#because well that'd be defending herself as well

[demodraws0606]

The fact people haven't pointed how weird Hu's entire behavior is in the latest episode is wild to me, like genuinely.

As soon as her weapon is mentioned, she goes completely silent and looks terrified.

Then Teruko asks her "what lie did Nico tell you to get a hold of that" and she doesn't respond. In fact she sounds confused and let's out a

"...What" As though she's confused that was the conclusion Teruko had made

In fact she doesn't even says a singular full sentence about it. No questioning Nico, no giving us context as to how Nico would've even gotten the weapon in the first place, no reaction from Hu to the idea that Nico would've tried to frame her and the fact they admit to it right in front of her.

This is the women who acted shocked and entered a blind rage when she learned that David betrayed her, blaming him for "toying with her heart".

Even if she would treat Nico different from David, I don't fucking buy the idea that she'd have 0 reaction to that. No tearful reaction of betrayal ? No breakdown.

Somehow here she says nothing, acting confused and then just sheepishly adding a "That's..." when the conversation moves further.

That moment is still stuck in my mind because it is such a strange moment especially with how we've established Hu's behavior during the entire trial.

We literally see how she reacts to being betrayed, we've seen it in this class trial, and yet someone even closer to her admits to framing her and it's just...crickets.

[everythingisromant1c]

It's Always Been You - Chapter 10

james potter x fem!reader

summary - In all the excitement—or horror, to you—of the week, including the rumors that were still spreading rapid-fire around school, or your supposed best friend James's mysteriously terrible mood, you'd almost forgotten: the time had finally come for you to go on your date in Hogsmeade.

wc [5.0k]

all chapters | <- Chapter 9 - Chapter 11 ->

Maybe your best friend's unexplainable foul mood had been the reason that sleep came difficult to you that night, or maybe it was the fact that the clock in your brain was counting down until the time the sun would rise. The time when morning would come and you'd take that carriage ride over to Hogsmeade with the boys like you'd promised, and have to find Sebastian to go on your date with him. Your date. It still didn't feel real.

You didn't know if anything you'd done in the past could truly be qualified as an official date, one you could refer back to that morning as you finally saw sunlight through your window and knew you'd have to get ready. Luckily, you had two of the best girls you knew for friends, and they were set on helping you.

"I'm telling you, it's the first dress." Marlene nodded her head at you with wide, excited eyes, as you held two different dresses still on hangers up to your neck. "I mean are you kidding? It's one hundred percent your color, and you look sexy as hell in it."

Your jaw dropped at her antics. "Marlene," you cooed nervously.

"I mean it. Sebastian's not gonna be able to keep his hands off of you when he sees you."

You covered your face with your hands, half because you were embarrassed, and half because you didn't need Lily and Marlene to see you spiraling at the thought of what Marlene had just suggested. You'd been so caught up with, well, everything going on, that you hadn't even considered what going on a date truly entailed. What if he wanted to kiss you?

"Then you kiss him back," Marlene said easily as you voiced your question aloud. She stopped herself. "But only if you want to, of course."

"Yeah," Lily agreed, placing down a pair of nice shoes with a short but elegant heel on them that you'd forgotten you'd owned on the floor next to you. "Only do something if you want to do it. Don't let him pressure you into doing anything you don't want to. Even if it's as simple as holding your hand."

"Thank you guys, I know." You set the dress you were planning on wearing on the bed beside you, fiddling with the hanger pensively. "Holding his hand would be nice, I think." You chewed on the inside of your cheek, sitting down on the blanketed mattress. "To be honest, I don't know what I want." The two girls came to stand closer to you as you spoke. "I mean, Sebastian's a great guy and all, but do I even know him all that well?" Your mind traveled back to all the interactions you'd had with him. "What if I only said yes to go out with him because he asked me during the middle of that prank and I panicked and-"

"You need to relax," Lily said, voice firm but comforting at the same time. "You're just freaked out because it's the morning of. You're gonna have a great time." She shrugged a shoulder. "And if things don't click, then it wasn't meant to be. It's not the end of the world. "

"Exactly," the blonde said from next to her. "Don't let Potter's nonsense-spewing mouth ruin this date for you."

You'd filled them in the night before on all that'd been going on with James for the past few days, minus the few intimate 'almosts' that you'd shared with him that'd been dangerously playing in your mind even when you begged them to stop.

"Trust me," you said. "I'm trying not to."

"I still can't believe he's acting like this." Lily shook her head agitatedly. "And just when I was starting to think he might be maturing."

You nodded grievingly. "I would defend his honor to you, Lily, but I don't feel much like doing that right now."

"Maybe it's for the best." She breathed out a dry laugh. "Anyways, I suppose," she sighed. "Are you finished in the bathroom? I need to use the loo."

You snorted. "Yeah, all yours."

She shot you an overly excited grin and slipped into the bathroom, the door shutting behind her. All the while, Marlene took a seat on the bed next to you, something glimmering behind her eyes that told you she had ideas she wanted to voice.

You stared at her half amusedly, half hesitantly. "What is it?"

"Did you ever think, during all your bickering, why Potter has such a problem with you going on this date?"

You sighed. That was all you could think about. You tipped your head at her, knowing where this conversation was going to lead. "Yeah," you said plainly. "Because he's set on the five of us spending every Hogsmeade trip together until we die."

"Or maybe," she argued, "it's because he's jealous."

You dropped your shoulders, shaking your head as you stared at her. "You're not serious."

The blonde stared back at you with an equal amount of fire. "I so am."

You laughed to yourself, perhaps deprecatingly. "The only thing James could be jealous about is the free butterbeer I'll probably be getting."

"Don't be dense."

"I'm not being dense. I'm being realistic." You puffed out a breath. "I know James. Well enough to know that, after we ..." you trailed off. "After the party, when he disappeared, he was freaked out because I'd scared him off. And he knows me too. I didn't have to tell him for him to figure out that I'd ... felt something for him. Something that he obviously was uncomfortable talking about, so I've spared him the trouble and moved on. That's the end of it." You picked up the dress you'd laid on the bed as you heard Lily washing her hands in the bathroom. "It has to be."

Marlene regarded you for a few seconds, maybe scoping out how genuine you were. "Like you said," she shrugged, "you know him best."

You nodded, ending the conversation as Lily exited the bathroom. Though the more this week went on, you believed that fact less and less.

You soon were leaving the sides of both Lily and Marlene after the walk down to the horseless carriages in front of the school, dozens of them stationed there to take everyone down to Hogsmeade.

The air was especially crisp for a September evening, making you think to yourself that maybe bringing a jacket would have been a smart choice, especially in the dress you were wearing, but your brain soon became occupied by other thoughts. Thoughts that were centered around the sight of your four friends standing around an unoccupied carriage in the distance, probably waiting for you.

You took a breath in, and then another one. You were completely devoted to ensuring this would be a drama-free carriage ride, no matter what, or who, tried to stop that from happening. You made your way over to the four boys, two of their backs turned to you. You tapped the long-haired one, of course Sirius, on the shoulder.

"You didn't think you were going to leave without me, did you?" you smirked up at him.

He had a wry smile on his face as he turned to you, surely ready with a quip to send back your way, but that smile left as he saw you, his eyes quickly scanned over you.

"Wow," he blanched. Then a sparkling grin took over his features. "You certainly clean up nice."

You crinkled your forehead at his remark and amused smirk until Remus cut in. "What he means is," corrected the sandy-haired boy from next to him. "You look beautiful. Seriously."

You felt your face begin to heat at the four pairs of eyes all now observing you as you stood there in your dress. You were surprised they weren't poking more fun at you than just Sirius's single obvious remark. You couldn't remember the last time you were this dressed up in front of them.

"Thanks," you muttered gratefully. "Now stop gushing and let's get a move on, yeah?"

Remus shook his head at your reaction but hid his laugh, taking an effortless step onto the high carriage, Peter quietly behind him. Sirius made a move to ruffle your hair, which you dodged easily and shot him a glare. He chuckled, making his way over to the carriage as well. That left only you and James.

You turned to him finally, expecting him to be avoiding your eyes as he'd done for the past few days, but instead found him looking straight at you, hazel eyes and all. You didn't know what to do under his gaze which you'd grown somewhat unused to, so you settled on doing nothing at all. You were still holding your grudge over how he'd been acting and weren't quick to forget about it. You were fully expecting him to do the same and say nothing to you at all.

"You do," he said suddenly, and at the confused quirk of your brow, softly added, "Look beautiful, I mean."

You paused, somewhat taken aback by both his words and the genuine tinge of his eyes. You didn't know how James could hold eye contact so easily, especially when he'd been so set on doing just the opposite lately.

"Oh," you voiced quietly, and couldn't help the way the corners of your lips tilted upwards. "Thanks."

He nodded wordlessly and the two of you turned back to the carriage that held your three other friends, clearly able to hear and see your conversation. You eyed the tall wooden floor of the carriage before you and then the high cut of your dress, and then your shoes. As if reading your mind, a firm hand held itself out in front of you.

You peaked your head over to the source of the hand: James, who looked at you expectantly, a certain air to him that was both light and heavy. You regarded him and his hand for a split second, deciding there was no harm in taking it, and did, your fingers slipping over his steadying palm as you took the large step into the carriage. And maybe you were imagining it, but you felt the ghost of his fingers delicately shadowing your lower back as you steadied yourself into your seat, James following from behind.

He sat across from you and you avoided looking at him as you fought reacting to the feeling that ran through you, like you were still on some kind of high from his touch. It only made you mad to think about, so you decided not to, looking elsewhere instead as the carriage began moving seemingly on its own.

It'd only taken a few moments for the Hogwarts castle to be only a beautiful shrinking sight in the distance, and for the scenery of the early fall to take over your senses instead. You were sat in front of James, who sat next to Peter, the blonde looking rather sickly and lost in troubling thoughts.

"Pete," you called curiously. "You alright? You look pale."

The boy in question turned to you with worry behind his eyes, but he only nodded. "Yeah, I'm great," he said, voice rather shaky for someone who was 'great.'

