#begging Supervillain

[ghuleh-recs]

Edited to add (because, as we know, the reading comprehension on the hellsite is abysmal):

The question is, “why wouldn’t you reblog a post you genuinely enjoyed” NOT “why wouldn’t you reblog a post”

From my post-poll breakdown:

I am actually shocked that the fear of looking cringe came in second. Like, my dudes. With peace and love—you’re on tumblr. You became cringe when you made an account. If you’re reading this and you chose this option, please embrace the cringe. Love what you love unapologetically. If someone here judges you for reblogging a fanfic you loved, they are simply placing their own insecurities on you. I am begging you to reconsider censoring yourself out of fear. Also! Tumblr is pretty anonymous. Who are you trying to impress?

[gingermintpepper]

So, now that Blood of Zeus has also been given its chance to tell the Demeter/Persephone story (and also, similarly, fundamentally misunderstood the themes of the Hymn to Demeter) can we finally, finally talk about Mother Love?

Because I can scream until I'm blue in the face about how modern, popular interpretations of the myth have become so focused on being 'empowering' to women by fixating on giving power to Persephone in her marriage with Hades and, in turn, disparaging Demeter, another woman, - the mother who grieves her lost daughter - that they've some how spun all the way around and gotten back to being misogynistic and reductive, but I feel like talking nebulously about the fact that it's Demeter and Persephone's story and not Hades and Persephone's story never gets the point across hard enough. So:

Anyone who was upset about Demeter's demonisation in Blood of Zeus S2? Read Mother Love. Anyone who is ever upset that retellings of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter constantly demonise, belittle, accuse and insult Demeter and her grief while making excuses to redeem and forgive her daughter's captor? Read Mother Love. Anyone who likes Hades and Persephone as a romantic tale but yearn for complexity outside of arbitrary romantic antagonists impeding the happiness of the couple? Read Mother Love!! Everyone who has even a passing interest in this tale whether it is for the romance, the mother-daughter connections, the themes of grief and loss and eventual comfort and compromise, the wrath of the mother transgressed, the justice that is served due to a mother's insistence in an unjust society, READ MOTHER LOVE!!!

Because it pains me that such a perfect retelling of Demeter and Persephone's story exists, that it focuses on the mother-daughter relationship by comparing it with the poet's own relationship with her mother and it is nearly obscure in the greek mythology community.

[blessed-pineapple-cruncher]

i love enemies to lovers, especially superhero/villain edition, but i gotta say my absolute fav-sub genre is hero falls for villain first, doesnt wish to 'redeem' them

they might then:

outright defect to villain side

bonus if villain is unaware of former-heros feelings and is just '???'

try to subtly aid villain

just fucking loose it. just absolutly go batshit and turn traitor, declaring their undying love to a villain who is so fucking confused. just sabatoage and murder all their allies in a grandious, horrific display of their feelings

bonus is villain is freaked out

try to sweetly court villain. villain either does NOT understand what courting is, or thinks the hero is tricking them - they are not

becomes just so creepy and obsessive. practically stalks villain, uses hero info to further their goals, announces their intentions to villain who is terrified

and perhaps my absolute top tier favourite:

defects and proceeds to be 10x scarier and more dangerous than any other villain

everyone thinking 'oh my god wtf' and 'oh so tyhey were holdingh back as a hero' and 'wtf'

anyways i feel that the hero <3-> villain is far too underutilised within the hero x villain genre. i dont want redemption i want unhinged-former-heros!

[muttsandmustelidae]

eternally confused by people like this who seem to think shelters intentionally label dogs in a way specifically designed to deter you from adopting them instead of just like… reporting the behaviors they’ve witnessed during the dogs stay at the shelter because that is literally all they have to go off of

[hufflepuffwritingstuff2]

Secret Santa Snippet!

This snippet is a secret Santa gift for @gingerly-writing ! I hope you like it, Ginger! Your request was super fun, I hope I did it justice!

It started out as a normal work relationship. Supervillain would work in the shadows while Hero tried to undermine them from outside. But eventually Supervillain stopped sending villains and henchmen and started showing up to fights themselves. Now, Hero was narrowly dodging balls of electricity while simultaneously sending out their own ice beams.

“You won’t get away with whatever it is you’re planning,” Hero shouted across the warehouse, “I’ll make sure of it!”

Hero sent throwing stars made of ice in Supervillain’s direction, which Supervillain destroyed with carefully aimed electric bolts.

