#but i do wanna make my stance on this absolutely clear :)

[nyancrimew]

Do you support a free Palestine

yes!

[crazylittlejester]

I'd absolutely love to hear what you have to say about Time 🙃 /gen

And, I hope you are feeling well. I think you said you were dizzy? I hope that gets better 🫶

I’m feeling much better, thank you!! I hope you’re going good as well :)

Sorry this took me a whole day to type out, but I finished!! I got it!!

I have a lot more thoughts, I had to cut a lot for the sake of making it readable and not obnoxiously long so I really hope I still get my points across well 😭 , but here we go:

An Abridged Version of My Thoughts on Time (I’m Insane I’m Sorry):

Okay so I’m starting off this whole thing by saying that 100% of this is my opinion and the research I did was done specifically to back my stance (which does not make it canonical fact. You can do research to back any point. You can do research to argue against my point, even). This doesn’t make my perspective or interpretation of a character the correct one by any means, and this definitely leans towards how I personally characterize and view him and is biased in that way because I’m the one who wrote it. All of you are entitled to your own opinions, you don’t have to agree with or listen to a single thing I say. In fact if you do disagree I encourage you to reblog and share your OWN thoughts so I can read YOUR perspective! I like seeing opinions people have and I love to see how differently all of us can view the same character /gen. I just that ask if you do do this, that you be kind and respectful to myself and others :)

This entire yap, analysis, whatever you wanna call it, is my perspective on Time and my thoughts behind why I believe he acts the way he does. At some point in all this I’m specifically going to focus on how he’s acting at the end of the Dawn arc and in the more recent updates. However in order to talk about that I wanna go to the beginning and talk about his past, the environment he grew up in, his relationships with others, and how I believe that has shaped the way he functions as an adult. My apologies now for being insane, unfortunately I have no life and also a lot of thoughts, and full access to a college library full of case studies- My professors would be so proud… Hope y’all enjoy lmao

Loneliness and Isolation:

One of the first things I noticed when I started playing OOT was this divide between Link and the Kokiri. Despite the fact that none of them know he’s actually a hylian, the bullying and teasing and the way they treat him for not having a fairy feels as though they’re making him to be different from them. Even Saria and the Great Deku Tree speak to/about him in ways that make it seem that, even though they care about him, they do see him as different from the others. (Granted, Saria’s treatment of Link is likely fully an unintentional thing. She doesn’t mean to be cruel when she makes her comment about how after Link got his fairy he could be a real Kokiri because she is a child and probably didn’t think about how that would come off to a kid who’s been arguably treated as less than for not having a fairy this entire time. She’s probably aware of how upset he’s been, but they’re children and I doubt she realized her attempt at comfort potentially made Time feel worse. The Great Deku Tree, on the other hand, referring to him as ‘the boy without a fairy’ immediately makes it clear to us as the player that Link is different from the Kokiri. He knows Link is hylian, which is something the player, Link, and the Kokiri do not know at this point)

Not having a fairy like the others certainly separates Time from the Kokiri because having a fairy companion appears to be a huge deal, something everyone has in common except for him. While it isn’t really on the same scale, I imagine this feeling of not having something your friends do could be, to an extent, comparable to how it would feel if all your peers had cell phones or social media access and you did not. (BAD EXAMPLE I KNOW BUT HEAR ME OUT.) The ability to consume media at such a fast pace and share jokes and trends with peers has become something to bond over, and being outside of that ‘world’ would leave someone to feel like they’re missing out on something they couldn’t possibly understand unless they get it for themselves. When your friends all have phones and you don’t, you have to sit there awkwardly when they all pull them out to text people or look things up, even if you’re doing something that doesn’t even require being on your phone, like going to the mall or hanging out. Sure they might show you a meme or two, but you can’t show them your memes, or share things and exist in the online world the way they do. Time could see and interact with the others’ fairies but he didn’t have that for himself, and I imagine it was probably hard for him to bond with the Kokiri because of it. Even if they were just playing a game or messing around and he wasn’t even being teased for not having a fairy of his own, those other fairies were right there as a constant reminder that Time didn’t have his own companion because he was, for a reason he couldn’t understand, different

Having played Skyward Sword and the beginning of Twilight Princess and seeing how both of those Links are treated by the people around them in comparison to how the Kokiri interact with Time, it feels safe to say there’s a good possibility he felt out of place and a little isolated by his own community. The way he was seemingly blamed for the death of the Great Deku Tree after finding out the life altering information that he is different probably did nothing but cause further divide between himself and the Kokiri in his mind, if not completely sever the connection he had between himself and that community

Do I think the Kokiri completely excluded him and intentionally tried to isolate him? No, I do not. However it’s clear that Saria was his best friend and the others weren’t always the nicest to him. It’s not too far a stretch to say he probably felt very lonely at times in his childhood, more so than the average kid

The theme of isolation and loneliness continues when the timeline shenanigans happen at the end of OOT and Time is now the only one who knows what happened to him. He has absolutely nothing to show for what he physically just went through and he can tell people about it all he wants but they’ll never understand because for them it simply never happened. Once again Time is isolated from this community he finds himself a part of because he’s different from them in a way they cannot relate to, driving a wedge between him and the rest of society. And Malon and Zelda are not people who would intentionally drive him further from feeling like he can belong, but they will forever be different from him in a way none of them now have the power to control. He formed relationships with them and with other people that were then erased. He knows a version of them that doesn’t exist anymore (in the timeline he continued to live in), and he’s alone in that. There IS no fix to that problem

Attachment Styles and Development

Relationships are crucial to child development and the connections formed when we’re young impact the way we create and view our relationships in adulthood. Peer relationships are just as important as parental ones because they play a different role. While your friends are the ones who have more of an impact on things like your music tastes, interests, and sense of identity/role within your group of peers, it’s your parents/caregivers who teach you right from wrong (often religion plays a part in that as well though not always), are responsible for feeding you and helping you learn new skills as a young child. Having a secure attachment and good relationship to caregivers when you’re young really impacts how you seek comfort as an adult and how you form relationships with others. Children whose parents or caregivers responded to their distress in unpredictable ways (by offering comfort sometimes and being unable to other at times, for an example) are less likely to seek out those figures for comfort or be soothed by them when the comfort is offered. I have no idea exactly how old Time was when he was placed with the Kokiri or what his mother was like, but I feel it’s fair to say the Great Deku Tree was probably the closest thing to a parental figure/caregiver (while he was living with the Kokiri) that he has any memory of. And I also feel it’s fair to say that as the stationary tree guardian of a bunch of immortal children, it was pretty impossible for him to support all of those kids’ emotional needs

Making this assumption based solely on Navi’s role in the story and what she does for us as players of the game: I feel like the fairy companions might almost be more of a parental/caregiver like figure to the Kokiri children than the Great Deku Tree is, simply because they’re able to be around them more. Navi helps Time (and the player) find things, gives clues, and helps the player with the game controls, so inside the actual game I think it’d be fair to say she (and other fairies) have more of a hands on role in guiding these children than the Great Deku Tree. And again, Time didn’t have that, not until his adventure started. He didn’t have a fairy companion while his friends and peers did, he was on his own. He wasn’t getting that potential comfort from a reliable caregiver the others were, which I believe can be partly responsible for how determined he is to solve his own issues. (Of course personality also has a play in things like this, and as we all know the hero’s spirit is incredibly fucking stubborn.) He was taught through the failures of the ‘adult’ figures in his life that the only one who’d be there to really comfort him was him

Identity and Relationships

Apart from feeling alone and not having the same types of companionship his peers did, I firmly believe Time seriously struggled with identity issues as well. Being told he wasn’t enough for the Master Sword yet, just to then be suddenly physically several years older and expected to operate as an adult despite having less than a decade of life experience, back to being shoved into the body of a child after living through horrors and accumulating scars that are now just gone doesn’t real make for the most confident, mentally stable of people. The message he most likely took from that was “You’re not enough as you are.”

He was a hero who saved a kingdom, then forgotten when everything was set back, and then abandoned by the one person (fairy) who went through it all with him after it was all done. If he’d felt alone or isolated in his youth before all that happened, I can’t imagine how overwhelming all those emotions were after all that. He needed Navi because she’s the only one who can really validate what he went through, she was the only one who could have understood him. She was a guardian and a friend and he couldn’t figure out why she left him, which must’ve just been absolutely devastating.

He was still just a kid, with no one to talk to about these issues. (Though he sort of works through some of them on his own through helping others in Majora’s Mask. Granted that left him with new issues even if it may have helped him work through a few old ones. I think there are quite a lot of similarities between Link and Skull Kid, but that’s a yap for another day.) I can imagine that both his identity and what he was supposed to do with himself were things he questioned constantly, and building relationships with people was probably very difficult for him when he hadn’t fully worked out himself. And he didn’t really have someone to comfort him or help him figure all that out

At a certain point, I think the feeling of being alone became almost a comfort to him. It was the most reliable thing he had, he could handle things on his own and that was something he knew for fact. He learned how to deal with his emotions and issues (maybe not in the healthiest of ways in his youth), and instead of being so suffocating, the isolation became something he could CONTROL. With all the instability throughout his childhood, the fact that he could reliably be on his own without dealing with the unpredictability of others was probably a relief. He didn’t have to worry about people leaving or getting hurt because he couldn’t protect them, but that didn’t really replace the feeling of loneliness so much as sloppily cover it up

Malon and the ranch are things that have been able to give him something he hadn’t had in years, which was stability and companionship. He’s been alone and isolated or dealing with loss his entire life, but she’s able to provide him with something steady, something safe to come back to. That’s been absolutely huge for him in regards to the healing process, because not only is it said in LU that she believes him completely, she’s literally his biggest supporter. And having a sturdy location and person to come back to at the end of whatever little trips he probably continued to go off to gave him comfort while still allowing him to keep that feeling of control over himself and his life. Sure not everything is perfect all the time and relationships are things that you have to put time, effort, and patience into, but he’s allowed to have his support and his much needed feeling of control over his life at the same time while living in that scenario. She loves him, she loves him very much and I have no doubt they worked together to get him to the place of comfort he’s at now. The panels from any of the ‘Malon’ posts are really the most relaxed we’ve seen Time for long stretches of time, it’s clear he’s been able to make a safe space for himself there

And now here’s the part where I actually talk about the recent comic update(s)!!!!!!!! (Yippee!!!)

