actually joking me.

i really want to write a fix-it or some form of anything just to fix what I didn’t like about s3 but im honestly drained. the ending was so, so bad, and for what? a cate blanchett cameo and a set up for a spinoff just because Netflix was THAT money hungry? all of those characters that had beautiful, complex writing and so many goals and aspirations were reduced to stepping stones towards a stupid spin off? gihun wasn’t even allowed to get a good ending?? after everything he did, he had to die alone, afraid, with a corny one-liner that we’d BEEN knowing since season 1? the whole point of squid game is to highlight capitalism and how horrible it is, and the players being seen as racehorses and such is a direct metaphor for it, that we’ve been knowing since season 1! he didn’t get a reunion with gayeong? all she got was his jacket that she’s supposed to do what with, look at? she dosent even know what it means. i can GURANTEE, even knowing it was gihuns, she dosent care about it, because why should she? she doesn’t even know what it signifies. DOSENT even know that gihun IS 456. that number is her father, and in the end, that’s all he was reduced to. wtf???

also, the hwang brothers absolutely deserved to have a better ending than that. yes, even inho, even though i hate him. they should’ve been capitalized way more than that and shouldn’t have been reduced to another “hyung, why?” that barely even evoked any emotion in me like how the one in s1 did. their whole arc was so unfinished and rushed it makes me sad. they could’ve had this great moment where they’re face to face and we get the real reasoning behind why inho was the front man, etc, with some beautiful redemption, or possible death, that tied up their story. it didn’t even have to have a redemption, just SOMETHING to tie up their story without leaving it unfinished. seriously, they deserved a better ending and they both deserved to have a moment in the spotlight for their backstorys. because why was the fact junho gave inho his kidney/liver (I can’t remember which and it’s almost midnight for me dont kill me) not even mentioned?? I was SO expecting there to be some form of backstory and we got nothing. along with that, the only glimpse we got into inho and before he was the frontman was the scene of him killing everyone he was up against? don’t get me wrong, it was such a powerful scene and how it switched between gihun to inho and showed their different decisions was great, yet it just could’ve been better. I was fully expecting to almost get a full (or even majority) of an episode about inho and how he became the frontman, him before the games, him AFTER the games, and all we got was ilnam saying the same thing inho said to gihun, inho stabbing some guy 100 times, and… what, nothing? their story ended with that fuckass baby? wtf??

ik this might seem like a hot take but honestly, I sort of was hoping the baby would have atleast been taken out of the games. the baby changed how everything in the show went and frankly changed it all for the worst. ive seen people say that it was a metaphor for humanity but in my opinion, it’s a sad excuse for a metaphor, and the baby wasn’t even needed as a metaphor for humanity, WHEN GIHUN WAS RIGHT THERE! gihun isn’t even a metaphor for humanity, he’s literally the human embodiment of it! his whole character was built off of how he kept his humanity and stayed believing that humanity was worth saving throughout the whole show. he had such strong writing and was so complex and beautifully written and was thrown away so the baby could live? he deserved better.

im not even gonna type out a whole thing for this because I can’t even put my frustration into words, but all of the amazing woman characters who had such strong backstories were pushed aside for player 100….? a confirmed very problematic man….? hyunju, junhee, and geumja died for that? hdh sleep with one eye open. genuinely. in my eyes, hyunju, junhee, and geumja, and even yongsik all escaped together and had dinner cooked by geumja, hyunju finished her surgeries, junhee lived happily with her baby, and geumja and yongsik rebuilt their relationship. that’s what happened.

all i can say is that im pissed, and so sad. none of them deserved an ending like that, and I feel horrible for all of the actors and even hdh who put everything into that just for it to get shit on by netflix who just wanted to capitalize on how much money it could make. fuck you netflix, fuck big cooperations. you proved exactly what squid game was about with how you handled s3.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I feel that the simplest way to fix the rooster miraculous lore issue while keeping its power mostly in line with Canon would be to have it grant a skill (that any human could achieve) instead of a power (that could be anything, except for these last-minute lore-breaking caveats).

So instead of going "I can always score a goal" in Penalteam, Marc would go "I am a world-class striker" and become the best footballer on the field. I'm... struggling to think of other uses of the Rooster, but I'm pretty sure they could be substituted for something less supernatural.

