#cracks are forming in his logic tho

[lynzishell]

The Past 💛 Atlas

My hand is resting on Ash’s chest as we lie together in comfortable silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. The quiet is soothing and I’m grateful he doesn’t feel the need to fill it with conversation, that we can just be here together.

Slowly, I begin tracing my fingers lightly across his collarbone, then up his arm stretched over his head, and back again. He closes his eyes and smiles contentedly, so I continue, brushing my fingertips back across his chest and down his abdomen.

His skin is so soft and pale, it reminds me of the flowering dogwoods that would bloom in spring at the park near the house where I grew up. I read about them in school once and became fascinated by them. I would sit in the grass underneath them and run my fingers along the white petal-like blossoms, examining the tiny flowers at their center.

I make a mental note to tell Ash about them sometime. I bet he’d love them, want to study them and draw them.

The velvety texture of his skin is contrasted by a coarse trail of jet-black hair. I follow the trail down, stopping as my hand grazes past two small scars low on his belly, just inside his hips. “What are these from?” I ask.

He glances down briefly and then rests his head back, “They’re from a hysterectomy.”

“Oh. So, you can’t—?”

“Mm-mm, you can’t get me pregnant or anything.”

“Good to know. So, if you want kids one day, you’d just have to adopt?”

“Not necessarily. I had my eggs frozen, just in case. So, I could have a biological child, I’d just need a surrogate.”

“Really? Do you think you’ll do it? Have kids?”

“Oh, god, I don’t know. I had them stored for ten years, so I have plenty of time to decide. It’s not really something I’m worried about right now.”

“Makes sense,” I whisper as my hand resumes its journey, brushing my fingertips up and down one thigh and then the other before making my way back up again, all the way up to his face, turning it gently toward me. When he opens his eyes again, before I can stop myself, I say, “Ash, you’re perfect, you know that?”

His eyebrows stitch together in a pained expression, “Atlas…”

I know. I know it’s not fair. I can’t say things like that if we’re “just friends”. He doesn’t have to tell me. It’s written all over his face. But look at us, we’ve already crossed so many lines tonight that the walls I’d built up are crumbling around me, and I’m not ready to put them back. Not yet. Not tonight. So, even if I shouldn’t, I have to ask, “Will you stay? Will you sleep here tonight?”

Putting his arms around me, he smiles, “Yeah, of course I’ll stay.”

“Thank you,” I exhale, relieved. "Can I get you anything? Do you want some water?"

“Yes, actually, that would be amazing.”

“Okay, I’ll go get some.”

“Thanks. And, um, can I use your bathroom?”

“Yeah, it’s just out the door to your left.”

In the kitchen, I drink down a large glass of water in one breath, practically gasping by the time I finish it. As I refill it, along with a second glass for Ash, I turn my head slightly to smell myself… just in case. Thankfully, I don’t stink yet, but I’ve accumulated enough layers of sweat throughout the night that I’m certain I’ll be ripe by morning.

I glance at the bathroom door, debating, wondering if it’s a step too far, too intimate, but decide to ask him anyway.

When the door opens, I walk over to meet him on his way out.  I hand him the glass of water and he drinks it nearly as quickly as I did. “Thank you,” he says, breathless.

“Are you tired?” I ask.

“Not really, why?”

“Do you want to take a shower with me?”

“That shower?” he points to the door he just came out of, “Is there even enough room for two people?”

“Not really,” I shake my head with a smile, knowing it’s ridiculous, but still hoping he says yes.

He considers for a moment, searching my face as if he’s waiting for me to tell him I’m joking. When I don’t, he replies with a shrug, “Fuck it, sure.”

Some find it strange, but I enjoy showering with people. It’s intimate in its own way. I mean, aside from the obvious, like being naked in a small space not really meant for two people, placing hands on an arm or waist or back as we maneuver around each other. That has its own pleasures too, of course, but I like getting a glimpse into people’s routines, their daily habits. All those little things that no one else notices, or pays attention to, or has the privilege of witnessing. Like the way Ash never puts his face under the water. He tips his head back to rinse it, gets right up to the hairline, but no farther, ensuring gravity prevents the water from running down over his face.

When I ask him why, he says, “I don’t like it. It makes me feel like I’m drowning.” And then I understand. I remember the story he told me about nearly drowning in the ocean, how he was caught in the undertow when he was a child, how he would have died if it wasn’t for his mother.

We laugh as we awkwardly squeeze past each other, trading places so I can rinse my hair. As I stand under the water and close my eyes, I feel him place his hands gently on my abdomen, slowly tracing the lines of the muscle just below the surface with his fingertips. “Jesus, look at you,” he says, “maybe I should take up rock climbing.”

I let out a small laugh, “It’s fun. I could teach you.”

“Nah, I don’t think it’s for me. It’s a shame you ever have to put clothes on, though.”

“Not tonight, I don’t.” I shut off the water quickly and then turn back to him, “I won’t if you won’t.”

“Deal.” He answers a little too quickly, and then adds, “Not that I have anything to wear anyway.”

“I would’ve given you something if you wanted. Too late now, though.”

He laughs as I hop out to grab a couple of towels.

After drying off, I walk over to the sink and grab a fresh toothbrush from the cabinet below. It’s brand new and still in the package. I hold it up to show it to him and then set it on the counter, “If you want,” I say before grabbing my own toothbrush and running it under the water.

He picks it up and raises his eyebrows a me, “You do this often enough that you keep these on hand, huh?”

I shake my head to reassure him, “No, they’re Dawn’s. She’s super weird about brushing her teeth all the time. She’s almost always carrying one around. There’s like ten of them down there, she won’t care if you take one.”

“Thank you,” he says sincerely as he opens the package and discards it in the trash. He squeezes toothpaste along the bristles, but then stops and looks up at me.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing. You’re just… you’re really nice.” I can’t quite read the expression on his face when he says this, it’s almost as if the sentiment makes him sad.

In a pitiful attempt to lighten the mood, I tell him, “Well, if it makes you feel any better, it’s purely selfish.”

He gives me a small smile, “Oh yeah? My breath is that bad?”

“No, I just want you to be comfortable. Because the more comfortable you are, the longer you’ll stay.” Instinctually, I lean over and kiss his forehead. I don’t know why, it just felt natural to do so, like I’d done it a hundred times before. As soon as my lips graze his skin, I know that I have. I see it. Many times, in many different places I don’t recognize. On a couch or in a bed or even standing on a beach. It feels so real that it takes me aback.  I pull away and he looks up at me with that same look in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I tell him, knowing now what’s making him sad. I’m not acting like a friend; I’m acting like a boyfriend. And we both know I can’t give him that. Though, I’m starting to have trouble remembering why. Seems like it’s taking more effort not to. “We should get some sleep,” I say, suddenly feeling exhausted.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute,” he replies, and then turns away to brush his teeth.

I put fresh glasses of water by the bed, turn off the lamp, and lie down, turning to face the wall because I don’t know what I’ll do if I’m facing him when he comes to bed. I don’t trust myself, and I feel like I’ve done enough damage already. He’s probably upset with me, and I wouldn’t blame him if he changed his mind and decided to leave.

I prepare myself for the worst when he finally comes in, but he surprises me by getting into bed, scooting over to me, and pressing his entire body against the length of mine. He wraps his arm around me and squeezes me tight, kissing the back of my shoulder. I don’t know why he’s chosen to be so sweet to me, but I’m grateful for it. I close my eyes and allow myself to relax into him as I drift off to sleep.

Prev // Next

[brucewaynehater101]

I need you to stop me from making another Tim Drake centric fic

I got this random idea that won’t leave me alone

like what if the emotional scars and trauma people have show up physically too most commonly as little cracks on the skin and all of the bats have them

they hide them tho with make up and stuff so people don’t question it except Tim hides them from everyone maybe bc that’s what his parents taught him to do maybe bc he just doesn’t want to burden any of the bats

the bats think that Tim is fine so to them he’s invincible which leads them to treat him as such subconsciously or otherwise especially Bruce

it takes a lot for something to be bad enough that they physically manifest and Tim has A LOT bc everyone thinks he’s invincible

:) it won’t leave me alone help me I beg of you

Hmm.... Let's add on, shall we? This is a very rad idea. You should definitely write a fic about it, but no pressure.

Mind if I explore it? Also, feel free to disregard any part below you don't want/disagree with. This is just brainstorming ^^

Alright. Emotional scars are a physical mark on someone's skin.

Similar to regular scars, they can fade as a person heals.

Some may never disappear, and some only appear for a short time.

What would their color be?

Would they look like actual cracks in a person (so black-ish in color)? Would they be gold or multi-colored (different colors represent different kinds of emotional traumas)?

The level of hurt inflicted is directly proportional to the size (length and width) of the scar.

Perhaps more could be deduced from the general shape (is it jagged? A single line? Branching?)

Not all people have these marks

Most of the population manifests them. There's some prejudice against folk who don't [something something they are heartless, incapable of feelings, not able to be emotionally hurt, cold, detached, etc.], but hiding scars is also common. Therefore, it's harder to discern whether someone is hiding their marks or markless. It's a very fine line, so most people allow a smaller mark to show every once in a while. There's even a few trends to proudly display all marks.

Marks appear at the time of the emotional harm

It may not be apparent at the time due to the location, but the individual being hurt will manifest the mark at the very moment of emotional harm.

Anyways, that's the background stuff. Fun, but let's get into Tim specifically ^^

Tim's parents are part of the few who believe that showing off your scars to anyone, even your loved ones, is both a weakness and a way to guilt-trip people. Therefore, through their archeology studies, they managed to obtain magical objects to prevent the showing of emotional marks. It's similar to glamor.

Tim's object can change forms to suit his needs (so a ring at one moment and an earring the next). This ability prevents the Bats from discovering it.

Janet fakes a very small mark on her hand when she wants to discourage any rumors that's she's incapable of manifesting marks. For Tim, though, his parents wanted him to have rumors of being incapable of forming marks. It served their purpose better for him being the cunning Drake heir.

The deception started from birth, so no one but the Drakes know of Tim's ability to form marks [and the Drake parents never see the marks they leave behind on their child].

The Waynes, long before Tim entered their life, were aware of these rumors. Thus, when Tim demands to become Robin, he doesn't correct their assumptions.

Bruce is a callous fucker to Tim at the start. If Tim can't be hurt emotionally, then Bruce's ill-treatment of him is fine (which is flawed logic. The markless can be emotionally hurt, and they still deserve kindness, dignity, and respect even if they couldn't. Bruce was mentally fucked up, but it doesn't excuse his treatment).

Eventually, Bruce comes to the second realization that Tim should still be treated well even if it doesn't hurt him regardless. The man's behavior is better, but he still has the notion in mind that Tim can't be emotionally hurt. He uses this for missions and to downplay the way his other kids treat Tim (specifically Jason and Damian when they first meet Tim).

Tim gets used to a rotation of insult-names: Robot Robin, heartless, markless (said insultingly), cold-blooded, unfeeling bastard, etc.

He's also subject to a TON of misunderstandings. People are more reluctant to love him due to the belief that he can't love them back. He gets yelled at and told off for "masking/faking his emotions" when he's actually being genuine.

Which adds to his hurt :)

He also has to pretend not to grieve his parents when they die :(

Due to how rare markless are, the Bats don't meet "another" one until after the BruceQuest. When they chat with this person, they realize how many misconceptions they have about them (such as the markless being incapable of feelings. In fact, they accidentally offend that person when they tell the other they don't need to fake their emotions in front of the Bats. Safe to say, the markless individual becomes incensed when they realize how they've been treating their own markless family member).