"He's just nervous about his date." Sirius reached across the carriage to pat Peter on his shoulder, shaking him a little in his frail state. "You've got nothing to be worried about, mate."

"Yeah, Sirus is right," you agreed. "Remember, she asked you out because she wanted to spend time with you as you already are. Just be yourself."

Sirius nodded, before shifting his focus to you. "And what about you? You nervous for your date with Vance?"

You shrugged. "Maybe before, but I think I'm alright now." You smiled thinly. "I already talked it out with Lily and Marlene in our dorm getting ready."

"So that's what you ladies do up there?" Sirius asked, and you frowned. "Thought there'd be more pillowfights in your underwear."

You made a nauseated expression as Sirius grinned at his own joke. "You're disgusting," you scolded, though Peter had let a smile overtake his face at the joke and you figured maybe it was worth it.

Remus was shaking his head as well from next to you, the corners of his mouth teasing upwards. You turned forward again, James straight in your line of vision, but it didn't even seem he was listening to the conversation at hand, head aimed out the side of the carriage. He looked more distant than ever as he sat tensely and you had to fight the urge to reach out to him. You knew all too well what would come from that.

You let your focus slip onto other things, like the wind that was brushing against your exposed arms and moving your hair slightly in the wind. You fought a shiver, bringing your hands up to rub at the sides of your arms—you were sure you had goosebumps.

For the second time that morning, like he was reading your mind, you watched as James held out his arm towards you, though this time he was holding something in his hand instead: his coat. It was brown on the outside, a light jacket that was lined with a soft flannel fabric, one that you always thought looked dashing on him. He looked at you expectantly, waiting for you to take it.

You faltered from surprise and then shook your head. "I'm alright," you said softly, pursing your lips.

"You're practically shivering," James pointed out, tipping out his chin at you. "Just take it."

"I don't want to take your own jacket from you, James. It's chilly."

"Exactly," he said, catching you in your lie. "And you're not taking it from me, I'm giving it to you."

You looked up from the jacket he was offering, if you could call it an offer, and at him, seeing the stubborn hold of his jaw and yet the sincere gloss of his eyes. Because you knew he wouldn't let you say no anyway now that you'd admitted it was chilly, you took it from his hand.

You wrapped the too-big coat over your shoulders, grateful but perhaps hateful of the way it immediately warmed you like the lighting of a fireplace. It smelt warm and comforting like a fireplace too, or maybe that was just the fact that it was James's jacket and he always smelled strangely nice. You blinked at yourself, chasing away your thoughts that were certainly not appropriate, considering you were currently on your way to a date with a different boy.

In all your thinking, it was like you could feel a pair of eyes on you. You looked up again, but James already had gone back to staring out at the moving scenery. You couldn't read him right then, and if there was anything you'd learned about James from all the years you'd known him, it was that you could always read him, even when others couldn't. The fact that you hadn't been able to read him for days was worrying you sick and setting you off all at once. You just wished you could get inside his head.

You sighed, your eyes shifting over to Remus, who was giving you the oddest of looks. The corners of his eyes crinkled, though his lips stayed shut together. You raised a brow and he only shrugged, looking away again. You really needed to get inside that boy's head, too.

Before you could even mull over the different possibilities of ways that your up-and-coming date could go wrong, a habit of your mind that you hated, the carriage had pulled up into Hogsmeade. It came to a slow stop next to the uniquely shaped brick buildings you'd become all too familiar with over the years. That didn't take away from the excitement bubbling inside your stomach—or maybe that was nervousness; you couldn't tell anymore.

All five of you exited the carriage, James offering you his hand again as you took the big step onto the ground. You were growing too frustrated to even consider the feeling of your hand in his larger one that somehow was still as warm as the jacket you wore. How he could be so sweet yet so aggravatingly aloof you didn't know, but you forced your mind off the topic once again. Only, you couldn't force thoughts of James away completely, because he was calling your name as soon as you'd walked past him.

Your head turned to him so swiftly it almost made you dizzy. He was standing there along the side of a building you identified as The Three Broomsticks, hands now shoved into his trouser pockets with his head slightly tipped forward, though he stood up straighter as you made your way to him.

"Yeah?" you questioned, and maybe your tone was testy, but you didn't have it in you to alter it for his sake.

James shifted his footing underneath your gaze, taking a moment before speaking. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."

The pull of your brows let up at his words and you observed his facial expressions shamelessly, sorting through what to say. Luckily, he spoke again before you could.

"I'm sorry for making you take the carriage ride into Hogsmeade with the rest of us. You should've just gone with your date. I was just in an ... off mood last night. Didn't mean to take it out on you."

And just like that, the hope you were harboring when James had first uttered the word 'sorry' had bubbled and churned inside of you until all that was left was dissatisfaction.

"Is that all?" you questioned.

James's lips parted. "What?"

"I mean, I'm grateful for your apology," you breathed the word like it left a foul taste in your mouth. "But is there anything else you'd like to talk about? Apologize for?"

James scratched his head almost comically, and you laughed without any humor as you began to turn around. Before you could take a single step, James grasped your wrist in his fingertips, and you fought not to notice how feather-light he held onto you.

"Like what?" he asked you, and at your stone expression he dropped your hand. "Please," he insisted.

You swallowed and shrugged up your shoulders irritatedly. "Oh, I don't know James, maybe the fact that you've been acting 'off' this whole week and won't say a word as to why?" You took the hand he'd held and put it to your forehead. "I've probably asked you if you were okay about a dozen times and all you can say to me is that you're 'fine' when you're clearly ticked off."

"Because that's the truth," James insisted.

"Please," you remarked. "It's not the truth. Don't lie to me, James. I know you. Better than anyone else, and I know when you're upset about something."

"I'm not upset, alright?" James squinted at you. "Why can't you just let it go?"

"Because!" You took a breath in, trying to calm yourself because this was not the drama-free morning you wanted to have. "Because, every time I've been down, which has been too many times to count, you've been there for me. Always."

You thought back to the night you realized you loved him as more than just a friend, when he'd comforted you through your tears so quickly and sweetly, and it only made you feel more exasperated.

"So I'm not just going to 'let it go' when something's so obviously bothering you, enough to make you act completely differently to the point where you won't even talk to me." You paused, noticing the sinking in James's gaze the more you spoke. "And quite frankly," you continued, "it hurts like hell that you don't think you can tell me what's been going on, because you can. We're supposed to be best friends, remember?"

James let out a low breath, somewhere between a laugh and a scoff that had your forehead pulling. "Trust me, I remember."

"Then why the hell won't you just talk to me?" Your palms were facing him, telling him it was his move, his turn to try and fix things.

"Because there's nothing to say." He'd thrown away his turn without a second glance, running a fast hand through his hair. "God, this was a mistake. Every time I talk to you, I just-" he stopped himself.

Your heart was beating hard in your chest. "You just what?"

James shook his stubborn head, a muscle in his jaw noticeably flexing. "Nothing, alright?" He looked upwards, like he was battling something greater than him, and began walking towards wherever the hell James Potter went when he didn't want to talk to you. You weren't going to let him.

"How long are you going to keep doing this for, James?" He halted his steps, turning his head back towards you with a rigid look in his eyes. "How long are you going to avoid me?"

"Avoid you?" he laughed, and you froze. "That's rich, coming from you of all people."

You clamped your jaw shut for a beat, blinking at him as your mind started to spin. "What are you talking about?" You knew exactly what he was talking about.

"I'm talking about when you were avoiding me just a few days ago. Ring a bell?"

You lowered your gaze, confidence stuttering. You didn't respond.

"I mean, you wouldn't even partner with me Defense Against the Dark Arts, for Merlin's sake."

"That was different," you argued, though you were ashamed of how pathetic the words sounded coming from your lips.

"How?" James asked, staring at you fearlessly now with raised, expectant brows and an unmoving jaw.

"It ... it just is!" You looked away. "We're getting off track. My point was that ... I just miss you, James." The irony of your warm words contrasted with the angry shake of your lips didn't escape you. "I miss the James who wouldn't push me away every time I tried to have a conversation with him, or who wouldn't act like a bloody child every time I mention I'm going on a date."

If you thought you saw a crack of guilt racking James's expression, there was no trace of it now.

"Oh yeah?" he questioned, his tone colder than you'd ever heard it. "I'm sorry I don't like talking about your beloved Sebastian every five minutes."

"Well it's not like I can talk to you about anything else, can I?" Your heart was thumping in your chest and you felt like crying. "You know what?" You chewed on the inside of your cheek, turning away. "I give up! Let's just talk whenever you're ready to be honest with me."

Your back was to him when he shouted, "You want me to be honest?" You scoffed, nodding your head. "That's what you want?" he repeated.

"Yes James!" you shouted. "That's exactly what I want!"

"Well then, fine!" He wiped a desperate hand over his face, throwing up his arms. "We kissed, alright?"

Your heart sizzled somewhere in your chest beneath your stilled lungs, every part of you halting its movements. Your expression fell slowly and you blinked at him, staring wordlessly for a moment. "What?"

James stared back at you, looking at you more than he'd looked at you in the past week altogether. The opposite of yours, his chest heaved up and down like he'd been fighting for air and could only now come up for oxygen. He didn't look like he'd misspoken and that scared you more than anything.

"We kissed. Last week. At the party."

Your lips hung, parted and confused. "What are you-"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. We kissed, and you ran off, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since."

Your eyes felt like they had a mind of their own, scanning rapidly over James and then looking at the ground, your heeled shoes, anywhere but at him because your world was shifting around you, the walls of what you thought you knew crumbling down on you.

You swallowed, throat going dry. "James," you voiced carefully. "That kiss was ..." you shook your head. "We were playing a game."

Maybe he would take the slowness of your words for sureness rather than struggle, because that along with seemingly every other emotion was what you were feeling inside.

"No, c'mon. Don't do that." James shook his head back at you and you felt like running away, but you couldn't now. Not when he was looking at you like that. "Don't try and make it seem like that was all it was, because it wasn't. Not for me, and I know it meant more to you too."

