#but also i can understand where he was coming from esp bc of the extreme emotions of the betrayal of those u considered close

[baeshijima]

so the wriothesley story quest huh….

[buckley-diaztruther]

there is a lot of folks really heated at eddie for this last ep and I gotta say yall, none of it felt ooc to me. I think in the lead up so many folks built up a fantasy of what they WANTED from the ep (eddie fondly exasperated but indulging buck completely in contrast to cruel skepticism from temu) when the reality is eddienhas ALWAYS been a bitch(affectionate) when it comes to his skepticism. Just because it feels weird to us to see him getting along w temu again doesn't mean it's ooc. I think we also built a fantasy of him now aggressively hating temu because he saw he was classic petty eddie at the bachelor party. but 1. I don't think the show would be THAT overt w Eddie's jealousy, he always displays it in little looks and comments but is otherwise generally neutral if not nice to bucks partners. 2. it is possible for eddiento be jealous and still like temu as a friend, much as we wish he didn't. they've effectively written put temus dark past and it's all about him just being dry humor and sarcasm, which at times can line up well w Eddie's humor. there's a reason they got on so well at the beginning of s7, no matter how we as temu haters feel about it.

also, folks are really defensive of buck being roasted by both of them purely bc theyre defensive of buck in general (same bestie same). the fandom has clocked very early on that buck is some flavor of adhd and the RSD is out the wazoo on this guy. and a lot of us empathize w that, can relate to it. and inthink that leads to a LOT of projection. not a bad thing, but I think that it can make folks a little blind to the nuance. buck can be genuinely hurt by the dismissal from eddie and eddie can still be ok and fine for laughing and poking fun to an extent. him and buck have always had a relationship that was heavy with friendly jabs and mocking and roasting bc thats a very normal thing in relationships, esp ones that are secure. it's easy to be comfortable ribbing each other the way they do (and they've said some BOLD shit even early on) because they trust each other to not go too far and that their relationship is still secure at the end of the day. it's newer, less certain relationships where you're going to tip toe around sensitivities until you really understand a person's boundaries. and while buck has clearly struggled w being put down and rejected, outside of the divorce era it's never been something that is obviously a crossed line for buck and so I don't think this is anything more than a silly 'et tu brute' kinda feeling from buck. I don't think he's really THAT torn up about eddie laughing.

also I'm gonna say something a lot of folks hate to hear. even if buck genuinely is so distressed at every perceived rejection, that is NOT Eddie's responsibility. eddie is his friend (and future husband I know) and yes, he should and does have care for bucks feelings and boundaries. but sometimes people act like eddie has to coddle buck and treat him like a baby to protect his feelings or that eddie just never would ever be mean or dismissive to buck and 1. that's not true and 2. RSD means something that was 100% ok yesterday might feel like a devastating rejection today and unfortunately, that's for buck to contend with. he's an adult and responsible for his own emotions and reactions. he can be hurt and work thru them (solo or w eddie) but even in romantic relationships it's not all gonna be sunshine and rainbows and not every hurt feeling needs to be met with a thousand apologies and amends because sometimes w rsd your reaction can be disproportionate to the cause and that's up to buck to tackle w his therapist.

I say this all, BTW, as someone w extreme rsd who v much was amd is buck in a lot of my friend groups - the 'immature', naive and hyperactive kid who won't shut up and gets their feelings hurt at every little thing and then youre getting hurt more because you're laughed at for being sensitive. it fucking sucks and a lot of that was extrapolated by having shitty friends. and yall, the 118 are not that.

Anyway sorry that got way out of hand and I went on a huge tangent but tldr stop acting like eddie is ooc and a dick for laughing at buck and stop treating buck like a baby when he's a grown ass man thank u love u

[shadowtraveled]

what TMA entities would you assign the dungeon lords, esp mithrun? was discussing this (bc marcille is sooo End) and consulting your Seminal Mithrun Meta when i remembered you also went here!

anon i want you to know i was thinking about this nonstop like two weeks ago oh my god. i’d love to hear your thoughts on this if you’re so inclined 👁‍🗨 (and wheeze thank you i don’t know about seminal but i’m glad it passed peer review)

putting a readmore here for spoilers

to preface this, i understand the fears aren’t really separate and it’s all just fear etc but they function as distinct in the way the demons do and in the sense that they each had to mark jon to come into the world. so. distinctive facets of a unified whole. anyway i have two criteria for assigning someone a tma entity: it has to be something they deeply fear, and it has to be something they choose anyway.

and with that being said, marcille is SO end-aligned in a very gentle and chill way i think fits the end so nicely… her intense fear of death is sort of a fear of loss, which would typically be considered the desolation’s domain, especially when coupled with her aptitude for explosion/fire magic and the part of her arc where she tries to expand the dungeon, but she wasn't choosing destruction or hopelessness in either of those cases—there’s something to be said for the carnage she was willing to leave in her wake, but at the end of the day she was trying to eliminate loss. she's fundamentally incompatible with the desolation because she continually rejects it, and the loss itself doesn't form the core of her fear. the inevitability of death, though, does, and she accepts it when she gives up the dungeon and lets falin go. absolutely the end.

i think thistle is another easy designation. he clings to control to the point it corrupts him, and he creates an environment that forbids death, but his desire is not for control and his fear is not of death or loss—those are delgal's. instead, his fear that he won't be able to measure up to the too-large too-heavy responsibility placed on his shoulders is what drives him, and because we know it drives him, we know that he takes it on anyway. he even brings melini underground. extremely the buried.

laios, meanwhile. is difficult for me to assign. his fears (rejection, ostracism, that he isn't able to connect with people, that he hates people) feel very lonely, and he does withdraw from people a fair amount, but he has connections he does not and would not choose to sever. you could make an argument for the hunt (he's drawn to not only monsters but the concept of the food chain itself and his place on it as a part of the natural world, and he ends the series with the object of his fascination out of his reach), but i don't think there's enough fear there. in laios' case, the lack of strict definition between fears and the idea that they're all just muddled subcategories of a singular thing is actually really helpful, because i think i'm assigning him to the vast. it was said at some point that the vast and the lonely aren't too dissimilar—you won't realize how alone you are without distance, and that sort of mental/emotional distance and disconnect is what has haunted laios his entire life. and i think that's, in part, what makes the cosmic insignificance of seeing yourself as just another part of your environment so comforting to him. his choices... definitely make him cosmically significant lmfao but even though he chooses to be the one to go up against Infinity Itself and its endless hunger and even though he chooses to be king, he fits himself right back into the position of being a single piece of a much larger puzzle. he became lord of the dungeon to become a part of the food chain that would stand a chance to preserve it (via eating the demon's hunger). he's king because there was a gap that needed to be filled. even then, he wants his body to be scattered after death, so that he can be devoured like any other living thing would be. god i love this manga. anyway, tentative but i think the vast is the only thing i can justify at this time. actually, accepting the hunger of the infinite could itself be seen as accepting the vast into himself…….

and finally, mithrun! surprising absolutely nobody given my take on his backstory, i'd give him to the lonely, with the caveat that he does eventually sever his connection to it. prior to becoming lord of a dungeon, we know he thought the worst of people (and again i think this was intentional of him), but we also know he put up a front that was undeniably kind. milsiril says that everyone loved him for the front, but its very existence acted as a barrier between himself and others: milsiril had no idea how miserable he was, and neither did anyone else. he'd already begun choosing isolation, and he chose it ultimately when he became lord of a dungeon, literally cutting himself off from everyone in a pocket dimension where he surrounded himself with facsimiles of people he loved until... they dwindled. and they did, until he was alone again, with only the demon and the unresponsive chimera construction of the person he considered to be the one he loved. after he was eaten, we see themes of emptiness typical of the lonely coupled with his disconnection from his team—in one of the extras it says they don't really know how to approach him, and i think it shows. so in a way, he ends up back where he started: surrounded by people who care about him and who he ostensibly cares about in return, but emotionally alone. as for fear, i think a lot of his are tied up in the concept of insignificance, but that insignificance isn't cosmic—it's personal. that's why watching himself be replaced was so unbearable for him and why the thought of being left unfinished was so horrific.