Obviously this is far from a perfect fix, you've basically traded a lore issue for a cast speciation issue, but that's at least something that you can (theoretically) plot around.

What are your thoughts on this idea?

I actually really like that idea. It's clever and makes the rooster feel unique. Right now, it's just a variation on the butterfly and the peacock.

This is also more limiting, which is always a plus in my book. If the person just gets a skill, then the caster has to really think about the situation and what would help just like the lucky charm limits things by only giving you one item so you have to be clever about how you use it.

I'd still cut the rooster from the show because I think canon has too many miraculous in play, but if you have to keep it, this is a solid way to rework it without it feeling like an entirely different power. That's the route I try to take with redesigns. Something close enough to still have the same vibes, just more logical with clearer rules and limits. Only miraculous I completely redesign is the peacock and even there I try to keep the same vibe. I actually redesigned it to be something to do with Adrien back before the senti BS showed up. I genuinely thought they weren't going to link Emilie's use of the peacock to Adrien because sentiAdrien was such an obviously stupid idea given that sentimonsters were the canon fodder race there to keep the ratings low while still letting the heroes "kill" something.

[400badrequest]

tart is better than sweet | Mikey Berzatto x F!Reader

SUMMARY: Mikey thinks you might actually have an interest in food.

CW: age gap

WORD COUNT: 1.45k

A/N: this is the most inspired to write ive been in literal months

It happens on a Thursday.

Mid-morning lull, just after the produce guy leaves and before the full weight of the lunch rush hits. Mikey’s pretending to fix the coffee machine again - which is to say, pressing buttons until something beeps - and you’re sitting on your usual corner of the office desk, one leg pulled up, foot hooked under your thigh, - scribbling something long-form into the ledger with your teeth sunk into the cap of your pen.

You’re muttering numbers under your breath. It’s soothing in a way that should probably make him reflect on his current mental state.

He glances up when he hears you say something - quiet, offhand. “What’s the difference between using baking powder and baking soda in cake batter if the recipe’s not acidic enough?”

He blinks.

There’s a beat of silence.

You don’t look up. Don’t even pause your writing.

It’s the most casual thing in the world, except it isn’t. Not from you. You don’t ask questions. You absorb, you observe, you store. You Google in the walk-in freezer at 2 AM rather than admit you don’t know something. You speak fluent you don’t need to worry about me.

And yet here you are, casually tossing out a question about leavening agents like it’s not going to rock his whole fucking world.

“You baking now?” he asks, trying to keep his tone light, teasing. He’s trying to make it a joke, trying not to hope. Too transparent.

You finally glance up. “No.”

He squints at you. “You sure?”

You shrug, like this is a hypothetical from a textbook. “I was reading something and it came up. Googled it and got, like, eight different answers.”

“Uh-huh.” He narrows his eyes. “What kind of cake?”

“What?”

“Just curious. You reading about cake in general, or did this very specific, structurally-dependent question come from a cake?”

Your pen stops moving.

He grins.

“There was a cake,” he says triumphantly.

You don't say anything for a second. Then: “It was for someone else.”

“Sure.”

“It was,” you insist, defensively. “I didn’t eat any.”

“Oh my god,” he says, hand over heart, “you’re capable of basic kitchen behavior. What a beautiful fuckin’ moment.”

You flick the cap at his head. He catches it. Grinning.

But his heart’s pounding. Because that wasn’t just a question. That was a crack. That was you letting something in - something vulnerable, something messy. That was you giving a shit about food. About getting it right.

“I’ll show you,” he says finally, voice lower now, more real. “If you ever wanna know. I mean - if you actually wanna learn. I’m not gonna make you. You’d bite me.”

You eye him. “I don’t bite.”

“You bite when cornered.”

You don’t respond. Just stares at him, quiet.

Then, almost cautiously, “...What if the cake’s got yogurt in it?”

He blinks. “Then yeah, acid’s already covered. Soda will work. But if you’re not sure it’s enough, you can split - half soda, half powder. Cover your bases.”

You nod. And just like that, the moment passes. You go back to your numbers like nothing happened.

But Mikey?

Mikey’s floating.

Because he’s never seen you cook.

Not once. You turned down family meal with a look like he’d just offered her a knife and asked you to perform surgery. He’d written it off as one of your things. You’ve got a thousand - Doesn’t like being watched. Doesn’t like doing things you.re not perfect at. Doesn’t like receiving.