The cool breeze from before had picked up and was turning into an inexorable wind that made you feel worse than you already did. Could he see the way you had to stop yourself from shaking? Hear the way you willed your heartbeat to stop pounding? Clearly not, because he kept talking.

"For days, weeks even, all that's been on my mind was you. Do you know how hard it is to get anything done when all I can think about is my best friend kissing me?"

You felt dizzy with the way he was staring into your eyes. Like you'd voiced to yourself a million times, how James held eye contact so effortlessly was a mystery you'd never find the answer to.

"And I know you said you wanted to just pretend like the kiss never happened, but you should know that I can't do that, alright? Trust me. I've tried, and obviously that didn't work." He ran a hand through his tousled hair again. "So I just ... I need you to say something to me. Anything."

You willed yourself to speak again, blood rushing past your ears now. "I ... I don't know what to say. It was a part of a game."

James practically flinched. "Anything but that." He breathed out a laugh without any chest, tipping his head back and taking steps around. "God."

You still felt like crying, because nothing was making sense. Then James refocused on you, and you felt pinned underneath his gaze.

"You can tell me it was part of a game however many times you want." His words were achingly slow and desperate. "But tell me ... just tell me you didn't feel anything when we kissed. That it meant absolutely nothing to you, and I'll stop talking. I promise."

You knew he meant what he said; you could see it all through his hazel eyes. You'd asked for honesty and you'd gotten it. You knew that you couldn't lie to him anymore, and you said your truth with your voice was on the verge of breaking.

"I can't." Even if your voice shook, James heard it loud and clear. He stopped moving and stepped closer to you whether he noticed or not. "But that doesn't mean it can mean anything now."

If it was possible, he went even more still. His eyes pleaded with you to say more to him, so you did. "It's not fair, James." Your voice broke off, and James took both your hands in his, and held them tight near his chest, like hope pumped through them.

"What? What's not fair, Love?"

You flinched at the name you hadn't heard in seemingly forever, but it pinched at the part of your brain that remembered it vividly. You didn't know how this moment was real. You looked down at his hands that engulfed yours. "It's not fair that it meant something, because it can't."

You pretended not to notice the way James's hands loosened their hold. "Not when-" your voice hitched at the sign of your eyes blurring despite how much you'd willed them not to. "Not after I spent months—years, even—trying to make every interaction between us mean something. After I spent all that time trying to get over you! It- it's not fair, and I won't do it. I won't."

You shook your head timidly and repeatedly like it would stop what was happening. You didn't know when you and James had moved away from each other, probably somewhere between your voice breaking and your eyes watering, but you had. But that wasn't was most important.

James had gone eerily still, painfully silent. That didn't change the fact that his unforgiving eyes continued to search what seemed like every inch of your face. His voice rang out lowly.

"Get over me?" His heavy brows furrowed in hurt and bewilderment. "Wh-" he choked. "What do you mean 'get over me'?"

You put a hand to your head, amused in your disbelief. "Like you haven't known."

James took a persistent step forward, the pinch between his brows desperate. "What the hell are you talking about?"

This all felt like a bad dream you couldn't wake up from. You forced yourself to breathe. "I really can't do this right now, I-" You didn't think you could do it ever. You pulled at the hem of your dress. "I have a date."

Even with the wind whipping against you both, you'd never heard a silence like the one you did right then.

"You're really still going on that date?" James peered at you interrogatingly, his eyes slightly red now, and it killed you.

"What am I supposed to do, James?"

You wiped at your nose. James's hands were elevated at his sides like he wanted to reach out to you, but didn't. He looked like he didn't know what he wanted to do, but he didn't stop.

"You can't just go running away all because ..." he panted, "because..." His voice trailed off.

You wanted to shout at him that all you'd done since forever was stop yourself from running away, but you didn't. It wasn't his fault you'd tortured yourself all these years. But that didn't mean he could get his happy ending with the snap of his fingers, either.

Just to twist the knife in your chest, he whispered, "Please."

You dropped your gaze low to the cobblestone ground beneath your feet, blurry now through your lashes. "I need to go." The sight of him standing before you, eyes watery and lips parted helplessly, sent painful pangs through your heart. You moved your head, willing yourself to turn away and your legs to move. You didn't think you could leave if you looked him in the eyes. "I'm sorry."

Those same eyes followed you as you walked down the path, head hung low but steps quickening despite. Steps taken in the direction of The Three Broomsticks, where you'd go on your date with Sebastian. Your mind kicked and screamed at you at every step, but you couldn't get them to stop.

You felt James's eyes on your retreating form like you felt the wind snapping against your cheeks, though you didn't turn back to look at him. That way, he wouldn't be able to see the way your expression shook at the effort of just trying to keep yourself together.

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[loganwritesprobably]

When You're In Danger (Straw Hats P2)

Feat. Nami, Robin and Jinbei

Content/warnings: Reader is GN, canon-typical violence referenced, injuries referenced

Nami is a coward and she knows it

Rarely does she rush head first into danger

But she'd do it for you

You're her most prized treasure, and she'll be damned if anyone things she'll let you get hurt

She can't do much damage herself, so she'd prefer to stay closeby so the two of you can back each other up

If the two of you are separated, and she sees or hears that you're in trouble, it'll give her a new surge of determination

She may cross the battlefield screaming, but she'll do it to get to you

Nami knows she might not be able to save you, but she can be there to at least lessen the hurt you suffer

Rather than showing she guilty that she couldn't help you, Nami would lash out at the stronger crew members because they should've helped

Even though she knows you don't normally need the help

If you got hurt because you were protecting her though

That'd devastate her

She hates that she isn't as strong as the others, and it would never hurt more than in that moment

Robin is a powerhouse in her own right

She can more than handle herself in a fight

But diverting attention is dangerous

She will focus on her own fight first and foremost, even if you're in danger

She can't help you if she ends up hurt because she was careless

Once her own fight is over, she'll be at your side instantly

She'll insert herself into your fight without waiting for permission, because she knows at that point for sure if she's needed

She'll protect you first, then deal with your attacker second

You are capable, and she always makes sure to explain that she doesn't involve herself because she thinks otherwise - she just wants you to be safe

If someone hurt you, they'd see no mercy from the Devil Child

She'd be the one to carry you to Chopper, even if you were perfectly capable of walking

She'd remain by your side, reading aloud, until you were well again

We've seen already what Jinbei will do to defend someone he thinks deserves it

You're no different

He'll dive directly into danger if it means he can keep you safe

He knows that you're capable, but you're also both aware that he is more capable, and so him coming to your defence isn't an insult

It's a sign of how much he cares

9/10 times if Jinbei comes to your defence, you won't get so much as a scratch

But that one in ten creates hell to pay

He's been through a lot in his life, but he cares for you more than most, and so you getting hurt is way up there on the list of things that piss him off

He's able to dispatch whoever was causing you harm immediately, and then check on you

Before he takes you anywhere, he'll check in and ask how you're feeling. He's calm and collected while he gathers the information he needs from you

Only then would he take you to be seen by Chopper

Requests are open! See below links for my other works, and how to leave requests. I write both canon/canon and canon/reader requests for your enjoyment

AO3 | Fanfic Masterlist | Request Rules | Fic Trades Guide | WIPs

Tags: @claryeverlarkf

[knight-of-the-graces]

I... am having EPIC Thoughts. I read a post that talked about how Odysseus really isn't doing any better with ruthlessness than mercy, and I just started thinking, so... here you so. Yes, I'm writing an essay now, you're welcome, I am 'That Guy' in every fandom I'm in ever, yes.

Ruthlessness and Mercy: Would It Matter? An EPIC: The Musical Study

In short... no. No, it really wouldn't.

From the beginning, the conflict was never about ruthlessness or mercy; it was always about the will of the gods. It never mattered whether Odysseus was merciful or ruthless or prideful or what-have-you, insert-chosen-character-trait-or-flaw-here-- the only thing that mattered was if he was obeying the gods, if he had angered them or not. Odysseus wasn't the problem in The Odyssey, at least at the start.

(This is not me saying the man doesn't have or cause problems, because he definitely does, but the overarching problem of The Odyssey isn't about Odysseus.)

Think about it. Several of the gods had decided --at least, in The Odyssey-- to make Odysseus' life a living nightmare. The reason for this seems to vary, but it's there. So right there, no matter what he did, what choices he made, the outcome was already decided for him. He was doomed from the start and didn't even know it.

See, here's the thing, about the Greek gods: Most of them really don't care about mortals any more than most humans care about insects. Interesting on occasion, but usually just something to ignore. And then you have the people who like to torment them, to pull off their wings and legs and watch them suffer and squirm-- those are the gods who involved themselves in the Trojan War. They weren't interested in the affairs of mortals in that they didn't care about the cause of the war, only that it was something interesting to do to break up the monotony of their daily lives up on Mount Olympus, a chance to show off and compete with one another and settle old scores. (I'm particularly upset about Aphrodite. Like, seriously, who just kidnaps some poor woman to marry off to a random guy she's never even met? I mean, c'mon, you're a literal goddess, you couldn't've just... y'know, made a person out of clay instead of kidnapping someone who already had a husband and family? Goodness.)

But anyway. Let's take a hypothetical, shall we? Let's say that Odysseus didn't show Polyphemus mercy, when Athena said to kill him. Do you really think Poseidon would've been any less angry about a dead descendant than a blinded one? I mean, even in this same tale the gods were known for taking vengeance on those who wronged their descendants, and being dead is definitely worse of a wrong than being blind, at least in my humble opinion.

Then, let's take into consideration who exactly killed him: that'd be Odysseus, King of Ithaca and all of that... and a champion of Athena. Now, this might or might not be common knowledge, but Poseidon and Athena competed extensively for the patronage of the city of Athens, and Poseidon lost, badly; that isn't the kind of slight he'd forget easily. (I mean, an olive tree is a food source, though, so... sorry, but it's definitely more useful than a salty spring from the salty man of the sea. Thanks, but no thanks.)