This would be at least four (probably closer to five) years after Tim first became Robin. The entire family has a meltdown.

Tim, on the other hand, is used to the treatment the Bats have been giving him and becomes incredibly uncomfortable with them trying to care for his feelings and whatnot. It's rocky for a long while as everyone tries to seek forgiveness for something Tim bitterly doesn't hold against them (he is lying to them after all).

Tim rarely, if ever, views his own marks. The last time he checked was when he was having his identity crisis after Robin was taken from him. His entire body, from head to toe, had cracks in it. There was a giant, gaping crack on his back for the metaphorical stab in the back it was.

And we haven't even gotten to when the Bats figure out Tim was never markless :)

[princessofghosts-posts]

Nico's Powers and Rick way of writing them.

Honestly,I've been wainting to write this.

We all know Nico powers:

Can manipulate the shadows and travel in them (Umbra-kinesis);

Can sense someone's death and soul;

Can summon ghosts and talk to them;

Can summon skeletons that obey to his orders and fight for him;

Can use dreams to send messages;

Can unconsciously split the ground and create cracks or Underworld's openings;

Can turn someone into a ghost and make them forgot their life and ability to speak;

Can turn someone into a skeleton;

Has influence on the dead and can evade them when he has to;

Can create earthquakes (not major ones like Percy);

Technically has Geo-kinesis powers too (like Hazel);

Can summon zombies to serve him;

Can conditionate the CJ's lares speaking ability by forcing them to shut up;

Can influence the dead ones with his mood;

Death-touch;

(If I missed some feel free to add)

Other than this,you need to remember that his title as Ghost King give him some more leverage,and his sword is an uniqueness in the world that give him the ability to suck someone's soul in it.

By only this list you can tell that Nico is extremely powerful,and he is still younger than Percy,with a weak physical body (depression and ED do some wonders to you-) and wasn't never "officially trained" like him since he wasn't around camp much. But he still pulled insane acts even without being 100% ok most of the time.

Nico powers,differently from Percy and Thalia,are extremely versatile. While those two can use whatever source or form of water/lightning to fight,they can't do much outside of their fathers's domains. And then you have Nico. Nico that can use his powers to travel around the world and sending messages with a mental link,other than use them to fight. People always talks about Percy controll over all types of liquid (even poison or the Underworld's rivers),but there is still water in them,so it's normal for him to do so. Thalia can use lightnings because it's normal for her to do so since those are Zeus's main sources of power. But Nico's powers are more than just controlling the dead,he can manipulate dreams (something that only the Hypnos cabin can do if I remember correctly) and can use geo-kinesis too,even tho not as much good or frequent as Hazel (before she started to work with her mist affinity). He can do it all.

I'm not trying to pull the "Nico is more powerful than Percy" argument here,but more focusing on Nico's versatility usage of his powers. And Rick made a mistake here with him,that he realized later and tried to minimize.

You see,when you have a powerscaling system,you usually take the main character as the "default": it's from them that you start to build it so other people can understand where others characters stand,compared to the MC,on the scale. Most of the time,people want their MC to grow stronger after every fight,starting from the bottom,untill they are the most powerful character in the story. It's a format done everywhere (anime,movie,comics,fanfic,books,ecc...) and Rick Riordan also used it with Percy. And when you have as MC the "most powerful character ever" (in this case the most powerful demigod since Heracles times),you need to be careful with your side characters,especially when the author doesn't want them to outshine the MC. For this reason,most of the time,they are either weaker than them or have extremely excessive drowbacks. A good example of this is Jason: Rick introduced him to us as the roman counterpart for Percy,but made us understand that he wasn't never at Percy level of power. And when you have a "side" character as Nico,adding to the fact that he's most of the time the wild card for their victories and always know everything,you have a big problem.

Riordan made it clear that no one (for now) can surpass Percy in term of abilities. But he still went out of his way making Nico's powers more versatile than the others. Logically,he should have been stronger than Percy,especially because death cannot be stoped and it's part of everyone life,but canonically it wasn't going to happen since the MC is Percy. Riordan realized in a second moment that his powers were too much and decided to make sure Nico was always held back by something from going full out (like Jason).

Nico is the only child of the big 3 that,if he use so much of his powers,has extremely horrible drowbacks even when he shouldn't. I could understand during MoA-BoO events in HoO,he was either dying or disappearing into the shadows because of his kidnapping and Tartarus,and still had an extremely draining task to finish. But from HoO to ToA there is a big timeskip (I think 6 months or more but I'm not so sure) where he should had all the time in the world to heal and having back full controll over his powers. But he doesn't. Nico still faint after shadow-travelling,even tho after his trip with the statue he should have been stronger and not having problems for a normal trip. Which sucks,especially when Rick most of the time make him pull some jaw-dropping power-play that give you the full picture on how strong he really is.

I don't think Percy had so many downgrades with his powers,I never saw him almost fainting from controlling the waters. He get tired,yes,but that's it. Thalia has more restrictions because of her fear,but I also never saw her having so many problems after using her powers (after she went with the Hunters we never see her in general anymore). Neither did Hazel with her geo-kinesis powers (before Rick decided to make her learn mist manipulation). Jason is a whole mess because he faint every day when he gets hit by a brick,even when he isn't fighting or using his powers (Rick didn't do him justice either). It's only Nico that has so many negative effects.

And the fandom can explain it,in a canon logic,with: "He's s still young,he will have time to grow stronger." (I agree) ;"He wasn't never in a good physical condition so it's normal that he has this many negative effects." (Even dying he was still able to curse someone to literally becoming a ghost) ; "He was malnourished and depressed,since he didn't take care of himself before he still have problems,wait for him to be healthy." (Again,even in those conditions he still pulled insane stunts). But,outside of the narrative,Riordan totally nerfed him because he realized that he wrote his powers too powerful and useful compared to Percy's,and since he couldn't have his MC outshined,he made sure to slow Nico in any way possible.

In BotL and TLO there are 2 scenes that,for a long time,I thought I was the only one to ever have read them since no one talked about them.

In the end of BotL when Percy get out of the Labyrinth and went with Rachel to see the coffin,Nico created an earth barrier (or something closer to it) to help them escape form Kronos's attack. He never did that after it,and I never saw people acknowledge that scene so I legitimately thought that I was imaginating it. Which was strange since it came right after the famous "Did you just throw a blue brush in the eye of the Titan Lord?" scene,but no. It really happened and Nico did use the earth at his liking. After that Riordan decided to never bought it up and Nico never manipulated the earth in that way (he still split the ground a couple of times) again.

In TLO after Nico went to free Percy from the dungeons,they escaped the palace and went to the Styx. During their escaping Nico glared at the guards,while growing weaker and weaker with each one,and they ignored them. Again,since I never saw someone talk about it I genuinely thought I was remembering things wrong. Especially because it was part of the whole "Betrayal" plot that everyone know. But again,it wasn't the case,Rick just decided to never bring it up again. It was the only time Nico did something like that. Someone can say "Well,those are the royal guards and their boss is his dad they would never go against him." but the guards were against Nico,if he didn't do whatever the fuck he did,they were going to tell Hades about their escape. So,again,Rick realized he gave him a powerful trick and then hoped that one one would remember it after he used it one time.

All of this shows that,even if he is good at writing certain things,when it comes to others topics (like power-scaling,Tartarus's trauma and many more) he just can't write well and try to put patches on the holes,without having success. But that's for another post that I will do.

Rick lack of continuation in his work,and he needs to decide what the hell he is going to do with Nico,because the guy himself is a contradiction that needs to be solved. And if I see someone else say that he is weak because he continue to faint,I'm gonna crash out very very very bad since it's Rick's fault. Nico has grown enough in his power to stand tall and use them without having majors problems (if he abuse them,then of course he is in big troubles). He isn't anymore the 13 years old kid that was dying during a world-ending trip after days of being captive by the enemy,and Riordan needs to acknowledge it and move on from that.

[rosquinn]

Thoughts on the dr stone petrification scars

Big disclaimer,

This is just my personal thoughts and stuff I put together n noticed, a subjective interpretation, don't take it seriously Im probably wrong

Some of these are very elaborate while others are just me pointing out details I liked. Sorry. I'll start with the longer rants

This post contains characters (currently) exclusive to the manga and main plot spoilers. Maybe I'm looking to much into it but I swear to motherfucking God there's scar symbolism. anyway

Senku and Taiju

Something that always stood out to me is how similar their scars are both in shape and position, except that Taiju's is cut on the right eye and the points are on opposite sides. Now listen to me... Senku and him are opposites; one's big brained but physically a twig and the other one is the strongest most resistant man you'll ever meet but doesn't really understand anything about science. That's why opposite scars and why they need each other to go on... But their marks are in the same direction because they have the same goal and interests + deep down they're both extremely caring people who would do anything for those around them, despite how different and contrasting their personalities are at first glance.

Oh and Senku's marks are completely symmetrical and do NOT go away. Idk logic perseverance etc + Taijus are more coarse and asymmetrical. To contrast their way of thinking I think. They could be similar because they were the first ones to wake up from the petrification too but you know

Francois & the Nanami brothers

Francois' scar looks like explosion or sound waves. (Manga) Ryusui snaps his fingers to call them creating a similar shape, which is really cool I'll admit. Their scar is on their hand, just like Ryusui's.

So, both Ryusui and Sai also have scars on their hands, except Ryusui's may resemble a glove so pirate-like if we don't count the color + it's on the hand he snaps his fingers with. Mark resembling a rich man or a pirate's glove on the same hand he uses to call his butler and ask for service, and it only covers his fingers. Could be something like a symbol of power/status.

On the other hand, Sai's scars completely cover the lower part of his arms and hands, which are what he uses to code. Sai ran away in order to be able to schedule quietly and is completely locked in his work. Tell me you get it please

Yoo

I'm getting into crack theory with this but please do bear with me. His scar makes him look like Alex, the protagonist of A Clockwork Orange. A Clockwork Orange deals a lot with the theme of unscrupulous rebellion, hurting someone because you think you have complete freedom, and police brutality, which are big parts of Yoo's character. As far as I remember the eyelash marks are left on the MC after being forced to watch 484737 movies showing super brute crimes so he understands what he is doing is wrong and redeems himself. Yoo covers his face a lot to hide the mark and only removes the piece of stone that covers it at the end of the manga when he is 100% team Senku.

IN ADDITION, something important in A Clockwork Orange are the vulgar idioms and slang that teenagers invent and are completely unknown to the viewer and curiously the name and surname of Yoo are formed by informal interjections in Japanese. I've only read the book tho, never watched the movie so if I got anything about the eye marks wrong mb

Tsukasa and Stanley

I really like how similar their scars are, considering both were absurdly overpowered antagonists that had to be defeated using much more advanced science + both kill Senku at one point + their eyes are similar to some extent. I love parallels

Dr Xeno

Scar becomes? White? Splits into pieces? After he's revived a second time and decides to help Senku. Something about his ideals splitting/changing maybe. And being no longer evil thus willing to kill teenagers

Gen

Gen's scar seems to resemble a mouth that changes shape depending on whatever emotion he's feeling (or pretending to feel). I don't have anything else to say genuinely peak character design, specially taking into account that facades are a huge part of his arc and relationships with other characters (let's remember that he's the one to suggest everyone paints their scar again in solidarity with Senku. Hm).

Yuzuriha and Mirai

Yuzu's resemble the roots and vines that protected her body while she was petrified, while Mirai's make her look like a baby chicken breaking out of its shell. I think they're both cute details considering their characters:)

Homura

Considering she's a gymnast who uses her legs a lot to move, I find cool that it's on her thigh. It makes her legs look like they're cracking

Hyoga

Very circular and repetitive, something related to his weapon maybe. I find interesting that he covers them. Insert cursed speech jujutsu kaisen joke

Addition: Ukyo has no visible mark which is also cool on its own way, given that one of his abilities is easily perceiving sounds other people don't notice at all

[tacticalsp]

ik no one asked but i love the zombie apocolypse au but idc here ya go

Dee (Strategy & Medical)

Role: The brain of the operation. Dee’s got scavenged blueprints, zombie behavior notes, and every location mapped out in his notebook. He's the team's medic, tactician, and the only one who can shoot straight. He’s useless in close combat, prone to panic if he’s grabbed. Hes also grossed out very easily.

Gear:

Sniper rifle, modded by Penelope

Quiet pistol with a silencer for emergencies

Tactical backpack packed with meds, old books, and too many batteries

Vibe: Stressed and cold on the outside, but deeply protective. Constantly irritated by the group's recklessness—but if things ever got too quiet without them, he'd lose his mind.

Quirks:

Keeps a detailed notebook of zombie patterns, base layouts, and half-formed cure theories.

Has a caffeine addiction he pretends is "manageable." (freaks out without it, was once seen munching on coffee grinds after a week without it)

Refuses to let Heavy touch the medical supplies—ever again.

Heavy (Muscle & Comic Relief)

Role: The frontline. Wild and chaotic, Heavy charges into fights like it's a sport. He’s the muscle, clearing paths and taking hits like it's nothing. He trusts Dee with his life and backs Penelope without hesitation—even when her plans are reckless.

Gear:

Barbed-wire-wrapped metal bat (which he talks to)

Bulletproof vest snagged from an old police station

A bag full of comics and music players

Vibe: Heart of gold, brain of mush. Cracking jokes mid-fight and always finding the dumbest (yet somehow effective) way to survive. He may not be the most logical but he’s very emotionally intelligent, hes the glue of the group.

Quirks:

Constantly jumping off things for no reason

Talks to his bat like it’s a teammate

Tries to eat expired rations, weird plants, whatever he finds

Secretly crushing hard on Penelope, but doesn’t know how to be normal about it. His way of showing affection is sparing with her or surprise attacks.

Penelope (Speed & Wild Card)

Role: Agile, unpredictable, and completely unhinged. Penelope dives headfirst into chaos, fights with her hands, and slips through danger like it’s nothing. She’s the one you send in for fast grabs or risky missions. She also loves killing zombies, maybe in a concerning way, and secretly she imagines lifs face on everything she stabs.

Gear:

Two combat knives strapped to her belt

Brass knuckles named "Righty" and "Lefty" she mixes it up tho bc she forgets her right and left hands somehow

Toolkit full of scrap, wires, and half-stolen gadgets

Sticky fingers—if it isn’t nailed down, she’s taking it.

Vibe: Swift, passionate, and full of adrenaline. She acts like she’s invincible and doesn’t know the meaning of “back off.” Usually singing during fights, which freaks out enemies and zombies.

Quirks:

Always mad she's not the leader—but she gets over it… eventually

Sings constantly: while scavenging, while fixing weapons, while knee-deep in zombie guts. Which she adores.

Thinks she’s immortal. Only Dee can talk her down from her more suicidal stunts. Heavy usually encourages her instead

Group Dynamics

Dee & Penelope:

Once sworn enemies—Penelope thought Dee was a controlling know-it-all, and Dee thought she was a chaotic menace with no impulse control. And after lifs death… they had a very “I want to kill you because your girlfriend is a monster” vibe, both ways. But after fierce and penelope slowly started to forgive eachother, dee loosened up abt penelope. They hated each other in the beginning. But over time, through long nights fixing weapons, organizing raids, and quietly saving each other’s lives, they grew to sorta be best friends.

Now? They’re always scheming something. Whether it’s rigging a trap, modifying gear, or trying to “borrow” an abandoned military drone, they’re the brains behind half the group’s most reckless (and genius) plans.

They still argue constantly, but underneath it, there’s deep loyalty and mutual respect. She’s the only one Dee trusts to touch his guns, and she lets him check her wounds when she’s too stubborn to admit she’s hurt.

Penelope & Heavy:

Absolute chaos. They prank Dee, race each other through hordes, and keep trying to hotwire old cars just for the thrill. Heavy adores her wildness and never tells her to slow down, which is both a blessing and a curse.

They definitely have a thing, but neither of them knows how to say it out loud. Penelope’s unsure if she even believes in love anymore, and Heavy’s just trying to respect that, but also play it cool.

Dee & Heavy:

Classic big-brother vibes. Dee complains about Heavy constantly, but will immediately throw himself into danger if Heavy’s even remotely threatened. Heavy complains right back, but follows Dee’s plans (eventually), knowing he’s the reason they’re still alive.

They bicker like brothers—Dee with a migraine, Heavy with a grin—but there’s real love there. Heavy’s the only one who knows when Dee’s running on empty, and Dee’s the only one who can keep Heavy grounded when things get too real.

AHH THIS IS SO fun. @fiercestyourmajesty if you want you can write how fierce would be in this AU. You can also edit dee a bit or other relationshits idk. I think it would be so cool.

U dont have to tho :P *backflips* zombie apocolypse r my special interest so thats why i wrote this

[gracebethartacc]

What’s the whole rundown of Sombra’s backstory and the downfall of the crystal empire? Yap all you want :]

late to this ask and didn’t proof read but anyway !!

CRACKS KNUCKLES BC I WAS GONNA DO THIS RUN DOWN WHENEVER I ACTUALLY FINISH THEIR REFS BUT IG ILL DO IT NOW LOL (gonna assume u already know my cadence family tree stuff for this bc I don’t fully specify it and if u don’t know it just go to the mlp rw tag i had an ask going over it once lately I know I just don’t feel like grabbing it rn lols)

Ok so basically it’s all just a loosely adapted plot from the og comics alright (if you don’t know the og sombra past um here’s a playlist of a dub and recap I have of the story bc I talk about it here assuming you already know it)

For context sombra is a bat pony in my rw! I’m kindof? Combining the umbrum and bat ponies together? If that makes any sense ok? Ok. (Unsure how specifically like if it’s just a role replacement or a literal combo in that bat ponies have spooky forms idk I need to decide)

So sombra was found in the snow by some of the crystal guards outside the empire, and thus taken to the empress’s (Amore and snowdrop) (Amore is an alicorn while snow is a Pegasus ofc (not a crystal pony like Amore tho!)) 

Sombra becomes fast friends with the princesses (Loving Cadence and Healing Hope, the Mi Amore Cadenza name is a nickname from Amore, so ig in turn Hope would have the matching name of Mi Amore Speranza) 

Basically same events of the canon comics— Sombra and Hope fall in love, they look at their futures in the Heart (which the heart having prophetic abilities was really cool and I wish was adapted into the actual show!! Def wanna play w that in my au more I love it), Sombra is attacked by the crystal heart every crystal faire because of his umbrum status making him be read as a threat, etc same song and dance as canon comics ok

The only difference is my sombra ends up making the alicorn amulet— essentially he fucked around with infusing magic into a gem and through the gem he can use magic now! I’m sure there will be no negative effects to this,,,,,,

Eventually bc of the heart hurting him every year getting worse sombra is like.. hey. If I can infuse magic into a crystal… who’s to say I can’t reverse engineer the spell and take magic Out of a crystal either (looks at the heart) 

So! Plan to sneak to the heart to take away it’s magic so it’ll stop hurting him! The crystal ponies don’t need it they’re all safe (logic of that one post that’s like “why do I have to take ibuprofen for my headaches they usually go away after a while anyway lol” like gee sombra. I wonder why the crystal ponies are safe.) but has a back up plan that if draining its magic doesn’t work he also has a spell handy that can just erase it (subtle foreshadowing) 

Sneaks out and uh oh Amore confrontation like canon, sombra is getting angry and corrupted by the amulet more and more, and leads to Amore being turned to stone n all that ok it’s just canon lol hope comes out and tries to talk sense into him, yada yada we know this lol again i snagged like most of it from canon just w small tweaks

Snowdrop comes out eventually with some help from concord, snow gets hurt tho (and or killed I can see either happening tbh?) so tells con to get the girls to safety, does so with cadence but sombra gets to hope first, guy is just full evil now and basically goes with plan B but on larger scale, so instead of curse to make the heart disappear, he casts it on the entire empire, wiping it out of existence and from memory. (Also the reason the snow storm around the empire is so bad um I point at con bc yeahhhh he would not be happy his friend got injured/died or whatever again idk yet what I wanna do) 

Con brings cadence to tia who ofc doesn’t know who she is bc she doesn’t know of a crystal empire, ISAT has made me a huuuuge sucker for the concept of a mass amnesia/universe rewrital about a specific place, very very cool. I think any scrolls with its name would be redacted, like a burn scorch on the name or any reference to it or the empresses etc 

Tia takes cadence in as a niece and she’d eventually get alicorn status (not sure how tho, probably will adapt her backstory into it somehow? Shrugs I’d love any ideas :3) 

Soooo yeah sombra DOESN'T take over the empire in my version, tho I think he’d try to when resurrected, but I prefer the more mind control idea than the. Yk. Slavery. (The mind control added to by my bat pony lore w flutters stare and sombras stare thing he also does)

But yeah anyway his s3 return would be basically the same plot minus that hope would be included here too but wouldn’t remember anything like the all og crystal ponies do— I can actually see the idea he’s already taken over the castle and has hope captured just kinda hypnotized at his side bc I think that would be a fun visual (then again I’m very biased bc I love me some toxic relationship mind control plots (looks over at AAU)) tho I ALSO think hope being fully into it is also cool I also love that trope of character goes evil and instead of leaving them their partner stays bc they think it’s hot/want in on also being evil LOL so tbh I like both options equally I’d love to get input on that on which one yall like more bc the first one feels more natural but the second is more fun is the thing lols

Anyway Sombra would be defeated like canon and the curse is broken on the crystal ponies, and then later he is brought back by grogar (and Not die this time!) I think would get kinda same plot as comics of hope convincing him to change/improv and they work to find amores shards yippee :3 I don’t wanna say Redeemed sombra but more so that he’s attempting to be better moreso? 

Uhhhh ig that’s all? I prommy that I’ll finish the refs soon,, I have amore/snow and hope/sombra all done! It’s just the cadence family I’m doing now (I have younger ref done I just need to finish wedding, post wedding, and flurry and that’s all) (ig heads up before I eventually post those is I renamed flurry to be snowy heart bc I think it just fits better also bc I changed her fur to white like shining so a more snow specific name fits :3€) 

[lunarflux]

Hi, thank you for answering my previous ask even if you had already answered something similar 😅 i really liked your answer!

and of course, if we're talking about him literally by the end of season 2, i can see how then it would be much harder for him to form a new relationship, given how people are leaving him left and right :/. but even so, i would still think he could, like, if he found the right person came into his life.

But anyway, actually what i wanted to know, and perhaps i might have worded it wrong, was about him in a more general sense, and not specifically after everything that happened in season 2. If that makes sense. For example, if Aemond had met someone before the war started/before Viserys died, and that person stood by his side, something like that, you know; if then his love would be real and genuine, through it all. Just Aemond in general, and not necessarily during the peak of a war, if that makes sense lol.

Absolutely.

What Aemond desperately needs is someone who's stable and unshaken. He needs someone who believes in blind loyalty and will never waiver. This is someone who, in spite of every wrong decision he's made and could make, they would still be by his side even if it's in silence. This person has to be resolute and will only ever show emotion when it's warranted. They'd know that when he's embarrassed or scared, he can lash out and make stupid decisions, and they'll be the rational side to bring him back down.

