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linkspooky · 4 months ago

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What does "The King" mean in Yu-Gi-Oh GX?

This post is response to my friend @seventhdoctor's post right here, speculating on why Yubel has such particular hangups about kings. Yes, this is another Yu-Gi-Oh GX post. We'll be talking about season 3 of Yu-Gi-Oh GX under the cut, in particular the famous Judai becomes the supreme king twist.

Wait, Jaden does WHAT in Season 3?

So for some context on those who haven't seen season 3 of Yu-Gi-Oh GX (in which case why are you even here?), the antagonist for the entire season is a duel spirit named Yubel.

Yubel was happy go lucky protagonist Judai's favorite card growing up and spirit partner, before Yubel got too overprotective and started putting the children who defeated Judai in duels into comas. When the other kids started avoiding Yubel, Judai decided to put Yubel on an experimental kaiba corp satellite and launch him into space hoping exposure to cosmic radiation would help fix whatever was wrong with Yubel.

However, Yubel was blasted with the wrong kind of cosmic space rays and instead was exposed to the evil light of destruction, and endured ten years of torture before crashing back down to earth. In the meantime Judai had forgotten about Yubel's existence entirely because of an experimental memory erasure procedure done on him by his parents. Learning of this, that they were forgotten after being forced to endure all that pain by the person they loved the most understandably caused Yubel to snap and make this everyone else's problems.

Yubel spends the entirety of season 3 manipulating things behind the scenes to make way for their reunion with Judai. Along the way, they transport Judai and his friends to another dimmension, awaken Judai's memories of his past life causing the "supreme king" persona to take control, and also tempt Amon Garam into becoming their pawn with the power of exodia.

It's right before their long awaited reunion with Judai that Yubel has one final duel with Amon Garam, a duel from which a lot of Yubel's characterization can be inferred from the remarks they make towards Amon. Yubel takes a particular interest in seeing what makes Amon tick, and then using their knowledge of the inner workings of his mind to take him apart piece by piece.

This is noteworthy because usually Yubel does not care about anyone who's name doesn't rhyme with Shmaden Shmuki. To say that Yubel only has eyes for Judai is an understatement considering their whole plan is to fuse the twelve dimmensions together to make a world for just the two of them. Yubel treats all of their other pawns as disposable, Cobra and Marcel barely register to Yubel, but not only does Yubel go out of their way to tear Amon down, they tear him down for BEING A KING.

Which has always felt a bit strange to me, that Yubel would have a grudge against kings because not only is their entire identity tied up in knighthood, particularly being a knight in service to a king. As in a past life Yubel was once a normal child and friend to the prince, but decided to sacrifice their body to become a terrible dragon with impenetrable scales so they could protect that young boy as they grew into adulthood and became the supreme king and wielder of a force called the gentle darkness. They gave up their humanity, and personhood up in service of a king, and so their entire identity that they are Judai's one and only loving guardian.

One of their form names even translates to "Abominable Knight."

Das Abscheulich Ritter = The Abominable Knight Das Extremer Traurig Drachen = The Extremely Sorrowful Dragon

Yubel is a knight reincarnated from thousands of years ago who lived their live in service of a king, and gave up their body to become an inpenetrable shield for that king. Even in their next lifetime they still define themselves as Judai's one and only protector. Not only that, but they deliberately went out of their way to awaken Judai's memories of the Supreme King. So why, after going to all the trouble to do that does Yubel seem to loathe kings so much they need to make Amon into a punching bag and a target of mockery to cope?

What does "The King" mean to Yubel?

and furthermore

What does "The King" mean in Yu-Gi-Oh GX?

MASCULINITY AND TAROT

Toxic masculinity in MY Trading Card Game? Say it ain't so.

Joking aside, one of the first answers to this question is that Yubel loathes Amon so much and Amon's desire to be king, because of the ways in which Amon reminds them of Judai. Before Amon came to challenge Yubel, he gained his power not by his own merit but by sacrificing the woman he loved to Exodia. You can draw multiple parallels in between the two situations, this could have either reminded Yubel of Judai deciding to send Yubel away to space, or it could have just reminded Yubel of the original sacrifice of their body they made for the young supreme king.

Either way, Yubel seems to carry some unprocessed resentment towards the fact that at the end of the day, no matter how much Echo loved Amon in the end she was disposable. They weren't equals, because in the end Echo's loyalty and devotion to a king means that the king, being a king, will always be fundamentally above her. Echo may love and pledge herself in service of a king, but even if that king loves her back and appreciates her, the mere fact that he is a king makes it impossible to be equals.

That is the loose thread that Yubel decides to pull at when trying to unravel Amon after all, that no matter how much he may claim to love Echo and remember her sacrifice, that they weren't equals in their suffering.

Yubel: "I get it now, you weren't in love with echo. No, you may have loved her just enough to clear the conditions in place for you to control exodia, but you didn't truly love each other. You were only unfairly hurting her while you would stay unharmed... You wouldn't suffer. You won't be in pain." Amon: "Stop beating around the bush. What are you getting at?" Yubel: "I've been hurt. I've suffered. I've been in pain. And that's why I'm having Judai go through those same feelings. That could be what it means for us to love!" (Yugioh GX, Episode 150).

I've already covered a lot of the projection angle in another post though, so I'm going to focus on the king as a symbol of masculine authority. This is where I'm turning to tarot for a quick example of what I mean. Yu-Gi-Oh GX! employs a lot of tarot symbolism in season 2 and while "The Emperor" never gets mentioned by name, there's still a few nods to it.

The emperor, fourth of the major arcana, is traditionally depicted as a man sitting on his throne with a mountain range in the background signifying he is backed by a solid foundation but resistant to making any changes unless he deems it necessary. This is the card of masculine authority, the card of mars, ares, the card of law and order and the card of inflexible rules and regulations.

"For each child its parents are archetypes. Not just the mother, and father, but Mother and Father. Because our mothers give us life and feed us and shelter us we tend to see them as figures of love and mercy [...] but the father, especially in traditional times... remained more remote, and therefore a figure of severity. It was the father who bore the authority and thus became the judge, and the father who taught the rules of society and then demanded obedience" (Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom pg 49).

There are plenty of figures of masculine authority in season 3. There's Cobra, a war veteran who is revealed to be an abusive authority figure when he begins draining the duel energy of all of his students for his own machinations. He is also revealed to be a father trying to bring his lost son from the dead. There is the father from Judai's past life, the then reigning king who fits the appearance of a traditional masculine authority figure, a muscular bearded bearded man in a crown. He talks the "young and handsome' Yubel into giving up his body and subjecting himself to a painful surgery in order to undergo a transformation to protect the young prince who would become Haou.

This could easily be seen as an abuse of his authority the way that Cobra abused his, considering how young Yubel is when he decided on this life altering action. There's also Amon's father the head of the Garam Corporation, who adopted young Among and raised him as heir only to carelessly toss him aside the moment that his biological son was born.

There's also Hell Kaiser, Sho's abusive older brother Ryo who had a meltdown and became obsessed with power after suffering several losses in the pro-leagues. An obsession which led him to shock his brother over and over again with electrodes until his brother lost consciousness. Considering Kaiser is german for emperor, you could even say that Kaiser Ryo is another king that Yubel killed much like Amon as a warmup for his duel with Judai.

None of these figures are particularly healthy figures of masculinity, and Ryo in particular isn't a good role model to Sho. In Yu-Gi-Oh GX season 3, a king doesn't seem like a very good thing to be, and yet we have Amon and Judai both being pushed down, and then willingly walking the path of kinghood. Yu-Gi-Oh GX spells out the rigidity, and the dominating tyranny of the king as a figure of masculine authority and yet both Amon and Judai desire to be kings because they desire the power that comes along with it. In spite of all of the oppressive king figures in their lives, they see becoming king as a way of gaining control something which they have never had.

"In order to defeat evil, one must become evil..." (Yu Gi Oh GX, Episode 136).

Amon becomes the king believing that he can use his absolute authority to build a kingdom in another dimmension where the poverty he grew up under doesn't exist, and all people are equal. Judai after losing all of his friends to a ritual as sacrifices to become super polymerization, decides that the only way to prevent himself from losing everything else, is to use the power of the supreme king to finish super polymerization and bring the entire dimmension to its heel.

"In Rome, the concept of law versus chaos was carried to the point wher stability, or 'law and order' to use the modern term became virtues themselves. No progress can be made in conditions of anarhcy, bad laws need to be changed but first the law must be obeyed. Any other approach can destroy society. The romans saw it more concreetly as a personal figure of The emperor, who they described as the father to all of his people. The emperor's best aspects he indicates the stability of a just society that allows its members to pursue their personal needs and development. The natural world is chaotic, without some kind of social structure we could each spend all our lives fighting to survive. (Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom pg 50).

Both are children who have either never had control or have had control ripped away from them, Amon was an orphan who had no control over the circumstances to which he was born, and would have starved to death if not for the whim of the Garam syndicate patriarch. The same father that abandoned him on another whim when he had a biological son despite working him hard to become the ideal heir until that point. Judai had control ripped away from him over and over again as Yubel suddenly appeared to uproot his entire life, first by teleporting the entire school to another dimmension, and then when Johan disappeared sacrificing himself for Judai.

You could say Yubel's fate is something Judai had little control over either, because while he's the one who made the decision to send Yubel away, he was just a child, and he was helpless when Yubel was tortured by the light of destruction to do anything other than watch in his dreams. Judai also was not the one to make the decision to forget about Yubel, his parents made it for him.

Amon and Judai are reminded by their circumstances again and again what helpless children they are, and their response is to try to take control through violence and domination like a king. Their desire for stability ends up with them tyrannizing all those who are weaker than them. More specifically, once becoming masculine figures of authority they harm a feminine figure in their lives. This is where I reference toxic masculinity, because soon after becoming these masculine kings they use their powers to violently abuse the feminine.

Amon's is obivous in his decision to sacrifice echo, and while after the fact Amon seemed appreciative of Echo's sacrifice, during it he was cold, and callously ignored all of her screams of pain as exodia squeezed her to death.

Similiarly, Judai awakens the power of the supreme king to use in a duel against Yubel. Yubel remarks that Judai after using the supreme king is acting differently.

Yubel: "I'm so flattered. So this is your love." Judai: "You're still going on about that? Right now, I'm brimming with anger for you. And now, I'm going to use the power of the Supreme King you've awakened to wipe you off the face of the universe!" Yubel: "My Judai would never become so cruel." Judai: "We can't protect what matters to us by being kind."

In other words, despite the fact that Yubel deliberately pushed Judai down the path of becoming supreme king, when Judai starts actnig like the Supreme King and pointing that aggression towards them Yubel expresses displeasure. When Judai starts legitimately trying to hurt them, Yubel who's entire delusion is based around the fact that every time Judai hurts them it's a sign of love for them slowly begins breaking down.

I mention Yubel as a feminine figure her because in tarot and in alchemy, the masculine has a symbolic feminine counterpart. In tarot it would be the empress, in alchemy the lunar queen to the solar king. In this case femininity doesn't =/= female necessarily. Femininity is just the complementary force of masculinity, like yin is to yang. Judai is the son, fire, air, and Yubel is femininity, earth, water. Judai is the gentle darkness, and Yubel is corrupted by the light of destruction the two of them represent a balance between opposing forces. However, when Judai embraces the power of the supreme king the two are thrown out of balance because Judai is using the power of the supreme king to try to kill Yubel.

When the Emperor is in reverse, the stability the card is supposed to represent can quickly turn into an oppressive authority figure. Without the empress to balance them out, the emperor becomes rigid and unyielding.

"Even at its best, however, the emperor remains limited. Over the spontaneity of the Empress, he has laid a network of repression. If the Rider pack Emperor is drawn as old and stiff, dressed in iron representing the sterility of a life rigidly governed by rules. The river which flowed so powerfully through the Empress's garden has here become a thin stream, barely able to penetrate a lifeless desert." (Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom pg 51).