“My dear little Hero,” Supervillain said, seemingly unbothered by Hero’s threat, “whatever do you think I’m planning that’s got you so worked up? Global destruction? The collapse of society as we know it?”

“Well, yes!” Hero said, “what else could you be up to?”

As they were speaking, Supervillain had slowly been closing the distance between them and Hero. Now, Hero had been backed into a wall, with Supervillain mere inches from their face.

“Have you ever considered that I’ve merely been trying to get your attention?” Supervillain asked.

Hero froze.

“W-what?”

“I’ve been watching you for some time, Hero, and I must say, you’re quite the distracting little thing. It started as mere surveillance, making sure you weren’t a threat to my plans. But then… then, all my plans fizzled out as you became the only thing I could think about. I stopped sending my subordinates out to fight you, you’re mine to fight and mine alone. Let’s just say, I’ve become infatuated with you, and I intend to make you mine.”

Hero felt fear twist in the pit of their stomach. Suddenly the threat of global destruction or the collapse of society seemed a lot easier to deal with.

“I’ll give you some time to put your affairs in order,” Supervillain said, “after that, you’ll be coming with me.”

“Excuse me?” Hero blurted, “no- I, I’m not coming with you! I’m not yours to have!”

“One week should be ample time to let things sink in,” Supervillain continued, ignoring Hero’s protests, “until then, little Hero.”

Supervillain put a hand on Hero’s shoulder, letting electricity flow from their body into Hero’s. Hero cried out and fell to the ground. Their eyes fluttered shut. When they came to, Supervillain was gone.

…

One week later

Bolts of lightning shot down from the sky all over the city, catching buildings and trees on fire and causing outages on across the power grid. In the center of it all, a figure stood over another on a rooftop.

“Accept that you’re mine, and all of this stops,” Supervillain said softly.

Hero tried and failed to push themselves off the ground. They crashed back down on the rooftop, tears springing into their eyes.

“I’m not yours,” Hero bit out.

Supervillain chuckled, like a parent patiently trying to explain something obvious to their child. The storm only grew stronger as they summoned another bolt of lightning right toward Hero. Hero screamed as the electricity rippled through them.

“Please, please stop,” Hero whimpered.

Supervillain crouched down to Hero’s level and petted their hair lovingly.

“Only you can make it stop,” Supervillain whispered.

Supervillain shot another weak stream of electricity through Hero’s body. Hero cried out as their body convulsed on the ground.

“Alright!” Hero sobbed, “Alright, I’ll come with you.”

“Good Hero,” Supervillain said.

Supervillain picked Hero up as though they were the most fragile thing in the world, and carried them bridal style off the rooftop and into the city sky. As soon as Hero was in their arms, the lightning across the city ceased to strike.

…

Supervillain landed inside their lair, Hero still in their arms. The ceiling closed over them as their feet touched the ground. They carried Hero down several hallways until they reached a large, modern-looking bedroom. They laid Hero down on the bed.

“Now, little Hero,” Supervillain said, pulling off their gloves, “I hope you realize that I except total and complete surrender from you if you want to keep your city safe. We’re going to have to establish some ground rules.”

“G-ground rules?” Hero asked, still twitching from residual electricity.

“Mhm,” Supervillain said, “for instance: you’re free to roam the grounds at your leisure, but if you want to leave my lair, you’ll have to be accompanied by me.”

“But-”

“The next rule is you are not to use your powers against me, is that clear? I don’t fancy becoming an ice sculpture in my own home.”

Supervillain tucked a strand of hair behind Hero’s ear.

“I think you’ll become accustomed to living here soon enough,” Supervillain said, “in fact, I daresay you’ll enjoy your new way of life. Anything you want, within reason, name it, and its yours. You’ll never have to work a day in your life again. All you have to do is be mine.”

Hero looked out the window at the city outside. Some buildings were partially destroyed from Supervillain’s lightning, and firefighters were still putting out the blazes on the trees. It would only get worse if Hero fought. So, Hero became Supervillain’s, and the city was finally at peace.

Tags: @gingerly-writing @mythixmagic @princessofonwardsworld @infinityshadows @fishtale88 @valiantphantomangel @thelazywitchphotographer @the-beasts-have-arrived

[aziraphalesbookkeeper]

Anyone else. Anyone else notice.