Let's take away the war. Let's wipe the board clean knowing how Aemond's story will end.

If there was someone who silently stood by his side and has proven that they understand the quietest parts of him, he would be loyal because they've proven that in spite of his differences, in spite of his upbringing, in spite of whatever his brother could do, they will still be there. This is someone outside of his family who he'd be fiercely protective over.

But when push comes to shove, they would know how to use their words to twist someone. They'd also be the smug face when Alicent asks how Aemond came to be this way because to them, this was always who he was - strong, loyal, logical, and a swift hand to take action.

"I see him, he sees me." / "This is always who he was. Don't blame me for seeing while you stayed blind to all he could do." / "My loyalty, true loyalty, is only questioning him when I know he's questioning himself. I ask when questions are needed. I give where he is empty and longing. I fill the cracks that you've created. I stand by his side, not in his shadow, but as his shadow who knows all - even that which he might never see. He does not own me, though I will never leave."

Aemond needs a specific kind of love, and I imagine if he got it, this person is his end game. Of course, it wouldn't be particularly "romantic," but it would be silently passionate. Less words, more looks. More glances, more hidden touches. I don't see him ever to be the type to say he'd love someone out loud, but he'd show it through the moments alone when his attention is given only to them like he's shutting the world out.

I think this type of relationship is the epitome of a melancholy romance (my favorite). It's inherently poetic because you have one person who feels so much and is broken as a result of it, but they've rebuilt themselves and their partner is someone who guards them just to make sure no one dares to shatter them all over again even though they know he's strong enough for the both of them.

This was stupid poetic I am so sorry LOL Doesn't help that I'm listening to this while answering.

Also SHAMELESS quote from my own fic (not Aemond, Draco tho) when the main character is questioned why she loves him...

“All I can say is that when he’s in pain, I feel it, too. When he bleeds, I burn. And when he aches, my heart shatters. If that isn’t love, then I fear my mind has been compromised by dreams.”

[mayday396]

SOOO Everyone after much consideration!

I will be making more content for the Crack AU, it has a Larger story within it so that means "Telemachus and his silly Primordial Besties" is just one part of this AU, as it's kinda Alternate History.

So there are multiple other stories that would happen outside the main cast to take breaks as well cause ODYSSEUS NEED TO TAKE A BREAK.

There are certain Story Points that will happen in accordance to the Comments and some lore I should let you know, where I'll put them you'll have to wait and see!

Telemachus tries to build a small shrine for Pontus but he refuses because he never thought their relationship was that of master and servant, or even mentor for that matter. All Pontus really wants is to be there for him and learn about humans. Relationship status established as Besties who constantly cause Poseidon minor inconveniences

Pontus meets Athena in the Wisdom Saga, more insight on where the Primordials have been since Kronos's rule and banishment, and also awkward Great Grand Niece and Great Grand Uncle noises

Erebus awakens in the Underworld after long slumber and sets his eyes on Odysseus for the first time in the Underworld Saga and immediately becomes an Oddey Fanboy

Pontus meets Penelope for the first time as his newly formed Physical form, a water slime. Pontus does not understand human social cues.

Odysseus interacts with Erebus, who is roasting the hell out of Circe, the moment Erebus manages to find him cause even though he is Darkness, the earthly surroundings have changed so much he got lost.

Erebus tries to quell Fanboy thoughts of getting him out there cause logic dictates he stay put it else he himself will be an unwanted attraction. Erebus helps him fight Poseidon tho, minor inconvenience strikes again as Poseidon can't summon his Trident and it appeared in Odysseus's hands. Erebus senses Pontus

Telemachus sacrifices some suitors on the verge of death to Pontus, which he gladly accepts those souls don't deserve to enter the underworld and should suffer

Odysseus meets skrunkly water slime pontus after holding onto Penelope for an unprecedented amount of time

Some other Lore beyond the Ithaca Saga, because this becomes more alternate history too:

Odysseus's sister, Ctimene, comes into the picture, the Former has to tell his sister that Eurylochus has passed

Odysseus turns any temple of Poseidon into a Temple dedicated to Pontus, to throw shade mostly.

Chornos, personification of Time, is actually living with Odysseus's parents in the countryside

Tomb dedicated to Argos was erected

Erebus becomes a Odypen shipper

Homer gets born into this AU much earlier than our world, and becomes a Palace Scribe

Pontus shows a map to the Royal Family about the lands outside their World, starting more diplomatic relations of Greece early like Egypt, Torrean and Nuragic civilizations. More foreign pantheons are added, and that includes Αἰνειάδαι which we shall explore the aftermath of Trojan and Greek conflict

Telemachus but his Friend is THE OCEAN, not Poseidon, but the formless being that Poseidon just so happen to "Inherit"

Pontus, the Greek Primordial God of the Seas, never made a humanoid form before, and talks as this disembodied voice in what can be described like a Deep Crashing wave/Eldritch Horror.

And he's mostly like, "CHILD OF THE ἸΌΝΙΟΣ WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO CAUSE ΠΟΣΕΙΔΆϜOΝΟΣ (POSEIDON) MINOR INCONVENIENCES?"

[boilingheart]

it is waaaayyy too late in the night for me to be staying up and drafting cracked theories about where wavelength gets his powers from and why it's an organic fusion reactor that naturally grows in his intervertebral discs that powers his suits and why he has needles in his back

maybe not a fusion reactor 100% 1:1, but at least some strange organic mockery of the form. basically the discs in his spine are generating mass amounts of energy and creating plasma which is what wavelength uses to power up his suits and fire beams and fly, etc etc

he's basically a walking battery, generating energy at all times because of the reactions going on in his spine. unarmored, it's useless, unless given means to channel and redirect the energy (the wavelength suit, the needles in his lumbar vertebrae)

because fusion reactors generate *so* much fucking heat (150 million degrees CELSIUS so just suspend some disbelief with scifi bear with me) it may be possible that mark does not actually suffer the drawbacks of being cold blooded (as he is now part reptile)

reptiles, lizards, are cold blooded animals, which means they cannot generate their own body heat and need to seek out external heat sources. however, with the fusion reactor theory, he might actually be just fine and create his own body heat thru unorthodox ways

BASICALLY wavelength's power is an INSANE amount of plasma he figured out he could harness. the discs aren't harmful to his body or QOL, he might just get jittery or have higher appetites (fusion power requires a LOT of fuel) or run a higher body temp

problem: if he were to ever break his back, it could mean accidentally losing his power, or worse, literally fucking exploding 

(the explosion, however, would not be massive, but likely more similar to an MRI quench in severity. just starts smokin) 

that said, he'd die instantly lmao

PROBABLY AT LEAST IDK this is just shit i've thrown together cause i fell deep into a rabbit hole and i don't even know how i GOT here i swear a minute ago i was looking at a boba place's menu next thing i know i'm learning about the ITER tokamak and thinking about my blorbos

again it wouldn't be 1:1 with the fusion reactors. it'd be just something similar, and something organic and small scale (since intervertebral discs are like, 4 cm in diameter and realistically in theory a working fusion reactor would have to be 21 ft in diameter)

also also, tho all his discs would probably be generating energy, the lumbar discs are the thickest ones in the spine bc it supports the bulk of the body's weight, so it seems more logical to put the needles there and siphon energy from the lumbar region

disclaimer: i'm not a scientist i just have adhd

[alaskasmonsters]

𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐤𝐲𝐮𝐮 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐣 𝐬/𝐨

— kuroo tetsurou, tsukisima kei

requested by @naomithenerdgirl and anon

mbti hcs masterlist

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: none

𝐚.𝐧: here is the first haikyuu one! finally did it omg this took a long time! 🥲 i hope you enjoy!! <3

𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥!

kuroo tetsurou

you don’t think you’ve ever met someone before who was as genuinely attentive to or interested in everything you had to say as much as kuuro

he always remembers the random little side remarks you make, too, even and especially when it’s just an off-handed comment

it warms your heart to know he pays so much attention to you because you often feel like you’re the only person that pays soo much attention to what people say

kuuro is pretty laid back

he’s got that lazy smile on his face often

and he doesn’t make a big deal out of things

you rarely fight at all

because even if there is an issue

and kuuro is serious about having a conversation he’s still calm and collected

it makes talking to him so easy

sometimes kuuro seems a little too carefree to you though

you do like that about him

but it also can give off the impression that he doesn’t care about certain things

that’s not the case of course

and when you talk to him about it

(because communication is important)

he always softly reassures you that he does care

kuuro doesn’t like to do emotions as much as you do

he’s quite logical and you really can’t tell if that is something he picked up from kenma during their time as friends or if that’s exactly why they became friends to begin with

you’re a little bit (a lot!) of an emotional person

you sometimes have to remind him to be more feelsy with you

but he also helps you with staying a little more on the ground when it comes to your idealistic view on life

so you can help each other improve

behind kuuro’s calm and cool and collected aura you quickly found out that he’s a little bit of a dork

he’s a science geek, often cracking chemistry jokes and you love how weird his laugh can turn

you think it’s makes kuuro even more charming

and he always gets that cute little smile on his face when you compliment him on his geeky side

tsukishima kei

you must admit that at first tsukki’s cold presence put you off

if you dig deeper there is quite a few things you have in common

you both tend to get lost in your thoughts, liked engaging in long discussions and you both prefer your own space over going out

your differences tho are significant and hard to overlook

especially when you hardly knew each other

you are a really emotional person and like to perceive the world around you regarding

tsukki on the other side is reasonable and logical in almost all parts of his life

and he’s a little put off by overly emotional or sensitive people

(also because he tries to HEAVILY deny that he too has emotions, more than he let others see)

so yeah, at first the two of you hardly got along

probably only prompted to spend time together through yamaguchi or school work

but when you do get to be around each other more tsukki notices a few things

things that despite his attempts at neutrality do make him pay attention to you

you are a gentle and caring soul

you’re empathetic and you easily form emotional connections with others

he can see it frustrates you that the two of you don’t vibe as quickly

and he is kinda (very much) amused by this

you are passionate and thus know a lot about topics, topics that happen to interest tsukki, too

he hates to admit it

like really

he hates it

but your differences kinda makes him believe that you would be a great couple

and you are

you could have told him that a lot sooner though

because it actually took a little bit of a long time until you actually started dating

because tsukki was so bad at the feeling stuff

but you weren’t mad

no you liked him exactly the way he was

and he liked you the way he was

Taglist: @crystal-lilac​ @duf3h6237​ @hufflefluffslytherin​  @chucky-26o1​ @lordbugs​

[goldandlights]

(Hello, Dadzawa & Shinson is now my life and I need to write some of this shit down before I combust)

Shinsou gets injured during training with Aizawa.

It's not super bad, just a black eye that looks way worse than it feels, yet after all the lectures Aizawa gave him on not training when you're injured or sick, Shinsou fully expects their next session to be postponed.

It's not.

He gets a text telling him they'll meet up at the same time as always, but to arrive in his normal clothes & ID since they'll be "relocating" the training to somewhere else.

Which is kinda odd? They've never left school grounds for training before. Shinsou does not dwell on it tho 'cause he's more concerned about the fact that sparring will be hell if he can only see out of one eye and every movement makes his face throb with pain.

Maybe it's gonna be a lesson about fighting while handicapped?

The thought doesn't sit quite right with him but he's not going to question his sensei. He can push through a little discomfort if it brings him closer to his goal and makes Aizawa proud.

----------------

Aizawa's actual plan?

Taking the kid out for a meal.