In both cases Amon and Judai also derived their power from the sacrifice of a feminine figure. Amon was only given Exodia's powers because of Echo's willing sacrifice he never would have achieved them on his own and yet he stands alone as king, only paying lip-service to the fact that he intends to honor her memory. The young prince Judai in another lifetime was protected by the sacrifice of Yubel until he grew into adulthood. Whereas in this life, the only reason that Judai became aware of his role as the supreme king and the power it contained was entirely because of Yubel's machinations nudging him to awaken his memories. If it weren't for Yubel, then Judai would have remained ignorant of the past.

Yet once they become kings both Amon and Judai are quick to forget the sacrifices of those who put them on the throne in the first place.

If anything it seems that "The King" or "The emperor" in Yu Gi Oh Gx is a symbol of a false maturity. Amon and Judai becoming the king is a failure to grow up, because they are both imitating the abusive masculine figures they've born witness to in their own life, instead of growing up into men on their own terms.

"As the middle card in the first line of the Major Aracana, the Emperor represents a crucial test. in the process of growing up it is indeed the rules of society that many people find most difficult to surmount. We must absorb these rules, as well as our society's traditions and beliefs, then go beyond them to find a personal code of conduct." (Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom pg 52).

THE DECAPITATION OF THE KING / ALCHEMY

I made a much longer post on Yu-Gi-Oh GX and Alchemy, but another possible answer to why Yubel hates kings is that symbolically, the king must symbolically die and be reborn for Judai's personal development. The king is dead, long live the king.

Now, if you want to know the specifics of Alchemy you can read the post I linked above. In order to not repeat myself I'm going to take a slightly different tack, Judai is not the king. The supreme King is one of two things, one a position of authority belonging to the weilder of the gentle darkness, and two the young prince who swore eternal love to Yubel in his past life and presumably grew up to be the Supreme King.

Neither of these are Judai Yuki himself. The latter is a person he was in a past life, someone he may share memories with but is not him. The former is a role that he plays. The weilder of the gentle darkness is a role. The king is a position of authority and power. They are things Judai is, but they don't say anything about him personally.

To tie into the point I made above, when Judai and Amon become false kings, they throw away a great deal of their personality in order to try to embody this perfect king. Yubel, even refers to Amon as an empty king. After all, Amon's identity is being the friend/lover of Echo, the big brother and protector of Sid, and an agent of the Garam conglomerate and he throws all of these things away in a bid to become king. What is left of Amon at that point, except for the role of king? He has no identity anymore, except for his desire for power to be king.

Judai similiarly, shows almost none of his former personality the two time we see him fully embrace the power of Supreme King. He remarks to O'brien that love is worthless, and he acts so heartless in regards to Yubel that even Yubel remarks that he's acting differently.

Haou: I don't fear being alone for in solitude lies the truth. None can pry into the darkness in the innermost depths of one's heart. (Yu Gi Oh GX! Episode 143).

To summarize quickly, Alchemy is a process of refinement. Melting down base metals and refining them until they reach gold. Symbolically, it's a cycle of death and rebirth, where the death of the old self leads to a reborn self.

Judai already experiences several deaths and rebirths. Before the series began he died in his former lifetime and was reincarnated into the modern world alongside Yubel. He experiences another death when his heart falls into darkness and the Supreme King persona takes over. The Supreme King is supposedly killed by O'brien, only to be resurrected again in the duel against Yubel.

Judai is symbolically, the king. He is the solar king in alchemy terms.

Essentially, the two principles are as follows:

Red: sun, fire and air, sulfur, active, gold, hot and dry, heart or soul, male.

White: moon, water and earth, mercury, passive, silver, cool and damp, mind or spirit, female.

He is fire, he is the active protagonist of the story, his favorite monster is flame wingman, he is described by Sho as being like the sun, he is the king in ever sense of the word but the king is one of two substances that is going to be melted down to form the philosopher's stone. Judai is the king but the king is not who he is, because Judai's goal is not to become the king, but to become himself. In order to become the best version of himself, Judai has to let all the older versions of himself die in order to become a new, better version of himself. He has to keep walking forward on his journey of self-fulfillment instead of getting bogged down in the past.

The king is just one step of Judai's journey. The severing of the head of the king is the phase of the alchemical process that metaphorically represents the death of the old king, and the rebirth into something new.

Alchemy is violent, Solve et Coagula requires things to dissolve away before they can coagulate together again. Before the psyche can rebuild, it has to be ripped apart

The image itself is set in a city in a countryside, a man is holding a decapitated head severed from a body lying at his feet. Both Judai and Yubel experience a dismemberment at one point or another. In another classical alchemical text Lunar King and Queen experience this dismemberment together, in order to represent the violent union of opposites.

In freudian symbolism, the death of a father figure / a king is necessary for psychological development. In mythology which Jung used for the basis of many of his ideas, death is required for life.

"In freud's scheme of mental development and the rules of society become directly linked. The infant psyche demands constant satisfaction, aprticularly in desires for food from the mother. By interfering with the child's relationship to the mother, the father arouses the child's hostility... the urge to destroy the father however, cannot be consummated or recognized so the psyche, to reliev the terrible dilemna identifies itself with the father figure creating a new "super ego" as a guide for the self. [...] In ancient times when the Goddess reigned, the king performed a special function. new life can only come from death therefore, each winter, the Goddess's representative sacrificed the old king, very often dismembering him and planting pieces in the ground thereby mystically fertilizing the earth." (Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom pg 49.)

Alchemy dictates that in order for Judai to become his fully realized self, both he and Yubel must let the past, and let the king die. This is especially true for Yubel, who clings the hardest to their past life with Judai, because in that life where they played the role of knight Judai could never throw them away the same way they did in this one.

However, trying to force Judai to become the king, to be the way he was in the past is actually the worst thing possible for Judai's development because Alchemy is all about accepting death so a rebirth can occur.

To bring another Yu-Gi-Oh anime in for a point of comparison, because Yu Gi Oh loves to recycle ideas, for Shark from Zexal who was also a king in his past life, the choice to prioritize his past life over his present one and become Nasch is one that has disastrous consequences.

IV: "That low. You let yourself fall that low. To let yourself become such a decrepit demon that your heart is beyond turning back?" SHARK: "That's right. Very good, IV. Hate me as a barian. Use the death of your friends to enflame your hatred against me. By defeating you like that, I can bury all of my life as Kamishiro Ryoga." (Zexal II, Episode 52).

After recalling his past life and deciding to live solely as a Barian, turning his back on all the friends he made as Ryouga. In two duels, against IV and against Yuma he completely refuses any hand they offer him and decides that his past life and his responsibilities as a barian emperor are the only thing that matters.

However, because Shark refuses to let his past life die, he ends up making the exact same mistake of his past life. Just as in that life, his sister ends up sacrificing herself in order to try to defeat Vector and dying at Vector's hands. In both lifetimes Nasch uses his power as the king in order to try to protect everyone around him including his sister, only to end up the last one alive after his decision to wage war.

It's a character flaw that's present throughout all of Shark's arc, he wants to use power in order to protect his loved ones, but whenever they're hurt that desire to protect quickly turns to vengeance and anger instead. Shark much like supreme king judai relies on power as a way to fight against the chaos of the world and bring order, and just like Judai it's just a coping mechanism because Shark is unable to deal with the loss of his loved ones, in the past life, and in this one too. He becomes a barian emperor, and goes to war with all of humanity and the astral world because he wants to protect those he failed to protect in his past life, only to lose them again because he made the decision to go to war.

Shark doesn't let go of the past, and doesn't let his past self die and because of that he cannot learn from his mistakes. Rather than integrating his past self into his present self, he's just trying to pretend that everything is the same as it was in his previous lifetime, and because of that he doesn't learn from his mistakes in his past life.

This is symbolized by the way he loses the final duel against Yuma. Shark always chooses violence even when there are more peaceful means. When Yuma is dueling with him in that final duel, he keeps prolonging and prolonging because he wants to find a nonviolent solution. However, by that point all of the other barian emperors are dead and the only thing Shark has left is his responsibility as the last barian emperor. He duels Yuma and refuses any offers to sort things out peacefully, and in the last move of the duel Yuma negates an attack because he doesn't want to win against Shark. He doesn't want to put him down with violence, he wants to convince Shark with words that they can settle things peacefully. However, because of an affect of Shark's own card, he loses the duel, whereas he would have won if Yuma had just attacked.

Shark's failure to let the past die results in his character regression, because the king is not who he is, and it is not all he is. Pushing Judai into the role of Supreme King only brings his worst traits to the forefront, and symbolically causes him to stagnate as a character because Yubel is also refusing to let the past die. Yubel on some level however, seems to be aware of this.

THE LUNAR QUEEN / YUBEL

Now in a roundabout way I am finally at the stage where I answer my question, what does the king mean to Yubel? Why does Yubel push Judai and Amon into the role of becoming king, while at the same time mocking the king and becoming resentful when Judai starts to act like the supreme king that Yubel pushed him to be.

In the story Yubel represents Judai's opposite and equal force, but in the context of the story itself they are far from equals. Before the story began they much like Echo willingly threw away their life and their body to protect the boy they wanted to become king.

They offered their body up without expecting anything in return. When young prince Judai is troubled by their sacrifice they go out of their way to reassure him, that this is their duty.

However, the young prince steps out of the line of duty and pledges eternal love to Yubel in return for their sacrifice.

From that moment something changes, and the lines blur for Yubel. No longer are they acting out of selfless devotion to a prince (duty) but of love for a prince to promise to love them in return. Yubel the knight is devoted to the prince, that is the role they both fill. As long as they fulfill their roles, Yubel will not be thrown away because the prince needs Yubel to act as his shield. However, Yubel doesn't deserve Judai because he's the king, but because he's Judai. He serves Judai because of the love he has not for a king, but for Judai the person.

Yubel is however, socialized and raised to think of themselves as a knight serving a king. The only tool they have available to process their feelings, the way they see the world is tied up in this narrative of them existing for the sake of protecting someone else. All of their self worth is derived from their loyalty to Judai, because they gave up everything else. They are a horrible dragon with impenetrable skin, even if they wanted to, they couldn't have friends other than judai, they gave up their humanity to better serve as Judai's protector. It's not too different from Echo giving up her life to become Exodia. When they're reborn into the modern era, Judai is reborn again as a child, but Yubel is a duel spirit that can only be seen by and only interact with Judai and not understanding the rules of the modern world they try to protect Judai the way they did in their past life only to be seperated from Judai because of how overprotective they were being.

Yubel thinks in these terms of chivalric knights and kings because it's all they know, but Yubel is also observant and intelligent and capable of deducing that while they need Judai, Judai doesn't necessarily need them in this lifetime. Yubel has elevated Judai to king, in order to have their place by his side as his knight again, however Yubel in this lifetime has noticed the power discrepancy between the king and the knight who protects them. The king might be grateful to the knight for their service the same way that Amon appreciates Echo's sacrifice, but no matter what the king and the knight will never be equals.

Which is why despite Yubel originally making this sacrifice to protect Judai, so he can grow up and become the supreme king, in Yubel's fantasies they don't really seem to care much about Judai's role as a chosen hero at all. In fact, if anything Yubel wants to stay away from the conflict between good and evil entirely.

When Yubel hears about Amon's dreams to build a utopia, he mocks the idea because a kingdom is supposed to be a place you share with you and your loved one. Yubel no longer cares about Judai's destined role about saving the universe from the light of destruction, they really only care about building a kingdom where the two of them can be together.

Yubel: "For me, it's something I'll build with Judai. That is a world. You could've built a world with the one you love too. A world for just the two of you." (Yu Gi Oh GX ep. 151).

Yubel also can't let go of Judai's past life. Much like Nasch, Yubel wants to return to the past forever, instead of living in the present. Even though Yubel and Judai both reincarnated it's difficult for Yubel to accept the changes because unlike Judai they remember everything of the past, and in the past lifetime they were never thrown away and abandoned so carelessly like they were in this one.

Yubel was abandoned, thrown into space, and tortured so in all of their overtures at devotion and demands that Judai reciprocate their love, they are desperately, searching for a way to ensure they'll never be abandoned again. Yubel is working with an incorrect understanding of the world, if they devote all of themselves to Judai as a selfless knight and protector then Judai must return their love and keep them by their side. That was how it worked in the past life, that's how it's supposed to work between knights and kings.

Yubel can only see the world through this flawed interpretation. If Judai abandons them, and leaves them to be tortured in space then it was a test of their loyalty. Judai loves Yubel so much, he knew that Yubel would understand shooting him into space, and then cutting them off completely was a sign of love. That after putting him through trial after trial, he fully expected Yubel to understand his intentions and unite with him.

As warped and twisted as Yubel's delusions are, in them there is the reflection of Yubel's true desires. While Yubel makes overtures of making Judai into a king so they can go back to serving as his knife, their actual actions are to drag Judai down to their level. Yubel says over and over again, they want Judai to suffer as much as they did, not for revenge but so Judai and them can be equals in pain. Yubel notices how unfair it is that Echo was the only one who had to make sacrifices and suffer so Amon could be king, and then corrects that by tearing down Amon so he can finally be equals with Echo.

Yubel who despite seeming to want Judai to recall his past life and return to the way things were doesn't care about fighting the light of destruction, just building a kingdom where he and Judai live together. Yubel who, even when losing their mind and deciding to just fuse the twelve universes together and blow them up, still decides that they'll keep Judai asleep and watch over him forever. It's not about being Judai's guardian, it's not about making Judai king, it's not about fulfilling Judai's destiny, these are all just reasons, excuses really to be around Judai. Serving as Judai's protector means that Judai needs him and won't abandon him in this lifetime.

It is all about Judai, and Yubel's love for a person, and not a king.

Judai and Yubel are both attached to the past and refusing to grow and move on. Judai is overly attached to his childhood and does not want to grow up and face adult responsibilities. Much like Nasch, in favoring the past over the present Yubel is missing out on an opportunity to grow. They love Judai in this lifetime as he did in the last, but in this lifetime Yubel is too afraid of being abandoned again because he doesn't have the promise that Judai made him so they cling to the past.

It is only when Judai and Yubel decide to let go of the past at the same time, that both of them are able to grow. They both die and reincarnate one final time as a completely new being. Not only does Judai stop being the king, but Yubel stops being the knight, so they can be reborn together again in this lifetime.

#ygo meta #yugioh #yugioh gx #judai yuki #yubel #soulshipping #jaden yuki #amon garam #supreme king #yu gi oh gx #yu gi oh

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thefiery-phoenix · 2 years ago

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YOUNG YANDERE DANIEL LARUSSO HEADCANONS

Gif from: Tenor

Daniel as a yandere would be really overprotective of you and rightfully so after everything he's gone through, clingy because he's worried and scared that he might lose you to Johnny Lawrence, his bully aka. the biggest jerk of the Valley

He has a bit of a hero complex as well and he doesn't even realize it's there in him. He just feels this deep urge and need to save his loved ones from danger, especially you of all people. Johnny and his jerk squad the Cobras can pick on him and bully him all they want but he won't be so forgiving if they target you. He won't like it at all if one of them try flirting with you, Daniel is easily gets riled up and he'll start a fight with them

He might notice you if you're new to the Valley or something or if you're in his class and offer to help him out with something. He's always touched by kindness and he'll thank you for it with a cute yet goofy and dorky smile on his face. Though he might look all innocent and unsuspecting as a yandere, he knows how to look all innocent like so people won't suspect him of anything. How can anyone accuse such a cute face like that of doing something wrong?

Will NEVER EVER let you join Cobra Kai, EVER. He's had his personal experiences with them and he doesn't want you going there as well and suffering like how he did so he'll do whatever he can to make sure you don't join Cobra Kai. Whenever he goes over to Miyagi Do, he'll take you with him just so he can be at peace knowing you're at least safe there. Will love it if you try training with him and Miyagi would smile at the both of you doing your karate with each other. Daniel encourages you to do karate and he'll help you get better at it. If you already do karate he'll be really impressed and he won't stop ranting and rambling about how cool you look

When he develops his karate skills he gets the feeling he's being your knight in shining armor and he makes it his responsibility to save you from everything that can ever harm you. Also, he'll grow more clingy to you and he's willing to injure anyone for you. You're the only one who doesn't mind the fact that he's from Reseda and he really admires and appreciates you for not judging him like all those rich Encino brats

When you do catch onto his possessive and abnormal behavior he'll just deny it and have the expression of a kicked puppy, asking you how you could say something like that. Do you not love him anymore? Do you want more love from him? Because if that's the case then say goodbye to your personal space and freedom. He might get angry at you sometimes but he will NEVER hit you, you're the love of his life. He won't be able to forgive himself if he hits you. And now, fast forward to the All Valley Tournament. You'll be there for him when he's competing and giving him encouraging words like 'You'll do well' and 'I know you can do it' and stuff like that, he LIVES for those. He nuzzles into your touch when you help him calm down and he wishes he could just be in your arms forever, unfortunately it's time for a death match

Would love to take you for car rides in one of Mr. Miyagi's cars to a place where the both of you can see the stars and be with each other in peace. He also wants to make you happy, he wants to be the ONLY one to make you happy. Your first kiss with him might be a bit awkward but he'll develop his skills at it and he'll be stealing quick kisses from you every now and then. If one of the Cobras try asking you out or anyone tries to ask you out for that matter, that's when he gets all sneaky and manipulative and will do something that'll get the other person in trouble. They deserve it after all, they were trying to take you away from him! Daniel can't imagine living life now without you

You'll be there to comfort him when Bobby injures his knee and he likes it when you're worried for him and fuss over him. And when he finally crane kicks Johnny in the face he realizes he's gotten the strength from you, tonight was all about proving himself to you, showing you that he can take care of you and you have nothing to worry about in life because Daniel will always be there for you no matter what

#yandere daniel larusso #yandere daniel larusso x reader #yandere daniel larusso scenarios #yandere daniel larusso oneshots #yandere daniel larusso imagines #dark daniel larusso #dark daniel larusso x reader #yandere karate kid #yandere karate kid x reader #yandere karate kid characters #yandere karate kid characters x reader #yandere cobra kai #yandere cobra kai x reader #yandere cobra kai characters #yandere cobra kai characters x reader

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little-legend-baby · 1 year ago

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So glad to see demetri appreciation. I was so sad we never got to see more of his home life when he was a core character

A) I forgot the ask box was even a thing, hello!

B) this is like the first time I’ve had something that’s not hate in the ask box, double points for that!

C) I am legitimately the biggest Demetri simp since practically day 1, you can count on me to love the heck outta that lanky nerd boy🫡♥️

I’ve seen a lot of people talk about wanting to know about Eli and/or Demetri’s home life, and while I think it would be an interesting tidbit, I think that what happens outside of their home is more influential to their character in the show than whatever’s going on at home. Frankly, I’d love to believe that Demetri’s family is a respite from whatever torment he’s facing outside, whether from people like Kyler or later Hawk and the Cobras.

Personally I headcanon that he’s got one of those mothers that isn’t quite a helicopter mom, but is definitely a bit overprotective of her son. His father is probably similar to Demetri (he might even get his sarcasm and sass from him), more of a tech man than a watch-the-football-game father. They foster his interests in academics, coding, sciences, etc. And even if they don’t quite understand his fixations on his fandoms, they appreciate the dedication he has to it. A boy with that much heart in something will prove to be valuable in whatever he sets his mind to!

All this to say, I think he gets along pretty well with his parents, which does give him a fear of disappointing them, hence why he strives to be the best he can be in what he’s good at (which to him has always been academics)♥️🧠

#the Demetri simp speaks #demetri alexopoulos #cobra kai #cobra kai netflix #cobra kai demetri #cobra kai headcanons

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berry-loves-yandere · 3 years ago

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Can you do yandere cobra Kai x sibling reader platonic pls

I'm assuming these are general headcanons, so sure!

Yandere Platonic Cobra Kai teens with younger sibling darling:

Warnings: Manipulation, obsessive behaviours, possessive behaviours, obsessive controlling, stalking (if you squint), unhealthy mindset, unhealthy behaviours, isolation, DEAD DOVE DO NOT EAT!

Miguel Diaz:

Miguel would be very overprotective as in "No, you can't hang out with that person! I don't trust them. If I don't rust them then you're not allowed to hang out with them."

If his younger sibling becomes rebellious and won't listen to Miguel, he won't be mad at them, he'll just blame their friends and insist they're a bad influence.

Once Miguel gets heavily injured during the school fight and he finally wakes up from his coma, he'll guilt trip his sibling into constantly helping him out.

He wants to protect his sibling from everything and everyone, especially Robby.

Eli/Hawk Moskowitz:

When he was just Eli, he would pretend that he wasn't related to or knew his sibling, wanting to protect them from being associated with him.

But when he's Hawk, he never lets anyone from outside Cobra Kai talk or hangout with his sibling, especially if they're from Miyagi-do.

Obviously after he matures a bit, he'll allow them to hangout with people who aren't in a dojo but never from Cobra Kai, specially Kyler.

Demetri Alexopoulos:

Demetri's really chill but would drag his sibling to Miyagi-do to learn karate so they can defend themselves in case Cobra Kai tries to go after them.

Doesn't really care about stupid things but does try to keep his sibling away from anyone in Cobra Kai and Cobra Kai in general.

Sam LaRusso:

Manipulates her siblings social life so they're around her all the time and makes sure her sibling isn't dating anyone she doesn't approve of.

Extremely upset if she sees her sibling anywhere near someone from Cobra Kai.

She'll lost her shit if she sees Tory even a meter away from her sibling because there's no way she'll allow her sibling to interact with her rival.

Robby Keene:

Robby's sibling was likely living with Johnny, being an offspring from a past hookup (Not Shannon).

Once Robby knows who they are and realizes that they're his half sibling, he'll try to pretend they don't exist at first.

Even if his sibling tries to reach out and connect with him, he doesn't want anything to do with his dead beat family.

If he realizes that it's not their fault that they have shitty parents he'll attempt to connect with them.

But as he looks back, seeing the kindness they attempted to show him, he'll grow an attachment to them.

Eventually it'll grow to a point where he can't stand it when his darling is out of his line of sight or if he doesn't know where they are or what they're doing or who they're around.

A complete control freak.

Tory Nichols:

Tory's the sole provider for the family and has to take care of her younger brother and ill-mother, so having her sibling take on a job to help pay bills is a huge relief to Tory.

She's kind of a control freak with her younger sibling, as in their schedule is school then home then work then home and repeat.

If they want to hang out with someone or go out to have fun, they have to talk to Tory about this first.

Tory basically raised her sibling, so they believe it's totally fine and nothing's wrong.

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demetriandelibinaryboyfriends · 3 years ago

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Binary Boyfriends S4 Fix-It Fics That I Need Immediately

WHAT UP BINARY BOYFRIENDS NATION, WHO’S READY TO WRITE SOME FIX-IT FIC???

Apologies in advance if any of these have already been done, but consider!!! I am always down to see more!!!

Psyche! Its turns out Yasmine and Demetri both are absolutely aware that they’re gay and are 100% faking a straight relationship to seem more cool and normal! The only reason they sell the horniness so well is because they’re both theatrical motherfuckers and wanna see how much they can overdramatically ham it up to fool the entire school into thinking they’re heterosexual

Demetri attempts to stand up for Hawk with Chris and Nate! Make no mistake, not because I think it would work, but because Demetri sometimes has 0 tact when he gets angry and I think the fallout would be very funny

Demetri and Hawk spar, but Hawk accidentally hits Demetri too hard!!! Angst ensues!!!

Demetri and Hawk spar, and they get all amped up on adrenaline and suddenly one is shoving the other against the dojo wall and making out with them!!! The entire dojo sees them and it’s very funny

Demetri jumps off the building!!! And brags about it to Hawk!!! Hawk looks at him with heart eyes because he’s a badass!!!

Alternatively, Demetri tries to jump and lands on the mattresses. He has to go to the hospital. Hawk visits him and switches between heaping on adoring praise for being so ballsy and yelling at Demetri for being so stupid and scaring the shit out of him.