But now…

Now he knows you tried.

Tried hard enough to care about the chemical reaction. Tried and didn’t tell anyone. Tried and maybe failed, because you didn’t eat any, and that makes his chest ache a little more than he wants to admit.

He turns back to the coffee machine.

The smile doesn’t leave his face for the rest of the day.

---

It’s a fluke.

Mikey doesn’t do Sunday mornings. Or at least, he hasn’t in a long-ass time. Not since Carmy left, not since he inherited the whole broken, beloved mess of The Bear. Sunday mornings used to mean brunch shifts, or hangovers, or existential dread, and sometimes all three. But today? He woke up not feeling like shit. Sun was out. Streets smelled like wet concrete and bread, not piss and failure. So he thought, Fuck it, and walked down to the farmers market for the first time in... Christ, years.

And that’s when he sees you.

Standing by a kitschy tea stand like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Hair down for once, curls soft and a little wind-tangled, that stupid fringe falling in your eyes like always. Sunglasses, oversized hoodie, biker shorts. Very much not dressed like someone trying to be seen.

Which is funny, because he notices you immediately.

You’re thumbing through little paper sachets of looseleaf like you know what you’re doing, which, knowing you, you either absolutely do or you Googled the difference between black and oolong on the walk over. Your’e holding a cup of something warm, sipping it slow, one-handed, while the other clutches a small reusable tote pressed tight to her hip. Defensive. Subtle. There’s a silly strawberry design on it that makes him grin a little.

You haven’t seen him yet.

He thinks about walking away.

He does. Because you’re always so closed off at work, so careful with what you share. Your boundaries are subtle but solid. You don't flirt with him, even when he lays it on thick. Doesn’t ask personal questions, even when he’s practically bleeding around you. Don't accept anything you don't earn.

But the sun’s on your shoulders like you belong here, and there’s this little crease between your brows as you debate between two tea blends that makes him fucking ache with something he doesn’t want to name.

So he calls out. “Hey, tea gremlin!”

You freezes like you’ve been caught shoplifting.

Slowly turns.

The glasses stay on, but your mouth twists - somewhere between guilty and annoyed and, just faintly, amused.

“Mikey,” You say, like it’s a sentence, not a name.

“You... buying chamomile for your enemies?”

“It’s for my altar,” you deadpans.

He laughs. “You’re kidding.”

You shrug, one shouldered. “Maybe.”

He steps closer, hands in his pockets. “Didn’t know you came to places like this.”

“Didn’t know you were physically capable of being awake before noon.”

“Touche.”

He nods toward your tote. “What’re you getting?”

Instant tension. You shift the bag behind you without thinking, grip tightening. It reminds him of Carmy, a little, when he was a teenager getting caught with fast food when there was leftovers in the fridge. “Nothing.”

He blinks. “That’s the sketchiest possible answer, kid.”

You say nothing. Just sips and stares at him over the rim like it might kill him if you wait long enough.

“Come on,” he grins. “You embarrassed? What is it, berries? Kombucha? Are you buying an essential oil blend like a basic bitch?”

“Don’t test me, Berzatto.”

He throws his hands up in mock surrender, laughing. “Alright, alright. Jesus. It’s not contraband. I’m just surprised.”

“Why?”

He shrugs. “Dunno. I guess I thought you only existed inside the restaurant. Like a cryptid.”

That gets a real reaction - a soft snort, an eye-roll, and then, unexpectedly, the tiniest smile. You take another sip of tea. Still doesn’t offer to show him the bag.

“Okay, okay,” he says, backing off, reading the room. “No peeking. I get it. Privacy and mystery and all that shit.”

“Glad we understand each other.”

He falls into step beside you anyway. They walk slowly past stalls of mushrooms, fresh bread, local honey. He doesn’t push. Just lets the quiet sit.

After a while, you ask, almost idly, “You come here a lot?”

“Used to. With my mom. Before everything got too… you know. Loud.”

You nod like you do know. Of course you do.

They stop at a stall selling heirloom tomatoes. You pause to finger a speckled green one, expression thoughtful. Mikey watches you, unthinking, and says, “You should make a tart.”

You side-eye him. “I don’t cook.”

“You asked about cake chemistry the other day.”

“That was theoretical.”

