#been irked by my old post so I changed it for no reason

[dykedvonte]

If Ulysses has a million haters, then I'm one of them. If Ulysses has one hater, then I'm THAT ONE. If Ulysses has no haters, that means I'm dead. If the world is with Ulysses than I’m against the world.

[cosmicdahlias]

Christmas Across the Rio Grande

Logan Howlett x Reader

MINORS DNI

Christmas has come and you’re spending it getting drunk with an old, hardened Logan.

tags: age gap, alcohol use, drunk sex, couch sex, p in v, unprotected sex, creampie

sooo timeline-wise this takes place at the end of 2028. i tried to do my best research as to when caliban comes into the picture and there wasn’t much, but from what i’ve read it seems logan recruited him some time in 2029, so he will not be in this fic. sorry for posting a christmas fic a day late, i only got the idea for this two days ago 😭

Life had not been the same in months. Charles Xavier, once head and founder of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, had developed dementia, leading to frequent destructive telepathic seizures. One such seizure became known as the Westchester Incident, leaving the school destroyed, many injured, and some of your fellow mutants dead.

Having grown up in an orphanage until aging out of the system and spending the first eight years of adulthood on the streets, Charles was the closest thing you’d ever had to a father and the school was the only place that ever truly felt like home. In such a short time you had lost both. Even though Charles was still very much alive, the dementia left him a shell of his former self.

After Westchester the United States government declared Charles’ brain as a “weapon of mass destruction”, leaving you and another mutant to take him and go on the run, fleeing to an abandoned smelting plant in Mexico just across the Rio Grande.

The other mutant was the notorious Wolverine, Logan Howlett. For reasons unknown to you, his appearance had changed dramatically in the last five years. Despite not being able to age he looked like he’d gone from forty to sixty in record time.

Since escaping with you and Charles to Mexico, Logan had taken to going by “James”, his actual name, and worked as a limo driver in the border city of El Paso. He would regularly smuggle in the drugs to keep Charles’ seizures at bay.

In the days before Westchester you were never fond of Logan. He was a loner, seeming to keep everyone at arm’s length, save for those he would bed. Perhaps it was his tendencies towards promiscuity when he claimed to be in love with Jean Grey, a married woman, that irked you more than his personality.

He was passed around the mansion so frequently that from what you’d heard there were times he accidentally “double booked” himself. There was a part of you, buried somewhere deep, that harbored a resentment towards him for never seeking out your affections like he did for nearly any other adult with a pulse.

Living in close proximity since being thrust into exile with him had softened your opinions considerably. The shared trauma of losing everything and everyone had brought you two closer, as close as he would allow.

December was coming to an end. The nights were blisteringly cold and the winds only served to make them colder. The poorly insulated, run-down plant did little to protect you from the elements.

You were heading back inside from painstakingly, but successfully, attempting to medicate Charles. The heavy gales howled, making it a struggle to close the door before finally managing slam it shut. You turned around to see Logan sitting on the couch, bottle of whiskey in hand. He was wearing his typical non-work attire, a white tank top and jeans.

“He finally down?” He asked.

“For now, I swear those drugs used to knock him out for longer. He wouldn’t stop going on about Taco Bell for some reason.”

“Yeah, he uh… he does that a lot now.”

You gave a heavy sigh.

“It just sucks because it makes those moments where he acts like himself again hurt more.”

“What’d he say this time?”

“He just- I don’t know- whenever he actually says my name I know it’s him in there. Most of the time he calls me Jean, but I-“ your voice began to break “I don’t know how much more of this I can take Logan, watching his mind wither away into nothing.” You said, tears forming in your eyes.

For a moment you swore you saw a flicker of concern spread across his face.

“I’m thinking of bringing in some extra help.” He said.

“And what? We risk someone else knowing that we’re harboring a fugitive?”

“With me working that leaves you as the only one here most of the time. If god forbid something happens while I’m out and he hurts you, what then?”

You fell silent. He was right, you couldn’t keep caring for Charles alone when his seizures could be so dangerous and unpredictable. You had no rebuttal.

“Fine, but finding another mutant won’t be easy.”

“I’m well aware, but I’m done talking business, you look like you could use a drink.”

Logan extended out his bottle of whiskey, a rare invitation for you to join him. You smirked and took it.

“Look at you actually wanting to interact with someone for once.”

“Don’t make me regret it.”

You sat next to him on the moth-eaten couch, drinking a few shots worth from the bottle.

“Thirsty?” Logan asked with a cocked brow.

“Shut up, it’s been a long day.” You retorted, downing another shot and handing the bottle back to him.

Between the two of you the whiskey was finished within half an hour, leaving you significantly intoxicated, him slightly less so. When drunk Logan was far more open, and for the first time since Westchester you actually saw him smile. As the night progressed the two of you reminisced about life before Mexico and shared life stories you hadn’t told each other.

“A cage fighter?” You giggled.

“Yeah, went by Wolverine back then too.”

“Wow, too lazy to even try to come up with another name?” You teased as you looked down at your phone and read the time, midnight of the 25th.

“Oh shit, it’s already Christmas.” You said.

“Honestly wouldn’t have known if you didn’t say anything, the days just run together at this point.”

“No kidding, everything’s so different now.”

“… Yeah.”

A wistful silence hung in the air for a moment before you spoke.

“You know it’s hard not to miss the holidays back at the school… can’t say I miss Jean’s cooking though. I know how you felt about her, but that woman could not season food to save her life. I’m pretty sure she thought salt was too spicy.”

Logan gave a chuckle.

“Can’t disagree with you on that one.”

“I think what I miss most was seeing the kids all happy on Christmas morning, growing up in an orphanage I never got that for myself. Thanks to Bobby they always had a good snowball fight.”

“I miss that kid. Him and Rogue.”

“Kid? They were both pushing 40.” You laughed.

“They were kids when I met them and that’s always how I’ll remember them. Especially Rogue.”

“I always thought she saw you as like a father figure.”

“She definitely did, no matter how many times I told her not to.”

“I miss her so much, she was the first one other than Charles to make me feel like I belonged there. Fuck, I just miss all of them. It was only five years, but it was the best damn five years of my life, actually having something like a family.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”

You gave a wry smile.

“And in the end out of all of the X-Men to be stuck with of course it had to be you.” You teased, elbowing him playfully.

“You say that like it’s a joke, but you really had it in for me.”

“I mean I did, but you didn’t exactly come off as a nice guy.”

“I can be a nice guy, you just never tried to get to know me.”

“Would you have let me though?”

“Maybe.”

He looked at you in a way you’d never seen from him before, it made your heart do a backflip.

“You know, even if I wasn’t crazy about you back then I’m glad you’re here with me.” You said.

Logan raised a brow.

“Why’s that?”

“Because as much as I hate to say it, I’ve grown to like you.”

“A mistake honestly.” He chuckled.

A cold desert wind suddenly blew against dilapidated smelting plant. Frigid air crept in through the gaps in the walls, eliciting a shiver as it hit you.

“Cold?” Logan asked.

“Y- yeah.“

“Alright, c’mere.”

Logan pulled you against him, wrapping his arms around you. His body radiated an incredible amount of heat, a more than welcoming feeling in the bitter temperatures.

“Holy shit, you’re like a fucking furnace.” You said.

“Yeah? You like it?”

“God yes.”

His hands began to wander down to the small of your back. You traced the outline of his pecs with your fingertips. He looked at you, eyes betraying an intense desire as he cupped your cheek, coming in close.

“Merry Christmas, Logan.” You whispered as his lips met yours.

Starting slow and soft, Logan’s kisses quickly turned more passionate, a distinct hunger to them. He moved his hands to your waist, pulling you onto his lap. You felt his hard cock press into you through his jeans. You rolled your hips against him, causing him to let out a growl. He lowered his head, kissing and gingerly biting your neck. You moaned as his teeth scraped against the soft skin.

His hands began to drift to the hem of your shirt, gathering the fabric in his fingers and slowly lifting it over your head. He unclasped your bra, sliding the straps off your arms and tossing its aside. You watched his eyes take in the curvature of your breasts.

“Good fuckin’ god, you’re perfect.” He whispered, cupping one of your breasts and circling the nipple with his thumb.

Logan’s hands fell to your hips, tugging down your jeans until they landed on the floor with your shirt. His fingers circled your clit over your panties, the thin barrier of fabric did little to keep you from turning into a whimpering mess.

“Goddam, I love those little noises.“

Logan dipped his head down to kiss your neck again, you moaned and began to grind yourself against him.

“Hmm, getting excited there, princess? Feels good, doesn’t it?”

“Uh-huh.” You whimpered.

“Yeah? Let me make it feel even better for you, babygirl.”

Logan hooked his thumbs in the waistband of your panties, sliding them off your legs. He slipped a hand between your thighs, dragging his fingers along the slit of your dripping pussy.

“So wet and worked up for me.”

Logan returned his fingers to your clit, you dug your nails into his shoulders, the feeling of direct stimulation was almost too overwhelming. It had been far too long since you were last touched like this, or even touched yourself. You weren’t going to last much longer.

“F- fuck, I’m- I’m so close.”

“There you go, that’s it. Cum for me, princess.”

Logan pulled you into a kiss with his free hand as you came undone on his fingers, the electric pulses of your orgasm surging through you.

“Oh god, Logan.” You moaned against his mouth.

Logan kissed you aggressively as your orgasm faded. He dropped his head to your breasts, peppering kisses to them as he spoke.

“God, you’re so hot when you cum. You need to see what you’re doing to me, babygirl.”

Logan’s hands moved to his belt, unbuckling it, he unzipped his jeans and freed his already throbbing cock from his boxers. Logan took your hand in his, guiding it to wrap around his shaft. You gathered beads of precum from his head, using it to lubricate the length of his cock as you stroked him.

“Fuuuck, your hand feels good, but I need that pussy. You wanna ride me, princess?”

You nodded.

“That’s my good girl.”

You shifted yourself to hover just above is cock, sinking down onto him, barely taking more than his head before wincing as you felt his massive girth stretch you wide.

“You alright?” Logan asked.

“Y- yeah, just been a while. Not used to one this big either.”

“Then take it slow, princess. Don’t rush it.”

You continued to lower yourself onto his cock, following his instructions to go slow. A small shudder escaped his lips.

“Fuckin’ Christ, you’re so tight.”

You reached the hilt of his shaft, feeling him throb inside you as you began to lift and drop your hips.

“Attagirl, just like that. Nice and easy.” Logan said, his hands moving to your waist, pulling you closer.

“Christ, living with you was starting to drive me crazy. I could barely take seeing you in the summer, your ass in those little shorts. You don’t know how many times I had to jerk off because of you.”