He'd wanted to do that for a while anyway, ever since he noted some concerning patterns in Shinsou's behaviour. The more time they spent together, the more the teen let his guard down and the more cracks appeared in his standoffish facade. Cracks forming an unfortunately familiar pattern which Aizawa had witnessed in a couple of students before (including a certain bi-colored problem child currently in his 1A class).

Maybe a change of scenery would allow for some gentle probing about Shinsou's home life.

It was just his job, right?

If anyone (besides Hizashi) asked, he'd deny the guilt coiling in his stomach, spurring his decision. Though it was not desireable, students got hurt during training and since it had been a honest accident, with noone at fault, there was no logical reason to feel so upset over it.

But feel he did, unfortunately very strongly, when the rock shot out from under the training robots wheels and smacked Shinsou straight in the face.

It hit his cheekbone, not the eyesocket or the side of his head, which was lucky, but Aizawa's heart still clenched at hearing the youths quiet whimpers as he pressed an ice pack to his eye.

It just seemed right to treat him to something nice after that, not coddling at all. No. He's not in the process of developing a truly massive soft spot for the kid. Nope-

----------------

(Sue me but I'm 100% gone for Aizawa (or Erasermic) kidnapping an unsuspecting Shinsou for a nice meal. It's the most basic parental instinct, right? Providing food? And ngl I'm firmly subscribed to the hc that Shinsou's foster home is neglectful af, at least towards him.

His foster parents don't give a shit about his training (they don't believe he can make it) and refuse to give him bigger portions at mealtimes. Thus, Shinsou has to use up almost all of his allowance for food, which leaves very little for other necessities like school supplies and clothing.

The only time he ever goes out to eat in restaurants is... never, actually. He'd always prepared his own meals for school trips and has no friend group who'd invite him along.

So I figure Aizawa sitting him down in a random ramen shop and telling him to order whatever he wants is sufficient to throw him entirely off his game.

Shame burns in his belly, up his throat, when he has to tell Aizawa that he can't, that he's flat-out broke and couldn't even afford an appetizer without having to go hungry some other day. Not that he actually says all that. Aizawa can read the sentiment from his pale, panicked face.

Shinsou watches the realization flit over his sensei's face and has to turn away lest he start crying (or throwing up or both).

"I said it's my treat, didn't I?" Aizawa's gruff voice breaks through his spiraling thoughts, "So pick. And try the gyoza, they're really good."

In the end, Aizawa doesn't let him get away with anything less than a full three-part meal, including the option for extra veggies in his soup, and once the food arrives Shinsou yields to his rumbling stomach, digging in with great enthusiasm.

----------------

They don't talk much afterall. (Though Shouta supposes Shinsou's initial distress has already said plenty.)

The kid eats like he's never had anything this good before and though he winces every time the movement of his mouth pulls at the injured skin around his eye, he finishes in record time, not letting anything go to waste.

The teen is flushed and happy, a dopey, lopside smile on his face Shouta has not seen before and he mentally sighs at the answering warmth filling his own chest. It's always nice to do something good for his students but this kid hits different.

'Zashi was right. Of course he was. He's gonna be insufferable for days.

In the time it takes Shota to finish his own dessert, Shinsou's eyes go from glittering excitement to droopy to half-closed. Aizawa grins openly.

Food coma.

As he signals the waiter for the bill, Shouta does not think about what he learned tonight. The teens initial distress. The shocked wonder battling suspicion when he realized Aizawa was serious about paying for his meal. Shouta hadn't wanted to kick the kid when he was down by asking him if he'd never been in a damn restaurant before. No, Shouta does not allow himself to think about these things now because he'll have plenty of time to gnaw on them at home.

Where Hizashi is likely already waiting to hear how it went. It's more productive to worry together rather than alone.

For now, Shouta has to maneuver a half-asleep teen safely out of the door (without leaving any of their things behind) and into his car. He does not ask the address of Shinsou's foster home.

He's read the childs file enough to know it by heart.

"Hey, kid."

"Mmh?"

"You like cats, right?"

"Wuh- yes? But I never like, had one. None... nowhere I lived had any pets."

"Hm. You ever been to a cat cafe before?"

"No. I didn't even know there was one..."

"There is. Wanna go?"

[48-moved-48]

Hoo boy *cracks knuckles*

1. Fictionkin + Fictionhearted.

2. The lesser ones are Grimmchild (Hollow Knight), CraftyCorn (Smiling Critters) (fictionhearted), glorified stick figures (fictional species), and Blitzen (literally one of Santa's clucking reindeer), but the highest one that's wayyyyy above any other is the Heart (Chonny's Charming Chaos Compendium), kinda blending with the Robber from Chonny Jash's cover of Ain'r No Rest From the Wicked, whom I essentially consider to be "Villain Heart"; my kintype was MOST CERTAINLY not human and closest to my CCCC fan-species, ids, but still was noticeably different.

3. Yes! Fairly common. My most common shift is the excessive need to go on walks as I live in a suburban area that looks just urban enough that it triggers the "(I miss being a villain on the streets)" side/corner of my brain. I also get wing shifts and antler shifts a lot.

4. Oh, where do I begin. You see, I wasn't Heart in a past life, nor am I a psychological kin; I am an iteration of him that desperately wants to be like his true self. I am essentially him in every way except (mostly) physical form, essentially a watered down version of him; I have his personality, his flaws, his strengths, his interests (for the most part! I've kinda gone on my own path), my life even parallels his, in a way. I experience my connection constantly, every day, with irrational anger, irrational jealousy, the desire to cause mischief, inflated empathy, strong emotions, childishness albeit still logical, deeply caring about being a good person and doing good in-spite of my flaws, etc. I quite literally am him, just a version of him that's… kinda not nearly as fun.

5. I think it's fine, I have my criticisms but I find they would lead to much controversy as… the internet isn't exactly known for being rational and not filled to the absolute brim with echo chambers.

6. Dressing like Heart + wearing wings, as well as when people refer to me as Heart + "the Heart Chonny Jash" (dw, I understand I'm not the only one!).

7. Often.

8. Don't listen to what people say about your identity, so long as you're not hurting anyone it is. Valid. There are a lot of gatekeepers in the community and you shouldn't listen to them, whatsoever. Respect the elders of course but understand your own journey is individualised. It's okay to have a lot of theriotypes/kintypes, no one said there was a limit except losers who gatekeep what makes you happy. And don't stress about labels, labels only exist to form cliques.

9. I need a bird tail SO. BADLY.

10. I like to think that I am an iteration of one specific version of Heart, from an… admittedly very embarrassing source. I like to think someone, somewhere, is the creator of the story I come from, they may just not be of this world. I am of the superstition that every story ever conceptualised past a basic structure is real, out there somewhere, that we could never feasibly access. And because of it, sometimes iterations/reincarnations of those from those other worlds end up here. Personally, I believe myself and every iteration of Villain Heart are the same person, and thus when I die I will be in my true form; but my personality will completely remain the same, as that's the same as it always has been, and I will retain my memories, interests, hobbies, relationships, etc., I'll just have the memories and abilities/proficiencies and the such of my other iterations. I will still be me; that won't change. I'll just be who I really wanna be, too, yk?

I do have a scientific theory about alterhumanity that I'm more inclined to believe as it's more rooted in reality and logical but it's boring and stupid and I wanna think that I'm actually the same person as Villain Heart. Any belief is valid tho, again so long as it isn't hurting anyone!!!

@cheddarkit @stupidscav (couldn't find your kin blog ):) @nkgrimmie @the-techdub @walkinthew00ds @cooking--with--nitroglycerin @chromaticlera tagging all the kin friends I have that I can remember at the top of my head

If you are a alterhuman, reblog and answer these questions!

(don't be afraid to write a lot, do what you want ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯)

1/ Which category of alterhumanity do you belong to?

2/ What/who is/are your type(s)? (if you have any)

3/ Do you experience shifts? If so, can you tell us your most common shifts and your strangest cameo shift (if you've ever had a cameo shift)?

4/ How do you experience your alterhumanity in everyday life?

5/ What do you think of the community?

6/ What are the things that make you most comfortable and euphoric in your alterhumanity?

7/ Are you experiencing species dysphoria?

8/ What advice would you like to say to a young alterhuman who has just awakened?

9/ Do you have/want to have gears?

10/ Do you know/have any theories about the origin of your alterhumanity? If so, tell us! (all beliefs are legitimate)

11/ Tag someone/a creature to answer these questions!ㅤᵕ̈

[vizowrites]

Okay idea: Lets assume that all hellhorses have some form of flaming mane and tail. And that the brightness and size of these flames can be a strong indicator of the horses health\strength. So, imagine: Blitz scrolling online, not looking at anything in particular, when he comes across a sales post for a horse. Blitz has seen tones of these, given how much he looks up horses, but usually scrolls past them cause he knows damn well he cant afford a horse yet. But this post immediately catches his eye. Not only is this horse dirt cheap, but its condition looks horrible. Its hooves are cracked, its colors are dull, and what should be a brilliant inferno of a mane and tail is barley a flicker. Blitz can tell this horse is by no means being treated right. He immediately mentions it to Striker and begs him to help him save it. Striker knows all too well that once a hellhorse is mistreated, that its damn near impossible for them to trust anyone again, and that they can become very aggressive towards people. Still he figures that, at the very least, they can get it healthy and possibly set it free with a wild herd. Plus, there's no way he can say no to Blitz. So they go to buy the horse, and Striker fully expects a full on war just to get near the horse, let alone get it to the stable. Imagine his shock when this scrawny, neglected horse ambles over and just presses its head into Blitz's chest, nuzzling as close as possible while Blitz just hugs its head, practically crying in both joy and sadness for this neglected hellhorse.

-PTERODACTYL SCREAMING-

Honestly I'm right there with Blitz in the feels!! ;-;

This is absolutely brilliant tho Love!! Especially because I feel like Blitz and Striker would both recognize in their deepest heart of hearts that buying this horse is not.....logically practical at all. Yes, Striker has Bombproof, but even he's having to be kept at Joe and Lin's ranch [out of the kindness of their hearts] for now, because there's no way in hell they would be able to keep him in their apartment--or any part of Imp City. There's just no way that adding another horse into the mix would be feasible. They know this.

But the look in Blitz's eyes as he turns to show Striker the listing for this horse already tells Striker that they're going to be getting it no matter what.

They're both a little on edge when they arrive at the ranch that's selling it, though. Blitz keeps fluctuating between angry and hurt every time he pulls up the post again to look at the pictures, and Striker's tail has been rattling at a faint but consistent rate since they first agreed to get it. He's not about to just leave it in the hands of these assholes who clearly didn't know how to properly take care of a hellhorse in the first place, but this also isn't the first time he's dealt with horses who've been in the hands of neglectful and abusive owners. It's not easy work to help them recover, and it's even harder to get them to trust that their new owner isn't going to be the same kind of piece of shit that their former owner(s) were. More than that--and the thing that's kept his tail rattling throughout the entire trip out there--is that he knows just how defensive and dangerous they can be when that trust isn't there.....and he knows that Blitz doesn't know. He's told him, he tried to tell him, but he knows that Blitz still doesn't know it the way that he does.

And as much as he wants to help this horse, he doesn't want to have to be in the situation to do what he knows he would do if it tried to--or actually managed to--hurt his mate.

.....He really shouldn’t have been surprised when he turned around from finalizing the sale with the original owner to see Blitz already climbing the corral fence and walking right up to the thing.  