[purple-heart-x]

A Trade- Chapter 12

Hello everyone! Long time no write! It’s a bit of a short chapter, but I really wanted to give poor Spite some comfort. :) Feel free to let me know what you’d like to see next! :D (seriously, i thrive on interaction or just random comments if you have any)

I’ll try and continue writing this coming week!!

-Joy

---

Tags: @redwhump, @whumpsday, @equestrianwritingsstuff, @stuck-in-this-mortal-form, @shydragonrider, @kira-the-whump-enthusiast

Almost an hour later, the villain's eyes opened once more, immediately going wide and frightened when they landed on Aki and Isaac. Isaac stood first. "Hey, buddy... It's okay." When he received a terrified whimper, he just nodded and hushed the boy on the bed. "Shhh, I know. You can be scared if you want, that's alright. But I really need you to drink something. If not water, can you drink some juice?" he asked, holding up a bottle. Spite whimpered, back aching as he looked at the bottle. It looked closed- sealed. Shakily, he managed a nod. "Good, good. Here," he said as the bottle's seal cracked loudly open, "I'm going to hold it up for you. Drink as much as you'd like." Spite shivered leaning in for a tiny sip before cringing back. When no attack came, he hesitantly unfroze, squirming forward again to drink, eagerly now. Desperate, even. Who knew if they'd be kind enough to give him mercy again? Before he knew it, he'd drank the entire bottle. "Good. Good. You're okay now." He didn't dare meet the hero's eyes. Just nodded, keeping his head down. "'M sorry... Please don't hurt me," he wept. "No, no. We won't. We're here to help." He didn't believe it for a second, just shivered and nodded. Better to play along until they told him what they really wanted. "Are you cold? In pain? Hungry?" That was the other one. Yoru. "We want to help you feel better." He had to be joking. Everything hurt. Yes he was cold. And on fire at the same time, still, burning deep in his skin, in his spine. He shook his head instead. "I'm sorry," he mumbled again. "That's alright. You can get as much rest as you need. We'll be here to help you, okay? We won't interrupt except to check the wounds and make sure they don't get infected." "Y-Yes, I- I will. Please... D-Don't bring me back." his voice felt rusty, out of use. Something landed over him and he jumped. "Blanket," Crimson said gently. "You're not going back there. I promise, we're not here to hurt you." Spite shuddered, accidentally tugging on the restraints in an attempt to hug himself tighter. He only realized they'd noticed when he heard a faint zrrrrp sound and a flash of pressure on his wrist. Yoru was looking at him, holding the restraints. "We had to use these to keep you from thrashing and hurting yourself. Now that you're more lucid, we don't have to use them anymore. Right?" He nodded hastily. "R-Right, I- I promise, I'll be good, I w-won't do it again," he sniffled. He didn't understand why Yoru was looking at him with a touch of sadness in his eyes. "That's not what I meant, Spite." The villain didn't have time to reflect on what he meant. "Are you comfortable in this position? Do you want help to shift?" Spite shook his head again. It didn't hurt too bad now. He didn't want it to start again. "Um, c-can I please sleep? I promise I'll s-stay still..." Aki hesitated. "Here, hold still for a minute?" Gently, carefully, he laid the back of his hand on the villain's forehead. Letting out a hum, he nodded. "Better than before. Yes, you can sleep. Sleep as long as you'd like, Spite." Spite tried to thank him, leaning into the touch. Really, he did. But halfway through the words his eyes dulled and slipped closed, arms going limp as they pulled the blankets tight around him like a shield.

[starfields08000]

Of shifting and shadows

As promised, the first chapter. I feel like it took forever to write so I'll probably update about every two weeks if I can.

Let me know if you want to be tagged so you can follow the story - or if you find any errors in my writing!

And finally one quick note - ** is the pov character's thoughts, while "" is any character speaking.

C.W. Begging, kidnapping (let me know if is missed anything but I think that's it??)

Chapter one - A runaway and a teleporter

(Ventus)

Ventus ran. Fast. He knew he couldn't stop; if he did *they* would find him.

Catch him. But.. it was getting harder to keep going, especially with the bruising on his ribs.

*Not good*. Desperation ran through him as he tripped, stumbled and regained his footing. He darted into an alleyway in a feble attempt to hide, pressing himself against the wall behind a large bin - it didn't work.

"He went this way, I think."

*No. No no no! They couldn't find him! They'd kill him - or worse.*

He closed him eyes at the thought.

"Look! There. Grab him and let's go."

Ventus felt hands on him and suppressed a whimper as they brushed against a bruise.