Time is a very quiet, stoic character in LU especially when compared to the others, which are qualities that pull a lot from the hero’s shade. He’s the unofficial official leader, and he’s at a point in his life where he’s been able to work on himself and form healthy relationships (not perfect ones, but healthy ones built on communication which is clearly a struggle for him still but I cannot afford to get into that this post because that’s way too much. If y’all want a yap about that, ask me later). He puts a lot of stress and pressure onto himself, because he feels as though he’s responsible for these younger heroes, even though some of them have far more experience than he does

But in addition to this, he’s absolutely terrified of caring about people, and he’s not used to working with other people in this area of his life. Because no one sticks around, and if they do, what’s stopping the timeline from resetting somehow and taking their memory of him away? He no longer has the stability and comfort that comes with being alone because he’s forced to work with other people, other heroes who are equal to him in that regard, and people are unpredictable. And with unpredictability comes loss of control

Anger is an easier emotion for a child to process, and express themself through. This is why depression in children often manifests itself as anger. Children dealing with depression have a harder time managing and controlling their anger and can come off as snappier, inattentive, and reckless (obviously this is not the same case for every single child). While he certainly isn’t a child anymore in LU, I think Time is still someone who when overwhelmed is quick to anger, but this does not mean that he’s not kind. He’s incredibly kind and caring, and you can tell he loves everyone around him so deeply even though he’s probably a bit angry at himself for letting them all worm their way into his heart because he’s going to have to let them go some day. But still, some of that snappiness comes through even in his adult years and he’s a lot harsher with the others than I believe he intends to be. He’s not genuinely angry at them, he’s mad at the situation they’re in right now because he’s no longer responsible for just himself. He doesn’t have control anymore, and he’s probably back to feeling like a scared child who might be about to lose everyone again and he hates that

Twilight got hurt and he blames himself for it. He’s in an unfamiliar situation with people he cares a lot about who are all just as reckless and determined as he is, and he has absolutely no idea what to do with himself because in his mind if he lets something happen to one of these boys, that’s on him and he should’ve done better

Ough (A Continuation of ‘Isolation’)

In a way Time exists on a different level of the timeline. He retained memories of things that no longer exist, and he’s witnessed the rewritting of time over and over again. The timeline he was born in may no longer be the one he exists in, though it certainly branched from that original one. He has knowledge and memories of relationships that are real to only him in the timeline where he lives, and I would argue that because of this, he lives outside of society

Now this genuinely has nothing to do with anything I just wanna yap about something because The Voices, and it’s gonna be a fucking reach but if you’ve stayed this long you must find something appealing about my incoherent rambling so allow me to draw a genuinely insane comparison between Time and his existence in society and ‘The Lady of Shallot’, written in 1832 by a poet by the name of Alfred Tennyson. If you have no idea what this is, it’s incredibly short and easy to find with a quick google search, and I encourage you to read it. But for those of you who didn’t sign up for a poetry assignment today I’ll summarize

The Lady of Shallot is cursed to stay in a tower away from the rest of society and she’s unable to look upon Camelot with her own eyes, because something bad will happen if she does though she has no idea what. Day after day she creates these tapestries of what she sees of the society behind her through a mirror. She’s unable to look at it with her own eyes so what she creates is unable to perfectly reflect what it is the world has to offer. And she’s absolutely sick of it, she sees happy people wandering down below, knights riding through, she sees through her mirror what life is like for those within society and she wants to join them. She sees a beautiful man one day (Lancelot) and decides the curse is worth it, just for a chance to leave her tower, so she turns around and sees Camelot with her own eyes. She leaves her tower and goes to join society but by the time she gets there she’s dead

Now one of the meanings hidden within this is how artists are almost outside of society and that is how they are able to so accurately depict it, and that joining society and being ‘normal’ would make them unable to keep their unique perspective that isolation provides. But I’m going to be crazy here and draw parallels to a video game character because I CAN

Time exists outside of society and is isolated from every community he tries to be a part of because the differences between him and the Kokiri/normal hylian are so significant he feels like he doesn’t belong there. Despite having built his sense of identity back up, he still, to an extent, feels like an outsider. The things he’s been through separate him from being able to just be a normal guy, and he craves so badly to be part of a community he’s almost convinced himself he CANNOT join. The chain (and Malon, but mainly the other heroes) help him have something to connect to, because while they may not have the exact same experience they understand him more than anyone else ever could. He then tries to join society, something happens, and he dies a warrior full of regrets

Is it a reach? Yeah. But I like the poem and I can’t stop thinking about the parallels (that I’ve probably completely fucking made up at this point) every time I think too long about Time and it makes me claw at the dry wall and scream. I’m so normal…

Anyways, *weak cough* thanks for reading, if you did. It means a lot that you’ve supported my insanity. I hope this is coherent-

Thanks Emmie for reading through this for me 😭, and special shoutout to every single one of you who sent me asks yesterday to remind me to write this I love you all sm actually:

@trash-aged-like-fine-wine @rebornofstars @blueskybehindtheclouds @captainn-hook @ghosttoasts

[centrally-unplanned]

Serious question: How much do you think exowombs would actually improve fertility rates? I think they would help at the margins, but I suspect that disinclination to carry (more) children to term only makes up a moderate portion of the decline in fertility and all the other factors driving that change would continue unabated.

This depends on what you mean, right? The "conservative" assumption is you invent exowomb technology and it is just IVF+, a new way for individual parents to have families (but not too conservative, in real life people would have moral issues around the tech, we are gonna ignore those here). I think this would make a more than marginal difference! It has some very direct benefits; people absolutely do not have kids because of issues like:

Unwillingness to take the full time off work because it impacts careers

Health risks for pregnancy, particularly later in life

Actual infertility issues, again particularly as one ages

"Going through it again" once you have had 1-2 kids

That exowomb tech directly addresses. Some of these are huge parts of the fertility decline! I would bet fully safe/mature exowomb technology boosting the median "ready to have kids" family unit by half a kid, and it could be more.

There are deeper issues around this, for example. So I have done direct conversations with "adult, stable & childless" people, and something I hear a ton are statements like "the medical risk to me is too high", despite ofc pregnancy being the safest it has ever been. That doesn't mean that is wrong! Just that pregnancy isn't getting safer - people's risk profiles have just changed. Other statements include things like "pregnancy literally sounds like body torture, it would alienate me from my physical sense of self" (some hip amoung you might say body dysphoria). Conceptions of self-identity have changed, people value stability and self-image more, and tbh anxiety levels are higher so we are less risk-happy. These deeper culture shifts *could* also be addressed by exowomb tech; though it is far more vague how that would all play out.

And ofc surrogacy is currently a thing! Lots of people currently pay for exowombs - it is just very expensive ($100k+) and very "invasive". When costs go down, demand goes up, simple as right? And even in the most basic case, lots of single men want kids and don't have a partner.

Now there are many things that aren't addressed by exowomb tech - the high-demand parenting styles of modernity, rising minimum *expectations* around the cost of raising a kid, focuses on careers, etc. You won't get people back to wanting 10 children family. So the shift could be notable, but it won't be huge.

With the *conservative* assumptions we just gave. So let's loosen those - most people don't want 10 kids. But some people do! That is just quite hard to do right now, most women don't wanna do that and most men can't afford a harem of mother-wives or 18 surrogates. But with radically lower costs those barriers vanish. I think you would get a far larger "tail" of fertility - you would be surprised how many people would have the dream of that kind of family if it was on the table for them.

And then institutions enter the picture - organizations promoting families, or the state actively pursuing it. Which to be clear is already happening - fertility decline is real and a serious problem, states are getting very interested in reversing it. Once you open the door to "state orphanages hitting TFR targets" than any discussion of "margins" is asinine. Your fertility is what you will it.

Which might sound dsytopian! And it could be - my stance tends to be living is good and orphans that are well provided for are actually perfectly happy (turns out parents aren't that necessary!). But I admit to the other side of the case here - my point is that you aren't going to have a choice. I am betting the answer without such tech isn't going to be pretty

[sidesteppostinghours]

so uh. hi. this was supposed to be a short fic for christmas that could be done in a day. it, in fact, was the longest fic ive worked on in the shortest span of time. im gonna post this on ao3 tomorrow, but because i play favourites, have nearly 5k words of cecilia being an absolute menace to all the ros, 2 days before new years lmfao

It's Christmas, which means Cecilia has to get gifts. Predictably, this is much easier to do when you're a wealthy, telepathic villain.

When Daniel sees Anathema dropping off to his rooftop, he nearly swears. He grabs his phone, guiltily explains to his friends that he might be late to their dinner, then flies out the door before he can wonder if it's a trap. In the chill of the December night, Anathema waits casually, greeting him with a waggle of her fingers when he arrives. She's holding what he recognizes to be a canvas wrapped in festive red cloth. Did she steal a painting? Why?

"Awful cold out here without a coat," she says, the cheerful tone coming through even with the voice modulators. "Wanna borrow my cape?"

He ignores her geniality, instead fixing her with a hard glare. "What do you want, Anathema?"

"Touchy, touchy," she tuts, clasping her cape back on. "It's the season of giving, so I thought it would be nice to give you a gift." Daniel can't see her smile through the mask, but he can imagine the grin when she says, "You know, to repay all the good you did for me this year."

"You're one to talk," he mutters not bothering to hide his bitterness.

"I'm serious," she insists, propping up the canvas and gesturing at it with a flourish. "I know we have our differences, Danny, but I really did want to treat you tonight."

"I don't want anything you have to give." His voice is harsher than he meant it to be, but he can't bring himself to care. It still hurts, the way she uses his nickname so casually. She acts as if nothing happened between them, while Daniel still has to turn off the news everytime her name comes up.

He's waiting for Anthema's reply, but after a beat of silence, he realizes it might not be coming. Was she... hurt by that?

"Well, you're free to reject it if you want," she says, the chipper tone a little too forced. She sighs theatrically. "And after all the trouble I went through to get it."

"What... is it, anyway?" he asks hesitantly, hating the fact he's actually curious. Anthema straightens, her usual bouncy energy coming back, and Daniel regrets asking.

"Well, it was supposed to be a surprise, but since you asked so nicely," she drawls. "It's some painting of a little known artist I came across. Honestly, I don't even remember the name. I think it was..." She taps her chin. "Mmm, Norma Lee, or something like that?"

He stares at her.

"Hmm, you haven't heard of her?"

He can barely collect his words enough to gasp out, "I can't accept this!" Then, he remembers that she's a villain and frantically adds, "Cecilia, return it now."

"Sorry, Danny boy, no can do. I have plans tonight– I can't deal with all that headache." She spreads her hands, the painting wobbles, and Daniel can feel his blood pressure spike. He's already instinctively clutching onto the tacky Santa wrapping, trying to slow his beating heart.

"Tell you what," she hums, "I'll give you the reciept, and you can return it in your own time. Sounds good?" She doesn't wait for his reply, pulling out a crumpled paper from seemingly nowhere. Daniel's hands are shaking, and he can't tell if it's from the shock or the cold.

"Did you actually pay for this?" He turns it over, desperately looking for any sign it was fake, finding nothing. Anathema laughs at him, the sound clear and crisp.

"Of course I did. You think I don't know you well enough to realize you would give it back immediately if I didn't?"

Daniel makes a sound between a hack and a wheeze. Did she actually expect him to keep this?

"You're not going to?" She cocks her head, stance relaxed as she keeps both hands behind her back.

"I..." He looks between her. The reciept. The painting. He can't keep this. He can't.

He groans, burying his face into his hand, crumpling the receipt further. He's going to, isn't he? She claps his shoulder, and he looks back up to glare at her.

"Have fun on your dinner! Tell your friends I said hi, okay?" Once again, she doesn't bother to wait for his response, and it's not like he was going to give her one anyway. She just walks off, not stopping when she reaches the ledge, and drops. For the second time tonight, there's a visceral spike of terror, and Daniel flies to the edge, frantically searching for Anathema.

She swings down, grappling hook caught on the roof of another building, and when she touches ground– which in this case is the roof of a lower building– she rolls, detracts the grappling hook, turns back to him and salutes. He huffs in frustration, hoping she can feel it from where she's standing. Not that he bothers to check. He turns back to the painting and groans. He is going to be so late to dinner.