You blushed and whimpered at the thought of Logan getting so worked up over you.

“Hmm, you like that, babygirl? You like knowing you made this old man stroke his fat fuckin’ cock to you?” He grunted as he grabbed your hips, thrusting up into you.

You nodded.

“Use your words, princess.”

“Y- yes, sir.”

“Good girl.”

You moved yourself up and down on his cock, sliding him all the way out until only the head remained before taking his full length back deep inside you. Logan’s eyes wandered over every inch of body. His hand moved to one of your breasts.

“Fuck, I can’t get enough of these tits, and this ass.” He growled.

He raised his hand and brought it down sharply on your ass, eliciting a yelp.

“Sorry, princess, couldn’t help myself.”

“N- no it’s okay, I like it.”

“Oh? You like it rough, huh?”

“Y- yeah.”

“Well, guess I gotta fuck you senseless then.”

In one swift motion Logan grabbed you by the waist, picking you up and throwing you down onto the couch on your back with him on top of you. You barely had a second to adjust to the new position before he forced every inch of himself inside you. He pinned your wrists above your head as he fucked you with a punishing speed.

“How’s that feel? Am I rough enough for you, princess?”

“Y- yeah. F- feels so good.”

“Attagirl.”

Logan’s breathing hitched, his hips stuttering.

“Christ, that tight little pussy’s gonna make me fuckin’ cum. Where do you want it, babygirl?” Logan panted.

“In me, I need you to cum in me. Please.” You whined.

“Jesus, I know you’re not on the pill, but keep begging like that and I’ll have to knock you up.”

“Oh god, please. I don’t care if we’re unprotected. I need it, fucking breed me.” You pleaded.

Your words ignited something within him. He thrusted furiously into you at a blinding pace, his breathing becoming ragged and heavy. He leaned down and sank his teeth into your neck and gave a loud growl, slamming the full length of his cock inside you as he came hot, thick ropes deep in you.

Logan gave a last few thrusts, his breathing beginning to settle. He pressed his forehead to yours.

“Jesus Christ, princess, it’s been way too damn long since someone’s made me feel that good. I hope you know this is not a one time thing, you’re fuckin’ mine now.”

You laced your fingers in his salt and pepper hair, kissing him passionately. He pulled out and you moved to dress yourself, but were interrupted by him grabbing your waist.

“No princess, you’re staying with me.”

He picked you up and carried you to his room, setting you down on the bed. He laid next to you, pulling you to him with your head against his chest. Between the exhaustion of the day and the warmth radiating from Logan, you felt your eyelids grow heavy. He kissed the top of your head as you drifted off to sleep.

[mosquego359]

𖤐One Kiss and A Quidditch Match — Chapter 9: The Yule Ball

Prologue (recommended to read)

Chapter 8 (previous)

Pair: Cedric Diggory x Male Slytherin Reader

Word count: 3K words

Summary of the book: You and Cedric Diggory hate each other. It has always been this way. But everything changes one night when you kiss each other at a party. Now, it seems you can’t escape each other — from being partnered up in Herbology for an important project to having to help Cedric during the Triwizard Tournament.

Summary of the chapter: It's finally the Yule ball. Why do you feel so stressed all of a sudden?

Notes: Please comment on anything I should change to improve this. Also, I am not British so I am not 100% sure how to correctly write people from the UK. (I'm very sorry for the late ass update but motivation hates me)

I am also really sorry for posting so late; my life has been pretty busy right now and this is the most relaxing week so far. Also, no, the reader and Cedric don't kiss in this, you have to wait, my children.

Content warning: A singular swear word and a bit of angst.

!PLEASE DO NOT REPOST ANYWHERE WITHOUT PERMISSION OR CREDIT TO ME!

...

Usually, whenever you dreamed of your ex-rival, you wouldn’t wake up until noon unless Brian or Alistair shook you awake. However, as your eyes adjusted to the dark room, you faintly spotted the numbers on your clock: 7:45.

It was time for breakfast.

You slipped out of bed, pushing off your blanket. You put on your uniform, for when you woke after the dream about Cedric, you couldn’t sleep, spending an hour or so on homework and then changing to go to bed for the night.

Your hands trembled as you buttoned your white blouse, mind warping around the fact that you were perhaps in love with the person you once despised the most. Not to mention that you’d already kissed him.

The party.

The memory had completely slipped your mind. You used to feel irked or embarrassed whenever you thought of it, mainly because you used to hate Cedric, but now, you felt as if there was a missing puzzle to your lips, a gap that could only be filled by the warm feeling of Cedric’s kiss.

And then there was Alistair. You knew he was closed-minded — even as kids, you could tell his discomfort with knowing that you were a Half-blood — but you never expected him to stay that way. To say that his homophobia shocked you was an understatement. His twin sister literally kissed Elsie at the party. How could he ever be homophobic? Was he unaware? Did that mean you’d have to cut ties with him? You didn’t want to — you had been friends for years — but was it likely that he’d change?

You finished dressing before heading upstairs to the Great Hall. On the way, you passed Brian.

“You’re awake?” he asked, slight surprise in his monotonous voice, “That’s a first. Never thought I’d see the day where our dear Sleeping Beauty would wake up without a shove from little old me.” He mocked you, but you knew it was harmless.

“Must have been good sleep, then.” You reasoned, ignoring how late you stayed up.

“Come on,” Brian turned around and started up the stairs, “The gang’ll be happy to see you eat breakfast with us.”

You followed him to the Great Hall, where most of your friends were settled. You noticed Alistair, Ziggy, and Roman sitting at the Slytherin table, apart from your group of friends.

Winnie and Destiny were chattering about something, and Elsie had her arm slung over the Hufflepuff’s shoulder, taking slow bites out of her toast. Over the past month or so, you noticed how happy Elsie seemed, and you suspected that her getting over her crush on Alistair and befriending Destiny helped a lot. 

You approached the Hufflepuff table — where you typically sat, now — and settled in the empty seat next to Brian and across from Elsie. When she noticed your presence, she quickly removed her arm from Destiny’s shoulder.

Winnie still hadn’t noticed you, too engrossed in her conversation with Destiny to spare a glance in your direction.

“You’re up early,” Elsie pointed out.

“Yup, I had amazing sleep.” You said, not trying to sound sarcastic, but your words came out that way.

“Sure seems like it,” she joked, “I’m surprised you actually joined us for a meal this time. You usually hang out with Cedric.”

You let out a nervous chuckle, scratching the back of your neck, “Yead, I guess. Sorry for that; I’ve just been so invested in helping him out with the egg. I don’t really want the other schools to win in the Triwizard Tournament, and being beaten by Harry Potter is embarrassing.” 

Elsie nodded in understanding, “Figured. It’s nice that you’ve been getting along. I’ve always been tired of that stupid rivalry. How did it even start?”

“Aparantly in year 2, when Slytherin won the Quidditch Cup, but my memory’s still foggy ‘bout that.”

Elsie hummed and glanced to the side, “Speaking of the devil, you’re boyfriend’s walking towards us — towards you.”

You felt the back of your neck heat up at her statement, and a light shade of pink tinted your cheeks. “Don’t exaggerate, he is not my boyfriend.” You turned your head to see that, indeed, Cedric was walking towards you.

“Hey, mate,” He smiled warmly as he neared you, slipping into the empty seat on your other side. You couldn’t help but smile back, finally aware of the butterflies fluttering in your stomach.

“Oh, hey.”

Don’t think of the kiss. Don’t think of the kiss.

“I don’t mean to interrupt your conversation with Wilson, but I just wanted to tell you that I tried your idea — y’know, putting the egg under water — and it worked!” Cedric recounted.

“Oh, that’s fantastic,” You beamed. You had totally forgotten that you had said that, but felt proud nonetheless. “That was relatively simpler than I imagined it would be.”

“Right? I’ll tell you all about it later, but I gotta head to the library to study. Just, thanks, man.” He stood up again.

As he started to walk away, he gave you a small wave and shot you a smile that melted your heart and sent a warm tingling sensation through your body. If that wasn’t love, then you didn’t know what was.

For the rest of breakfast, you chatted with Brian and Elsie (as well as Winnie when she finally noticed you). You and Destiny shared curt nods and small comments but never truly conversed. She was much less annoying than when she was Alistair’s girlfriends; now you understood why she was considered popular and well-loved by not only Hufflepuffs but the rest of the houses too.

The white suit fit like a glove, minus the fact that the sleeves of the silver tailcoat were a tad bit too short, although your snow-coloured gloves made sure that your wrists weren’t bare. Luckily for you, the black dress pants were long enough to cover up your socks and the top of your fancy suits.

Once you had carefully buttoned up the tailcoat with golden chains and buttons, you inspected your reflection in the mirror. You did a little spin, admiring the golden patterns engraved in the sleeves and along the sides and back of the tailcoat, as well as on your gorgeous waistcoat. Your dad had really outdone himself.

While your outfit was absolutely sublime, your hair was another thing. You personally felt proud of how you combed it back, but the way Brian scrutinized you made you sweat in self-consciousness.

“You could have added more eyeshadow and your eyeliner is relatively sloppy and uneven, but overall, not too embarrassing.” Brian remarked, a hand on his chin.

“Since when were you a professional makeup stylist?” You huffed teasingly. Winnie was the best out of the friend group, although she used it for excessively colourful looks.

“I’m just logical.” He responded, “At least one of us has to have a good sense of fashion.”

That was a bold claim for him to make with his bark-coloured suit and messy dark hair. You thought to yourself, but decided not to point it out. Tonight was a night meant to be enjoyed, and you wouldn’t let it go to waste.

“Here,” Brian said, stepping towards you to tie a cravat around your neck, “So that you look less like an eejit.” 

“I still think that tie makes me look stupid.”

“It’s a cravat.” Brian corrected, tightening the cloth. “Now, come one, we don’t want to be late to the party.”

“Shouldn’t we fetch the girls?” You questioned, waiting for your friend to put on his shoes.

“No, they said they’d meet us down there. You’d know if you hung out with us more.” You knew Brian didn’t mean it as an insult, but you felt a pang of guilt at his comment.

As both of you exited the dorm, you crossed paths with Alistair, whom you locked eyes with. You internally laughed, recalling your conversations the day before Cedric told you about him cracking the code to the egg; you had done the very thing Alistair warned you not to. Oh well, it wasn’t as if you valued his opinion as much as before.

You broke eye contact first as you and Brian left for the Yule ball.

Your breath caught when you caught sight of Cedric. His outfit was basic, but the icy blue lighting gave his features an angelic glow. His smile warmed the room, like the sun on a windy day. You felt a blush creep up your neck, and your heart was racing. It was just like that dream. The one where you realise your feelings for him.