*It looked like worse then. That was bad.* Suddenly-

•••

The world around him changed, the dirty alley changing to dark concrete before his eyes. As he doubled over and vomited, a light chuckle echoed in his ears - coming from one of the figures looming over him.

"Aw come on. It's not that bad."

"Don't antagonise him Mal."

"Sorry boss. But you gotta admit - even Yohan didn't react like this. Hey look - he's stopped!"

Ventus flinched as their attention returned to him. Finally looking up at his captors, he got about as far a the tall one's glowing yellow eyes, before scrambling back against the far wall.

He flinched at the sudden pressure against his back and glanced at his captors, waiting to see if they noticed the sign of weakness... Before noticing that they were too engrossed in their own conversation to have seen. *Thank the gods*

"-an't leave him here."

"We wont have much of a choice until there's a room ready for him. He can't just be left to wonder around the base on his own."

"Then he can come with me until the room is ready. But please boss, we shouldn't leave him here."

He tried to shrink back from the sudden attention and found himself blocked by the wall that he had pushed himself into.

The conversation he had heard went blurry in his mind. He just knew he had to speak - no - beg them to take mercy on him.

"Please. Don't- don't hurt me? I won't fight. You can do what you like with but- but *please* don't hurt me. Not that."

Steel toed boots made their way infront of him and he knew he would soon feel them against his skin.

His body must have been looking for a way out because felt rather then saw his vision turn dark as his body hit the ground.

[boxofbonesfic]

me when i block a serial liker on the last chapter of a fic that isn’t available on a03

[nefariux]

I like the idea that Kyle keeps having to explain he's not homophobic he just REALLY hates Leo

[meimei-bunnie]

someone in the comments said it was their daughter and now I'm thinking wangxian with Sizhui 😳

obviously wwx as the "villain" and lwj as the hero, but they're actually married and in love and Sizhui is their smart baby who figures out everything with his group of friends which include one hgj×yllz fanatic (Jingyi), one secret hgj fanatic (Jin Ling) and one secret yllz fanatic (Zizhen). just a fic of the juniors shenanigans and attempts to find out that results in revealed identities and the babies being scolded for risking their lives hahaha~

(Sizhui is obviously the wangxian fanatic lol, he ships his own dads 😔)

You (a supervillain) and a superhero actually work together to help the city. In one fight, the damage to a building forced the owner to bring it up to code. In another, your conflict “accidentally” exposed crimes that were getting swept under the rug. Someone’s pieced it all together, though.

[wheneverfeasible]

It had just been a joke.

He’d been bleeding out, dying, the pain from the demobat bites fading as that unending cold started to seep into his limbs. He was dying and Dustin was crying over him and he didn’t want to say goodbye but what else was there to do?

Pounding footfalls and then Steve and Nancy and Robin were skidding to his side amongst the fallen demobats and Steve was telling him to hang on, to not die, that they were there. Nancy and Robin were tearing garments to wrap around his bites but he didn’t care overly much, figuring it was for nothing. Instead, he was focused on Steve’s hand in his, pleading with him to hold on, and it was clearly just him babbling, but he’d said he’d do anything Eddie wanted if he just hung on.

And really, what better time to come out as gay to your crush than on your deathbed? Or, death-patch-of-dirt anyways.

“Go on a date with me then, Harrington,” he coughed out, choking on blood that splattered on his chin. Sexy.

Steve was noticeably shocked, and confused, but he gamely agreed if Eddie just promised not to die. Eddie blacked out with a grin on his face. He’d thought that was it, thought it was all over, except then he started feeling pain again. Which fucking sucked. Kind of rude to feel pain in death, unless Hawkins had been right and he was in Hell now. Bummer.

But then he heard the beeping, felt the cold air being forced into his nostrils, and he blinked open eyes that felt glued shut. Things were all woozy and fuzzy, but he saw big brown eyes staring at him and a smile he’d never thought he’d see directed at him of all people, and Steve was holding his hand again and that was nice.

Apparently he’d been in a coma for a month. Hilarious.

Steve had told him he’d been begging him to wake back up, they all were, and Eddie was high enough on pain killers to tease, “Didn’t think I’d let you out of our date that easily did you, big boy?”

He’d fallen back asleep almost immediately afterwards, so he didn’t get to see Steve’s reaction to that one, which was probably for the best, all things considered. Except Steve kept coming back, and he kept up the joke about taking Eddie on a date once he was better, even using it as encouragement when Eddie wanted to just give up and die from the pain he was in due to the multiple surgeries he was recovering from and undergoing.