In EPIC, Odysseus had at least defied Athena, so she'd left him by the time Poseidon could discover what exactly he'd done, and thus wasn't responsible for defending her former champion; however, in a Ruthless hypothetical, he'd done exactly as she'd said, and now she had a predicament on her hands: Abandon the champion who had obeyed her to the letter, or face the wrath of Poseidon herself, too?

In The Odyssey, Athena abandons Odysseus to face the wrath of Poseidon by himself, so as not to incur her uncle's ire as well. So in our hypothetical, she would likely have abandoned Odysseus here too. The only thing that would change would be the guilt.

Why is that?

Well, to put it simply, there isn't a way for Odysseus to not incur Poseidon's wrath here. Polyphemus is Poseidon's son, and Odysseus --in order to save the lives of himself and as many of his men as he can-- will do him harm. Poseidon, as Polyphemus' father --whether a good one or not--, is responsible for avenging a slight against his bloodline. Athena, due to Odysseus' actions, will leave him.

Perhaps --straying from the question of ruthlessness and mercy-- if Odysseus hadn't said his name, if pride or anger or stress or whatever interpretation of it you take hadn't influenced his decision, Poseidon might not have learned who was responsible for the act. But then again, who else was sailing the sea --Poseidon's domain, about which he knew every detail-- in that exact area at that exact time, with a captain clever enough to give his name as Nobody so as to not reveal himself, with a sudden influx of stolen sheep on their ships where Polyphemus the shepherd had lost his?

Really, though, that isn't relevant. The question was if it would make a difference whether he was ruthless or merciful, and honestly... I don't think it would make much of a difference. One way or another, his crew was going to die. One way or another, he was going to wind up alone. Do you think that his crew wouldn't have mutinied after yet another monster their captain had chosen to spare came back with a vengeance? Do you think they would have listened when he warned them about Helios' cows then?

Do you think a merciful Odysseus would've chosen his traitorous crew, his former friends, over the chance to see his wife and son again?

[justplainlovely]

Defending my new favorite ship again because why tf not

I’ll start by stating the obvious (cuz apparently it isn’t a given to some of the folks on here, which is weird, but okay). We DO NOT condone abuse in any form. With that said, an explanation is not an excuse and many folks, almost all I’d venture to guess, have been abusive at some point in their lives (I know I wouldn’t have been on the receiving end of so much abuse if that were untrue - hurt people hurt people). We also DO NOT condone racism. I get the feeling people assume malice on the Ghoulcy shipper side because of disgusting comments that were made long ago about Rey and Finn (which was a similar dynamic that, I’d argue, made more sense than a Lucy/Max relationship but that’s also my 🌈 heart shipping him with Dane). These disclaimers also extend to the villains, which Barb is one of. We DO NOT condone misogynoir here either cuz while I haven’t seen much racism on Lucy/Max, I have seen a surprising amount about Barb. Being a fictional villain does not allow for any kind of bigotry, NOTHING does, but I digress.

So on Ghoulcy, I’ll say this. The foreshadowing is layered heavily throughout the story. Whether they are intended to be friends or partners is up for debate, but the writing makes it quite clear that these characters are destined to team up, bringing us to the end of Season 1 when Lucy walks off with Cooper. I’m brought back to what Wilzig said at the beginning of the season, when Lucy was by herself camping and he warned her several times to go home before finally saying:

“The question is, will you still want the same things when you’ve become a different animal altogether?”

Lucy is very distraught at the end of the season after learning everything she does about her dad and Vault-tec and, for her to return to the vaults and live out her days there, with or without Max, seems like a stretch when things are all said and done. This can be poignantly compared to Persephone going to the underworld (in Lucy’s case, the surface world) - she has eaten the proverbial pomegranate.

This isn’t the only dynamic which Ghoulcy has been compared to, either. I have also seen them compared to Beauty and the Beast, which brings Max back into the dynamic often as a Gaston. Personally, I don’t see that, but if he turned out to be a villain it would be an interesting storyline and Aaron Moten could play it off very well. But bringing Max back in, something about his character to me feels very incomplete and I’m not sure if a love interest is the way forward for him. We only know one of his wants:

“I want to hurt the people who hurt me.”

And at the end of the season it’s like he seems less convinced by that, even though it’s hard to guess exactly what he’s thinking when he is knighted (something he should want, but judging by his expression he seems disenchanted by it) and finds Lucy has left. Part of the reason I ship him and Dane is because Dane has been a rock to him, one who he can probably trust with doubts about the Brotherhood. But returning to Ghoulcy, Cooper has been exactly where Lucy is before. He was betrayed by the one person he trusted most and what did he love most about Barb before they divorced (remember there was talk about alimony in the first episode - not sure how people forgot that):

“I know you always try to do the right thing. That’s what I love about you.”

Who embodies that better than Lucy, I ask you. (Cooper very well could still care about his ex-wife so take that with a grain of salt) But when it comes down to it, and we don’t know who initiated the divorce so it’s up for interpretation like any good story, part of Cooper died when he listened in on Barb’s Vault-Tec meeting just like part of Lucy is dying after she learns what her father did to her mother and Shady Sands.

“If my dad found out that I destroyed an entire community to save him... that'd break his heart.”

That is likely what’s on repeat for her when she learns about the city. And when Cooper offers her his company to New Vegas, his tone notably softens. I think when they first met, the vile things Cooper did to Lucy made her realize very quickly what she would have to do to make it on the surface. Cooper is intrigued, maybe even put off by, her genuine goodness. And it’s not just that, but he sees part of his past self and seeks to kill it any chance he can get. I’d argue that’s a large part of why he’s so cruel to her (him shooting the Vault Boy poster was more than just a fuck you to Vault-Tec). And likewise, Lucy shows him that embracing his humanity again is not so bad - whatever morsel he has left. It begins with trust, though, whatever they have. When she follows him, he has his back turned to her and is walking ahead with the dog. Normally, he wouldn’t put himself in such a vulnerable position, but he is showing her that he believes in her golden rule. Or more accurately that he believes that she believes in it.

Anyway, I dare not risk turning this into an actual essay. It’s already long enough. I’m interested in exploring other aspects that I might have missed if y’all have any thoughts.

[possamble]

whats your take on marcille and pattadols post canon friendship? they seem to hang out occasionally in a couple of post canon shorts and i was wondering if your beautiful mind has anything more to add? youre amazing 💖

☺️ aha thank you so much!!! Pattadol and Marcille are sooo interesting to me because like. I think Pattadol is who Marcille would have become if her parents had both been long-lived, and she never had a reason to question elven authority. The hardworking attitude, insistence on sticking to a very rigid set of principles, a little bit of vanity in wanting to be recognized for her efforts... the slightly ridiculous uptightness and neurotic attitude at times, though at heart they're both kind people who want the best for everyone in their own ways.

In the post-canon, I'm assuming that Pattadol has her own ambassador's quarters in either the castle or the inner city, and the two of them grab tea at the castle drawing room/garden/whatever. I think they talk shop, soundboard ideas off each other, and gossip/complain a little about incompetent colleagues/problems... I think they're each others' dream work friends, honestly. Polite, competent, friendly but never getting overly personal, fun and pleasant to talk to. The fact that Pattadol's 82 and a fairly young woman by elven standards also plays into it, I think -- Marcille hasn't had another elf friend along the same maturity range and professional level of experience, so this is probably nice for her!

What I would like to see is them eventually developing a closer relationship. I think a lot about the way Pattadol reassured Marcille that, because of her accomplishments, she'd have a pretty comfortable sentence as a Canary. About the way, while there was tension because of what was happening at the time, they were both immediately very polite to each other upon meeting and kind of?? got along/clicked immediately in some ways?? It feels like they have the same kind of standards for themselves and others (as well as general inexperience and slight insecurity about their own competency, which probably makes them feel at more or less an equal level with each other).

And I think that'd be good for both of them -- having someone else that they admire, who also admires them in return and recognizes their talents and hard work. There's a very unique kind of rapport you build with someone that you hold as an intellectual peer and can trust to give you feedback that's actually reliable and up to par. While they might both be too professional to really become super close friends who can always be open with each other, there's a very real and deep kind of companionship that forms from this kind of trust, and I hope that's the direction they're heading in.

It's also extra delicious if you add in the tension of Pattadol inherently being a foreign agent from a country that isn't necessarily friendly, but they end up with that strange trust anyway... not to mention the thought that she might find herself actually admiring how Melini is growing and trying to defend it when reporting back to the queen.

[odusseus-xvi]

Wanted to talk about q!Forever and his presidency seen from the pov of someone who mostly experience it from outside percepctive as I'm incapable of understanding Brazilian. SAYING IT RIGHT NOW I'm not here to say q!Forever is wrong or evil (as I'm convinced he is not, no need to come and tell me), this is not what's it's about, this is about how lost he seems when you are looking from the exterior.

So I know drama is brewing because people are fighting over who's right and who's an evil virus of satan, and I don't care, I'm not interested in this. I want to talk about the characters I love, because I love q!Forever, and his story makes me so sad.

I want to explain to those who wouldn't know, I'm a mostly french viewers, I follow Etoiles, Baghz, Antoine, Aypierre and Phil (mostly, I try to follow everyone's storyline and povs), the last two are not important here as Philza doesn't interact with the president storyline at all and Aypierre's involvement can be resumed to "I don't care who's in power and what they do, I'll be nice to them because I want power". But basically what the Forever Presidency feels like is not evil, or corrupted, it feels WEIRD :

Because obviously he is kindhearted, he has saved the eggs multiple times, he has done a lot for the island, and has said multiple times he wants to help everyone, and I believe that. But then in some of his actions and speeches, there is so much stuff that we are weirded out about. First how he told Baghera how he wanted to make everyone vote etc. That's okay, but like she said herself "Well that was my campaign idea..." And that's true, and that was also a thing Him and Cellbit used as way to descend her campaign, so that felt like a light knife in the back. But that's the least worrying thing.