Cho walked beside him in a pretty silver dress, her dark hair nicely made and pretty dabs of makeup on her pale face. Despite the knowledge that they were just friends, your heart ached at the sight of their arms wrapped around each other. 

Throughout the start of the party, you occasionally got up to dance and attempted to fit in, but your jaw ached from your forced smile, and your limbs felt sluggish. So you settle by the buffet table, munching on snacks, trying not to stare longingly at the man you love.

Suddenly, someone sat in the spot next to yours. It was Brian.

For a moment, you two sat in silence, however, your thoughts and the music filled that void of conversation. You remarked with a frown how odd it felt being near Brian. Sure, you shared the same dorm and you got ready with him for the Yule Ball, but those were the only times you hung out with him.

You recalled his previous comment about how you never hung out with him, Winnie and Elsie. Your stomach twisted as you realised he was right. You’d been friends with them for years, and Winnie was your closest friend — you’d gone through everything together — but you literally left them for someone who most definitely didn’t reciprocate your feelings.

Winnie, Elsie, and Destiny looked like they were having fun on the dance floor, holding each other’s hands with grins that shone like diamonds.

Winnie wore a long sun-coloured ball gown with tons of ruffles and sparkly stones. It was floor-length and puffed out like it was filled with air. How she didn’t trip on the fabric, you didn’t know. Her hair was equally voluptuous, layers and layers of curly black stacked atop her head, reminding you of the wigs people used to wear in the 18th century. It was decorated in feathers and pearls, something flamboyant and uniquely hers. 

Elsie’s sleeveless black dress fitted her body, especially with her corset wrapped tightly around her waist. It was much shorter than Winnie’s —only reaching her knees — but the back of the dress drooped down to the ground like crow feathers. Her short hair was in an updo, and her makeup was bold and dark. She stood out among the flood of soft, cool-coloured girls, but you didn’t think she minded, too absorbed with having fun with her friends.

Destiny’s dress was a little less decorated; a coral pink gown with poofy sleeves revealing her shoulders and a bit of her cleavage. Her hair was styled down in coils of blonde, decorated with pink ribbons that you were certain belonged to Winnie.

The trio spun around, hands clasped together and laughing with all their heart.

You felt something squeeze in your chest, remembering all the memories with your best friends. Oh, Merlin, you were a terrible friend. You left them. They who had been at your side forever. Sticking by you when you hated Cedric, and still seeking you out despite how little time you spent with them. You missed them, even that idiot, Alistair, whom you noticed was locking lips with a girl from Beauxbatons. Roman and Ziggy danced next to him. They made their own group. Your friends made another group. You felt like you were drifting around in the void of society. You didn’t belong anywhere, it seemed. Not with Elsie. Not with Alistair. Not with Cedric Diggory.

Brian seemed to notice your inner turmoil — easy, considering tears prickled your eyes — reaching for your hand.

You pulled away and got up; the room felt stuffy and too crowded. The sensation was overwhelming.

Air. You needed air.

Without a second thought, you dashed out of the room, dodging the crowd of teenagers, only faintly aware that Brian had called your name. You never felt so stressed. Only a few months ago, you’d been fine. Completely fine with your ordinary life, ordinary friends, and not too much to worry about. So why now, why you? 

You stumbled outside, frantically trying to get away from the crowd and all your feelings.

You collapsed onto the ground near a tree, confused tears finally spilling onto the grass like raindrops. You gasped, trying to gulp down air whilst hiccuping as you finally let your sorrows out.

Finally, when you had no more tears to cry, only numbness and the cold night wind on your cheek, you stumbled back against the tree, head hanging between your knees. How long had you been gone? It felt like ages. 

Suddenly, you flinched as you felt a hand on your shoulder. You looked up with wet cheeks to see Elsie. She sat down next to you without a word, not even glancing at you.

You two sat there for a minute, her hand on your shoulder, rubbing her thumb around in soothing circles. She reminded you a bit of Brian with her quietness, but this silence was different; soothing, waiting, but not anticipating. It was different from her usual self, who was loud and snooty. 

“I’m not good at comforting people,” Elsie said bluntly, breaking the silence. Her voice was clear and monotone, but much quieter and less condescending. “But Winnie is with the other two, and you’ve always been by my side to help, so it’s about time I repay the favour.”

You had arrived early to your class, excited for your first lesson. You had heard of Professor Snape’s harsh demeanour and strict grading, and as a high achiever and child prodigy, you arrived extra early to show how amazing a student you were. That’s where you found a little girl curled in the corner of the classroom, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. She was a skinny twelve-year-old with brown hair that had been chopped to shoulder length by a pair of scissors.

A girl had been bothering her and cut her pride and joy: her long, silky hair. You comforted her and got the bully expelled. That was how you became friends. You handed her confidence while she controlled your ecstatic energy.

Now, that same girl you gave a shoulder to cry on when she needed it most was by your side the moment you felt that your life was falling apart. 

“Do you want to talk about it? Elsie whispered, staring at the moon’s reflection in the dark water of the lake.

You paused. 

“Not…really.”

“It’s fine you don’t have to.”

And it was silence all over. You twiddled with your fingers while she continued to stare at the lake. You looked at her, a puddle of anxiety churning in your stomach.

“I think I have feelings for Cedric.” It felt good to admit it.

She didn’t turn to you. For a moment, she didn’t respond. But then she nodded.

“For how long.”

“I’ve known since the day he figured out the secret to the egg. But it’s probably been around for longer; I just never seemed to notice.”

“Was it why you were acting slightly different that day?”

“Yes.”

Elsie hummed in response. You admitted the silence was comforting.

“Why are you letting your emotions for a singular person to dictate whether or not you’re having fun?” She asked, bluntly. It was a weird way to put it, but she was right, and you knew. “I’m not saying we — Brian, Winnie and I — should be your top priority. We shouldn’t be the reason that you do something you don’t want to do. You’re a person too. Live your live how you feel you should.”

With that, she got up. But before she could get far, you called after her, “Elsie! I’m sorry that I’ve been drifting away from our friend group. It… wasn’t very considerate of me.”

She shrugged, moonlight dancing off her sparkly raven dress, “Don’t apologise. You’re in love, it’s pretty normal to want to spend time with him. Just don’t pine over someone who won’t let you live your life. I’d know. And… we all love you. And forgive that stupid apology. If Winnie and Brian were here, they’d say the same thing.”

And with that, she turned away, and you thought a bit about what she said. Although Elsie had never been good with romance or even feelings, her logic made sense and soothed you quite a bit.

You sat back down for a moment, wiping away the eyeliner that had stained your cheeks.

You then walked back to the Hogwarts building, back to the great hall. Elsie was right. Why did it matter that Cedric was dancing with Cho? Why did it matter that he wasn’t hanging out with you at the moment? Why would you let that influence whether or not you had fun? Maybe that wasn’t entirely why you were upset, but having one of your closest friends by your side made you feel powerful.

With that in mind, you spent the rest of your night dancing and chatting with your friends. You even got to have some one-on-one conversations with Destiny, whom you hardly knew. She was actually quite a pleasant person.

During the entire night, you managed to avoid Cedric without problem, save for the numerous times you caught him staring at you. You left the party past midnight, a satisfying buzzing in your chest and glad that you spent time with Winnie, Brian, Elsie and Destiny.

...

If you have arrived this far, you've read 105 pages of this fanfiction. Congrats on the commitment.

If you'd like to request fanfiction, please check out my Masterlist (which has all the fandoms I write for) and my Request Page (which has the rules about what I write).

[nerdieforpedro]

One small step for man…

One giant leap for Dieter Bravo

Based on this Moodboard created by the wonderful @secretelephanttattoo that she made for the Get Dieter Sober event to celebrate @bitchesuntitled ‘s milestone! 😎 ❤️

My entire masterlist and blog are for readers 18+ MDNI. I do not consent to my work being used in AI, recommended on TikTok, borrowed or plagiarized.

Summary: The only thing that can motivate Dieter Bravo better than sex or an interesting script is a grudge. Who cares if we’re talking about space? If Bravo can finally one-up Leonardo DiCaprio, he’ll take his chance, no matter the effort. Turns out it was good for him in the long run.

Warnings: Nerdie style bad humor, various celebrity mentions, no specified ages for Edna and Fred but assume they’re sixty-five and over for the plot, a goat (because when I write Dieter, 8/10 times he will have a goat), space?, DiCaprio slander and implied drug and sexual activity just not in detail, also BBQ.

Word Count: a little under 1.3k

Notes: El suggested that a crack fic should be written and leave it to a five hour plane ride for inspiration 🤣 So here we are. She did look it over and laughed so that’s really all it took for me to post it. 🥰 There’s no reader, just two OCs Edna and Fred who are living the life we want to live honestly.

Main Masterlist/ Dieter Bravo Masterlist/ AO3 Link

The only time Dieter Bravo thought of space is when he would stare up at the stars naked with only his fluffy grey robe on and yellow crocs on in his backyard. It’s normally when he needs to take five from whatever party/orgy/gathering/sex toy exchange he’s decided to have this week.

There had been a recent announcement that NASA was looking for Oscar winners to sent into space to not only find a new planet for earthlings to live but also negotiate and exchange information with any extraterrestrials they may come across. Given the deceptive skills and adaptive vibes actors have, there a buzz about who may be selected to fly out into unknown reaches with a crew of astronauts. Hallie Berry and Jamie Lee Curtis had already been selected and for men, there was one slot left as (insert some dude’s name) was announced. There were still six months left and more male Oscar winners were throwing their hat into the ring.

One name irked Dieter beyond all reason given that he actually a nice guy, but Bravo deserves it more than him: Leonardo DiCaprio. Doesn’t matter that he’s a stalwart advocate of green policies and climate change. Dieter should have been able to be in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street.’ It was basically written for him and the life he lives now. Though peering back at his home, he’s going to have to give this up for a while if he wants to be considers for the program. Leo only have to give up the liquor and twenty-five year olds. Dieter’s got to give up his wide array of drugs, though since he’s fine with men and women of all legal ages old and younger, he can just let the older women and men come at him. That one lady Edna pops her teeth out and hoo boy does she do some things with those gums. Fred is one guy who knows about those gams and if you know, you know. There’s always his trustworthy emotional support goat Cookie who’s white with black spots who gave a strong “baa!” When asked if he should give it a shot.