“Everything’s theoretical ‘til you try.”

You don’t answer. Don't buy the tomato, either.

But when he looks back at your tote as you pay for two home made cups of lemonade, he spots just the corner of something - peeking out like a secret.

A jar of honey.

Local. Dark. Expensive.

He doesn’t say a word.

But later, when he gets back to The Bear, he starts thinking about what kind of tart would go best with that specific blend of honey and the tomatoes you didn’t let yourself take home.

Just in case you ever ask.

[naomistars3]

Art by: Vivinos on Youtube

A rant post mostly about Mizi

I'm genuinely so sad at this video but it was so well done, The visuals, the ART from how different it was compared to Round 1, not even mentioning the symbolism???

One thing I also like about it Is that it shows that Love can hurt that you can love someone while hurting them or doing something bad and that it is still love cause compared to alot of media or atleast the fandom version of medias tend to say that a character doesn't like another character or even care about them because they hurt said other character, like Jinx and Sikko from Arcane.

The ending of the characters was so bittersweet for me expect maybe Till (Which hell yeah his alive!). Luka is still an 'object' or celebrity of the Alien and based on the Luka is Back billboard he either die and they made a clone of him or they had to 'fix' his face cause I'm like 90% percent sure bro got burned but either way he is forced to still sing.

Mizi being known as the witch cause of love thing made me have flashbacks to Madoka Magica. I do hate people who call Mizi 'Manipulative' or suddenly bad , though I do not think I have a full understanding of her character the comic that was released before hand to me didn't seem to make her bad (She also seems to believe she is as bad as Luka who in her viewpoint is someone who doesn’t deserve pity),

she just played into the role of what everyone around her thought which I guess is Manipulative but still who hasnt played the role of someone else to pleased other people whether its family, friends or randos on the street?

Mizi love for Sua is interesting cause she sees her as Her god, Her universe but wants to break her/have some sense of control because of her backstory with the way her owner Shine treated her (When everyone though that shine was a good owner—I do think compared to other owners she was but again Mizi is still a pet, I also think that maybe Shine or her other creatures family may have been the one to kill mizi mom and adopt Mizi out of pity). Mizi pretended to be oblivious to Sua plan of dying for Sua sake because she knew if Mizi died Sua wouldn't be able to handle it.

The scene where after she seems to beg Isaac to save Till then switching to her running into the room where Sua practiced her Death is what I guess is her mind acceptance on finally protecting someone she cares about or perhaps it's a scene that shows what actually happened during when she finds out about Sua planing her death cause Mizi seems to be a very unreliable narrator especially in the comic mentioned earlier with Mizi sorta painting herself as the one who Manipulatied the odds and acted innocent just for her survival no matter the cost and she says alot of things (mostly her feelings) that contradict the things shown. Like how she wasn't desperate for Sua then showing her being very desperate for Sua or the fight that happens between the two in the video that seems to be about the whole planned Sacrifice.

Mizi seems to be alive and is wanted as far as the billboard show but her crash out destroyed Alien Stage to the point there is a museum about the whole thing with children that have the DNA of the Main Cast.

Till is alive, People saying that the person at the end is Till's mom are delusional (Till's mom has a mole under her eye and has been dead), After Round 7 to Weige and Karma there's only like a few minutes that passed between then so Till being Alive is completely possible and there's a whole scene with Mizi hearing his heartbeat. At the end Till seems to have joined the Rebels or kinda does his own form of rebelling. I think Till is now mute because of the scars around his neck and the fact he uses drawing to communicate with the kids. Then at the end where he is smiling at the kid with the DNA of the two people he loved like AHHH. Anyway Till unlike the rest of cast lived with his mom (not counting Mizi cause she watched her mom die) before being separated and is the most human character or atleast different from the other main cast members which is also shown in the differences in the songs that were posted separately from the Channel.

Anyway I loved the video and seem like a suitable ending(?) even though it is bittersweet was low key expecting an ending that does a Revolution that puts a stop to the comtest like in the Hunger Games but this seems more plausible.

P.s I wrote this with 0 hours of sleep and it's 5am where I'm from sooo anything that is wrong blame it on that.

