#definitely the least human family out of the cast

[erigold13261]

I would love to hear about DJ’s parents

Me too buddy, me too. /j

Uh, I don't have anything really specific about them right now. I like the idea that his mom is the space elemental while the dad is a human. But I also don't mind if the dad is a space elemental while the mom is a glass elemental (which is where the helmet and object headed-ness would come from for DJ).

I do know that DJ's parents are some of the most kind and nurturing people there are. They were super supportive of DJ and always welcome him back to their house whenever he shows up or if he might need it in case he gets down on his luck.

Even when DJ was doing terribly in school (like highschool and middle school, not college) they were very understanding of him and even tried to find alternatives for them, like night school, homeschooling, or him dropping out and getting a GED. Anything for DJ to stop coming home so stressed small cracks would form on their head.

They are definitely still alive today and talk with DJ on a monthly basis. He will visit them during holidays when he has time off and will send them gifts whenever he can/thinks of it. Neither are financially supporting the other as both sides are in good positions right now, but if Nova's parents fell on hard times, or the other way around, each side would be willing to take the other in with no questions asked and no push to get them to leave.

DJ has just wanted to live up to what he thought his parents' thought of him, but they never wanted anything more for them than to be happy with life. So the only time they were actually disappointed in DJ was when he took a job teaching because they both knew DJ would not like that kind of work environment in the end, but they still supported their decision. They are much happier now that DJ is in a career he actually likes and gets the praise and recognition he deserves.

So yeah, not much else than that I have right now. Though considering I want to draw Tatiana's, Neon's, and Mama's parents, I might be also drawing DJSS's parents as well at some point. I have no idea what to do for Eve and Remi's parents, or the rest of the Sayu Crew's families, but I might get to them one day.

[superectojazzmage]

Just back from Alien Romulus and hoooo boy oh boy. Review/analysis.

Easily the best Alien movie since the first two, which isn't saying much, yeah, but it is legit a really cool and well-made movie, competing with Late Night With The Devil, Longlegs, and Cuckoo for title of my favorite horror movie this year.

In a lot of ways it's about harvesting the few good ideas from the post-2 movies that were squandered and doing them right, plus getting the series back to it's healthier roots, kinda the movie equivalent of someone doing physical therapy to get back in the saddle after an injury. This means it's not quite brand new ground like some may hope for and I've heard some people feel it gets a little derivative at points because of it. I can kinda agree and certainly understand that criticism, but I feel it does what it's aiming for really well and sets things up for future works to go in even crazier directions. Furthermore, it takes a lot of time to try and weld together the disparate post-2 movies in a way that brings the series back to a little coherency.

The atmosphere is really intense and cool, swinging between lovecraftian dread and build-up and high-energy chaos. The aesthetics and special effects are gorgeous, taking full advantage of the progress that technology has made since 2 plus really digging in to the used cassette future vibe of the older films. The characters are likable and actually intelligent (or at least understandable) in behavior like in the first two movies, so you care about what's happening to them instead of just waiting for them to get munched. The action and kills were really cool and creative, the cinematography in general was off-kilter in an awesome way - there's a definite attempt to make the movie feel claustrophobic and intimate. Fede Alvarez did a fantastic job in general, I'd love to see him do more with the series.

It REALLY cranks up the series' psychosexual, freudian, and sexual assault subtext, arguably to a point where it's just plain text. So if you're sensitive to stuff like that or if this is your first go at Alien, be warned for that.

More specific notes go under the header for spoilers. Highly recommend you go in as blind as you can.

Andy and Rain were wonderful leads, their dynamic was fantastic and Calie Spaeny and David Jonsson both turned in great performances. I direly hope they join the first two films' casts as "major" characters for the series going forward.

The effects to make Daniel Betts look like Ian Holms were quite possibly the one and only time the special effects failed. It looks very wonky, which is sad because Betts does a really good job copying Holms' mannerisms for Ash while still making Rook feel like a distinct character.

In addition to the usual themes of sexual unease, genetics, and parenthood, this movie adds in some really interesting themes of familial legacy, the rise of new generations, foundations, etc.. Andy and Rain are like Romulus and Remus of myth, orphaned and left to fend for themselves but growing into founders of a new age - both in-story with their carrying the XX121 substance and evidence of Weyland-Yutani's misdeeds to Yvaga and out-of-story with them being the protagonists of a new era for Alien. Likewise, the Offspring is the first example of an entirely new species, neither human nor alien but taking from the lineages of both through Kay and Big Chap, a Romulus-like founder of it's breed that will later bear fruit in Resurrection with the Ripley clone and Newborn.

I'm really not kidding when I say above that the psychosexual undercurrents are taken to the extreme here. This movie basically sees the ways the original film subtly pin-pricked at those themes, says "fuck that", and deliberately rubs it in your face in a way designed to make sure you can't ignore it. It wants you to be grossed out and to squirm in your chair and it knows exactly how to make it happen.

Alvarez noted in the lead-up to release that he took a lot of influence from Isolation and you can definitely see that in how he depicts the Xenomorphs and the general aura of the film. He further described it as a kind of halfway point between the first and second movies and you can also see that; it has the Lovecraft-style tension and horror of the first, balanced with the energy and action of the second, and it does a really good job finding a middle ground between Ridley Scott and James Cameron's styles while also doing it's own dance.

I mentioned way back at the start how the movie basically harvests the good ideas from 3, Resurrection, Prometheus, and Covenant and gives them the room they deserve while dumping the bad. It does that in both terms of themes/style and continuity/lore. Concepts that those movies bungled like xeno-human hybridism, the black goo, genetic engineering as a focus, and so on are done here more creatively and competently. Themes that those films tried and failed to tackle are handled with significantly more grace. It has the atmosphere and characterization of 3 but none of it's baggage and needlessly depressive tone. It has the body horror and weirdness of Resurrection without taking it to the zany, embarrassing areas that movie went. The effects and creativity of Prometheus and Covenant without any of their awful writing and clumsy messages. Alvarez takes on kind of an Al Ewing-esque "repairman" writing style here.

The Xenomorphs are absolutely deranged in behavior compared to most portrayals, attacking like either cruel sadists or raging chimps and rarely bothering to take hosts. I'm not sure if such a reading was intended, but I got the vibe that the idea is Xenos raised without a queen or hive grow to be basically sociopathic like how real world predatory animals grown without parental figures become feral and dysfunctional. Which would also explain a lot about how the Xeno in the original movie, Big Chap, acts there.

The Offspring's design is fucking wicked and I love it.

One of my few major criticisms is that Big Chap died off-screen instead of getting more to do. What was the point of having him be alive at the start if he wasn't gonna be used beyond a backstory point to set up the main story?

All in all, a very impressive effort and a great return to form for the series that I recommend highly.

[lets-get-kraken-boys]

Gojo and Geto with bad bitch Chubby Reader

Guys, I tried to avoid being a Gojo stan...I tried so hard to hate him...but the pull was too strong. He got my ass. He's too silly. He's too cute the little shit. He's too perfect. Geto's great too before he lost his shit and went psycho the two are just too great to pass up.

2024 WILL BE THE YEAR THAT I GET YOU BITCHES TO PREACH STRONG, CONFIDENT, INDEPENDENT but not too independent bc these men are still yummy af CHUBBY READER! No longer will I be insecure about my weight because these men LOVE to see me coming AND going, I can tell you that.

WARNING: Fatphobia (happens when first meeting Gojo & Geto—they’re teens trying to bully Reader, but she handles herself because they’re idiots), A little angst with the small amount of bullying but I hope I made up for it, Cursing

✧༺♥༻✧

Imagine you, Gojo, Geto, and Shoko being classmates and friends during their schooling at Jujutsu High. All of you are powerful threats not to be taken lightly. The boys were undoubtedly freaks of nature with how strong they were—though, you had doubled over laughing alongside Shoko a couple of times when you heard them deem themselves "the strongest duo", as if they were some cool loner wolf types. Shoko was a master in the medicinal field; she made any injury look like a breeze to clean. She'd stitch them up no problem with her cursed energy and send them merrily on their way with a swift kick to their backside.

You definitely have more proficiency with cursed energy usage for combat more so than healing, but you could manage healing yourself just fine. You’d been born into a clan, not as highly revered as the Zenin or Gojo clans but still notable, so you’ve been taught from an early age how to wield cursed energy. Sacrificing yourself for the greater good of the world has been drilled into your head since birth, and you agreed with it. The world’s innocence needs to be protected from the cursed dangers life creates. Sure, there are bad people in the world, but the good people make life worth living. At least, that’s what you choose to believe.

While you’re just a normal—aside from the slight infinite power and jaw-dropping strength—girl, you are different in one more physical way. You’re chubbier than most, and not by a small bit.

Are you insecure about it?

Hell fucking no!

You’re a bad bitch. Fantastic face, banging body, stunning smile, bright eyes, a kind but strong heart, and even a cute butt to top it off. You knew this world inside out with how cruel it could be to plus sized folk, and while you took the beating for far too long without fighting back, you took a couple of steps back a few years ago to look at the situation. Why let people push you around like you didn’t matter? Why let them speak to you like you’re lesser than them simply because you weigh more? You were done being talked to like you were filth underneath their boots.

Since that new perspective, you’ve chosen the road of self love and hands rated E for everyone. You’re kind and sweet to those who reciprocate the respect. To those who try you, you beat their asses with a smile. “Education on Human Decency” is what you’ve begun to call the smackdowns since many want to try casting judgment in snide remarks or sneering looks. They can try these hands instead :)

That’s where Jujutsu High and the headaches you know as Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru fit into this philosophy of yours.

You were homeschooled by your clan in the first year of your sorcery high school. Though, after much begging for a change of scenery and yearning for social interactions other than your family and neighbors, they allowed you to go to a high school centered on jujutsu sorcery the next school year.

When you started Jujutsu High in your second year, that is where you met Shoko, Gojo, and Geto, your classmates. The first thought to cross your mind was how small this crowd was. Sure, it wasn’t like the classes you’ve had before had many students in them either; the world of curses and cursed energy wasn’t exactly a booming population to start with, especially when every year is the same class roster composed of the few brothers and sisters you had. Considering that, three new faces was much better than before! You introduced yourself with a joyful tone and an eager handshake.

You started with Shoko since she was the only other girl. You’re glad you did. Shoko, who you originally thought would be tricky to get along with since she gave off “rebel” vibes with that unlit cigarette dangling from her lips and you were nothing of the sort, held a grin and took your handshake with grace. She told you she liked your spunk, that it was nice to be around another girl rather than more stinking boys. You agreed with her with a relieved sigh. You two shared a laugh and chatted some more, each of you discussing your thoughts of the school and figuring out your mutual interests.

Soon enough, you were interrupted by someone giving a very noticeable and forced cough behind you. You turned and were met with two boys, one with jet black hair and a sly grin and the other one with silvery moonlight colored strands sharing the same expression hidden behind circular sunglasses. The white haired boy was leaning heavily on the black haired boy with one arm propped on his shoulder as the black-haired boy crossed his arms in front of himself. Seems like the two are close. No matter.

You stuck your hand out, another smile—admittedly, this one was a little more forced than the one you shared with Shoko—and gave your name. Suguru was the first to bite. He grabbed your hand with a smooth, warm grip, and exchanged his name. His shake felt sincere, though the cunning smirk still laid on his lips.

You tried to shake the other boy’s hand after letting Suguru go, but he decided otherwise. He swiftly with no mercy said he wasn’t going to shake hands with the likes of “you”. You raised an eyebrow, already sensing the insult he would try to hurl at you. One thing bullies are is predictable. None of them have any creative bone in their body, they’re like leeches, in a way. Mooching off other clever remarks they’ve heard used before through the Internet or their idiot friends. Though, they alway reproduce it much shitter than the first time they heard it.