There was then the whole deal where from what I understood he felt betrayed by Baghera and Bad as they didn't share everything and witheld information. And from Baghz pov that felt like it came out of nowhere because... Well she didn't ! That was simply miscommunication. And ensued the whole deal where he talked about how he felt about the arrival of the new people, and how he didn't trust them and didn't want to help them unless they had an egg. That was a weird thing in itself, he is supposed to be the president of the island and he is the one least willing to welcome new people.

There was also the nerfing armor stuff. At first we thought he said that as a joke you know, he is just not saying no to Quackity because that'd be rude. But who in their right mind would do that right ? Right... ? And then yestedray he asks Etoiles to do a debate with Quackity to discuss it and everyone went "Wait, he's actually considering it ?" And that was weird because... Well Forever spends most of his time in his base. Isolated. And when you watch Etoiles you know that even with the strongest suit of armor in the game you CAN die everyday. Is... Is Forever asking for a death sentence ? Has he been living under a rock ?

The last thing was yesterday, when Etoiles wanted to ask him a few things, he arrived when Forever was having a secret discussion with Cucurucho, and he ordered the construction of a prison he would have access to. And THAT was so WEIRD, everyone in chat and in reaction were like "WHAT !!??? WH... WHY ??", and then followed by "could I have a gun to defend myself ?" and everyone went "Oh. He... He doesn't trust us !!!", Etoiles himself went *raises eyebrow*. There is something REALLY going bad with q!Forever. And then he immediatly follows by taking in consideration Etoiles' request to allow Dark Metal for his fight against the code, so he's not evil, he's not corrupted... And that's where I realised what it felt like, it feels like he is lost.

It seems he want to do good, but takes weird unnecessary decisions after weird unnecessary decisions that in most cases fucks over other islanders more than it helps, and the important thing to remember is that he is not doing that purposefully, again it seems he is lost, it feels like he doesn't know what he is doing, because of that people are more wary of him, and it leads him to become more paranoïd and he makes even more bad decisions, wich leads to more people being wary of him and it creates a vicious feedback loop that constantly raises the tension. (also having the big PRESIDENT sign next to his name creates an epidermic reaction in every french that makes us want a revolution /j) And it's so sad because the only exit I can see is for the tension to be released in an explosion, a revolution, and THAT could be interesting because for once neither side is truly evil per say. They can be misguided, but not outright evil. Like Baghera said herself "I... I don't understand where he is going."

What's terrifying is what we foresaw with the election is happening, the islanders are driving themselves apart and turning against each other. I don't think the Federation wants to avoid a revolution, I'm pretty sure they would be rooting for it.

(HOWEVER next time I see someone saying q!Forever is this perfect little guy that did nothing wrong... PLEASE. The guy was vicious during the election arc. With how much misinformation he spread on Etoiles most notably.)

[lunastarnight]

Curts teeth

Another writing project, once again inspired by @turkeyinnovember. They made a post about a headcanon of theirs ( this one: https://www.tumblr.com/turkeyinnovember/717345318493110272/i-wish-i-can-just-shtpost-about-recreyo-and-not?source=share), so i tjought I might as well put my own little spin on it.

They had all just finished another scenario, and were now all sitting in their living room, just kinda excausted.

Curt and Christian were both on their phones, Curt playing some shitty mobile game to kill time and Christian looking through social media, Den was fidgeting with a pocket knife she had brought along, Ivan was still just kinda subconciously feeling where he had (once again) gotten stabbed in that scenario, and Kristine was holding an ice pack to her head, having hit it earlier.

But she was also staring at Curt. She had been wondering something for some time, finally unable to hold back and breaking the silence:

"So what's up with your teeth?"

Curt looked up confused. "My teeth?" he asked, thinking he might've just misheard her.

Kristine nodded, "Yeah, your teeth, why are they so weird?"

Curt looked confused, flashing his teeth for a moment. "The fuck are you talking about?" He looked to the others, hoping they could clarify what the fuck Kristine was trying to say.

Kristine vaguely gestured to him. "You know", she tried to explain herself, "why do they get so sharp sometimes?"

Christian laughed, speaking up. "Out of everything that happened, this is weird to you?"

Den shrugged. "Never really took the time to question it, figured it wad just some Multiverse stuff."

Ivan looked over with a small grin. "Gotta agree, sharp teeth aren't that big compared to some of the other stuff."

"Oh, that's what you meant." Curt shrugged. "No, not some multiverse thing or anything like that, this has always been like that, ever since I was a kid." Curt went back to his phone, nonchalantly adding "Probably just what happens when you're quarter Werewolf."

"Huh!?"

"Hm?!"

"What?!?"

The atmosphere in the room immediatally shifted, the other four staring at Curt, all of them having a different version of a mix of confusion and shock on their face.

Kristine spoke up first. "What did you just say?"Curt looked up at them again, raising an eyebrow. "What? Did I never tell you?" Chtistian sputtered in disbelief. "No! You kinda didn't." Curt seemed slightly apologetic for that, and quickly went to explain. "Oh, sorry. Well, my Grandma on my dad's side was a Werewolf, so with my dad being half a Werewolf, I'm quarter Werewolf."

They all just kinda stared at him, still very much confused. "You've never been gone on Full moon nights though.", Kristine muttered. "So what, you're immortal?" Ivan asked. "What, are you gonna turn us now that we know?" Christian said jokingly.

Curt held his hands up in the air, trying to get all of them to shut up. "Hold up, hold up, hold up, one thing after the other.", he said, looking to see if they were all paying attention, "First of all, how do you know I was never gone, did you watch me sleep or some shit?" Curt chuckled, interrupting Kristines sputtered attempt at defending herself as he continued. "But, the reason I was never away was, because I don't really have that transformation thing. Under 50 percent you typically loose most of the major Werewolf stuff like transforming into a Wolf or howling at the moon. Second, I'm not immortal, don't think any Werewolf is, they just have a longer lifespan, but since I'm more human, I will probably not live longer then any of you guys. Lastly, no, I won't. Even if I wanted to, the whole "turning people into Werewolfes" thing is kinda for actual Werewolfes, the only real Werewolf things I have are the teeth, slightly enhanced senses, and nightvision. So, even if I were to try, and bite one of you, the most that would probably happen is that'd taste bad."

They sat in silence for a bit, taking in the information, before Ivan perked up again. "What's that supposed to mean, do you think we aren't clean?"

Curt grinned, leaning back in his seat. "Honestly? Especially you, even just with all the stupid situations you're in every scenario, you probably sweat more then the rest of us, that can't taste good."

And with Ivan trying to defend himself, the usual banter continued as if nothing happened. Curts heritage had been a suprise, but honestly? As previously said, really not a big deal compared to what they were usually getting into, they'd be fine.

[rkin413]

Naeishi Family - Father's Day

"Father, we're here!" Taka called, knocking on the door. Next to him Makoto stood, struggling slightly with a couple bags of groceries they'd picked up, and the twins behind them.

"Wanna go home..." Sachiko muttered quietly to herself, although Taka still heard her.

"Come now, Sachiko! It's Father's Day!" he scolded. "Don't you want to see your grandfather?"

"No."

Taka bit back a sigh. Sachiko had never liked his father – she was just as scared of him as she was of... everyone that wasn't himself, Makoto, or Noriko. The one thing the two of them most frequently clashed over was her tendency to hide for the entire duration of his father's visits, which were becoming increasingly rare. No doubt due at least in part to Sachiko's blatant rejection of him.

The door opened.

"Taka-Boy, Mako!" Hiroko greeted, opening the door to let the family in. "4'oclock on the dot, I see."

"Of course! Punctuality-"

"Is everything," both Makoto and Hiroko said in unison. Makoto coughed slightly, apparently not expecting the stero.

"I'm going to take these to the kitchen," he said, holding up his bags. Sachiko clung onto his leg and gave him a pleading look to keep him from leaving. He transfered one bag to the other hand and pat her head. "You'll be fine, Sachi. Hiroko, could you show me the thing we talked about on the phone?"

Taka knew he was referring to something about the two of them cooking a meal for the day, although he didn't know the specifics. Hiroko nodded and led him towards the kitchen.

His father's study creaked open, and Taka had to lunge for Sachiko as she tried to dash behind a nightstand. Foiled, she instead spun with surprising dexterity to hide behind Taka instead, bending his arm awkwardly in the process.

"Hello you three," his father greeted, looking tired. As usual. "Happy Father's Day, Kiyotaka."

"Happy Father's Day to you as well, Father!" Taka greeted. he was still happy to see his father, no matter how melancholy the other man's exhaustion made him.

Noriko, completely unlike her sister, charged her grandfather and wrapped her arms around his legs. Takaaki ruffled her hair.

"Hello, Golden Rule."

"That's Daddy and Papa's name for Nori," Sachiko muttered to herself.

"Say hello to your grandfather, Sachiko," Taka told her, his tone slightly sharper than he'd intended.

"...hi, grandpa." Sachiko said quietly, barely peeking out from behind Taka's legs. She immediately hid herself again, and this time Taka did sigh.

.................................................

Aside from Sachiko's chronic rudeness, which was worsened by her disappearing to who-knows-where once Taka had let go of her, the visit was nice. Makoto had come out a few minutes later to greet his father-in-law, and the adults had struck up a conversation about recent clean-ups in the area, including the fact that a mysterious group (either one of Hajime's groups or a copycat group) had set up air purifiers in the area. Makoto clearly intended to ask later, and Taka quietly wondered if his father and stepmother living in the area had anything to do with it. Makoto and Hiroko both disappeared into and reappeared from the kitchen, and after an hour and a half, the doorbell rang again.

"That'd be Yasu," Hiroko smiled, and Taka watched her bring her son and grandson in.

"Hiro!" Taka scolded, making Hiro jump as soon as he'd wandered leisurely though the door. Eiji did not, and just shot his Dad an amused look, knowing a scolding was incoming. "Everyone was meant to be here by five o'clock at the latest! How could you be so late!"

"Whoa, hey, chill lil'bro!" Hiro defended. "Our train lost power midway, okay?"

"He lost our tickets," Eiji snitched.

"No I didn't! You stole them!"

"Because you would have forgotten the, Dad. You didn't realize you didn't have them until we were at the station."

"The disrespect..."

"How'd that make you guys late if you had the tickets?" Makoto asked in confusion.

"Dad dragged me all around the station trying to get someone else's, while I was trying to get his attention."

"Hey, you got my attention plenty of times! You just used those times to give suggestions instead of telling me you had-"

"Enough!" Taka interrupted. "You both should be ashamed of yourselves, trying to take other people's tickets! Especially you, Hiro, you need to set a better example!"

Hiro muttered something about Sachiko's absence from the room that no one quite caught but Taka still wilted slightly.

"I'll go find Sachiko," Makoto volunteered. "Eiji, want to help?"

"Sure, Uncle Makoto, I can ferret her out." The two left, and Taka heard him asking about whether Toko, Komaru, and Ryuu would be joining them, which they wouldn't be. Something about being busy – Makoto had told Taka that he suspected they were going to visit the hospital again. He wished them the best.

"Heya Nori!" Hiro greeted, scooping up his niece. "You're glad to see me, right?"

Noriko nodded once, neutral expression never leaving her face, and Hiro somehow managed to deposit her on his shoulders despite the excess of dreadlocks on his head that logically should have blocked her.

"I'm glad to see you," Hiroko said, inexplicably smirking, "now give your mother a hug!"

Hiro obliged.

"Now, dinner's almost ready. Help me take stuff out of the oven, will ya?"

"This is the real reason we were late," Hiro stage-whispered to Noriko, "getting out of manual labor- ow!"

Hiroko had flicked his cheek. Hiro swung Noriko down back onto the ground and followed his mother, and there were various sounds from the kitchen for a minute.

"NO NO NO!" Sachiko screamed as Eiji, with a little too much glee on his face, physically dragged her back into the room by her legs. Taka stood up immediately, panic jolting through him. "HAGAKURE LET ME GO I WILL HURT YOU!"

Noriko walked over and picked up her sister's shoulder to help. Taka sat back down – if Noriko wasn't all that concerned, she probably wasn't hurt.

"ET TU NORI?!" she wailed.

"You cannot possibly think you're going to die," Eiji said. "Why do you do this?"

"Are you okay, Sachikio?" Makoto asked, peering into the room nervously.

"No!"

"She's fine, right Noriko?"

Noriko nodded.

"Don't trust them they're liars!"

Eiji was – he somehow took after his father, despite no actual biological relation – but Noriko wasn't.

"Dinner!" Hiroko called.

"It's more of a late brunch!" Hiro called immediately after.

Eiji sighed, dropping his half of his cousin.

...............................................................

Dinner/Brunch was nice – although Hiro tried to claim more credit for it than just 'took a vegetable casserole out of the oven' probably warranted, but Taka decided to let that one go.

Sachiko looked like she wanted to run off still, and only very cautiously ate a few bites of her curry, until Makoto told her he'd cooked that in it's entierty. Then she ate all of it and didn't touch anything else.

"Wait, there could have been something wrong with the cookwear..." she muttered to herself in horror shortly after dinner and Taka felt a twinge of a headache. She wasn't like this at home!

Naturally, she disappeared before anyone else noticed as soon as she was able. Well, perhaps not anyone, since Noriko was also missing.

"I'll go find her," Makoto quietly told him with a sigh. "Again."

"Oh, hey, while they're doing that, Eiji and I've got a present for ya, Pops!" Hiro said. "Eiji, I know we left it in the living room, can you go get it?"

Eiji rolled his eyes, shoved himself out of his seat, and dashed into the other room.

Hiroko took a sip of her tea, and turned to her son.

"So, any girls I should know about?"

"Ma! Come on, not today!" Hiro blushed.

"What about that nice Nakajima girl?" Hiroko's tone made it clear she was just teasing, and not expecting an actual potential daughter-in-law. "Or Aoi? She's been around, she's nice."

"I think I'd have to be the last guy on earth for Hina to consider anything with me," Hiro said. "Same with Kanonchi. And I'm not interested either!"

"I believe Hina is dating someone, actually," Taka volunteered. Hiro blinked.

"Wait, really? Oh, wait, 's it that guy with the blue hair again?"

"They're not dating – they're just roommates," Makoto volunteered, reentering the room with no children. "The girl's are working on something in the study – nothing that should cause trouble, but they want privacy."

"Oh? What is it?" Takaaki asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You'll see."

"Present!" Eiji declared, running back into the room. Taka wondered if he'd waited for Makoto to rejoin them.

.......................................................................

A couple of hours later, and sadly the younger Ishimarus had to set off. Noriko had come out of the study, and Sachiko had graduated to peeking through doorways of her own volition, at least.

Taka hugged his father on the way out, and Makoto gave him a slightly nervous handshake. Hiroko scooped them both up into a hug to deposit "motherly kisses" onto both their foreheads. Noriko tugged on Takaaki's pantleg, and he bent down to see what was on the piece of paper she was holding up to him. As soon as he was down to her level, she wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug.

"Thank you Noriko," he said. She didn't let go after several seconds. "Okay, I need to stand up now." Nothing. "Alright, I love you too, please let me go now, N-"

Sachiko dashed out of where she was hiding, gave her grandfather a kiss on the cheek and fled out the partially-opened door. Noriko let go, an unusally smug look on her usually restrained face. She then handed the piece of paper to her stunned grandfather, and skipped out after her sister, leaving the stunned group behind.

"Hey, Progress!" Hiro declared, breaking the silence. Taka shared a relieved grin with his husband, before they both abruptly realized their daughters had both left the house without them and had to chase after them.

[hamofjustice]

very slight teal mask and indigo disc story spoilers (the kind that'll probably help decide if you want them or not instead of ruin it for you, probably?) and very long commentary about it. mostly about how they've chosen to advertise it

gonna hit you with my longest run-on sentence yet, here we go.

the fact that we had to datamine the teal mask, a DLC whose only returning character is jacq and does not add a line to or scene of anyone else (well, mentions of heath and clavell, i guess?) due to being available to do at any badge count, the fact that we had to dig and pry in unintended ways, just to finally prove that our implied greatest treasures nemona arven and penny would at least be available to hang out with in the indigo disc...

with no new images footage or mentions of the friend trio of in any of the six months since the DLCs were announced, and ten months after these kids opened their hearts and dorm rooms to us, saying we could hang out any time from now on, and turned out to be statues with one line of dialogue after we had already gone on an adventure with them following us around, helping us in battle, and getting to know each other as we walked, and our rival promised to keep up with our strength forever, then never got any stronger...

and now, in the narrative's timeline, we run off to another country to transfer away from our rival for life's school to one she would fit into perfectly the MOMENT she opens up to us about her problems and how she's so much happier now that we're the first person she can actually connect with and be herself around, and shows clear signs of worry that you're going to leave if she doesn't make you promise not to...

and also shortly after Arven became effectively a high school orphan, who's still treated as kind of a butt monkey dumbass for some reason, when he was putting everything he had into researching how to save his dog, his only dependable family, instead of going to class (i guess he's not telling anybody what he's going through, as usual with these kids)...

because TPC did not think these characters being present in the second DLC in any form and not actually having their newfound, hard-earned sense of belonging ruined by the basic premise of said transfer-student DLC was worth advertising at any point, and only showed off gym leaders Katy and Kofu... and that was only if you even bothered to look at the website to notice the feature at all, because hanging out with, battling, and trading with all of the past characters who aren't present in Paldea anymore is now actually a feature, but wasn't in the trailer...

is fucking mind boggling to me.

why is it a secret that they're in the DLC. why would they not just. tell people that as soon as they revealed the DLC. why is it still supposed to be a secret now, half a year later. why weren't they in the first half. why did they not think we'd be worried that they aren't in the second half.

silly me, why would you want to advertise giving people more of the story and main plot-driving characters, the main thing people defend the rushed game for, or that they might get some resolution, or reassure them that the vaguely happy ending to their sad stories isn't going to be ruined like they've implied it will be? that'd be silly. the only way anyone is going to find that out is through hacking

but at least we were finally able to pry that basic fucking information out of them against their will, the only thing I wanted to know about the DLC before I'd buy it, because they left in placeholder stubs for it by accident. oops. wouldn't want to tell people who were on the fence about getting the DLC this information on purpose or anything. need to keep it a secret

we were able to confirm through our own digging that nemona (and many others) are at least allowed to hang out with us, but the thing that would make both her as a character and me as a Pokemon player happier than we've ever been is if she actually got to enroll with us. why wouldn't she go, right? what do a school and society that don't respect her and an empty home where her parents should be have to offer, compared to living her dream with her favorite person, surrounded by people just like her? who can stop a champion from going wherever she wants? but for that to be the case, one of the "club rooms" we found references to would have to be hers. only us kieran and carmine clearly have what are marked as dorm room objects.

i'm glad we're getting what we're getting, but it's still no guarantee that nemona arven and penny will continue to be important to the story that they were the driving forces of, or get the true resolutions and healthier happy endings that they deserve, or that our "true equal" will ever be any stronger or more important to our character than our home ec teacher, or that they'll ever actually get to be a friend group on screen without life or death situations or harrowing grief being involved

oops! accidentally wrote decent character arcs and relationships in a pokemon game! they're going to spend time together in the postgame! abort abort abort quick shove them off into different countries before they hug

okay that's just me being cynical, they will almost certainly be important to the story, but... TPC has the power to make me not cynical and they keep choosing not to do that. but they do keep making really sappy recap videos using previous cutscene footage, like this attachment and uncertainty is something they're milking on purpose

maybe stringing people along with how much they miss the funny, cute, loving, strong characters, or are worried about these three lonely and isolated kids dealing with parental neglect, ptsd and self loathing, autism and motor impairments, identity issues, and more, whose problems are clearly not resolved yet if they can be at all, will... help sell more plushies and gacha pulls, and get people consuming more spinoffs, or something? idk, maybe

love to stop and helplessly gaze upon penny's depression pile every day before i go do tera raids / link battles with strangers (i don't actually do this but i might if poke portal worked indoors)

that all being said! it's pretty damn cool that hanging out with NPCs in a meaningful way and staging selfies with them and stuff is actually a game feature at all. that much is reassuring. it's a step in the right direction considering 90% of pokemon gameplay for a lot of people takes place after the credits roll and everyone normally despawns or becomes a one liner / repeating boss fight statue, or maybe if you're lucky a Multi Battle partner. it was just implied this game would be different, is all. i just don't know why they've chosen to string their audience along this way. wanting to have friends shouldn't throw up a $35 tollgate right as you go to talk to them that takes a year to open, and over six months to find out if it'll kill them when it opens.

i'd like to see pokemon postgame feel more like an animal crossing life sim type game in the future, personally, and this feature is a step toward that. i'd love if it one of your rewards for completing indigo disc was being able to take anyone you like as a follower as you go about your business and have them get on miraidon/koraidon with you as needed so your movement isn't impeded by it, even if there was no dialogue for it or anything. it's 2023, i shouldn't have to imagine something happening in a video game, or have to fill in my own fanfic to make a story satisfying, it should just be happening, on the screen. dammit. having a follower that goes with you everywhere even if you drive or have a following pokemon already was a feature in teal mask, so why not utilize it permanently?