Despite all that, he slowly but surely healed, able to finally move into the small house the government’s hush money had bought for them with Wayne after they also got him cleared of all charges yadda yadda yadda. Pretty sick deal, all things considered. All it took was being framed for multiple murders done by a psychotic supervillain and nearly mauled to death by demon bats. Easy peasy.

When Steve had given him a time and date for their supposed date, Eddie was just happy that the guy was able to joke about it with him instead of freaking out in typical Straight Jock. Steve apparently acknowledged his crush and still wanted to be friends, which was better than he could hope for. Or so he thought.

Because there was Steve, on his front porch, flowers in hand and looking far spiffier than Eddie ever recalled him looking like before. It looked like he’d even gotten a haircut. Good lord.

And it was amusing really, truly it was funny how far Steve was willing to take the joke, but something broke inside Eddie too because he was For Real Super Gay For Steve Harrington, but for Steve it was Just A Joke. And Eddie couldn’t take it anymore.

He snapped, hurt by his feelings not being taken seriously, and ranted about ex-jocks and pretty straight boys who treated being queer like a joke. Though Steve looked shocked at first, he ended up just looking amused by the end, which annoyed Eddie further. He was just about to enter another diatribe when Steve cut him off with a simple sentence that took all the wind out of his sails and left him gaping like a fish.

“Thanks for calling me pretty, but I’m actually bisexual.”

Eddie blinked. Steve smiled. Flowers were pressed into his hand.

“Now, the only joke around here is thinking my date can wear sweatpants to our dinner reservations, so go change into something appropriate, Munson. Honestly.”

As Eddie was ushered to his bedroom to change into something more fitting than stained and holey sweatpants, he tried to figure out where he had, in fact, lost the narrative. Because it had just been a joke.

But somehow he had ended up with a first kiss, a real life boyfriend, and a happily ever after he never would have expected. Go figure.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

april 2024 octa + 4koma manga updates

Tweels, colorized... 💀

***Spoilers under the cut!***

This chapter of the Octavinelle manga is the part of book 3 where they try to sneak into Azul's office and swipe the contracts the first time (only to be caught and attacked by Azul, Jade, and Floyd)

ihfbpbafyowrp9geqa I'm giggling a little at how Jack's tail is depicted while hiding. It sticks out very obviously (like they say it does in the game), but I'm so used to his tail being depicted as very fluffy in both fan art and his full body in-game models that I almost didn't recognize it in this panel.

ADJbiyoeqeyogeqpiegBfu THEY GOT ZAPPED LIEK ASH GETTING ZAPPED BY PIKACHUKN ADGVUQEFYOEQEGVYOGEEGIGEBI THE CARTOONY SKELETONS ARE SENDING ME FR

fvuegqtviDVDVs673r18oAE FVYEFVLIFEFAL We get a lot of very expressive panels of Azul, Jade, and Floyd!! My favorite has got to be Azul squishing Floyd's cheeks and poking his nose with a magical pen, causing the nose to scrunch up. Very cute!!

asdjvkslfaeiabefbhi I love derpy blank expressions like this... It works super well because of how detailed the faces usually are. The contrast is great!

WFHLVGFOEAIADF;AD HELL YEAH 😭 OCTATRIO BEING OMINOUS AND SHADY AF MEAN GIRLS SQUAD, LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO

Not normally a fan of Malleus, but I really like how the mangaka depicted him in these panels; they show how he can be cool and mysterious at first glance but can warm up to you and smile too.

WLBHADVUOAVYFIFwn; Errrrrrrrrr 🤡 Whatcha doin' there, buddy? H-Having fun???????? AVERAGE WEDNESDAY NIGHT OF AZUL ASHENGROTTO COUNTING HIS CONTRACTS AND LAUGHING TO HIMSELF LIKE A NERUOTIC SUPERVILLAIN... I'm begging you to please chill tf out... but also please carry on as you were--

In other (non-insane Octavinelle-related news)! The 4koma does not focus on Octavinelle and Scarabia characters as we've predicted (since the first 4koma focused on Ace and Leona, respectively). This month's comics focus on Silver in Musicology/Music class and Ortho doing Summoning. The Silver comics feature Idia, Ruggie, Malleus, and Lilia as side-characters, and the Ortho comics feature Idia (yes, again lol; he's the character with the most frequent appearances across the 4koma's 2 month run so far), Floyd, Vil, and Crewel.