He leaned in with a smile and yapped about how if he touches you, some of your fat might rub off on him. Gojo tries to drag Geto into bullying you too by shamelessly asking if Geto is worried that will happen to him now that he’s so brazenly touched you. As much as you wanted Suguru to be his own person, to be better than the loser clinging to him like a koala, he chimed in that while Gojo’s afraid of that, that that could never happen to him. He sneered while looking down at you that he actually has the discipline to keep the weight off. The two of them share an evil snicker together.

Oh, so that’s how they wanna play it.

Okay. You don’t mind showing a bitch their place.

As Shoko pipes up and tells them to shut the hell up, you stop her. You give her a kind smile that says “I love you, but please back the fuck up as I rock these bitches world”. Her eyebrows jump up in surprise, but she gives you a nod. She quiets down.

You choose to laugh with them. They slowly shut their mouths, finding laughing at you not that funny when you don’t crumple under their taunts like they’d expected. You then explain to them that what you find so funny is that punks like them are so easy to read and, subsequently, ruin. You told them they need to find better insults to steal if they wanna cackle like they’re some kind of drunk hyenas and, unless they get more creative, they’re not worth the air they take from others. You turned to walk away, but since you just couldn’t help yourself, you gave the both of them a swift kick to the chest. Unprepared for the action, they both were sent careening back, but remained standing. You also snarkily nagged that being “undisciplined in weight loss” gave you the extra weight to knock their scrawny asses back that far.

Shoko gave you a hearty high five while laughing at them getting what they deserve. Gojo, though baffled at your defiance, is ready to start throwing punches, as he spews half-assed insults left and right. Geto manages to keep his thoughts to himself, but you do note his expression has definitely become sour. This little scrap is swiftly interrupted by your new teacher, Masamichi Yaga, when he enters and orders the class to settle down. He also snuffs Gojo’s babbling tantrum with a merciless smack to his forehead.

You give a small grin stuck your tongue out at the two when Mr. Masamichi turned his back. From then on, it was war.

You, Geto, and Gojo fought constantly in the beginning

When they (mostly Gojo now) tried to stir shit with you, you’d fling their rudeness right back at them

Whether they tried to pick on your weight, or cheery personality, or strength (which they couldn’t make too much fun off since you were only a little less strong than they were, but so was everyone else compared to their insane powers), you were always ready to kick their asses

You didn’t resent them for their teasing, mostly since you had a good head on your shoulders and you know that Gojo’s only deflecting all the shit he hates about himself onto other people, but they sure got on your nerves sometimes

So, you decided soon into your acquaintance with these dopes that instead of simply beating their asses every time they said some wack shit and never correcting the behavior, you’re going put an end to their bullying of based on others appearances

Because, who knows. You have enough self love and confidence to defend yourself against their rude remarks, but not everyone does. What happens if they target other plus sized people who maybe can’t or won’t defend themselves?

So, when they’d try to make fun of you, you’d correct them with sincerity and help them understand why that would hurt to someone

Geto pretty much never made a passing comment like that again towards you. You’re happy to see that change in him

Gojo huffed and puffed after what he called “your lecture”, but you also saw change in him

After that, it was slow progress to all be friends

Shoko and you were doing great! Hanging out outside of school, dragging her along with you to do some window shopping, eating a sit down lunch together, going to the nearest bookstore, grabbing a yummy sweet treat, stargazing—you did it all together!

She always made a fuss that she had “no interest” in what you would force her to do, but you could secretly tell she liked doing girly stuff together. As long as she could have a smoke break in between these hang outs, she was all good

The first time you, Geto, and Gojo made a recovery in your rocky relationship was when they asked if they could come along with the two of you to get a treat together

You were a bit hesitant to share the thing that brings you joy with the two people who tried to make you the butt of the joke, but you threw them bone and agreed

You four walked down the sidewalk, mostly you chit chatting with Shoko, when Gojo butted his way into the conversation at your mention of Kikufuku.

You and him bonded over your mutual love of the delicate, bouncy sweet treat and you watched as his eyes sparkled like a little kid when you said the place you were going to had an excellent Kikufuku

You know, when Gojo isn’t being a menace, he’s actually nice to share a conversation with

Geto teased Gojo for his astounding sweet tooth, and explained to you an embarrassing story of Gojo losing his mind one time when a dog stole one of his dorayaki treats and ran off

You laughed as Gojo tried to hit Geto as payback for sharing the “secret” but Geto fended off his flailing

Maybe I'll come back to this idea one day when I'm not hung up on the bullying. If you guys like this idea, I might continue it with less bullying. I am a baby when it comes to angst lol. I really do love these boys, I just don't think my heart is ready for the subject matter I wrote.

✧༺♥༻✧

[cutieeva]

Lost

Female reader

Warnings : Mention of infidelity. Trauma. Stalking.

𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒

Once trust is broken, it is harder than we think to mend it as it once was. A definition of (Y/N)'s relationship.

Perfection.

What a odd word isn't it ? something every being wants to learn and showcase yet behind close doors we all know in the back of our minds it's impossible. After all, perfection is a word for fake which is the opposite of what people want— real, something that is permanent, something that could be held, captured, savored. Perfection is a skill both admired and envied upon and (Y/N) can't help but come to doubt the perfection she once fell for.

Cameron. The man of perfection and the man she fell for only to doubt his every little move now. His gentle smile adoring the moment of her sight, eyes crinkling at the side by how large the happiness is craved out of him. It's sweet, truly, never did it not warm her heart and cast thousand butterflies on her stomach by how beautifully happy he looked to see her, and her only but suddenly she has come to doubt if it's even genuine or not. Suddenly she notice the smile too wide, too large, too happy, too fake that she wants ask. After all how it's possible to bright up so much like a sun glowed in the sky by seeing one person even if it's her who is his girlfriend. How ?

Just like now the moment of her heels touch the ground making a satisfying clicking noise entering a room, once their eyes met and he shine like the brightest sun she never imagined to have for herself. Again those tender lips, sparkling eyes too clear for any stranger to know he loves her and hard.

"How lucky ?"

"Awww !"

"Bless him".

"Lucky her"

These would be the frequent comments utter from literal stranger's mouths and perhaps— no for sure her past self could blindly agree dwelling into her own version of fairytale where Cameron was her prince charming and she, a pleasant he fell for. Well, at least that what in collage they are known for. The modern version of Cinderella, a very....interesting title it was when it first pass her ears yet time pass and it turn into a nasty taunting name for her as if hinting at something she was unaware like a insider joke that she was an outsider. Even her lovely boyfriend seems to hate it not at her level of hate like she despise it. Wishes to burn every tongue that ever deicide to merely utter that to her. Only if she could do she wish.

"Darling, sit". Like a gentleman he is pull her chair and let her sit on the wooden cold surface facing her own parents who seems to be in awe staring at their daughter's relationship as if it's a angel asked for her hand when he in her view seem nothing but a human good at masking his flaws, too well for her liking. Because see, the way those slender pale hands caress her own hand under the table like she is a flower touched carefully yet softly almost melt her heart if it didn't turn into stone now. (Y/N) didn't care to hold back, blankly staring at the white empty plate served in front of everyone and she like a doll waited to be served food despite having no hunger or whatsoever. Slowly she move her head, her (E/C) eyes watching the same smile craved out of him, towards her parents holding huge utensils to serve the meal he specially made to impress his future in-laws, his words not hers.

"Oh ! son, you don't have to do it !" Her father said, laughing carefree.

"It's okay, father. Let me at least have the honor to serve the elders". Kindly her boyfriend utter.

"Such a good man. How lucky my daughter is to have you". Placing one palm under her cheek, her mother watched him in pure delight.

"It's the opposite. Actually I am lucky to have her". His bashful comment earned more heart points than it already been taken as they laughed, enjoyed, indulge in their little bubbles that (Y/N) almost forget it's her parents and she is their family in here not him looking as if he is their son yet truly, in her angle she invisible, forgettable, easily a abandon thing that's why she use to question herself a lot. Why did he choose her ? why did he love her ? what is so special about her ? how could she not when he had oceans of girls waiting to just be looked by him, in campus he is the prince every girl dream and every boy befriend due to his looks, personality, popularity, riches. Coming from a wealthy family and still be a humble polite man isn't a daily view for everyone to see, he truly seemed like a sun to everyone, beautiful to look at but never be touched and owned, yet she a nobody has the chance to become a infamous girl who tame the sun. Perfect elements to gossip, spread rumors, talk down to.

Never passed a day did no one ever forget to remind her how insignificant she was to him and he was there to catch her, in his warmth of arms to show how significant she is to him and him alone and that all it matter and that it all took for her to be a idiot in love.

"Honey, eat before it's cold". Sweet his voice is, kind his eyes are that bore into her blank ones— deviod of love or any emotions, she doesn't know if he pretends to be blind to her lack of response or he simply doesn't care enough. Wordlessly she turn her head down to her this time meal served on plate— her favorite dish and their first date dinner together.

Carelessly her fingers wrap around the cold sliver fork like her heart tremble feeling and about to dig when ever so smoothly, like a cream of butter he swap the plate from hers to his. Smiling ear to ear boozing of tenderness. "Eat mine, yours is cold already". She didn't need to glance up to see her parents reaction or the warmth coming from him. She stilled like time does when a watch is broken, tramped. Listening to the clicks of plates, giggles of their voices, quiet noises of chewing, shower of compliments regarding the dish and still she didn't touch her food. Hunger seems to left her, emotions seems numbs, voices of them seem tiny and the reality feels surreal.

Oddly her visions seem distorted and water drops falling on top of the dish and something inside tells her it's will taste sour.

Is it raining ?

"(Y/N)...". Cameron's voice turn delicate, carefully calling her name. "Why are you crying ?" At the end of his sentence his voice cracked as if he was the one crying.

Oh. (Y/N) realize, blinking her tears away dripping to her meal, she discover more that it is indeed raining however inside her. More sour tears roll down, her lips didn't sob, her expression remained blank yet her tears fell one after another worrying her family and Cameron.

"I am sorry, Mister and Mrs. (L/N) but (Y/N) seems to be not herself and she needs time. Hopefully you will excuse us". Swiftly her body met his embrace, cold, hard unlike the light and mellow she was used to. "How fake". She thought letting him whisk her away in the car, watching her home disappear into the night and arrive in their shared apartment near their university and she find herself in their shared bed, feeling his choice of fabric underneath her skin, melting into his arms underneath her skin as he tenderly pat her back, rock her body like a baby, place her head on his chest, caressing her head and humming a song, a song they discover at their third date they like. "How cruel". She thought, dried tears on cheeks, not a shred of comfort she is finding nor searching. You can't expect to find gem in plastic can you ? so does she, staying motionless.

"Honey, can you please wait, I need to quickly go to washroom okay ?" Assuring like a child, he kiss her forehead deeply before pulling away leaving her alone with her thoughts and the room. The thud of door closing was almost unheard if not for the silence she was surrounded in when another noise pierce through the air.

Ding !

Her (E/C)'s flicker to the phone screen lit on the desk. His phone and she knew she had to look, to confirm her suspicions and catch the man red handed unlike the first time. How ironic, before such thoughts won't even cross her mind and now like a plague it's everywhere poisoning her, killing her softly. Her hand like a vice hold his phone the notification read inside her mind. 'Meet me tomorrow secretly'.

The door open revealing Cameron who came as fast as he could to console (Y/N) and his eyes met hers where she is sitting as before with his phone kept on the wooden cupboard and he smiles again bathing her in utter devotion. "Disgusting". Her eyes daze in disappointment. She knew he was having an affair, after the confront incident they had, never was they the same and will never. He never changed but she did and they both are aware of this yet no one dare speak out loud afraid of the illusion they built together to crumble once again.

"I will do it again". She decide tomorrow to end it all. For good.