Ty for reading this rant and yes I didn't mention Ivan or Hyuna because I need sleep

[obvithe-bestsoph]

Pleaaaaase 12 with Gavi (I’m begging for happy end too)

No. 12 | "Just come back, we can fix this." PG6

masterlist requests

prompt list (if you request a prompt, please request a player for it as well!) warnings: angst to happy ending. a/n: currently going through the stages of grief over his hair - in denial right now so nobody speak to me about it pls 🥀🥀

You don’t plan to see him again. Not like this.

Barcelona is small when it wants to be, but even then, you’d kept your world carefully rearranged since the breakup. New cafés. New routes. New friends. The kind that didn’t mention him, that didn’t ask if you still checked his matches, that didn’t look at you with knowing sympathy when you pretended to be fine.

But the world doesn’t care about your delicate boundaries. You’re coming out of a bookstore, your phone tucked to your ear and a coffee balanced in your other hand, when your gaze lifts and lands right on him.

Pablo.

You stop walking. Time doesn’t freeze, not really, but it sure feels like it’s stuttering. Because he’s just there, like nothing ever happened. Hoodie, jeans, the same way his hair curls over his forehead. The same furrow in his brows when he’s deep in thought. The same brown eyes, wide and stunned, like he can’t believe it either.

You don’t move. He does.

“Hey,” he says softly when he’s close enough, his voice uncertain, almost afraid to break the silence.

You don’t say anything at first. The coffee in your hand suddenly feels too warm. The phone slips from your ear.

“Hi,” you manage, voice a little hoarse.

It’s awkward. Awkward like it never used to be. Like you’re strangers again. Strangers with history clinging to their ribs.

“You look…” He trails off. You know the rest. Tired. Older. Sad. You probably do.

You nod once. “So do you.”

That gets a small breath of a laugh from him, but it’s not happy. “I’m not sleeping well.”

You swallow hard. You really don’t want to know that. But you do. God, you do.

A silence falls. Not the comfortable kind you used to share, the kind that wrapped around you when you lay side by side, fingers intertwined. This silence is sharp-edged and full of all the words you didn’t say that night you walked out of his apartment for the last time.

“Why’d you leave?” he asks suddenly, voice quiet, not accusing.

You blink, caught off guard. “Pablo, we fought every week.”

“I know.”

“You’d shut down every time I brought up anything serious.”

“I know.”

You laugh bitterly. “And when I needed you to meet me halfway, you just let me walk away. Like it didn’t matter.”

That makes him flinch. And then he steps forward, so close you can smell the familiar scent of his cologne and something achingly nostalgic tightens in your chest.

“I thought you needed space,” he says. “I thought maybe it was one of those fights where you come back the next day.”

“Then why didn’t you call me?” you ask, too quickly. Too desperately.

He looks at you like he’s breaking open. “Because I thought you were better off without me.”

You close your eyes. For a second, you feel everything again. The ache of missing him. The sting of feeling like it was all for nothing. The confusion of loving someone who didn’t seem to know how to love you right back.

“I wasn’t,” you whisper.

The street buzzes around you. A car honks. A couple walks past laughing. But all you can hear is the way his breath hitches. Like that sentence knocked the air out of him.

“Do you still…” he starts, but doesn’t finish.

You stare at him. At his soft mouth, his bruised heart behind tired eyes.

“I tried not to,” you admit. “I really tried.”

His hand twitches at his side. He’s always been bad at holding himself back when it comes to you. This time is no different.

“Just come back,” he says, barely above a whisper. “We can fix this.”

You look up at him, searching for something real. “Why now?”

His jaw clenches. “Because I’ve been walking around with half a heart and pretending it’s fine. Because I can’t stop thinking about the last thing you said to me. That I didn’t fight for you.”

Your eyes burn.

“And I’m fighting now,” he says. “I’m late. I know that. But I’m here. I still love you. I never stopped. You can hate me, you can scream at me, but please don’t walk away again.”

You hate that your body leans in. That your bones remember how it felt to be held by him. That you never really learned how to let him go.

“I’m scared,” you admit, tears finally slipping down your cheeks. “What if it’s just the same all over again?”

“It won’t be,” he says, and there’s something fierce in his voice. “I’ve changed. I’ve been seeing a therapist. I’m trying to be better. Not just for you. For me too.”

You blink, surprised. That… you hadn’t expected.

“I know I shut down when things got hard. I know I wasn’t good at listening. But I’m trying now. I want this. I want you. I don’t care how long it takes to fix things.”