No updates on the Episode of Savanaclaw manga yet!

[azulhood]

Jazz was, at her core, a pessimist.

Oh sure, she wanted the best outcomes and strived to always see the best in people. But listening to her parents talk about and share crime scene photos of someone who was brutally murdered and who may haunt the place they were headed to while true crime podcasts played instead of road trip tunes as they traveled to whatever graveyard had caught their interest had dulled young Jazz's faith in humanity.

Jazz still had memories of a young her standing in an abandoned insane asylum (or abandoned hospital, or old house, or graveyard, or whatever place they dragged her too) holding a small torch with shaky hands and begging to leave because she was terrified "Can we go? Please? this place is scaring me" only to be told "In a minute Jazzy, we down want the ghost getting away."

They had settled down after Danny was born, choosing to stay in one placed instead of traveling all over the country. She still expected them to unexpectedly announce that they were going on the road again, she had plans in case they did (saying she'd stay behind with the van to take care of Danny was better then both of them getting used as ghost bait) But surprisingly they didn't.

And Jazz was thrilled. Sure, she and Danny were known as the kids of the towns crazy ghosthunters, and sure, she basically had to raise her brother since her parents would rarely leave their lab let alone focus on something not ghost related, and yes, she did have to carefully plan out how to use the family's money so that none of them starved.

But no more sleeping in cheap hotels or their van, no more making friends at playgrounds that she'd never see the next day, no more countless hours spent in places where people died, no more English lessons while on the road. She went to school now, she had friends that she saw more than once, she had a home that wasn't filled with cockroaches and the sounds of a argument from the room next door. She had a semi-normal life.

In this time of normality, she relaxed, she let her guard down. Then Danny died and only came back halfway.

And Jazz was back to being that little girl who was scared of ghosts, only this time she was scared for a ghost.

Danny didn't tell her at first, and even though it hurt she understood, and so while she waited for him to tell her, she planned.

She took job after job, from mowing someone's lawn to working at a checkout. Money had been put aside in bags filled with clothes and a pair of new id that she had gotten from Tucker, ("Just in case our parents get classified as supervillains and we need to flee" She said not giving anyway that she knew of Danny's ghostly problem, Tucker had made the id anyway even if he thought she was joking and did not in fact have a plan should that situation happen) One of their neighbors was willing to let her buy their old car despite her family's driving history. A safe house (more like safe apartment) was bought in the only place that was willing to let a teen buy property, Gotham City.

Danny fought numerous enemies until the only enemy that was left was telling their ghost hunter parents that their son was half dead.

Compared to her, Danny was an optimist, seeing the best in everyone without even having to try like she did. Believing that the best would happen like if he didn't, he would break into a million pieces and not know how to put himself together again.

Even though he was scared Danny believed that their parents wouldn't react badly, Jazz hoped they wouldn't but was prepared if they did.

And finally, after many nights spent wide awake in case her parents tried to rip Danny apart molecule by molecule while she slept, the shoe dropped. Their parents loved them, but their work came first, it always came first. Jazz loved her parents, she truly did, but she loved Danny more. And in the end, that made her choice of driving all the way to Gotham with nothing but their go bags all the more easier.

And that was how Jazz and Danny ended up as the neighbors of one Jason Todd.

[dredgesnails]

stardew valley au where joel and skizz are new residents to pelican town (hermit town?). joel just inherited a large farm from his late grandfather and skizz is moving in with his old friend after reconnecting with him and wanting a fresh start. and the townspeople are like, kinda weird.

bdubs is fine enough - he’s a sweet man with a fun personality and he’s the local builder, but it’s almost frightening how fast he constructs new buildings when joel needs them. pearl, their resident postmaster, is also pretty normal other than the fact that skizz never seems to be awake early enough to catch her delivering mail. scar is lovely but he’s never available when joel wants another chicken. the mayor, xisuma, is pleasant too, if a little eccentric at times, but he doesn’t really seem to do much in town.

for the most part, skizz is settling in well. he’s moved in with impulse, who runs the local blacksmith in town, and he gets along well with most of the local townspeople. he’s started spending his evenings at the local saloon listening to ren regale the patrons with fantastical tales while he and stress serve up food and drinks, and he finds himself growing close with cleo, the local sculptor. he even gets a new wardrobe from hypno free of charge, and sometimes helps cub out with his totally scientific studies and creations.