Bonus points if Demetri literally only jumped to impress Hawk

Demetri and Hawk being utter and complete overprotective karate dads to Nate and Bert

Like remember how they both adopted them as their sons??? LET’S DO SOMETHING WITH THAT

Demetri dyeing Hawk’s hair in the bathtub and it’s very intimate and they keep aggressively tryna No Homo it

I think this may have already been done but I am literally always down to see it again

POV: You’re a Cobra Kai goon about to help the scary Keene kid shave off some dude’s gay-ass purple mohawk when there’s a crash and the most gangly, uncoordinated dweeb you’ve ever seen busts in through the tattoo shop window

You’re like “who’s this clown”

But “clown” as in horror movie clown specifically, because this interloper has a mildly to moderately unsettling look on his face

Cue the unsettling clown saying “Evening gentlemen :) :) :) Hope you’re not about to do something you regret to my pal Eli here :) :) :)” in a really quiet and calm tone of voice, which is. DEEPLY terrifying

*cue Demetri breaking into the world’s hugest and most horrifying slasher smile*

And he unleashes nine levels of hell on the Cobras, because he deserves to

Bonus points if he steals the razor and goes just a BIT slash-happy on them

Or strangles Kyler with the belt thing he was holding Eli down with

I just think Demetri should be allowed to completely fucking lose it and become the scariest motherfucker you’ve ever seen when someone messes with his boyfriend Eli Moskowitz

No really, just stop what you’re doing and imagine Demetri chasing Kyler through the tattoo parlor with a shaver Shining-style like “HEEEEERE’S ‘METRI!”

Like would that fuck or WHAT

On a related note, Demetri going full Slasher Movie Villain on the Cobras to get revenge after they shave the ‘hawk would also be acceptable

I think he should bring Miguel along too, I think that would be neat

Just a couple of best bros going to inflict unspeakable violence on the ne’er-do-wells who brutally violated their other best bro, don’t mind them

Demetri still gets to be more unhinged through

Because a) that’s his fucking boyfriend whose hair they’re avenging and b) Miguel has already gotten to be scary on many occasions!!! Let Demetri have a turn!!!

Demetri lets Eli come over to his house for a good cry after he gets the ‘hawk shorn! They binge Star Wars, end up accidentally cuddling on Demetri’s bed, and then they start smooching!

Sorry since Yasmine and Demetri are fake-dating it doesn’t count as cheating

Assume Demetri and Yasmine are fake-dating for basically all of these actually

Something something Demetri helps even out Eli’s buzzcut and he’s super Soft as he does it

What if we kissed…? In your basement…? After I let myself into your house and tell you you’ll always be my best friend and encourage you to not give up karate…? Just kidding! Unless…?

Eli should have leaned in and and stolen a kiss after Demetri said “whether you’re a 1 or a 0″!!!! I’m sorry, I do not make the rules!!!

Yasmine never shows up at the prom, and Demetri and Eli decide to slow-dance together “as a joke.” What happens next will shock you!

Alternatively!!! Yasmine comes to prom, and Demetri gets excited!!! It turns out Yasmine flew all the way back to Australia to dump Demetri and finally confess her love to Moon!

OR Demetri sees Yasmine walk into prom, but what’s this??? A hot Aussie girl on Yasmine’s arm that she brought back from Sydney???

Meanwhile Moon still totally ignores Eli because she’s too busy dancing with girls and/or going to prom with Piper, who she has not actually broken up with because whoever told that to Demetri is a dirty liar you see

Demetri and Eli are chillin at the prom afterparty because they went as dates and Moon and Yasmine are too busy with their gfs to hang out! Cue them wandering into the back when the big Love Square fight breaks out and Eli running in to try and help Miguel

Sadly Eli gets kicked in the chest and falls in the pool!!! Demetri is like “oh no let me help you out” and then Eli pulls him in too, just to be a little shit!!! Then they kiss in their soaking wet prom suits and it’s ridiculous and awesome!!!

Demetri and Eli participate in a Miyagi-Do training montage and it’s homoerotic

Consider!!! Demetri overhears Kyler harassing Eli during the AVT and is the one to reassure Eli about his identity and his worth because, you know that makes infinitely more sense than Moon??? AND THEN AND THEN AND THEN

DEMETRI IS THE ONE WHO GIVES HIM THE GOOD LUCK KISS THAT MAKES HIS CONFIDENCE COME BACK ACTUALLY

And Eli gets inspired by Demetri’s confidence, because damn, does this dude have balls to shamelessly kiss another boy in front of the entire AVT audience!!!

Concept: Demetri-Kyler tournament fight, and Demetri gets so fucking pissed about the way Kyler’s always treated Eli that he just goes completely feral and unhinged and nearly gives him a Brucks-level beatdown, BUT THEN

Eli actually has to be the one to get him to calm down and snap him out of it, and persuade him to show mercy!!!

POETIC FUCKING CINEMA

Alternatively, Demetri wails on Robby even harder during their fight, and talks some shit with his big stupid mouth

“Hey Robby, been doing any paralyzing lately? Or forced haircuts? How about dojo-betraying?”

Like let him talk shit, Demetri deserves to be mean and unsportsmanlike actually

Basically any POV fic showing Demetri and Eli’s thoughts as they watch each other fight

Like just anything that really dives into how they’re both like...stressed as fuck and worried each other’s gonna get hurt etc etc

Demetri just goes “you know what??? FUCK IT” and gives Eli a BIG OL VICTORY KISS in front of everyone after he wins!!!

Bonus points if Eli lifts Demetri up while he’s kissing him :O

What if--and hear me out--what if Demetri and Eli went on a gay little road trip to find Miguel??? And that was the plot of Season 5???

I may like that last one so much that I already caved and wrote a one-shot about it

Get hyped for that y’all

Never thought I’d actually get into writing CK fanfic but here we are

Fanfic writers please go batshit wild, every single one of these is, in fact, free real estate!!! And god knows I don’t have the time to write them all XD But they rest of y’all, please go buckwild!!! I will try and read every single one :D

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terrence-silver · 3 years ago

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Honestly, every character in the Cobra Kai / TKK universe has the potential to be a Yandere, when you think about it.

Headcanon; everyone in The Valley is a Yandere.

― Robby would be the Yandere who I can imagine usurping (and collecting?) parental figures and mentors because he lacks one in a severely neglectful Johnny who already has a second family as is and an addicted, problematic Shannon who can barely take care of herself. His beloved doesn't even have to be that much older than him (in fact, they can be the same age), but if he gets the vibe or the distinct impression a person or a group of people that can pass for a family feel homely and welcoming enough to pad a gap he tremendously lacks, he will absolutely just puppy eye them and insert himself into their sphere. He will have a family and a surrogate community all of his own one way or another. Doesn't matter if he has to build one for himself from sticks and bricks.

― For Tory I see the overprotective, over-smothering sibling syndrome kicking in because she has a younger brother she is already territorial of and a sick mother she takes care of; her instinct is to look after people and she views her beloved which can be a platonic type of situation where she sees her person as perpetually vulnerable, constantly exposed to some sort of danger and has the need to stick up for them...even if there's technically no need. But, try dissuading Tory? Of course, she'll chastise and reprimand them as she does, saying how they're careless and weak, trying to conceal the intensity of her own feelings through callous behaviour, showing major Tsundere tendencies (I don't care about you! Where do you get that idea!?) but truth is, Tory does very much care and always has too.

― Much like Robby, Johnny would probably be a Yandere in search of a familial unit too; but, hey, an underrated topic seldom discussed is that Johnny would be subconsciously and pathologically looking for his mother without realizing he’s doing so, or someone who reminds him of her, again, can be in an entirely platonic fashion, but even when he’s middle aged, he is still looking for a mother as a concept. Not necessarily Laura herself, but the idea of The Mother, capital M. Every bit of detachment and emotional neglect Laura might’ve shown him as a child, he figures, can be cured by his own beloved, decades later. He’ll be a fixed man afterwards, he swears. All he needs is that love to put everything in perspective and if he has to act as juvenile, as immature and as deliberately clueless as possible to get it, he goddamn will.

― Sam has gotten everything she’s ever wanted in life and she sees nothing wrong with that and she doesn’t see why others do --- except, now she wants beloved. And she’ll have beloved. Why is that so bad? She will tactically and fairly vocally talk down on beloved’s friends, any relationships they might have (which they won’t have for long), their group --- you name it, all until beloved realizes that in the net of petty high-school drama, rumors, gossip and clashing that weaves around Miss Larusso and beloved, Sam is the best choice and that nobody compares. When push comes to shove, she introduces beloved to her parents and family, roping them in deeper and deeper until they can’t wiggle out. Her parents love beloved already. Too late now. They wouldn’t want disappoint Mr. and Mrs. Larusso by distancing themselves (not that they could ever since Daniel aided them with their tuition), now would they?

― Amanda and Daniel are the 'we know best' Yanderes, that somehow seamlessly adopt their beloved as a family friend who's life and circumstances they itch to fix even though their life and circumstances are perfectly, well, adequate? There’s nothing colossally wrong going on in their life, and for all intents and purposes, they can be fairly ordinary in that regard. But, they don't see it that way. It isn't preachiness and micromanagement, no, no. They've good intentions, is all. How can they be faulted for good intentions? From their point of view, there is always something to improve upon be it beloved's choices, opinions, worldviews, the way they dress, act, behave, eat, Amanda and Daniel, again, know best. Also, their friend deserves better. Why? Because that is their friend and they care --- never-mind that they singlehandedly usurped their whole life and the trajectory of where it is headed.

― Kreese will gaslight, chronically swerve his beloved’s perception of things and have them like a puppet on a string once their own sensations, worldviews, ethics and stances are so shaken by John’s long term psychological warfare over them, that they’ll effectively become completely and utterly reliant of him as the only valid and trustworthy source of anything, be it love, friendship, mentorship, a familial connection or a mixture of everything, John, for the lack of a better word, fucks with people’s brains severely, tackling every weakness, sore spot, sense of pride and insecurity and he’ll be relentless in achieving that onslaught of a goal with beloved because he cannot give up. He despises losing. He’s despised to lose ever since Vietnam. Winning beloved, though? That too is, most definitely, a sort of victory. A sort of victory John won’t fret securing for himself no matter how dirty he has to get his hands.

― Clearly, my one and only favourite Terry --- is the destructive Yandere. The Yandere that'll burn down your world so he can be the only thing left in it. He'll break his beloved so he could put them back together and adore them in all his devotion. Devour them. Spit them out. Lap them up. Subjugate them and force them to serve and have them thank him for it, all while playing the role of someone different outwardly; someone more mellow. He is intense, overwhelming, all-consuming and whether platonic, romantic, sexual, often times, these categories are dangerously close to blend into one because he neither has any distinction and when you scratch beneath the surface, his norms are very...not normal. No matter though, power, influence and money ensures beloved will never, ever get away from him. How could they, after all? Once he’s done with them, energy vampire that he is, they’ll be too drained, eclipsed and exhausted to even blink.

#robby keene #tory nichols #samantha larusso #daniel larusso #amanda larusso #john kreese #terry silver #kk3 #cobra kai #cobra kai yandere #cobra kai imagines #yep literally every character can be written as a yandere

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bonsai-babies · 3 years ago

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I have a Shameless Self Indulgent AU for Cobra Kai in which

Robby is a feminine boy who expresses femininity on main, always. He's bisexual and very confident. His fashion style is impeccable and a bit messy too because he's still exploring and figuring himself out. His personality is pretty much the same from canon, and he's just as buff.

Sam is living the dream being his sister because they can talk all things girly together and help each other with hair and dresses.

They do make up tutorial for kids their age together and give tips on products that they use. Since these Lawrusso babies are very flamboyant, their videos are always a joy. Both siblings are clearly very comfortable with each other and very close. They can read each others mind. Also they are overprotective.

Sam and Robby still do karate. They love training with their dads and Miguel -- who is the third kind-of sibling. He's their soulmate and both Lawrusso Babies love him one thousand. These three are chaos together and they will make sure nobody forgets they were there. They play and fight all the time -- like kids do -- but are always back to hugging each other 5 minutes later because they get sad when separated.

Johnny calls his son in high heels a "badass" and "looking like a champ!". He's supportive and clueless. Sometimes he even suggests Miguel a lipstick because he got used to Robby's habit of putting it and this is his normal.

Sam gets spoiled rotten by Miguel and Robby. And they are aware. They joke about it but keep doing it. Sam does the same for them, but Miguel and Robby are much more overbearing on their spoiling. Once Sam scrapped her knee and they bridal-carried her the whole day like she was hurt beyond repair. They went to 3 different places to find a Frozen themed band-aid because they knew that was Sam's fave movie at the time and no other type of band-aid was good enough for their love. She says they should stop, but only half-heartedly because she loves the attention.

Robby and Sam cannot see each other crying because they will cry too. It's ridiculous. Sometimes they can feel when the other is crying even when they're not on the same room. Their empath-link is very strong.

#cobra kai #cobra kai fanfic #sam larusso #samantha larusso #robby keene #the lawrusso family #miguel diaz #johnny lawrence #i love fanfic-ing about them #MY TRIO OF BABIES

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silentlylovingyourwork · 4 years ago

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hi! i've been following your blog bc of harringrove for a while and i really resonate with your taste in fic so, since i've just recently dipped my toes in lawrusso... could you rec me a few of your fav fics for the ship? i always feel pretty overwhelmed when starting in a new fandom, so i thought i would ask. thanks in advance! 😘

Hi!!

I am honored (and terrified) to help you get ankle deep in lawrusso fics.

Under a cut because it was a lot of scrolling when I made this.

in the business of date-crashing by narcissablaxk, T, 4706 words

“Spotted: newly divorced Mr. LaRusso at Home Depot at nine a.m. on a Saturday,” the message said. The picture was blurry but there was no denying that he was looking at a picture of Daniel LaRusso, in jean shorts and a baggy flannel shirt, his hair mussed and, if he looked closely, a streak of grey by his temple.

It was a good look.

“DILF,” was all Hawk’s reply said, and then a flurry of little picture emoticons that Johnny didn’t understand.

He had to use the Google to figure out what a DILF was.

Probably the first fic I read in this fandom. It's very fun.

He's My Karate Husband by lostmagician, E, 1945 words

What the hell was going on? Was this another one of Johnny's pranks? The worst part was that Johnny seemed unfazed whenever he said it—like he was just stating the way things were.

(Or: the one where Johnny keeps calling Daniel his karate husband, and Daniel doesn't understand why)

Also a fun story.

Safe Word: Cobra Kai by Zerrah, M, 5288 words

In a bout of overprotectiveness, Daniel follows Sam to an unconventional club, and gets more than he bargained for.

One where Johnny totally knows what Daniel really wants.

Love by Amymone, G, 1165 words

Johnny just wants to tell LaRusso that he loves him. What could possibly go wrong?

It's cute.

The Last Coors Banquet in the Valley by LulaMadison, M, 29436 words

During the zombie apocalypse Johnny Lawrence searches for the last Coors Banquet in the valley, but instead he finds a 16 year old kid living alone in an abandoned apartment block. He decides to teach the kid how to be a badass Zombie killer.

(I know some people don't like major character deaths in fic, but there are no 'on screen' character deaths in this fic, although any person not listed in the tags above is assumed to be a zombie or missing. Spoiling it slightly, but any character listed in the tags above isn't going to die.

There also isn't a lot of horror in this because it's not really about Zombies, it's about finding love and family at the end of the world :-P)

A much-needed zombie au.

I Can Give It All To You, Baby by succor_punch, E, 10873 words

Daniel finds the photos. *** Whatever pervert directed this photoshoot knew what they were doing. The next pose has Johnny leaning back against a rock wall with his leg half-hitched up and he looks every inch like a prime, sex-on-a-stick alpha male. White baggy trousers that offset his tanned chest, which is... shiny. Did they fucking rub him down with oil?

It's good and also now a series.

We have been down together in my sleep by trinityofone, E, 4226 words

Listen, it wasn’t Johnny’s fault that he never realized how much he’d love getting fucked.

Lovingly what it says in the description.

Fellas, is it gay... by momma_66, T, 1933 words

To goad your karate rivial into asking you to prom and then both of your egos are too big to back out? Is it gay, fellas?

A fun take on rival daring each other to go to prom together and finding the pics +30 years later

Paler than Grass by the_sound_of_inevitability, E, 4047 words

It’s just the two of them. He told himself he didn’t need an entourage to hand over the damn form, that he was going to keep his cool.

His cool lasted all of two seconds under LaRusso’s gaze.

But then, it never lasts. Whenever he sees LaRusso it’s like an electric charge.

Inspired by the deleted scene of Daniel asking Johnny why he likes intimidation. Canon compliant... until it isn't.

What if Johnny bullying Daniel was a thing they got off to?

Tit For Tat by t_time, E, 2487 words

“I can fix the car for you, at no cost. All I need in return is a little favor.”

Johnny tensed. “What kind of favor?” He asked slowly, not sure he wanted to know.

Daniel leans forward now, smile sliding off his face. “Suck my dick, Johnny.”

In which Johnny is as broke as his car is, and Daniel wants his dick sucked. Written for a Kink Meme prompt.

A bit of a darker Daniel here.

When the Fires Burn Low by petofi, T, 7113 words

A couple years after high school ends, Johnny is lonely and touch-starved. He goes to a beach party where, deep into the night, people will start putting on a blindfold and undressing while other people touch them.

One night Johnny puts on a blindfold, not knowing that a certain karate rival is watching from the other side of the bonfire.

Poor touch-starved Johnny and a kind Daniel.

Snake pit by dedlit, E, 49098 words

Sets after season 2.

1st Arc: Daniel strikes a deal with Kreese and starts loosing control over himself...

2nd Arc: Johnny is back in town, Daniel's downward spiral continues...

3rd Arc: Daniel and Johnny recover, heal and slowly something new can start...

A much darker fic, so well written, poor Daniel, but it does work out

little larusso is a cobra by narcissablaxk, T, 3844 words

When Anthony asks Johnny to teach him some karate to take care of a bully, Johnny agrees, even if it means keeping it a secret from Daniel. That is, until he finds out who the bully is.

It's good and fun.

Bonus:

Functional Flexibility by LMT, M, 23692 words

“How about you, LaRusso?” Johnny says. “What’s *your* secret weapon? Your crane kick of sex?” Knowing that the conversation will go nowhere good, Daniel just tells him that he will never, ever find out. Even if he buys shots all night. ************************** ((After Daniel and Johnny discuss some newfangled ideas about sexuality, which were definitely not in vogue when they were kids, things get weird.))

It's not Lawrusso, but it is a fascinating look at their relationship and both Johnny and Daniel as characters.

#anonymous #asks #fic rec list #so many good fics so little time #i tried to give you a bit of variety #lawrusso #if you're looking for more specific genres let me know #also i am still trying to work out how to format these rec things #i also cannot explain why i like things beyond 'it good'#may you find something you like #you adorable human you #there a lot (a lot) more good fics out there but try these?

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trifle-of-doom · 4 years ago

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The Hawk X Demetri Manifesto

Okay, here is the thing. Despite being well past my teens, there's a particular ship of Cobra Kai that has drawn my attention, this ship being Hawk/Eli x Demetri. When I first watched the show, I was actually more invested in the adult characters storylines than the teens. I immediately rooted for Johnny and Carmen, and I was always hoping for more interactions between them. But then I saw episode 2x05, in which the atmosphere between the Binary Brothers becomes way more dense, and that's when I started to see some potential for them. Not because I'm a deranged person who fosters abusive relationships, but because I immediately caught the hurt/comfort dynamic of the duo, which is something that works really well when it comes to fictional relationships. However, it wasn't until 3x10 that I said, "Ok, that's official, I need to see more of these two! I totally support them!" And I was quite surprised to find a fairly large amount of people who are very committed to this pairing, to the point it's caught the attention of the screenwriters/producers as well. Honestly, I don't know if the showrunners will ever have the guts to make them an official couple, and chances are their supporters will have to keep reading between the lines of their bromance, but in any case, here is my take on why Hawk/Eli x Demetri is an option worth to be considered.

#1 - The Bromance

If there's something that many years of navigating the Internet taught me, is that the main driving factor for fan-made ships is the presence of either a solid relationship based on mutual brotherly love or a bitter rivalry that may or may not flow into hate/obsession. If you consider anime fandoms, there are thousand examples that fit into either of these categories: Yugi and Jonouchi from the Yu-Gi-Oh series (yes, that's how old I am), Yugi and Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh, Sakuragi and Rukawa from Slam Dunk, Light and L from Death Note, etc. And our Hawk and Demetri fit into both categories. When we first see them, they are the stereotypical nerdy friends (possibly childhood friends?) sitting at the losers' table, who have no one else but each other. When Eli is at his most sensitive and fragile, you can tell he feels comfortable being with Demetri by the genuine smile he has on his face as Demetri is joking with Miguel at the canteen table. Through his sarcasm, the mouthy kid acts as a catalyst to deviate the attention from Eli, speaking for him, reprimanding Johnny when he makes fun of his lip and trying to make him feel safe. Besides, you can see a certain degree of frustration in Demetri when Kyler and his gang are harassing Eli, and he's unable to do anything to defend him. And they even have a jingle for their friendship with a robot dance, I mean, how cute is that? But of course, a solid friendship between two helpless nerdy guys is not enough to spark a ship to be rooting for. In order for the magic to happen, another key ingredient is needed, i.e. a little bit of angst. Which brings us straight to the next point.

#2 - The Angst (aka the Hurt/Comfort Dynamic)

Even though I never liked the Twilight saga or any similar urban fantasy young adult works, I can easily see where the appeal comes from; the attraction to a charming, dangerous person who could either protect you from any harm or crush you like grape. Although with different franchises, I wasn't immune to the bad boy trope either (Yes, I'm looking at you, my teenage self drooling over Grimmjow from Bleach). If we can appreciate the genuine, brotherly friendship between nerdy Eli and Demetri, the shift that Eli makes as he transitions into Hawk and becomes more aggressive and dominant gives their relationship a totally different flavor. Attrition sparks a certain tension that, in the viewer's eyes, could either flow into a brawl or into passion.

During the mall fight, Demetri comes to the realization that his former best friend is actually someone who can crush him like grape. We see Hawk intentionally harming him for the first time, and Demetri's heartbreaking expression as he drops the line: "You'd actually hurt me?" And if that line gave us a pang in our hearts when we first watched Season 2, imagine rewatching it now that we know what happens in Season 3. Demetri is chased down the mall, running for his life, and then he's locked in a grip, as his best friend menacingly advances towards him. Demetri appears as the damsel in distress, however his friend is not the one who will fight to protect him, but rather his tormentor.

During the party at Moon's, Demetri manages to briefly go through Hawk's mask and reach out to Eli, thanks to a casual conversation about Dr Who. But then the beer incident happens, and Demetri defends himself with the only weapon he has – his loudmouth. The situation is reversed, and for a brief moment, he gets to be the dominant one as he discloses all Eli's most intimate secrets. Demetri is now actively contributing to the Hurt/Comfort dynamic; he's no longer just a target, but he's doing his part to enlarge that gaping hole that has formed between them. And Hawk didn't take it well.

From this moment on, Demetri becomes a sort of obsession to Hawk, who hunts him down the school, teasing him and taunting him sadistically, like a serial killer from a horror movie, during the big fight. Of course, in real life, this would be completely insane, and the police/a social assistant/psychiatrist should be called, but in ShipLand, these situations are pure gold. Okay, we get it, Hawk wants to get revenge for the humiliation at the party, and he wants to crush that nerd part of himself he sees in Demetri, but he does it with such an intensity that it borders on ridiculous. It's like this is his twisted way to acknowledge Demetri's presence. Eventually, Hawk ends up smashed into the trophy case, and I confess I felt a little disappointed when Demetri broke that hug to give Hawk a roundhouse kick. I mean, it was a great comeback, but I was sincerely hoping for a "No hard feelings man, let's get outta here!" scenario.

Getting back to the sick and twisted way Hawk acknowledges Demetri's presence, he destroys his science project after he got jealous due to him being confident in his nerd self and laughing around with his ex girlfriend (whom the writers insist he still has a crush on). Speaking of Moon, I have a feeling she likes Hawk mostly based on his badass appearance. Remember when she goes "I like this (mohawk) and I love these (muscles), but I'm not dating a bully"?

Then the football match happens. Okay, let's break this down. Demetri trips Hawk and acts all sassy, and a fellow Cobra Kai is immediately ready to take him down, but Hawk stops him. "Fight smart, he says". Too bad that literally 5 seconds earlier he had shoved a kid to the ground just because his ex girlfriend (again, duuuh~) ignored him when he winked at her. And then, as he's trying to intercept the ball, BANG, Hawk hits Demetri, sending him to the ground, pretending it was an accident. So, what does this tell us? That Hawk has some serious anger management issues? Yeah sure, but also that he cares about fighting smart only as long as it serves as an excuse to leave Demetri for him, because he's his designated target. Again, this is all but romantic, and it doesn't necessarily have to be interpreted as him lusting after his friend, but it's undeniable that this dynamic offers a lot of ship fuel.

The arm breaking thing is just too painful to even analyze. We see a completely helpless Demetri begging for mercy to his ex best friend, who has made No Mercy his life motto. And that scream, oh that scream. All I wanted to see was Hawk realizing what he had done and throwing himself on his knees while begging for forgiveness. But I'm glad that at least we get to see he feels awful for what he's done, and I like to think that, as he got home, Eli cried out all the tears he had in his body thinking about poor Demetri at the hospital, with a swollen broken arm, all because of him. Of all the situations, this is undoubtedly the most deranged and extreme, and if something like this happened in real life, the wrongdoer would deserve to be punished and would definitely need to be sent to therapy. But in ShipLand, this opens the road to many, many different scenarios, in which the bully understands his mistakes and shifts back to the good side, or the two share a tender moment after they reconcile, or the traumatized character has to to learn to trust the other one again, or the bully becomes overprotective of his former victim, etc.

#3 - A Rewarding Reconciliation

Finally, we come to the reconciliation, in which Hawk makes his heel-to-face turn. While we've seen him torn with doubt for an entire season about his sensei's teachings, his actions and the people he wants to surround himself with, the key factor that drives Hawk's redemption is the sight of his best friend being held down for him to beat. And with an epic stunt and his awesome KEEEH screech, Hawk jumps to the rescue of his friend. Like many of us, Demetri thought this was still part of the "Only I Can Torment Him" dynamic I discussed earlier, as he steps backwards a little concerned, but then he understands that action was actually meant to save him, and the two begin to fight side by side, in sync, watching each other's back. You can see Demetri's eyes sparkling at the thought of having his friend back.

Also, not only Demetri stands up to alpha bitch Tory in defense of Eli, but he also speaks for his friend when he's faltering, just like he used to. So kudos for Demetri.

#4 - The Red Oni, Blue Oni Dynamic

Binary Brothers are two sides of the same coin and complete each other with opposite character traits, visually expressed by the color red and the color blue. Being the color red typically associated with violence, rage, passion and irrationality, as opposed to blue, which is associated with calmness, melancholy and rationality, red is clearly the dominant color. Again, this opens many interesting scenarios for shippers.

#5 - Body Language

Besides the situations I described above, which may or may not be read from a romantic/attraction standpoint, there are also a collection of small gestures I noticed when rewatching the series with a more attentive look on their relationship.

- Demetri's heart-broken expression when Eli shamefully covers his lip during the anti-bullying announcement.

- The smile Demetri gives when Hawk responds "Hell yeah!" after Aisha proposes to crash Yasmin's party, implying he's learning to embrace this new wild side of his best friend

- The astonished look with which Demetri watches Hawk at the tournament and the way he's pissed no one knows his real name.

- How deeply hurt Demetri is when Hawk belittles him by saying: "Five against three. More like two and a half." He even tries to reply, but he's caught so off guard that words die in his throat.

- How Demetri takes a step towards Hawk during the mall fight, before Sam makes him back off, and how sadly he looks at Hawk's nearly unconscious body after Robby defeated him.

- How Demetri smiles and nods when he briefly connects with Eli at Moon's party, despite the mall incident.

- How Hawk watches Demetri juggle with the cleaning product from behind his bike helmet (how did he stuff the mohawk in there by the way)?

- Hawk's psychotic/sadistic faces when he smells Demetri's blood, and how he likes to hunt him down like he's his prey.

- Hawk's secret impulse to comfort Demetri after the arm breaking (I hope you get nightmares of Demetri's howl of pain for the rest of your life, Hawk).

- The way Hawk twitches his upper lip when he sees his friend Demetri in danger.

- How Hawk and Demetri are so absorbed in their new-found friendship, that they're caught off guard, and Demetri swings Hawk to allow him to deliver a kick using their handshake as a lever. And how they keep fighting together, shaking each other's hands even when they're out of focus and the attention is on Miguel vs. Kyler.

- How they're standing so close at Miyagi Do, in comparison with the other Red/Blue partners.

In conclusion, this kind of relationships are engaging and entertaining to watch, and they make us wish the best for the characters. They make us hope that, in the end, as Miguel puts it, love really conquers all (and what is friendship if not a form of love?), despite all the hurt they did to each other.

So this is it. I hope you enjoyed my Ted Talk. Feel free to share it with whomever you want, especially if you need some solid reasons why this ship has got some good potential.

And remember: the ship is in the eye of the beholder.

#HawkMeat #Hawk x Demetri #Cobra Kai #Eli Moskowitz #Demetri #binary brothers

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brizzlovesyou · 5 years ago

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i think youre a mind reader bc i had the exact thoughts!! i hate when people say eli changed himself for the better or demetri should stop calling him eli. he's just an insecure boy who thinks he can get rid of all of his troubles by erasing the parts of him that made him himself :( hopefully they show happy eli flashbacks so the people who are pro hawk can realize hes actually worse off

LITTLE ELI GIVES ME SO MANY FEELS. UGH I’M SO SORRY THE WORLD WAS MEAN TO YOU BUDDY.

Okay see this is where it gets tricky because... okay this is gonna be long so I apologize in advance lol but I actually DO think Eli changed for the better. At first. Learning karate builds his confidence. Getting the mohawk is his first attempt at controlling his own narrative and that’s a really powerful thing. Cobra Kai gives him something to work towards and a camaraderie that he’d only ever seen from the outside looking in. And even though nobody truly becomes confident overnight, faking it for a bit does exactly what he wants it to: it stops the bullying and it gets people to look at him with something other than pity or disgust.

Where this starts to go downhill is the longer he spends suppressing his Eli side, the more it keeps threatening to come to the surface and it drives. him. crazy. Cuz he never dealt with all that pain. And we’re not just talking about the kids in high school: Eli is carrying a LIFETIME of being mistreated for something he has no control over. It’s why his parents are so overprotective. And instead of dealing with any of that hurt, he’s pushed it down and he’s actually turned it into Eli’s problem so he doesn’t have to deal with it. Eli was weak so that’s why he got bullied. Eli was a nerd so that’s why people made fun of him. When the truth of the matter is there was never anything WRONG with Eli. Anger is a secondary emotion and Hawk’s anger stems from pain and a deep-seated fear that any wrong move could put him right back in Eli’s shoes.

In my opinion, Demetri should call him Hawk. I get why he doesn’t, to a certain extent. He still sees his best friend of however many years, even with a new haircut. The change happens really quickly in Demetri’s eyes and he doesn’t really get why it’s happening because Demetri never saw anything wrong with Eli. But it’s also like... dude. The mohawk makes him happy. The new name makes him happy. He’s not shrinking into himself, he’s not embarrassed and timid, he’s finally standing tall. Just be happy for him and call him Hawk!!

My personal Hawk/Eli sweet spot is the last couple episodes of s1. He’s enjoying his newfound confidence, he’s excited to be hanging out with his new friends, he got Moon’s attention. But he’s still pretty friendly with Demetri and let me just say: Hawk tries with Demetri!! He really does. He’s enjoying the effects of his new outlook on life and he wants the same for Demetri. Eli doesn’t feel quite so far away in this version of Hawk. He’s got an edge, he’s a badass, but he’s not completely controlled by his rage yet. I think it’s worth noting that this is how he is before he’s introduced to Kreese.

Aaaaaand finally, I’d like to see a happy Eli flashback too! But I will just say, from like personal experience, you can have happy moments even when you are mostly sad. I don’t think Eli has ever thought highly of himself, it just used to manifest in sadness rather than anger. Demetri is happy to be who he is; Eli was never comfortable in his own skin. That “nerd shit” was so important to Eli because it was an escape. You can focus on other people’s problems, you can imagine a world where you get to be someone stronger and different, you can find a sense of community in these characters and other worlds. That’s my favorite thing about tv shows, movies, and books as I’m sure you can see by my utter mess of a multi-fandom blog. But just because those things made him happy, it doesn’t mean that Eli was happy with himself. I’d argue that he wasn’t. He likes what he sees when Hawk is looking back at the mirror at him. But that rage is only going to subside when he can ultimately accept all parts of him, not just the pieces he likes.

#cobra kai #eli moskowitz #cobra kai hawk #all my followers right now: SHUT UP ABOUT THAT KID WITH THE MOHAWK #lololol i will NOT #Anonymous #ask #my writing and analysis and general tag essays

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raevenlywrites · 5 years ago

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The Ties That Bind 8 of ???

Elanor was sent off with the Cobriana ring--Sisal’s ring, my ring--and a letter written in my hand to take back to the Keep. I insisted a guard go with her and Raymond, Vasili’s cousin, volunteered. I agreed with the choice that the less even tempered Emune stay with us. He’d done nothing distrustworthy, but the way he watched Adelina made me want to keep him close. I trusted Raymond to see Elanor back to the Keep safely, and to ensure my words were delivered to Andreios’s hands.

Why Andreios, and not my mother? Because I didn’t trust her anymore.

I loved my mother, I truly did. And I believe everything she did that felt so stifling to me was out of love as well, and overprotectiveness. She had told me it was time for me to become Queen. Well, a queen didn’t ask for her mother’s permission. She let the captain of her guard oversee her safety, and had her staff carry out her orders. My mother wasn’t needed in this decision.

And, I wanted to see what she and my generals would do.

I needed to know if I could trust those who had led in war to follow me into peace. This week at the Lyssia farm would show me much, and Zane and I could adjust our plans accordingly.

Zane and I. Our plans. It still seemed so ludicrous. But the cobra stayed by my side, making small sounds here and there as I drafted my letter, making suggestions rather than corrections, which I greatly appreciated. This was the hardest letter I’d ever drafted in my life. Having help was very welcome.

I gave Andreios specific orders on who and how many he could bring, knowing that he would come himself--and hoping he remembered our old signal of the vase of roses I’d carefully moved to the trunk of my bed before fleeing--and that there was no way the heir to the Tuuli Thea would be allowed to spend a week in the outer territory unguarded.

Especially once he got to the part about me doing so with Zane Cobriana.

I couldn’t help but remember the look of betrayal on his face when I’d thrown myself between him and Zane. I wondered if I’d have to do it again.

This week would tell me so many things.

As we exited the Lyssia bedroom, surrendering it to its proper owners, the ladies of the house made some fuss about letting us keep it. Zane and I both demured, him with considerably more cool than myself, me knowing it wouldn’t be long until Andreios arrived. I’d have a long night of aruging with him on my hands, I knew. Unless I was willing to play the absolute monarch like my mother did. I tried not to do that with Rei. I didn’t have enough friends to risk the ones I did.

I realized with a start that I’d mentally put Zane on that very short list. Not a good friend, by any means, but... Well, I’d asked for an ally, and he seemed to be doing his best to do just that. I’d spent so long being told my place, having to push and claw for every liberty and point that I’d started thinking of anyone on my side as a friend. Zane was a fellow monarch, an equal. I didn’t know him well enough yet to be friends.

But surprisingly, I wanted to. Every interaction I’d had with him, Zane had opened up. Alarmingly quickly, by avian standards. He was so ready to talk about his pain, his losses, his vulnerabilities, his dreams. Maybe I was projecting, but he seemed as hungry for a friend as I was.

Maybe friendship was enough.

I felt my cheeks heat at the foolishness of the thought, especially as I looked up and realized I’d lose track of Zane. Emune hadn’t, and I’d simply trusted my guard to have my back. That was beyond foolish; the serpiente could move so frighteningly quick--

No, I stopped myself. It wasn’t foolish.

It was trust.

I turned to offer Zane a tentative smile, to show him this small blossom of trust--

and found him with Adelina.

They weren’t touching--they weren’t even being that civil with each other, I noticed--but their movements spoke of bodies well familiar with one another, moving seamlessly to set up their bedrolls by the fire as they quietly bickered.

That is not a man unfamiliar with your body.

My flush deepened, and I’d have given anything for the guard at my back to be Andreios instead of Emune. What must he think of all this, his mad future queen and these bickering serpents.

What would the rest of the court think of me.

It shouldn’t matter. It didn’t matter, not really. But... it did. It didn’t matter to me, personally, but it would affect my ability to lead. The Shardaes were well loved, for their patronage of the arts and their generosity with all their had--and their gifts of song. That, more than anything else I knew, was what kept us in the hearts of the people. That lingering kiss of magic that cast the mind back to our mythical hawk queen--one who danced, Zane said, over a serpiente symbol.

My head was beginning to hurt.

I turned my back to the arguing couple--and they were most certainly a couple--by the fire and addressed Emune.

“I assume you’ll want to keep a watch rather than sleep?”

He nodded, his habit to remain more or less mute, I supposed. I bit back a sigh.

“I figured as much. Then I shall nap in the rocker, until Rei--Captain Andreios comes.”

I knew better, I really did. But what I wanted was Rei, not Captain Andreios. I wanted to talk to my best friend, to unravel the tangle of my thoughts in the retelling of them, and maybe, I added guiltily, spend a few minutes in his arms. Just for the comfort of it but--well, Zane was in his favorite pair of arms. Why shouldn’t I retreat to mine?

Because he wants to take you as his...mate. I realized I still didn’t know the word. If it had been just me and Zane, I might have asked him. But I wouldn’t interrupt he and Adelina for the world.

“That can’t be comfortable.”

Zane’s words cut through my thoughts, startling me in my rocker. I blinked owlish eyes at him, head absolutely scattered.

I realized, belatedly, that I was looking at him alone. Adelina wasn’t in his bedroll. She was perked grumpily on the raised edge of the hearth, back to the fire and her Arami, eyes locked on Emune. Her gazed flicked to me and Zane as we spoke, but she never uncrossed her arms, or moved from her tightly coiled lounge against the stone. She looked just like Zane had in the camps, I realized. Was it from physical familiarity, or a mark of some serpiente style they both trained in?

“I said,” Zane said again, tearing my thoughts from Adelina and all that violent potential, “That can’t be comfortable. If you’re tired, Danica, come lay down.”

My eyes darted around the room, to Emune, to Adelina, to the door I just knew Rei would come through the moment I laid down--if I lay down. Not a chance.

Zane laughed, and it sounded bitter, and tired. Had I spoken that last out loud?

“To public for you to relax, pretty Danica?”

I gave him narrowed eyes. “Why do you always do that?”

“Do what?”

“Say my name like that, like its some kind of title. And like I won’t know which Danica you mean, if you don’t inclue ‘pretty’ or ‘beautiful’. Is there some other Danica I should be aware of?”

To my utter shock, it was Adelina who laughed. Zane shot her a dirty look, and Emune almost jumped out of his skin, but I just stared, enchanted by the startling sound, as cold and hard as the rest of her.

“She has you there, my Arami. She may be a better match for you than I thought, if she sees through you this easily.”

I blushed and looked at my lap, unable to think of anything to say. Besides, she wasn’t technically addressing me.

Of course, then she did.

“Lay down with him, brave Danica. I won’t bite, and I won’t let him bite you either.”

I felt my eyes bug from my head. I felt more than saw Emune react, and I halted him with a raised hand. Drawing my composure around me like the armor it was, I raised my eyes to Adelina.

“I understand you are very familiar with your Arami.”

Zane snorted, but Adelina watched me with utterly unreadable eyes. I understood the measure she was taking of me, and did my best to live up to it.

“But I am not your Arami, or whatever the equivalent title would be, and I do not know you. I ask that you kindly refrain from teasing me until we are both comfortable with it.”

Adelina arched a perfect, pale eyebrow. “Ask?”

I nodded, chin held high. “Yes, ask. You are not of my court; it is not my place to rule you. But I thought I’d do you the courtsey of asking directly, rather than dragging your Arami into it. I assumed you’d prefer to speak directly, since you felt so comfortable doing so a moment before.”

Her lips thinned, and I couldn’t tell if it was in displeasure or to supress a smile. But she inclined her head right back and settled back against the stones.

“Very well, Lady Shardae. I will refrain from being so familiar with you, until we’re all comfortable with one another.”

I didn’t care for that parting shot at all. There was mockery in it, and implications I didn’t quite know how to untangle. I knew I was being made fun of, challenged, but so indirectly that I didn’t know how to counter it. But Adelina didn’t seem to expect any response, closing her eyes and resting her head back against the warm hearthstones.

I didn’t look at either of the men, instead choosing to mirror Adelina’s repose. I’d both passed and failed this first test, of that I was sure. But I didn’t know how to make use of my new allyship with Zane to figure it out while we were all waiting so tensely for the Royal Flight to come.

Oh feathered furies.

That’s what they’d been arguing about.

Adelina, Zane’s only guard, had surely been unhappy at the idea of being outnumbered three to one--because I had been adamant in my letter that no more than four guards be on the grounds at any given time. I knew I couldn’t keep Rei from bringing scouts, and this was avian territory after all, but I could and would limit how crowded this small farmhouse would get, and I’d thought four was a reasonable compromise. That’s how many usually walked with me in the fields, and this was simply the fields.

But Adelina had no reinforcements coming.

And her King--her beloved prince and personal lover--had told her to shut up and sleep on it. Or whatever words he’d actually used. I’d assumed a lovers’ spat because that was how I saw her first, the obvious lover I was going to surplant, and least publicly. Zane had all but said he’d keep lovers, and--oh skies above, this was all so stupid. We could never be lovers. I could daydream about what it might be like to kiss those lips, or let myself lay down beside him and that tempting fireplace. But Adelina knew the real thing, and there was no way I could ask her to give him up just to save a little face. For all I knew, the serpents wouldn’t care one way or another.

And as I’d said to Zane, they wouldn’t like him one way or another. A mistress on the side was the least of Zane’s villanies, in the court’s eyes.

But again, there were those vows to be upheld. Oaths really did bind the strength of the Tuuli Thea to the service of her people, and every oath sworn to or by her helped strengthen her magic. We were all hoping my powers would grow when I took the throne--part of why my mother had decided to step down. Her own gifts lay more in veils and illusions, in tricking the mind to be at peace, and not notice the thing she didn’t want noticed. Mine lay in comfort, and the mending of small wounds and illnesses. I had hoped against hope when I held Gregory that my gifts could give him enough life for his own magic to do the rest. But Cobriana magic, it seems, did not line in healing. Or at least, that prince’s hadn’t.

I wondered what powers Zane had, and if they had any use outside of battle.

And maybe he had none, I reminded myself. Just because the falcon monarchs had magic and the avian monarchs had magic, and the tales of Cobriana on the battlefield seemed like magic, didn’t mean it followed that Zane had any gifts. Goddess, my own younger brother Xander could only sing away the noticing of pain, and conceal tropes that did not move. Only if they stood perfectly still, and numbered less than a score, could Xander keep his people from sight. It had been hoped his gifts would grow on the battlefield--

Instead they were lost, he was lost, wasted. Just so much spilt blood.

I must have fallen asleep without realizing it, my thoughts of blood turning to dreams of blood. Because I woke with a strangled cry of “Zane no!” as Andreios shook me awake.

The Ties That Bind Tag list: @thehellinsideyourhead @therecouldbecolorsandlove @adventuresofacreesty

Raev’s Gen Tag List (should I tag you guys in this? It IS a thing I wrote. I’m gonna say yes unless you guys are like “no of course not we’re sick of hearing about your stupid fic for a twenty year old book XD)

No one has complained yet so yall gonna keep getting tagged :P

List is currently: @lordkingsmith @writinglyra @drbibliophile @mperialscribe @adie-dee @adie-dee @lexiklecksi @writinginslowmotion @raenawrites @apollon-arium @anika-writes

#raev does fic #the ties that bind #hawksong fic #hawksong #the kiesha'ra #kiesha'ra fanfic #danica shardae #zane cobriana #andreios #my writing tag

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lllvllls-blog · 6 years ago

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⋆ ◦ ° ☾ cismale + he/his — have you seen vincent janko? they sure have been hanging out at valdez county park a lot recently. they are thirty eight years old known as the raging bull, and they currently work for the cobras as a soldier, which they’ve been doing for nine years. a bisexual capricorn, they are determined + practical, as well as detached + stubborn. knitting needles, smashed terracotta pots, gauze bandages.

this is so long im so sry it’s mostly so i dont fKN FORGET MY BRAINS A SIEVE

HISTORY

this my most anti-social + rage-filled muse so we’ll see how he do... v v v loosely based on jake lamotta in the raging bull film. their personalities are actually a bit different ANYWAY

raised around violence, saw ppl responded to it + listened when used so grew up with the kinda mentality where violence was the only answer

not a great relationship with parents, lack of communication, abusive. vince’s parents married too young, fell out of love quick, took their frustrations out on each other and on their kid who never listened

so kept to himself at home but released aggression at school. a Big Fat Bully rip just picking on ppl all the time - not the weak ones but the strongest

got into a lot of trouble, juvenile diversion, detention etc. hefty fines bc of vandalism, assault etc. then eventually juvie for a short while for assaulting his probation officer. a mess.

age 15, his mum (civilian) left his dad (cobra) and his dad remarried to a fellow cobra. his new mom wanted their own kid but couldn’t so adopted serah. ENTER: actual angel, light of vince’s life. the lil 3 y/o was his everything ok. not only did serah’s arrival soften his dad up a lil but vince had less reason to be angry about things too.

tho their parents were v absent, vince had no problem taking care of serah. in fact he was so happy to do it, even skipped school to spend time with her

stayed out of trouble for serah, joined a boxing club which tamed him a lot, saved his anger for the ring. lost a lot at first but once he started to pick things up the cobras began to take notice as he quickly became the winning bet

doesn’t feel pain like normal people. can just charge + charge + charge @ people no matter how many punches to the head.

didn’t graduate high school but agreed to fight for the cobras + help them fix games for some extra dolla. enjoyed the money as paid back parents, became independent, and begin to save up to move into a house with his gf + financially support serah

never took the initiation tho. always rebelled against his parents and refused to join the cobras despite their wishes. didn’t like the thought of ppl telling him what to do. just wanted to fight, win, go back to his gf + sis with a fat wad of cash

around the age of 23, he enlisted in the army with a bunch of his friends due to ~patriontic~ reasons but before he left married mimi who came from savage parents + eventually initiated when she was 18. had been dating her since he was 16. this was another reason why he swore not to join as a cobra

finds out she’s pregnant whilst he’s away. wasn’t planned. thought of kids scared him bc he never believed he’d be a good dad (spoiler alert: he right)

comes back during leave to meet a lil bb rosie (age 25). elated but terrified. more than the war. goes back to afghanistan, hates not being there. so fucks up his own left ear, sent home with a medical discharge. deaf in one ear. called an animal.

he’s obvs not the same as before, disoriented and a lil traumatized. also wow vince is not the best parent. has sm of his dad’s awful traits that he hasn’t unlearnt but is Trying.

tried to do a normal job as a construction worker but just got into fights all the time, kept getting fired. was convinced to go back into the ring. so he did. but things were different.

he didn’t get the same sense of relief from mindless violence. just needed the money. impact of the war - no release from shooting a gun and taking an innocent person’s life. being a solider was a job in the same way as a fighter. work, work. unsatisfied hunger.