After the night’s festivities and clean up the next day, Dieter informs his team of his plan. They are shocked somewhat, they’re aware of his one-sided grudge and if it will motivate him off the drugs, they’re willing to lean all the way in. To ensure Bravo’s success, they do a through sweep of all his homes, cars and vacation spots. They also limit his contacts and ask Edna and Fred to stay with Dieter. They’re sure that the three of them are ducking but Dieter’s also learning some chess, shuffleboard, bingo, dominoes and some mandarin from Edna’s husband, rest his sweet soul. Cookie nibbled on everyone’s ankles and stayed looking cute as is her role.

It’s announced the next month that Dieter Bravo is going for the last Oscar space on the Galactic Noah’s Ark. Most think the choice is insane and mock in relentlessly but as time marches on, Dieter gains more supporters as he’s looking and feeling better. He also gets a lot of retirees and AARP members on his side as his two housemates interview with their magizine under the guidance of Dieter’s media team.

There’s memes, TikToks, interviews and a cribs episode showing off Dieter’s new healthy lifestyle and feature his two friends Edna and Fred. Edna is sunbathing naked and it had to be blurred out entirely but was still aired surprisingly. It was touted as support for not only all body types but representing older women who are just living life. Fred was cooking up some barbeque on a grill in his plaid shorts and orange sherbert polo shirt with dress shows on and a kiss the chef apron on. He told the interview that it’s been pretty cool getting to know Dieter over the years and that he had enough hair on his chest for the both of them. It garnered a laugh and they were asked what their families thought of them being in a throple with Doeter Bravo. Edna said it was pretty fun and she’d raised her children so it was her time. She should spend the twilight of her years, doing what she wants to do and then doing Dieter. She then called him a “nice young man who’s a cutie patootie.” Cookie let out a loud “baa!” As if to agree and went to eat some grass.

There were some that had an issue with the throple aspect saying that such a lifestyle should be sent into space, but it was argued that since Dieter was rather fluid in his sexuality it should bode well for communicating with other life forms. Debates continued while Dieter kept clean, worked with Paul Mesal and his trainer to get stronger and in better shape. The speculation was that maybe Paul was now added to the throple making it a square, and as many pundits called Edna ‘the luckiest damn woman on earth.’ Paul said that he’d love to be cool enough to be in the throple but when he’s stopped by and saw both Hallie Berry and Adria Arijona there, he said that he didn’t stand a chance. The two women were just there to visit Dieter as they’d worked with him on previous projects which their reps seconded. They did stay for a week though but mainly just to meet Edna and Fred who they thought were so amazing.

Paul visited again with Denzel Washington, his wife Pauletta who Bravo normally has tea with and it turns out Edna knows Pauletta from their old sorority. Public opinion was turning in Dieter’s favor as Leo was keeping a low profile. Well outside of breaking up with his girlfriend on her twenty-sixth birthday. That didn’t go over well.

The deadline was approaching for who would be selected out of the two men so the media decided they should have a sit down. It was to fill air time but Dieter Bravo was looking forward to it. He felt stronger, a little leaner but given the barebeque Fred cooks up and sweets Edna makes, he still has small belly. DiCaprio looks lean but has bags under his eyes from sleeping alone without his girlfriend and only his Oscar in the bed.

Both men were ask questions about what they would do if they encountered aliens, what to do to get along with fellow crew members, what they might eat in space, how they would establish and keep good vibes going and what kind of planet would they want to live on. The questions were going fine until Leonardo said that he felt sick during the sit down and had to go to the hospital. Given that he was so sick from not sleeping, it looked as though Dieter was the clear winner and was announced as such a week later.

Dieter Bravo is going into space over that pretentious prick!

A celebration party with sparkling wine, kool-aid, Edna’s sweet potatoes, Fred’s smoked pork shoulder and some Mac and cheese brought over by the Washingtons is has that evening. Did Dieter ever expect to be sober? No, but he didn’t expect it to be this full with friends either.

The Oscar winner is once again standing in his backyard while festivities occur inside, though they’re calmer and full of laughter instead of groans and sweaty bodies. He’s fully clothed, in his crocs, brown pijama pants and t-shirt holding Cookie and petting her. “I did it girl. I’m clear as a bell and going to space. I wonder of they probe or have tentacles. Who knows? But I’m going to find out. May the vibes be with us Cookie.”

May the vibes be with everyone but especially the following 😘:

@morallyinept @schnarfer @chronically-ghosted @sp00kymulderr @covetyou

@yopossum @whocaresstillthelouvre @toomanytookas @beefrobeefcal @trulybetty

@sin-djarin @megamindsecretlair @soft-persephone @604to647 @chaithetics

@inept-the-magnificent @djarinmuse @sunshinehaze1 @lotusbxtch @yorksgirl

@westside-rot @maggiemayhemnj @mysterious-moonstruck-musings @readingiskeepingmegoing

@littlemisspascal @pascalsanctuary @tinytinymenace @yorksgirl

[b0ylik3r]

I dont wanna get myself involved in any more ZADR discourse, but I also don't want misinfo to spread around and people to get discouraged or anything like I had been for a while. So I'm going to say this: Zim in Invader Zim is most likely a child.

There are a plethora of reasons I think this, but if you don't care then scroll. I'm going to provide my reasoning under the cut.

My first reason is that from a writing standpoint, there is absolutely nothing appealing about the dynamic between Dib and Zim if Zim is an adult. What would or do you find enjoyment out of their dynamic if they are not meant to be foils of one another like the show HEAVILY implies them to be NUMEROUS TIMES? If Zim is a child, their dynamic becomes "2 children want parental approval and go against each other for it, when in reality the approval and love they seek is unattainable because the parental figures will never give them it. They would be better off being friends or allies, but instead keep fighting to be loved because they're dumb kids and don't realize that it's fruitless and dumb". If Zim is an adult, their dynamic becomes "Immature man cannot beat child". What is to be enjoyed or explored there?

My second reason is that Zim acts like a child in a multitude of different ways. His interactions with The Tallest, his general immaturity, and even how he surrounds himself. He goes to school. He has made himself robot parents to support that idea. He needs different disguises to act like an adult. Again, from a writing standpoint, if he was an adult infiltrating a school building and pretending to be a kid, that's just fucking weird. I don't think Jhonen is that type of person. I don't think the writers are that type of people.

Also on this subject is the episode Tak: The Hideous New Girl. At the point of the episode, Zim was trying to impress and "crush on" and be the boyfriend of this middle school girl. It doesn't matter if Tak was actually irken. It doesn't matter if she is the same age as him actually. It doesn't change that Zim was trying to get into a human relationship with what he thought was a middle school girl. If he is an adult, that's pretty fucking weird. Again, I don't think Jhonen is that type of person and I don't think the writers are that type of people.

The "flying ships before you were born" only proves that on Irk, he was an adult or at least the age that would permit him to fly ships. Calendars are manmade, why would irkens use the same years? Zim's age could also easily translate into human years into the late tween years. We also have to think logically about things.

Also, I sometimes feel like people are forgetting that Irk is a dystopian society. They are a hyper-militarized alien race that codes people's brains on the daily and does not wait for the children to grow up even a little before they start military training (or, at least training for military training). What morals prevent them from using child labor or child soldiers? We also have to remember that in accordance to The Trial, Zim was a smeet or older allowed into violent chemicals and resources that can kill, like it did Tallest Miyuki and Tallest Spork. That, in a way, proves that Irkens are not above dangerous child labor.

One other argument I have is that in Enter The Florpus, during the species change clip, Zim, Dib and Gaz switch species. The thing is, Dib and Gaz look the same as Zim in this clip. They don't become little smeets, they don't become tiny kids. They become Zim's age. Zim also does not become an old man in this clip. He stays the same as Dib and Gaz. Being that these are their canon human/irken translations, I don't see how someone could still defend this.

You could take all of this and say "Okay, but ZADR is still proship because they are abusive to each other so why are you so pressed". But like I said in a previous post, there is a major difference between "haha 2 people fight each other n get hurt haha" and "this adult man is grooming this child sexually". That's not funny. That isn't cartoony. That is a fully serious topic taken seriously in every single media that it is represented in. Cartoony unserious fighting has been a staple for years in animation and media. Grooming is not cartoony. That is why so many people have a problem with it. Some people don't enjoy shipping things that are seriously fucked up in the real world like that, or shipping proships.

This all started because of one singular tweet Jhonen made that you all believed. I bet if he tweeted "guys invader zim didnt actually happen and dib was hallucinating the whole time, lmao dream theory is canon", some of you would believe it.

I leave you off with this: "If it looks, sounds & acts like a kid, it's a kid, no matter if it's actually 1000 years old or not."

[rapunzellovesbooks]

I just wonder why all the blame is constantly put on Luke? Since June 13th I have constantly seen the narrative of Luke being the superficial asshole who only cares about having the typical hot girl on his arm and who rejected Nicola and hurt her. Has anyone stopped and thought that maybe Nic is the one who hasn't wanted anything with him? Bc idk maybe I'm crazy but all I have ever seen is Nicola friend zoning Luke and him clearly lusting over her. I'm sorry but I just can't see Luke as a villain he's done nothing wrong. And I can say with my full chest that man would NEVER do anything intentionally to hurt Nicola. Nic's behavior has not given rejected woman, she has had nothing but kind things to say about him since that tour ended.

And not only her, but like everyone he has ever met. From Jess, the showrunner, to old theatre mates of his, to so many of the cast members, on page, on film. Johnny Bailey would certainly not say he loves Luke on camera and even comment on his posts (when he himself is very little on SM) if Luke was the asshole some people paint him out to be. Hell, Luke still follows his exs sister and she said she texted him before interviewing Johnny for Wicked.

It is again, self-projection of the worst kind. If Antonia was not thinner than Nicola (nothing wrong with that), this discussion would not be happening in this way, but it would still be happening. The same happened with Jade, they found things to hate about her too. No one knows the timing of shit, for all we know Nicola dated someone while filming too or after or who knows.

The only consistent thing is that Nicola and Luke love each other and are very close and there is actual proof of that going back to season one.

What irks me the most is the assasination of character. People then started to look for reasons Luke was bad based on Antonia being bad. Now, I do not know this girl and I have never even looked at her SM. But people started saying she is a zionist, she worked for MAGA, etc. There is legit no proof of any of that or, at least, everyone keeps shouting about it but there is never any actual evidence, only MAYBE that her parents did dubious things (again, not her).

There is no way in HELL that Luke would even be associated with someone that awful and still have been this lovely person all along. People do not change that quickly and, specially not him. You still have months after that day, Nicola and JB and other cast members praising him and liking and commenting on his posts. He keeps loving Netflix UK posts and sometimes even interacting with them.

It bugs me so much that people paint this girl to be the devil incarnate to then throw it in Lukes face. Cause then you have to throw it in the rest of his friends and co workers faces as well. It is a snowball and it makes absolutely no sense cause it aint real.

