#but doing everything in his power to prevent it

[geekgirles]

Dardondakal: "You used your Dofus' powers to bring this psycho back to life!"

Not gonna lie, it is very satisfying to see somebody call Grougalorasalar out on the willing atrocity of his actions after he spent 95% of his screentime dragging Yugo and Adamaï for things that were either accidents or out of their control.

(Seriously, for all the things he blamed Yugo and his people for, he actually left out the only thing besides Qilby's actions to be directly caused by them—Yugo endangering the World of Twelve when he used the Dofus to fight Ogrest).

There's also the fact that, just like Grougalorasalar brought up valid points regarding the damage—intentional or otherwise—the Eliatropes have caused to their world, Dardondakal is also right in getting angry over the lengths his brother is willing to go to just to make a point.

Dardondakal: "You sacrificed a thousand innocent lives for her!"

After all, tragic as she might be, Julith is a well-known menace and selfish enough to sacrifice hundreds of innocents for the sake of her own family. And she would have succeeded hadn't Jahash acted as her moral compass. Which in turn suggests her husband was the only person she truly cared about, as not even Joris, her son, managed to talk her out of her plan.

With the added fact that she originally planned to destroy Bonta before falling for Jahash, then Dardondakal makes an excellent point on how bringing her along could do more harm than good. Combined with the fact that the Ebony Dragon kept preaching about how everything wrong with their world was the Eliatropes' fault while he, remorseful as he was, didn't hesitate to sacrifice a thousand innocent souls for the sake of his goals, let's just say it only makes Grougalorasalar look like a hypocrite and the only actual threat here.

Dardondakal: "We had a deal. I agreed to help you as long as you didn't go too far. And killing a thousand innocents to bring this murderer back to life is anything but not going too far!

As the Ivory Dragon says, he agreed to help his brother as long as he didn't go too far, and sacrificing hundreds of innocent lives in exchange of a murderer's is indeed going way too far. Especially when Salar makes it clear Julith is mostly a back-up. He killed a thousand people just in case Yugo and Adamaï refused to go along with his ultimatum.

Fella really knows how to put the crazy in "crazy prepared".

But let's be honest. The whole entire chapter is just Dakal spitting facts and bringing his brother's paranoia into question.

Dardondakal: "I told you I could go with you." Grougalorasalar: "You're too soft. We needed to be persuasive during a first meeting. If we want to save this world, Brother, we must be firm!"

Now, raise your hand if you think Salar's animosity against Yugo and his people and his actions are going to end up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy that will result in the very catastrophe he was trying to prevent.

Grougalorasalar dismissed his brother as "too soft", but in doing so he has inadvertently caused more trouble for himself, because chances are Yugo and Adamaï will choose to hold onto their Dofus and the Eliasphere if it means they get a fighting chance of protecting their people against whatever Salar has planned for them if they don't comply.

Now, if he'd only brought Dakal along and they presented themselves before them without all the mind games and the attempted murder, chances are his more diplomatic brother would have been able to plea their case to Yugo and Adamaï and reason with them to hand over their weapons peacefully. Because as much of an emotionally-driven warrior as Yugo is, he is still deeply caring, empathetic, and prefers to use violence as his last resort. Alongside Adamaï's logical and cautious nature, and Amalia's understanding of their current standing in the World of Twelve, he would have most likely backed down a lot sooner and without collateral damage.

As things are right now, Yugo and Adamaï are equally likely to give in to his request, as they are to refuse him and to hold onto their weapons out of fear of Salar going against his word and hurting even more innocents regardless of what they choose to do.

Because let's not forget how he still wasn't above potentially killing Amalia when he also poisoned her glass. Or how he basically spelled it out for Yugo that he isn't exactly above killing his wife or his little siblings. That level of threat is sure to result in one very pissed off, very protective Eliatrope King. And we all know the things Yugo is capable of when it comes to protecting his loved ones.

(Thank you @cocogum for the screenshots).