You stare at him, heart thudding.

He looks at you like you’re the only thing keeping him upright.

“Come home,” he says softly. “Even if it’s not the same home. Even if it takes time. Just come back.”

And you realize you want to. God, you do.

You nod slowly. “Okay.”

His whole body sags like he’s been holding his breath for months.

“But we’re doing it differently,” you say. “We don’t pretend things are fine when they’re not. We talk. We show up.”

He nods, over and over, like he’s trying to prove how much he means it. “Anything. Everything. Just don’t leave again.”

You step closer, and he doesn’t wait. His arms are around you in a heartbeat, and your face is pressed to his shoulder, and he’s warm and familiar and trembling just like you are.

“I missed you so much,” you whisper.

“I missed you every damn day,” he says into your hair.

The city spins on around you. But you don’t care.

He said he’d fight for you.

And this time, you believe him.

[dammit-tazmuir]

Oh gosh, I didn't expect such a deep response if any, but I HEAR YOU.... ;-; I'm coming from a really different place with it as a nonbinary afab, but I hate it from this side, too.

Rambling a bit about feminism and queerness especially as they pertain to online spaces.

It's like... In concept, I "get" the urge to "turn the tables", it's such a normal human response to want people who have hurt you to experience what you did and go "how does it feel?" But it wouldn't be productive or healthy on a longterm mass scale even if it wasn't also reductive and divisive. Even when it's a case of trauma and discomfort, there's a difference between "I'd prefer to keep my distance" (defensive, setting one's own boundaries, completely reasonable as long as it's not being made everyone else's responsibility in open public spaces) and "some people belonging to this group hurt me so I'm assuming everyone in that group is equally shitty or worse and hate them all forever" (hey maybe don't). There's nothing to be gained by generalizing and making assumptions about people.

It's... Honestly it feels like "Gay pride!" "So you hate straight people?" and "Black lives matter" "So you hate everyone else?" except a lot of the people going "Girl power!" actually are saying "and yes we mean we hate men. :)" I straight up saw someone the other day, and I don't remember the url and am not trying to put them on blast because this isn't remotely unique it's just indicative of the state of things, tag a Mercystine post "#mercymorn the first #not bothering to tag augustine because I hate men". Like... that... took more effort than just tagging him or than just actually not giving him any kind of tag. That was going out of their way... People really will just openly say that huh. The point of movements that uplift marginalized groups is to uplift them, not drag others down, and too many people treat that like the same thing.

What happened to solidarity? For that matter, what do we gain by being hostile to people who could be allies? It's not a "model minority" thing, it's not "no one should ever be allowed to be angry and if they lash out ever it's their own fault", and I'm definitely not talking about people fighting back in immediate danger. But when people have the space to make conscious choices about whether to be kind or hostile and actively choose hostility, that does make things worse for everyone, actually.

This is especially true online, in social media and in online communities, where everyone is behind the safety of their screens. It fucking sucks to be in a fandom where women are demonized for even minor things while men can be war criminals and beloved, I get it!! We need to fix that!! We need more spaces where we love even the meanest cruelest women like this!! There is literally zero benefit to demonizing the men in the process. You can even just not really talk about them. You can ignore them, and that's still disheartening for people who like them, but it's fair enough to have spaces that focus on certain things over others, in this case female characters, sure. But just reversing the double standards is at best exclusionary and promotes in-fighting, and at worst actively harmful.

With something like TLT, wouldn't it be so much nicer to have cishet men get into the fandom, have an environment that enforces respectful behavior, but as long as they are respectful have them more exposed to queer culture and feminist ideals through the lens of a fictional work that caught their interest, and have them learning and better allies to both women and the queer community in the future for it? Wouldn't that be so much nicer than shitting on even the queer men? The non-conforming men, the trans men, the people who don't want to be stuck on either side? Maybe I'm too chronically online or something but as someone who ISN'T a man or a woman but likes men and likes women and loves occasionally seeing people like me, I'm just like....... hey what if we could all make some effort to just be respectful by default actually?

(While we're on the subject of generalizations and black-and-white mentality. Very tired of seeing people act like every feminine character in these books is specifically a lesbian. Some of them... are bi... Some of them might even be aro and/or ace... It would be entirely valid and okay if a few characters were cishet, even... We have so many lesbians here and that's great. They're the stars they're the focus. It is okay for other people to exist next to them.)