as an aside, i did also consider the corruption. the idea of leftovers abandoned carries the connotation of rot and i love the concept of 'the rot within you' etc. it gets me every time, and i think there's something to be said about that with regard to the way mithrun views the person he once was. furthermore, the... eating... scene... is framed as sexual and extremely invasive (and, as a result of the combination, is very evocative of disgust) in a way we see most often with the corruption (though imo tma would never see something like this as it toes the line of jonny's "no sexual trauma horror" rule too closely), and we have to remember that for all that it terrified mithrun, he was trying to get it to happen again. but i don't think disgust is enough of a factor for him. most of his disgust is aimed at himself, and while he doesn't shy away from it, he isn't really drawn to it either. rather, i think his dialogue in the extra comic in the complete edition of the adventurer's bible ("there's nothing so kind as a demon. suddenly losing that kind of love opens a hole in your heart[...]") goes a long way in terms of defining what being eaten meant to him. the corruption focuses on a feeling of belonging and community. mithrun wanted to disappear forever knowing that in the last moment he lived he was loved. ultimately, the fear of being abandoned coupled with his attraction to being unknown and eventually entirely gone read as lonely-aligned to me.

anyway i'd LOVE to hear where you're at with this please come chat literally whenever this is the most excited i’ve ever been about anything

[gold-rhine]

sub! Albedo x Dom! GN! Reader

Warnings: not sfw, edging, first time, fingering, anal sex, long dialogs discussing metaphysics of human connection. Cock stands for cock\strap as usual.

A\N: Repost bc my previous blog got shadowbanned. very soft, almost didn’t want to tag as as dom! reader, but the dynamic is specifically pronounced. but give it a try even if you’re just into bottom Albedo.

Wordcount: 3k

Albedo might seem like cold and disaffected, but that’s mostly Neurodivergency (TM)

He’s extremely introverted and demi, he’s usually not interested in people at all and so comes off as curt and rude

But rarely, if he does form a connection, he very much quietly and intensely hyperfixates on it

“I used to think interaction with others was a waste of time. But after meeting you, I'd rather spend my time on you than other matters.”

As you can tell from the quote and his general interaction with the traveler, he’s pretty open about his interest. Albedo has a mix of very quiet, shy social awkwardness in some situations, and almost clinically shameless directness in others.

He’s lonely, but he wants very specifically someone who can see and understand him for what he is without flinching, and the people for whom the nature of his artificial creation would not change their demeanor towards him is who he tends to latch on.

While normally very precise and methodical, he can throw logic and principles out of the window when it comes to the person he really likes.

Like remember the last dragonspine event where he turned into an absolute spineless mush in order to fix traveler's ugly doodle without actually admitting that it's ugly.

They even specifically spelled out his thoughts to show that he does think it's ugly, while he's muttering out loud "no, its uh great, i mean i can maybe add a few embellishments if you would like me too".

He becomes clingy, but in an extremely introverted way. He would not initiate contact, but he’d aggressively, though in a very roundabout-way hint that he would like your presence (his story quests, esp the last scene of the latest dragonspine event)

And when you do choose to spend time with him, he’s very open about how he doesn’t really care what you do, as long as you’re together, and that he would like to prolong that time.

He’s also very straightforward about letting you decide and following the lead after he’s already realized he’s into you

“Would you like to have a chat with me?

Albedo: Certainly. Uh... I will let you decide the topic of our conversation.”

(again, the fucking second-hand embarrassment horror of the last dragospine event’s painting lesson)

“Heh, where should I begin...? In your company, I never lack inspiration”

“By the way, after we're done. may I have the pleasure of inviting you to dessert with me? To continue our time together, and to thank you for your company.”

Albedo is not an easy, quick fun type, he's a long time, deep investment only. But in return, he’s very curious and open to experiments, doesn’t have any societal prejudices, very accepting of other ppl’s oddities, artistic, deep-feeling, imaginative, with a quiet, but intense need for acceptance and praise.

He obviously won’t be loud and expressive, but if he’s your type, effort spent on him can be very rewarding, he is the case where you can give the lightest touch and see it ripple through him like a hurricane.

It happens on a seemingly normal evening while you two are drinking tea with desserts in your room. Albedo tells you about his latest research project, or, if more precisely, about how Cyrus from the Adventurers Guild keeps interrupting it with his inane training activities on Dragonspine. For someone who doesn’t know him, he’d sound just politely dry, but you can read sarcastic exasperation in his tone, so you laugh and sympathetically pat his arm. It’s a fairly innocuous gesture, but he suddenly freezes. You immediately take your hand away and apologize, remembering that he isn’t a very physical person, but he shakes his head, says that it’s okay. But when he tries to get back to his story, he’s clearly distracted and still thrown off balance, so you try to clear the air by promising to not do it again.

“No, I’m not displeased. On the contrary,” he says, throwing you an inquisitive glance askew. “It’s a somewhat interesting development on a… matter that’s been perplexing me for some time.”

“Huh? And what is this matter?” you ask, grinning, and are surprised to see Albedo, who is usually very straightforward even with the most direct questions when his curiosity is peaked, frown hesitantly.

“Well, it… depends. Do you see me strictly in… ah, platonic capacity? Because in that case, I would prefer to not endanger our friendship and move on from the subject.”

“Oh?” you smirk, raising an eyebrow and watch his pale sculpted cheeks color slightly as he avoids your gaze. “No, I’d be interested in your other… capacities.”

“Well, in that case I think it’s fairly obvious that I’m attracted to you.”

“I wouldn’t call it fairly obvious, but do go on.”

“The attraction itself does not surprise me, of course. What I find perplexing is how disproportionately strongly my body reacts. If you’re not averse to the idea of physical interaction, I would like to see what direct skin to skin contact would feel like.”

You look over him, a slight blush on his cheeks, but bright blue eyes watching you intensely, and grin.

“Anything for science, my prince.”

He nods seriously, starts unbuckling the clasps on the elbow-long glove on his right hand, but you don’t wait for him to finish, slide your fingers into the gap on his thigh between his high boots and shorts. He startles, almost jumping up, looks at you with wide opened eyes like a deer in headlights, and you lean in and kiss him. He makes a tiny surprised noise, but answers, a little awkwardly, leans into you.

When you move away, he sits there in stunned silence, blushing, one glove half-taken off, and shorts-pant rolled up, really looking like a prince who tries to find an etiquette- appropriate response to being ravished.

“Are you okay?” you ask softly.

“Yes. But I feel a little dizzy, I’m not sure why.”

You smirk.

“It’s probably a sudden redirect of a bloodflow.”

He looks down at his crotch, blushes brighter, but says calmly.

“Oh. That makes sense, I suppose.”

“I guess this makes an experiment a success, huh?” “Do you want to go on?”

“Yes,” he says without hesitation. “But I would like to have some time to prepare.”

You think that this “time to prepare” is just to mentally catch his breath, but when you walk back into the room after some time, you find him by the bed, completely naked, clothes folded neatly on the nearby chair.

You walk up to him slowly, smile, not wanting to spook him.

“Hey, are you sure you’re not moving too fast?”

“Do not patronize me,” he says firmly, narrowing his eyes. “I am more than 400 hundred years old, I know biology, I know how sex works. The process itself is not complicated at all, it’s simply a matter of stimulating the appropriate organs and zones.”

“Oh, such a romantic,” you smirk, moving to stand close to him, and he looks at you sternly, an interesting contrast to his stark naked body.