You do not have to like Antonia´s dancing or whatever. But to make up that big of a lie to justify your hate... just say you do not like her and move on. Cause all you do is then paint a horrible false picture of Luke and THAT does affect his career.

And, yes, how do you know that Luke rejected her? Cause Nicola would never reject him? What if no one rejected anyone?

In my opinion, there are feelings there but never outspoken. And, you know, I do think they are endgame and things take time. But to coax them into them is insane. They find themselves cute, like with the edits of their friendship and bond, but people take it too far.

I also think they have never spoken about it and tbh I´d much rather them be unhinged besties forever than get together at the wrong time and then break up and not be able to work with each other anymore. I just want my dumb Polin ship captains back.

And at the SAG Awards, I do hope they make an entrance to remember together cause all these people spiraling is bc you think there is some diff vibe between them when there is zero evidence of that.

Anyway, rant over. Haters gonna hate no matter what, but if you are, do it with actual proven facts.

[wolfertinger]

I'm half tempted to just be anon but, I wanted to give my two cents on everything that's happening and say that your posts helped me come to an understanding how I feel.

I am a very real account and not a faceless mask for haters to doubt. I have done my research on all of the old pup stuff and current Salem stuff.

I desperately want to believe Salem can change and heal and be better, but their apology made no real attempt to divide themselves from what happened. The apology felt more-so like "I do not condone what happened, but like a different person enough to warent no hate, but not different to act differently or let go of ocs." It irks me. I looked up to Salem a lot as the face of transmascs and was thrilled he had transfem characters. But now, knowing that this is the person with the puppychan "alter," someone who has lied and lied and *LIED* about everything before. How can I believe him now? Pup has fetishized transbians and transwomen before, which leaves a very sour taste in my mouth with transmascs that don't present masc at all. I ate that up when I thought it was just a small little bunny boy online but now I just... Feel so betrayed. All of it feels disengious and like another lie. I struggled for hours debating on trans ethics on identity and if someone who was transfem can be transmasc and it feels so gray to me. It's confusing. Who ever reads this, please don't Harass Salem. I desperately want Salem to be better and hope He will be. I'm begging that we never get another reason to not trust Salem.

^^^

i agree with what you say completely. puppy had a very long history of lying especially if it would garner him sympathy or pity. the most glaring examples i can think of is when he lied about being "deathly allergic to blueberries" just to suicide bait like this.

puppy also randomly claimed to be both psychotic and schizophrenic when they got called out for using a meme using the term "schizo meltdown". neither illness has never been mentioned before or since. this is why i have so much skepticism about his claim of dissociative identities especially as we find salem and puppy act, talk and draw identically.

i also think puppy/salem was never transfem. this was a common misconception because of the sheer amount of transfem fetishization he was constantly putting out over years. which is really saying something.

these tweets are from years ago and yet read exactly like the posts salem is putting out now. its honestly fucking weird how everyone is just fine with this.

also agree with salem supposedly "reclaiming" ocs from puppy. he makes such a big deal about being a different person from puppy then goes "this is *my* old oc" ??? are you puppy or not?

thank you again for your bravery and speaking out. i appreciate your two sense on it.

[sapphic-agent]

I really hope my ask won't be seen as mean, hope to word correctly....bc your last post about how Eri and Shig do share some common ground. I agree but it irks me how LoV stans use this to make shig sound not so bad.

Many fics and arts where "shig saved Eri" exists as Eri is an accessory for Shig and nothing else.

I do see the paralels here. I do wonder about the mother....did overhaul killed her?

It's very convenient for the heroes to label Eri's quirk as good ...bc if she had just decay...she would be label as having a bad quirk. Maybe the heroes wouldn't care much. (Makes me wonder where are the healing quirks or medical advancement in this world)

But while they have a similar backstory...how Izu would possible know? I sincerely ask here bc AM went radio silence regards Shig to Izu, same with Gran and the police did a really lousy investigation (I'm assuming is lousy bc we don't see what they did and whatever they did it was one time thing) and didn't share the infos with Izu.

Does Izu knows about the nomus?

Im even surprised he knows shig is TENKO...but of course, such reveal is underwealming as fuck and him and Nana don't take at all.

Izu is mistreated by the narrative and no one talks to him ever.

Not to harpy on your post bc I agree this could have been useful....but like how Izu would know anything about Shig? Unless Shig tells or Izu becames the best hacker ever...or reads mind...he can't know. Ever.

I've said this before, but the reason Izuku doesn't understand Shigaraki is because they haven't interacted enough prior to the Final War.

Their conversation at the mall was a good moment. It shows that a) Izuku has the capacity to resonate with a villain's intent AND disagree with their actions (Stain), b) Shigaraki at this point didn't have a goal or direction, and c) it IS possible for Izuku to understand why hero society is corrupt. It also highlights the differences between them, attempting to show them as complete opposites.

The mall scene was a great way to explain the dynamic between them. And it's something that should have been expanded on throughout the story.

Admittedly, I don't know how Shigaraki's backstory would come up. But I'm sure it wouldn't be a hard thing to do. Didn't All Might pull up Tenko Shimura's disappearance? Maybe Izuku figures it out on his own somehow. Idk.

But to me, it doesn't even specifically have to be Tenko's actual past. It could be an implied thing that Izuku learns from watching how people treat Eri. Hell, part of him already has a clue from his fight with Shinsou.

(One thing I actually hate about Izuku's character is his inability to acknowledge the corruption of society despite being a victim of it. He started off being able to do this with Stain, but for some reason that just went away. He studies under Endeavor, even defends him to Dabi and tells Todoroki he's ready to forgive him. Lady Nagant spelled it out for him and he just... Doesn't react. Doesn't even think about what she said. This is on Horikoshi's awful writing decisions, but it's the one criticism of Izuku that's 100% valid)

Eri shouldn't be used for Shigaraki's redemption. I honestly wouldn't want her around any of the LOV, that's putting her in danger to make another character look better. It's the same issue that I have with Aizawa making Bakugou watch her.

But I do think that Izuku's experiences with the people around him- which includes Eri- should give him a broader worldview. That's typically how development and growth work. If Izuku was going to reach out and try to save Shigaraki, it should have been with an understanding of how society failed Shigaraki.

Saving him also could have meant a lot of different things. Saving Shigaraki from AFO's influence/brainwashing wasn't a bad goal. Saving him from himself, though, is different. People have to want to change, you can't make them. You can give them support, but Izuku wasn't in a position to do so because he's, y'know, a sixteen year old who isn't even an official pro hero. Of course he wasn't equipped for this. Most actual pros wouldn't have been

[crusherthedoctor]

Hey all, hope everyone's doing good. Thought I should give an update on my current perspective on things around here, as it's shifted for reasons I'll get into.

In a nutshell, I'm feeling better than before... but I also think it's time for me to semi-check out of current Sonic discussion.

By now, you all know that with the exception of Superstars and Dream Team - and Jimbotnik, because of course - I've not been enthusiastic about much of the current stuff. Whether that be the likelihood that they'll continue with a Frontiers direction, the SA2 milking that has made me more sick to death of its influence than I thought was possible, the Year of Shadow in general not being all that enticing if your top ten does not include him, IDW still causing the same repetitive back-and-forths with its characteristically terrible decisions and disproportionate praise from fans who don't actually buy the comic, various other bits and pieces that plant further Eggdad seeds into people's heads, a bunch of other stuff that I'm just apathetic about while everyone else goes crazy over them... it's not been a great time for me. I'm the Garfield, and the current direction is the Monday.

That would all be one thing, but as you may expect, it's the fandom that really irks me. I don't like how it's considered necessary to make every post a bestseller in order for your opinion to be seen as valid and insightful. I don't like how you're expected to not criticise something just because it's popular or "iconic". I don't like how everyone dedicates themselves to the same old lengthy discourse that will continue to not change anyone's minds either way, since the only people listening are the ones who already agreed with them. I don't like how you have Flynn/Archie/IDW stans on one side, and an increasingly common "Japan only, no one else should ever touch the series, also the Japanese fandom is the only one with good people in it, I was born in the wrong country uwu" mentality on the other side.

And... I don't like that I've brought these concerns up so many times before when I know it'll always fall on deaf ears. Why do I do this? Why do I bother? For the fandom, I guess. But if the fandom doesn't even respect me, if my words are always doomed to ring in an empty hallway, why should I bother?

While all this has been going on, the Paper Mario Thousand-Year Door remake has been on my mind quite a bit, as it has been for a lot of folk. As someone who has always loved TTYD, as well as the original N64 Paper Mario, I'm happy to report that I absolutely adore the remake, and quickly considered it a gold standard as far as faithful remakes go. :) There's a lot of reasons for that, but that's best for another time. Anyway, after a certain point, it occurred to me... hasn't it been a while since I've been able to just relax and join in on the hype for something? Hasn't it been a while since my opinion lined up with that of the majority? Hasn't it been a while since, regardless of not actually posting, I felt like I belonged somewhere, and wasn't being made to constantly feel like I'm worthless because I'm not an artist, animator, etc?

I think this is something I've been needing for a long time now. The irony of it coming from the bing bing wahoo man is not lost on me.

After how the past few years in the Sonic fandom have felt like a classroom more than anything, watching everyone repeat the same Why ___ Is Secretly Good/Bad three hour manifestos over and over, and flogging themselves for being Not-Japanese, can you see why the simple pleasures of "hehe Vivian :3" would appeal to me? Can you see why I'd prefer to unwind? I made a valiant effort, but now, I can't force myself to keep up with shit that I'm not passionate about for the sake of a community that doesn't care about what I have to say anyway. I need to find myself a place on here that I can be at ease with.

So what does this mean for my blog? Well, nothing too jarring, just that my focus may shift a little for the time being. Despite what all of the above may imply, I'm not turning in my Sonic badge. I still love the franchise, even if I'm not so fond of its overall current direction. And obviously, I still love Eggman, that'll never change. I'll still answer asks about the series, talk about things I like, reblog stuff I like, work on Stellar, spread Egg Propaganda, and so on. But unless I'm asked about them in certain contexts (ie: "how would you improve this character"?), I refuse to talk about IDW, Frontiers, or anything else whose contents and fandom circles cause me migraines.

Not because toxic positivity, but because after the joy of gushing over Vivian TTYD, and remembering the feeling of belonging, I can't do this again. I can't change Tails calling himself Wildly Inconsistent. I can't change The End being a nothingburger. I can't change Lanolin being an arsehole. I can't change Surge's shilling. I can't change how unprofessional the IDW crew is. I can't change what they're doing with Eggman, and various other characters. I can't change any of these things, no matter how much I or anyone else rants about them, and half the time, no one is seriously listening anyway. So many words for so little results. So I need to move on, stop wasting my time, and turn my attention on things that actually make me happy instead of just... deflated. Maybe if I do that, I can belong again. Maybe when the direction inevitably changes again in the future, it'll feel like it came faster.