And to bring this back around more to John and TLT fandom:

I wonder if people really consider the implications when they make John out to be a raging misogynist, regardless of all the evidence to the contrary. It ends up feeling like people cannot imagine a story with a female focus where the male antagonist has any other core theme, or a world where the mere act of being a woman isn't transgressive. Where femininity is celebrated rather than fighting to exist.

Or when people insist Mercymorn's appearance is informed by the men in her life rather than her own interest in appearances, physical and otherwise. "They would have been even more critical than they already are" she antagonizes Augustine on purpose. Harrow watches her and John talk for like 5 minutes tops before concluding he exists in a complicated power dynamic here. It's a disservice to her character and her agency to suggest she would bend herself to be more palatable to them.

Idk. I've already rambled a lot and could say so much more and probably will in other posts at some point but. 😭 IT'S JUST ALWAYS REALLY REFRESHING seeing your posts and any others that don't jump to assumptions and project stuff, and that appreciate the nuance of everyone in equal measure. There's so much food through this entire series and I'm always glad to see people appreciate all of it.

I want you to know you are my favorite person on this entire webbed site for John Takes. Thank you... ;w;

This is very sweet, and I've left it gathering dust in my asks because I wasn't sure whether to just acknowledge it or write A Post about why am endlessly rotating John (and in how people perceive him) in my mind. But I don't have the time and health to do that in depth.

Suffice to say I think he's both very interesting because of the layers and murkiness to his sense of responsibility and denial, but also because it's rare to have an environment like the TLT fandom to discuss a character like this in, comprised of majority queer non-male people. There's a lot to this fandom and how it cherishes its material that feels endlessly fresh and relieving, as you're likely to find people giving characters like Ianthe or Mercymorn the level of thought and care they truly deserve and which they might not get in other fandoms… but there's also the occasional discomfort and tiredness I feel as a guy in queer spaces when I come across takes/people that are very “seeing men in the worst light possible in every occasion is a justified and revolutionary political stance, actually”.

There's a good, necessary discomfort when you're a man in critical spaces, yes—that is not the discomfort I'm talking about. Given my lifelong experiences of queerness, gender non-conformance and disability, I've always found a measure of safety in feminist spaces since I was a kid, so growing up into an adult and being made to feel like my gender adds a certain vibe of suspicion to my presence there is something that always makes me feel profoundly lonely. So to spend time trying not to excuse but to understand this very specific guy (a guy who in so many many ways is not your typical Fictional Man™), in the richness Tamsyn gave him, and to see people actively interested in that… yeah, it gives me warm feelings.

[tjerra14]

knee says it'll be raining today and with my luck recently it will be torrential rain, for an hour, just as we finally finish up at work

[dykedvonte]

A crazy thing about Mouthwashing is that Pony Express lost communication with one of its freighters for months and didn’t send anyone to check.

A genuinely reputable company, or at the very least a decent one, would have sent someone, something out to check after about two weeks of silence. Two months is when the crew start questioning if they are even being looked for which implies they were already expecting it to take a while cause P.E just doesn’t care.

They don’t care about who they hire. They don’t care about the conditions they place their crew in or how safe the safety measures actually are. They just don’t care, made rules and regulations so they can care less and succeed in getting away with it with how little those ideas are discussed.

[oddberryshortcake]

It's killing me that Lilia has spent a lot of time and money taking Silver to different medical mages/doctors to see exactly what's wrong with him and why he's so sleepy

When Idia was able to do a quick analysis on Grim and discover that he has a 1000 year old curse placed on him

STYX is literally the only place capable of giving him the answer he's been searching for

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

Sasha is like Catra is she was well written

[hanzajesthanza]

maybe i just don’t follow enough about the fanfiction community anymore but… i feel like plot and story, and actually making scenes make sense and have structure and purpose, is harder to get write than even other things about writing that i consider hard—like having consistent, relevant pacing and creating natural-sounding, in-character dialogue.

and from what i’ve seen, it’s like no one ever talks about improving this major overarching skill, when compared to how much as they talk about minute and minor details to improve with your writing, like the vocab you use.

and maybe fanfiction is uniquely challenged here because the point of it (if the source material is decent, anyways) is supposed to be that it’s not necessary, and is often without a serious purpose and written without structure.

my interpretation of it is that the core of writing (which is giving your readers a reason to read) is assumed to be already accomplished when you write fanfiction—because it’s fanfiction—but this is often to the detriment of the writing, no matter if it’s fanfiction or not, because writing needs that purpose to exist.