Tomorrow came faster than she expected even by not finding a ounce of sleep, the other side of her bed felt heavy with his weight reminding of his suffocating presence at the same time he seems not to be present or maybe she is one instead of him.

"I can't go to university". Her vague answer didn't look to affect him as he lean in to close the gap of their lips, slender fingers stroke her either (S/C) cheeks and loving lips mold hers and starstruck eyes stare into her. A endearing moment she wished to capture if not for the knot inside her stomach wants to pull away, slap away.

"Okay, rest as much as you wish". He easily took her wish like she easily fell under his spell. Watching the man she loves pull away and go out taking his belonging to university which she knows is a lie. He is meeting behind her back and repeating the same heart tugs moments on another woman.

1

2

3

The moment (Y/N) felt him driving away on his car, she wore a white hat, a random coat and sat on the cab she booked few minutes ago and told the driver to follow the white car while her eyes dart from her her phone screen looking at the GPS tracking on his phone to his real time car, the tracker was set on him long ago not yesterday where she didn't even had the chance to unlock and read their chat properly because the password isn't what she thought, what she hoped. Her birthday nor his was enough to unlock. Another proving point of how fake his exhausting pretense of loving boyfriend is after all no lover boy as him would not set her birthday as his password. She knew what a ploy is once she sees though it and once was a mistake, twice would be intentional.

The car stopping snap her attention and she watch him go out of car and inside not the university he lied to but to a hotel. A luxurious one even she wasn't invited by him. How special the girl has to be, prettier ? younger ? richer ? doesn't matter when it ends all.

Hurried her footsteps were, walking though the doors opened by the guards and following him waking pass the lobby into somewhere else like he was familiar with the surrounding, nodding heads with the receptionists who mirror his actions and her heart skip more, odd emotions flood in she unable to understand.

She paused. Finally her eyes wide.

In front of her stood the same loving boyfriend hugging a girl passionately, grinning ear to ear and sat besides each other tasting meals like a date of rich people. Indeed she is far beautiful, charismatic, wealthier. Watching them enjoy, exchange dishes like a couple makes a odd sense of relief and betrayal wash her and without shame her feet march towards them, not a second pass of them finally noticing her, she smash the very dish he is enjoying to his face earning a yelp from her and (Y/N) did it again and again and again until stuff members of hotel pulled her away.

"I hate you cheater !" Cameron with difficulty look up, staring at her with pain, sadness ignited anger, disgust and satisfy inside her. Anger for how dare he acts to be in pain when the knife stab her and she is bleeding. Disgust to find the boy she thought the most beautiful so ugly and satisfy at least she brought him the same pain he did if not less.

"(Y/N) !" A familiar exclaimed turn her head. "What are you doing ?" A disbelief grasp slice the air by her best friend, Sophia and other boys and girls she knew from university. But what caught her eyes is the balloons held on their palms written Happy birthday (Y/N).

"W-what is going on ?" Her words stutter and in the split second the familiar place blur to strange, filled with questions and unreal like the knowledge she grasp was also a ploy she mistaken.

"My darling, today is your birthday and I was hoping to surprise you". His eyes relaxed as he tried to step to her to which she step back not wanting to believe his words. How could it be possible, it's impossible for her to forget her own birthday and even if she did, he was the liar at the end. A fake person. "This girl is the daughter of this restaurants and helped me to arrange the best dishes only". No. No. No. No. She shake her head, what prove does he have he is not lying.

"It's true, we are here to tell him your favorite likes, dislikes". Sofia answered averting her eyes as if too offended at her sight. Her words sting (Y/N)'s heart.

"We were only tasting the food—".

"What's your password ?" He pause like a information shone at him she didn't like.

"It's you". A snarl twist on her face. See, he is lying, he always was and still is.

"Liar !" With pain she screamed she didn't knew had inside her regarding him.

"No". Cameron shook his head gentle, appearing almost like an angel that her heart ache to believe his words. Believe him. "It's true, my password is the day we first met". And to confirm he in front of her type the date her mind clearly recalls and it opened along the rest of chatlog she couldn't read discussing about her birthday.

Tears swell in her eyes and her mistake came to light however there is also a realization sink in her mind that she no longer loves this boy, she loved and the perfection she fell for now become the very thing she come to loathe and it's all because of that bet. A silly little bet he made to date her and after she knew it, she still welcome him in her life forgetting to open her heart to the point every loving actions of his seems like a act of betray, sweet nothings seem blunt lies, loving care of his— fake. His betrayal hit her so hard she lost trust. The entire time when she was worrying about losing Cameron in reality loving him she lost herself and the twisted relief of seeing him with another woman was a fleeing excuse to break up. Once she believed the love fairytale and twice become too heavy to bear.

Her legs give up as she land on the ground, all alone. How could this happen ? how in process of loving him did she lost herself. Her happier, brighter, forgiving, trusting self ? maybe in the end she didn't forgive him for the bet she thought she did. 

𝑻𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆𝒅

☾ ──────────

NEXT

[octopotto]

Brain Rot: TWST Cast with Saitama! Reader

OCTO NOTE: College has been absolutely brutal. These headcanons were worked on bit by bit these past few months :(

I saw some TWST fics that used pre-exsiting characters to based the MC off of and I wanted to try w/ one of my favourite characters.

WARNINGS: NOT PROOF-READ, OOC Behaviour, this is so cringe but very self-indulgent, mc is the most sane person in this universe, you decide if mc is bald or not, yandere if you squint hard enough.

SPOILERS FOR: TWISTED WONDERLAND

**The reader will ALWAYS be Gender-Neutral! 

———————————-••———————————

Life at Night Raven College would be much more peaceful if MC had Saitama’s strength lol

Problems would've been solved quicker as well.

At first glance, you don’t seem to be a threat.

To most, you look like a regular, magic-less human on the outside.

And that’s what makes you so dangerous.

Don’t fuck around and overblot unless you have a death wish.

The Overblot crew definitely had one when MC swung their fist at them.

The whole prologue would be shortened.

Fun fact: You accidentally put too much force on the coffin door to get out, thus smashing Grim in the process while he was prying it open :D

Grim, the Ramshackle ghost, and Crowley were the first group to witness your impressive strength.

And by impressive, they mean terrifying.

To Crowley and Grim at least.

The ghost were shocked but very much amused after a couple moments.

God knows how the Ramshackle Dorm was still in one piece after that.

Grim is very happy to have a strong minion to protect him

Just don’t hurt him like you did with the ghost pls. And the door lol

Crowley would be most likely absolutely be afraid and made a mental note to keep track of you. 

Especially since you were almost successful to killing him in his ghost form. He’s making sure that Ramshackle gets fixed quicker.

Crowley: “Great Sevens… How do they have such monstrous strength... This stowaway is just a magicaless human! My…what have I gotten myself into?? *sobs* OH IF I WASN’T SUCH A KIND AND GENEROUS SOUL I WOULD NOT LET THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOUR BE PRESENT ON MY CAMPUS” *more obnoxious sobbing*

You and Grim: 😶😐????

Despite scaring and almost killing the shit out of the Headmaster, you still start off as a janitor lol.

Fast forward to the Mine Incident with Ace, Deuce, and Grim—

You basically massacred that monster.

A monster that probably injured many Mages and Wizards

You destroyed it in one punch.

On that day, Ace reminded himself to never piss you off again. Ever.

He loves cherry pie, but would rather not become the filling itself, thanks.

Deuce probably was gawking at you after the shock.

Not in a bad way

But in a good way y'know?

But he’s too shy to ask for advice for now.

This is basically the start of Deuce idolizing you and your strength.

Brain Rot:

Ace, Deuce and Grim are your self-proclaimed bodyguards.

At least THEY like to think that they are.

Listen, they know that you are MORE THE CAPABLE protecting yourself in fights or in any physical confrontations.

But that’s it.

You’re basically shit at everything else.

From completing your assignments to even showing up to class, it seems like in the trio's eyes that you NEED THEM to take care of you. You all are like family now!

So they all make an effort to help you out when you need it.

No really, if you keep forgetting to submit that one potion essay that Crewel keeps smacking your shiny ass head to complete, you’re going to get left behind.

 They’re more like secretaries than bodyguards lol.

The post-overblot Spelldrive tournament was an absolute nightmare.

Well, at least for everyone but Ace, Deuce, and Grim.

They were GLOATING about how they were in the lead and challenged anyone to try and top them like the smug, over-confident assholes they are.

The only reason why they were in the lead was because of you. Simple as that.

The Savannaclaw gang put up a good fight

For the first 10 minutes in the match.

All Leona could do at that moment was strategize how not to get his and his teammate’s heads chopped off by the disc you kept throwing at them.

You are quite fond of Ruggie

More specifically: you were fond of Ruggie’s haggling skills.

If were had a choice to trade your god-like strength for his haggling skills and techniques, you wouldn’t hesitate one bit.

And y’know it wouldn’t be Ruggie if he didn’t take advantage of this. He would offer you advice and tell you if theres a huge sale going on at a near-by grocery store if you promise to lend him a hand whenever he needed it.

You were so tempted to say no

Not because he was shady and overall untrustworthy

You’re just lazy

This is his way to spend more time with you but he would never admit that out-loud.

If your MC is bald, instead of Floyd squeezing you, he will smack and ‘dribble’ your head as if it was basketball.

Jamil and Ace especially are amused.

God forbid you ever get a bad tan on the top of your scalp

You will NEVER hear to end of it.

Floyd also is your biggest bully.

jk but not really

Yeah he knows that you could probably kill him with a gentle tap

But when did that ever stop him?

He mainly does it because he wants to see your reactions

You’re so plain looking and your nonchalant voice and facial expressions do not help as well.

But remember only Floyd HIMSELF can do those things to you, okay? Only him.

If he ever finds out that some random NPC student was doing the same thing to you, You’re going to be finding that NPC tossed in a corner somewhere with almost all their joints mangled.

You like how generous Kalim is.

You probably helped him fan the fire off his ass in the ceremony

He’s was incredibly thankful and was able to remember what you looked like.

I mean, you literally saved him!

How could he not remember you?

You don't remember him but let’s not go there lol

Because you saved Kalim from being cooked, he always makes sure that you had enough food for the month!

He would practically beg, like BEG Jamil to make extras so you won’t go hungry.

Especially after experiencing what type of living conditions you were dealing with in Book 5.

Poor Jamil, not only is he working overtime for Kalim, but technically serving food for the person who ruined his plans back in Book 4.

Jamil packing food for you by Kalim’s request: 😡😡😡

totally did not try to poison your food on several occasions

Kalim also begs Jamil to let him deliver the food to you.

He can’t help it! He really enjoys seeing you happy when you receive something from him and Jamil.

You never complain about.

Free food = Saving money.

I mean, if you're being gifted something, why be rude and deny it?

Some students say that you were taking advantage of Kalim because of how easily you accept his gifts without anything in return.

And y'know they could be right

But Kalim doesn't mind.

As long as you're happy, he's happy :)

In Vil’s eyes, you are an enigma. 

It’s like he can’t wrap his pretty little head around on how he feels about you.

On one hand, other than your god-like strength, you’re nothing special. When he first saw you he only disregarded you as another potato that’s not worth his precious time and effort on.

But on the other hand, Vil sees you as a blank slate. Something that ASKING for him to put his smooth and perfectly manicured fingers on. Someone that needs his guidance and skills. 

He doesn’t care if you’re bald or have hair, it doesn’t derail him from the fact that despite you sticking out like a sore-thumb, you’re still so…plain looking.

You probably said some off-hand comment about how ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ to Vil and just walked off.

It might not meant anything to you

But it meant a lot to Vil.

When it came to the overblots and eventually Book 5, he felt as though he was in a spiral of questions that he himself must find the answers for.

And what were the questions that caused Vil’s current state of disarray about? You obviously.

He’s going mad

He can’t stand it.

You said that beauty is in the eye of the holder? Fine then.