And finally, we have this gem of a line that perfectly encapsulates how far Grougalorasalar really is going with his demands.

Dardondakal: "You're asking them for the impossible"

And again, cat boy aims his shot and hits all the targets.

Because Salar's demands are excessive! Not only is he demanding they hand over their weapons, which could very well be their only line of defence against a world that has made it clear time and time again that it won't accept them; but he is also incredibly hypocritical in his demands!

As @cocogum elaborated on in her review, while it could be argued that asking them to hand over the Eliasphere can be reasonable (it's not, and I'll get to that in a minute), asking them for the Eliatrope Dofus is not.

Because that's their Dofus. Powerful as they are, they undoutedly belong to their people, which was precisely why Adamaï was so incensed back in the OVAs when they were stolen or someone suggested they used them. Because it was not their decision to make, but of their people. Likewise, except for Efrim and Nora's, those Dofus house the souls of the remaining members of the Council of Six, of their siblings! He is basically asking Yugo and Adamaï to give their family up for ransom.

Not to mention, such demand is highly hypocritical of Grougalorasalar.

Last chapter he revealed he and his siblings were aware of everything that happened under Ogrest's control, and how much they resented being reduced to his pets just because he possessed their Dofus... And yet he expects Yugo and Adamaï to just hand over their Dofus to him even though they risk following a similar fate? Especially when they have always tried to keep them either hidden or in good hands while it's apparent the Primordial Dofus are basically up for the taking?

Now he really is crossing a line.

And, arguably, he is equally foolish to demand the Eliasphere and expect nothing bad comes out of it.

For all he ragged on about Nox, Qilby, and Oropo, and the damage they did with the Eliacube, he seems to be forgetting one crucial detail: even if the Eliacube and Eliasphere technically belong to the Mechasms, the only ones who can actually wield them efficiently are the Eliatropes (and Eliotropes)!

That's why Nox completely lost it. Because he couldn't handle or properly utilise the Eliacube's power. And Salar expects things to calm down just because the Eliatropes are no longer in possession of the Eliasphere? No! If anything, he's only risking further destruction and mayhem in case it falls into the wrong hands.

Given how Dakal is clearly the most reasonable and most principled of the two, I sure hope he goes behind his brother's back in an attempt to stop him. Who knows? Considering he chose Joris as his guardian, unless that changed in the centuries following his childhood, maybe he'll go to him to warn him of what Grougalorasalar is planning and that will be why Joris appears next chapter.

[theghostinabadbook]

A detail that I always found curious in bsd is how in fifteen Dazai needs to consciously activate his ability, but in the current time of the story he doesn't. At first I just thought Dazai had trained his own ability to the point where he could keep it active all the time, but Dazai's ability doesn't really seem very important to his work in the mafia, because we only see him using No Longer Human a few times during the light novels that take place during the time he was in the Port Mafia, so I don't believe this was something trained by Dazai, but rather the effect that All Men Are Equal has on him.

We know that Fukuzawa's ability is a suppression ability that influences the abilities of ADA members, allowing the agents themselves to adjust and control their powers, so it makes sense that joining after the ADA, Dazai made No Longer Human always be activated, so he couldn't be affected by abilities attacks even if he was caught by surprise.

The fact that the agents themselves can adjust their abilities with the help of All Men Are Equall made me think about the other ADA members, and how they are affected by Fukuzawa's ability. In Yosano's flashback, it's never said that she can only heal people with fatal wounds, and when Yosano refuses to heal Tachihara's brother (who Mori says is not seriously injured) she says that she doesn't want to heal him, not that she can't, so I believe that after everything Yosano went through in the war and with Mori, she herself chose to only be able to heal people who were almost dying, so she doesn't feel like she was reducing the value of the lives of those she heals, and so that others detectives of the agency understand the value that their lives and wounds have, and don't end up like the soldiers in war.