So yeah. That's where I'm at now. I hope you guys can understand.

[mask131]

I'm going to really quickly drop something I have been thinking for a very long time - and I don't think I have made a post about it?

It is one of the reasons I kind of cut ties with fandoms on the Internet as a whole, and why I originally strongly disliked the way "headcanons" were used, and why I often roll my eyes with the way people behave on the Internet... And I don't know if it is because I was old enough to have lived in a time when I enjoyed series and movies and cartoons without the Internet - or better, with an Internet that was without the "fandoms" as we know them today.

The main thing that irritates me with the way "fans" act on the Internet is how they think because they are fans of a piece of media, it "belongs to them". I fully understand the idea of fanfiction-positive and I am ALL for fan-art and AUs and the like, don't get me wrong. I do enjoy what fandoms were for - sharing a common passion, bring fan-made content based on a loved piece of media, have fun with it all... But the way this positivity has been framed and formulated, and the way it got interpreted has been irking me a lot.

Because in effect, a lot and lot of people have gotten into their brain, somehow, that a fandom "owns" a piece of media. That a television series was made first and foremost for the fans, and not for anyone else, and thus that it must cater to their every whims and desire. More and more people take fan theories and headcanons as actual guidelines, or solid fact, or in general confuse "canon" and "headcanon". More and more people believe the idea that "If we are strong enough, we can change this piece of media" or that "The creator of this piece of media owes us things because we are fans".

I am not very old, and yet I still lived in a time when we understood that published books and the shows on TV and the movies in theater were not... "ours". Yes a fandom is a way to allow fans to toy and play with a piece of fiction, and thus in a way make it "theirs". BUT THAT'S METAPHORIC NOT LITERAL! It certainly does not help that recently more and more tv shows and cartoons and whatnot have been explicitely interacting with or refering to their fandoms, even sometimes letting the fans drive the course of the story. Which is great, and is fun - but should be remembered as something not "natural" and a bit exceptional.

It reminds me of how recently there have been more and more incidents in theaters where musical plays were interrupted by audience members who thought they just could do anything they wanted - because somehow they thought a musical was an interactive play or a karaoke night. Again, these kind of interactions do exist (The Rocky Horror Picture Show was built upon these experiences) - but they were unique and out-there.

Art, fiction and media can and will live on without fandoms. Fandoms are not a needed ingredient of a piece of fiction, they are something that at best develops a healthy co-dependency with the piece of fiction it selects, at worst acts like a parasite to its host. But the fandom can be destroyed and obliterated and die - the fiction will still live on, and the media will still exist. And yet, so many fandoms seem to believe that somehow, they are the movers and shakers of industry and fiction, and that somehow they are the ones in control? So many fans treat creators like commissioned artists or pals they can ask favors from or victims they can bully freely without consequence.

Again, I don't know how to properly express my thoughts but... I lived in a world without fandoms, and now I can't stand it when people make it seem as if art and fiction and media was all about fandoms. And I mean fandom in the modern, Internet-sense of the term. Fandoms have went from enthusiastic pupils and eager to learn students and symposiums of fair critics to just... whining, entitled, over-spoiled little brats that kick their feet in anger, give orders to everybody and try to run away with the painting that is hanging on a museum's wall.

Yes fanfiction can "correct" a badly written plot, in one's opinion. It doesn't mean the author has to stick to your corrections, or that other people can't actually enjoy the badly written plot.

Yes fanart can be much cooler than the actual design. It does not mean you suddenly know the movie better than the movie-maker themselves, or that your fan-art will have to influence the aesthetic of a cartoon's next season.

Yes headcanons are wonderful. It does not make them canon, and you cannot enforce them on anything.

I repeat myself like a broken record - but originally fandoms where a place of enjoyment and appreciation and theorizing and complaining, but solely as an audience, and as people gathered by similar interests. Now? Now they became places of control and influence and demands that don't understand that an audience member isn't supposed to jump on stage to point out "No you are saying it wrong, here is how you should say the line."

[andyfire122]

Star gazing remebrence

(I was gonna post this on A03 since I'm getting back into the swing of things but my computer issues...eh. Also A03 having issues rn. So Zam belongs to @esthyradler )

Zam just laid down on that hill for a while. Wasn't for any particular reason. The stars looked great that night. Before, the stars just made him miss a lot of things he lost when coming to Earth. Though recently it just brings new meaning.

Not only is Zim alive after all, but Miyuki is here. He probably should be freaking out more, but something about the view tonight was strangely calming.

Zim doesn't even hate me after he found out. Though, I should be worried about Miyuki. I'm just not right now for some reason. Still seems so unreal to find out she is the same one. Well, not the same. I doubt any of us are who we used to be.

It's been a few days since Zim just told him that the teacher who came was the same Miyuki from Irk. Thinking on it, that explains why she is so familiar.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Speaking of the lady herself there was Miyuki. Just standing there looking down from where he was stargazing. Nromally Zam would be a bit startled, considering she's been following him around more. Just tonight his nerves were giving him a welcome break.

He smiles. “Nothing, just enjoying a clear night.”

Stargazing was something he wasn't planning on giving up. No matter what the universe had been throwing at him lat

ely.

"You will be sooner robbed than anything else. Get up before you catch a cold." She scoffs. For a second he could almost see his old friend in that gaze.

Suppose it takes a lot of effort to stay mad like that. If I could change then maybe there is a chance.

Zam just gives a nervous laugh. "Well, not like I have anything interesting on me. Kinda worth it when you look at that." He gestures to the night sky.

As much as humans have polluted the planet, sometimes you get nights like these where the stars are the clearest. Like all his worries could just stay there in the stars.

It is quite clear tonight. I wonder if Zim has done something concerning the pollution?

"Sounds like a waste of time or just a way to not do any work tonight." And still, she sits down right night to him.

Zam just gives her a look before going back to look at the stars. “Yet you sat down with me.”

“Someone has to drag you when you pass out from the cold.” She scoffs but she is also looking at the stars.

Come to think of it, we did do something similar to this when we were Smeets. Guess it's the little things that stay the same. I don't think I mind so much.

Zam smiles softly at this moment. Tomorrow, it will be back to learning what to do about her or just working so she doesn't try to kill him when she finds out. Tonight, just two people sitting down for a breather.

I bet she hasn't had a real break in ages. Well, we can just call this another one of Earth's gifts then.

“Whatever you say, Miyuki.”

[shadowed-dancer]

I’ve been trying to figure out what irked me about Twice’s role this arc. A lot of people are saying it's because Twice and Hawks never spoke, but this post does a great job explaining why Twice not talking to Hawks is fine and wouldn’t have solved anything anyways. But it didn't really help me figure out my frustrations since… well I already felt that way. I had never been keen on the idea of a Twice clone being the one to confront Hawks after all this time, so while that post put it into words for me, it still left me to try and figure out where this bad taste was coming from.

For a bit I thought it was my disappointment that the Twice clones and Toga never had any meaningful dialogue, which harkened back to an old theory I made when we first learned about Twice’s blood (in which Toga would need to put Twice's desires over her own). And then I realized: my frustration in Twice’s clones didn’t stem from this chapter, it came from the way they were introduced (or rather, weren’t introduced).

Because remember: these aren’t clones of Twice. These are clones of TOGA who TRANSFORMED into Twice, and as such they have the personality of Toga (since Toga’s personality doesn’t change when she transforms). This is fine, but my problem is the fact that this was revealed WAY TOO LATE. We first learned Toga had Twice's blood in chapter 341. We learned that these were actually Toga in chapter 391. That is literally 50 chapters of us assuming the wrong thing (and all the expectations that come with it), and the manga doing nothing in all that time to dispel those expectations. In my opinion, we should have learned that these weren't clones of the real Twice the moment they appeared on screen.

Learning the truth so late allowed a lot of expectations to be built that were build on a false assumption, but it also meant that any meaningful moments that could have arisen from this situation just... never happened.

Imagine how excited Toga would have been at the prospect of having Jin back. If she could transform, gain his quirk, make a clone of him, and extract that clone's blood (which we know from MVA the clones can do blood transfusions) she could have had Jin around forever. So imagine how crushed she would have been when, for whatever reason, she realized she couldn't make a clone of him properly. Maybe she didn't have his measurements. Maybe there were things about him she couldn't remember that were impeding her abilities. Whatever happened, we should have have SEEN it way back when the clones first started coming through the portals (or even earlier), and we should have seen how this affected Toga.

Imagine a scene of her trying to do it, perhaps crying and explaining the issue while Dabi stared at her. Imagine her vowing to him that even if she couldn't bring Jin back, she would do the next best thing and use his quirk for their side.

And now, with the leaks of 394, the Twice clones are just gone. They don't matter. They never could have given Toga closure since they weren't Jin, but we didn't even see her grappling with the fact that she was unable to bring him back. We were left for so long making wild assumptions only to be told 3 chapters ago that "actually none of those even matter because these weren't Twice".

I think all this frustration led to two conclusions.

First: since the start of this arc, "bringing Twice back" was framed like a big deal. There were major implications of what could happened when we first saw that vile of blood, and those implications should have been shot down immediately by showing that these weren't actually Twice. There was no reason to have that many chapters featuring the clones without divulging this information.

Second: The fact that the clones are now gone reduces Twice to nothing more than a vessel for a cool quirk that would allow cool scenes to happen. It felt like it diminished his character without giving us any of the emotional moments that should have been there.

It feels like such a disservice to a beloved character. Not just to Jin, but to his relationship with Toga.

[treewithabark]

Why I’m training with a head halter

I’ve been training Juno (alongside my partner) to walk on a loose lead with only a martingale and harness. As I’ve posted before, she’s made a fantastic amount of progress!

She’s much more pleasurable to walk now and rarely pulls so hard she chokes. But we’ve reached a peak in our training that we can’t move up from. She’ll go through stages of pulling a lot, to behaving beautifully on walks.

So we decided to finally give a head halter a go to make the next step in her training journey. She’s a only 2 years old and hasn’t had a consistent start to life so we knew this wouldn’t be a quick fix, we hope that this will help her progress a little further. Especially now that it’s tourist season in my Town.

I ummed and ahhed over this decision. I’m not necessarily opposed to them, but I’m opposed to how some people use them. It’s not something that should be a bandaid to stop the behaviour immediately without addressing the issue. But is something that can be used as a tool alongside training. I’m against the use of aversive tools, and head halters can definitely be aversive. I trained Hana to use one as a backup tool, not because she pulled a lot but because I have joint issues and was worried about walking her if I had a flare up. I ended up using it on regular parallel dog walks in place of her muzzle after a while.