–––

Chen inspects the package in front of him, debating throwing it out. It's a simple one. A box, wrapped in christmas-tree patterned wrapping. On it, there is a yellow sticky note. It reads:

To: Chen

From: Your Secret Santa ;)

PS: Tell Spoon Merry Christmas or I'm blowing up HQ.

He knows who it is from, of course. If the message below hadn't tipped him off, the handwriting would've. Cecilia hasn't bothered to mask it, which makes sense. Ever since it was revealed she was Anathema, she's hidden from them less and less, to the point where it's clear she's taunting them about it. Ricardo and Daniel, unfortunately, are falling for it. He's unsure about Argent or how much she knows, but since Anathema was already flirting with her before Cecilia, he supposes there's not much of a difference.

Spoon has come up to the table, sniffing at the package with interest. Chen pets him to stave off the excitement, contemplating his options. The threat is a joke, but it's concerning how Cecilia was able to get his address. It's also a testament to her telepathy or her armor that he hadn't spotted any trace of her when she rang the doorbell to deliver his package. In either case, her abilities alongside being able to dig information on the Rangers at will is a dangerous combination.

The package has been sitting with him for the past five minutes now, which at least proves it isn't a timed device. He can't be sure of the risk involved with it, though. Would Cecilia take this opportunity to set a trap? It doesn't sound like her, but while painful to admit, he has been wrong about her before. Is he willing to take a bet on a woman he could never understand?

He sighs, hand hovering above the present. Slowly, tentatively, he tears away the wrapping. As he does, Spoon's excitement grows, to the point where he stands pawing at the gift Chen unwraps.

He looks inside.

It's... sweaters.

He tugs one out and groans. It's clear these aren't meant for him. 'ANATHEMA' is printed out in bold letters, her visage swooshing her cape at Chen. A glance inside the box confirms that there are others, this time with each of the Rangers. All of them are, of course, dog sweaters.

Spoon keeps licking at the box, and Chen finally pulls out the last of the gift– a smaller box full of dog food. Fancy beef and very, very expensive, if the tag on the side is anything to go by.

He pinches the bridge of his nose, sighing deeply. He should've known. This is hardly a surprise; it is exactly something Cecilia would do. Spoon is licking his hand, so he takes one of the packets out, heading to the bowl, Spoon padding behind him happily.

"Merry Christmas, boy," Chen mutters, as Spoon enjoys his gift.

–––

Argent brings her bonnet closer to her ears, tugging her scarf down as she speaks.

"I'm supposed to be taking you in by now, you know."

She spotted Cecilia on her walk home from the bakery. If Argent hadn't noticed the mix of blonde and grey peeking out from underneath the hood, she would've walked right past her. It's not everyday Cecilia Rider dresses in such drab clothing, after all. She's only wearing a grey hoodie over a simple shirt and pants, making her look like just another delivery girl serving last-minute shoppers on Christmas day. Her cane doesn't even have stickers on them, which is equal parts surprising and disappointing.

Cecilia tugs her cap down, raising an eyebrow at her. She fails badly at trying to keep a straight face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just here to make a delivery. For..." She pulls out a slim gift from her bag, pretending to squint at the letters. "Mrs. Angela Smith?"

Argent rolls her eyes, punching her shoulder.

"Hey!" Cecilia rubs at it, pouting. "Fine, I see how it is. Maybe you don't deserve a gift."

"Too late," Argent smirks, snatching it out of her hand when she moves to put it back.

"Damnit- hey, give it back!"

Argent holds it over her head and out of reach. As if that would stop Cecilia. She pulls Argent in and swipes for the present, nearly toppling the both of them over. Argent has to dig her heel into the ground to regain balance, Cecilia still on top of her trying to make a grab for it, and stuff it in her bakery bag in a single move. Victorious with her prize, she grins and finally pushes Cecilia off her.

"I can't believe you stole from me. On Christmas!" The look on her face is slandered enough to make Argent snort.

"That was supposed to be my gift. Technically speaking, you stole from me." She takes out a biscuit from her bag, chomping down on it. "What are you doing here, anyway? The project isn't finished until next month. Don't tell me you came here just to give me a gift?"

"Alas, it's true," she sighs, leaning on her cane dramatically. "I am but a humble woman doing my civic duty of giving to those in need." Her cheeks are rosy red when she smiles, highlighting the glint in her eyes.

"Hm." Argent takes out another biscuit, swallowing it in one go. "It's getting cold. does this humble woman accept her payment in apartment dates?" The idea of spending Christmas with somebody after so many years makes her mouth twitch a little, but who knows? It could be good for the both of them. Cecilia frowns at her, lips thin and pursed. Not upset, more... surprised. As if that wasn't a thought that even crossed her mind until Argent brought it up.

Looks like Argent's not the only one used to spending the holidays alone.

"I'd love to," she says, voice so wistful that Argent's almost surprised when she continues. "But I gotta run. I'm already late."

Argent shrugs. "Your loss." A thought occurs to her, and she narrows her eyes. "Wait. You're not going to make your plans my problem, are you?"

"Wanna find out?" The grin is wide enough to be a challenge.

"God, no," Argent groans. "Hurry up and go, I don't want to know."

"Coward," she teases, already walking off. When she reaches directly beside Argent, though, she hesitates. "We'll meet up later, okay?" Her voice is low in a way the two of them only share about the project, but this time tinged with a quiet longing. "I need to see what you think of my gift."

"As if I'd let you run away without giving you my thoughts," she bites back, voice equally soft. She pushes Cecilia away, not hiding the smile on her lips. "Go finish whatever evil scheme you've planned so I can kick your ass about it."

"Yes Ma'am." One more flash of a smile, a salute, and she leaves. Argent waits for her to disappear fully before trekking up to her apartment.

It feels too big for one person, the way it always does during the holidays. She sighs, dropping her coat off on the couch before flopping on it herself. She doesn't see the point in waiting– she sets her bag down, takes out the gift, and starts ripping the elf wrapping to shreds. It's not like she's getting any other presents tonight, afterall.

She stares at the gift, still with stray pieces of wrapping clinging to the edges. It's a movie, like she predicted. What she hadn't predicted was the ridiculous elf on the cover, a man and a woman on each shoulder. The title "The Shelf Elf" is emblazoned in almost unreadably curly font, and the slogan reads, "What do you do when you need to look after somebody on Christmas?"

"That little shit," she gasps, her voice too soft for it to be an insult. She talked about this movie to Cecilia before, how it ruined Christmas for her family because Argent would play with the elf on the shelf without fail every year after seeing it. She hasn't watched it in years– they stopped making copies, and for obvious reasons, she couldn't keep it once she left home. Did Cecilia steal it? Buy it? She doesn't want to think about either case. It leaves her feeling too sappy, and she's unexpectedly grateful Cecilia isn't here. If she picked up on that, the teasing would be insufferable.

"Fine, then," she mutters, taking out the tape and popping it in the TV before sinking back down onto the couch as the movie starts.

For once, she might actually enjoy this evening.

–––

Anathema is late. That should've been strike number one.

When she does arrive, she greets him with a flourish and joviality, then heads off, presumably, to enjoy the rest of the party. However, while Dr. Mortum was in the middle of conversation with a few guests, she failed to announce her presence as she snuck up behind him, scaring him half to death when she placed a hand on his shoulder. It was only a matter of luck that he didn't spill his drink. That should've been strike number two.

Mortum looks into his glass, silently wishing it held champagne. It was a safety measure not to include alcohol in the menu, drunk villains would be a disaster, but he firmly believes it would make dealing with the woman next to him much easier. As it is, the fizz of his soda will have to do.

"Mon amie, what exactly did you call me here for?" he asks, looking behind her to make sure nobody tries to enter the room she pulled him in. It still feels awkward to use that name for her– 'Ma cherie' had settled into his mouth quite nicely over the years he's known Ace. The damage of their relationship may have been repairing, but the smallest discrepancies tend to be glaring.

"I came to apologise," she says. It's impossible to tell her tone with the dissonance of the vocal distorters.

"Over...?" He circles a hand for her to continue. There are quite a few things Cecilia has to be sorry for, though to her credit, she has put in the work for most of them.

"Being late to the party, of course." She cocks her head to the side. "And for nearly spilling your drink."

"It's fine," he sighs. "Please just warn me next time. When you're going to be late and when you're going to pull me aside," he adds as an afterthought.

"It's not," she insists with an unusual heat that comes through despite the modulators. "I had a few appointments to take care of, but that's no excuse. So..." She reaches into one of the compartments in the side of her armor– he's still proud of that addition, and the fact she finds use in it– and pulls out a singular box, wrapped in a decorative ice skating pattern. "I got you this."

He raises an eyebrow at her. "Presents aren't allowed, Anathema, you know that." Another precautionary measure. Villains can be... touchy about what gifts they get, and prone to jealousy. He silently debates whether this should be her third strike.

"Good thing this isn't one. I told you, it's an apology." She holds it out.

"One might even call it an apology gift." He makes no move to take it.

"Consider it a bribe, then. For your continued good will."

"And if I choose not to accept?"

"Then I'll have to try harder."

Mortum pinches the bridge of his nose. That has the tone of a challenge, and if there is one thing he's come to learn about Cecilia, it's that she can never back down from one. A part of him wonders how far he can take it before she gives up, which is a silly thought, because she simply won't stop. He's forced to admit that it would be easier to everybody involved– including the rest of his guests– to take the bribe.

"Fine," he sighs, taking it out of her hands and stuffing it into his trouser's pockets.

"You're not going to open it yet?" While he can't be entirely sure, he's almost certain she's not happy about that.

"If we're considering this a bribe, then I'd prefer to be discreet about it," he explains, a thin smile playing on his lips. If he knows Cecilia, and he would like to think he does by now, she'd be dying to know his reaction to her gift, and Mortum is much, much more patient than she is.

"I can be discreet!" she complains, gesturing to the room. "I took you in here for a reason, didn't I?"

"And I appreciate that, but I like to go the extra mile." His teeth flash white, and Cecilia sighs.

"Nobody has any appreciation for gift givers anymore," she laments.

"You have a whole party ahead of you. That's more than enough appreciation, don't you think?"

"I wish." She steps a foot back and looks around, the cue that the conversation is over. "The party is lovely, but I have other matters to attend to tonight. Have some drinks for me, okay?"

"We don't serve alcohol here," he points out.

"Another reason I have to go, then. Who hosts a party without any alcohol?"

Without bothering to wait for his answer, she saunters off to the door. Just as she leaves, she turns to him, adds, "Oh, and Peak is starting a fight in the kitchen," and closes the door behind her. It takes him a moment to process what she said, but when he does, he's left desperately scrambling out of the room.

The party was mostly successful, aside from the brief scuffle between Peak and Chronos Claw. Peak had been handled appropriately, by which Mortum means he kicked them to the curb with a suitable warning for next time. He's finished cleaning most of the trash; the decorations he can deal with tomorrow. Mortum pours himself a well-deserved glass of wine and sighs contentedly, taking a seat at the dining table. As he does, though, something digs into his leg. Frowning, he takes out the offending object.