“I didn’t involve other people because it seemed too much of a hussle to satisfy basic needs of the body when I can do it myself.”

“Then why make an effort now?”

“Because…” he pauses, looks away briefly and continues more slowly, measurely. “Of the inappropriate reaction of my body to your touch. And because when I touched myself imagining you it felt much better than when I did without thinking of you.”

You raise your eyebrows at his admission, but he goes on, his voice frustrated.

“It makes no sense! It was the same hand and the same gesture, and yet it felt so much stronger. Why? The same stimulation should produce the same results, but it didn’t. And now your touch, even over the gloved hand, which should not even be a desired zone for stimulation, feels that much intense!”

You can’t keep away for longer, lean down, catching his mouth in a kiss. He moans, leans against you, his naked slender body trembling, arching when you run your hands down his spine, his cock already getting hard against your thigh. You push him down on the bed and he lets you, looks up at you with hazy, wide open blue eyes, wet lips half open, pink tongue showing, cheeks blushing, and he’s trying to hide his hard dick behind the half-closed pulled up knees. For a moment you’re tempted to take him right there, spread his legs and ram into him roughly, until he screams and loses his senses.

But it’s much more fun to play with him slowly, so you prop yourself on the bed next to him, catch his cheek in your hand, looking down at him with a smile.

“You have a theory on why, surely.”

He blinks a few times, swallows harshly and licks his lips, trying to stay in control..

“Yes, but I’m not sure I should say it right now. I wouldn’t want to ruin the mood.”

“The mood we started with was experimental biology, I don’t know how you can ruin that,” you smirk, but as he still looks anxious, soften your voice. “Baby, if I didn’t want someone weirdly over-analytical, I wouldn’t go after you at all, don’t worry, you can talk.”

“Well, it’s not directly correlated, but I think it works on similar principles. See, there’s a difference between just a rendering of something, no matter how accurate, and art including the same object. In fact, an art piece does not have to be accurate at all. I’ve struggled to identify it, but it is undeniable once you feel it. You may call it an inspiration in art, but it’s also that ephemeral and unspoken thing that separates home from the house, an acquaintance from friend, a string of words from poetry.”

“Oh, you *are* a romantic, huh,” you smile and stroke his cheek. He makes a small noise and leans into your palm. You run your fingers slowly, lightly down his neck, over the curve of his collarbones to the beating pulse in the delicate hollow of his throat, and he shivers, arches under your touch, his breath catching. His body, pristine, touch-starved, reacts so strongly to the smallest stimulation, but even as affected as he is, he still watches you sharply.

“Do you enjoy it, seeing the power you have over me now, how disproportionately I can’t help, but react?”

“Of course. It makes playing with you so delicious. Don’t you like it?” you slide your hand down his chest, thumb at the tender pink peak of the nipple and watch him squirm, his cock twitches against his belly and starts to leak.

“It's complicated,” he says quietly, pressing his head against your shoulder. “I enjoy the sensations, I feel excited and anxious about what’s to come, but I’m also acutely afraid to disappoint.”

“Don’t worry, baby.” you draw your hand down over his ribs, tensed up stomach, stroke teasingly at the lovely hipbones instead of finally touching his pulsing dick. He’s just such a fun, responsive canvas to explore. “You can’t disappoint.”

“Of course I can,” he says incredulously, but then you slide your free hand into his fluffy, soft  hair, grip at the flaxen blond locks and pull, making him arch his throat with a helpless whine. You kiss the golden diamond on his neck and feel him tremble and swallow harshly under your lips.

“This mark is not more sensitive than the rest of my skin, and yet when I know you caress my imperfection, it wrecks me,” he’s shaking in your arms, and yet his voice is calm, almost distant.

“Albedo, baby, the absolute most of humans would not look at this mark and think of it as “imperfection.” They would just think it’s cute.”

“Is it a sign of how deep my differences run then if it feels important to me?”

“Being anxious about perceived flaws that no one else cares about is the most human thing imaginable,” you answer softly and he chuckles, leans against you.

“I can’t argue with that, I’ve seen it too often. I suppose there’s no such thing as perfection for a human.”

“No, there is.”

He watches you with a raised eyebrow, and you grin, lean down, finally covering his cock with your hand, catch a tiny, strangled sigh from his parted lips.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get it. I’ll make sure of that.”

You stroke him slowly, trying to prolong the pleasure, but he was too understimulated for far too long, too high-strung, he throws his arms around your shoulders, his hips rocking into your hand involuntarily, eyelashes fluttering over the glazed over eyes, and he comes with a short breezy moan.

You kiss him lightly, stroke him through it until his body relaxes under you, frantic breath slowing down.

“Are you okay, little prince?”

He opens his eyes, and you can see him coming to his senses, the focus coming back into his gaze like a bright sharp edge of a scalpel.

“Yes. A little dizzy, but I’m fine. You can go on.”

“Are you sure you’re not too overwhelmed?”

His fingers dig into your shoulders just a little deeper.

“No. And I think I’m forming a theory.”

“Oh? I have to hear this,” you smirk, slide your hand between his legs to circle at his entrance.

“At first, I thought interaction with others was a waste of time, but now I realize I was wrong. Art can’t be created without inspiration, and inspiration has to come from interaction with the outside world,” he whispers, quietly, but with conviction. When you slide your fingers inside him, he presses his cheek against yours, his quick breaths damp and hot against your skin, his disheveled soft hair tickling at your temple. “A transformation can only be achieved through a reaction with a new reagent, and so the same with humans, a person can only change through the experiences obtained.”

You bury your fingers deeper, scissor and massage his walls until he opens up, his hips bucking up and cock getting hard again.

“See, baby, but if that reagent reacts like a human, then what does the origin of it matter?”

He looks up at you with a small, surprised smile, the sweetest and shiest you’ve ever seen on him, despite his trembling nakedness under you, the shameless spread of his legs, your fingers fucking into him and his pretty swollen dick twitching on his belly.

“You really think so?”

“Of course, my prince.”

He arches to press an awkward, fervent kiss against your lips and moans when you slide your tongue against his.

“Please,” he whines when you break up to catch the air. “I need to feel this, please…”

You take your fingers out and slide your cock\strap into him, pressing into him slowly, giving him time to adjust, but even so, he feels so full. He moans, throws his arms over his head to grip at the bedsheets. When you start fucking him, it feels so good, but also like too much, like his body is too small to contain it, and so he instinctively tries to let out the excess of energy, the crystalline flower blooming under his fingers. But it’s not his usual, perfectly structured symmetrical construct, the delicate amber petals sprout wildly, disproportionately at all sides, shutter and form again like waves with every thrust. Soon the pulsing gold flower is covering the rest of the room with a helplessly writhing form of Albedo in the center, and the outside layers start losing the definition, turn into flickering white wings of the crystalflies. He shudders with each movement, small, breathless “oh-oh-oh…” escaping his half-bitten lips, but he never takes his eyes off you, the bright aquamarine of the high, cloudless noon of the Dragonspine skies, sharp glow reflected off the untouched snow and the deep-glimmering ice.

“I can’t take it anymore,” he whispers weakly, barely audible, while the gold and white pulse of his flowers throw the flashing reflections on his body. “It’s too much, maybe I was never meant… to feel…”

“Shh, baby, it’s okay,” you lean down, press the gentlest kiss to the corner of his open mouth, while fucking harshly into him, and he watches you hepleslly, intently. “You’re so beautiful and you’re doing so good for me. Just let go.”

He sees the way you look at him, the way you touch him, and finally he gets it, his body overripe, tension rippling on the cusp of revelation. When does a human feel perfect? Oh, but when someone sees them as such.

He arches in your arms and comes with a chocked scream, crystalized petals blooming all at once around you, and just for an endless moment, the chalk under his skin turns into gold.