What I didn’t want to happen with Juno is that we’d come to rely on a halter for nice walking. That she’d not apply her loose lead skills to a harness or collar. But now she knows what is expected, it’s just getting past this next stage where she’s ignoring us because of other stimuli. She knows the drill, she just needs more time and consistency.

So we’re going to be using the halter as a stepping stone. An extra element of control to help teach her that we can get from A to B just as fast without her dragging us along or zigzagging across the path. No spacial awareness with that dog!

The plan is not to use it for entire walks, but to get us from A to B efficiently while continuing our training, and removing it once we get to the walk destination. We might not use it on every walk, and we’ll eventually work on phasing it out too.

I don’t know why I’m writing this post, I guess just to explain the reasoning behind the tool choice. And to me, head collars are less aversive than front attachment/no pull harnesses. I think I wanted to clarify why there’ll be some pictures of lil Junebug wearing a halter. It irks me that so many use them for a quick fix and don’t want people to think that’s what we’re doing with her.

Only issue with the halti I bought? They’ve changed the design and they seem more restrictive than they used to be. If she gets on with the halti I’ll probably order a dogmatic. I’m disliking how much the halti can tighten if she pulls.

Bonus picture of my squeezy cheese fiend

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

s1ep3 the evillustrator

love the name pun. so good

they should've just given nathaniel super powers as far as i'm concerned. his is probably one of the best designs we've seen so far of an akumatized person, and i love how he's just like, "nah, i won't commit evil bc the girl i like told me not to and she kept her promise about coming to my birthday party date." like if marinette hadn't been ladybug and trying to de-evilize him, hawkmoth would've had to force his hand to get ladybug and chat noir to come to him lol. i mean, if they hadn't been at the library personally ofc.

also love the bold choice to hire an older man in the english dub to play nathaniel bc he definitely sounds like a high school boy (/s). (and i do mean that totally neutrally almost positively) not to say hs boys can't sound like that. but 30 yr old men definitely sound older than a teenager. the va also just has a very nice, smooth voice, so i really don't mind. (also love how they had b-roll voice overs for marinette's classmates in timebreaker and then when her classmate actually get screen time, their voices change completely.)

other things i loved was the fact that the evillustrator just goes for the kill uncensored yigioh style by throwing a spinning buzz saw at chloe's face. like so far, we've seen relatively mild shit, though they probably killed some ppl, but it's all very abstract. with evillustrator, he just throws a fucking saw at her face. it's so funny.

i will say tho, the thing that irks me and irked me back then, was the lame-ass reason they gave to chat noir to use his cataclysm and them completely wasted it, instead, having ladybug solve the problem all by herself. (and even before she was able to transform into ladybug, she had to help both of them out of a sticky situation.) but for different reasons this time. last time, it was bc i felt chat noir was mistreated as a deuxteragonist, and i still think he is but that's a different post (and it parallels how they mistreat marinette/ladybug as a protagonist but in the opposite direction). this time, i just think about how the writers couldn't come up with a better way to incorporate chat noir's cataclysm. i think it's worse to construct a way for him to use it, only to have him fail completely and ladybug do what he was going to, than to just not have him use it at all.

they've painted themselves into a corner. bc you have to have ladybug use her miraculous ladybug power. that's essential. it's literally the namesake!! but if you don't make chat noir's cataclysm essential, he becomes less of a deuxteragonist, so he has to be able to use it at least once during an episode. the issue is, it's still insanely imbalanced when his cataclysm doesn't even really do much and ladybug is left to do all the work anyway.

there's another thing i noticed this time around that really irked me too, and it was adrien and marinette's conversation at the end. bc not only were they completely talking past each other, but adrien wasn't even listening to marinette! he was so focused on wanting her to like chat noir (and by a very strange extension since he likes ladybug, him), he didn't even register what she was saying. and idk i just found that so incredibly rude on his part lmao. and marinette, unfortunately, didn't even notice bc she gets too nervous around him. she deserves better than that lol.

edit: i forgot to mention hawkmoth saying he'd rule the world if he obtained ladybug and chat noir's miraculous loooool as if that's definitely the reason later on.

[hxhhasmysoul]

I don't like putting stuff under keep reading but this is mostly about the things under keep reading XD I hope you all have the feature that rolls down the long posts on.

_________

If you consider trash talking immature and losing his cool then sure. Sukuna can get very bratty and Yuuji irks him in a very special way, I’ve written about it ad nauseam.

I don’t perceive Sukuna trash talking his opponents as immature, he’s enjoying his fights a lot, trash talking is very common to fighting in general. His fight with Yorozu is the exception, and it’s honestly sad how he didn’t engage with her the usual way. It kinda felt that he wasn’t having fun fighting her and that made me sad. The fish monologue is just slightly too pretentious and poetic trash talking, Sukuna’s language is generally kinda old timey and poetic, but it doesn't really come out in the translations enough.

But, as I've written before, I generally like that Sukuna is kinda full of shit and to me it’s actually a nice aspect of his character that he doesn’t always manage to project the image he wants, that stuff gets to him. But I don't perceive that as childishness. Adults have emotions too, they can get affected, they don't always react in a perfect way. They are often better at that than children but Sukuna reacting with annoyance is just normal human behaviour.

(I don't want to go into a whole discussion about the societal conventions of adulthood and how showing emotion and imperfections in image are often weaponised to dismiss people up front without hearing them out, like it's done to children who by large chunks of society aren't really considered autonomous beings.)

_____

Megumi is usually a subpar friend to Yuuji, an equally subpar brother to Tsumiki, and a non-friend to anyone else, which I’ve also written about before. That doesn’t contradict the fact that he has very good reasons to dislike Gojou. In my opinion his attitude towards Gojou is his only relatable and not super meh quality. Megumi’s attitude towards Gojou and the value he does not put on his own life is very reminiscent of children whose autonomy had been repeatedly violated by adults and the trauma that comes with that.

No normal person thinks Megumi and Gojou have a family relationship of any sort. Gojou barely gave a shit about Megumi besides training him a bit. Megumi was starting primary school when Gojou became his guardian. In chapter 79 Gojou approaches a 6-7 yo and tells him he, a complete stranger, will become his guardian or alternatively Megumi can be sold to some other strangers. The only difference is that Gojou will not make Tsumiki’s life worse on purpose. He also tells Megumi that he will have to work hard, that he needs to grow strong. (Very in line with what Gojou says in the morgue that he needs strong allies to change jujutsu or what it really is: his power plays with the elders.) And in the scene where Megumi defeats Hana’s “mother” curse, Megumi isn’t much older than he was in that encounter. So what Gojou meant is that Megumi, a little kid, has to work off the minimal help he was getting by risking his life as a sorcerer. 

From the JJK official fanbook:

Q: How did Megumi and Tsumiki get by after their parents disappeared? A: Basically, Tsumiki did all of the housework. Megumi helped out. Gojo stepped in to pay for incoming utility bills before the small amount of money Tsumiki’s mother left them ran out.

Gojou created a situation where an 8-9 yo mothered a 6-7 yo. This man is made of money, he didn’t even get them a nanny (to live in or come at least on the weekdays), let alone take them in.

How did Megumi use to be emotionally closer to Gojou? Just because he let Gojou pat him on the head after a mission in chapter 210? In that chapter we can clearly see what comfort cuddling the White Dog brings Megumi and what face he makes when Gojou touches him. As I said, judging by what Megumi looks like, that happened not long after Gojou became his guardian. And we know Gojou doesn’t live with Megumi and Tsumiki, this is basically a stranger who makes Megumi work for his and his sister’s survival, touching him in a very familiar way. A stranger that has all sorts of power over Megumi - age wise, legally, financially, physically and in terms of jujutsu. Megumi's displeased and annoyed face is extremely warranted. It’s the first example where Gojou very explicitly violates Megumi’s autonomy, a child has the right not to be touched by an adult even if the adult just tries to be nice. And it’s on the adult to pick up the child’s discomfort which Megumi displays very clearly. It’s on the adult to respect boundaries.

Me saying that the joke Gojou makes in the Sukuna fight shows some level of hidden resentment is because it’s a bit of a mask off moment. It’s not open resentment and possibly not even one Gojou is aware of. But Gojou harbouring negative feelings towards Megumi is very understandable considering what Touji did to him. 

Megumi used the Magoraga move in the detention centre already, was the talk with Gojou before that? Probably. The way that talk goes also has Gojou’s resentment peek out. He frames it in the context of Megumi having the potential to kill him. He very clearly sees Megumi as a Zenin first, an identity Megumi has always rejected, of course Gojou isn’t sensitive to that, he has a pattern of disregarding Megumi’s will.

When Yuuji asks why his uniform differs from Megumi’s in chapter 4, Gojou says that he ordered a special one for Yuuji, who even mentions that he didn’t ask for it. But Yuuji accepts it because he thinks the uniform is fine. And he doesn't know what Gojou's like yet. But Megumi says “Be careful, Gojou tends to act like that/ is like that.” Some translations add some extra words to show that Megumi means that these are “odd behaviours”. But basically this is Megumi saying: watch out Gojou has a tendency to make decisions for you without any regard for what you want. And chapter before he puts Yuuji in the room just next to Megumi’s without considering Megumi’s feelings on the matter. Megumi is moody and unpleasant but for most of his life Gojou has treated him very instrumentally and the text implies that Gojou frequently made decisions for him on matters small and large.

Megumi, as the person he actually is, doesn’t fully reach Gojou’s thoughts. This is also very visible in how little effort Gojou puts into Maki, a fact that my dear friend pointed out to me a long time ago. She's another Zenin child, one with powers that almost killed Gojou. There’s nothing in the manga showing that Gojou put any effort in helping Maki grow, he actually dumps onto her some of the physical combat teaching, I don’t remember if it’s clear in the manga itself but Gege mentions it in the fanbook. Maki’s arc shows very clearly how she develops completely outside of Gojou. 

But back to the talk about Mahoraga. As a Zenin Megumi is seen by Gojou as someone capable of killing him. Why would Gojou explain Megumi’s potential strength like that? Why frame this potential power purely in the context of “you could kill me if you wanted to” when Megumi has never shown any intent to harm Gojou. He clearly dislikes Gojou but he never does or says anything that would imply that he’d try to get his freedom from Gojou through murdering him. 

Megumi seems resigned to the life he was forced into, to the system Gojou put him in. He has the cog mentality that he infects Yuuji with, though Yuuji seems to be getting over that disease. 