In Kenji's fight against Tetchou, we have a flashback of a conversation between Kunikida and Atsushi, and Kunikida says that Kenji's ability is driven by his anger, the angrier he gets, the more powerful he will be, however, his hunger can calm him, and I wonder if that might have something to do with Fukuzawa's skill. Kenji is a very calm person, and Kunikida says that this prevents his monstrous strength from coming out, so creating a way to calm him down so that his ability doesn't go out of control may have been Kenji's own choice when he joined the agency.

Kunikida only using his ability in his notebook of ideals may also have been his own choice. We know how connected to his ideals Kunikida is, and he says that all of his future and ideals are written in that notebook, so it makes sense that he would want his ability, an important part of his life, to be in his notebook too. On the other hand, All Men Are Equal could be the reason why Kunikida can only create objects the size of his notebook, but I can't see a specific reason for this choice.

I don't see many ways in which Fukuzawa's ability can affect Tanizaki's Light Snow, other than limiting the area in which he can use his ability. We know that Tanizaki can be very aggressive if provoked, so the fact that his ability can only be used at a short or medium range may be to prevent him from doing more damage than necessary when angered.

I believe all of these assumptions make a lot of sense, based on what we've seen of the influence of Fukuzawa's ability on Atsushi (forbiding him from fully transforming into a tiger, and from losing his mind while using his ability) and Kyouka (allowing her to control Demon Snow without her phone), and I really hope this topic is explored at some point during the manga.

[enchantedsword]

okay im going to try and do as many headcanons/ideas i have for this au(now named stone twin au because i cant think of anything else and im bad with being original obviously) most of these are about wukong since hes the one i think about constantly but i guess i have to start somewhere(also i have a few of my headcanons in here that dont just pertain to this au plus a few things from jttw but i didnt feel the need to have them on a separate post), this is mostly just about sunny's(wukong) relationships with others, not everyone but the ones i can think of for now. i also finally figured out how to do read more.

obviously wukong(sunny) would be the more monkey like of the two, hes about a few inches shorter then mk, he's very clingy, loved to cling to pigsys back growing up and still occasionally does especially when not feeling well, also clings to tang and mk and occasionally mei, when the twins were first found he couldnt speak human(he understood it just fine the same way any other toddler would) and while mk couldnt speak monkey he could understand it and played translator until they taught him how to speak human, he still slips into monkey speach when hes really sick or upset/distressed, he prefers it when others play with/style his hair for him(the whole monkey socialization), loves climbing and being in high places and has very high energy when his health isnt acting up, this has caused a few heart attacks

loves both his dads but is closer to tang(we know why even if he himself cant remember) loves to spend time with him learning new things, always begs for stories of tripitaka and what he can of macaque. tang is the one that taught the twins the basics of what was needed for school, and actually does a lot of sunnys lessons himself when hes to sick to go to school, i dont really have a set job in mind for tang yet but i was thinking a historian of some sort that can work from home especially since he has a sick child. its also because of tang that sunny as such a love of reading and learning

with pigsy he's still pretty close, mk being the one closest to him, but hes still loves spending time with him. sunnys not very good at cooking, but he loves clinging to pigsys back and watching while he cooks(as said above its something he never grew out of), pigsy has made sure that sunny can make the foods he actually can eat though. sunny also shares pigsys love of singing and they will have mini concerts when no ones watching.

mk and sunny are very close and slightly co dependent, mk has a lot of anxiety about leaving sunny alone for long periods, sunny has a lot of guilt about this and self blame for mk not having many friends outside of mei and himself, and while hes just as codependent as mk he does make an effort to encourage mk to go out without him. it used to be worse when they were younger, but they both started going to therapy around 10 at sandys suggestion, they still struggle with it but they do have lives and hobbies outside of each other. obviously since sunny doesnt have his memories he cant exactly teach mk how to use the staff and powers, his advice is more of the sibling "well remember when you tried *random thing thats similar to current situation* when we were kids just try that" sunny is the one that eventually pushes mk to try and find an actual teacher at least to teach him to fight properly.

both twins are very talented artists(a canon fact that i just cant get rid of), like i said sunny loves singing and acting/performing but he does have stage fright bad enough to prevent him from doing so outside of his small group of friends/family(this stems from the trauma that always seemed to happen in front of large crowds in jttw poor baby getting affected by everything even if he cant remember). sunny is also the one that gets the better grades of the two despite missing way more school. due to not being able to run off his energy a lot he channels it into his studies and art and writing, he wants to eventually become a professional artist.

mei is obviously just as close to sunny as she is to mk, both of them are chaos and adrenaline junkies, shes his partner in crime when it comes to pranks, she makes sure that he's not alone even on days he doesnt feel well enough to get out bed or hes in the hospital. they both love cute things, and if mei gets a dress she doesnt want she gives them to sunny, especially if its pink(he has a lot of them). she keeps sunny up to date on all the shenanigans that happen while hes in the hospital, including the stuff mk wont say in fear of worrying him.

sandy is the one sunny goes to when he's feeling suffocated and overwhelmed by his familys hovering and overprotectiveness, he finds him to be a very comforting presence and hes a good listener for whatevers bothering him. sunny also likes to help train the therapy cats.

sunny does have a mean streak, especially when its something negative being said about his friends/family, uses his pranks to get back at whoever wronged him, since he's to weak for a physical fight(hes tried once it didnt end badly only because the other person was to shocked to really retaliate sunny did end up breaking the kids nose and his own wrist). the pranks themselves are never cruel or outright harmful just enough to make the person think twice about doing it again

PIF actually manages to figure out who sunny is pretty early on having seen the small family out and about one day, she does assume wukong has reincarnated into a new life, and as much as shes upset with him over what happened with DBK thats still her husbands little brother and one of the ones that help her son, so she leaves them be, looking in from time to time

for DBK he's still got some lingering resentment for being trapped for 500 years. his first thought on seeing sunny is that wukong is just faking and toying with him, his wife does inform him that that is not the case. after that he cant figure out if he's happy about this of not. on one hand he gets to see sunny be the happy carefree person that wukong used to be though he's upset that it'sat the cost of his health, but on the other hand he's lost his little brother and never got to make up. sunny does feel oddly drawn to DBK though hes not sure why but he deems him as immediately safe(much to the concern of everyone else)

red son was obviously very young the last time he saw wukong, so he has no idea who sunny really is, after the initial being enemies thing and getting a few good pranks in on him, they actually get a long well, both being sassy and sarcastic enough to keep up with each other(everyone else is happy that sunny has a new friend even if that friend is kinda of an asshole). red son grew up to hearing stories about wukong both good and bad so he does have some complicated feelings about him, that does carry over to sunny once hes told hes wukongs reincarnation and further complicated when it finally comes to light that he is actually a sealed wukong, in the end red son decides tgat sunny is sunny and still his friend even knowing who he actually his.

the whole macaque situation goes mostly as canon except macaque thinks sunny is just playing around and pretending not to know anything. mk meets macaque the day before sunny is released from the hospital, he follows mk to the hospital to pick him up which is the first time he sees sunny. the fight goes mostly the same but not, in the fact wukong isnt there to fight him and protect mk, but sunny is basically used as a hostage and accused of playing pretend, its sunny being in danger that helps mk get the powers macaque took back. sunny doesnt really know how to feel about the situation at all, hes had a crush on macaque since he was a kid and that same person tried to kill both him and his brother and claims hes someone that hes not. continues to antagonize his his friends and claim he's wukong, and a large part of him still does have feelings for macaque even after all that. hes got a lot of complicated feelsing about it but he is still incredibly pissed that macaque tried to kill his brother and tried to use him to do so. macaque is in for a world of hurt when it comes to the eventual pranks. macaque for a while refuses to believe that sunny isnt pretending, since the alternative is accepting the wukong reincarnated and isnt coming back. overall its very complicated and the family disapproves.