(is the obvious player arven nemona penny 4v1 battle being saved for the final boss or something, is that why tera raids with them aren't a thing you can just do normally?)

Long story short: The basic transfer-student premise of The Indigo Disc implies that we ruin Nemona's happy ending and rub the one she really wants in her face to go enjoy it with Carmine instead for being more marketable, and I don't think they're even aware of why that would be a problem. Why have we not been reassured to the contrary in the last 6 months? I think a lot of us are waiting for this DLC anxiously instead of eagerly, especially after the first half.

[a-friend-of-mara]

Hey uh

I'm leaving my mask at the door for a minute

If you enjoy the image of myself I put forward, the happy cheery autistic trans girl who doesn't dwell on her issues

Please just ignore this post

If you are uncomfortable with mentions of self harm, talking about non prescription drug addiction, suicide rates of trans kids

Please just go

Look

I say my biggest fear is that I'll be forgotten

It's easier than saying that I'm scared to death of myself

I'm worried I'll give up on life and stop eating... considering I can't gain or maintain weight I'd have a week before I was dead at the most

I'm afraid that I'll give up trying to look like the person I want to be rather than being stuck, trapped in a body that isn't mine but I'm wired up to like some sick torture method

I don't want to fall into drug use or self harm hoping that it'd pull me out of this pit of self hatred and hopelessness

I don't wanna be another tally mark on the trans suicide charts

I don't wanna die

I feel like I'm suffocating

That I can't move my legs... only the ones attached to me

I don't even know if I matter at this point

I just

I wanna be me

Not some false image that I was born with

Nobody understands how it is for me

My dad almost killed me with th fact he understood so little he put me into survival mode where I cared about nothing but staying alive because of how much damage his insistence that my body was in fact his son and not the cage that trapped his daughter

He used to have twins now he just has one kid with her twin sister... my sister

Now I live with my mom who doesn't understand, how could she? She's never wanted to tear her skin off because it wasn't hers... she understands how much I hurt though

She's able to see through my mask that I'm really suffering inside

Without her yall wouldn't have ever known I existed

You would've heard a news article of a trans kid who killed herself by diving off the balcony at her school although the media would misgender me.

I've almost done it

Sitting on the edge of a lethal drop fighting with myself to not do it

Not sure if I was lying when i told myself things would get better

I'm not sure if they are

Everything just keeps getting worse and worse

I can't even cry anymore

I don't care about so many things that I used to

I used to love

Then I was heartbroken

I used to care for my friends

Until I moved away

I used to enjoy helping others

Now I'm so tired I can't

Just

Fuck

It's kinda funny

How part of me thinks it's all my fault

How I'm not sure if it's something I did

But then I have to think

What could I possibly have done that'd make this torment justified?

How can any higher power exist when I've prayed to every God and Goddess I've ever learned of and not once has a goddam thing happened

How would a higher power let the world get this fucked up

Fuckin hell

My trans siblings are getting murdered for being themselves

Innocent people who live in unfortunate places are being killed because of stupid ass reasons

Fucking hell in America most people aren't free enough to take a month off work without becoming homeless

Decades of prejudice make people think women are weak and need defending but don't pay them well because... fuckin I don't know why!

It's pathetic that men get away with rape while women get away with false rape accusations usually destroying every relationship the man ever cared about

People look at others and treat them differently based on the color of their skin

YA KNOW HOW FUCKIN STUPID THAT IS?!

ITS DUMBER THAN PICKING ON SOMEONE WHO WORE A BLUE SHIRT PURELY BECAUSE OF THE SHIRT

What for?!

WHAT THE FUCK IS ALL THIS FOR?!

The privilege to go through 12 to 20 years of school to earn the right to have to work a job I'll probably hate until I'm like 60?!

Right now I'm pretty sure my life is gonna end before I reach 30!

What's the fuckin point?!

America for fucks sake

The land of the free

Yeah free to work or die because the 0.01% run the fucking nation like their playground

People wonder why I've responded to hostility with hostility in the last 3 years

Simple

I've bottled my emotions for so long the bottles are all full

Yelling and ranting always make me feel a little better

If anyone comments on this negatively I hope you die in a vat of boiling vinegar and drown in the yolks of rotten eggs

That goes for all the phobic people too

If you made it through this whole essay sized emotional breakdown and don't think I'm a complaining winey bitch

I can only say I wish the world was made of more people like you

Alright

Time for sleep

[chewbokachoi]

Sareena and Tomáš are officially bros and would, if life allowed it, go to county fairs, arcades, the beach, and hike places together.

They would totally win giant stuffed animals for each other.

Source: My brain.

And now below the cut where I take something kinda cute and dumb and defend it because I am well aware of woobification.

I do feel like stuffed animals would be something they would both be interested in. Tomáš simply because he seems like the type who would want hugs and give hugs...but he isn't in a crowd that'd allow for that.

Sareena's: as I've mentioned before, I like the idea of her doing things with her hands and being somebody who enjoys building. Not child-like wonder in terms of 'lol child' but she's been under Quan Chi's control for who knows how long. Not much of a chance to figure out who she is or what she herself might actually enjoy while doing all that.

Also, she's somebody who can still fall into evil. Maybe stuffed animals are something soft to remind her to be gentle and careful.

Also if Tomáš won any for her, they're a reminder of friendship and how she can be a good person.

[humanpurposes]

Okay, INDULGE ME! Is there a literary quote for KIAG that in your opinion would describe the fic so far? Do you have a photo that'd fit the It Will Come Back AU aesthetic you'd be willing to share? AND if you were to make a playlist for August what songs would you include in it? I've been thinking about these three fics lately and need to be fed yk 🫣 Love you Gee, thanks for writing and giving us such well-written and addicting fics 😘

Hi baby 🥹 These asks are amazing, thank YOU for being awesome <3

Ok, Karma is a God. I love the quote from Wuthering Heights,

“You said I killed you-haunt me, then! [...] Be with me always-take any form-drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!”

It’s so perfect to me because that is soooo Aemond wallowing in guilt in Harrenhal!! Lucerra herself embodies so much to Aemond, she’s the one he lost his eye to, the reason why he dedicated himself to being perfect. Then he ‘kills’ her and her supposed death completely unravels him. The fact that she’s alive means he has a chance at redemption, either dying at her hands and allowing her that justice, or to be forgiven by her. He hates her but he’s incomplete without her.

rest under the cut because this is gonna get too long 😭

IT WILL COME BACK 🖤 Asking me to pick just one image is insane, but I was scrolling through my Pinterest board and I remembered there’s one picture that appears in all the headers for the chapters, The Rape of Proserpina:

It's a horrific image right? This young woman is being taken from her home and her family by the god of the underworld. I think it spoke to me for this fic as an expression of Aemond's possessiveness. His love for Jaya is tied to the idea that he can control her and influence her. In his mind, it is other people that separate them. The animosity between Rhaenyra and Alicent bleeding into their children, the competition between the factions of Dragon Bank, the fact that she defended Jace over Aemond. He wants a hold over her like no one else has. Aesthetically as well, I love the look of marble statues, I love how immersive and expressive they can be. And they have a sense of grandeur and ancientness (is that even a word?) which means they look perfect in a fic header or a moodboard hehe.

Can you believe I don’t have a playlist for August?? If I did, the first song would be Slowly by Susanne Sundfør. The working title for this fic was ‘I Know You’re Lonely Too’ which is a lyric from this song. There are so many lines I love in this but the chorus just really encapsulates the vibe I wanted for this,

“And you say it’s gonna last forever // We have different heartbeats // But all the same heartbreak // And I can feel it in the way you hold me… I know you’re lonely too.”

To me, this song feels like yearning and wanting to live in the moment even as you feel it slipping away.

Some other songs I would include would be:

Summer's Over by Jordana and TV Girl

Linger by The Cranberries (+ the remix by Iain Cook)

To Wish Impossible Things by the Cure

It's Not Living (If It's Not With You) by the 1975

Supernatural by Ariana Grande

August by Taylor Swift

[considermygenderminecrafted]

Tbf I only check tags for fanart so I've only seen that type of take secondhand but. There Is Interesting things to tallulah n q!wil's dynamic like how he was all ohhhh if bad things happen I'll be around to protect her and how that'd interface with the actual dangers of the qsmp or what have u. Shrugs. Who's to say rlly.

(this reply is not really about wilbur nd phil its more just me talkin about philza :]) i found it really funny how Phil was goin on an adventure with tallulah and goin round teachin her about the things that are safe nd the things that aren't safe, nd how to use a sword and such to defend herself etc. and how after every other things he'd be like 'make sure you tell your dad this as well because he'd gonna go "oh look at that cave lets go in" and you've gotta make sure he knows that's dangerous' Like idk, love wil but im NOT confident he'd genuinely be able to protect her from the actual dangers of the world. Like, Phil dunt trust himself to do that, it's why he teaches them how to defend themselves.