Gojou puts the idea of “the height of your power is achievable through suicide” in Megumi’s head and then he has to walk it back after the exchange event. Because that thought stifles Megumi’s development. Maybe Gojou was stupid enough to think that saying shit like that to a child would make that child’s potential bloom. I mean Gojou is repeatedly shown as a person with very low to none emotional intelligence and a shit teacher. But it might be also that since Gojou can’t get out of his head the idea of a Zenin as a potential threat to him, he might’ve stifled Megumi’s development subconsciously, as a self-preservation mechanism.

As per what you consider manga canon, it's your choice to treat an unfinished work like that. A choice that I personally, as an author of yet unfinished and serialised works, find kinda cruel. But I understand where it comes from, even if I don’t think an approach like that achieves your goal of analysing Gege, or any other author, as a storyteller. Mappa has made very questionable, in my opinion, changes in the anime, but the strolls were written by Gege, it’s just a fact. 

________

We know how Yuuji was revived, not how he survived. The body and soul are very closely linked but the soul does not die with the body, it feels more like it sheds it after the biological death and it seems implied that it can manifest a new body in the future through reincarnation. But the soul vacates the body after the body dies. Kenjaku is shocked that there’s some echo from Getou’s soul in the body. For at least a 1000 years of body hopping they had not seen anything like that, a soul lingering in the body spontaneously. But they are quite sure that neither Sukuna or Yuuji’s soul left the body after its death at the detention centre. And even the cursed spirits assume that the death of the body meant that both Yuuji and Sukuna left it. 

The question is why? 

Sukuna can be easily explained because Kenjaku apparently helped Sukuna achieve that situation in which his soul remains in his dead body parts. They helped turn Sukuna into a cursed object. Sukuna can transfer his own soul from body to body by feeding it a body part. And when he hopped from one teen to another, he did not take Yuuji’s soul with him so their souls remained very separate in that body.

After Yuuji’s body died without the heart Gojou could've assumed that Sukuna’s soul was still attached to it because that seemed to be Sukuna's thing. But Yuuji?

Sukuna wouldn’t have kept Yuuji’s soul there if he had a choice because Yuuji is an obstacle for him.

So either he needed Yuuji’s soul to remain for some reason and he used his own powers to retain it in the body.

Or he had no choice about it.

If the latter is true and considering how sure Kenjaku was of this outcome, a likely scenario is that Kenjaku made Yuuji like that. And we have no explanation as to whether that's Yuuji's completely separate quality or Sukuna is somehow a component or catalyst of that.

Gege could’ve made Gojou mention that there’s something special about Yuuji’s soul in the morgue or especially during the fight with Sukuna, because a few chapters earlier the readers are reminded again that there’s something about Yuuji’s soul that is special. Or even if Gojou wasn’t paying attention to others during that time, Gege could’ve implied that Gojou knew there was something special about Yuuji’s soul due to the Six Eyes.

But what Gojou says in chapter 224 doesn’t imply any of that. It implies the opposite actually, Gojou seems to believe that if a body dies with Sukuna inside it, both Sukuna and the host’s souls will linger in it and the host will be salvageable. Or maybe it even goes further, he thinks he can kill just Sukuna and not the host. And there’s no explanation as to why he would believe something like that, other than he genuinely seems far more interested in the fight itself than in Megumi. 

Got through 224. I don't like how Gege does fight choreography and paneling, so it was pretty boring to me, but I do want to pay special attention to what Satoru says when threatened by Sukuna (who acts like SUCH a child at the beginning of this, lmao).

As far as I know, this "special training" is never clarified. I don't know if Satoru means he spent a good portion of that month trying to figure out a way to help Megumi, or if he's referring to his childhood (as much of the writing before this fight implies that Satoru grew up in a way that dehumanized others).

My interest mainly lies in the "Dying once as Yuji was a mistake." line. I've seen the other panels before, but I'm miffed that I didn't see more discussion on this line, since I feel that it's so much more intriguing. It's unclear how much Satoru prepared for this in the month-long timeskip (whyyyyy), but the "Dying once as Yuji was a mistake." may give us more clues to where Satoru is really thinking. After all, what is he implying here?

Is he saying that Sukuna revealed a weakness by reviving Yuji in the Juvenile Center, when Yuji barely had any of his power? Does Gojo believe that Sukuna has skin in the game, and won't let Megumi die so easily, because he already brought Yuji back when the latter shouldn't have mattered? Does he perhaps believe that Sukuna is unwilling to lose any of his power?

Maybe he just takes it as proof that Sukuna CAN be killed. But regardless, "I'll worry about Megumi...after I kill you." suggests that Satoru believes Megumi will be salvageable after Sukuna kicks it. That there isn't need for alarm until after Sukuna is dealt with. Definitely, those who rely on Satoru need him to kill Sukuna no matter what, to prevent further suffering. All in all, it's a captivating set of lines.

I'm aware of certain developments in the future, but I'd like to delve into this more. My complaints for the lack of character interactions and the timeskips being weights on the story still apply.

[erebosblue]

welcome to: I never post but I kinda want to sum up how I feel about (616) Peter Parker.

so, like. I've tried to do this many times and always end up coming short of fully explaining myself because I have ✨𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈.✨

note: I have done an ass ton of research over my couple years of loving Spidey, but that does not mean I know everything. if something sounds wrong, it might be! I'm just a 17 year old idiot who got attached to an absolute mess of human being.

note #2: I am trying not to make this all about how much I dislike MCU Peter, but it will come up from time to time so just be aware of that.

first and foremost, I want to talk about comics as a whole. a lot of choices around characters have less to do with what a character would actually do and more what a writer wants or general comic/societal culture at the time. every character will be different depending on the writer and you're gonna make your own interpretation of a character from what you like. that doesn't mean certain things can't be out of character, just that a comic character can vary quite a bit depending on the person. that's part of the fun of comics tbh.

what I'm trying to say is that if my character analysis doesn't feel like it's what you read, it very well might not be and that's okay. Peter is a character that's been around since the 60's. he's developed over time and will continue to as time goes on. like, for instance, how he's changed from a high school kid trying to get by to a mid-to late twenties mentor for Miles (1610) and Gwen (65).

alright onto more interesting points. and actually a kinda heavily debated topic. whether Peter is a naturally good person or not. mainly this is just about his origin and how he really just straight did not care. honestly, part of the reason I really like how the comics did his origin is that he's not an self-absorbed prick. (even though it would be reasonable if he was considering he was 15.) he's more,,, jaded.

Peter was a social outcast his whole life. he didn't make any sort of friend until Freshman year. he's also super traumatized. his parents' death is kinda over-looked a lot, but it was shown that it really set in action his fear about everyone around him dying that has only gotten worse from, well, just that happening. he's shown in younger years to help people, and even in Freshman year he puts his safety on the line to make sure his bullies don't get stabbed by his friend, but he also kinda just,,, doesn't care.

personally, I really like characters that are inherently good people, but are limited by trauma making them apathetic. (ahem me with a male P3 protag icon.) not all trauma responses are loud or easy to fix. it's totally reasonable for Peter to close himself off from a world that has only been cruel to him, but the fact that moves past this? yes, it took a tragedy, but sometimes you need something big happening to realize.

Peter is inherently a good person, but he's also,,, short-sighted at times. he can royally fuck up because he was trying to do the right thing and just really missed the mark. but I honestly thinks this makes him more likable. intent doesn't change the affect, but if you're a vigilante, you're gonna fuck up from time to time. he's always been a hero grounded in reality and I don't think that makes him any less of a good person.

speaking of trauma, the fact that he hated working with other heroes for the longest time is mwah chef's kiss. mans did not make a real friend until college so, like, of course he's gonna have problems trusting other heroes. (especially since most heroes have tried to kill him but that's neither here nor there.)

this is one of the times I will be ragging on MCU Peter so skip to the next paragraph if you don't want that. there are many reasons not to like MCU Peter wanting to be an Avenger so goddamn bad, but one of the ones that irk me so much is the fact that it just gets rid of so much character development. 616 Peter had to learn how to trust heroes, to trust people, with something as serious as his life after being tormented by basically everyone that wasn't his caretakers. he now works with heroes just fine but like??? it's been a long ass time you can't just skip all that.

anyway, moving on. another thing I just fucking love about 616 Peter is how he is just a ball of fucking rage. this is basically never explored outside of 616 but it is genuinely one of my favorite parts of the comics. this man has been put through so many things and he is just so. done. like the canonical reason why him having Venom is a bad idea is because Venom specifically will go feral when their host is pissed and Peter is, to state again, a ball of rage.

like, yes, sometimes he doesn't kill because ✨moral compass✨ but more recently a lot of the times he hasn't is because The Giant Web That Holds The Entire Multiverse Together Said No.™️ I could make a whole post about how much I adore Spider-Totem stuff, and I just might, but my point is Peter is just done with shit and life in general and I love it.

this is so rambly and not gonna go over everything I want it to, but I'm gonna get powering on until I have to go to bed.

I also genuinely love how even though they will never come out and say Peter is any sort of queer of way, he is so queer-coded. his relationship with many of his male friends is fruity as FUCK and Peter straight wore a crop top with the word animal across it and booty shorts. (if you've never seen it, let me treat you.)

this hasn't even covered half of what I know I want to cover so let me speedrun some points before I literally pass out.

Peter "I'm partial to clones" Parker and his relationship with Kaine and Ben is my favorite relationship dynamic (/p) in all of 616. the fact that they are just absolute bastards to each other but only they are allowed to be. no one else can touch the others.

Peter's closest hero friendships being Daredevil, Wolverine, Johnny Storm (I can't remember his hero name right now I think I'm officially losing it,) and Deadpool is so fucking good. he just loves someone that he can argue with and that is also my ideal friendship. just absolutely besties and fuck with each other but will absolutely kill for each other.

I love Peter being a teacher and/or mentor SO MUCH. please I need more of it, no one appreciates how good of a teacher he is and it's mean. :(

his guilt. man as someone with an awful guilt complex I just,, adore his so much. the way that every other character is like "woah dude chill" is just so fucking funny to me as he mentally just shuts down because oh god how dare he not be perfect.

unrelated but the fact that Miles can tell the difference between how Peter and Ben talk is literally one of my favorite facts. like that says two things.

Miles knows Peter so well that he knows the way he talks and

Peter and Ben have become such different people that they talk with different speech patterns and/or in different tones of voice.

personally, I headcanon that Ben rambles more and talks in a higher register but kyldktdoy this is off topic- (I should make a Ben post too.)

okay, I'm delirious, the point is: Peter is a really interesting and good character and I love him so much. I personally resonate a lot with how he handles trauma and I think it's well done. but stldykd that's just me.

I'll add on later because I know I have more to say.