as for sunnys powers and memories and immortalies, they are all under different types of seals and of those there are many keeping them all wrapped up tight. like he could unlock one or two powers but his immortalies and memories seals would be uneffected and vice versa. he does unlock 2 powers during the whole spider queen thing that being his strength and his cloud, however he can't use them for very long without exhausting himself. DBK was the first to notice that sunny had powers during their imprisonment with spider queen, he was able to trigger sunny into activating them which got them free. though DBK did get punched for his efforts, sunny broke his wrist again and immediately passed out, DBK getting them the rest of the way out and bringing sunny to his family

[saphronethaleph]

Eyes Wide Shut

The demon fox’s paws crashed down on the stone, outside Konoha, and Obito’s Mangekyo spun as he prepared to place the fox under a genjutsu.

It was a necessary part of his plan. A vital part of his plan. To send the fox rampaging into Konoha to cause widespread devastation, devastation that would weaken the strongest of the villages and plant discord against the Uchiha… and, incidentally, make sure that that village wasn’t focused on trying to find a way through his potent technique to keep himself safe.

Then-

Obito’s thoughts skidded to a halt.

The fox’s eyes were closed.

“Hey!” he called. “Look over here, you dumb-”

“Not. A. Chance,” the fox replied, voice loud and booming. “I’m free for the first time in ninety years and I was paying attention, you think I’m going to look into the eye of another fucking Uchiha and let myself get caught right away?”

His tails slammed down on where Obito was, but fortunately intangibility meant that the tails didn’t actually mash him into jelly.

“Damn it!” the fox bellowed, then growled. “This is like dealing with Dad all over again… speaking of which, what the hell, humans? How grateful is it that you keep stuffing me into my distant relatives?”

Obito blinked, and barely remembered to stay incorporeal as the massive tails swept through his space again.

“I mean, seriously!” the demon shouted, in a voice which shook the Hokage monument, and ignored the explosion of a high-powered fire jutsu against his flank with a snort. “Dad stops Grandmother, preventing her from eating all the chakra in the world, leaves her body on the moon and splits her chakra into the nine of us… and what kind of thanks do we get? We get called demons! I remember when Kokuo told me, Kurama, they’re not that bad… not that bad? What do you call hunting down every single remaining Otsutsuki and shoving them into human containers?”

Apparently the fox had gone insane? Obito wasn’t even sure at this point. But it seemed as though the repeated multi-tail thrashings that… Kurama?… was giving the space around him were serving some form of catharsis, and that Kurama was more venting than anything, giving voice to nine decades of pent-up frustration.

“And if you’re listening, humans, think about how little you would like it!” Kurama added. “Having to listen to ninety years of someone else’s banal concerns, being completely involved with everything they ever do, and you’re pinned in place unable to look away! AND you feel all the emotions that they do, or all the horrible ones anyway… I even had to pay attention during those therapy sessions the Hatake brat had for killing that teammate of his! And that’s how I find out that she had Isobu in her as some kind of bomb?”

Obito felt a sharp spike of hatred for how that must have been Rin he was talking about – then that was immediately overwhelmed by confusion.

Sheer, total confusion.

Isobu?

“I thought Isobu was sealed into that twink of a Mizukage, but maybe I missed something,” Kurama added, thoughtfully.

No.

It couldn’t be.

He couldn’t mean that Rin had had the three-tails sealed into her?

But she’d been – she’d been trying to escape from Kiri-

Kiri had been under Madara’s thumb, and now it was under his thumb, they never could have-

he had to fulfil the plan-

Rin was-

the plan-

Then Obito realized he’d forgotten to stay intangible, when a tailtip the size of an apartment block smashed him into the side of the nearest cliff.

He certainly felt like he’d lost most of his torso, but that was fixable given his unique biology. He’d just have to do with not having a heart for a few seconds, until it got regenerated.

“FINALLY!” Kurama bellowed. “All right, now I’m fucking OFF. I hope to see Konoha never.”

The ground trembled as three hundred feet of giant fox went bounding off in the vague direction of north, and Obito shook his head slightly as his torso recovered.

Then frowned.