skizz also joins forces with beef (who helps to supply the local general store that xb and keralis run) in terrorising the local manager of the corporate chain grocery store that no one likes. doc is a terrible manager but would make a fun supervillain (according to joe hills, the bookseller who appears once in a blue moon but seems to know doc more than anyone in town).

joel, on the other hand, seems to only be interacting with the strangest residents in town. he discovers the adventurer’s guild after only a couple weeks. false promises to give him prizes if he can kill enough monsters, which is not something joel had expected to be doing when he pictured farm life, but here he is. he stumbles upon a travelling cart one day, and the man inside insists he’s a knight from a faraway land, that he risked his life to make it all the way here to sell his wares. it’s all stuff joel can get cheaper elsewhere.

he’s pretty sure the local doctor has no real medical training, but then he passes out while fighting monsters and he wakes up completely fine, so zedaph probably knows what he’s doing. maybe. when joel isn’t passing out he sometimes makes trips to the library-slash-museum, which is probably almost completely empty because mumbo, who begs joel for anything to display, looks like he’s never fought a duggie in his life. eventually mumbo gives joel a key to the sewers, which are way cooler than they have any right to be, and that’s where he finds jevin’s secret sewer shop. jevin lives in town. he just also has a shop hidden underground. joel has stopped asking questions by now.

and then there are the three who live by the beach. etho spends most of his time tinkering around the fishing hut or hovering around bdubs, but sometimes he drives the bus to the desert. only sometimes. there might be something under his mask. no one knows for sure. gem runs the fish shop most days and she claims she’s a sailor, but joel has never seen a single working boat around despite all the ocean. she can also hold her breath underwater for an uncannily long amount of time, like, scarily so, and will sometimes disappear for a few days and return with an abundance of treasures. joel has never seen her leave by boat. grian fishes a lot and runs the shop when gem can’t, and he sometimes talks as though the sea can speak to him. skizz has caught him staring into space for extended periods of time. one time he waded into the water and just stood there, head down, muttering to himself.

apparently there used to be a lighthouse but “it’s gone now”. gem says if they ask bdubs nicely enough maybe they can build another one, but she and grian are banned from build requests after the last incident with their pet snails (joel has never seen the snails, but scar complains about them enough to convince him they’re real).

there also might be some kind of wizard who lives in the creepy tower in the woods. skizz has heard he’s the one who helps maintain the power in the valley, and joel’s convinced he hallucinated seeing him once until he recieves a letter from the wizard himself, and visits him only to find that the strange fire-creature he saw that one time was, in fact, tango, who is human for the most part, he just sets himself on fire sometimes.

[mistresscitrusslice]

The Season 2 Opening. We Must Discuss.

First of all, small beans. Instead of static, lifeless statues, this time we get moving humans. Mel features significantly more than I expected, so she'll probably be a much more major character than I expected for a non-champion character and I'm so happy for her. I believe the use of moving people instead of statues signifies that immense change will be happening. What we thought was literally set in stone in Season 1 will be turned on its head in Season 2.

Okay, on to the really concerning matters.

Yuhuh. Jinx moves too fast for me to get a good screenshot, but she gestures like this around her face a lot. I think we all already know about the Caitlyn-Jinx parallels, but my sister suggests it could be a red herring for the actual resemblances she has to Silco.

Sis gets credit for the following observation, but Caitlyn's daydream sequences about shooting Jinx are controlled and clearly separated from reality unlike Jinx's.

However, sis has not seen ep 2 yet, where Caitlyn does have that moment in the arcade where she shoots her vision of Jinx among the wooden dummies. Not only does this more closely resemble Jinx's hallucinations, it also parallels Jinx shooting the harmless crow in s1 e5. By the time the strike squad are about to leave, she can clearly tell that what she thought might be Jinx was really just a harmless wooden standee. Startling, but harmless. She shoots it anyway.

Caitlyn is totally gonna spiral more, and maybe she'll start losing her grip on reality too, but for now, she has more in common with Silco than she does with Jinx. Did anyone else get reminded of Silco's coat when Ambessa put the supervillain cape on Caitlyn? The collars don't look similar but they still eerily resemble each other, you get me?

Ok back to intro stuff

Vi wipes off her name from her face. That's two tattoos that are rendered impermanent in this opening theme. In the Fenty x Arcane video, they mention that Mel's golden freckles are tattoos. Later in the intro song, we also see her golden freckles gone. Change, impermanence. That seems to be a theme here.