He knows that he could do something for you. 

Something marvellous, something beautiful.

For you and himself. 

You had a new nickname for Malleus every time you guys end up running into eachother.

Malleus would always look forward to meeting you solely for the nicknames.

I believe that Saitama genuinely does not care enough to remember other people’s names that much

So that will be a trait for MC in this.

Malleus probably thinks this is a way humans show affection to each other.

In reality, you cannot for the life of you remember that weirdo's name.

Malleus: *Appears out of thin air in front of the MC*

Malleus: Greetings, Child of Man *smiles*

MC Thinking: ‘Why does this rando keep coming back? What was his name again?’

Malleus: *Anticipating their response with excitement*

MC: Uhhhh..

MC: Wassup…Horton? :D

Malleus: *Smiles at his new nickname*

It took a while for you to come up with a permanent nickname for him but he doesn't mind

In his eyes, it's your way of showing him how much you wanted to become closer companions.

Jack and Epel are always on your ass about “How to become stronger” and when you actually tell them the routine that you did at the beginning of your journey, they literally fell in disbelief.

They couldn’t believe it.

It was basically a simple workout routine 

Both still believe that you’re hiding the secret of how you got to your level of strength.

Thus, joint workouts became also a thing within the NRC Campus and you are the leader.

Not by choice however.

Jack, Epel, and everyone else involved were really curious as to how you train.

I mean, look at what you can do! And you’re not even a Mage!

The first meeting was terrible due to the fact you almost obliterated the school.

One flick and the gym could’ve been in shambles.

That’s why Jack and Epel made sure to do it somewhere far and secluded.

And even then, you still created a lot of damage with minimal effort.

It’s incredible to those who look up to you.

Throughout the story, you gained some admiration and recognition along the way.

From Heartslaybul to Diasomnia, you unknowingly grab the admiration of those who either want to become stronger or see you as a hero. 

Some might say that they see you as the messiah who was sent to protect the school.

But let’s not go that far.

You wouldn’t notice anyways

In your eyes they're all a bunch of weirdos.

———————————-••———————————

OCTO NOTE: Hopefully you guys enjoyed these very terrible brain-rot headcanons. I always found Saitama’s character interesting so I wanted to try out something new. 

Again, I’ve been very busy so I can’t promise anything BUT I can say that there will be more Yandere FF7 fics coming soon! ;)

Thank you to everyone who enjoys my low-quality works! Hope you look forward to my new ones ❤️❤️

[angelwood-if]

DEMO (EDITING)

Genres and tropes: urban fantasy, romance, found family, enemies to lovers, exes to lovers, friends to lovers, murder mystery, action

LUNAR CITY: a gritty but bustling city where supernaturals and humans live in (relative) harmony. Humans live alongside Fae, witches and warlocks, vampires, and so many more. It's normal. It's your normal.

When your father died, he left you with one thing: his antiquities/pawn shop. Decades upon decades of collecting and trading bits and bobs from all types of supernatural histories sit right here in Angelwood Antiquities, a staple of Lunar City and the shop you have now inherited.

It was his life's work, and you've done everything in your power to keep it running.

But when someone comes in bloodied and begging for you to take hold of a magical object, you don't know what you're agreeing to. You definitely don't expect him to die at your feet, telling you to take good care of...them.

Them?

Turns out the object is no object at all, but an ancient being that could be the key to stopping a multi-species war that's been brewing right under your nose..and your father may have had something to do with it. And when that being chooses and bonds to you--giving you its power--you are now thrust headfirst into the world of supernatural. The same world you've managed to avoid.

Entangled with a cast of characters who will help you save the world, you are now both human and supernatural, a rare feat. And the most important person in the city. And it will be up to you to save it.

Angelwood is an urban-fantasy inspired by stories by Sarah J. Maass, Cassandra Clare, and Holly Black. It is primarily centered around romance, with a fantasy, murder mystery, and war brewing at its core. The demo is already written and undergoing editing.

FEATURES.

Customize your MC's gender identity, pronouns, appearance, personality.

Navigate a gritty city of supernaturals.

Embark on an adventure to find out what war is brewing in supernatural circles and how to stop it.

Romance a multitude of supernatural and human characters, including a Fae, a Greenwarden, and an entity bonded to you.

Angelwood is a primarily romance and character-driven.

Play in a gritty, supernatural world where not everything is what it seems.

CAST [ROs]

IVAN CROSS (M)(FAE) - Ivan is the cold and distant Detective of the LCPD. He is also a powerful Fae, with a menacing reputation that makes most people scared to cross him. Ivan is not exactly a team player and he seems insistent on railroading this tentative partnership you didn't even want to have with him, but he's also the only one who can make sense of whats happening to you. Seems like you're stuck with him.

It doesn't help that you two aren't on the best of terms considering he closed your father's case without much effort.

FREYA (F)(GREENWARDEN) -- Ivan's second-in-command and your other partner that forms this...odd trio. You expected Greenwardens--powerful sprites that manipulate all things nature--to be smooth talking and caring. Wrong. Freya is snarky and punchy, and determined to get her mission done. Maybe it's because she's half human. Who knows.

DOMINION (DOM)(UNKNOWN) - Dom is the smooth-talking entity that is now in your head and giving you their powers. You...don't really know what to say. They sure are a flirt, at least.

KALEL/KALIS (M/F) (VAMPIRE) - K, once your old friend (and possible ex partner) is now insistent on joining your group considering they seem to have a stake in this too. (pun non intended)

SELINA (F)(SERPENT/HUMAN HYBRID) - Selina the Serpent is the owner of the biggest gambling den in the red light district, and also someone you don't want to cross. Over the years, she's traded with you on all sorts of things people leave behind in exchange for information...and now she wants to join in one the group. Having her around would really help, considering she has eyes everywhere.

QUINN (F/M)(HUMAN) - your best friend and the one you hired for Angelwood. And a human, which seems to be rare these days.

[phoenixeclipse-lmkau]

So I’ve been through my fair share of injuries, such as smashing my thumb in a doorway and the Acordia of my eye ripping and I can’t help but wonder what if reader ended up going through that and how would the Lord react if they found out about that?

If Reader accidently injured herself, well that’s pretty easy.

First they would both look her over, quickly assessing if there is any damage that needed to be tended to immediately. If she is bleeding or say broke a bone they would immediately take her to (Assuming they are on the island) the troop’s doctor. An elderly monkey demoness who was taken in by the demon warlords when they were looking for new troop members. She came willingly as her family had all passed away and she was alone. (She also helps watch the young so mothers can rest)

Wukong and Macaque’s first goal is to make sure you are okay, stopping any bleeding or setting any bones. This doctor is very knowledgeable with both demons and humans alike. She is also one of the monkey demons that had their name erased from the book of the dead by Wukong. Once you are bandaged up (this doctor can set bones but they still take time to heal) they would kinda beret her, a little bit.

“You need to be more careful darling.”

“Keep a closer eye on your surroundings.”

Of course they would keep the lectures to a minimum, they just don’t want her to hurt herself. After she’s bandaged up she will be brought back home and probably told to rest as much as possible. IF it’s a bigger wound like a broken bone.

If’s its during the journey then they would bring her to Tripitaka who is somewhat of a healer in my Au. He is able to cast healing spells, but he only uses them for critical injuries. Even then the wounds leave a scar as the healing is bare minimum to stop bleeding or set bones in place. Most of the healing has to be done on its own. He never had issues with this rule of his until AFTER the monkey duo finds out Reader is well Reader.

Wukong: “Heal her!”

Tripitaka: “She got a paper cut-“

Wukong: “She’s bleeding!”

Macaque and Reader: *Face palm*

Needless to say, but Wukong is the more worried one of the two warlords. At least most of the time, until Reader is too far away for Macaque to hear. If he can’t hear her then he FREAKS out. But that’s for another time.

>>>

Though if this happens when the duo are cubs? Oh the two are freaking out when they hear you scream. Let’s just say you stubbed your toe on a tree root or something. They can’t do anything to help you, they can’t make sure you’re okay.

They are chirping and letting out little yelps until they realize you’re okay. They will definitely give you extra snuggles for a while. They want to make sure you’re okay and will make sure you’re okay after.

You’re a fragile human after all. They don’t want to see you hurt and they get upset whenever you do get hurt.

All in all they will try to make sure you’re safe and well. If you’re hurt they will take care of you! Hope you enjoyed reading this. Sorry it’s taken so long.

[xjulixred45x]

Can I please request the female douma in hasbin hotel I just saw the new trailer and thought about my favourite demon lazy demon .

Ohhhh, Hazbin Hotel! That pretty cool! Deal ;)

Thanks for the Request ❤️

Hazbin Hotel x Douma Reader

Genre: Headcanons

Reader: neutral

Warnings: Douma itself is a Warnings (Cults, cannibalism), Hell, Alastor, mentions of alcohol, long work.

You died during the Taisho era, in Japan. having lived a fairly long and…full life, so to speak.

You were born with a unique appearance! with Rainbow irises that made you extremely popular in the area where you lived.

So much so that the people in your family believed that you had a special gift for speaking with the gods, so they formed a cult around you.

without knowing that in this way they would be awakening the darker side of your being.

As you grew up, being worshiped by the cult your parents had made, you couldn't really learn to differentiate emotions, which was frustrating. You wanted to feel SOMETHING, anything. have the experience.

and you tried everything.

do good things, do bad things, help the cult people with words you didn't really mean, scam, hurt, hurt animals, hurt yourself, hurt others in multiple ways, etc.

Even if they generated a certain feeling of emotion in you, you wouldn't say that they filled you up.

until you decided to try killing certain disciples and eating them to get rid of them.

and it was a success!You finally started to feel the emotions that others talked so much about!

Although of course, not all good things come for free, when you died there was no doubt that you would fall to hell, and so it was.

Honestly, You were very surprised to have fallen into hell, not because you didn't deserve it, but because you were an atheist all your life, believing that everything you preached was a lie.

And it turns out that it was true?? How curious.

but it didn't mean you wouldn't take advantage of your new playground.

With your natural charm, your unique and striking appearance (almost the same as you were when you were human) you were able to convince several low-ranking demons to trust you with their souls, rising in rank exponentially.

To make it easier for you, with your demon abilities you created a place similar to what your cult was like, there you could more easily control the people who gave you their souls.

In record time you became an Overlord. one quite well known but very mysterious. One that had a striking appearance and powers, but was rarely seen.

You could do anything you wanted in hell! which made the scope of your misdeeds increase exponentially, you couldn't be happier!

If we're talking about interacting with Hazbin Hotel's rl cast, of course you did! You were somewhat curious to know how Lucifer's daughter's attempt at humanitarian aid would fail. Also, bother Alastor? You are in!

Technically you already knew Alastor, you two died at similar times (you died before) and you saw how he rose very strongly among the Overlords, you liked him.

Unfortunately Alastor did not enjoy your company in the least, precisely because it made it very difficult for him to read you, either because of your lack of GENUINE emotion or because, like him, you used the trick of always having a smiling and pleasant facade.

Still, of course, he would rather be killed again than admit that.

But it was really a shame, he found some aspects of you pleasant.

For example, your taste in Canibal cuisine, Alasror recognized that you had good taste in that aspect.

Apart from that, you came from a VERY rich culture and spoke fluently in both English and Japanese, which was a great sight. Alastor normally wouldn't think that someone (at first glance) so airheaded would be able to speak a language like that so fluently.

but he is definitely something like your Akaza.

I mean, every time you push him out enough, Alastor will use Elrich magic on you and destroy you in the most grotesque ways possible.

That's until he realizes that you like it when he does that! That you make him hurt you on purpose because you're a masochistic son of a bitch!

The worst thing is that he doesn't realize this until Husk tells him...having already known you for years.

Speaking of, Husk doesn't trust you, not in the slightest.

he thinks you're a freak, a second Alastor but even worse, at least Alastor is honest about how horrible he is unlike you.

He serves you drinks when you ask, but if he can, he throws the glass directly in your eye or head, simply because he can. for your delight.

He is quicker to realize your intentions than the average person, and if he realizes that you want to turn one of the hotel members into your "dinner" he is drawing the cards SO FAST---

lots of offensive nicknames, to counteract the "affectionate" nicknames you give to people you know.

Don't touch it or ask it by surprise. Have you seen how cats do when they step on their tail? that's Husk when you surprise him.

Charlie...she's insecure about you.

and she feels BAD about it! She is supposed to be impartial and that everyone deserves a chance to change their ways! but you...well, it's you.

Charlie is not so naive, when more than one member of the Staff warns her that you are bad news, she is considerate of them and tries to make you leave, they have already had incidents with Overlords before, she wants to believe that you are different.

but it proves quite quickly that not when you show your more... somber side.

She tries to be cautious, failing miserably because she wants to know everything about you. You are someone very interesting!

Charlie definitely didn't have much of an idea who you were when she met you, your name did ring any bells, but she didn't think it was that important ---

until you casually blurted out the information that you had a fucking cult.

and that you eat demons.

FROM THE SAME FUCKING CULT YOU HAVE.

There Charlie decides to put into practice everything given in "setting boundaries" and tells you that although she likes how... you liven up the atmosphere of the hotel (and the air conditioning in some way) she DEFINITELY does not want to associate with you having Alastor.

if she KNOWS that you are trying to do something against the hotel or any of the staff members (especially Vaggie)...ohohoho buddy, prepare yourself for an ANGRY Charlie ready to show you WHO'S THE BOSS HERE.

(She definitely tries to get several members of your cult to go to the hotel with her to protect them from you).

You get on Vaggie's nerves. A Lot.

not only because you cool everything you touch, but because you are very similar to Alastor.

She knows you're hiding something, that you want something from them but she can't get it out of you easily, so she's content to just watch you from a distance and make sure you don't mess with anyone.

VERY PROTECTIVE WITH EVERYONE WHEN YOU ARE THERE, it increases the hotel's defenses by 130% and keeps you away from where others are.

You definitely like to annoy her by calling her names that are too friendly for your type of relationship or even using her as an armrest. In these types of cases you usually receive a few good punches in the ribs or a headbutt.

If you try to get too close, she applies the pilot's weapon to you, that is, she takes out her angelic spear and threatens you with a lot of violence. cursing you in Spanish in the process.

She's not as intimidated by you as she is by Alastor, but she definitely doesn't think you're safer for any reason.

less after finding out what you do with the people in your cult.

good luck keeping Vaggie from killing you!

Angel Dust is scared of you, like, really scared.

It's not because you're similar to Alastor, or because you're a Cannibal, or because you're a powerful Overlord. not at all.

It's because you are very similar to Valentino.

You pretend to be a good person, that you give a shit about what happens to the people at the hotel, but really no, it's all fake. REALLY fake.

you feel nothing.

and that terrifies him. He doesn't know how he acts around you. so Angel avoids you as much as he can, going near the fireplace since you don't like the heat, or near Husk.

he keeps making jokes at your expense, but it's really his way of handling the situation.

apart from the fact that Angel genuinely thinks you're pathetic, because you couldn't find any other way to enjoy your life and another life other than hurting people.

that's pathetic.

Yes, she won't let you be near the most vulnerable residents, like Niffty (when she's drunk) and she definitely won't let you be near Fatt Nuggets.

Try him and he will show you what he lived by while he was alive.

Niffty isn't scared of you in the slighleast.

In fact she is attracted to you on many levels, but Alastor will NEVER LET you be even a kilometer close to her in his presence.

In fact, there is a high possibility that you and her will secretly become friends, but Niffty better take care of herself around you.

She makes you use your ice powers so she can make things in the snow, snow angels, dolls, kill bugs with snow picks, etc.

she likes you and you like her :) surprisingly.

Sir Pentious is quite similar to Angel with you.

Sir Pentious is very aware of your reputation as a fearsome Overlord and definitely does not want to join the list of victims with his Eggboys, so he stays as far away from you as possible.

He has tried to make inventions resistant to your frozen currents, since it costs Charlie quite a few resources (because you don't pay a shit for what you break, you cheapskate) and certain artifacts that counteract your ice powers.

He brings several of his smoke machines to the hotel when he knows you're coming to visit (and if you come as a surprise, most likely everyone will hide in Pentious's warship because it's very hot in there.

Yes, he doesn't let his Ehgboys be near you in the slightest, he tells them horror stories with you like the big egg-eating monster.

and if you try something with his Minions PREPARE FOR THE DEATH RAY--

In general, you are a pain in the ass for everyone, everyone, always :)

^when they find out You come to visit

Shares, reblogs and comments are very welcome!

Thanks for the Request ❤️

[cowboylikeyouu]

why does everybody hate mcu clint so much??? i’ve read his comics but i still love jeremy renner’s portrayal of him and stuff :(

like i can understand being disappointed in some ways about how the character was changed for the movies, but i can’t understood all the hate for him

for me, personally, it's not that mcu clint is a bad character per se, it's really just the fact that he doesn't feel like clint barton. give him any other name and he's a fine character, but compare him to comic clint and they're in NO WAY the same person.

on one hand you have that responsible, serious husband and well adjusted father of three, who cracks a joke here and there but takes everything pretty serious most of the time, who has his life under control, while everyone else on the team is a mess. he doesn't have that much of a personality, no weird habits or (dis)likes, he really fades in comparison to other team members like tony, who's lines are always on point and who gets a back story and everything.

on the other hand there's this 6'3" disaster of a human being, who lives for coffee, dogs, tv shows and nothing else, is obsessed with purple for no reason at all, grew up in a circus after he escaped his abusive dad, can't take anything seriously and cracks the funniest joke all the fucking time, even makes fun of captain america on a regular basis (at least in the early avengers comics), runs away from himself and responsibility, fucks up nearly all of his relationships because he really sucks at emotions, but then forms those really precious bonds with people like kate, and who's just kind of an asshole really, but simultaneously a fucking ray of sunshine. plus he's deaf and we always love some representation. oh, and mcu clint is like the straightest guy ever, and then there's comic clint who is just so easy to headcanon as this bisexual disaster, and we all know how much fandom loves a queer coded character.

so, the mcu basically took away every fun part of the awesome character that is clint barton and it SUCKS. i really don't hate movie clint as his own character, i just hate hate HATE the fact that he's supposed to be THE clint barton because he IS NOT, and he'll never be. i'm sorry, but jeremy renner just can't pull it off, i'll never understand how they saw bigger-than-steve, blond-mess, purple-loving, coffee-addict comic clint and where like: "oh yeah, let's cast 5' 9" jeremy renner and give his character a huge, healthy family, and no mental health problems, that's just perfect😍"

it's just so sad to be aware of the awesomeness of comic clint and then watch the movies because you're constantly thinking "oh what could've been..." if they did comic accurate movie clint, he'd definitely be a fan-favourite and we'd have tons of edits, and ships, and merchandise, but NO, most mcu fans just forget about him or don't find him special or entertaining (bc his mcu version really really isn't) and he gets left out of all the casual merchandise you can find in random shops (i literally have an album on my phone that's dedicated to photos i took of cheap avengers merchandise with the "o6" avengers sans clint lmao)

you're obviously allowed to love movie clint and jeremy's portrayal, that's great!!! i was an mcu fan way before i even knew just how different comic clint was, and i loved mcu clint so much back then! but after reading the comics and thousands of fanfiction, i'm just really really angry that there isn't a good live action on screen representation of my all time favourite fictional character, and i think many people feel the same :(

okay, i think i'm done lmao.

anyways, shout out to avengers assemble clint, my one true love <3 the mcu should take notes.

[lefarte]

I wanna know how funger boys will be like as a father :3 (if they are even there and not for the milk)

This is a long one but a good one

(I did not do the funger 1 cast because we basically already know what they’d be like as fathers but I can do that in a seperate one)

Daan

I think he would cry when the child is born.

He would drop smoking for the baby, you wouldn’t even notice until suddenly all the cigarettes in the house are gone. He doesn’t want his kid to grow up seeing him smoke, nor drink for that matter.

I think he’d worry a lot about being like his parents, so he’d overcompensate by hovering around the baby 24/7. You’d hardly get any chances to change the baby yourself because the moment he hears a cry he literally jumps out of his seat and goes RUNNING.

For the first few years he’d be very overprotective of both you and the baby. Especially the first few weeks, where he would not even leave the house. The only way to convince him to go outside would be together, while taking the baby in a stroller. And he wouldn’t want to walk far… what if the baby gets tired…

Money is no issue. He’s been living off the Eihner’s inheritance for quite a while. While he’d still have to go back to work eventually (he wants to save most of that money for the kids) I believe he would be a full time dad for at least 4 years.

He sometimes lets his baby wear his eyepatch.

Levi

Well, he doesn’t exactly have great sex ed, and times were different back then, so…. Becoming a teen father is entirely in the picture here.

He’d be terrified. He’s an addict, he has no job, he’s homeless, there’s not a penny to his name. He can’t support a family. But it’s not like he can just drop the kid at an orphanage, especially knowing everything that happens there.

I think the first thing he would do is try to find work. Sell everything that he has, sell his army uniform, sell his gun, hell he’ll even steal if he needs to. It’s one thing if he lives in poverty, but he can’t let his kid go hungry.

He’d have to work long hours suffering from withdrawal. But at least you can rest easy knowing that he’ll never go back to drugs. He doesn’t want his baby to even know that he used to be a soldier or anything that happened in his past.

He’s really fond of the baby. He has a quiet way of showing it, but he speaks to the child very softly, holds their little hand and watches over them when they sleep.

A nice thing about Levi as a dad is that he sleeps and moves so lightly that if the baby ever cries at night he can get out of bed to check on them without you ever waking up from your sleep.

“It’s so nice that our baby always sleeps through the night!” “Yeah…. 😐”

He would struggle as a father, he would not be the perfect dad, but he would try his hardest and would definitely not leave.

O’saa

He is so proud of the baby all the time even when they’re doing absolutely nothing. Like, bragging to everyone about how he has the smartest baby of all time when they’re just sitting there chilling and playing with toys.

After the birth he would want to host a celebration, to let the baby meet their family back from Abyssonia and your family as well. (Maybe a week or so after the birth as to not overwhelm you.)

His parents would spoil the baby (and you!) rotten with gifts. You’d have to beg them not to spend their whole salary on toys for them. I think Osaa would be a little embarassed as well.

One thing about Osaa as a dad is that he doesn’t do ‘baby talk’. He talks to the baby straight out of the womb as if it’s a fully grown human being, having full conversations with them.

“Gagaga….” “I see 🤔” “bababa ga ba” “and then what 🤨?”

So when the baby learns to speak they talk JUST like him. They don’t babble they go “Hello. May I have the juice.”

If the kid has long hair he’d braid it in very intricate styles, with beads of their favorite colors and everything. And he’d dress them up in unreasonably expensive clothes for a toddler. Like, why does the 3 year old need 200$ shoes…..

Overall, he’d be a little strict as a father, but a good father nonetheless.

Tanaka

When the baby is born, he sees how tiny they are and tears up on the spot. He makes a sacred vow there at the hospital to dedicate his whole life to making his baby smile.

He wants to spoil his kid and give them everything his father never gave him growing up. So that means he’s a complete sucker. Every toy the baby wants, they get. They want ice cream? They’re getting ice cream. They want to play at the park? Well, now you have to put your shoes on, because you’re going to the park.

He doesn’t let the baby meet their grandparents on his side.

He would only have about a month and a half of parental leave. On the first day he has to go back to work he hugs the baby goodbye and sends the baby into a crying fit, only for him to come back in like 4 hours because he took the absolute smallest amount of work he could take.