...why the hell had he been listening to a crazy, senile old man’s plan to hypnotize the entire planet, anyway?

It somehow seemed a lot easier to ask that question now.

[burningcheese-merchant]

God... I never thought I would be thinking about Burningcheese Vampire AU. I even remembered our fella Vampire Cookie exists and that he is unaffected by the sun and can turn into a bat. That makes me wonder, can Golden Cheese turn into a complete bird in the AU? Just to have the buff man caging her with just his hands. What about if Burning Spice is the vampire? He would go bat, another flying animal or just another animal? Or are we just sticking with bats?

I hate being caught with my pants down like this, so to speak, but I actually haven't thought about it 😅 The most I've delved into their powers is me wanting to deviate from vampire norm and have these particular vampires empowered by the sun and weakened by the moon. Not too much beyond that haha

But since I don't want to leave you hanging, and I do like exploring weird little AUs like this one...

It would be logical (and funny) if Golden Cheese did turn into a bird, yeah lol. But I think it might make more sense if she was... different? From the other ones. Bigger, more unique plumage (maybe colored or styled in a way that resembles her attire, maybe even a triangular pattern on her forehead), sharper beak and talons. But... still fitting within Burning Spice's arms without issue, of course. Easy enough for him to catch and play with, and squeeze when she's misbehaving...

For Burning Spice, I actually didn't want him to become a traditional animal necessarily. I confess that his appetite and behavior are less like a vampire's and more like a rakshasa's (demonic entity from Indian mythology, they are malevolent and extremely dangerous and many are man-eaters). He's "normal", he looks the same; but slowly, over time, the more he indulges his cannibalistic urges, the more monstrous he appears. He was cursed by a dying shaman as retribution for BS destroying his village, so I thought of having the curse become more "permanent" with time and refusal to change (ironic lol)

Additional point to above, Spice starts looking and acting more like a rakshasa the hungrier he gets. Deny him sustenance long enough and he starts losing control of himself. His body and mind start to change; he adopts more devil-like features, he becomes less rational/coherent, he gains physical strength but loses focus and coordination. He is EXTREMELY difficult to deal with if and when he deteriorates far enough, and Golden Cheese does absolutely everything in her power to prevent it (while also still trying to hide him. She keeps him with her so she can monitor him and mitigate any threat he poses to others. No one is supposed to know)

[zer0-otheactualnumber]

statement of me regarding to me

Hello jon, Apologies for the deception, but I wanted to make sure you started reading, so I thought it best not to announce myself.

I’m assuming you’re alone; you always did prefer to read your statements in private. (slightly strained) I wouldn’t try too hard to stop reading; there’s every likelihood you’ll just hurt yourself. So just listen.

Now, shall we turn the page and try again?

Statement of Jonah Magnus regarding Jonathan Sims, The Archivist.

Statement begins.

I hope you’ll forgive me the self-indulgence, but I have worked so very hard for this moment, a culmination of two centuries of work. It’s rare that you get the chance to monologue through another, and you can’t tell me you’re not curious.

Why does a man seek to destroy the world?

It’s a simple enough answer: for immortality and power. Uninspired, perhaps, but – my god. The discovery, not simply of the dark and horrible reality of the world in which you live, but that you would quite willingly doom that world and confine the billions in it to an eternity of terror and suffering, all to ensure your own happiness, to place yourself beyond pain and death and fear.

It is an awful thing to know about yourself, but the freedom, John, the freedom of it all. I have dedicated my life to handing the world to these Dread Powers all for my own gain, and I feel… nothing but satisfaction in that choice.

I am to be a king of a ruined world, and I shall never die.

I believe there are far more people in this world that would take that bargain than you would ever guess. And I have beaten all of them.

Of course, this desire did not manifest overnight. When Smirke first gathered our little band – Lukas, Scott, and the rest – to discuss and hypothesize on the nature of the things he had learned from Rayner, I felt what I believe we all felt: curiosity, and fear.