ANYWAY vince’s last fight (age 27), huge odds. cobras told him to lose. his friend bet on him to win against vince’s advice. friend had bet a lot of money. so won the fight. next day his wife was killed.

he thought it was the cobras. turns out it was the savages, they thought she was a snake. not only that but the cobras lost a lot of money. they wanted him to pay it back. he refused to initiate. but serah was pregnant as well. he needed to support the fam + didn’t want no dramaz.

so continued to fight. but now he didn’t know when to stop, didn’t know his limits. began to beat his opponents to death. did the odd job here and there - intimidation, repossession, torture. only to pay off his debts + lowkey protection for his fam

age 29, parents die. livid. paranoid. took cobra initiation for official protection. also a way to hunt down his wife and parents’ killer + get vengeance.

SUMMARY: ex cobra fighter, ex us military, widower, a decent brother (serah’s), trying to be a decent father, now cobra soldier. (all u have to know tbh)

PERSONALITY (?) ish

nine years later, not over it. still angry. still hunting for the savages that killed his loved ones. might even be dead but subconsciously it doesn’t matter to him, convinces himself they’re still alive to cope with guilt. give his life a kind of purpose he thinks is achievable.

it’s pretty obvious to ppl he’s only in the cobras out of his own interest, protection and vengeance. he doesn’t exactly see other cobras as ‘family’ and his jobs are all done solo. just sticks to himself, gets shit done and doesn’t want anyone to bother him.

tryna be a good brother and a good dad and a good husband. crazy overprotective. don’t fucc with them, he’ll kill you. more brawns than brains. not a lot of morals. full of hate and rage. always sounds angry. even if amused. doesn’t talk much. speaks in grunts n gruffs n glares. talks weirdly, goes off tangents a lot.

not book smart but v street smart. don’t bullshit him bc it’ll just piss him off.

once he sets his mind to something that’s it, game over. dont try and change his mind.

ALSO tryna be a better man for his fam. goes to therapy (rarely!!), cut down on drinking A LOT tho sometimes has his moments, smokes privately. works out a lot, does DIY a lot, but also taken on hobbies that require a lot of patience like knitting, gardening, fishing.

POSSIBLE CONNECTIONS

childhood friends - vince had a lot more space in his heart for people outside of his family when he was younger. he was more sociable, approachable. wasn’t exactly a social butterfly but had a group of friends etc. that he deeply cared for

kobra kidz on the block - vince’s dad and step-mom were both cobra members. so people he grew up with due to their affiliations? old time friends, old time enemies. frenemies. anything. vince was very vocal about his disregard for the gang tbh. could’ve boxed together etc.

annoyance - a younger chara that just won’t leave him alone lmao. maybe a cobra, maybe not. could be anything.

baby sitter - vince has a daughter called rosie who is 13 y/o. she’s a lil hard nut and hard to control (wonder who she takes after) but anyway he def needs one of these. he’d rely on them a lot.

family/friends of mimi - mimi, his late wife, was a savage. they dated from 16 to her death at age 27. she grew up around savages. she joined out of peer pressure and vince never shied away from telling her fam how much he doesn’t like them. so ppl that opposed her, maybe orchestrated/participated in her death. could be fun.

lonely - vince has only been in love with one woman + still isn’t over her but it’s been nine years and a man has needs. so someone he fucks bc he’s lonely. this person probably knows it too. maybe they’re also lonely.

ex-fling - same sitch as before but the person ended it bc vince was so detached and cold. or maybe they grew feelings and broke it off. either way, vince unintentionally hurt the other person and *charlie puth vc* they don’t talk any mo

garden patch friends - vince has rly gotten into gardening ok. has a little garden patch near where he lives in the suburbs. plants veggies, some flowers. so maybe they have similar interests or have a patch nearby and *gasp* vince can actually talk more than a sentence at a time

#outlaw.intro #// this is unnecessarily long #and has drained my brain #but if anyone wants to plot hit da like #also if u have d*scord pls holla cos #tumblr ims are @@@@@

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cinderacequeen · 8 years ago

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When it comes to protecting their bros and best friends, Billy Joe Cobra and Robotboy certainly don’t mess around; each having their own unique way of getting revenge on bullies and enemies. While Billy prefers using his ghostly abilities for pranks, Ro goes for the more intimidating method of Superactivating and using his weapons.

Of course, sometimes Spencer and Tommy think their blue buddies are being a bit too overprotective and would rather just walk away from and ignore the problem. The “muy caliente” gag is one of my favorites from DTMG alksdh.

#Robotboy #**robo bby <3**#Dude That's My Ghost #DTMG #Billy Joe Cobra #**ghosty bby <3**#Spencer Wright #Tommy Turnbull #**my precious children**#favorite characters #fanart #my art #digital art #vector #vector art

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demetriandelibinaryboyfriends · 4 years ago

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Any hc for (non)binary brothers

You mean like...headcanons for their relationship/Demetri and Eli in general? Sure, I’ll take a stab at this! I have a bunch of miscellaneous headcanons for them anyways and have been looking for a place to put them, may as well post them here.

Fair warning that this is a bit of a disorganized mishmash of stuff I’ve thought up for them myself, headcanons I’ve seen others in the fandom make for them, and tropes that I’ve seen in fanfic that I really liked, so I kinda stole them to add to my own personal headcanon XD I may not be able to source all of them if asked...some of them I’m like “I genuinely don’t remember where I saw that, but I HELLA liked it” lol

~Demetri is like...RIDICULOUSLY good at coding. Eli is good at it too, but Demetri basically singlehandedly carried that coding competition they won. It was really more of a 70-30 effort, but Demetri consistently gives Eli 50% of the credit to try and help him feel good about himself and his capabilities. Demetri knows he did a bit more work than Eli, but he’s never once brought it up and he doesn’t plan to.

~Demetri looooooves cats. Like...the pretentiousness? The heightened sense of self-importance? The way they’re kinda misunderstood and often disliked because they can be mean, and don’t always show affection in the way people expect? The general air of annoyance and disdain they give off??? Demetri’s just like “yep, this is my animal right here.” XD Demetri doesn’t DISLIKE dogs, but he finds they can be a bit much sometimes, and likes that cats do their own thing a lot of the time.

~After getting the Hawk moniker, Eli lowkey got SUPER into hawks and birds of prey in general. Like he started watching documentaries on them and everything, and gushing to Demetri about how badass he thought they were. It even kinda verges into special interest territory (since Hawk/Eli is canonically probably autistic), although it’s not as all-consuming as some of his other ones. Back when he and Demetri are still on good terms, in the early days of “Hawk,” Eli rambles to Demetri about hawks and other “badass” birds a LOT when they’re hanging out. Eli only does this when he’s alone with Demetri because he’s a little scared to show THAT level of enthusiasm to anyone else, considering he’s trying to be a “tough guy” now. Demetri he still feels he can essentially be all of himself with, though. Demetri finds this new raptor obsession kind of hilarious but also kind of endearing.

~Demetri has a single mom who is lowkey overprotective and ends up coddling and sheltering him a lot. Demetri’s dad left when he was little, and his mom can be a bit overbearing because Dem is all she has left of his dad, in a sense. Because of this, Demetri definitely did NOT tell his mom Eli was the one who broke his arm. He said it was “some goon” from Cobra Kai, and said Eli wasn’t even there among the group that day. He knew if his mom knew Eli broke his arm, she would NEVER let Eli near him again, and would probably get a restraining order and possibly press charges. And Demetri just...REFUSES to give up on Eli, even after everything. He figures Kreese’s brainwashing and Kyler being in Cobra Kai are already putting Eli through a special kind of hell, and he wants to protect him from having even MORE things to deal with--in this case, the wrath of Demetri’s mom. And she never finds out Eli broke his arm--Demetri takes it to the grave.

~A little while after the Christmas party, Demetri and Eli resume their weekly sleepovers and try to make up for lost time. They decide not to pull out Eli’s Waterbed from storage, considering they both have pretty unpleasant associations with the waterbed after the incident at Moon’s party. They end up just sharing Demetri’s bed, like they used to when they were little and it wasn’t “weird” yet for two boys to sleep in the same bed. Maybe it’s weird now, but they figure as long as Demetri’s mom doesn’t blab to their friends or something that they’re sharing a bed, then it’s cool. Neither has any issue at all with sharing a bed, although they caaaaaan’t quite put their finger on why that is XD

~Eli actually gets nightmares about the laser tag arm incident more often than Demetri does. The fight will play out in a thousand different ways, but it always ends the same--with Eli pinning Demetri down and snapping his arm. Worse, sometimes he’ll have dreams that he’s beating up Brucks again, and then Brucks will slowly morph into Demetri, but Eli won’t be able to stop punching. He frequently wakes up panicking and screaming and crying during his and Demetri’s sleepovers, and Demetri just holds him and sooths him and wipes his tears off and reassures him that he knows Eli’s never going to hurt him again.

~I actually imagine it’s on a night like one of these that they first get together--Eli wakes up from another nightmare, and Demetri is just hugging him really close and trying to reassure him, and at some point, Demetri just...impulsively leans in and kisses him. They both get super flustered for a second, and then Eli leans in and kisses Demetri super fiercely and before they know it, they’re making out like there’s no tomorrow. When they have to stop for breath, they admit they’ve always liked each other and just weren’t really sure how to say it. They spoon for the rest of the night, and are pretty much officially dating after that, although they’re kinda anxious about what people will think, so they keep it on the DL at first.

~Demetri has bad dreams too, but his are usually current--e.g. Eli reveals it was All An Act and he’s been spying for Cobra Kai, and doesn’t actually give a shit about Demetri. When Demetri wakes up from these at their sleepovers, he often can’t help but shake Eli awake, and rattle off a bunch of paranoid questions--”You actually like me, right? You actually wanted to be friends again, right? You don’t think I’m annoying? You don’t secretly hate me, after everything?” And this always kind of alarms Eli at first, because of how...out-of-character it is for Demetri to be that self-conscious about what people think about him, and for him to actally...well...care if people think he’s annoying XD But after a little bit Eli just puts his hand on Demetri’s shoulders and says “Demetri, I promise I want you back in my life.” And this is usually enough to calm Demetri down, because he knows it’s genuine, just like Eli’s apology at the Christmas party was.

~Eli is really, really terrified of hurting Demetri again. Sometimes Eli gets panic attacks when he and Demetri are sparring and he hits Demetri a little too hard. Demetri’s kind of come up with a “signal” for Daniel to indicate he and Eli need to take a break. Once Daniel figures out the situation, he’s more than happy to oblige. Demetri always helps Eli through his panic attacks and reassures him that he trusts him with his life now, no matter what happened before.

~When Johnny finds out about this, he’s actually...way more understanding than anyone expects him to be, because Kreese traumatized him when he was young, too. He just kind of sighs like “Yeah, Kreese made me do some fucked up shit too, back in the day. He’s a bastard like that. You take a 10 whenever the hell you need, Hawk.” And honestly? Demetri lowkey loves Johnny for this. This may be the turning point that finally causes Demetri to view Johnny Lawrence with something other than mild to moderate disdain XD

~Demetri often makes a point of kissing Eli’s scar and telling him he thinks it’s beautiful. Hella corny, I know, but god knows Eli needs it. He kisses it in front of their friends, too, as kind of a way to reassure Eli “hey, I’m proud to be with you in your entirety, and I’m not at all ashamed of that aspect of you, even if you still are.” Eli definitely appreciates this, but he pretends he’s embarrassed by it and will often fall into a blushing, flustered mess when Demetri kisses his scar XD

I think that’s all I’ve got for now!!! I’ll post more later if I think of them!!!

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