“Fuckin’ damnit Blitz--” Striker raced over as fast as he could, but he knew it wouldn’t be fast enough.  He could see the horse’s attention already drawn in his boyfriend’s direction, already moving towards him as Blitz helped to close the distance faster.  Striker felt himself take a sharp intake of air just as he jumped over the railing, seeing the horse’s head go right for Blitz’s chest.....to nuzzle him.  

Striker froze as his feet hit the rough dirt on the inside of the corral, his eyes going momentarily wide before blinking once.  

.....What?  

Yet there Blitz stood, somehow unharmed, with this broken and battered hellhorse pressing as close to him as was physically possible for them to be with each other.  It was almost as if the horse somehow understood that it was safe now.  That.....somehow.....it could trust Blitz. 

Blitz had never felt something like this before in his life.  

His arms wrapped carefully around the creature’s neck after the initial shock wore off, hugging as much as he could without straining the poor thing too much and very lightly brushing his fingers along the barely-there flickers of flame that made up it’s mane.  

“.....I know,” Blitz whispered so quietly that Striker had to strain to hear him--and even then, he found he couldn’t really do it without taking a few slow steps closer.  “Trust me, I know I’ve--I-I’ve been there, Sweetheart.  But you don’t have to worry about a bunch of dumb fucks who think they’re taking care of you but don’t actually know what the fuck they’re doing anymore--”  He pressed his forehead to the front of the hellhorse’s face as he gave a soft nuzzle in return, only glancing over when he noticed that Striker was now standing there behind him.  He smiled softly.

“.....You’ve got someone who loves you now.”  

[thousand-winters]

(rolls in) how about 🦋, 🦈, 💌, 👻, 💥 and ❤️ !!!!!!!

Have I told you how dear you are to me, my friend? 🥺 Because I adore you. I'm sorry in advance for the huge amounts of TOH you will suffer through these questions, I have become a TOH fic writer. Stepping a bit carefully here because I don't know if you're up to date tho

🦋 Which character is your favorite to write?

I really enjoy Hunter! He's great for projection cof. I mean, what. Okay, but I think he's very fun to write because he's an interesting mix, you get to have him being all logical and practical because he was a soldier, but he also has a lot of issues going on that can take you in a very angsty direction AND at the same time he can be just so silly. Silly boy just smiling widely while wearing a bird onesie he picked himself. He has a lot of angles to work with and that's fun.

I have written him like twice, but outside of TOH, Alastair Carstairs is very fun to write because he's very snarky.

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

Darius Deamonne, I love you with all my heart, but why must you be so hard to write? I have gotten a little bit used to him because I write so much stuff with him, but I feel like sometimes I tend to forget that he might be kind, but he's not nice, he's very bitchy, and I have to go back and add that. Of course, he also absolutely freaks out over his loved ones, so he needs a balance of loving and bitchy and it can be hard to do.

Eda is also SO hard to write for me, but luckily she's around a lot less in my fanfics asjfhdsg

💌 Is there a favorite trope you like to write?

Mmmm, does hurt/comfort count? That's not a trope, is it? Adsfjkhgjkfh

Okay, I think it's been established in the Dadrius corner of the fandom that at this point, Darius covering Hunter with his cape counts as a fandom trope, so I'm gonna say that one. I have used it a few times and it will happen again because it's just sweet, fight me.

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

I come up with headcanons very slowly, so I only have like a handful, but if I have to pick something for this, I'm gonna go with my "Eberwolf is a tech genius" headcanon because I just think it's funny. It's just slightly based on anything other than the Coven Heads being a bit opposite to what you would expect given their magic specialties, but other than that, it's just... I mean, I don't know how funny it is objectively, but I have fun with it askjfhjsdg

💥 What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

Head in my hands. It's more like the absence of, but it will forever haunt me that we did not get to see Darius and Hunter seeing each other for the first time after Hollow Mind. What happened there? How did Darius get Hunter to not freak out and trust him? HOW DID THAT CONVERSATION GO? So many little moments implied with them, but not shown. I'll take the implied, but I wish we could have seen them.

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

*Stares at fics for 15 minutes* Oh, boy.

I pick the cat line, I pick Hunter saying "Meow-meow" in one of my fics because it's the cringiest, funniest thing I've ever written and I have no regrets, I was laughing so much at the reactions that got.

Oh, but I quite liked this one too, actually: "It takes two decades and a world full of devastation for Darius Deamonne’s own mask to crack and for tears to start sliding down his face until each drop marks its shiny path over the Golden Guard’s dusty signature, forming watery tracks all over its surface. "

[deniigi]

my supervisor fucked me over with all my other coworkers present. can I request a one shot from you to cheer me up featuring Sammy?

Did I give y’all the fic about the hotpot?

Well if I didn’t, I’m giving it to you now.

Title: hotpot

Summary: Ganke checks the comments for the Blindspot comic daily and there’s this one asshole anon who keeps talking shit about BT.

--

The Blindspot comic went live in the fall and Ganke couldn’t stop checking the hit count every five seconds. All night there had only been ten hits.

He told himself not to be disappointed. The only person who really mattered had read and loved the comic.

Miles said that BT had even forced everyone on the team to read an abridged version of Journey to the West, and had gone as far as to make a quiz to determine everyone’s character.

Miles refused to disclose who he’d gotten.

BT had clearly rigged the game to make himself Sun Wukong and Ganke was proud of him.

That kind of enthusiasm was exactly what he’d been hoping for, anything else now was just icing on the cake.

Even though it would be cool if it wasn’t just BT reading his own comics.

That would be pretty cool, right? Like. If people online all started reading BT’s comic. That would be sort of amazing.

Kind of excellent.

Definitely worthy of an A+ and double pats on the back.

Right?

The hit counter didn’t think so. But hey, five more people had opened the page since last night. That was something, wasn’t it?

 MM: dude why not just ask Sam to tweet out the link?

 How dare you, Miles Morales.

How dare you waltz into this place with logical thought.

GL: I can’t do that. That’s like. Idk. Inflating the views.

MM: okay yeah explain to me how appealing to the person in control of the largest part of his own fandom is inflating the views

GL: I see your logic and I’m banishing it

MM: I’m messaging him

GL: DON’T

MM: too late

MM: he says ‘gimme link’

GL: asdksjsjdks

--

 @blindspot: hi I know y’all can’t get enough of me to the point of asking shockingly invasive questions and for you I say good news! Some amazing folks have gone through the trouble of making a Blindspot comic. it’s good guys check it out [link]

--

 It helped.

A lot.

It helped a lot.

--

 People, on the whole, had great things to say. The panels were screenshotted and tagged and sent all over social media and even though Miles was pretending to be chill and aloof about the whole thing, Ganke could imagine him smiling big and bright and white at his phone non-stop.

Mom and Auntie saw a few of the bits on Twitter and tittered over them in the kitchen like pigeons.

The pride rose like a wave. Ganke kept waiting for the crash.

--

 It came two days later in the form of a comment that read ‘Christ, look at all this fuss. BT is fine. I hate his brother.’

It felt like someone punching the wind out of Ganke’s lungs.

He took comfort in the handful of people who leapt in to shout down the commenter. They emphasized that if the anonymous commenter didn’t like the story or the characters, then they didn’t have to read it and they, especially, didn’t have to say anything about it.

Ganke appreciated those guys. He got the feeling that a lot of the people on there knew that the whole thing had been done but a couple of kids.

Not that Anon cared.

Anon replied to all these comments ‘No, I’m gonna keep reading, thanks. Anyways, the brother is lame. The smart part is cool, but why’s it always gotta be a guy?’

The part that haunted Ganke even after he’d shut his laptop and had gone to stick his head out the window for some big breaths of cleansing air was that Anon was kind of right.

--

 GL: should we have made Guotin’s brother a sister?

MM: no

GL: why not?

MM: cause BT’s always wanted a brother

 Oh.

Okay. Then it was fine?

 MM: yeah man ignore them. it’s chill.

GL: k thanks my ego is huge and fragile

MM: trust me I know

 Asshole. Fine, moving right along.

--

 It didn’t stop. Anon commented on every page. Every. Single. Page.

Ganke didn’t know what to do or say. On the one hand, clearly this person was dedicated and deeply engaged with the comic, on the other hand, they needed a Rude Alert button. Ganke wondered if Ned could code one for them and them only.

The latest of their fury was directed at the big reveal in the second issue—BT’s face.

Having now met Sam, BT, Blindspot, Ganke’s whole image of him had changed.

He was not conventionally attractive as far as like, K-Pop idols and famous Chinese dudes went. His eyes were puffy and narrow and his face was round everywhere but the jaw. He leaned more towards ‘cute’ than ‘sexy,’ which Ganke sort of loved about him.

He was friendly. Stressed and grumpy and feisty as hell, yeah, but first and foremost friendly.

Miles claimed that he called it his ‘number one asset in employability.’ Which was wild because hello, Blindspot.

Obviously, BT couldn’t help his face. But Miles and Ganke could help Guotin’s.

Ganke had sent Miles about fifteen different images of Chinese celebrities and had told him to do his worst. They’d reviewed the final few drafts and had picked one that was most like a young Chen Kun. His face was more oval-shaped than BT’s. His chin and lips were slimmer but more defined. He was pretty, but not so pretty as to be called ‘feminine,’ which Ganke thought was a solid compromise between ‘handsome as sin’ and ‘looks like he’s got a quirky sense of humor.’

Anon hated him.

Anon thought that he looked like an idol, and they were not here for it.

They told ‘the artist’ to give him a mole or something, anything to make him look ‘less pristine. God, I can smell him from here and he smells like Dior and staph habitat.’

Ganke had to look up what a staph infection was. He regretted it. He asked Miles if they should censor Anon.

Miles said ‘mmmmm, idk it’s not like they aren’t saying anything that isn’t true.’

Ganke resented that. Clearly this was defamation of BT. This person hated him and was taking their feeling out on the comic.

 MM: I mean yeah but it’s not like they’re talking about the comic, man. They’re talking about the style and like, thinking about it, a mole or smth to help you tell him apart from other folks would kind of be helpful. Like, especially if we ever put him in a crowd, you know?

 HHHHHH.

Fine.

Anon could stay. But they were on thin ice.

--

 It was hard not to be bitter about Anon’s comments, especially when they arrived daily, as though Anon knew exactly what they were doing and which page they’d left off at. They couldn’t possibly be reading the comic one page at a time, this was intentional.

Ganke’s jaw hurt from all the tooth grinding he’d endured as of late.

This latest one read ‘yo, has BT ever mentioned fighting with a sword? I don’t recall him mentioning. Someone should take that thing away from him before someone loses an eye—or maybe even two.’

That felt like a pointed jibe.

That turned the churning irritation in Ganke’s gut into something much, much colder.

Did Anon know about BT’s black and blue eyes? How could they know? Was it a coincidence? It seemed to be more than a coincidence.

The pile of critiques was growing bigger and bigger, and now that Ganke thought about it, they all seemed to take issue with things that didn’t match the real Blindspot’s personality.

It was as if they knew him.

 GL: miles did you read the new comment from AnonTheAsshole?

MM: lol yeah

GL: tell me if I’m talking out my ass or whatever but like

GL: you don’t think they could be Muse, could they?

 Silence.

 MM: oh no

 Yeah. Fuck.

 MM: chances are low.

GL: they know so much tho??

MM: might be stalker? Maybe someone who’s over-invested in BT’s social media pages?

GL: maybe.

MM: hold on let me ask Spidey to screen it

GL: does he know Muse?

MM: no, but he’s paranoid and he’ll get Wade to be paranoid with him, and then they can decide whether its worth giving to DD for verification. He knows Muse.

 Ganke’s head was spinning. His fingers shook with guilt and the thought of Muse’s pale body hunched over a secret, cracked cell phone in a high security prison who knew where.