Like sure. One way to remain safe is to never go outside and just only be in the worlds securest bunker where you da is witchu nd he takes care of it all, but that's a pretty abstinence only way to go about it, and if you don't wanna go that route, then you need to know how to remain safe and defend yourself. I was always taught how to stay safe on public transport and navigate a city and some basic self defense nd you know what, i don't feel like i was raised a warrior, i feel like i was raised to ensure safety in the environment I frequented. Idk no hate to qWil at this point cause idrc but i do love to talk about Phil characters and I really enjoy watch qPhil w/ his wee'uns :] His adventure was really cool

[cheemken]

Ok so you know Encanto? It was real popular in 2021. Well if you don’t know the whole idea is that this one family gets “gifts” or powers when they turn five. The gifts in order are,

Healing

Weather Control

Future vision

Plant Manipulation

Super Hearing

Super Strength

Shapeshifting

Zoolinguists

So there’s 8 gifts in the movie, and 8 champions

I think you know where I’m going with this

But I just thought to myself, the Champions are technically the protectors of their regions. But their only defences are their Pokémon

So what if Arceus saw humans appoint certain humans the title of “Champion”, saw these certain humans protected the weaker humans, and decided they needed something else to help protect the humans on earth, and decided to gift them powers

And no, this isn’t going towards a super hero AU. It’s heading towards a god AU

But yeah, Arceus decided these humans needed more than Pokémon to defend themselves and others, and gifted them powers

And when I said this is turning into a god AU, I didn’t mean the champions consider themselves gods, but the people of their regions do. At the very least Demigods

Because in their eyes, their Champions got blessed by Arceus, the god of all life in the universe and he who knows best

Really this is just the champions expectations, but 10x worse cause now they’re looked at like gods

(Also I don’t know if this has gone on for centuries, and every new champion gets a new power while the previous champion loses theirs. Or if the present champions are the first ones to receive gifts, you can decide which one you like more)

Oh and while they are powers, they can still be referred to as gifts in this AU because Arceus gifted the Champions with them

ENCANTO, DUDE, THE WAY I CRIED OVER THAT MOVIE man I just bcnxbxnxn dude the way it came to my house and broke my fucking heart giving me false hope of an apology from my grandmother but she didn't but I shouldn't speak abt that bc I'd be trauma dumping on an au lmfaooo

Anyways

HCMXHDJD YES DEMIGODS CHAMPIONS CHNXBC

It would be dope tho if like, the champions before them got the gifts too, but was then passed down to the next cause I have Diantha angst with the former champion bc she thinks she couldn't live up to his legacy even worse now bc she has powers and he was such a great champion they have a statue of him as Kalos' greatest champion and protector and she's like spiralling if she could really live up to the legacy he left behind

Anyways

Ough,,,,,, pls,,, that's so fuckin dope cnxnnd how it's really Arceus that gives the champions their gifts, but also should we still base the gifts off the movie?? I'm like thinking abt it but like feel free to also share yours on who'd get this gift and such but for me it's gonna be like this

Lance w super strength

Steven w plant manipulation

Wallace w weather control

Cynthia w future vision

Diantha w shapeshifting

Hau w zoolinguist

Leon w healing

Geeta w super hearing

Imagine if Iris is like Mirabel tho, she didn't get a gift from Arceus for whatever reason, and people kinda look down on her bc ofc she's a champion without a gift, could she truly protect the region w just her pkmn? And throughout it all she's trying to prove herself competent despite her lack of gift

But also it would be so so cool and it's so self indulgent bc I think Iris deserves dope things, that she does have a gift, it was still untapped, but she does have it, she has Arceus' powers herself maybe, that'd be cool, but ofc she doesn't know yet bc it's not as clear and prominent as the rest, so as she grew older, still trying to prove herself to everyone, she's desperately praying to Arceus to at least give her a gift too, she was a strong and competent champion, so why doesn't she have one

But ough she does she fucking does, Arceus took one good look at her and decided she's the one to truly inherit his power to protect the world, the way she could really help the other Champions with their power as well, the way she could give others gifts as well, the way she could do all the things Arceus could do, but she never realized it just yet

No cause there are nine champions so there should be one who doesn't have a gift hahah and me being me gave Iris the main charac card once again hahahah

But don't you think that'd be dope?? Idk it's dope for me that Iris could really use the move Judgement, but it's also cool to see her bond with the other Champions learning abt their gifts too, and then being the one to help them open up about their gifts

BUT ALSO PLEASE CYNTHIA W FUTURE VISION HER BEING THE BRUNO OF THE AU JDMCBDK

We don't talk about Cynthia😭😭

Lmfaooooo Wallace singing that, "we don't talk about Cynthia here, Iris" proceeds to talk about Cynthia

Man that's fucked up tho imagine since all the champions are already burdened by their gifts, and Cynthia sees it all, sees how it'll end for them if they can't handle the pressure anymore, sees that Iris won't get a power, and she doesn't wanna let her down, doesn't want Iris to feel like shit, so when she told the other Champions abt it, they didn't want to believe her, no, the pressure was already too much before they got their gifts, what more a champion without one? Cynthia felt like shit, she doesn't want to tell Iris about it, she couldn't handle the disappointment, the hurt, everything; so she ran away, hid herself from both her league and the rest of the champions

And since Arceus gave his powers to Iris (tho I wanna say he gave Hau his gift first before finally giving Iris everything he has), he couldn't give another person Cynthia's gift, also it's the fact no one's taken her title yet, she doesn't want anyone to take the champion title, she doesn't want anyone to go through the same shit she went through both before and after getting the gift

Ough shit this is making me go through it again lmfaoooo Lance w Surface Pressure HXKXXMXFJXBXK SHET

Or like Geeta w that Dolores fan song Turn It Down, please PLEASE DO YOU SEE MY VISION the line "I always listen, but never act" DO YOU SEE IT PLS she's like chdmdb she hears everything, hears every whisper, ever rumour, ever hateful comment about her and her fellow champions, but she doesn't do anything abt it. Arceus gave them these powers to help the people, but it's so hard to protect the people who doesn't even like her and will give her fake smiles and compliments when she does her duties to the point she became so fucking passive and would only act when someone tells her to

Omf okay I'm rambling this is dope I'm gonna fucking combust this is exciting chdmdb hahaha

[cantdanceflynn]

So, hc number one, kinda nice, bit sad, mostly funny. I think. And I have no evidence for this, kinda the opposite, the vibes just feel right to me. But I think ponty was somehow involved w George's death, and he also tried to speak up about it like Marie, who I don't think knew he did. Possibly another member of the party who tried to talk them out of the whistling man game. I don't think Marie knew this while she was planning everything originally, but she found out when making adjustments to the plan, ie kill Eugene instead of his parents, and, not wanting to admit that everything she worked for was based off an incorrect assumption and as far as she knew, ruining her chance at a normal life with her son, just attempted to ig ignore it. But also good for Ponty for channelling that into a passion. He probably caters anything Roller Ricky plans :]

Hc number two, Peggy straightened her hair a lot when she was younger. That'd explain the discrepancy between the pictures n her model a bit, and it'd make sense overall. Ik there are official ages n heights for some of the characters but I don't remember if there are official ethnicities, but personally I feel like she's biracial, specifically African-American and Latino. And by extension so is Marie.

Hc number three, depending on who asks her, Marie has different reasons for choosing the name Dawn to go by. When the cops asked her, she brushed it off as a random name. When Teddy asked, she told him it was to symbolize the dawn of a new day without his life in it. When Forrest asked, she bitterly told him it was because she wanted the hope of a new beginning for her once her revenge was complete. And when Peggy asked, Marie made an off handed reference to an old tv show they used to watch.

Hc number four, (one of the more obviously Alice n Mystery inspired ones), Henry is actually better at cooking and taking care of things than Marie is, usually taking care of the meals and making sure she ate and took care of herself as she obsessed and planned.

Hc number five, Peggy ended up playing the whistling man prank on Chad after the fact for breaking up w Barbara. Partially bc she wanted to play just once n get anything out of her newfound trauma, n partially bc jealousy.

Hc number six, Clive wasn't killed yet. He was meant to be the final murder before Teddy, to symbolize how the one who started the cover-up would also be the one to end it, but due to so many people surviving she didn't have the time to go through with it, and planned to kill him later.

Hc number seven, Marie was actually pretty mad at Henry when he got trapped in the vault, as she thought she taught him better than that. Still, when she immediately failed the next kill, she couldn't really blame him.

Hc number eight, Forrest dyes his hair to hide the greying. After the events of KillFreq itself, he chooses to stop, mostly because it was ruining his hair and he had enough stress caused ones it wasn't reasonable.

Hc number nine, Eugene wasn't fully stood up, his date tried to tell him to stay in but he didn't listen and thought she would do the same. She chewed him out later dvjodvjodcojdcjdc.

Hc number ten, out of the group of teens, as Carrie was the only one to get a close-up of Jimmy's cut off face, she ended up going into the horror movie industry, in sort of a macabre way to deal with the trauma.

Hc number eleven, Max is actually a husky golden retriever mix. Arguably the two best dog breeds to teach to skate. He'd also bitten people before and Ricky has had to put a lot on the line to defend him and get him well trained due to trauma from a previous owner, but he ended up very happy w Ricky :]

Hc number twelve, Marie and Peggy shared a soft spot for foxes and would draw them a lot. This is just vibes :]

Hc number thirteen, assuming Marie's alive(which, duhhhhh its slasher horror), Forrest actually talks to her and is, surprisingly, quite sympathetic to her after the fact, and while Peggy doesn't quite enjoy spending time with her as much anymore, it still hurts.

@dragon-type-snom THIS ISNT ALL OF EM AND I TYPED EM IN A SEPARATE APP SO THATS WHY ITS NOT ALL CAPS, I HAVE SM MORE IM JUST BOUT TO NAP N I DONT WANNA LEAVE U HANGING FOR LONGER