[ssruis]

Lethal tenmas induced mental illness attack. At some point I need to write up a long post on their relationship but for now take these lines with minimal commentary. attempt to figure out the points and connections I’m making in my head if you’d like.

(Doll Festival at the Tenmas)

> Difference in how they describe Tsukasa bringing saki the dolls (saki focusing on him bringing them to her even though he got hurt, tsukasa focusing on how he failed and got the dolls dirty)

(Saki’s Live with Memories card story)

> “w/out you I wouldn’t have been able to deal w all the treatment” what if I died

> tsukasa trying to see from the brother’s side, saki does the opposite. I don’t think Tsukasa would do what the brother did in LwM but I think he can see where he’s coming from.

> there’s a point I could make about the brother pulling back to encourage the sister to bond w her dad’s new family (wrt saki & L/N and tsukasa) but it’s more of a “it could be looked at an extreme version of what could happen/could have happened” situation & I don’t trust tsukasa fans not to misread it and villainize saki. Bc the brother was in the wrong here but we all know how tsukasa fans treat the main story. Anyways.

(Toya’s Doll Festival card story)

> most evil moment in the entire game I hate the writers.

> Sense of responsibility for her wellbeing happiness vs saki seeing that and trying to hide any sadness to prevent him (& her parents) from worrying.

(Tsukasa’s Doll Festival card story)

> saki guilt complex

> “then it’ll be dark and I’ll be alone” said by tsukasa as a kid in a flashback (saki is well aware that he is also struggling) (hence the guilt complex) (evil!)

(Tsukasa’s Dazzling Lights card story)

> autotuned baby crying.

(Tsukasa’s Twilight Musical Parade card story)

> no one wants to talk about saki & the guilt she feels about people doing things for her esp wrt tsukasa like. Look. Tsukasa does it happily. He would saw off his arm if she asked.

> But saki doesn’t ask for that and that level of dedication to her happiness is something she feels she needs to repay (on some level). But he won’t let her because he doesn’t think it needs to be repayed. Stalemate.

> all that to say I think “was it all for me” is such an insane line that goes so under recognized because nobody wants to analyze saki. Can you imagine how scary it would be to worry that the path a loved one is taking is entirely for you. You can’t repay that. It’s too much. I’m tired but the point I’m making is I think Saki wanted to know that he wasn’t doing it all for her.

> Cut out tsukasa’s answer but I think “I was but that was only the beginning & now I am an insane freak about theatre it’s my life” was a perfect answer. Turns it from a weight saki would feel into a gift saki gave him. You know.

Saki: I always kept how I really felt a secret to make sure you wouldn’t worry about me.

Saki: I couldn’t say what I really meant. I just smiled and nodded. It’s no wonder that you didn’t understand how I really felt, Tsukasa.

(Doll Festival at the Tenmas)

> as I said.

Tsukasa: However, Saki doesn’t want anyone to worry about her. Not even her own family.

Tsukasa: So she tries to keep quiet about feeling unwell from anyone else…

(Rui’s Twlight Musical Parade card story) (**EDIT I’m a fraud it’s tsukasa’s not Rui’s)

> as I said (p2)

Saki: Tsukasa…

Saki: (He took a day off from his part time job to stay home with me.)

Saki: (That’s one more person I’ve inconvenienced.)

(First Star After the Rain)

> saki guilt complex again. Foundational quote wrt her relationship w tsukasa.

> “the complications of my illness are a burden on my loved ones that I can never pay back” would love for colopale to challenge this (grabbing the writers by the neck and shaking them like a dog with a chew toy)

(Valentine’s Day Alliance)

She’s talking abt not relying on her friends here but this is p clearly a mindset that carries over to her relationship with her family.

Toya: Also, you’d never turn away a sick animal. There’s no way you could ever do anything cruel to someone with an illness.

(On the Stage of Dazzling Lights)

> said while saki is like 2 ft away. What this was my final straw colopale.

(On the Stage of Dazzling Lights)

> haha he’s like a dog (mocking so I don’t feel sad)

> as I’ve talked abt before on other posts: her happiness is his happiness. His middle school sad era is because saki was suffering. People who make content abt this and make the angst way higher than it canonically is while literally ignoring saki is so insane to me. I feel like the joker.

Tsukasa: … You did well, Hiro. You’re officially the coolest big bro in the world right now.

Tsukasa: That’s why, even for just a little while, you should keep those tears on hold.

Tsukasa: Your friend and sister are watching.

Hiro: ….sniff…. Okay!

Tsukasa: Alright! Now go out there with your head held high!

Tsukasa: (“Weird face”, huh?)

Tsukasa: (Maybe Meg has never seen that kind of face before since she’s his little sister.)

(Tsukasa’s fragment sekai card story - TL Tsukasa’s #3 Fan)

> they could never make me hate this card peak tsukasa peak tsukasa peak tsukasa. It’s peak.

> “maybe she’s never seen it before because she’s his little sister” I’m going to kill him with my own two hands.

[awakefor48hours]

my favorite thing abt black clover is that Asta n the other black bulls truly start from the bottom. so many shows and esp animes have the mcs come from "nothing" but give them an extremely overpowered mentor, insane skills, inherited powers that they barely have to train, etc. it feels like they want an underdog character who only seems to be the underdog. they want their character to go so far but without the character having to work hard. maybe its just me, but it feels like black clover is a little (if not a lot) better abt that. some characters are born with great powers or have those advantages, but most of the main characters dont and it feels so refreshing and encouraging. half of Asta's strength is from him working out constantly. Noelle needs tools (aids) to help focus her powers and they do. Finral is strong but not in comparison to his brother. Gauche was a criminal, Gray has an anxiety disorder, Charmy cares but lives in her own world. Yami is looked down on for being a foreigner and making a team of misfits. i just love that not only are they the underdogs, but theyre also outcasts and weird and neurodivergent. they have to really work to reach their goals and dont do it for fame as much as just helping or protecting others. sorry for ranting but you really like black clover

Do not apologize, I agree 100%. This is something I also fully appreciate in BC that people who say "it's basically Naruto" don't understand.

In Naruto, Naruto has the Nine Tailed Fox's powers which makes him unbelievable strong. In Bleach, Ichigo has a foot in all the worlds (human, soul reaper, hollow, visor, etc) basically making him a juggernaut. In My Hero, Izuku is quirkless but then he gets one of the strongest quirks in existence (granted he does work for this). In JJK, Itadori gets possessed by one of the strongest sorcerers ever and this basically makes him immune to dying. I can keep going but that's where I'm going to end this.

When it comes to Asta, he's always magicless. There's never a moment when he finds out that he's actually the strongest person in all of existence. He's still himself. He's strong because he made himself strong. Everything else happened because he made it happen.

Then everyone else around him loves him because they're all misfits and outsiders. It's such a nice change from the traditional way that shounen handles characters like him.

[glitter-stained]

comments sections are bleh let me invade your inbox hello

ON HANAHAKI AU. and also in conjuction (is that the right word? i do not care about google i trust my brain!!) with the notif i got of you liking one of my art pieces. the original context of hanahaki has always felt Weird to me bcs its like ? giving people an obligation to reciprocatw your feelings. INSTEAD i subscribe to the idea of it being about extreme lack of communication and repression that results in a physical overflow—in this case still flowers suffocating u bcs cool aestheticw qnd also they carry this fucked up vibe to them idk man

ANYWAY i just think its SUPER fitting for jason in his familial relationships (ESP bruce) and i think each time he dies its just building more and more. like concealing this thing over and over again, not letting himself process what hes dealing with and express that hes desperate for validation and love + yk. all that trauma that people like to pretend has been resolved ...

not to mention. jason is a canonically suicidal character, at least passively, so the amount of value he puts on resolving the issue and curing himself is.. Lacking

i have no idea if any of that made sense i dont think my meds have kicked in yet and my brain is SCREAMING. Sorry for my godawful typing

Okay so

First of all I usually like Hanahaki BECAUSE you cannot make yourself love someone. So in general I like classic hanahaki because you get one of two situations:

1. Soft hurt/comfort where the person's self-esteem and past trauma stops them from realising the others actually love them back (I'm a soft bitch and will enjoy any variation of this trope)

OR

2. Tragedy when they try their best to make themselves love the sick person the way they need to, they love them but not in the way they need, and in the end it feels like their love is not enough no matter how much they love and they have to watch their loved one die because of it. Do you understand the tragedy it's so good!!!