In Ganke’s head, he smiled wider and wider, until the skin on his cheeks cracked. He dug out scraps of paper and redrew Blindspot—Sam—with gaping holes for eyes and a screaming mouth and he drew dismembered corpses in black lakes and he laughed.

He just kept laughing.

 MM: hey ganke

MM: it’s going to be okay. It’s just a comic. I’m sure AnonTheAsshole is a stalker. They’re not threatening anyone.

MM: Sam can deal with a stalker. And we can too, okay?

 There was a reason that Miles was a hero. Ganke wiped at his eyes and swallowed.

 GL: okay. Thanks for doing that.

MM: 👍🏾

--

 It took a few hours because Spidey and Deadpool had lives outside of being Spidey and Deadpool, but not so long that Ganke ran out of nails to chew.

Miles messaged him back and said that Spidey had read through everything and ‘escalated it.’ This meant that whatever he’d seen had caused him enough concern to take it to DP.

Miles said that he’d get back to Ganke with DP’s verdict as soon as he had it. In the meantime, he’d run the comments by the other Spideypeople and they thought that it most likely wasn’t malevolent but was maybe something to keep an eye on in the meantime. He tacked onto all, somewhat stiltedly, that he had a weird feeling all of the sudden. The pink Spidey’s tone had changed. She’d shut down and gone cagey, which allegedly wasn’t like her at all. Then she’d told the taller guy to DM her and they’d vanished from the chat. Miles wasn’t sure what was going on there or if maybe they knew something about stuff going on that he didn’t, but he wasn’t super comfortable with it.

 GL: crossing my fingers its nothing?

MM: same man, same.

--

 DP escalated it.

Ganke couldn’t stay still in his room. There was no comfortable place to sit or stand or lay. There was nothing to do that would make him stop thinking about everything.

 MM: It’s gonna be fine, man, DD always knows what to do.

 Miles kept saying that for every step of the way, and yet here they were. Double escalated. Ganke wasn’t so sure he even knew what was happening anymore.

That was scary. Miles was supposed to be part of the in-crowd.

 MM: Wade doesn’t think it’s anything that can’t be nipped in the bud.

 That was easy for a contract assassin to say, wasn’t it?

 MM: he says that you and I are fine. Doesn’t see any links there. Waiting on DD for confirmation of tone.

 Hurry up, Daredevil. Your apprentice’s life might be about to take a nosedive into a heap of trash.

--

 Two hours. One text.

 MM: >:/

 Ganke couldn’t contain the bubble of laughter.

 GL: good news?

MM: [image]

 He opened it.

 SC: HANNAH YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE. STOP BEING A BITCH ON MAIN

HC: You can’t tell me what to do

SC: I CAN

HC: Mom he’s being MEAN

SC: Mom she’s scaring children online

HC: I scare children everywhere I go why are these ones special???

SC: Because I said so

HC: that doesn’t fucking work Samuel you’re not her

SC: I am your older brother

SC: your ELDEST brother

HC: YOU AINT SHIT

SC: THEY DON’T COUNT

SC: HALFSIES COUNT

 What.

 MM: so.

MM: she’s not Muse.

MM: Red’s laughing his ass off at all of us for taking this to a level three

GL: wait I don’t understand

MM: Hannah is Sam’s little sister. She’s found a new hobby in our website.

 Blindspot’s little sister was reading the comic??? Holy shit.

 GL: she hates him?

MM: no I’ve been informed that they would literally commit murder for each other but this is how they express love.

 No way. Siblings were wild.

 GL: so we’re good?

MM: [image]

  SC: apologize 🔪

HC: eat my ass

SC: apologize or else

HC: or else what? You gonna come in here and sit on me? Huh? Huh????

SC: I know your email password. All 3 you cycle through. What was his name? Uuuuuuuuuh Jing?

HC: you fucking bastard

SC: Hi Jing, it’s me, Hannah. I’ve been in mad crush with you since sophomore year. Please notice me senpai 😖

HC: Die

SC: kill me

HC: I will.

 The giggles that came this time were a mix of relief and genuine intrigue. This lady read the comic every day. She took the time to scroll through pictures of her brother being an absolute lunatic and fighting with a huge monkey. Then she hopped into that comment box and took him—not Miles, not Ganke, specifically Blindspot--down a peg.

She must miss him a lot. Ganke wondered if this was her way of keeping him in her thoughts.

 MM: I don’t think we’re getting a sorry, man. DD says Sam’s been at this all morning and has been tricked into apologizing himself twice

GL: so you’re saying that she’s an evil genius

MM: idk but she’s def Sam’s main nemesis. I always thought that older siblings got like, rights or something over younger ones, but idk anymore. Angel says this is normal.

GL: do you think she misses him?

 Miles took a long time to respond.

 MM: yeah

 Yeah, Ganke thought so, too.

 GL: should we change Guo tin’s brother’s name to ‘hamish?’

MM: ASDLDSDSFKdsjf

MM: one moment.

MM: sam says yes. Hannah says that she thinks our comic is shit and we need to draw everything uglier

GL: she’s kind of funny

MM: 👀perhaps she would like to be a consultant?

GL: 👀👀👀👀

MM: brb asking

MM: sam says no. Hannah says she’s got better things to do than proofread comics on the internet. She’s also not sorry. She wants that to be clear. DD says that the conversation has moved from English to Chinese and to maybe duck and cover for now. He says all is good tho. Thanks for checking in.

MM: Muse doesn’t use punctuation and talks in riddles, so if we get any of that, we’re supposed to send it to DP right away.

 Oh, nice. That was a relief.

 MM: oh

MM: sam wants to put us in a chat. Can I give him your number?

 Uh, only if he wanted Ganke to hyperventilate.

 GL: sure

 --

  [GL has been added to a Secure Chat]

 It was a page of characters and emojis that were somehow more menacing than Ganke had ever seen them before. Miles popped a little waving hand into the fray, as though testing the waters, but the characters just carried on scrawling around it.

Ganke wasn’t quite sure what to do.

 GL: hi? Are y’all okay?

 There was finally a pause. Then a few shorter lines of characters. And then finally, Blindspot switched from Chinese to English.

 SC: yes we’re FINE. We’re GREAT. Aren’t we, sibling from hell?

HC: who’re you? Why are you in our family chat? This is a family only zone, can’t you read?

SC: God Hannah he’s Korean don’t be a dick

HC: I can’t not be I learned it from you

SC: fair but pretend in the face of company

HC: okay fine. Hello losers.

MM: adksadfadsdfldfsldf

MM: hi

GL: hi?

SC: go on

HC: UGH

HC: fine

HC: I didn’t mean to shit talk your creation. Only my brother.

SC: also a sin, we’ll get to that later

HC: no one cares about you Samuel, stop spreading lies

SC: you first. We both know this is no lie, my white dad cares about me a whole lot

HC: well we can’t all have white dads now can we

SC: don’t be jealous

MM: lol you really call Matt your white dad??

HC: who is this person and how do they know our mutual parent’s name?

SC: this is not a mutual parent situation how many times have we been through this. He’s mine. Get your own.

MM: hi! 👋🏾I’m Bitsy! Spidey no. 4

GL: I’m his friend. He draws the comic. I write it.

HC: oh. nerd children x2

HC: anyways yeah Matt is our dad

SC: ffs

MM: he’s sort of dadly ig.

HC: ?? oho

SC: mind your face. Think about your face. Think about how much you like your face.

HC: little spider, did you not hear?

SC: kay everyone out. We’re done here

MM: hear what?

HC: lol Sammy you didn’t tell them about how Matthew Mcconaughey adopted you in all ways but paperwork?

 Ganke held his phone away from his face as far as it would go.

 MM: …wait are you for real?

SC: no. okay out.

HC: awwww Sammy so shy now. What are you embarrassed about? It’s cute.

SC: Hannah literally shut up I’m not playing

HC: damn okay sorry

MM: can I be honest?

SC: no

MM: I’m going to be anyways: I think we all sorta knew.

SC: …

HC: right?

SC: what does that even mean?

MM: idk, it just felt right, you know? You two are always fussing at each other and red lost his shit that time you got shot. He doesn’t treat you the way he treats the rest of us and we’re his teammates. He doesn’t even treat spidey like he treats you. So like, yeah. It fits.

MM: I’m really happy for you guys.

MM: is there a reason it’s a secret?

 Ganke eased himself back down onto the mattress. This was real. This was like, actual, real information. Something that he and like, four other people in the world now knew.

He kind of wanted to forget it. It didn’t feel right to know.

 SC: I dunno.

HC: if sam has an honest emotion towards anything he has to calculate its weight so he can make space for it in his collection of satellites.

MM: wh

SC: you’re so not funny.

HC: it’s called emotional repression, darling. It’s all the rage in this family.  

MM: oh

MM: so that’s why you and Red get on so well

SC: HHHHHHH

HC: HA

SC: okay but listen his is different, I’ve only seen him cry at his wedding. I cry at least 4 times a week. Obviously under the bed, but that can’t be emotional repression. That’s expression. That’s clearly expression

HC: I can make the old man cry watch me

SC: please don’t I’ll die

MM: awwwww

SC: shut up it doesn’t even matter.

MM: AWWWWWW

SC: LEAVE ALREADY

MM: no I like it here. I want to hear you talk about how much you love your white dad

SC: I don’t. He loves me. I’m fine with this because it results in food, shelter, and continued employment.

HC: uh huh

SC: I’m using him

HC: yeah because you’re like the most manipulative person I know.

SC: thank you

HC: /sarcasm

SC: I know I ignored it.

MM: so wait why do you actually pretend like you hate him tho?

SC: wh

SC: what the fuck am I supposed to do? Just go on up for a cuddle? Have you met Matt? The second someone starts crying, he finds trash to take out to the bins. Hell no. Life is easier for everyone if I stab him with a stick and he kicks my ass in training. It’s fine.

HC: Sam is learning how to be a Manly Man. This is step one.

SC: I’m plenty manly

HC: you’re what mom imagined as manly

SC: which is perfect. That’s all I need.

HC: mama’s boy

SC: must suck to suck, no one’s kid.

 Wow. Ganke had never been more glad that he didn’t have a sister.

 GL: That’s kind of cool, though.

GL: that you and DD are close like that I mean.

GL: Its different from all the other mentor/mentee superheroes we see who like, sort of hate each other.

SC: wh

SC: OH. you mean Peter and Kate. Peter doesn’t actually hate Stark, fyi. And Kate calls Hawkeye the Old bi-weekly to make sure he’s still breathing. It’s actually pretty normal.

MM: he doesn’t mean like that Sam. I mean, like those guys don’t associate with their Olds now that they’re grown up and stuff, but you and DD stick together. It’s like you’re family.

MM: and that’s super cool. Idk if Spidey would ever consider me family. I don’t think he wants that for us.

SC: I?

SC: oh shit

HC: CLARITY ON THIS FINE DAY. What was your name again, tiny spider?

MM: miles

HC: PRAISE BE TO MILES

HC: AN EMOTION WAS HAD

SC: get fucked

HC: An epiphany was obtained!

SC: would you shut up

HC: Something has finally permeated that non-porous, two-inch thick skull of my esteemed eldest brother

SC: I’m your only brother

HC: you’re not

SC: they don’t fucking count

HC: now will you FINALLY invite our mutual dad to hotpot?

SC: Hannah he doesn’t want to come to hot pot we’ve talked about this. it’s too spicy for him.

HC: I’ll make it 1/3 less spicy

SC: that’s still too spicy

HC: I’ll make it 2/5 less spicy

SC: 3/5

HC: listen

HC: I have all this fucking equipment that SOMEONE left here callously

MM: what’s hotpot?