It's Cecilia's gift– in the bustle of the party, he'd forgotten about it completely. He purses his lips together, contemplating it, before giving in and unwrapping it cleanly. The box inside is a plain white, giving nothing of its contents away. Part of him is tempted to shake it for hints. The other part of him argues that if this is fragile, he could be left with no gift. The debate holds for roughly half a second before he reluctantly opens it without clues, adjusting his glasses to get a proper look inside.

It's a simple gold watch, chic and sleek. He takes it out, inspecting it, before noticing the small, almost unnoticable latch on the bottom of the watch-face. Intriguing. Suspicious. If this is a prank, Cecilia is officially banned from any future parties, and potentially his lab.

Against his better judgement, he flips it. A small holographic screen lights up, painting his arm in blue, and his eyes skim through the words.

He can feel himself smile. Oh, this is a fun, fun toy.

He recognizes it now: a compact EMP ray, capable of targetting and killing certain electronics. He turns the watch over again, and, ah, there it is– a button, just under the watches' crown. That should be the button to fire it. He'd considered getting one for himself before, or perhaps even making one, but he never had the time or reason to. Not to mention, in his lab, a stray fire could be disasterous. Now that he has it, though, it'd be much easier to deal with the more technologically advanced threats. Perhaps even clients, if some prove to be too risky. It's a wonder how Cecilia got this. Or why she felt the need to gift him it in the first place.

Mortum cringes, rubbing his eyes. He's been avoiding that line of thought since the party: the fact that Cecilia only went to it in the first place because of him. It was invite-only– did she feel obligated to come? To make up for everything that had happened between them?

'Consider it a bribe, then. For your continued goodwill.'

How much of that had been a lie?

He sighs to himself. Deeply. He supposes he can overlook Cecilia's strikes. For now.

–––

Ricardo dumps the marshmallows into his steaming mug of hot chocolate. Looks like he's spending Christmas alone this year. He's gotten too busy to take the drive to visit Mama at the Ranch. He thought about crashing at Chen's, but decided against it. He's not in a real holiday mood this year. A bitter thought that this could've been the first Christmas he's spent with Ceci since she came back worms its way into his brain, but he squashes it. He heads out of the kitchen, pauses at the fridge, then pulls out a bottle of bourbon. He's probably gonna need it tonight.

He heads for the living room, trying to decide if he'll get a book or not. Maybe the TV instead, he's not feeling like-

Movement?

He swivels to the couch. Somebody's there. Sitting on the armrest, kicking their feet, and...

He blinks.

"Cecilia?"

She looks up from staring at her own legs, waving at him.

"Hey."

Ricardo doesn't think. He carefully sets the mug and the beer on the table, turns back to her, and lets sparks fly.

"Wait, wait!"

She raises both hands up, abandoning the cane she's been twiddling with. She's a damn lucky bastard he didn't actually try tasing her. He's caught halfway between his punch, narrowing his eyes. He doesn't know why he let her speak– maybe instinct. Shouldn't have given her the opportunity, she'd take that as an invitation, and she loves the sound of her own voice.

"What are you doing here?" His voice is hard. He hasn't moved an inch, his fists are still raised, daring her to speak. She takes a deep breath.

"Have dinner with me?"

He has to pause to make sure he heard her right, staring at her incredulously. No, that was stupid to do. Of course he heard her right. Who else would have the audacity?

"Seriously?" He asks anyway. He's pretty sure he's in a fever dream.

She lowers her hands, but continues tapping them on her legs. "It's Christmas. I left my armor at home. I promise I won't try anything." She looks physically pained when she adds, "Please?"

There are a million questions swirling through his head right now. Where has she been? What does she want with him? Why now? Too many thoughts at once, so he does what he always does and blurts out the first one that comes to his mind.

"How did you get into my house without your armor?"

Ceci's smile is small, but it has some of the same mirth as her usual ones.

"Villain secrets. Sorry, Ric. Maybe up security a little if you wanna keep me out." There should've been a wink at the end of the sentence, but she continues fidgeting with her skirt, her cane, her fingernails. Anything she can get her hands on. He sighs, straightening himself up again and dragging a hand over his face.

"Give me one good reason I should have dinner with you instead of throwing you out right now." He glares at her, keeping his voice unyielding.

She's quiet for a second, the plastic bag on his couch he didn't originally notice rustling as she pulls out a bottle. "I brought beer?"

"I have bourbon," he says deadpan, gesturing to the table.

"...And gifts?"

Ricardo raises an eyebrow at her. "Paid?"

"Hey, I tried." She spreads her hands, irritated, voice stronger than it's been all night. "The seller tried to scam me out of it. That is not my fault. He got exactly what he had coming to him."

Ricardo holds his glare for one second. Two. Three, and he sighs again, deeply. "Soy un maldito idiota... fine, but you're helping me with the food."

She lights up in equal parts shock and delight, and he feel himself regretting this already. She swings off the couch in one smooth move, taking her cane and plastic bag with her.

"You got anymore of that hot chocolate?"

"Are you going to spike it?" Ricardo picks up his mug and bourbon, heading back to the kitchen. He can hear Ceci following behind him.

"Well, duh," she says, like he knew she would, setting her bag down at the counter. "But..."

"But?"

She takes out a single box wrapped with reindeer print and hands it to him. He frowns at her.

"We're not saving it till after dinner?"

"Just open it, jackass."

He shrugs. He's not going to deny himself a gift– some would say he's got a soft spot for them. He's not gonna deny that either. He takes it, ripping the wrapping, enjoying the feeling as it tears. The box that greets him is white, with a generous helping of teal and black. There's a bold heading and a picture at the front that...

"You're kidding," he says, hands working to open the box before he even finishes his sentence. There's no way Cecilia would do something like that.

Yet there it is– a goofy Sidestep mug, identical to the one sitting cracked on his shelf.

"They still make these?" It's the only thing he can say right now. His hands are settled on the counter, not touching it.

"No. I had to track down some asshole collector for it." She pulls out her own box as she talks, revealing a matching Charge mug in all its glory. She looks so pleased with herself it's hard to buy her annoyance about getting the mugs.

"Did you get that from your seller too?"

She snorts. "No, and he's lucky I didn't. I could get this one from the official store, it's just too overpriced." She holds up her mug in cheers.

"You don't even have the hot chocolate for them yet," he points out, but he's smiling. She lowers it, raising an expectant eyebrow at him.

"Then hop to it, Sparkles."

"You said you were helping!"

"I said I was helping with the food. I didn't specify how I would be helping." She does a sweeping gesture with her arm and a bow. "Consider me your moral support for tonight."

There's a mix of grumbles and curses before Ricardo reluctantly accepts his fate and gets the pot, while she sits on the counter beside him chatting about nothing and everything. When her cocoa is done– generously spiked with bourbon and beer– they clink their mugs together, Ceci with the widest, most honest smile he's seen in weeks.

"Hey Sparkles?"

"Mm?"

"Merry Christmas."

He can't help the small smile worming its way onto his lips.

"You too, Ceci."

[thatcryptidinthesea]

Strap in boys, this is a long one.

So I was looking back through the pages of the manga and I noticed something very interesting about Hyuse. It's a really subtle thing but it's been blowing my mind all the way to Saturn and back.

I had to split this post up because of the Tumblr picture limit so if you want the full version you can find it here.

When we first meet Hyuse, he's in the Aftokrator Away Ship, dressed in Aftokrator's military uniform, surrounded by fellow soldiers. And he looks like this:

Look at his hair. It's neat and tidy, slicked back to be smooth and out of the way. It's very round and flat and well-behaved, almost like it's been polished.

Soon after this, Hyuse is instructed to go out and fight Tamakoma-1. So he does. He goes with Viza and he fights Tamakoma-1.

But Tamakoma-1 isn't easy to beat. In fact, they're quite hard to beat, and Hyuse is encountering some difficulties. Their techniques and weapons are new, unusual and unknown to him - he's being exposed to how Meeden works for the first time. And his hair... scruffs just a little bit.

Just a little bit messier, not a lot to really matter. Could be just the effect of an intense fight.

Then he meets Jin.

And then he fights Jin. And after fighting Jin and learning that his fellow Aftokratans have left, he looks like this:

Those back spikes weren't like that before, were they? No, after having fought with Jin and being told he's been abandoned by his comrades, Hyuse's hair is definitely scruffier. (Also, doesn't that crack look weirdly like he's... crying? Food for thought.)

So Aftokrator loses and Hyuse is taken prisoner, and when we next see him, it's here:

Posture slouched, hands in his pockets, hood over his head. A very clear anti-social stance. He doesn't want to be here, he doesn't want to talk to these people, he's pretty much doing this against his will. So he's reluctant, and he's hiding.

This is a common thing with Hyuse. It's how Ashihara communicates the distance between Hyuse and other characters to the audience; if he doesn't want to be there, he puts the hood up and he hides. And it's kinda interesting that the behaviour that is associated with Hyuse hiding is also the behaviour where he covers his hair.

His hair, which went from almost-uniform neatness in Aftokrator's ship to a ruffled mess after being on Meeden.

Do you see where this is heading? Let me keep going.

After the Aftokrator invasion, Hyuse spends some time among Tamakoma Branch as per Border's way of keeping him prisoner. He barely talks to any of the people there, but that doesn't mean he doesn't interact with them. He's still in the same space as them, sharing the same environment, so he continues to gain exposure to Meeden and its people, and he bonds particularly with Yōtarō.

Following this, the next major event in the story is the Galopoula invasion. Towards the end Hyuse meets with one of the Galopoula soldiers (Reghindetz) and demands to be taken with them so he can return to Aftokrator.

Hyuse fakes stabbing Yōtarō in order to convince Reghindetz of taking him with them, but Reghindetz flips out a completely grills him.

Chapter 135 is the first ever chapter to be titled with Hyuse's name; it's incredibly important to his character, and this panel is the centre of it. It takes up half the page it's on. Ashihara wanted to make it very clear to the audience that this moment for Hyuse is absolutely critical - and it is, because this is a major turning point in Hyuse's character growth. He's just had the blatant truth of what it means to be left behind by Aftokrator thrown right in his face.

And you wanna know what Ashihara chose to highlight in such an incredibly crucial moment for Hyuse's character?

His fucking hair.

His messy, fluffy, scruffy hair that looks absolutely nothing like it did when he first arrived in the Aftokrator ship. His hair, which has gone from neat and orderly and controlled to wild and free just from being on Meeden.

But the absolute wildest part? Hyuse looks like a teenager now. The more his hair fluffs up and gets scruffy, the more Hyuse looks like a normal everyday teenager who just grew up on Meeden/Earth. It's insane. It's surreal. It's absolutely off-the-walls batshit bonkers and Ashihara is a bloody genius.

It doesn't stop there either, because the very next thing that happens is the first time the audience gets to see Hyuse put on Lambyris. And lo and behold...

Hyuse, using Lambyris and wearing Aftokrator's military uniform, has scruffy hair.

Ashihara could've just made it so that Lambyris automatically gives Hyuse neatened hair, and excused the previous scruffiness with "he was in a fight". But he didn't. Instead he chose to show us Hyuse putting on Lambyris while looking like a normal teenager, and have his trion body load in with god damn scruffy hair.