[enjoyvoidblack]

our big post was getting long and it won't let me message so I thought I'd just come bother you here asldkfjsad I am like. so 1000% certain there is mention in the text that the initial purpose and efforts of Jonah and the Institute were to research the fears and prevent their many catastrophes, and that somewhere along the line he came to the conclusion that this wasn't viable, that the world and the fears simply didn't function in a way that was conducive to meaningfully stopping them from doing anything. which was how he settled into the position of 'well then I am going to use the instruments of power to save ME and build a ladder to free myself personally from their clutches forever' I def don't know when he started to turn from that, but i'll have to go back through the transcripts and find it again.

I do get that the narrative is written with Jon as the focal point, and that doesn't leave a lot of room for Elias to be sympathetic--he certainly doesn't make himself sympathetic TO Jon, or any of the Archives crew (beyond what I find to be an interesting amount of patience, understanding, and restraint he shows for them), but I still think like. Part of the beauty of Jonny's storytelling is that there is a kernel of completely understandable humanity to most everyone that's presented with any depth in the series, even the people we DON'T like. The "people here don't have excuses, they have causes" is again really excellent wording. There isn't really a lot of the usual karmic style reasoning or justice in this series; it isn't about Good People doing Good Things or Bad People doing Bad Things, it's just. People Doing Things, while under the influence of powers that are at once cosmic and beyond us, and inherently OF us.

adsfkjas this is getting long too I'm so sorry you activated a trap card here but idk. He absolutely is both manipulator and victim. He did all that shit, and all the while it's being done TO him, and he's walking this incredibly razor thin line between feeding his god/being empowered by it, and bc of it's nature knowing in intimate detail every nasty thing that awaits him should he fail (and I think being deathly afraid of it). That gif from Knives Out lmfao, compels me.

(apologies this probably isn't hugely coherent but there we are)

Thank you I am chewing on this ask violently. You Get It.

Unfortunate that tumblr killed your paragraph breaks, because I now can't find the section easily, but that thing about Jonny's character work in this series entirely consisting of aspects of "completely understandable humanity" is SO deeply how I feel about it. This is part of why I love horror of this kind so much. The horror being the fact that no one can really do anything to stop it opens up a space where the characters don't need to be presented along clear lines of good and evil, or even helping a cause or hurting it. It's a lot closer to how real people react in a natural disaster, if anything. There is love and selfishness and incredible acts of violence and cruelty and understandable failings and greed and fear, and pretty much all of it has a root that you can see, if you know enough about the people doing it and the circumstances to really feel where their mindset must be. I'd say Elias is functionally the closest thing TMA has to a narrative scapegoat, but that doesn't mean he is one. I almost feel like he's there as a pressure valve for the story, to be a villain if people need one to make sense of what's going on without having to constantly confront head-on the horror of the way the setting traps everyone in it. He can be made that kind of scapegoat, but only really by ignoring the parallels to Jon and the letters sent to him in older statements, and the way both show how the Fears drive the people who learn about them into more and more desperate straits.

It's kind of like that with all the older avatars. Simon Fairchild throws people off of stuff for a joke, because he's had more than 400 years of being steeped in the knowledge that humanity is both insignificant in the span of the universe, as well as utterly incapable of stopping the course of the Fears as they exert whatever influence they will by the force of sheer bulk. Peter Lukas never had a chance - he was born into this, isolation was his family and religion and paradoxically from childhood his only possible road to belonging. Adelard Dekker thought he was helping, as did Gertrude, even as they both fed the things that claimed them alongside those efforts. Nikola Orsinov was so far away from having an identity anymore that she couldn't go back if she wanted to, if she had even had enough left to want. Her world would have just been a home that was more like herself, and who hasn't wanted that? They're easier to vilify because their outlooks are harder to understand until the very end of the series, but looking back it's so clear that they were also just people once, and the writing never really lets you forget that.

If I said I'd tried to make all of these replies short, you probably wouldn't believe me. And Yet. I am not NORMAL about this show and the way Jonny writes people.