SC: 👀

HC: 👀

GL: 👀

SC: well fuck

HC: EYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

GL: have we never taken you with us for hotpot???

MM: no?? is this the sticks?

HC: can be. Where do you live?

SC: Hannah no

HC: Hannah yes. We’ll make one here. You’ll make one there.

SC: do you know how much shit I’ll have to buy? Where are we gonna put it?

HC: this wouldn’t be a problem if you’d taken your goddamn inheritance with you to SF

SC: HHHHHH

MM: you guys are actually being serious?

HC: I am. I am here all on my lonesome. Abandoned by my only kin. I require enrichment.

SC: try doing your fucking homework

HC: did anyone hear something?

MM: lololololol I like you

HC: 😊

SC: wh

SC: oh no. No no no.

SC: you two don’t get to be friends

HC: come here bb pspspspspspsps

MM: I’m here

HC: got ‘im. Let’s have hotpot. Sammy send me resippy. We’ll do it together over video so I don’t fuck it up.

SC: I’ve got to go. This has been traumatizing.

HC: byeeeeeeeeeeee

HC: is he gone? Hell yeah, he’s gone.

HC: hey thanks for making that comic thing. It’s hella rad. He loves it. Mom used to call him Monkey when he was little.

GL: omg aw

HC: ikr? P cute. He misses her a lot so I think it brought back good memories. Anyways, I’m actually going to make hotpot. Come over and have some with me, it’s more fun with more people.

MM: you’re not joking

HC: nope, it’s been ages since your whole team has gotten together, right? Ask them to do it. I’m a shit cook, but Sam’ll show us how not to screw it up. And he’s playin’, he’s totally down to hang out with us. We never had more than three people. It’ll be new. Exciting. Enriching even.

MM: are you secretly a nice person, Hannah?

HC: the fuck do you mean ‘secret’??? I’m a delight.

MM: Okay I’ll ask the team and my mom

MM: ganke?

HC: 👀

 That—

Sounded kind of nice?

 GL: I’ll ask my mom.

HC: nice. You can tell them that it’s a friends dinner or whatever. Idc. I promise I’m not going to kidnap and murder you. I’ve got like, class and work and shit. I don’t have time for that.

MM: 👍🏾

GL: 👍🏼

HC: great here I’ll message you my number. This is legit our sibs chat so Sam’ll freak if you’re still here when he gets back.

MM: thank you! And sorry for thinking you were muse!!

GL: yeah that too

HC: lol np ttyl                                    

 That…had really just happened, hadn’t it?

Ganke needed to sit down even though he was already sitting down.

 GL: they’re so nice???

MM: ikr?

GL: are you actually going to ask your mom?

MM: Im gonna ask BT if its cool first. Then yeah. Why not? Our team really hasn’t gotten together in a minute. Everyone’s been super busy. It would be a nice change of pace, and if everyone brings smth then Hannah doesn’t have to pay for anything.

MM: ah, Sam says it’s okay. He says sorry his sister is weird and that he’ll make sure she doesn’t poison us.

GL: I kind of love her

MM: same

MM: okay will check in with the others. Talk to you later.

GL: yeah see you later

 Damn, at this rate, Ganke’s family was going to triple in size, and all thanks to a comic.

Before he left for downstairs, he made a note to make Guo tin’s brother snarkier.

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket Manga Review , ch 109

-The Tragedy of a an episodic format attempting to connect narrative in a series: (Tohru’s Background or Kyo’s Focus?)

One of my issues with se03, ep6 (other than it being 3 chapters combined horribly with new material added for shock value) is that it was weakly undecided who would be the focus? who would the narrative follow?: Is it tohru’s own pov abt herself? is it the gramps giving boring exposition abt tohru over weak still images of flashbacks or is kyo thinking abt tohru’s pain?

The truth is, it was all the above in the manga, but the manga gave each a chapter focus so that the chapter is well-directed with focused narrative. The anime weakly jumbled the 3 chapters together as they always do. You mix chapters & tada~ you got an ep, you only need a broad weak theme that connects the dots! here: it is tohru! & that’s it. As long as the 3 chapters discuss tohru in any form & manner, nothing will seem off if we put them next to each other in a 20 minute ep! right? riiiiiight ????

.. this was never a correct way. Just like a chapter needed a narrative direction, the ep is the same!!

ch 107: The beginning of tohru’s pov on her realization abt loving kyo.

ch108: tohru’s full pov of shock upon reaching the conclusion that she loves him & the beginning of her mom’s issues & abandonment.

ch109: Kyo’s pov abt tohru’s pain & his involvement, guil & the sheet hug.

ch110: (completely cut from the anime!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Kyoru’s part: the aftermath of kyo & tohru crossing the line of being in the most vulnerable & intimate, building towards a more crushing impact of the climax. The stronger & more painful their love is, the more it will hurt. Also a yuchi buildup?!!!!

-so, you see each chapter has a direction i& a narrative it follows independently that is weaved together to make a connected tissue of the overall plot. The anime puts the 3 chapters next to each other & we are lost on who to follow? kyo or tohru or the gramps. That’s why it feels tohru is weak & her two chapters worth of pov is stolen from her cuz it cut or shortened to include the grandpa, kyo, isuzu, shigure & let’s not forget (kazuma, yuki & haru) at the beginning, the dramatic shock value addition & OP & ED. All these take valuable screen time. The ep shocks us by moving from tohru to kyo. One minute she’s crying with him on the streets, next he’s at the grave & she’s visiting isuzu.

Kyo said he isn't going to the grave in the ep, upon seeing him actually going, I just assumed he wanted to avoid, hana, cuz I’m so invested in his story that I remember sth happened in se1, ep 14.. ages ago, The anime didn’t even allow kyo to inner talk abt avoiding hana... In their weird mind, kyo only inner talks in dramatic situations..See the difference!

Not only the writer (a) reminds us why kyo avoided the grave visit, she also (b) seized the opportunity to shine lifht onto an issue that will be the center of kyo’s struggles: Running away!

The anime introduce this in kyo’s pov only when kyo confronts tohru. Only when it was needed & couldnt be avoided. This is sth that will be the core of all the climax & the aftermath as well! Kyo running away.. How bad are you if you avoid inserting one line only that can be said in few seconds & establish great deal & foreshadow plenty!!!!!!!!!! I can’t for the life of my understand why short lines are cut from kyo when in the anime they have him be standing silent in the graveyard. Like slap the line above the silent scene!!!!! But doing so means the anime team understands tohru & kyo’s issues. They don’t. Not the slightest.

-Ep 6 signals the beginning of the anime moving from episodic format of se1, 2 & 5 eps of se3 & entering a connect plot. The anime doesn’t know how to do that & screwed tohru in the process. The protagonist’s main issues are one ep worth only. The antagonist main issues are one ep only (ep7).  Ep 6, was treated as a stand alone ep (minus the inserted shock scene to create a lingering issue that needs a following ep to explain. TOLD YOU they don’t know how to make a series!). Thus the following ep 7 is akito’s focus. Everything that was established in ep 6 was pit on hold until akito reaches the craziest mindset for the climax. See why ep 6 was so bad? it is Should NOT be a stand alone ep.

-The plot connects kyoru emotional & physically: (Kyo’s chapter with a tohru’s focus:

Unlike the anime, the chapter knows what it’s presenting 7 where it’s going. Kyo’s issues. This ch focuses on him uncovering parts of his past as it connects with tohru’s. Unlike the anime, we know why kyo's connection to kyoko’s past. The anime is hiding this for the climax, no problem, it can still work both ways. However, hiding kyoko /kyo connection doesn't necessarily mean hiding kyoko/tohru connection. But the anime is cutting this to milk it in an ova or series next year~ no problem,  it can still work if you handle this ep’s  flashback better. for all the artistic creativity they inserted in the added scene, they failed miserably in tohru’s flashback portion. how?

By choosing a frontal pov shot in tohru’s grandpa flashback as if the audience are the ones who abandoned tohru or opening the door to find her alone. it does NOT work at all. why? the audience are encouraged to be like tohru since ep 1 as tohru is the mother, angel, fixer & endearing hopeful girl. The audience will NEVER abandon tohru, that’s why tohru’s story felt disconnected & weak in the anime. Not knowing what kyoko did, who would abandon such child?! differently not us. so why use the frontal pov shot? -_-’

-tohru confesses her pain to kyo without being ushered by isuzu, without any outside factor. She simply visited the grave & came home. hiding her pain. once again. like she always do. One question by kyo, prompts her to “ complain a little” call back to se1, ep5 as he advised. we see tohru get out of her shell little by little. NOT SCREAM OR SLAP. She opened up. why? cuz the story is abt “ opening the lid” not abt “ snatching the lid”. No need for shocks. Yuki opened his lide slowly, tohru even slower, kyo is resisting opening his altho it is cracking in this chapter. When your story focuses on character buildup it pays!

-I’ll give the anime credit when it due. The hug scene is so good both in manga & anime. but so awesome in animation, colors, music & voice acting. It’s breathtaking & painful. The most beautiful kyoru scene in the whole anime.

-It represents their mutual vulnerability, understanding, pain & determination to love the other but not also let go. kyo has made his mind to be locked in order not to hurt tohru & tohru has made her mind that she can’t let go of her mom.

You see, the scene’s meaning hits different between manga & anime; In the anime: tohru has already challenged the sohmas & screamed to be with kyo, while kyo is still decided to leave her. In the manga: they’re both at the same spot (undecided). I like both interpretations but I’ll choose the manga’s version. Simply cuz it means tohru is still uncovering her issues which means more focus on her, & more explanation of why cant tohru love her mom & kyo at the same time.

-This expression on tohru’s face is a the complete opposite of the shock value expression in ep 6! T_T. I do’nt even hate the shocked scene addition itself that much, I just think (a) this is NOT its time! Tohru deserved better spotlight! (b) kyo didn’t friggen forget! ah! THIS I HATE! (c) the whole shocked scene was so wasted in ep 7. tohru return to her stupid dumb lalala~ land, cooking & forgetting kyo. what growth? what determination & screams to isuzu? what enduring kagura’s slaps? nope! just happy & cooking, lalala~ no one was freaking over her mom’s picture~ lalala~ & kyo just slept it over~ shhhh... its okay. he’ll forget again... see? totally wasted!

The anime knows nothing abt connected narrative! augh!

Side Notes:

We see kyo asking the gramps why he’s offering him info abt tohru which is so logical! XD. I love it.

I’ve read ch 110 & wanted to insert the kyoru scene in ch 110 here, & put yuchi alone in a different post, then I realized I’ll need to talk abt it again once I analyze yuki’s own expressions! XD. so, I’ll put all ch 110 together in one post. It kinda half written by now, so I’ll publish it very soon in two days time. I didn’t read ch 111 yet tho.

I hope ch 110 is the last I feel this much disappointments in furuba’s anime & by ch 11, it hopefully be be minor changes altho I doubt that cuz the manga needed to dwell into tohru’s mindset & the anime kinda stopped after ep 6. so, yup! more big changes coming!

The sheet hug is so brilliant in theory & application! so romantic & so endearing! love it so much! The anime did it so well, too!

I love kyo’s narration & pov cuz it’s so refreshing change from the anime where he rarely does!

I really wish they kept the kyoko abandoning tohru part in the anime... sigh~ it has nothing much to affect her story with katsuya. so it won’t ruin the spin off/ ova or whatever it’s called. 

I love the light focus on tohru in this chapter & how organic & natural it is opposed to how forced the plot seems in the anime....