But as he compiled his taxonomy and codified his theories on the grand rituals, I began to develop a very specific concern. Smirke was so obsessed with his ideas on balance, even as our fellows began to experiment and fall to the service of our patrons.

I began to worry that if one of them successfully attempted their ritual, then I would be as much a victim as any, trapped in the nightmare landscape of a twisted world.

At first, I attempted prevention, but the cause seemed hopeless. The only way to ensure I did not suffer the tribulations of what I believed to be an inevitable transformation was to bring it about myself. So what began as an experiment soon became a race.

Beyond that, I was getting older, and mortality began to weigh more heavily on my mind. How much in this world is done because we fear death, the last and greatest terror?

I convinced Smirke to work on Millbank, leading him to design it as a temple to all the Fears in equilibrium, such that my own modifications to the design of the Panopticon went… unremarked.

It. Took. Years, for the dread of the prisoners to fully suffuse the place, and I was an old man before I made my first attempt at the Watcher’s Crown, sat in the center of that colossal eye, the great ring of cells encircling me like a coronet.

It was… flawed, of course, as all Smirke’s rituals were, and none of the inmates survived as the power I attempted to harness shook the building almost to pieces, and the murky swamp upon which the prison was built consumed it.

But it left me a gift: For sat in that watchtower, I could see everything I turned my mind to.

It was a dizzying power, and one I discovered I maintained even as I found vessels to extend my life. Of course, I had to make sure the location was kept under my control while I worked on revising my plans, and so I moved the organization I had founded to assist in my research down to London, and the Institute as you know it was born.

I’ll not bore you with details of my bodies and failures through those intervening years. Suffice to say I kept busy, both planning my own next attempt, and doing my best to stymie those others who tried versions of their own.

Surely my interpretation of the Watcher’s Crown had been incomplete; there had been some element of the ritual I had overlooked.

It was not until I met Gertrude Robinson that things began to really come into focus.

You see, the role of Archivist has been part of the Beholding for as far back as my research can go. This isn’t uncommon for the Powers; most of the beliefs around them are guesswork and fallible human interpretation, but there are certain throughlines and consistencies that can be spotted, regardless of the trappings.

But Gertrude was unlike any other

[molten-stardust]

.

[canisalbus]

I love how Vasco looks like he is always living his best life while Machete looks like he never had a moment of rest, ever, in his life. Like a mirror reflecting two opposites

.

[tvckington]

chucker, tuckington, and mainewash fans are all gonna have one hell of a time with this season

[vroomvroomvroommf]

ya know what would be the funniest thing ever

Lando and Charles 1-2 WDC

Mclaren and Ferrari 1-2 WCC

honestly wouldn’t even care who is in what position they both deserve a title

[gifti3]

is asmo the only person in the game with skin issues??

is he just unlucky or is everyone else in the game not as obsessed over super clear skin and dont worry too much when acne happens?

[thereareeyesinsidethetrees]

caitlyn ross from deepwoods is what the fandom thinks ford is

[unopenablebox]

i read 1632 last week, which is a classic of a very specific kind of genre fiction in that it is a goofy spec fic book in which an entire west virginia mining town in 2000 gets, if you will, isekai'd to a state in central germany in the middle of the thirty years' war. due to the west virginians' horror at the war-induced suffering of local villagers and also the fact that they got transported with their coal mine and power plant still attached, they eventually gain independence from the holy roman empire and form an independent democratic pan-religious state as part of a swedish-controlled lutheran alliance in central europe.

i read this because i unfortunately kind of enjoy that kind of thing and i figured the politics would be hauntingly bad and i'd deal with that when i came to it. but in fact i also ended up kind of charmed, because the book establishes the "core american values" motivating our heroes as 1. union membership in the united mine workers of america 2. love of the bill of rights and 3. intense hatred of antisemitism

and you know. those sure aren't core american values but they are unfortunately quite fun to read

[todayisafridaynight]

Kiryu's trying so hard to be a good dad for all of his kids while Kazama very clearly only favored Kiryu. Do I think this was an intentional writing decision? Probably not but it's interesting

intentional or not, its a good perspective and helps explain why kiryu Is Like That. especially if we want to look at the case of nishiki who was given too much power before he was ready to handle it (and around the same age as daigo too if not a little younger), kiryu wants to make sure daigo doesnt similarly crumble under that pressure that nishiki did. we know nishiki's death haunts him for at least five games after the fact- it's no wonder he's so hyperfocused on making sure it doesn't happen again

the problem lies in that, just like kazama to nishiki, kiryu was the reason why daigo got that much power in such a short amount of time anyway. we know he acknowledges this, which is probably why he tries so hard for the tojo despite wanting to distance himself from the yakuza world. kazama did the bare minimum- if anything- for nishiki. and while we know kiryu respected kazama immensely, i want to hope over the years he's realized that leaving a young man in a powerful position unprepared isn't a good idea, esp after mine rubbed salt in the wound and called him out for abandoning the tojo- ergo daigo, so now he especially feels like he has to make it up to him.

if he couldn't help nishiki, then the next best thing he can do is help someone he considers his son- as if trying to right the wrong kazama did and be a better father, whether he can admit or not to kazama failing to take care of nishiki

but the follow up problem to THAT is he's neglecting his other kids when he does go to help. it wouldnt be a problem if RGG remembered the ryudo family and they could watch the kids while he's gone or something, but since they don't we just have to assume haruka's unfortunately been left to act as big sister to all these kids, and THAT has undoubtedly bred a great burden of feeling responsible when she's only a kid. it's really unfortunate that while kiryu apologizes to daigo repeatedly, he never apologizes to haruka for leaving her alone and in charge so many times (i actually thought kiryu's letter in Y6 was supposed to go to haruka at first). it's made her feel as though she has to take care of everyone and she has to be the strong one for the family when kiryu's away, and because of that we get problems like Y5 and Y6

in all of this, and in a terrible twist of irony, in trying to prevent one of his loved ones from enduring a similar fate as nishiki, he's now jeopardizing his relationship with his other kids- he's now unintentionally putting haruka on the back burner because he's so traumatized over what happened to his brother. he might have prevented another nishiki situation, but haruka had to be collateral as a result

[orcelito]

honestly something i've been contemplating with itnl is like. we saw the circumstances in which vash finally ended up killing someone. it was only when he felt he had no other option, and it brought him great personal grief. he is unlikely to repeat the experience again if he can help it.

but i'm just kinda wondering if there would be circumstances where he Would end up killing again. presumably yes, though they would have to be very, very dire.

just something to think about.

[sitcomghost]

I'm following the story because it's evident that those in power are doing everything they can to prevent him from getting a fair trial. There were headlines yesterday about his "outburst outside of court" where he was "struggling". It makes it sound like he's unruly and crazy. I watched the video for myself.

He gets out of the car, sees the press, and attempts to communicate "It's completely unjust and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience". One police officer has a hand around his neck. Another slams him into a wall. They push and force him through the door. They wanted a perp walk of him in the orange jumpsuit but you can't have that without the possibility of him speaking.

Is he hot? Yes. And he's lucky he's an attractive white man. No matter if he is guilty or not, they have their suspect and they're sticking to him. They're going to make his life hell and try and smear and brutalize him as much as they can. This story isn't just one of a dead CEO and a suspect. It's how the justice system exists to protect capital.

Do not let any culture war facades trick you. Stay on this story, keep the pressure up. If we can do this for Luigi, we can do this for the thousands of Black and Brown political prisoners that have been ignored by the media. The fact that we as a nation did not erupt in mass revolt after COINTELPRO was confirmed is an indictment on us.

The fancams, the thirst tweets, they are honestly good for media exposure. They communicate to those in power that we stand with this man as he goes before the court and it becomes a gateway for people to learn about his case.

He's not a meme, he's a real person who, whether he fired those shots or not, is going to shape class consciousness in this country in the digital age.