He spends at least an hour every day teaching the baby Japanese, so now you have a baby that speaks a language that you (probably) don’t understand. Now the kid is saying stuff like “キャンディーが欲しい” and every single time you have to explain that you don’t understand that before they start crying.

Group hugs every time he gets home from work!

Marcoh

The baby’s whole hand could barely fit around his pinky finger…

He’s always afraid that the baby will be scared of him so he speaks so quietly and gently around them. So as a result the baby has a soft voice when they talk. I think they’re also a naturally quiet baby just like he was as a kid, they don’t throw tantrums or scream.

You have to convince him, no, the baby’s not scared of you, it’s literally YOUR kid.

He tells the baby stories of his home in Vatican City and the memories he and his sister shared together. He gets a little quiet when the kid asks if they can visit someday.

It’s been nearly 20 years since his parents died. He doesn’t grieve them anymore, but sometimes he prays and wishes they could give him advice on how to be as good of parents as they were. He wishes the baby could meet them, but he can’t even visit their graves.

Also, his sister is going to hang around. Your kid and her kid are going to be raised close to each other. Keeping his family close is important to Marcoh so you’re going to have to deal with Christmas celebrations, thanksgiving, etcetera.

When the kid gets old enough to go to kindergarten Marcoh will want to teach them a bit of self-defense, just to be safe. It’s a good way for them to bond, and it’s funny seeing the tiny kid beating on a huge punching bag.

Henryk

Sobs when the baby is born, he can’t even pretend he’s not. He never wants to let go once he holds them.

The baby lives a good, cozy life in a small house in the countryside of Rondon. They’re not gonna be rich, but they’re gonna be comfortable all their life and have a happy family.

He doesn’t like his kid to sleep alone, he’s putting the crib as close to the bed as possible so he can keep an eye out while he sleeps.

The baby’s grandma is going to be very active in their lives. It’s good for you two, it puts a lot of pressure off for if you ever need someone to babysit, and the baby loves her too.

Yes, of course, the baby will learn how to cook. It’s only natural that they’ll see him working in the kitchen and want to ‘help’. Of course he keeps them away from hot stoves and knives, usually he just holds them up on his chest and allows them to stir a pot or something while he supervises.

I can imagine him trying to encourage them to play outside by playing tag or some kind of ball game and totally getting his ass kicked. Like not even “I let them win because they’re a kid”, totally destroyed. Embarassingly so. Next time they’re doing something indoors like coloring books.

Your house is gonna be right next to his restaraunt, so when he goes back to work, your kid is gonna be that kid doing math homework on one of the restaraunt tables.

Pav

I’m going to be honest with yall. Pre-Kaiser injury, he’s leaving for milk and not coming back.

He does not want the kid to grow up with a father like him, who’s a Bremen soldier, a drunkard, a smoker and a womanizer. He has shit to do, he could die literally at any time, and he’d be a horrible father. They’ll be happier without him. So he’ll leave you with some money for the trouble and walk out.

Post Kaiser injury, he’s more… somber. He can’t remember having ever held a baby. Having his own feels strange. The kid will grow up to resent him when they learn his past, and that’s hard to bear.

He will just ask you directly, “Do you really want me to raise this kid?” And if you say yes he’ll stay. You did save him after all. He could at least do one decent thing for your sake.

Money will be an issue. After he was mortally wounded, holding a steady job will be difficult. And it’s not like he has any family to support him. For a few months until he recovers you’d probably be living off what he made as a lieutant plus him doing some odd jobs, which is not exactly great, but keeps you afloat.

As inexperienced as he is, he’s pretty overprotective, especially during the younger years. He’s constantly holding the baby like someone is going to take them from him. The only other person who’s allowed to hold the baby is you and whoever you hand them to. And when you hand them to somebody, he stands upright with his hands behind his back like he’s on guard duty. (He gets embarassed if you mention it.)

Like even if some poor old woman tries to pinch the babies cheek at the supermarket he straight up growls, you have to make him stop.

He’s physically affectionate, he likes to play fight with the kid (he lets them win to make them feel stronger), poke them and ruffle their hair. He also likes the whole family to sleep in one bed to preserve warmth, that’s how he was raised.

Bonus, the kid knows how to say “fuck” and “shit” by 2 years old.

August

August is already a father, and he’s a little old to be getting you pregnant. So, yeah.

Caligura

He leaves you. And not only does he leave you no child support, he STEALS your money. Negative child support.

[vigilskeep]

i may be not all on the up and up with dwarf culture and all, but from my understanding, concubines/mistresses/etc are treated much differently with their standing in houses and politics and the like. since rica + her kid is still considered part of bhelen's house despite not being married (yet?).

so this leads me to, carrying this thought process over, a dwarf!warden is named a living paragon regardless of the choices made, and so their house/family is elevated to pretty much godhood. the obvious follow up is kieran would be part of this alongside morrigan i assume if the dwarf!warden had him with her, but could it go further?

if the dwarf!warden is a mistress to alistair, would he also not be considered part of their house and therefor dwarven nobility? and by extension, anora if she's on the throne too? and i guess further with eamon, teagan, etc...

could you not make a worldstate where the sitting divine of the orlais chantry is, by the laws of orzammar, could be considered the highest of nobility with them?

bhelen would love in-law visits

the buzzkill paragraph is that it’s a little more complicated for a dwarf warden, because the special warden privileges that let them hang out on the surface and still retain their caste don’t necessarily apply to any above-ground family members, even dwarven ones. if they’re not dwarven, i’m actually not clear if it’s possible at all for a non-dwarf to hold caste status, though it’s certainly a really interesting unexplored aspect of orzammar culture, which is so isolationist but so reliant on trade with surfacers! there might be further difficulties for specific instances; for example, producing children is explicitly the purpose of having concubines, and status as a concubine seems highly dependent on that—beraht implies that even if a child is born, the status only lasts as long as the child lives—so i’m unsure what formal provision if any would exist for same-sex couples

the fun paragraph is that all that being said, every hard rule can bend if someone is favoured enough, and the dwarf warden is a living paragon. whether or not surfacer lovers and perhaps their children are technically part of the new house, i would definitely expect them to be treated with suitable honours in orzammar. you’re right bhelen would be living the dream at those family dinners. what a world

if it did apply as you say, it’d be a hell of thing. given. you know. fereldan culture and chantry marriage law existing. the king of ferelden or the divine having a lover is not ideal, but it’s at least understandable. a non-human lover is pushing it. the king of ferelden or the divine being formally considered some kind of concubine by non-chantry law? come on now. it’s very fun it’s also hugely risky of pushing some people too far (for one, i would NOT push anora like this, frankly)

[hotdaemondtargaryen]

TECH RADAR REVIEW OF 'HOUSE OF THE DRAGON' S2. HIS OPINION BASED ON THE FIRST 4 EPISODES THAT HE WATCHED OF S2.

SPOILERS! FOR S2:

ABOUT TOM GLYNN-CARNEY'S PERFORMANCE AS KING AEGON II TARGARYEN:

"Aegon II, Westeros' new royal, is the biggest beneficiary of more extensive screen time, with Glynn-Carney bringing some much needed levity – plus youthful impatience, reckless naivety – to bear in episode 1 and in later entries, deep humanization to a character, who we're supposed to despise, in the only way that a GoT series can."

"HOUSE OF THE DRAGON'S SUPPORTING CAST, SPECIALLY IT'S YOUNGER MEMBERS, GETS MORE TO DO THIS SEASON."

ABOUT PHIA SABAN AS QUEEN HELAENA TARGARYEN IN SEASON TWO:

"Helaena's (Phia Saban) roles are also pleasingly expanded; the eccentric and cryptic Helaena becomes central to key storylines leading up to this season's jaw-dropping fourth episode."

"SEASON 2 ZOOMS OUT TO EXPLORE THE INTENSIFYING INTERFAMILIAL CONFLICT'S IMPACT ON THE WHOLE OF WESTEROS."

"Opening with a nostalgia-fuelled return trip to Winterfell a fleeting visit that reminds us of the ever-looming threat beyond The Wall in its very first scene, season 2 slowly lays bare the wider effects of the increasingly bitter Targaryen-Hightower feud on Thrones."

"Indeed, it inadvertently acts as the catalyst for smaller scale battles to erupt between long-warring families, such as Houses Blackwood and Bracken."

"After all, season 2 marks the official start of the devastating, years-long civil war known as The Dance of the Dragons, so I certainly hoped for more action. Nonetheless, observing the blood-curdling, silent horror-imbued aftermath of the Blackwood-Bracken battle made my imagination run wild about how this barbaric struggle played out."

"THE WALL WON'T BE THE ONLY LOCATION IN S2 THAT GOT FANS WILL RECOGNIZE. HARRENHAL WILL ALSO PLAY A PROMINENT ROLE THIS SEASON."

RYAN CONDAL ABOUT HARRENHAL IN S2:

"Harrenhal definitely is its own character in the show. It had its own character in the original books [and] in the original series when Arya was playing cup bearer for Tywin there."

"Other than the Red Keep, it's probably the most talked-about, storied castle in Westeros, and we really wanted to pay service to it. Whether it's real or rumored, it does have this supernatural aura around it that does put people off. We were excited to play that out as storytellers."

ABOUT GAYLE RANKIN AS ALYS RIVERS IN S2:

(whose mysterious arrival was teased in s2's final trailer)

"The enigmatic Alys Rivers was particularly fascinating to me, not least due to her involvement in Daemon's Harrenhal-situated season 2 arc; a personal subplot with the unsettling, almost Macbethian atmosphere and twisty-turny narrative of a psychological horror movie."

[cephydeluxe]

most Simeon/MC fics r kyute as hell, but a lot of them focus simeon's reason for "falling" (aka: disobeying father's rule of never extending a human's life by stealing the ring of light) as solely because he loves mc,

and like..... that's ok 😐 and all, but I feel like it kinda narrows simeon's character a bit ((but the following thoughts below r my interpretation so take this more as appreciation than a criticism of any other interpretations of simeon))

Simeon, regardless of whether or not it's reciprocated, still feels brotherly love for the brothers. They were once his brothers, and when it came time to wage war against them in the name of their Father, he refused to fight them and was demoted.

His love for his family made him refuse God's orders because the idea of harming his family was worse than the disapproval of God.

"ok well what does this have 2 do w the ring of light" shut up ill get 2 that >:(

I'm not gonna recap much cause my phone's at like 8% idgaf srry 😒. The only important parts is that mc's existence and pacts w the brothers is highly unstable and causing chaos in the three realms, and the only ways to fix it are to either kill lucifer with the night dagger, or to obtain the ring of light from the celestial realm.

So it's either trade lucifer's life for mc's, or steal the ring from micheal. The ring is immediately ruled out because demons can't enter the celestial realm, and it would probably (most definitely) cause a political shitstorm if a demon did steal it.

So the only option left is to kill lucifer, and right as mc is given the choice of killing him or themself, here comes Simeon, fresh from the celestial realm with the stolen ring of light in tow

Now, most fics tend to depict these events as simeon risking his status as archangel (an already unstable position given his refusal to fight during the war) as a huge romantic sacrifice because of his love for mc.

And that's,, cute ig but there is so many more things going on in that scene (2 me at least, solmare isn't really known 4 their writing 🫢)

Simeon's sacrifice in stealing the ring, in potentially incurring the wrath of God, in committing the same sin Lilith did to be disowned and even killed by their shared Father, and in risking his home he was raised and lived in for his entire life,

was both for his family that he has missed for thousands of years and for the person who healed them when he himself was unable to.

The TSL series (written by Simeon before the exchange program) are a retelling of the events between the avatars and mc. Even after they are cast out of heaven for treason and simeon is demoted for not wanting to hurt them, he still cares about them and wants the best for them, writing stories about them and their "Henry".

Even if the brothers treat him coldly and distantly, he still cares about them deeply enough that the prospect of killing lucifer? Their eldest brother?

The one who constantly does everything in his power to keep the rest of his family safe after the death of his sister?

The one who traded his loyalty to the demon prince after just landing after being thrown out of his home?

It's completely unthinkable to Simeon.

So that just leaves MC, then. The reincarnation of Lilith and the friend of all seven brothers, even after being violently killed by one of them,

(belphie, cough cough)

Still accepts all of them and keeps them together, and at this point in the story, is practically welcomed as a fixture in their messy yet tight-knit family.

For MC to sacrifice themself for the brothers would be to break them, to leave another unfillable void in their hearts like Lilith did so many years ago. The moment things would return to normal and Lucifer regained his memories would be devastating, knowing that yet again he failed to keep his family safe and whole.

Grief for MC's death would be felt far and wide, Simeon included.

Both outcomes of using the night dagger are unthinkable to Simeon, both causing unimaginable grief for everyone.

So the ring of light is all that remains.

It's a no-brainer, really.

Angels aren't restricted from the celestial realm, and if the ring is stolen by an angel, it has a way less likely chance of falling back on the devildom, on the fragile peace him and many others have worked so hard to facilitate between the three realms.

So what if the consequences will primarily fall upon Simeon alone, it matters little to the certain disaster either outcomes of wielding the night dagger will bring. Both Lucifer and MC will be unharmed, and the chaos will end.

But could you imagine the feelings he must have felt?

In the chamber where the ring of light is kept, having just snuck past Micheal, a twist in his gut from breaking the most basics of holy disciplines he has spent his entire life embodying, just staring at the ring of light in its container, the last momento of a father's love for his favorite child before disowning him.

It's a warning, a sign that tells Simeon that he will be next to fall if he takes this ring.

He takes it anyway, throwing his loyalty to God away if it means saving Lucifer, saving his family, saving the peace they've obtained without him.

A penance, maybe, for his inaction in the war, when perhaps one seraphim could've made a difference, if not win the war, then at least could've spared Lilith's life.

Can you imagine how he must have felt, standing in front of MC with the ring in his hands?

Lilith's sin that started the war wasn't just that she fell in love with a human, it was when she extended the life of her lover because of it. A clear defiance of Father's will, to negate written fate for the sake of her selfish love was what got her killed.

And here Simeon stands, staring into the eyes of her reincarnation as he offers them the ring that will save them, extend their life, and doom Simeon to walk the same path their angelic ancestor died on.

The ring is a promise, of the disownment that Simeon faces, of the pain he will endure in defying God's word as an angel (whose sole objective, down to the very fabric of his being, to the very purpose of his creation, is to embody and enforce), of the corruption of his very soul that paints his ivory feathers black.

It's also a promise of devotion, of commitment to this deadly sin, this selfless sacrifice, to the human he's fallen in love with, and to the family he longs to be close with again.

It's a vow, for all the atrocities he's willing to commit for the sake of protecting those he cherishes above all else.

It's a vow, for the deeply rooted love for the human, one who's very existence is the result of the tragic end of the angel who came before him and paved the doomed path he now walks.

Like Oroboros eating its tail, Simeon's love for the demon brothers and MC is never-ending and inevitable.

When asked, he says he wishes he could've fought with the brothers in the war, so he could "stay the same as them" and that the war weighed heavily on his mind from time to time.

Ever since he watched them be cast down to hell, he was destined to fall with them someday, too.

.

.

.

(christ, this got so out of hand, this is probably a huge mess to read, srry I'm not a writer or a media analyst, this is just ramblings of someone who's got some really dramatic art to make.) simeon 4ever bby <3

(also I could make a separate post from solomon's pov where he's willing to sacrifice a pact with lucifer, something he's worked for years for a chance, just to save MC, but im sleepy goodnight)

(most of this post was written while I was listening to elden ring ost, thank u bayle the dread for making this post way more dramatic than it needed to be)

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #55 – The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

Introduction

The Spear Cuts Through Water was one of my favorite reads of last year, and I’ve been meaning to get around to Jimenez’ other work basically since I finished it. Months and months later, my TBR pile and the library’s hold queue cooperated and I finally got around to it. Of the two, you can definitely tell Birds is the debut novel, but despite the roughness I can’t help feeling like it's also the one I prefer. I do have complaints (of which, more below), and the story certainly has issues with structure and allocation of wordcount, but this really is the rare book where I feel no compunctions whatsoever giving five stars.

Knowing myself, this isn’t entirely unrelated to how fucking heartbreaking it is at points.

Synopsis

To brutally over-summarize, the book follows Nia, a starship captain hauling crops on a freight route from a ‘resource world’ to Pelican Station, one of the great centers of human civilization and Allied Space. Due to the peculiarities of faster than light travel, the round trip that is for her and her crew experienced as a span of months is for the people at both endpoints an absence of fifteen years – a convenient way for her to keep making the same mistakes as far as personal connections and relationships go. On the last loop of the route before her contract is completed, she finds herself taking care of a mute, deeply traumatized young boy discovered miraculously unharmed by the locals in what seemed like a fiery wreck. The boy – at first nonverbal, inexplicably a musical savant, deeply traumatized and mysterious in a hundred different ways – finds his way into her heart to the point that even after they return to Pelican and he’s been turned over to the security services, she can’t stop trying to find out what happened to him and making sure he’s alright.

It’s at this point that the two of them come to the attention of Fumiko Nakajima, the Millennium Woman – designer of the five great stations at the heart of Allied Space, and (thanks to the magic of cryo-sleep and FTL time differentials) one of the last survivors of long-dead Earth. She sees in the boy the possibility of something miraculous – truly instant interstellar travel – and so hires Nia and a few reliable agents to take him into Fringe Space, safely out of view of any of her ‘friends and colleagues’ who might take a similar interest in him. For fifteen years. The story then reveals itself to be one of, basically, child-rearing and coming of age – at least until the moment where the child’s miraculous abilities really do reveal themselves, and all at once things get much, much deadlier.

Structure

The book is – not quite incoherent (the thesis is very clear), but certainly unfocused. At first I thought that was rather the point – the first three chapters are each incredibly effective, melancholic short stories in their own rights'; each leapfrogging into the perspective of a character whose actions or legacy shaped the previous, but with dramatically different casts, setting and plots. These are almost certainly the most aesthetically successful and artistically disciplined sections of the book, and as I read them I assumed it would continue in the same vein for the entire book.

It does not – the book settles very firmly into being the story of Nia and the boy who is later named Ahro. The middle of the book is an almost light-hearted coming of age story, spread across the years Ahro spends growing up in the Galactic fringe with his ragtag accidental family. The final act then dramatically shifts tone again, becoming largely about recovering from betrayal and the destruction of your life, and of striving in defiance of all sense and reason to reconnect with someone you love.

There are, then, three very different vibes here, and I can’t say the shifts between them are handled with the most grace in the world. The book absolutely never stops experimenting with style either, shifting voice, perspective, level of detail, and even format (several chapters are relayed as diary entries) basically whenever the mood strikes it. It absolutely feels like an incredibly talented author showing off a bit beyond their limits – you can see the seams, the allocation of effort between the parts is...questionable, and there are a couple vital characters/subplots who just needed another chapter or two of focus – but it’s the sort of messiness that leaves me incredibly endeared.

Love, and its Discontents

Those first three chapters are essentially short stories connected by setting and a character or two – but most of all they’re connected by theme. Each is, one way or another, the story of the protagonist falling in love – the sort of love that defines a life, that cuts you to the core whenever you remember it – and then having that love fail, leaving the lover damaged or lessened in a way that never quite heals.

Things do not stay quite so melancholic, but for a story whose whole climax is centered around the quite literally metaphysical and reality-shaking power of pure love this book has a bracingly tragic sensibility of it. Love is hopelessly one-sided, or turns rancid with resentment for just long enough to make sure it can never be restored again. Romances end in betrayal and murder, bonds both sororial and paternal in half-thoughtless abandonment, soul-deep friendships in vicious arguments and a severing of ties. Love, the book says, is deeply contingent and often more transitory than it seems – and if it isn’t, that can do far more harm than good.

Nia as a protagonist has plenty of baggage about this. She’s introduced as a woman with deep abandonment issues – that is, she keeps abandoning people and then feeling bad about it (her ship is the Debby, after the kid sister who lived and died seeing her for a few days every fifteen years due to the time lag of interstellar shipping). She latches onto protecting and caring for Ahro almost more as an attempt at redemption for herself as anything about the boy himself, it’s only over time she really grows to love him as more than a talisman.

I can’t say it was particularly well-spent time, but the book does something I love at least the idea of. Nia’s crew is introduced in the second chapter with a fair amount of detail and personality, each of them having little idiosyncrasies and distinguishing habits and virtues; one is a best friend she found stranded on a wrecked hulk and nursed back to health. The whole dynamic is that of the grumbling and bickering but affectionate found family crew you’ve seen in a thousand other stories. So when she commits to spend up to fifteen years of her life taking care of Ahro on the galactic fringe in exchange for truly unbelievable amounts of money, she sits down with them, tells them the score, and asks them if they trust her enough to come with her.

And all but one of them say no, and never show up in the story again. Which is possibly the first time I have ever seen that kind of scene not end with re-commitment and affirmations of trust from at least most of the real characters that were asked.

This makes the whole found family situation with Nia, Ahro and (most of) the second crew that do spend years in the outskirts of ‘civilized’ space with them works for me far, far better than these things usually do. Because, unlike functionally every piece of fiction I can think of that’s ever been promoted as being about found families, this one really does sell it as something precious and exceptional, rare and worth fighting to preserve.

It also gets all but three of the people involved killed, of course, and of those three one’s permanently crippled and death would probably have been kinder for the second. The book’s really big on stretching ‘better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’ to the absolute breaking point – right up to someone choosing not to die despite an existence of nothing but torture and pain just for the infinitesimal bit of hope and connection of a loved one singing through the prison bars.

The Banality of Evil

The villain of the piece is, without question, the monolithic and monopolistic Umbai Corporation, something between a neocolonialist conglomerate and a sovereign, expansionist empire in the classic sense with a few affectations from its earthborn roots (the specifics of the politics of Allied Space are vague and in any case more impressionistic than anything like a detailed speculative political economy). Which is kind of fascinating, in that it is specifically the Corporation as a corporate body that is the villain – agency and responsibility are spread across whole bodies of Allied nobility and corporate Judiciary officials, armored Yellowjacket thugs and career-minded techs and surgeons. There’s no CEO or President, no Board of Directors who set the agenda and bear ultimate responsibility – there’s no face to it at all, really. I’m fairly sure no agent of the company ever even appears twice. Which is just interesting on its own terms, given Umbai as an entity defines both the setting and the plot to dramatic degrees.

The world of the Vanished Birds is a horrifying dystopia in a hundred different ways, but until the very end of the book this just isn’t really something any of the characters particularly care about. It’s in the incidental details and the little asides in the exposition – that there is a great apparatus of censorship on every Allied world dedicated to controlling and slowing the rate of linguistic drift to ease the flow of time-shifted commerce, that the culture and economy of Umbai ‘Resource Worlds’ are societies deliberately starved of information and culturally engineered to be easily managed and quiescent single-commodity resource exporters. Even in the distant past, Umbai and institutions like it used their control over the Ark Ships escaping earth to filter the species – denying berths to (among a great many other things) anyone of ‘problematic’ politics or who seemed likely to be an economic burden.

It’s a universe where this system seems to spread inevitably and irresistibly, everything valuable bought up and parceled out for the benefit of the system’s functionaries diligent enough to save for occasional vacations, and the nobles and officials in the vaunted heights of far-off stations and City-Planets (the allegorical applicability is left as an exercise for the reader, a bit of restraint I did appreciate).

It is, again, not a system that’s worth analyzing as a speculative political economy or technical exploration of neocolonialism either present or future – but it’s not trying to be, either. And it works very well at seeming like a real, functioning world that the characters are just trying to live in.

The Anthropocene

Going off where most of its wordcount is spent, I’m not sure you could really call Birds climate fiction. But if someone was making that argument, I’m not sure you have too much ground to stand on arguing you shouldn’t either.

Fumiko’s first chapter, read as a stand-alone short story, absolutely is – the story of a love affair between genius savant designing the great orbital habitats which will sustain a lucky slice of humanity in the stars, and a talented but less world-shaping scientist doing what she can to lighten the burden of the remaining four fifths of the species being left behind upon the increasingly uninhabitable earth. This is where the book’s title comes from – the gradual disappearance of the birds Fumiko loved as a child, even from the sanctuary trying so ferociously to preserve them.

The world presented in that chapter feels just barely familiar enough to be unsettling, a scarred and fortified world that’s still on a clear and irreversible decline – which might be either chicken or egg to the fact that the commanding heights of government and industry have given up trying to save it entirely to focus on an escape to the stars.

For the rest of the book, environmental collapse isn’t really a topic that much comes up – though the human shaping of and impact on the environment certainly does. It’s just largely a matter of deliberate engineering.

There is, however, a very easy allegorical reading of the fact that on discovery of a way to travel instantaneously between stars, Umbai ruthlessly exploits and monopolizes it to attain unprecedented degrees of power and wealth as they reshape the entire galactic economy – all of galactic civilization, really – around the new technology. All without the slightest thought or care that this new technology is based on harvesting a specific and finite resource and their brave new world will collapse entirely without it. Omelas-child instead of oil but still – not exactly subtle, but I do appreciate the book restraining itself from directly and explicitly pointing it out.

Fumiko

The ‘millennium woman’ is probably the most interesting single character in the book, and also almost certainly the biggest structural weakness in the whole thing. Which is annoying to me, personally. She simultaneously has some of the best chapters of the book and also ends up feeling like a ball being tossed around as the plot requires.

Her Methuselah existence is only vaguely justified and explained, and it’s entirely unclear just how exceptional she is (beyond the fact she isn’t unique, anyway) – the story never even gestures to the existence of any of her peers beyond vague mentions of the Umbai executive class or Allied nobility. She’s an oligarch-savant with nigh-infinite resources and cadres of loyalists installed in every institution worth owning – until a single mistake is made and the powers that be unite in a perfectly coordinated strike to kill them all and leave her stranded in the torn up ruins of her private research colonies among the corpses of two thousand executed minions.

A character being ruthlessly crushed without warning or chance of contesting it by the powers that be rings more true when the character isn’t one of them, I suppose? As it was, it felt like being dropped into the climax of a story without any of the rising action.

The effect is, I think, at least mostly intentional. The entire chapter is about Fumiko being so distracted with the failures of her memory and a complete preoccupation with her latest project (Ahro) that she cannot even pretend to remember or care about this whole vast infrastructure she has built up for her own advancement and curiosity, or the hundreds of followers who treat her as a living saint (to the point of not even remembering her friend, confidant and second in command until the moment before he’s executed for, in essence, her failing to consider the consequences of breaking a minion’s heart). The fact that there’s a battlecruiser en route to bury everything she’s built in napalm and she just forgot to do anything to prepare is actually very plausible. In which case, I just wish it had been ore dwelt upon and made a point of. Or just – it felt like she really needed another chapter or two from her POV before things go horribly wrong, I suppose?

Her chapters are very well-done and affecting, to be clear. And her mirrored character arc with Nia – both women who get a certain pleasure out of other people caring about and being more invested in them than they are in return, both dealing cosmically poorly with rejection, both forever decorating their life in half-conscious memory of someone they left behind – is both well done and compelling (Nia gets better, Fumiko’s story in an elaborate murder-suicide/terrorist attack).

Too Long; Didn’t Read

Beautiful, emotionally affecting book. Very much a debut work from a talented author – experimenting and showing off a bit more than be supported, some fundamental structural weaknesses – but nothing I found detracted from the experience. Actually one of the quite rare books where sitting down and writing out a review has made me like it more rather than less.

[themissingchildfromhistory]

Just a few things on my mind that I haven't seen anyone talking about yet for The Umbrella Academy season 4......

1). I think it would have been drastically cooler if, when Ben spiked the sake with the marigold, everyone's powers got switched around. At least for a bit. Allison gets the knife thing, Viktor getting Ben's tentacles, etc. Mainly Diego getting Five's blink ability. That way the whole Lila-getting-lost-in-a-time-subway-with-a-Hargreevees actually makes sense. Her and Diego could have used that time to actually talk and spell out their grievances with each other, instead of the three sentence bullshit they got. Maybe they didn't speak to each other for a few months. But they slowly realized, hey. I do love you. I love you lots. Our lives aren't perfect, given all the trauma we've been through and how we were shoved into this normal domestic life (which isn't a bad thing, but definitely requires an adjustment time after what they're used to) but I still love you, and our life together. And our three kids, who all actually have names and importance.

1.5). WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RANDOM GUY/WAITER WHO GOT DRENCHED IN MARIGOLD SAKE FROM KLAUS?! DID HE GET POWERS TOO?? OR WOULD THE MARIGOLD HAVE TO BE INGESTED FOR THAT TO HAPPEN??

2). The mothers. They weren't all impregnated and gave birth on the same day, but that doesn't mean they possibly wouldn't go on to have children. And while the kids they had would have human/real fathers, that doesn't mean the Umbrellas couldn't have still been born. I think the ending would have been so much better if it showed all 8 of them in their respective homes living out their lives had their mother's given birth to them normally. Klaus in the Amish community, Ben in Korea, Viktor in Russia teaching violin, hell, maybe a few of them still managed to meet up somehow. Maybe we see the Sparrows too. Who knows. But just because this version of them "had" to die (that's obviously a whole bunch of bullshit on its own) doesn't mean they wouldn't somehow exist later, when and if their mothers decided to have kids.

3). I think Diego should have been there when Lila saw the kids off in the subway. Five being there and being the one to chase after her/comfort her was part of the whole grossness that was their relationship. Diego should have been able to say goodbye to all of this kids/family as well.

Other thoughts that don't particularly pertain to just season 4....

If Reginald was on Earth in the 1800s, why did it take him till 1989 to release the marigold and cause the Umbrellas/Sparrows/Phoenixes to be born??

What is the purpose of marigold??? Why did Abigail invent it??

If Durango is the side effect of creating marigold, are there others out there who have Durango instead of marigold?? Could some of the other 40 something kids born in 1989 have Durango instead of marigold??

If the whole goal was to eventually use marigold to.... reset the timeline? in the end of s3, why use it to impregnate women in the first place???? Why not just use the fucking marigold as is??!

What was the purpose of the league of generic men in season 2?? Why assassinate Kennedy?? I had originally thought the other 12 men were aliens like Reginald and they were in the rockets seen fleeing the other world. But clearly not

There's definitely more, but these are the most pressing ones I can think about right now. In conclusion season 4 was trash with a few good highlights thrown in and would have been better if the cast just put on a stage production in a high school auditorium

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

On the desecration of Háma…

I’ve been thinking a lot about Háma lately (though when am I not?) and his death. Content warning for violence!

Háma is a unique and singular individual in many respects, and none more so than in the manner of his death and its immediate aftermath.

There are untold numbers of casualties at Helm’s Deep, but only ONE — Háma — where we are told that the person was not just killed but that their dead body was then literally chopped into pieces. Even beyond Helm’s Deep, the gruesome cruelty with which Háma was treated seems to largely stand alone, at least within LOTR (the Silm is a much bloodier and more grisly work overall, and Háma’s death fits much more neatly alongside Fingon or Gelmir than Boromir or Théoden). Other characters are killed, obviously, or nearly so. But their deaths seem to be less ruthlessly excessive. Beyond very vague “rumour,” we don’t really see specific people being wantonly dismembered and their bodies subjected to intentional, gratuitous violence far in excess of what was needed to achieve their death. We don’t see enemies taking time mid-battle just to mutilate and disrespect the corpse of a fallen foe. But we’re explicitly told that’s what happens to Háma.

The only situation I can think of that’s even remotely comparable is the men of Minas Tirith who were decapitated so that their heads could be volleyed back into the city.* But that’s not a wholly analogous situation. That was an indiscriminate act, applied to every man who fell in that battle, and presumably carried out after the fighting was over so that the heads could later be used for a clear strategic purpose: to fill the surviving Gondorians with fear and despair. Háma, by contrast, seems to have been singled out for unique and especially vicious treatment while the battle was still ongoing and without any offered explanation.

I’ve thought a lot about why this happened to him, and ultimately it doesn’t really matter. There are any number of possible in-universe explanations: to horrify the Rohirrim and destroy their morale; to stick it to Théoden by targeting someone he was especially fond of; to “punish” Háma for having drawn the particular ire of the orcs somehow in the midst of the fighting; just a random and meaningless display of general contempt. There’s no definitive answer given, and, really, they’re all equally objectionable as rationales. There’s a reason that desecration of corpses has been considered a war crime since antiquity and is still categorized as such even today. It’s the ultimate denial of a person’s humanity, individuality (since it can make it impossible to identify them), and dignity. It prevents that person’s loved ones from being able to undertake the usual rituals of mourning and, thus, it denies them the chance to start healing. It’s a breach of norms that can never be redressed.

What’s probably the most relevant explanation is actually the meta one. Whatever motive the orcs had, Tolkien’s motivation was to show us exactly how debased, ruthless and vicious they were. For them to stoop so low was a significant upping of the dramatic stakes, and for it to have maximum narrative impact, it couldn’t just happen to some nameless background character. It had to be someone we know and, more than that, someone we are specifically supposed to like. Háma fills this role perfectly, as he is fundamentally decent and good — literally *everything* he does in the story is just and wise and kind — without being such a central character that readers would fully rebel against him ending up with this fate. (Tolkien clearly did not write this with Háma stans like me in mind!)

Setting aside cause, the effects of Háma’s sacrifice are certainly wide reaching. We don’t ever find out how his family took this news or what it meant to them to try to live with that knowledge, but we see how it hit Théoden. Of everyone who died at Helm’s Deep, Háma is the one that Théoden mourns by name. He casts the first earth on Háma’s grave, which is separated from all the other fallen Rohirrim who are buried together. Théoden repeatedly cites what happened to Háma as one of the biggest wrongs committed by Saruman against him and against Rohan at large. He even lists it above the death of his own son, which I can’t fully account for except to say that Théodred died a more typical battle death that was no less tragic but not as shocking.

If Saruman had *any* hope of convincing Théoden to go easy on him in the aftermath of Helm’s Deep — which he tried to do quite strenuously when our heroes visit Isengard at the battle’s end — that hope died when the first gratuitous blow struck Háma’s dead body. Far from cowing Théoden into submission and sending him in search of any way to head off more such brutality, the desecration of Háma hardens Théoden’s will. He may be “a lesser son of great sires,” but he is not someone who will excuse or accept that offense. And he’ll go to his own grave helping to ensure that anyone who would is denied the chance.

No one else can suffer Háma’s fate. There can be only one Háma. There was only one Háma. He was singular, and he was perfect.

*There is also, in a footnote of UT, the suggestion that Grimbold put the heads of the axemen who killed Théodred onto stakes where they fell. But that’s a) a footnote in unpublished material and so not of the same textual weight as a story that was explicitly included in LOTR itself; b) very vaguely worded (“it is told”) so who knows if it’s even true; and c) unclear as to whether those axemen lost their heads in the battle and they were then displayed as such, or if their heads were taken after just for that purpose. No matter how you choose to read it, though, it wasn’t the same scenario as Háma!