What happens afterwards? Well...

Hyuse hides again.

Notice how he took the hood off when facing Reghindetz? He was confident then, self-assured. He had a plan and he was gonna act on it. Now, that's all been crushed. He's back to square one and worse, he's been confronted with the fact that he's been abandoned.

There's a distinct pattern to Hyuse's hiding. Whenever he's faced with something that shakes his world view and/or hurts his pride, he puts his hood up. He creates a second shield for himself and he uses it to cover up his key defining features. This isn't just anti-social behaviour, it's a defence mechanism.

The Aftokrator invasion? No hood, but the moment he's taken prisoner of war it's there. Aftokrator lost and then left Hyuse behind, and he's hiding how he's hurt by that. On top of that, he's being manhandled by Border.

Confronting Reghindetz? No hood, he didn't feel like he needed it. Post-Galopoula invasion? Hood up, head down, won't sit near anyone but Yōtarō. He's having to rearrange his whole perception of himself, Aftokrator and Meeden and it sucks.

And thirdly, confronting the Border Executives. In order for Hyuse to get back to Aftokrator, he needs to join Tamakoma-2 as their second ace, and help them get onto the Away Mission team. To do that, however, he needs approval from the heads of Border - which means he needs Osamu to plead his case.

Notice how, by having him sat down, Ashihara made Hyuse shorter than Yūma in this panel? How Hyuse, who's normally the tallest out of Tamakoma-2, is depicted as smaller than their smallest member? And even more than that, how Osamu is now the tallest?

Where Hyuse is normally the guide, the advisor, the more experienced one that the others turn to, in this situation he is the one reliant on them.

And look, he's regressed. He's gone back to that flat-eyed stare he had when we first saw him in the hoodie, sat in the back of the car.

He's been placed into a situation where he is basically powerless and completely dependent on others to survive, and in response all of his defence mechanisms have gone back up. He refuses to emote properly and only talks when he feels it's absolutely necessary, and the hood stays firmly on - hiding not only his hair but his horns as well, the key defining feature of his Neighbour heritage.

But Mikumo succeeds in getting Hyuse approved for Tamakoma-2. And Hyuse, incidentally, goes back to being depicted as the tallest of the four of them.

From this angle, it also appears that he's no longer slouching. His confidence is slowly coming back.

So at long last, in Chapter 150/151, Hyuse joins Border. He rocks up at the induction ceremony in a customised C-Rank uniform, hair fully exposed and scruffy as ever.

[yoomiwrites]

Salty Rush⁸

Summary: Some time ago, Reader was a partner of Akainu, a comrade he could rely on. Reader betrayed the navy, became part of a pirate crew...And finally the two face each other again

Note: This chapter is rather short. Why? Because the next chapter will be smut and I originally had it included here, but I'd much rather have it in it's own chapter for ya'll so that you don't have to see—or read—anything ya don't wanna.

I watched him walk away, his broad shoulders tense and his pace unyielding, as if trying to put as much distance between us as possible. My heart still raced, my mind still reeling from the kiss—the rawness, the intensity of it—but I couldn’t let him leave like this, not after what had just happened.

“Sakazuki!” I called, hurrying after him.

“Go back,” he growled, not bothering to turn around, his voice gruff and filled with warning. “Leave before I change my mind and kill you after all.”

I stopped in my tracks, his words cutting through the air like a blade. For a second, the old fear tried to creep back in, but something inside me pushed it away. I wasn’t afraid. Not of him. Not after everything.

“You think I’m scared of you?” I asked, my voice steady despite the storm of emotions swirling inside me. “I’m not. I just… I want to understand.”

He paused, but didn’t turn to face me. His back was rigid, his fists clenched at his sides as if he was trying to keep himself in control.

I stepped closer, determined to make sense of the storm between us. “You kissed me,” I said softly, “and then you tell me to leave. You’ve been pushing me away this whole time, but I am not stupid, Sakazuki. I can feel it. You still care. After all this time…”

His silence was deafening, but the tension in his stance told me everything. My heart pounded as I took another step, closing the distance between us. “Even after everything that’s happened… after all this time?” I asked, the question heavy with the weight of the years we had lost.

He finally turned, his dark eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made my breath catch. His jaw was tight, his lips pressed into a thin line as if he was fighting against himself. But then, in a voice so low I almost missed it, he answered, “Always.”

The word hung between us like a confession, a truth that had been buried for far too long. My chest tightened, the gravity of it settling deep within me. This wasn’t just a moment of weakness or confusion—it was something that had lingered between us for years, something that had never faded.

We stopped, both of us standing still as the reality of what we felt settled in. For the first time, it was clear: we had one thing in common, after everything—love. But it was a love that had no place in the world we lived in.

He was an admiral, a man bound to duty, to justice, to an unwavering belief in absolute power. And I was a pirate, a traitor in his eyes, a person who had walked away from everything the Marines stood for.

It was too late.

“It was doomed to fail from the start, wasn’t it?” I said quietly, my voice heavy with resignation. “We never stood a chance.”

Sakazuki’s face hardened, but I could see the pain behind his eyes, the war he was waging inside himself. “You made your choice,” he said, his voice cold but wavering. “You became a pirate. You turned your back on everything. On me.”

“I didn’t turn my back on you,” I said, my voice sharper now. “I turned my back on the system. You knew it was broken, too. You understood why I left, even if you never admitted it.”

His fists clenched again, and I could see the conflict tearing him apart. He had always been unwavering in his beliefs, in his sense of duty. But now, standing here, I could see the cracks in that facade.

“What do you want from me?” he asked, his voice raw, almost desperate. “You think this changes anything? You’re still—”

“I know what I am,” I cut him off. “I’m a pirate. A traitor. And you’re an admiral. You’re right—it’s too late for us. It’s too late for whatever this could’ve been.”

The silence that followed was crushing. We both knew the truth. Even though we had found each other again, even though the feelings between us hadn’t died, the reality of our positions was unchangeable.

He took a step forward, and I held my breath, wondering what he would say, what he would do. But instead, his hand hovered in the air between us, fingers twitching as if he wanted to reach out and pull me close again, but he stopped himself.

His eyes softened just a fraction, and in that moment, I saw the man I had known all those years ago—the man who had cared for me, even if he had never said it out loud. “It was always doomed,” he murmured, his voice a quiet admission. “But that doesn’t change anything.”

The weight of his words pressed against my chest, but I couldn’t let it end like this. Not again.

I reached out, fingers curling around his wrist, stopping him as he made to turn away. He stiffened at my touch but didn’t pull back. His pulse thrummed beneath my fingertips, strong and unrelenting, just like the man himself.

“Then let it be doomed,” I said, my voice barely louder than a whisper. “Let it be impossible. But don’t walk away from this. Don’t walk away from me.”

For a moment, he didn’t respond. The tension between us coiled tighter, the air thick with unspoken words, unyielding emotions. And then, as if something inside him finally snapped, he turned fully to face me.

His hand shot up, gripping my arm—not rough, but firm, grounding. His dark eyes burned into mine, filled with a fire that rivaled the magma he commanded. “Do you have any idea what you’re asking for?” he rasped, his voice low, guttural.

“I’m asking for you,” I said, unflinching.

A flicker of something—anger, longing, fear—crossed his face before he closed the distance between us in a single, decisive step. His lips crashed against mine, the kiss raw and hungry, fueled by years of repression and pain. It wasn’t gentle, wasn’t soft. It was desperate, a battle of wills as much as it was a surrender.

My back hit the rough bark of a tree, but I barely noticed, too consumed by the heat of him, the weight of his body pressing against mine. His hands, calloused and strong, cupped my face, holding me in place as if afraid I’d disappear.

I tangled my fingers in his coat, pulling him closer, needing him closer. The world around us faded—the sea, the wind, the impossible reality of who we were—all of it dissolved into the fire that blazed between us.

When we finally broke apart, both of us were breathing heavily, our foreheads resting together. His hand moved to my jaw, his thumb brushing over my cheek in a way that was almost tender, a stark contrast to the intensity of the kiss.

“This still changes nothing,” he said, his voice hoarse but resolute, as if trying to convince himself as much as me.

“It changes everything,” I countered, my own voice trembling with the truth of it. “You know it does.”

He didn’t respond, but his silence spoke volumes. He closed his eyes briefly, his brow furrowing as if the weight of his emotions was too much to bear. When he opened them again, the conflict in his gaze was as clear as the stars overhead.

“We’ll burn for this,” he said, his voice low, almost a growl. “You understand that, don’t you?”

I nodded, my fingers tightening on the fabric of his coat. “Then let it burn.”

For a long moment, he just stared at me, his expression unreadable. And then, with a deep, shuddering breath, he leaned in again, his lips finding mine in a kiss that was slower, deeper, and filled with something that felt achingly like surrender.

As we sank to the ground, the roughness of the tree at my back and the cold earth beneath us, I realized something: this moment, however fleeting, was worth every consequence.

[okkos-ferrum]

gray's return in the show and how it defines gray as a truly morally gray character

i just gotta ramble more abt this scene, with it being one of my favorite scenes in the show. but really i just wanna talk abt how this scene encapsulates gray's ... grayness... of the moral variety

especially since it is done so effectively since, like i mentioned in other posts, our screen time with actual gray and not graham or whatever is limited.

this scene sees the return of gray in the plot, picking up directly where we leave off from all the way back in episode 2

Bye-bye, Black Sheep...

I assume you prefer I continue to call you "Carmen"?

as i stated previously on other posts, because of the silly brainwashing plot, much of graham scenes can be thrown out. in a sense, it's the writers' way to put a big old pause on his character

and these are only one of the two conversations carmen and gray have in current day as themselves -- with no mind wiping or brainwashing (not including flashback cuz the actual issues of the relationship that need to be addressed havent been established yet)

so resuming directly right where we left off with gray trying to kill carmen, we return back to gray trying to kill carmen :D

but this time he did recongize carmen's name, alluding to his change ... even tho he is waving his electric stick around -- mirroring their last encounter in paris

side tangent: something i, additionally, love about this scene is just how it is blunt and honest. much of carmen sandiego's drama/conflict is built of misunderstanding and misdirection and mistrust of the characters. Which while, yes, i am eating up, but unfortuntely can cause many characters relationships to be burdened with a lot of things that can be easily cleared up with a talk. gray for once just bluntly takes a stance.

something that i do like is that in their only two scenes with each other as themselves, carmen (the pilot flashbacks) and gray (this scene) open up so fast with one another. there's never any miscommunication between them during these scenes .... well until vile barges into the conversation....