Vi is literally erasing her name from her face. In any normal circumstance, I'd say that means she wants a change of identity, a desire to start over. However, I know that Vi's League lore involves amnesia. Does she really drink herself into that bad of a stupor? Jkjk. I assumed that her amnesia was replaced by the Stillwater imprisonment to explain how she got topside and with the enforcers, but perhaps I was wrong. Maybe they do still intend to go the amnesia or partial amnesia route with her.

The teasers implied that Vi shares the genetic trait that has Jinx predisposed to hallucinations. It's possible that this eventually contributes to her loss of memory, but I wouldn't call it quite yet. However, if this happens during her emo era when I'm assuming she has no support system, she'll be very vulnerable, unlike if it were to happen while she was still partnered with Caitlyn, in which case they could easily fill in most blanks in her memory.

I have no idea what to make of this. It's clear as day what they're paralleling, but why? Why the flashlight scene? My best guess is that they're trying to draw on déjà vu, implying a repetition of history, but why this particular moment? They could've easily chosen anything else in Jayce's s1 arc. He has many more memorable moments than this. Let's see, I'm literally making this up as I go.

This meeting was a pivotal moment for Jayce. Both his meeting with Viktor and his meeting with Mel changed his fate. The Viktor one is pretty self-explanatory, but without meeting Mel, they would've both just gotten exiled or locked up again. With Mel, they had someone in power who could vouch for them.

That begs the question, is Jayce meeting someone new? Or is this a reintroduction to someone he's already known before, a new meeting after a long time apart or after a significant change, maybe a change in them both. I believe it must be someone who was involved in the original hallway scene.

Jayce is either looking at Mel again or at Viktor. Given the amount of Viktor/Mel parallels in Season 1, I believe Jayce is looking at Viktor after he's undergone his likely final evolution. That'll obviously be another pivotal moment for him... but will it be a good one like it was with Mel? Viktor has power now. He's performing miracles. He's, like, two steps away from parting the Pilt River like it's the Red Sea. He seems to hold a grudge against Jayce, though, for *checks notes* saving his life? Jk I know he feels like he's losing autonomy and like Jayce didn't respect his wishes with the Hexcore and Jayce obviously couldn't let Viktor die when he'd fought so hard to stay alive before.

Anyway, I feel like this could easily be both a good omen and a bad omen for Jayce. More than anything, I feel like it'll be an epiphany. He is quite literally seeing the light. The light at the end of the dark tunnel? The light of the heavens at the end of his life? The light of a revelation sent by a god he once knew as a man?

Seeing Mel screaming bloody murder during the opening, this was the first place my mind went to. The pose doesn't match up exactly, and Jinx/Powder's screams are definitely wilder, but I feel like there's definitely something here. Is there anyone else who screams like this, thrusting their head forward and keeping their arms back?

We also see the shadow hands from this earlier shot:

I'm thinking of the Black Rose (is that their name?) kidnapping her in thin air, incorporeal hands reaching at her and snatching my joy the love of my life Mel away. It could also represent people grasping at the power Mel wields, both as the wealthiest Council member and as a Noxian princess, one of the closest people to Ambessa, the one wielding the most power right now.

Mel is really out of her depth right now. Her power and influence is up for grabs if she dares to blink and let her guard down. I'm also surprised that we don't see her fight back at all when there's danger around. I thought she might have more battle experience as she was raised by Ambessa. For those people wondering about her magical powers, I think she would've used them by now if she had them. Council attack aside, which could've been Viktor's magic, she wasn't able to do anything about the memorial attack or her own kidnapping. I think they're trying to show us that Mel is not as untouchable as she presents herself. Under the right circumstances, she's just as vulnerable as any civilian.

The sliver of light? My sister pointed out that it looks just like the crack of light between two double doors. Almost closed... or barely open? It appears in pretty much everyone's shot in the opening, but it's right down the center of Mel's face here. Is she torn between two sides? Is this about an impossible choice she has to make?

The spotlight is also on her. That's two sources of light. It looks like a red sun. All eyes on her as the surviving voice of the Council?

And her expression... shock, fear, horror. The heavy breathing, the look on her face... I feel eerily like I've seen it on someone else before. I can't place who, but I'm getting déjà vu from this. Does anyone else recognize this expression and these mannerisms?