So usually I like trad!hanahaki

However

I'm not kidding when I made the Jason hanahaki before seeing your ask i was already like wait but for jason what if it's not about feeling unloved. What if the very act of loving someone whose love will never satisfy you, not because of its nature but because you have such a different understanding of love and what it implies, is what hurts you. What if the reason you're sick is because you love someone who keeps hurting you, and you hate that you love them, and you can't help that you love them and you can't help that you hate that you love them, and this is what kills you.

And even death does not stop the love, just like the love can't stop itself from killing you.

So that's the OG thought for the AU

Honestly I really like your take on that, the relentlessness and desperation, and the suicidality -I can see him being so tired of the pain and at first wanting them to see and then realising they're not seeing it and getting used to it, getting comfortable in that cycle of pain and just waiting for the day it finally takes, until he has to actively conceal it because he's grown so used to his own personal garden of doom that someone finding out, and the emotional vulnerability that comes with it, is scarier than this.

Also loved your art because the version of Hanahaki death i like most is when the body horror is hardcore. Like, sure, die choking on flowers maybe but I need a whole rosier to sprout out of the ribcage, alien-style. And I think after Jason wakes up from his death, the plant is just there. I think he has a whole safehouse where he keeps his plants. He calls it the Greenhouse. It's beautiful, and the petals are bloodstained.

[shadowscommand]

Hello.. can we get more ghostmace headcanons. If you ever wrote any pls link them too...

:)c YESSS i love talking abt maceghost.. i know ive made a bunch of sporadic posts about them but i havent done a like dedicated hcs post. i feel like often im struggling to understand the narrative of their past but generally i keep the same vibe to it all.

mace is for sure the more level headed of the two only because relationships and love freak ghost out. ive mentioned on a post like years ago hes traumatized by watching his mother stick with his father and i still believe this. hes like scared to be in a position where something Isn't working anymore but hes too emotional to cut it off so he self sabotages the relationship so mace will get pissed and stop talking to him.

in the past (as i mentioned in another post) mace Did also feed into this. he had a good home life but his own personal issues and anger at more outward issues caused him to like. seek an outlet for this sort of petty squabbling. and he found it in ghost. until he got tired of festering and being pissed off all the time and decided to actually like Do Shit he feels good about. and he broke up with ghost.

now in modern times where theyve caught up with each other it's like a weird mash of their past and them both being more mature. ghost struggles more because hes very adverse to actually improving himself and how he feels about himself bc hes like. hes Given Up on being a person. while mace has done a lot of healing.

like the toxic factor of maceghost Is Ghost at this point to me. but theres a lot of love there bc theres a lot of mutual respect and, like, easy familiarity there. mace understands how ghost works at his core.

so like. when ghost is being Normal and not anxious they literally just. like. Click? mace can extremely put ghost at ease with just his presence. and mace in turn rly enjoys his company bc a calm ghost is actually just sort of casually funny.

and ghost does like making mace laugh i imagine mace has a really beautiful smile bc he has resting bitch face so when it lights up it's very special.

ghost also i think would be 100% willing to take his mask off in a room of just him and mace. no special occasion needed he's just comforted. mace has already seen it over many, many years.

because they're like an Old couple i think theyve been on and off since their mid twenties for ghost and late twenties for mace. WHICH is another reason mace like wont entertain the childish picking ghost does theyre literally too old.

but he does play along a little. sometimes. old habits die hard. if it's petty mace will have a back and forth w ghost for old times sake its just how ghost communicates sometimes. emotions are just hard for ghost mace understands this. to put all of this simply.

i will say tho if more comes out and they end up more antagonistic than my current read i will still be a huge stan i love when dudes try to fuck and kill each other 💪🥰💕

speaking of fucking tho. tw for implying sexual assault also i just got kinda nasty sowwy.

LIKE we know ghost has a complicated relationship w sex a lot of his past history w it is like traumatic. i think he was already promiscuous as a teen bc he already had issues from his upbringing so hes like. well experienced. and he likes sex. and he likes fucking mace bc his dick is thick, hes good with his hands, and he's not afraid to be rough with him and take their time bc mace likes to be edged and when ghost is rly into it he Likes it to Last esp if he can cum more than once. he likes when his pussy is sore.

BUT ALSOO theyre both like. verse esp w each other. ghost likes topping more tho. he likes fucking mace for being a little bit vocal and just. like. huge. ghost loves bending him over and watching his fat bounce. ghost would blow off any task and anyone to go fuck him.

but also, bc its ghost and i think if the wrong buttons get pressed in the wrong order and it goes sour he gets quiet and, like, disassociates. and mace keeps watch for that bc he doesn't want to put ghost in that state. its not fun

[evergreen-dryad]

I don't know how to feel over all these strange fantasy names when it's supposed to be fantasy china (and Japan nearby). I would like annotations

it does directly copy and paste some stuff from China's history / Sun Tzu / strategist stuff

you can tell someone's important if they have a name from myth: eg Nezha, Jiang Ziya, Su Daji (femme fatale) There are some references to Journey to the West in some of the Cike/Bizarre Children but not direct borrowings- Baji (Zhu Bajie), Aratsha (Sha Wujing), Suni (Sun Wukong)

It's very readable (as YA tends to be). It's a more fast paced harry potter so far. I'm speeding through it a lot ngl.

Highlights: (wait there's no underline here still??)

- Rin beating Nezha (it's 2-1 so far but just Rin beating everyone up in the Tournament despite being excluded discriminatorily from class)

(And then them both working together like a well-oiled machine in the war!)

And oh, she turned out to be the last speerly! I think it works and also does introduce more tension over where to put her in terms of politics and all that, but I am also praying Altan doesn't die (I feel like he WILL) (and HE DID)

From what I remember of Babel (same author) -- well, there's the historical accuracy that doesn't deviate much, there's also the nostalgic romanticism of school (a safe and beautiful place with towers and pagodas, but also bittersweet with its bullies and racism) and having to work hard af (what a chinese thing tbh), wanting to excel There's the all-important teacher-student relationship and what knowledge does

Foreshadowing: where Runin was burning herself to study more for the Keju Exam, it ends up being foreshadowing for the god she'll call down -- the Phoenix. You watch her determined to go through anything to get stronger:

'How she didn’t need rest, only pain, pain to fuel the fire.' 'Who couldn't she kill?'

After she kills a creature wearing Altan's face. Well, spoiler: she does do genocide

Themes/Symbolism: knowledge, the danger of adhering to just one branch/extremity of thought (esp reflected in the elitism of Sinegard and the north and south; in the way the other Sinegard students treat Runin; in the way Kitay is convinced of his rationalism over Runin questioning if shamanism exists; even in the military where military arts and shamanism are separated and hidden (for the latter); and how Nikara separated itself from Speer (the analogue for smth like Ainu people in Japan.))

Of what is the purpose of knowledge, if it cannot be 'utilised' for in present context, war?

Is 'an eye for an eye' right? What would you do to win or to get revenge? That there are difficult choices to make in such horrors like war -- do horrifying things done to you and your people justify genocide? What if your god that was your only hope was also cruel to you? Between gods and humans, who is really using who?