ANYWAY here we get revealed gray's full perception of himself and his goals very explicitly, especially since his memories and alliances was the biggest question over the viewers' head for most of the show

here gray explains that he believes that he is not a good person, someone incapable of change.

from his perspective, the only way he was able to be a "good" person was when he was brainwashed. and he had just had however long with his chats with maelstrom emphasizing that he has always been a bad person by nature. with the knowledge vile will forever have full control over him -- either as a vile operative or as a mindwiped civillian -- gray essentially accepts his fate as a bad person, because at the very least he is himself.

carmen may have gotten away from vile, but he is told by maelstrom it is due to her being a naturally good person. because his own perception of himself is as somebody who is incapable of good, he will never be able to leave vile now

and carmen is right there in front of him. it was his hesistance that landed him into this debacle, and with maelstrom and bellum both just past the door and carmen alone, gray has every chance to right his wrong.

but he doesnt. because he realizes that the very least he can make the choice of is never hurting carmen. as i stated in other posts, gray's main motive is to be free from any standard that could get in between him and his success. but his want for this freedom ironically got him trapped within following vile's orders. he had been so caught up in following vile that he had lost sight of himself and what he cares about.

so now he explains to carmen his absolute refusal to hurt her again, begging her to give up in stopping vile

selfish and selfless

But I'm begging you, give up trying to stop us, because I don't ever want to be put in a position to hurt you again.

gray's plea to carmen here is so perfectly two-sided

he is acting out selflessly in not allowing his alliances against carmen blind him. i mean that is what he fucked up last time in the train, where it was clear gray wanted to spare carmen - with giving her time to share her side of the story and providing the offer - put unwilling to stand against his mission. like an actual human being, gray acknowledges his mistake and is trying to amend it by stating clearly that he cares abt carmen.

he, in essence, is apologizing for trying to harm carmen by expressing his major regret. moreover, he acknowledges their chat in the pilot, accepting carmen will not return to vile. it stems likely from the ink blot scene earlier, where maelstrom speaks about nature, making a distinction between vile, and by extension, gray's, and carmen's morals. he is finally reconciling that he and carmen will not be on the same side, no matter how much he wants it to be otherwise.

it can also be viewed as a sense of wanting to protect carmen. because he feels so small compared to vile, he barely can ponder how anyone can actually succeed in going against them. i mean they brainwashed him and easily gave and took away his civilian life. in his eyes, carmen staying far from vile is the only way she could be safe

however, viewing it from another perspective shows gray's selfishness in his plea. when he speaks about never wanting to be put in a position to hurt carmen again, he kinda places such a responsibility on carmen, not recongizing he himself is capable of changing that.

Essentially saying "hey quit while you're ahead so you don't gotta make me feel guilty when doing crime" while ignoring that he is making the choice join vile

It kinda stems from his lack of faith in carmen or his own cowardice against vile or a combination of both. What may just be the only way he can protect to protect carmen comes off in his own lack of faith in her ability. as i mentioned earlier, this practically is his own resignation to his fate that vile cannot be fought against. he took his own defeat as the only way to be safe, refusing to believe carmen can successfully fight them.

while he was able to get past the hurdle of accepting carmen changing and no longer standing alongside him, he cant seem to understand his own responsibilty in this.

he's being selfish by demanding a change in carmen's behavior while he continue along with his own desires. While yes, i did just detail the various factors that led to him to such a conclusion, the window was LITERALLY OPEN for him to leave

following carmen blowing up the facility and rejecting gray's demand -- SHE IS SO REAL FOR THAT I LOVE HER SM IN THIS EP -- the wall LITERALLY IS OPEN FOR TO LEAVE CARMEN WITH

Goodbye, Gray

Idk how intentional this is, but the framing shows carmen literally, by her own will, forcing an opening for herself out of vile (both figuratively in the past and literally right now lol) while gray watches on idly, too scared to leave the grasp of vile but just watching on.

and his cowardice is followed through in the finale, with after months of idly watching carmen slip deeper into evil by the brainwashing, he actually takes actions against vile by actively choosing to work with acme, abandoning tigress, and being the one to land the memory recovery thing on her.

it is what makes gray such a stand out character in this show, admist his frustrating back-and-forth and selfishness and sometimes wasted writing. he keeps making a mistake but proceeds to fix it right after. his growth into a better person requires him to make these mistakes, because unlike carmen and most people in the show on the side of good, gray doesn't work on any moral compass. he is not actively evil and wishing to inflict harm and conflict like paper star or vile facilty, nor is he driven by morals such as team red and julia. he is driven by whatever he selfishly cares abt. and from what we see of him both in the pilot and this ep, he makes as many mistakes as he does have slivers of good actions

basically gray is an interesting character cuz he literally fucks up his personal goals, but he makes an earnest attempt to make it better lol

[thatguywhomightbeagirl]

You mother fuckers astound me, truly. You had Biden and who has two big negatives

- the question of his mental capacity

- his stance regarding Palestine

Now that Harris is up to bat you idiots are still like ‘aw I don’t know’ what the fuck? She’s not 80 years old, she has previously been kinder to Palestine when the potus she serves under seemed to make his stance very clear. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!?

‘I didn’t like Biden but now that there is someone that’s better and still has a chance I’m going to vote independent’ or ‘I live in X state so my vote doesn’t matter I’m gonna vote independent’

You’re in a fucking tug of war for your life and the lives of those around you. ‘There’s some super buff people on the other side, but we can work together and win this to make sure women actually have rights’

And you idiots are like ‘no I don’t think I’m gonna make a difference in a tug of war for the fate of my soul, I’m just gonna go play basketball where the rings are 50ft high and the ball is deflated. But good luck though.’

Like I get that OnE vOtE dOeSnT dEcIdE the ElEcTiOn but a hundred votes does and those hundred votes are made up of one hundred single votes and I know it’s how it works in the US cause your country is a million kinds of fucked but what is the harm in trying to do the thing that could actually help people?

‘But she used to be a cop’

You absolute morons. I’ve seen so many people say this. I get it, I don’t like police I really don’t, but in what world is a politician really that much better? AND IN WHAT WORLD IS THE AVERAGE COP WORSE THAN ronald drumpf?

You dense shits decide to say ACAB because it gets you fucking brownie points but when you can actually choose not to help evil and malice you decide to look the other way because you don’t want people calling you out on what’s on your profile?

‘I won’t vote for the best choice because I wanna slide in the dms of this vegan trans girl’ fuck off. Did she work in a place that’s 99%filled with the worst fucking white men you know? Yeah she did but the alternative is John Wayne Gacy but he owns a bunch of properties. Do you know how much worse he is than the average police officer? I know it’s not really easy to compare evils and there’s lots of problems with it but this feels pretty cut and dry. One had jobs that people I don’t like have the other has committed some of the worst crimes imaginable and continues to enforce systems that allow them to happen.

For the love of God get your head out of your ass and vote blue, I don’t care if trump jr is announced as the newest Democrat choice, almost anyone is better than trump. It’s like if Ronald Reagan had late stage dementia or someone who seems comparable to Obama who was a very well received president and you bitches are letting Reagan go so the onlyfans girl feels comfortable calling you a good (gender).

I appreciate the idea that if the good option won’t win you guys are happy to go with what you think is the perfect option. But the perfect option has a 0% chance to win and you are doubling down there when the great option has a 40% chance to win and by going with the 0% chance it gets more likely that the absolute worst nuclear option wins?

Some of you truly astound me.

[dreadfullydevoted]

Well, Guess I should say my statement, hm? Expect a long post ;P

Cracks knuckles. So. the proshipper drama stuff, am I right?

Not ONCE did I state that Bailey himself was a proshipper. not ONCE. However, I did state I was concerned with what he believes in and his opinions on the topic. I, personally, haven't said a word to anyone outside of the three people I have spoken to. None of the anonymous messages that have been sent to him are my doing. I have not done any of those whatsoever. And I do not support a damn thing any of those freaks have said. Not one bit. In my opinion? This shouldn't have been made public, I have no idea on how this has escalated so fucking quickly and that shit is BEYOND me. I spoke to three people about this. Nobody else. That's it. I made a post, but not once did I mention names, I stated this for current and future reference.

Should I have done things differently? Yes, probably. But I'm not going to apologize for my concern I had for any of the individuals I contacted. Nor am I going to apologize for the actions any of them might have made. Their hands, their actions. Not mine. My statement still stands, wether you use the term darkship, proship, whatever, if you defend that shit, get away from me.

It is so beyond me how fucking out of hand this has gotten, and allll the anons and threats disgust me. Like genuinely disgust me. I'm not changing my stance, I'm not changing my view, but it needs to be acknowledged that things like this shouldn't be taken care of through threats. At ALL. I sent the anon about nsfw art out of a place of concern from a few days ago, did I do anything else with that? No. However, I still found myself concerned after the reply I got in response.

Call this a miscommunication, do as you please, I don't really care honestly?? But let's really make this clear, don't go fucking threatening people that's fucked up, c'mon. Like, as much as you can disagree w/ someone on something, threats are stupid as hell man, like.... God. Whatever.

Was I expecting Bailey to get... Idk "cancelled?" No. Was I attempting that? Absolutely not. I have stated multiple times to the people I have talked to that I was merely giving a warning or a form of awareness on the topic, and it was their choice to do whatever.

For the sake of my own comfort, I have personally decided to block the dude. I don't care on what was said or what wasn't said, I'd rather not listen to what he has to say about any of this so I'm not going to. I don't hold any hate or grudge against him, but I do believe this is what's best for the situation.

I will take note that yes, it could've been a miscommunication, it could've been something along those lines, but it needs to be put out there that no matter what someone says, terms change. Even if something used to be considered good, they turn bad. You can't say something and expect everyone to know what you're saying.

Either way. That's my side. My story, whatever the hell you wanna call it, I don't really care. You can do whatever. Block me, report me... Whatever man, let's be honest here, does anyone really need the time for this? c'mon.

TLDR: The anons sending threats are not my doing, I was merely sending out warnings to people. I had no involvement in any of the hate whatsoever. I'm tired. Jesus fuck, dude.

[5secondsofmoxley]

Wrestling With Feelings // Part 2

Read Part 1 here

Quick reminder, I am not a pool expert. So the beginning of this chapter is brought to you today by Google 😂

————-

“Did you not see how bad I am? I’m a lost cause.” She huffed.

“You just need some guidance on aiming. It’s pretty easy once you figure out your grip.” Hook quickly reset the table for a new game. Once the balls were set, he put the cue ball in position and turned to her.

“Why don’t you start? You get an advantage when you can choose whether you wanna go for stripes or solid. If you get a good hit, you might be able to knock a ball right off the bat.” Hook stepped back, motioning her to take his place and go for the break.

She stepped forward hesitantly. Giving him once last glance, she focused on the task at hand. Leaning over the table, she lined up her stick with the cue ball. Hook had to remind himself that he was helping her learn to play better, focusing his eyes on her hands and not her ass. But damn, if she didn’t look good in those shorts.

“Are you sure I should start and not watch you take the first hit?” Startled from his thoughts, he quickly looked at her face, hoping she didn’t catch where his stare was. Two drinks and I’m thinking like a horny teen? Hook thought to himself.

Pulling his mind out of the gutter, he stepped forward next to her. “Right off the bat, I can show you how to hold the cue. Are you a righty, or a lefty?”

“Depends on what I’m doing.” Hook blinked at her. She sighed before adding, “for the most part, I’m a righty.”

Baffled at her response, he chuckled. “What does that even mean?”

“It means I’m ambidextrous, but for most things, like writing and such, I use my right hand. I can write with my left but it’s smoother with my right. But, I’m backwards when playing hockey, I was told I held the stick like a lefty. And I carry purses on my left arm. I don’t know, Tyler, I’m just weird like that. I walk my own path.” Ignoring the fluttering in his chest from hearing her say his name for what he’s pretty sure is the first time ever, he lets out a hearty laugh. He couldn’t help but find her nervous rambling absolutely adorable.

“Okay then. So, assuming that to play pool your right arm is dominant, you want to use that to aim. Your right hand is going to grip the back end of the stick. Use your left hand for the bridge. It’s basically just your leverage to hit the cue ball. Your right hand is doing all the work to aim and push.” Tyler leaned over, showing her what he meant as he explained it. “I’m going to break, but I’ll let you take the first shot after. Next round, you’ll break.”

“And that means?” She asked sheepishly.

“It just means you’re breaking the rack. Making the first hit after the balls are set in the triangle piece.”

“Oh, makes sense.”

Tyler smiled, shaking his head before making the first shot. Once all the balls stopped, he looked to her expectedly.

“Okay, I’m going now I guess.” She stepped to the table again before looking back at Hook. “Um, which am I going for?”

“Doesn’t matter, choose whichever you think you might be able to knock into a pocket right away.” He watched her as she walked around the table, carefully inspecting her options. He could see the gears in her head turning, but when he caught sight of her best shot, he guided her in the right direction.

“Come over here.” He motioned her to follow him to the side of the table. “This solid blue is your best shot. If you hit it at the right angle, and just the right amount of force, you have almost a clear shot into the pocket.”

“Tyler,” there’s that fluttering again, “I really think you have too much faith in me.”

“Lean in for your shot, and I’ll fix your form.”

She wiped a hand down her face, staring down her so called “best shot.” Leaning over the table, she took what she had thought was the correct stance.

Tyler hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was appropriate to lean over her and move her into better form. He couldn’t figure out a way to explain it to her that she’d understand. So, he convinced himself that she’d tell him if she wasn’t comfortable, before going in for the kill.

He took a breath before stepping next to her, and wrapping his right hand around hers. He gently twisted her hand, making it more comfortable for her and giving her a better grip. Moving his left hand forward, he fiddled with her fingers for a second to make her a better bridge. His eyes flickered to her face for a second, just in time to catch her eyes flicking back up to his from his mouth.

Holding eye contact with her, everyone else in the room disappeared. All the noise was drowned out, and suddenly it was just the two of them. Tyler couldn’t hear a thing besides his own heart pounding out of his chest. He wondered if she could feel it as he caught her just slightly pressing her back more into his chest.

And in his normal awkward fashion, instead of making a move, he helped with hers.

“Pull your right hand back, and just slide it forward with enough energy to hit the ball straight to the pocket.” He pulled his hand back, and since it was still firmly wrapped around hers, he gave her the perfect shot. The cue ball made contact with the solid blue ball and knocked it right into the corner pocket.

She turned her head just in time to catch the ball falling down the picket. Squealing excitement, she grinned at Tyler. “That’s the first time I’ve ever gotten the first shot! I mean, you did all the work, but it counts right?”

He laughed at that. “Yeah, ready to go for another?”

—-

“I can’t believe I actually won! Twice!” Tyler smiled at his feet, not having the heart to tell her he let her win one game. He wasn’t entirely sure she understood that she only won because he “accidentally” knocked the 8 ball into the pocket before his final striped ball. He was proud of the fact that she did legitimately win that second time. Hook was surprised how fast she picked up pool once she knew the proper way to hold the cue.

They had played 3 games total. She really got into playing after that initial game where he taught her how to play. He would’ve let her win that game, but he knew it would’ve been too obvious since she missed every shot he didn’t help her with.

“And you said you were a lost cause.”

“I would’ve been without you.” He swore she could hear how loud his heart was beating. They were walking shoulder to shoulder back to their hotel. Sometime during their second game, Danhausen had gone over to them seeing if they were ready to go. Hook was exhausted, but when he saw the look on her face, he decided he’d stay as long as she wanted to. So, Danhausen had left without them, promising to take their luggage back and not take anymore of Hook’s chip stash.

Tyler smiled at her, not knowing how to respond. Tonight had been amazing. Though most of their focus had been on playing, they really got lost in their conversations. He didn’t think he’d spoken to anyone nearly as much as he had with her during those few blissful hours.

A gentle nudge broke him out of his thoughts. “Give me your phone.”

Confused at the demand, but not worried too much about it, Hook handed over his phone without a word. He watched as she tried to get into it, but was locked out by Face ID.

“Unlock it, dummy.”

Hook snorted at the insult, but again, obliged without question. He watched silently as she opened his texts, and started a new conversation. After a few seconds, she handed him back his phone. Looking at the screen, he sees a simple “hi” text sent to an unsaved number. Hook looked back at her, just barely catching her creating a new contact on her own phone. She glanced at him after feeling his stare.

“I needed your number so we can set up that pool game to kick Adam’s ass. I’m no expert, but you seem pretty good at pool. And if I beat you twice, imagine how we’re going to crush Cole.” She smirked, getting a good laugh out of Tyler.

“You’re hell bent on beating him, aren’t you?” He chuckled.

“You don’t even know how many times Adam has destroyed me. This vendetta has been long brewing but now, you actually gave me a good fighting shot. Especially with you as my tag partner.” She nudged him again.

Nudging her back, he looked up just in time to notice them approaching the front doors of their hotel. Trying not to be too obvious, he took a couple big strides to reach the door in order to open it for her. She offered him a soft smile as she quietly thanked him. Looking at the ground for a second, she glanced back at him with a smirk. “Glad to see chivalry is thriving with you.”

Stepping in behind her, he hoped she didn’t catch the flush of his cheeks. He couldn’t remember a time a girl made him blush like she could. Hook tried to think of something that could return the favor and maybe even surprise her.

“Well, chivalry is just one of my many charms. Care for a knight in shining armor to sweep you off your feet?" Acting fast and with the help of the alcohol still in his system from earlier, he wrapped one arm around her waist, and the other under her knees to pick her up bridal style.

Gasping out a laugh, she quickly wrapped both arms around his shoulders as if afraid he’d drop her. “Tyler!” She giggled.

A few heads of the staff working through the night turned their way, but Tyler’s focus was fully on her. He couldn’t care less of who was watching them. He carried her to the elevator, managing to hit the up arrow without having to maneuver her much.

Stepping in once the doors opened, he looked down at her bright, smiling face. “What floor, milady?”

She shook her head, still laughing at the cold hearted handsome devil’s surprising silliness. “Third floor.”

Hook couldn’t help but smile to himself. “Same here.” He couldn’t thank the universe enough.

It was a short walk from the elevator to her room. He begrudgingly put her down, before asking her an important question. “Doesn’t Danhausen have your stuff still?”

“Nah, he brought it up to Kris. He knew we were staying together.” She stated, digging through her bag for her room key.

Tyler ran a hand through his hair, not sure what more to say. He wanted to say goodnight, but he also wanted to do something to guarantee they’d hang out again. He thought quick on his feet, before coming up with what he thought was the perfect excuse.

“Wanna grab breakfast in the morning? You know, for team bonding.”

A smile took over her face again. She shook her head, chuckling to herself. “Just for team bonding?”

“And for the most important meal of the day, yeah.” He played it cool, but he was almost positive she seemed to deflate just a little bit. He swore her smile dimmed for a split second. He cursed himself for that one.

“As long as you let me sleep till at least 11, and there’s coffee, I won’t say no to that.”

“Sounds good to me.” Tyler went to walk away, before she quickly laid her hand on his arm. He turned back to her, brows furrowing in confusion.

“Goodnight, Ty.” She kissed his cheek, shuffling into her room without giving him a chance to respond. He thanked the heavens she did though, he was sure there was no way she could’ve caught him blushing for the millionth time tonight.

Danhausen’s right, he thought to himself, touching a hand to where her lips touched, I do have it bad.

———————————-

{Taglist:} @shawtys-things

Let me know if you wanna be added to the tags! As of now, I think this is going to be a multi-chapter story I’ll be adding to sporadically.

[nerves-nebula]

You have a very clear stance about wanting there to be more examples of CSA in media, which I agree with wholeheartedly! Media like that has the chance to save people’s lives! But I never felt like it was my place to write about since I never experienced it. What are your thoughts on who is and isn’t “allowed” to make art about it?

(I’m sorry if this puts you on the spot, feel free to delete if you want!)

anyone is allowed to make anything about whatever they want forever, even if it's shitty and i personally hate it, and im not joking. i don't begrudge ppl for writing about a subject, i just have my own opinions on how they do it. and so does everyone else. sometimes I'll say "I wish this hadn't been made" or say something is a waste of time and is awful or detrimental but i don't believe in the concept of actually trying to enforce who should make what kind of media because I don't think that will lead to anywhere but censorship.

and censorship has never stopped awful things from being made, for the most part it just ends up blocking art that makes people in the majority feel uncomfortable.

sometimes I stop when i'm reading something and think "wow, this is really good, I wonder if the author is like me?" and sometimes they are, but sometimes they're just trying to express something real and that makes it FEEL like they're like me. and it doesn't really matter, because you shouldn't have to disclose your trauma to be allowed to write about it in the first place.

like, i enjoy talking about my personal experiences but it would be absolutely WILD to say that people aren't allowed to make art until they confirm or deny an incredibly personal and painful experience to you. and also you can just lie about that if you wanna write about the subject, so all it would really accomplish is punishing CSA victims who dont wanna talk about it but do wanna ART about it.

annyyyway that's the gist of it. there was this good post about censorship i reblogged a while back that goes into this more and that i mostly agree with (idk i havent read the whole thing in a while so I'm not gonna say i endorse all of it but yea i recall it being good)

[ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask]

In the nook of a valley that looked like it was ripped straight out of a postcard for “Adventurer’s Paradise,” Vannak-134 and Riz-028 stood awkwardly side by side. The scene was something out of a nature documentary, except the majestic beasts here were two supersoldiers in state-of-the-art MJOLNIR armor, not exactly blending in with the scenery.

Vannak, towering and clad in dark blue that screamed 'I’m here to party, but also I might accidentally demolish your house,' wore his EOD-variant helmet like it was part of his skull. Riz, on the other hand, was a study in black and subtlety, her armor sleek and adorned with a helmet that was more 'mysterious avenger from a sci-fi serial' than 'standard issue.' Those antennas on her head? They screamed 'I'm listening to your secrets, but also, I can't get good radio reception here.'

They were supposed to be scouting, or patrolling, or some other military term that meant 'walk around and make sure nothing explodes.' But there they were, staring at a waterfall as if it held the secrets of the universe, or at the very least, the secret to breaking the ice and admitting, "Hey, I kinda like you."

"Bet I can beat you to the top," Vannak said, breaking the silence with all the subtlety of a grenade in a china shop. His voice had that deep, rumbling quality, the kind that in ancient times made people think, 'Yep, that’s a leader,' or 'Maybe he’s a god,' but now just made Riz roll her eyes so hard she might've seen her brain.

Riz turned, her posture all 'challenge accepted,' but with an air of 'I’m also judging you.' "Wanna bet?" she threw back, her tone light, her dialect crisp with a hint of mockery, as if she was saying, 'Oh, we're doing this again? Alright, Shakespeare.'

The air between them, usually charged with the electricity of unspoken things and the lingering question of 'What are we, really?' was now laced with the anticipation of their ridiculous challenge. It was their thing, finding the most absurd ways to compete because apparently, talking about feelings was too mainstream.