Also subtly feminist. I mean, it really delivers on the promise of female rage, and there are a couple important female figures

Characters: of course Runin is easy to like and easy to root for! She's way more determined than me bcs she's that unhinged/unhealthy 'do-or-die' when it comes to academics and martial arts!

Everyone else for students is a bit, hm, unelaborated on so far which is fair

Rin has 2 foils: 1) Kitay, and 2) Nezha. And prob also Altan -- how he seems so perfect and later on how they seem alike -- but are ultimately different

Tearza in the past who refused to sacrifice the world for her people, so the god killed her in retribution. But Rin did do so in vengeance and is thus still alive.

Nezha funnily keeps getting 'off-screen death scenes' which means he's definitely not dead

Character relationships: interesting to see how Altan is a 'better' teacher to Rin as they understand each other better in needs to war, but also gets abusive towards her with the pressure and needing her to summon their god, as he is a soldier first.

Jiang was the 'wiser' teacher as a peaceful scholar but wasn't there, sealing himself away in stone

Descriptions: lightly sketched so you don't get drowned in it

Tone: easy, simple, direct, not very literary/purple prose, often short sentences

Use of language: Past tense. Purely in Rin's POV, with one exception in Tyr's/and then omniscient narrator (to show the betrayal of the empress). Lots of dialogue/some worldbuilding descriptions. (R F Kuang seems to begin/end/spin with dialogue a lot which makes it snappy?)

Figurative techniques sparse. Shows the extreme cruelty of the world (even before the war). Also does not hesitate to say fuck.

What works for it?

-want to see what happens to rin as it's very action-heavy and you're rooting for the underdog (fast-paced, inexorable marching to war)

[strawglicks]

thinking abt how every spamvil hater ive seen villainizes jevil and victimizes spamton to the moon and back. like their argument against spamvil is ALWAYS, without fail, "it would hurt spamton :(" and then they have nothing to say about jevil or talk abt how jevil would hurt him somehow.

First of all idk where this weirdass villainization of jevil is coming from. People seem to think hes this irredeemable soulless clown who feels nothing and doesnt care abt anyone. Meanwhile, ingame, he literally admits he is lonely and was close to Seam in the past. Yes he needs to learn how to be serious and has a cynical view of the world, but for some reason the fandom doesnt see him as a complex and flawed character. they just decide hes too far gone and would hurt anyone he has a relationship with, including spamton.

And then theres spamton, everyone's favorite innocent angel never did anything wrong bbg apparently!! The fandom doesnt treat spamton anything like they do Jevil. They actually want good things for him, a better future, and feel sorry for him. That's not a bad thing, I feel the same, but these same people will ignore all his flaws and how literally evil he was in the snowgrave route. Spamton is not a good person. I thought this was explicitly clear in the game, but apparently bc he has sad lore spoonfed to the audience this is ignored.

In regards to Jevil, Spamton is extremely bitter and jealous of him. The only things spamton himself has said about jevil is that he wishes to "surpass" him, and that he lost to jevil's games in the past. He even admits he cheated in many of these games. Spamton is not a trustworthy person. if you havent noticed his character is literally based on scam emails. Spamton is just jealous of Jevil's happiness despite the situation theyre both in, which is understandable in a way. Still, it doesnt mean spamton is in the right for being bitter and resentful. There's no real evidence Jevil has actively hurt spamton in any way, esp not on purpose. He literally just beat him at games and is way happier than he is and he's angry about it.

People consume all this shit at SURFACE LEVEL- reminder that this is an unfinished game MADE TO BE ANALYZED- and dont look any deeper into these very complex and interesting characters. All these spamvil haters assume Jevil is just irredeemable and too far gone and find spamtons backstory depressing but dont think about what these two NEED to heal from their experiences. Having gone through similar shit, they're really the only people who could understand each other to such an extent. They both need to let their guard down and listen to each other because they can offer each other a different point of view on a similar situation, which is what the both of them NEED more than anything. Yes it would take a lot of time; these are very flawed people. But you cant just. leave them where they are right now and expect either of them to heal completely on their own. Being alone is the LAST thing either of them needs. Jevil literally admits to being lonely and spamton ACTIVELY gets worse the longer he is alone. Yes he has trust issues, but he needs to be able to open up if he ever wants to get better.

Theres also the argument of "spamton is afraid of clowns" which isnt valid anyway because i just got done explaining how even if hes afraid of opening up and being close to people, spamton NEEDS it if he wants any chance at getting better. Sometimes you have to face your fears to make any progress. Plus spamton himself has never shown any sign of fearing jevil. He's only ever regarded him with bitterness and jealousy.

idk how to conclude this fuck you

[maze-of-my-design]

i think we can mostly blame the anime for chad yu narukami. which actually sucks bc yu in the anime is fucking amazing and so so so autistic (and homosexual). like he's my favorite character in the show. but in the episode where they get drunk he acts like a stereotypical chad and that's (i assume, i was not in the fandom at the time so cannot know for sure) what really popularized the interpretation.

i think this interpretation of him actually initially comes from how many women (esp adult women) he has as social links who are apparently super into him. and like. he isn't into literally any of them back even a tiny bit and did not attract them on purpose. his autistic swag is what makes him attractive. but people interpret his autistic obliviousness as him acting "hard to get" i guess. which is stupid. he literally just Does Not Understand what's going on or why these women like him.

i think the chad stuff is also played up in the spinoffs, but i haven't played arena or ultimax yet so idk for sure. the thing about souji (the name i use for him) is that he attracts girls Extremely Accidentally. he is completely unaware that these girls see him as a chad because he's autistic and gay. but it is this obliviousness that *makes* him attractive. he's an autistic weirdo and that's what makes him (in the eyes of others) a chad.

personally i still hate using the term chad bc it feels misogynistic in its undertones but i do think he is cool and hot to everyone around him but in an autistic weirdo kind of way.

sorry this is so long. souji is my favorite p4 character so i have Opinions lmao

Op thank you so much that sadly makes sense, why must Redditors make characters into mysoginistic little shits? Anyway that aside I love autistic weirdgirl Yu better than anything else ever thank you for the input ily forever

[embraceyourdestiny]

Roxas x kairi?

Extremely based, their cutscene in kh2 where they communicate to each other through their connection to sora changed my life as a child and I was never the same.

I think they have wonderful potential together, from Roxas’ POV i think Kairi is a good piece of light and levity he needs in his heart and she can give him strength compassion and ease that he desires and no one else can really give him, and I think from kairis POV Roxas’ darkness would be FAR easier for her to handle and understand than Sora’s and I think that would cause them to be really close esp after Kairi realizes she too has darker sides of herself even if it’s not “darkness” and Roxas would really help her grapple with that and come to terms with it.

They’re also bonded over their love for sora and I feel that how they feel about him is much more similar than how their feelings could relate to Riku for example as the other person who loves sora the most so I always imagine them with very similar passion and understanding of just what it leans to be in Sora’s shadow / blinding rays bc of their particular connection to him.

Also they’re both really pretty and 00s emo culture was never the same

Send me a ship and I'll give you my (brutally) honest opinion on it

[reineyday]

this is gonna be extremely niche but i cant stop thinking about oscar delancey/davey jacobs as a ship (it's the "understanding each other bc they both would do anything for their lil brothers" trope for me) lmao hear me out:

i occasionally see those posts that frame the delancey brothers as the kind of villain characters that are villains bc they're looking out for each other (which i love btw cuz i love complicated contexts); working for wiesel bc their dad is shitty and that's why they were all for beating up the trolley workers etc etc

anyways, so that's the kind of oscar delancey im working with: he's in it bc he's angry at his dad and the world and he's looking out for his brother. btw im using the livesies versions of them! (height difference hehe)

also i've noticed that he's the less aggressive brother? morris is the one that usually gets in the newsies' faces and spouts derogatory language; oscar's the one who stands back more. just works for him in this context.

davey's a new newsie and he catches oscar's eye bc he's cute and is smart (and oscar is not v smart and educated). in newsies 2017 he actually kind of gives davey's back a once over after davey takes his papers lol so you can construe something from there too.

he gets embarrassed for being called out on not counting properly (he was distracted okay)

he's in this position where he knows it's not great to beat on other people but anything is better than getting beat on, and he's doing this so he and his brother can stay out of the house, but he doesnt actually love how morris gets aggressive like that--it's so much like their father.

(morris obviously has issues there too, they just manifest more in the direction of "well this is the lot that's been drawn for my life so why should i be anything else? my father was so shitty, im just gonna turn into him eventually anyways" sort of mentality :( which is a good starting point for one of those mike faist morris fics where he ends up becoming a newsie to support himself differently lol but this is livesies and this hypothetical fic is about oscar anyways)

oscar feels trapped where he is, and he isnt happy, and he's sure there's more to life than beating on other people--especially when they're just kids like him--but he doesnt see a way out that doesnt end in him and morris both getting the worse end of the stick, or separated or something. and he'd never forgive himself if he got separated from morris.

then comes in the cute boy with the tiny brother (and he thinks about how morris used to be smaller than him too), and the cute boy starts a strike to protest their working conditions and he kind of actually... really admires it? but doesnt want to admit it bc theyre on opposite sides and oscar doesnt want to risk the good parts of his life rn, even if they're kinda meagre emotionally--he and his brother have clean clothes and food on the table and their dad's down for the count for a while, ain't no way he's risking that.

so canon happens like it does, and the newsies win, and the delanceys find themselves once more backing up wiesel and helping count the newspapers to give to the newsies for the day and that's where their story really starts, because all the newsies obviously hate him and his brother and oscar hates most of them too but goddamn it he just cant look away from this davey guy

also might be interesting to play with the idea that the delanceys actually live close to where the jacobs live and oscar recognizes him because he always saw davey and les leave for school in the mornings as he was coming back from distributing papes to the newsies

i dont actually know how theyd start seeing eye-to-eye, esp since davey being willing to give oscar even a second of his day seems like a huge hurdle to jump over.

maybe davey's about to get beat up and oscar intervenes against his better judgement, and davey feels obligated to thank him somehow even if oscar doesn't want him to--even thinks it's a bad idea.

maybe after the newsboy strike, the delanceys' prospects get worse bc after the governer steps in, everyone that was after the newsies suddenly gets a bad rap and money starts to dry up, and davey spots oscar giving morris most of his lunch ("c'mon, mo, you're bigger 'an me anyways. ya need ta eat somethin'.") and suddenly davey finds himself empathizing, and very suddenly quite curious about what their deal is anyways. (oh look another opportunity to make morris a newsie)

maybe oscar actually cant read very well and the newsies, most of whom are actually literate enough to read headlines, get news of this and make fun of him every morning about it, and at first it feels vindicating, but then davey starts to feel bad about it.

probably the last straw is when morris actually makes fun of him too (idk maybe morris was able to go to school longer cuz oscar was actually a newsie himself over in queens or brooklyn or something, when he was much younger, when their dad was still mostly decent but their family was poorer)--anyways, morris "teases" in the way siblings do sometimes when they dont realize theyre poking at a tender spot, and that's about it for oscar, and idk if he has meltdown or just quietly implodes, but davey picks up on it and feels bad enough about it that he offers to teach oscar how to read.

which, wouldnt it be interesting if somehow oscar and spot had been friends growing up, maybe sold together as the youngest newsies in brooklyn, but spot never realizes oscar delancey is him cuz he only ever hears about the delancey brothers from race (and jack), and spot only ever knew oscar by his newsie nickname? and his selling buddy moved away a while ago, and he's always been a little concerned cuz in the months before he moved, more and more bruises appeared on his skin, and once spot tried to convince him to run away and stay at the lodging full-time with the rest of the boys, but the kid refused cuz he needed to stay for his kid brother who doesnt know any better... anyways, spot realizing theyre the same guy could be a (sprace) subplot lol.

and then obviously they get to know each other better and davey helps oscar feel not-so-trapped anymore and maybe the newsies end up reluctantly and begrudgingly adopting the delanceys (after a real apology or two or twenty to crutchie, of course, who always got the worst of it from them) and maybe morris comes to realize how much like his father he's become and doesnt want that for himself, and also sees just how misaligned his and oscars goals actually are and idk they all become better and oscar and davey have a relationship that's hard-won but wirth everything

anyways yeah, i do think they'd be an interesting ship lol. oscar/davey!

[dinsfire24]

ok this idea has been cooking in my head for a while, but i had an idea for a ksmp character :D

btw if any of these ideas are ableist please let me know. this character and their arc have themes of chronic illness and disability. im basing some of their stuff on my own experiences with adhd, especially their frustration at their own abilities, but that doesnt exempt me from being ableist (esp with their physical problems)

warning for vague descriptions of decay and implied body horror

so this character's temporary name is amanita! (they/them) i came up with em after listening to that "there i am, there i am again" song a few too many times. also somewhat inspired by rot from rainworld :3

moving on from that, amanita is around... 12 years old, maybe? they're extremely friendly and usually quite caring. they always try to be optimistic and cheer others up, although they're actually terrified of the future. they love animals, but most animals and certain people (especially those with sharp senses of smell) are scared of them :(

they have some pretty severe memory issues bc their brain is. well. infested with skulk and warped fungus and void. their whole body is, really—they're the result of an experiment to try and combine these things, to see if anything good could come from it. now their body is decaying. they don't really remember what happened, but they still hate, hate, hate being touched. and they know that something is wrong with their body; they just can't pin down what.

they have a halting manner of speech, often repeating words or trailing off in the middle of sentences. they also tend to forget to finish their thought. on especially bad days they're almost impossible to understand, and they usually choose to stay quiet on those days. altho sometimes they forget that their speech isn't working and get very frustrated

i also think clown would be at least a little unsettled by them. he might recognize the skulk or the warped mushrooms, or he might even have heard of the experiments that caused this to happen. he'd think of them as sort of like a walking corpse. (which they would resent if they knew he thought that—they're not dead yet!!!) also their friendliness and memory issues might make them easier to manipulate, sadly

maddie might just be curious. amanita doesn't seem to be from the nether or the end, but they don't fit with what she knows about the overworld, either. and even though their memory is foggy, they have experience with some things she's never even heard of. she might be wary of them after the adventure in the deep dark, though

kab would definitely think they were cool as hell. i think she would also appreciate how friendly they were, but she would be VERY worried about their interactions with clown. she'd try to keep them away from him as much as she could.

i've only watched a few streams of s1, so my characterizations are a bit shaky and idk what the rest of the characters would think. but ye :D

a lil snippet of how they talk and act:

"Who are you?"

The kid grinned up at Kab. "Amanita! That's my name."

"And where did you come from?"

Amanita's enthusiasm dimmed a bit. "Don't remember," they replied quietly. "Not... It's not, uh..." Their eyes flickered around the town. "Can I stay?"

"I'll have to talk to Kab, but-" Pyro glanced at Rae. "Can you stay with them?"

She nodded. "Sure."

The kid plopped down on the floor as Pyro stepped away. "Who'sat?"

Rae brightened. "Kab is my best friend," she told them with a grin. "She's amazing."

"Best friend," they repeated. "I had a... Well, or something else. Where are they?"

Before Rae could figure out what to say to that, Amanita stood up. "Let's go find them. Your- Your Kab," they decided cheerfully.

[vacantgodling]

26, 27, 47, 58 for any of ur polycules!

thank you 💛 i think i’ll do this about the celestial lovers since i don’t talk about them that much lol

26. Of the members who live together, what are the household dynamics like? How do they split chores, manage finances, etc.?

so all of them live together in the celestial palace after dag becomes the celestial ruler. because they’re basically uhhhh “deities” (kinda) they don’t really do chores and manage finances and things like that, they have maaaany live in servants that kind of handle all of those things.

however, the stuff they do kind of handle household wise (ig) is how to rule the spheres—so i guess basically i could break that down (we love worldbuilding on the fly pff).

so when it comes to managing resources (food, the economy, etc): almine and izul oversee that. mainly because the two of them are the most pragmatic and good with numbers and distribution.

humanitarian issues and crises (such as natural disasters) tend to be dealt with by zhujen and muu. they’re extremely empathetic people—zhujen gives off a motherly aura and it does tend to help calm people and help them listen to her, meanwhile muu grew up in the region most likely to have natural disasters—denjai—which is a giant swamp that’s constantly hit with monsoons and the like so he just knows the area very well.

conflict resolution (aka issues between spheres) is usually dealt by vigustav and aenlin. viggo coming from the region most likely to have conflict (vukter) helps because he understands the culture best and he can be firm and intimidating when he needs to and aenlin is a very good judge and executioner. the two of them handle dealing with the ugly stuff the best.

finally, public events and appearances are usually dealt with by rhohanen and lilliabet. many holidays and ceremonies are lilliabet’s forte, meanwhile rhohanen is there for affairs of state like coronations, funerals, the stuffier stuff because he’s good at it.

and where does dag fit in in all of this? aside from all the spiritual and metaphysical duties of the celestial ruler, he tends to deal with all of it when he absolutely has to. in part of choosing the lovers was to also find people that would help him be able to manage all of this. so, i hope that kind of answers your question lol 😅

27. Of the members who live together, do they all sleep in one bed too? All separate bedrooms? Something in-between?

as mentioned, they all live together in the celestial palace and because it’s a palace they all have separate rooms decorated according to their styles and tastes. they do however tend to congregate together a lot or sleep in either each other’s rooms or some of the, for lack of better words, nesting rooms together esp after certain activities 👀

the other exception to sleeping separately is every night, they all rotate between sleeping in dag’s room which is the main celestial chamber. the thing about their poly is technically, the easiest way to think about it is a ruler (dag) and their harem (everyone else) so they’re all married to him first, however he loves that they’ve all grown to love one another as well. ngl he has the most cohesive lover’s circle of any ruler lmao 💀

47. Did any monogamous partners discover they were polyamorous after the relationship opened up? How did they find out?

interesting question because i guess all of them? the relationship was always quasi-open from jump just bc of the nature of the celestial ruler and their lovers (which tldr the celestial ruler cannot ascend until they go to every sphere (or kingdom) and choose one member of the royal family to be wed to. this doesn’t automatically guarantee they’ll ascend as there are other hopefuls who have been trained for this too But that’s a long explanation i can get into later PFF) BUT none of the lovers meet each other fully until or unless the hopeful they wed becomes the celestial ruler. since dag does become that, they all finally meet each other face to face and for a good while, it was very much friendly and getting to know each other/feeling out the dynamics. dag (and technically aenlin) obviously knew all of them beforehand so once things settled they kind of had a big meeting where he was like “hey yeah like as long as well all get along and care for one another, please feel free to define your relationships for yourselves.”

the first one to Know that he was poly is technically aenlin though he knew the whole time as he was trained as a hopeful too alongside dag (long story). and he did develop a friendliness with many of them. he’s the first one to branch into something more territory with izul first, surprisingly. but that’s bc izul is hard to warm up to others and they sort of clung to aenlin as a familiar face when dag wasn’t around and yknow as they say. one thing lead to another. and then as they slowly got to know each other and spent more time together (all of them) things went from friendly to… lovey dovey and steamy lmao. i’d say 5 years into dag’s rule they’ve all become very entertwined.

58. How does the polycule celebrate anniversaries?

it’s a WHOLEEEE thing. mainly because they kind of end up becoming whole holidays in their world. each sphere does have their own holidays and important events but ig “interspherical” holidays are dictated by whoever the ruler is just bc rulers can live for a few thousand years if nothing happens to them tm (sans the ruler before dag rip). so the anniversary of their marriage, each lover’s birthday, important dates to them… all kinda get tossed on the big ol calendar and celebrated with a big party of some kind. then they usually after the main festivities have smaller celebrations with just the 9 of them and there’s a lot of pampering and ngl probably a lotta orgies LMAO

[waywardsalt]

gonna ramble a lil bit abt loz au stuff so uhhhh

okokokokok. i cant go tooooo indepth abt bellum atm (iykyk) but im gonna. talk abt linebeck stuff specifically within au stuff bc hes fun to play with in aus esp since i hold the belief that he would be a bit different in aus on account of them tending to be very drastically different from canon. ofc the au set in space with hi tech and space travel and his backstory being that [REDACTED]. dw abt the space au idk if ill even get around to spilling the beans on that one any time soon lmao

like ok i have a whole bunch of aus and linebeck teeeends to play a major role in a lot of those aus bc Of Course and bc i think hes interesting

anyways heres the list of aus (took me ages to find this in my archive) but like. it is fun to experiment and be like ok how would this character act in work in x setting with y circumstances and z goals. theres a lil bit of nudging/shoving out of character w/ linebeck in some of these that im trying to wrangle back under control while keeping the story intact while some are fine cuz its like. vastly difference circumstances understandable. gotta keep some staples the same tho

like… without spoiling too much about any of these, crimson king au linebeck is like… hes similar to canon personality wise, if a bit more ruthless, while space au linebeck is just. Out There with some of that same greed and jumpiness, gimmick au linebeck is very much the same but with loftier ambitions and more of a willingness to risk getting hurt for something, in the modern au(s) hes going to be a bit different due to. well. technology going through full schooling meeting different people.

a lot of the fun differences are best expressed through how he fights or what kinds of conflicts he comes into contact with, and i usually try to think to myself how canon linebeck might prefer to fight and then somewhat sticking to that idea while branching out to fit circumstances and setting. crimson king au has him using a pair of knives and fighting in a style that keeps him dodging and moving quickly and aiming to dispatch as quickly as possible. space au linebeck is first and foremost a sniper, with some ‘fights like a cornered animal’ flavoring tossed in. gimmick au linebeck has to learn to fight, but fights dirty and takes every advantage and cheat he can find.

its fun to tinker with his relationships with returning characters too. i have a lot of wiggle room with his relationship with bellum, but i always like to root it in the idea that bellum finds him interesting and ends up being some form of beneficiary due to circumstances. it’s interesting with link, too, they’re usually close or grow to be close, kind of sticking with the idea that they make a good team, in the crimson king au theyre adoptive brothers, in space au theres a sort of (one-sided) rivalry going on, gimmick au is uh… complicated so its fun, in a few aus like the modern or… one of the ruined hyrules they only know each other in passing, and in some theyve never met before. other characters that are fun to play with are zelda, ranging from being enemies to close friends, ganondorf, extremes being an au literally centered around ganonbeck and then an au where they are enemies in a sense, midna is fun to play with, so is ghirahim, it’s fun to see how his relationship with other characters can be taken in different aus

the different designs are also a lot of fun, but theres not a ton i can say here (some aus hes pretty much the same as canon, but a few have him with alternate designs, or both. his space au design is prob my favorite lol. that au is fun)

a few times i have to forcibly put him in a background spot or smth so i cant constantly focus on him while hes still important (murder mystery au is a good example, hes important but not generally to the larger plot, hes kinda just a character who ends up somewhat helping in investigation, other examples being the amnesia link au where hes [REDACTED] and therefore not present for like. half of the story, or the gimmick au, where he has his own stuff to do apart from link and co, or the general modern one, where that one is generally meant to have a larger cast so i. just cant focus on him lol)

au stuff is fun with linebeck i get to put him into highly varied and highly specific Situations