"Okay, hotshot," Vannak chuckled, the sound muffled by his helmet, "loser buys dinner. And not just any dinner, but something from the black market of the mess hall."

Riz’s laugh cut through the sound of the waterfall. It was clear, almost musical, if music was made by sarcastic supersoldiers. "Deal. But when I win, I want one of those steaks you swear are 'just as good as real meat.' You know, the ones you talk about with the same reverence most people reserve for holy relics."

"You’re on," Vannak shot back, his stance ready, like a knight of old, if knights were into futuristic armor and making bets instead of jousting. "Prepare to be disappointed when it's your turn to raid the kitchen."

They squared up at the base of the cliff, the tension palpable, if you ignored the fact that this was all over a race to the top of a waterfall. "Ready to eat my dust?" Riz taunted, bouncing on the balls of her feet like a boxer ready to enter the ring."In your dreams," Vannak retorted, with the confidence of a man who has absolutely no idea if he can actually make good on his words.

Then, they were off, scrambling up the cliffside like two oversized mountain goats with an affinity for heavy metal—music or armor, take your pick. They climbed, occasionally slipping in their haste, the sound of their armor clanking against rock mixing with the constant roar of the waterfall. It was a symphony of chaos, a testament to their stubbornness and perhaps, a metaphor for their approach to personal issues—climb first, think later.

Halfway up, Riz nearly lost her grip, her foot slipping on a wet rock. Vannak reached out, grabbing her arm in a move that was part knight in shining armor, part 'oh no, we’re both going to die.' For a second, they locked visors, the world narrowing down to this moment of accidental intimacy.

"Thanks," Riz muttered, yanking her arm back like it was on fire, her tone a mix of gratitude and 'I'll never live this down.'

"Don't mention it," Vannak replied, his voice a weird blend of smug and genuinely concerned, like a puppy that's just saved its owner from tripping but also kinda caused it in the first place.

The race resumed, with more caution this time, as if they’d both been reminded that, yes, gravity still existed and, no, their armor couldn’t fly. When they finally reached the top, panting and probably a few dignity points lighter, they collapsed side by side, looking out over the valley below.

"So, about that dinner…" Riz started, breaking the comfortable silence.

"We'll see," Vannak replied, his tone light, but his unspoken words heavy with the promise of more than just a meal....

This was excellent. Your gift for imagery continues to astound me, and the ridiculousness of this event was so fun! I love the idea that Riz and Vannak are so bad at talking that they’d rather beat each other up than ask each other on a date.

The pining is adorable and the competition is even better. I loved it all.

[nyaagolor]

what do you think of Carmine and Kieran so far? My stance is that even though neither of them are abusive and do care deeply about each other (and seeing people say they are abusive, especially about Carmine, makes me really sad), I do think that their relationship is definitely NOT a "normal sibling relationship" and both of them do have a bunch of Capital I Issues. But them having Capital I Issues that complicate their relationship while still caring (which FURTHER complicates things) and not being bad people at all is what make them so interesting to me and it's a vicious cycle I LOVE VICIOUS CYCLES OF MISCOMMUNICATION AND MESSY RELATIONSHIPS!!! I'm so normal (lying)

absolutely adore them, Pokemon has really filled this game to the absolute brim with characters who 1. Behave like real people 2. Have actual personalities with arcs that don't act like complete archetypes. God fucking Bless.

The general reaction to the DLC tho has surprised me in the worst way possible. The characters in these games are significantly better written than any pokemon characters in the past but ultimately, they are still pokemon characters. Most of their personality traits are made abundantly and explicitly clear to the audience by the story's end. There is not much digging you really have to do here

And yet! I'm sitting here watching Carmine's reception and thinking back to Nemona, because both of them have a pretty clearly defined personality that I really didn't think were possible to misinterpret. Despite the fact that they are laughably easy characters to understand on a fundamental level people STILL have managed to mischaracterize them to the point of consistently putting discourse on my dash about it. "Carmine is abusive" Carmine is like 15. She is a teenage girl with a younger brother. This is how teenagers behave, especially insecure ones like Carmine is implied to be. She overcompensates and is kind of rude like 3 times and lets her caring nature slip constantly because she feels things extremely strongly. She gets really worked up over everything Because She Is A Teenager. I don't understand why this is difficult

I'm not even sure I would go as far as to say Carmine has Capital I Issues (tho that's a lil subjective, ymmv?) because everything just kinda feels like pretty typical teenager stuff? Like yeah she has issues but they're pretty much exactly what happened to like half the people I knew in high school. And honestly I adore that, it resonates with a lot of people and feels like a good representation of actual teenagers and their problems. It's not especially grandiose but it IS real. Her and Kieran's relationship having strain because they are both kids figuring out how to deal with each other and their emotions is a dope conflict to display in a pokemon game and I think fits in with the more grounded arcs and conflicts we've seen in the base game. It's nice

Kieran's fucked in the head tho idk what that bitch's problems are but I wanna watch him lose it. it'll be funny as hell. I hope his relationship with Carmine gets better but I want it to get worse first

[strangeswift]

just wanna make my stance very clear bc i have been passionate about this concept for literal Months. (but absolutely no shade to anyone who disagrees)

this is a pro- mike cheats on el with will blog 👍

obviously not like. in the way that i think cheating is good. i just mean For The Story. would eat it up in fics or in canon (because i am not a coward and it would be absolutely delicious.)

i am of the opinion that they both Would do it, totally fine if you disagree. i think mike is gonna feel pressure to stay with el because she is literally tasked with saving the world and her best friend is in a coma, and he feels she needs his support, But i think his feelings for will are gonna become harder to ignore. and he doesn't do it maliciously Obviously, he feels awful about it and so does will, but neither of them can stay away from each other and That's what makes it so delicious.

also not saying this is Likely to happen in canon just saying i would enjoy it if it was. because i like angst. ok 👍

[golbrocklovely]

im pretty sure we've talked about this multiple times before and no hate to the girl this is probably just me being insecure about myself but honestly im not even surprised about the girl colby is dating clearly shes had some plastic surgery done but i was really rooting for him to be dating a girl that's natural and it sucks to see all this plastic surgery on social media. it seems like the only girls guys date on here are the same body type; big boobs, big butt, small waist.. i guess i just wish there was more natural body representation if that makes sense

i've said my stance on this a number of times but i'll say it again just to make it a bit clearer.

while i understand why you might think this way, bc genuinely i've been in your shoes before, allow me to explain why i don't think like this anymore.

i wrote way too much so i'm sorry in advance lol

this is the first time, ever, that colby has admitted to dating a specific girl. we've seen some that we can guess he was with, or maybe had something going on there, but no actual full on confirmations. so there is really nothing to base malia off of.

we don't know what colby's type is. i know a lot of ppl think they have an idea but reality is we don't know bc we're not colby/we don't know him like that. he has been with a lot of different girls over the years and none of them are similar in anyway, body wise.

now, i know you're not trying to say this, but how your statement comes across is us vs them. or really "anyone that's gotten work done is lesser than those that haven't." bc if there really was no difference between someone that hasn't had work vs someone who has, you wouldn't be talking about this at all. you turn plastic surgery into a negative when in a lot of ways it can be positive.

but that's not to negate the negative effects society has place on women to look a certain way and thus the absolute rise in plastic surgery, fillers, and botox over the years. societal standards of beauty are bullshit and misogyny harms all of us.

i do have to ask, or just raise the question of… do you feel this same way about katelyn? or kat even? bc they were both skinny, pretty, dark haired girls that sam dated/is dating. and yet, you aren't asking him to date a more "natural" shaped woman. i just wanna know why colby has to be the exception. i'm also sure you know men in your own life who have types. do you call them out for only dating those types? just wondering.

i'm saying this as someone who has been in your exact shoes years ago. when i first got into the fandom, i genuinely was upset at colby for his dating habits and felt like he would never date someone that looked like me and that also led to me not ever feeling like i could be reposted by them for merch pics, bc bodies like mine just aren't as accepted.

but i need to make it abundantly clear: you have to stop relying on snc to make you love yourself. and i mean that in the nicest way possible.

snc are two random guys who most likely don't know who you are. you cannot rely on them to bring your self esteem up or to make you feel worthy of love. you have to do internal work and find a way to love yourself regardless of others, bc at the end of the day - you only have yourself.

i love snc, truly, but i don't give a rat's ass if they would find me hot. i find me hot. and that's all that matters. anyone that doesn't find me hot… that's their loss. bc i'm cute, have a big ass, and i'm funny.

10s across the board if you ask me lol

but to bring it back to snc, or colby specifically, the amount of insecurities i have towards myself were not his fault. he was not the one that made me feel like shit about myself, so i cannot take it out on him to try and fix me. he is one person with his own set of issues, who doesn't know i exist. and while it's easier to blame him and wish he was the one stand out, wattpad bf i wish he could be, reality is he too probably also likes a woman with big tits and a big ass. and there ain't nothing wrong with that, since he probably ALSO likes a girl with a personality too. bc fun fact, women with big tits and ass can also have a nice personality.

i'm not saying any of this to be mean to you genuinely. i get your thought process and feelings 100%. i just think you are placing a lot of your frustration on the wrong person. society as a whole is to blame for why you and i don't like ourselves. if anything, colby has helped me like myself more. i think we should try not to let his personal choices feel like a strike against us, if that makes any sense. he isn't dating someone like malia out of spite bc of plus size/natural body type fans. he's dating her bc he loves her, bc he found someone that makes him open up for the first time in a long time. and that should be celebrated, rather than shot down.

[missbaphomet]

Since Ken is probably going to try to drag my ass back into whatever internet beef he has going on, I just wanna get ahead of it.

I gave both of them (Emily and Ken) the benefit of the doubt and talked to them. It went well with Emily. I wouldn't call us friends, but I didn't block her again.

Ken went absolutely fucking ballistic when I told him the exact same shit I told Em, wouldn't hear it, started attacking my character, and then blocked me.

I'm gonna make it abundantly fucking clear once again. I don't give a fuck about this stupid internet drama. It's not my circus, not my monkeys. I think there's fault on both sides and have said as much. I just want Ken to stop name dropping me over bullshit that doesn't pertain to me. I was never involved in this, and still I'm catching blame. This is the last I'm engaging with any of this shit. Leave me the fuck alone, goddamn.

Em, since I know you read my blog, as far as I'm concerned, I have no issue with you. I blocked you again in case Ken wanted you to break your end of our deal. If you ever wanna reach out again, you know where to find me. So long as you honor the deal, you can reach out at any time.

Ken, just leave me alone. Don't talk to me, don't talk about me, don't mention me. It's not my fucking fault you didn't like the advice I gave, and last I checked time travel was impossible so it's really not my fucking problem what was said years ago, no matter if I disagree with it or find it distasteful. I spoke to you in good faith, and I was not obligated to do that. I was being very gracious and patient by offering my time WHEN I JUST WOKE UP to let you spam over a hundred messages at me (most of which contained direct insults to my character) and I will not be extending that grace again.

For anyone curious: my official stance on the drama is

EVERYONE SHOULD STOP BEING SHITTY TO EACH OTHER BUT ALSO I CAN'T MAKE ANY OF YOU DO IT SO IDK WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME