#does it look obvious that there was a lot of time between the panels?

[neztune]

I remember typing it down ages ago for this dumb idea… but it was time to doodle it (which I decided about a month ago, then spent forever waiting to draw the next panel XD )

[yoiiyoii]

In honour of the birthday of Giyuu Tomioka the best character in demon slayer (to ME), I will use my free will to rant about the best Giyuu panels in the manga:

1.

Peak. Best of the best. Magnum opus of Demon Slayer manga. This specific moment is when my emotions reach the climax every single time I read the fight.

Giyuu and Tanjirou, one arm each, holding on to one sword, focus on the Rengoku sword hilt. Tanjirou being guided once again by the two hashiras he looks up to the most.

Once again, right after this, Tanjirou pushes Giyuu back and saves his life. A full circle, the lowest of the low for Giyuu, the highest of the highs of striking Muzan together.

Notice that Giyuu unlocked the red blade TWICE, once with Sanemi, his foil among the hashiras, and now with Tanjirou, the one he cherishes the most. Giyuu - always defined by his relationships. Giyuu as an individual character in a vacuum has very little to show. It's just another backstory, a traumatized hashira, just like the other demon slayers. Giyuu stands out in Demon Slayer because he is constantly present, he has developing relationships. The red blade is just another show for that. This panel does this theme of Giyuu justice too.

And, lore aside, the absolute HYPE of this scene. The long drawn fight, the hashiras with lost limbs all down, Sanemi and Obanai come in to attack Muzan and save Tanjirou, but oh-- where's Giyuu again? RIGHT HEREEEEE!!!!!!! LENDING A HAND TO TANJIROU, LITERALLY, AS HE ALWAYS HAS.

2.

Pretty self explanatory. Absolute badass, putting himself between an Uppermoon and someone he cares about, Tanjirou.

It goes into Giyuu's biggest theme of protection. He hates being protected, he wants to protect the people he loves (just like Akaza). He did not want to be a 'useless komainu' to Tanjirou. I don't know if it's stated explicitly but its obvious that Dead Calm was created so he would be able to protect himself without needing the help of others. His fight against Rui was a simpler version of this: protecting Tanjirou (though at the time he didn't recognize him), against Rui, whose whole theme was about wanting to be protected by a family, with elders fulfilling their role of protection.

Here Giyuu and Tanjirou were, dealing with the same theme again, and Giyuu going all out with wanting Tanjirou to survive. It's not that he's been silent about his love for Tanjirou, but this is where he explicitly declares wanting to protect him, in his own words (do NOT take a shot everytime you see the word "protect").

3.

Debating between this or the 4th panel, I chose this as the 3rd because this is MY post and I want to make top 3 posts all about him and Tanjirou.

And boyyyyyy is it about him and Tanjirou. He cant even sit up. Is it not insane to see him being THIS vulnerable?? in public???? Add to the fact that he knows Tanjirou's closer friends are right there in the same battlefield, and yet it was him who couldn't help but want to stay physically close to Tanjirou. If Tanjirou's death had been true, he'd be back at square 1, being useless, never strong enough (quite a recurring theme in Demon Slayer I must say).

Like, look, he's sobbing, he cried like three times during this whole DKT and death deal. When the inevitable Sunrise Countdown movie comes out, I personally would like to close my eyes and ears during this scene.

4.

I admit this could and should have been number 3. But that aside, the coolest panel in the manga award goes to... (to be fair, that can be debated, other panels are just as cool if not cooler for sure.)

Sanemi and Giyuu, peak relationship in Demon Slayer. This moment is the climax to all of the buildup since !!Sanemi's first appearance!! (you see how Giyuu was giving him a whole lot of side eye that scene?)

In a way Sanemi and Giyuu bring out some ~interesting~ emotions in eachother. Who else would Giyuu call a simpleton? Who else would Sanemi pick a fight with, simultaneously trying to understand them? When you go to the AU territory, that's a pretty hefty magnetic pull of a relationship, isn't it?

And this moment - as I said earlier, one of the red blades Giyuu achieved, it's with Sanemi! Sanemi trusted Giyuu with equal strength (as Kanao said that was necessary for a red blade strike), and we've seen them draw before, and that's the ONLY hashira vs hashira we saw! (well, ufotable added a whole bunch, and I'm thankful for that, but I do regard Gotouge's compact and limited version of the story higher. Gotouge thought that Sanemi vs Giyuu was the most important hashira sparring for the audience out of all of them, and for obvious reasons).

All of that, AND the panel calls back to that one picture of Sabito flying over Giyuu. Two of the rough dudes Giyuu has been associated with, which is a nice touch.

And heyyy that's the sword that Sanemi threw at Giyuu!! Which was a pretty important moment right before Giyuu explicitly called himself a hashira (contrasting with Tanjirou, where he stood merely as the protector, the senior, with no regard to their posts and hierarchies). Sanemi gave Giyuu some real good push this fight. Would have loved to see them on a mission together, but alas, Demon Slayer manga is pretty limited with what it shows.

5.

I don't have much to say. It's just cute, alright? Look at him all teeny tiny smiling about the prospect of being friends with Sanemi. What the hell. Why are you so cute. Look at Tanjirou sharing the same dumbass braincell. What's up with these two

Unranked honorary mentions:

10/10. More of 21 trio stupidness, please. And look at Giyuu's stupid face as if he didn't just insult Sanemi in front of everyone. OBANAI, HE DIDN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING TO YOU-

His crow he's so attached to :,(. I would personally die for you Kanzaburou. And yeah, absolutely, Kanzaburou mistaking Tanjirou for Giyuu. They have the same essence I guess

MURATAAAAAAA and yes, while I do love this because of the whole Murata celebrity crush on Giyuu thing and all, I love how desperate Giyuu was the entire time to save Tanjirou, even in the middle of his own fight again MUZAN HIMSELF. And who better to take care of Tanjirou than Murata, someone who took care of him back when Sabito died? Connected bonds, alright. Sabito already helped Tanjirou with his journey back in Mt. Sagiri, he could also use someone else from Giyuu's past.

Post canon, all of it. The light in his eyes, his journey, he deserves all of the love and peace.

[robolvrr]

Love your writing soooo much. Could you make some sfw headcanons (and nsfw) if youre okay with it of conjunx (tfone) d-16 with his femme conjunx??? Also what do you think would be his ideal partner? Maybe someone shy and sweet or someone bolder to contrast him?? Would he ever want a family?? Hes so sweet i love him i cant stop ranting about him😭🤍

déjà vu ☆‿⁠｡✷

[ requests: 3/11 ]

d-16 x fem!conjux headcanons

warnings: nsfw under cut!

realistically, you're both miners. there isn't a lot of fraternization on shifts.. though every once in awhile, you catch his optics and he peels through the crowd (and shoves orion, too busy making kissy-faces and calling out embarrassing memories he's sure to pummel him for sharing), making efforts to get to know you.

d-16 is strong. mentally, emotionally, even his physique, is quite literally built for his role in all aspects. he's appreciative if you take care in yours and share that competence.

isn't judgemental over frames. while he is actually pretty charming and easy to speak with, he's not used to attention and doesn't even stop to think of the possibility.

of course - that was before you, that is. and this tug at his spark, that makes him ignore the cycles of grief, anxiety, fatigue and instead want to earn a bit more from you than a simple hello.

conjux aren't unknown, just a foreign concept for many of the uncogged. especially miners, due to the natural risk with the job. many had died and understandably, few were actually willing to grow close for this very reason.

it's not as if he hasn't weighed the decisions. a part of him is frustrated you smile at him because then he can't forget how his servos shake when you do.

in between short conversations - "what do you think about megatronus?" - "yeah, orion is kind of a glitch, but he means the best." - "oh. so you.. don't have someone waiting for you?"s, it's so obvious he wants you.

when you talk, he leans against the wall, his expression soft. because as violent as he can be, as grouchy or prickly his vocals edge, he wants be soft for you.

elita just shakes her head. he does pick up heavier gear and material around you, puffing his chest. offers you spare energon cubes even though it's digging into his rations.

d-16's love language is touch. he doesn't like it much but he initiates and if you're allowed to instead? then the unspoken is obvious. he may be... stubborn, at first, admitting his feelings. his actions do the talking.

i think he'd do well with a combination - someone who isn't as pessimistic, someone who can still encourage his hope to continue to burn. a little bantering never hurt anyone and coupled with attraction.. well. he's not as irritated with it as one might think.

while he thinks the idea of sparklings is something he may like in the future, he doesn't want to put any risk when he's still so low on the totem pole. if you bring it in passing he tries not to jump you. because while it's clear you two are intertwined, the idea of a part of him connecting with you and creating something new makes him dangerously possessive.

nsfw.

the first time wasn't full interfacing.

you explored the ridges of his empty cogcase, watching him twitch and grunt watching your smaller digits flirt along the sensitive surface.

he makes a sound, some cross between a sharp hiss and a moan that slows you down.

"did i do something wrong dee? you're. you're looking at me kinda intense."

"ffff... just be careful."

"i-i am being careful!"

"hng.. shut it."

even though he wants to flip you right off, pin and yank open your modesty paneling, he wants this to be slow. he wants to take all the time you can afford, because he has no clue when he'll get it again.

that's why even in your fidgeted affections, he keeps still. looks at you in the dark with haunting yellows, two beams of sunlight in his stare that make your plating hot.

he huffs out, slick with lubricants and glad he hit the refreshers before being undone. his servo finds your back, trailing up and down before hooking at your hip.

"e-enough. your turn."

when he slips underneath you, prevents even the slightest suggestion of a wriggle, you have to bite back a whine.

"are you sure? i. i haven't —"

"sit. this? is mine. you are mine. let me show how good you can feel."

that'll do it. he can be commanding but that appears moreso in the berth. it rubs a smug part of his ego that half the time you do what he asks anyways, without even thinking to snark.

"you're so wet.. that's it. open up for me."

quickly your panels open, valve quivering. and his intake is right there, dermas teasing against the pulsing throb of your need. because you don't only want him, you think as his glossa starts to lick — you need him or you might just offline.

maybe in another universe, your lover is a poet. he croons up to you, intimate, filthy, all the praise he never dares to say in public.

you can't see him. but there's a smile you feel pressed up when he finds your exterior node, takes it between his dentae. you relax, only for his glossa — which is thicker than you imagined — eagerly sinks further inside you.

who knew your dee was such a romantic.

remember when i said he wouldn't want to make sparklings? well, he certainly doesn't fuck like that's the case. he can be rough but in a slow, hard and relentless way. his strokes are deep, he never pulls until every drop of transfluid is mixing with your own. he likes when he can pick you up, still your strong and valiant dee, nestled inside when he thrusts up into you.

there's a liiiittle toxicity. just a smidgen. he has a lot to work on himself and some of that is his passiveness. so sometimes, his stress comes rearing its ugly head, or his silent jealousy is starting to flare, which ends with you having to recalibrate your stability and try not to go into stasis while he works that off.

robolvrr 2024.

[silverwhittlingknife]

How would you describe Tim's people skills? Especially when you compare them to Dick's?

Hi anon, this was a fun ask!! I picked out a few panels for each of them (comforting friends, a bit out of sync with friends, fighting with friends, and offering practical support to friends) just to get a quick look at their people skills in action, and then I rambled on about my thoughts on their strengths and their weaknesses.

(Caveat: I'm going to try to focus on my ideas about differences between the two of them, since we're comparing, but I do think they're socially more similar than not, so you might also want to check out @bitimdrake's post on Dick and Tim's similarities for the big picture!)

Short version: I think they've both got good people skills. Dick's are a bit better and more natural, whereas Tim's are more practiced and learned (in ways that sometimes show).

Let's start with Dick first, and then I'll get back to Tim.

Dick

Comforting friends in Titans Secret Files:

Dick: Will you go back in there and sit down? This is my house. You don't need to clean up after me! Donna: I know, I just... I just ... Dick: Hey, hey... what's the matter? Donna: Nothing. It's nothing. Dick (reaching out to supportively grip her shoulders): Donna, this is me here, remember?

A bit out of sync with friends (but still getting along well) in Titans 3:

Dick: The movie runs 98 minutes. So if we fast-forward past the coming attractions and watch only half the credits, I can still make it back to Blüdhaven in time to - Roy: Nightwing, chill. Team morale demands that you relax and enjoy yourself.

Fighting with friends in Titans 13:

Dick: We haven't used it much, Changeling. But that's gonna be different. Starting right now. Our performance against Tartarus and the HIVE was unacceptable. Each and every one of you should thank God you weren't killed. Kory: How dare you? How can you just stand there talking to us like we're a military detachment -

Giving support to relative strangers in Nightwing 87:

Neighbor 1: Oh, he - he's a true gentleman, you know? Always holds the door, or helps me up the stairs with my groceries if we both come in at the same time... Neighbor 2: ...used his motorcycle to jumpstart my car one morning and even got my brother-in-law a job with Wayne Enterprises when he got laid off... Neighbor 3: ...and he's very, very, very nice and doesn't talk down to me. Plus he lets me use his basketball.

Offering practical support (making dinner) in Prodigal:

Tim: I can't believe you can actually cook... Dick: I like to eat. Tim: So does Bruce - but he had to order Chinese last night. Dick: That's where I'm one up on him - I've lived on my own without an Alfred. Still miss him, though... He was good for a lot more than cooking and cleaning. Tim: Yeah. But at least we don't have to miss him on empty stomachs.

Strengths:

I think Dick's people skills are pretty simple: he has them! He's good at people! And I tend to think of Dick's people skills as so automatic they're mostly instinctive. It's not something he really has to think about because it's so ingrained in him. A combination of natural talent plus a childhood spent around sociable performers means Dick's just really highly attuned to the people around him.

And I don't think he's particularly obvious about it. So e.g. you could be having a conversation with Dick where he didn't seem like he was paying close attention, but if there was An Important Moment where you got anxious for a moment or let something important slip or let a bit of anger show through etc. - Dick will have picked up on it, even if it's unconsciously, and it'll stick with him and come back to him later.

And just generally - I think Dick has good instincts for who he can trust and who he shouldn't trust; when he's treading on conversational landmines he'll often pick up the unease even if he doesn't have the context to know why there's a problem; if he's trying to comfort and trusts his instincts he'll often do the right thing even if he can't justify in words why he felt like that was the right thing to do.

So I think for Dick, there's always the level of conscious awareness - the things he's aware he knows, if you will - and the level of unconscious awareness - things he senses, but maybe can't explain, or maybe doesn't want to know so he's suppressing the thoughts.

So he's good at leading, and he's good at comforting, and he's good at listening, and he's good at figuring out the right thing to say...

Like, he's good at all of it, so it's actually sort of difficult to elaborate because there's just not that much nuance? Given any particular interpersonal situation, Dick has an excellent chance of getting a quick read on some random guy he's just met and then getting the reaction he wants pretty fast, whether it's intimidating the guy or comforting him or getting him to cooperate or taunting him until he loses his temper, etc etc etc.

Obviously Dick's not a mind reader, and he can get things wrong, especially when he's in the throes of one of his own personal crises, but generally I think Dick's very very sure-footed with people, even with strangers.

Weaknesses:

This isn't a weakness precisely because Dick's usually doing it on purpose, but he'll sometimes have fights with his friends because they think he's acting overly professional/detached and he thinks they're not being professional enough. So e.g. in Titans 13, you can see Dick's set up the room almost like he's leading a business meeting, and he's the boss lecturing them, and they're reacting by getting mad at him. Part of this is basically a Traditional Bat Problem - Tim's friends also balk because they feel like Tim's keeping them at a distance - but Dick tends to lean especially hard on "I'm The Leader Here So Shut Up And Do What I Say" professionalism / distancing.

When things are going well, Dick's friends may grumble at his intense professionalism but basically appreciate it (this is basically how things go in their reunion in TT vol 2); when things are not going well, though, it becomes a point of tension. Generally, Dick gets extra-professional as a coping mechanism when under stress, as here in TT vol 2 12:

To the extent that Dick falters with social skills, it tends to be almost exclusively with people he knows well, not with strangers. Dick sometimes struggles with maintaining relationships, largely because he's often juggling multiple responsibilities; he'll sometimes get hyperfixated on something and deprioritize his more stable relationships (so e.g. when he gets fixated on trying to fix Blüdhaven and gets distracted from his relationship with Babs).

Somewhat relatedly, if things start going wrong in his own life, he tends to self-isolate out of shame and avoid everyone he thinks of as more put-together. So, for example, in the aftermath of Blockbuster, he's a self-destructive mess who's trying to dodge and/or drive away Clark and Roy and Tim (all people who care about him and would want to help), but Sophia Tevis and Rose are two messed-up young strangers in trouble and their obvious neediness trips his "urgency" meter, plus he may be a mess but they have no context to realize that so he doesn't feel so self-conscious, and he's able to be drive-by super-helpful to them and then dive right back into privately self-destructing.

Also not a weakness per se, but he tends to be a bit of an introvert in general - he and Wally are close, but they go long stretches of time without catching up; when he's spending time with friends, usually it's Donna / Wally / the Titans / Tim visiting Dick rather than the other way around; he's more likely to get cajoled into joining a team than the other way round - Wally talks him into rejoining the Titans and Roy talks him into joining the Outsiders. He likes people and likes spending time with friends, but he's usually not the one initiating a social gathering. He's self-aware about this; in Titans 9, he muses, "It's not the newness that's the problem. The problem is the old stuff. The ruts. You know someone long enough - well enough - and you fall into a rut with them... you completely take the relationship for granted..."

Relatedly, because Dick's pretty self-contained, he has a recurring problem where loved ones interpret him as distant or detached or indifferent even when he's still passionately attached - both Kory and Babs break up with Dick in part because they feel like he's not really that committed to them (also there are mmm Problematic Plotlines involved but I'm ignoring those for the purposes of this post), and in both cases IMO they're misreading him. He's deeply upset by both breakups and responds with big declarations of feeling and, uh, proposing marriage shortly afterward. (Okay, so he's not ALWAYS sure-footed sdfdsfs)

When Dick's getting something wrong, it's usually because he's upset and overcompensating - when things with Kory and Babs are tense, he tries to fix it with Big Gestures; when Vic's mad at him about spying, he missteps with an elaborate secret plan culminating in a big dramatic offering of a new body which Vic does want... but he's still understandably miffed at Dick for making a bunch of decisions behind his back instead of talking to him. Dick guesses right about something Vic will want, but because Dick when he's feeling guilty tends to slide into I-Am-The-Leader, I-Must-Fix-Everything-By-Myself, I-Am-Responsible-For-Everything mode, he forgets that the whole original problem is connected to not respecting Vic's autonomy / right to make decisions for himself, and that a better gesture would be asking Vic what he wants instead of once again making decisions on his behalf without consulting him. (I'm sympathetic to Dick's spying-on-Vic plan on account of how Vic did turn into an evil moon for a bit - comics are bonkers, you guys sdfdsfs - but I'm also very sympathetic to Vic feeling that he deserved fuller disclosure here.)

And you can see similar patterns in lower-key conflicts too: every time Dick gets accused of being just like Batman, it's usually because he's coming off as harsh or detached or uncaring (sometimes on purpose because he's pushing people away; sometimes just because Dick handles grief and fear by shutting down; sometimes because his the-buck-stops-here leadership style can come off as overly-detached), even though Dick actually cares SO SO MUCH, all the time, about everyone he knows.

But honestly... these weaknesses exist, but they're minor in comparison to his strengths?? Dick's a guy with a lot of very strong friendships for a reason. He's true as steel and once he cares about you, he cares about you forever. <3

OKAY! So that's Dick. Let's finally move on to...

Tim

Comforting friends in Joker's Last Laugh 3:

Tim: Babs? Is everything okay? (hugs her)

A bit out-of-sync with friends (but still getting along well) in Young Justice 7:

Cassie: A campout isn't a campout without a real fire. It's no fun at all. Tim: But the generator is far more efficient, Cassie. It's non-polluting, it poses no threat of forest fire, and it's... it's ... (taking in everybody else's expressions, sighing, reversing course) It's no fun at all. Impulse, can you...?

Fighting with friends in Adventure Comics 3 (stonewalling, avoidance, and lying!)

Conner: You weren't picking up. Tim: I didn't know it was you. Conner: I turned off my caller ID blocking. Tim: I was busy. I am busy. Conner: Too busy to talk to your best friend? Tim: Yes. No.

Giving emotional support to relative strangers in Robin 98 / 100 / 156:

Wesley: I just wanted to thank you. They tell us at the meetings that it's important to let people know how you feel. You did a lot for me - making me sober up. If you hadn't taken the time to notice - (Later) Tim: You're gonna stay strong, right? (Wesley: Right.) Tim: You're gonna stay sober, okay? (Wesley: Okay.) Tim: You're gonna do it 'cause - Wesley: 'Cause if I don't you'll come back and kick my butt all over campus. Tim: Uh huh.

(The redhaired guy was about to jump. Tim convinces him to sit down and talk first.) Tim: So, you're in college? Guy: Yeah, I'm a freshman. How'd you know? Tim: Just a hunch. I'm guessing you don't like it much. Guy: I always hated high school. Always felt like I was outside looking in, never part of any group or anything. I was on the diving team but even then I didn't feel like part of it. The only good thing was that was where I met Lori, my girlfriend.

Offering practical support (medical care and tea) in Batgirl 59:

Tim (treating her injury as she shares her traumatic past): Whoa. That's ... horrible. Cass: That's nothing. Stephanie and I used to laugh about - oh... uh... never mind. Wait, Tim. I... I'm so ... stupid, I don't - Tim: You're not stupid. Want some tea? Cass: I ... uh... yeah. Thank you.

Strengths:

Tim! I think Tim's also pretty decent at people - not as good as Dick, but hardly anyone is?

I tend to think of Dick as instinctively good at people, and Tim as more consciously good at people.

Tim spends a lot of time being intentionally watchful: observing, spying, psychoanalyzing people, paying careful attention to what they say, thinking about what makes them tick. (And Tim psychoanalyzes himself, too. Tim is studiously engaged in the study of Tim, and of Tim's friends, and of Tim's family. He's often playing a role, even when that role is "Tim Drake.")

So e.g. in Red Robin, at one point Tim has an elaborate domino-falling database where he's compiled a list of villains he wants to fight and how he wants to fight them, all leading up to a very careful takedown plan for Boomerang where he's thought through and anticipated Boomerang's every move ahead of time... and he's basically right! He gets it all right!

And this kind of intensely-studied logical chess-game of "he will do this for this reason, and then this for that reason, and the other people will respond in this way, like a series of dominos, and I've thought through all the possibilities" is Very Tim to me, and I feel like... this is just the sort of thing that Dick would never ever do?

And mostly Dick wouldn't do it because he wouldn't have to. When Dick's skeptical of James Gordon Jr., he goes to talk to the guy and feel him out, and he ethically feels obliged to give him the benefit of the doubt because there's no evidence against him, but he's got a bad feeling and doesn't trust him and secretly slaps a tracer on him because he's got an instinct he'll want it, and he's right: James Jr. is up to something, and that tracer is exactly the thing that Dick needs.

And similarly if Dick wanted to goad James Jr. into doing something, I think he'd go off and meet him and goad him into doing it, and he'd have an instinct for what to say to make that happen - I think the whole elaborate domino plan that Tim comes up with for Boomerang would feel unnecessarily complex to Dick. Not that Dick doesn't make complicated plans, because he absolutely does, but Dick doesn't usually overthink people.

Similarly, if Dick had been the little kid in Lonely Place of Dying, he'd have gotten worried and gone straight to Bruce and talked to him, not gotten worried and taken photos of Bruce from a distance and then come up with an elaborately overthought plan to go to New York and track down his estranged son and fix him that way. And, like. Kid!Tim's not entirely wrong! He's correctly picked up on a very real and very strong connection between Bruce and Dick even though he doesn't know either of them! And given how little actual information Tim has, this is actually an impressive plan (it's a bad plan, because Tim doesn't know about their fights, but it's an impressively solid plan given that his entire information basis is "watched them from a distance and collected news reports"). But this isn't how Dick thinks about people.

Backing up to a more general point: Tim values people skills really really really highly. I think "uses interpersonal skills to help and comfort other people" is one of Tim's highest values and arguably the highest value - he imprinted on Dick because he was kind, and then imprinted on Batman because he was comforting Dick. And he has six million After-School-Special-style plotlines where he tries to comfort / advise / rescue / etc. people in various stages of emotional distress and who are using bad coping mechanisms. His very first outing as Robin involves talking down a semi-suicidal shooter; the big finale of YJ has Tim talking Secret down from her rampage; he's very gentle when he's comforting his girlfriend after she confides in him about a maybe-attempted-rape; he talks down a suicidal college student in Robin; plus there's the entire concept of "Batman needs Robin" in the first place; not to mention his obsession with the importance of friends; and so forth.

So it's something that he's good at because it's something he values and works at. His people skills are conscious and learned. He does a fair bit of amateur psychoanalysis of other people's problems, and he's generally good at identifying the problems, even if he's not always great at fixing them. And he's often playing a role, or imitating other people, rather than being himself; he invests a lot of time constructing alternate identities; he's often more comfortable wearing a mask. (It is just so typical of Tim that his civilian friendship group is the DCU version of D&D players.)

So his practiced-people-skills work decently well, because he's diligent and he cares a lot, and he's better at people when he's older than when he's younger. And he's extremely good at things he's had a lot of practice with, like meeting new schoolmates, or making small talk, and he's friendly and he likes people, and he's good at learning scripts and following them, and he only tends to misstep when he's distracted or unusually anxious or when he's in a situation where normal social norms don't help. (Of course, since he's a vigilante and not an ordinary person, distracted / unusually anxious / weird situation are all things that happen more often than you might think!)

I also think Tim has a few caretaker instincts that have become automatic - generally he's hyperaware of when people are upset and usually tries to reach out or fix it, and even when he's trying to keep himself at a distance he'll slide into caretaking sometimes - so e.g. there's that moment in Batgirl with Cass when Tim's kinda upset with her for siding with Batman (and distancing himself from other people in general), so he's not intending to get close to her, but also what we see him doing is treating her wounds and then getting her tea. And meanwhile Cass actually wants to reach out, and she's intensely observing him and worrying and wanting to help, but what she actually does is... drink the tea. That Tim got her. While she stays firmly on her side of the couch.

(I tend to think of Cass as slightly similar to Tim but at the very very very beginning of her learn-to-people journey here? Like Tim, she cares!! A lot!! And she's successfully understood that Tim's upset, and she knows when she's put her foot in her mouth. But she's not sure what to do yet.)

Weaknesses:

Tactless! This is a tricky word because I think people sometimes hear 'tactless' and misunderstand it as 'generically rude,' but that's not quite the issue - Tim's quite polite most of the time; his problem is that his default mental monologue is very detached / psychoanalyzing / analytical, including about himself and things he's emotional about. He'll often be analyzing his own emotions even in the process of having them (I also talk about this a little here, though it's mostly a post about Dick and anger), and Tim's also constantly analyzing other people.

This means that if he doesn't edit his brain-to-mouth filter, he can come off as too detached or professional or calculating.

This is obviously similar to Dick's problem of coming off as too detached / professional - again, they're both Bats - but it's not quite the same thing, and I think this distinction is most obvious if you look at the places where they're doing it on purpose and picking fights:

Dick's most likely to pick fights by pulling rank: "I'm the boss, you all fucked up this mission and you better not do it again, shape up or shut up." This is a kind of distancing that's about Dick-the-impassive-boss and you-the-subordinate.

By contrast, Tim's more likely to pick fights via hostile psychoanalysis: "I notice you're being snide about Cass again, but we both know you're actually just mad that Bruce cares about her more than he cares about you." When he's miffed, both his inner monologue and the things he says tend toward 'uncharitable analysis of your emotional weaknesses,' and this is something he periodically directs at Bruce / Jason / Damian. This is a kind of distancing that's about Tim-the-hostile-analyst and you-the-unfortunate-target-of-analysis.

(Caveats: I don't think Tim's above trying to pull rank if he can, but he rarely has the opportunity; Dick's not above jabs at other people's weaknesses when he's very defensive and feeling attacked - junkie, elevator - but IMO he's more likely to pull rank, whereas Tim's jabs are more likely to be wrapped up in insulting psychoanalysis, so e.g. Jason's insecurity is his problem. The Jan Brady of the Batfamily.)

You can see related similar-sounding-but-different issues if you look at some of their respective breakups. So e.g. Dick has a breakup with Babs in which she thinks he doesn't care about her, and Tim has a breakup with Cassie in which she thinks he doesn't care about her. And these breakups are different for six million reasons (among other things, Dick and Babs have a pretty intense romance, whereas, uh, Tim and Cassie have had one date and IMO she's very right that they're better off as friends).

But you also get some useful character notes:

Babs is wrongly anxious that Dick's mostly in love with nostalgia for their past rather than the person she is now (he 100% does love the person she is now!) and she's being unfairly bitchy about Catalina, but she's also correctly noted that he's gotten into the habit of deprioritizing their relationship in favor of vigilante busywork & that he's been a bit pushy in swooping in protectively rather than letting her fight her own battles, so when she's accusing him of being a control freak it's not completely coming from thin air; Dick responds by getting hurt, upset, and direct (he gets furious and punches something, but then makes a big sweet sincere emotional speech to her about how much he cares and values her, albeit one that's so caught up in his own emotions like wanting to "protect" her that he's not slowing down enough to take in her insecurities).

Cassie has correctly realized that dating Tim is a bad coping mechanism and she really needs to just deal with her grief over Conner; when she starts crying, at first Tim moves to comfort her, but when she actually clarifies the breakup, an upset Tim responds by aggressively de-emotionalizing the conversation and pretending he's being totally logical and not emotional about it - he first wonders aloud if he's a bad detective for not seeing it coming and then attempts a bonkers guilt-trip suggestion that it's their duty to date in order to uhhh avoid turning evil in the bad future (sdfsfdsfdsfds sure tim nice try)

This isn't because Tim literally doesn't have feelings, because of course he does! But often, the more upset he is, the worse he gets at clearly expressing those feelings, and the more he intellectualizes them or avoids discussing them.

(Caveat: The trouble with any distinction is that it's easy to exaggerate it in ways that are oversimplified, and I want to emphasize that this doesn't reduce to "Dick always expresses emotions, Tim is never emotional," or anything like that. Dick has a bunch of complicated feelings about the intensity of his emotions because he values control and detachment and often is trying to be more detached (I talk more about this in the context of anger here and here); Tim often retreats to faux-analytical detachment when he's actually very emotional; and these are tendencies rather than one-note 24/7 truths - Dick is completely capable of intellectualizing away his emotions; Tim is completely capable of just getting straightforwardly and directly upset. But if you're looking for broad distinctions, I think it's fair to say that Dick's usually better at directly using his words and expressing his emotions, even if he sometimes feels self-conscious shame about it later, whereas Tim tends to self-sabotage and deflect and hide by producing intellectualized faux-logic instead of just being direct about what he wants or what he's feeling.)

An unrelated issue is that Tim also tends to get intrusive when he's anxious, and it gets worse the more he cares about you. Tim really really really wants to know what's going on and has an intense Need To Help, which generally works out for him - this is the entire reason he pushes his way into the Batfamily! - but it's easy to imagine Tim running into people who might not appreciate his busybody sneakiness; so e.g. secretly stalking your friend because he has a bruise, or running your friend's DNA, etc., is... stuff that all comes from how much Tim cares, but also it involves a very fuzzy relationship with other people's privacy, so Tim's friendships that stick around tend to be with people who find this kind of intense observation to be caring rather than pushy. Relatedly, Tim's version of "be protective" can overlap with "be condescending," which means he tends to get along best with confident people like Bruce, who could punt him into a wall and who thus finds Tim's 'disapproving medic' shtick endearing instead of insulting.

Tim also struggles to connect to people for whom he doesn't have an obvious "script" or who don't respond to his usual scripts. So e.g. offering Gar a "you don't like me but let's be friends" handshake worked; offering Cass a "let's be friends" handshake worked; offering the same thing to Damian did not go over so well; and I think this kind of "it usually works so this is my habit now?" thing is very Tim, and I don't think it's the sort of mistake that Dick would make.

More broadly, because Tim's people skills are conscious and learned - the effort sometimes shows! He stares at people. He secretly spies on them. He pokes around in their secrets. Dick can be paying close attention to you and seem like he's not, so that his awareness seems effortless and less intrusive. I think Tim's awareness tends to be a bit more effortful.

That said, though, I don't think that Tim's intensely-observing-you shtick is necessarily obvious except to people who are fairly socially-skilled themselves. When I write fanfic, I generally write from Dick's POV, and I tend to write Dick being hyperaware of when, say, Tim's observing him, or trying to figure out what's going on with him. But I think of that as more "Dick's good at reading Tim and really aware of being watched, so every attempt at subtlety stands out in neon lighting," and I think to someone who's less good at reading people than Dick is, Tim is a lot subtler.

And I think for e.g. someone like Cass, who really struggles with people skills, Tim seems impossibly and naturally good at interactions in the same way that to Tim, Dick seems incredibly good at it.

[geoviki]

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

I’ve seen a lot of posts recently which rightly cry for help in working out the timeline these days.  Ever since June of last year, starting with chapter 443 (Haircuts), it’s been really hard to determine where the newest chapters fit in any timeline.  Even my analysis may not be correct, so if you have other ideas, please share!  I took a close look and came up with these:

Four Distinct Timelines:

Third year of middle school, boys are 15 (chapters 51-445, except special chapters)

Zhan Zheng Xi’s first year of university when Jian Yi returns – guys are 18-19 (chapters 1-50)

Christmas and Chinese New Year of He Tian’s return, ZZX is finishing uni, guys are 21-22 (Xmas special chapters, chapters 452 to present, chapter 462 and possibly 415 and 438; (in China, New Year activities last 2 weeks))

Post-age 22, guys are settled in their relationships (chapters 446-451, various Special Chapters, and much single-panel art).

The Breakdown:

Chapters 1-50 are a series of short, unconnected comics and single panels that are set during and after JY’s return.  ZZX notes that JY disappeared the second day of high school.  JY says he was kidnapped and taken to a remote island, but ZZX doubts this.  ZZX is at university, and JY is repeating an unnamed year at high school.  One scene shows them leaving a public drinking date, so they’re over 18, but it seems to be early in ZZX’s uni days, so they’re probably 18 or 19. 

Chapter 51 begins a long flashback to the 3rd year of middle school, when the guys are about 15.   Chapter 445, Mo Guan Shan’s shut down of She Li posted July 1, 2024, is the last chapter from the school years so far. 

Not yet shown is exactly when HT leaves, but it’s assumed from other context to occur before high school, roughly when JY also disappears.

Between chapters 51 and the current chapter are many special chapters that depart from the school timeline.  They’re often written for Chinese holidays and stand alone.  One exception is the series of Christmas chapters written between 2017 and 2023.  These are set on a single Christmas day and the immediate days following and show HT’s return from his long absence overseas.  Three consecutive New Year’s chapters may show different days from the same New Year that follow the end of the Christmas chapters. 

The Christmas chapters, followed by Chapter 452, begin a new timeline.  HT is recently back from overseas and is earning his own money with a new unnamed business.  MGS works on cars as a new apprentice at a luxury car modification shop (though he was taking out trash from somewhere else in the first Christmas chapter; maybe that was his last day?)  ZZX seems to be in the final months of university and interviews for an entry position at a firm.  He’s living at home.  JY’s life is not yet described, but he not earning money to rent a place, so he may be a student as well.  The guys are probably around 21 or 22.

Chapters 446-451 have no obvious timeline clues.  Based only on MGS boldly wearing an assortment of earrings and a common orange cap, I’m guessing they’re probably set in the future beyond the latest chapter 452 timeline when their relationships are more settled.

I haven’t dared consider the single-panel art, mostly set in the more distant future (my “settled relationships” timeline).  In these, we can see that HT and MGS have developed a highly sexual relationship, and JY and ZZX are more romantic than demonstrative.

Here are the special chapters that I grouped into where I think they fall on the timeline.

[thatsdemko]

I think he knows - g.russell

masterlist

t-swift inspired works list

requested: n

pairings: George russell x Wolff!fem!reader

warnings: none???

a/n: I’m so sorry the plot is hella slow 🥲 I also really don’t love this fic. feedback is always appreciated x

He got that boyish look that I like in a man

It's like I'm seventeen, nobody understands

he may not have picked it up at first, but it didn’t take him long to notice your eyes lingered on him longer than most.

that when he walked into the garage your whole mood changed, despite how hard you tried to make it not obvious, he knew. or at least, he began to know.

you spend a lot of time together, whether it’s around the paddock, in the hospitality, or at your fathers summer house— which is where you are now.

he’s sipping on a beer, standing next to Toto at the grill, two of them chatting about upcoming races and whatever seems to entertain them. jack bolts in front of you, heading out the back door where he spotted George, “Georgie porgie!” he screams, arms locking around his thin legs.

“who taught you that nickname?” he looks up from the little boy at you shrugging, little blush warming your face.

“you should’ve known to never trust me when you told me that.” you smile softly, your fingers nervously playing with the ends of your hair as you stand with the two listening in on their conversation.

Toto is talking about an important FIA event that the Mercedes team will have to attend, it’s not in anyone’s interests to go, but it’s mandatory and your father marked George for him and a plus one. neither of you know that he did this on purpose. because you see, Toto is like everyone else, tired of seeing his own daughter so madly in love with a boy who’s so oblivious. so yes, he’s willing to push you both towards each other if neither of you will do it yourselves.

“and I’ve got you marked for a plus one.”

you watch George’s eyes widen, they dart between him and susie, who just stepped out onto the porch with a drink for you, “a plus one? when did I ever indicate I had someone?”

Susie’s hand rests against your arm, “well why don’t you just take y/n? that way I can be Toto’s plus one and won’t have to fight for the seat.” she smiles brightly between the two of you, it’s too rehearsed. you notice something was up with their behavior, but George doesn’t.

“that seat can be yours, I’ll just stay home and watch jack.” you look down at the little boy, he’s on the patio wood panel playing with his trucks and formula one cars beside George’s feet.

Toto turns from the grill, shaking his head, “George has an extra seat just go with him.” he pats his driver on the back, and when you go to lock eyes, you notice his have already been on you. it makes your heart nearly skip a beat, how long had he been looking?

“George has to ask me, not have you two do it for him.”

—

all dinner he steals quick glances at you. each time he does, he watches your eyes break from his when he looks up at you. he’s definitely beginning to figure there’s something worth looking at whether it’s behind him or beside him, but it’s when your two drinks in and your eyes stay longer he figures, it’s him.

it’s him you’re looking at the whole time. it’s him you’re fixating on, not begging for him to look your way, just taking in every beautiful feature of his face. like the crease in his smile, the way he laughs, and the way his eyes light up around jack. you pick it all up, you want that of a man. you think there’s no one more perfect than him.

the meals are cleaned off everyone’s plates. Susie and Toto are inside cleaning, leaving you and george to build a fire while jack plays on his swing set.

he brushes past you, heading for the pile of newspapers and throws them at the bottom of the pit, while you stack wood the way your father taught you.

“it’ll be a nice fire?” he looks over at you, watching you struggle with the lighter. he reaches over and presses the button, watching a flame nearly take the ends of your hair. he’s quick to pull your hair behind your shoulders, two of you nervously laughing about the flame.

finally lighting the fire you take a seat next to George, two of you watching the orange and red flames dance around the pit, feeling the breeze of the air pick up.

“I’m going to go grab a sweatshirt, can you watch jack?”

“here just take mine.” he doesn’t give you time to reply, he’s pulling the neckline of the crewneck, it brushes over his dirty blond hair. you watch his t-shirt underneath rise up a little showing off his abs, that he loves to show off all the time, and soon enough the soft material is placed in your lap.

“all yours.” he smiles watching your eyes flicker up from his black t-shirt up to meet his greenish blue ones, you can’t help but lean a little closer when you thank him.

it’s now his turn to watch you throw on his sweatshirt, watching the way you rise a bit out of the chair to throw on the soft cotton material. the way it messes your perfectly curled hair, and how you wrap the material closer against your body, “thanks, Georgie.”

he reaches over, combing some of the strains of your hair out of your face, he feels his own smile pull wider seeing how dilated your pupils were, it’s so obvious. you really do like him, “what do you say, you want to be my plus one?”

“I would love to.”

“I knew you’d say that.”

He got my heartbeat

Skipping down 16th Avenue

Got that, oh! I mean

Wanna see what's under that attitude

Like, I want you, bless my soul

And I ain't gotta tell him

I think he knows

[moliathh]

This had been irking me so i have to say it. I know Hellsing is a horror media with a LOT of flashy action scene, however, it is unjust to see it as solely gore and fights. I've seen complaints about how adding a "romance" in will reduce the quality of the story as an "action horror". (specifically speaking is between Alucard and Integra because of course in the end of the day this is just ship war, not a serious discussion whatsoever) I would argue that Hellsing is never ONLY about the actions. Yall might have already noticed how Alucard is too OP, and it was not even because he got any tricks up his sleeves. He is simply invincible, his mechanism is just that hes a "deus ex machina". He did NAWT need to start out with zero and levelling up like your common action anime protagonist. It's not a first time a central character is overpowered in an unreasonable way. A way you could interpret this trope is that it was not about battles, not the physcial one, but the development in their characteristic, their thoughts and emotions and ideology all that stuffs. A classic example is Sir Gawain and The Green Knight (TGK), where all of their (physical) battles are nonsense and did not mean anything in terms of combat, they dont even fight each other, even the climax (the decapitation of TGK) was dismissed into a looney tunes moment. BECAUSE OF COURSE IT WAS NEVER ABOUT THE BATTLE NOR PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT, it was the internal struggle and maturing in character. THAT is what's happening in Hellsing IF yall look pass the very flashy facade of gore scenes Hirano put up. READ BETWEEN THE LINES, because he's not gonna hand it out to you on a plate. If you want to see how each character developed you have to look closely at their reactions and dialogues, not how they fight.

SO, imo, it's reducing the quality and message of Hellsing to interpret it solely as an action horror media, not the other way around. AND MIND YOU, romance subplot and action horror can coexist. For what does the character fight? A higher ideal? Power? Fun? Love? All that is noteworthy to think about when you engage in a media display many fight scenes. DONT YOU WANNA KNOW WHY THEY FIGHT THAT HARD ???? and in this case it is VERY obvious that Alucard is motivated by Integra. LIKE it cant be more obvious

And I'm so tired of seeing "Alucard only listen to Integra because of the seal and shes a Hellsing". Bestie, he literally ripped Richard's hand off, we dont even know the extent of the seal, like how far? or can it REALLY control Alucard? Besides, if you have read The Dawn you would see what a damn lazy ass Alucard was, Arthur sent him on a mission and he didn't even bother to walk on his own and just sleep safe and sound in his coffin until he felt like waking up??? Compare that to his enthusiasm to beg Integra on four just for her order and even purposefully tick her off by asking about her enthusiasm for war, oh and did we collectively forget this

(This is the Dark Horse eng scan if i remember correctly? i might be mistaken idk)

Sure it could just be a mere parallel, "The woman he personally desired" might only means Mina Harker and not directly Integra herself, I see. But, why bother choosing this parallel, and RIGHT after this panel he went STRAIGHT to Integra to ask for her order.

You know how enthusiastic he is with a fight and everything was already laid before him, worthy enemies and all. Yet he would not act without her words? I did not see him needing permission before ripping Richard's hand off... Also the seal did NAWT ask him to do all this

There are more of his sickening and excessive display of obedience but i don't have time to pull the panels out yet, but we all know its there since Alucard's submissive attitude and Integra's bossy demeanour is one of their most appealing traits, I know, because it is literally one of the BIGGEST selling points and running joke of the fandom, funnyyyy how people always love to call Alucard a sub and use words such as "freaky" and "slutty" to call him as if he didn't reserved this treatment for ONLY Integra. Sure Integra is a demanding boss to even her enemies, and it works like wonder everytime, because she's Integra, she mastered Alucard, others are just piece of cake to her. But that's not the same case with Alucard. Major literally said "She is the only authority Alucard recognizes". And have Alucard extended the phrase "My master" and all the begging and insinuating jokes to anyone else? It's so convenient isnt it, to just take one specific trait of Alucard's personality and make it his entire character without considering to WHO he directed those innuendos to.

Oh and I haven't walk us to the final chapter yet, like the seal did NAWWWWWTTT asked him to call her "Countess" (or Count, depending on the translators) and literally he could accept his death becoming a paradox? Wasn't Alucard had been craving an end for a long while now? Why the need to return just because Integra asked him to??? Be serious for a moment here

Also a personal interpretation of mine that could be a stretch or just pure delulu is that, in the manga AND the anime adaptation, the last word Alucard said after goodbye is "Integra" (In both Japanese and English dub, the word order is exactly the same), not "Master" or "Integra HELLSING". The same goes when he addressed how he can kill without remorse but the decision is in her hand, he also said "I am a monster, now regarding you, Integra". To me that is an indicator for how he CARED for her not just because she's a Hellsing or his master but she's Integra, from the first of their meeting it was very clear, that Alucard wounded A HELLSING to protect Integra.

So... even non-romantically, you cannot deny that Alucard voluntarily worked for Integra. They DO care about each other a lot, even platonically, their bond is almost like soulmates with how well they trust and understand each other. I just don't like it when people keep side-stepping the depth of their relationship just because you don't like to ship them romantically. These are the canon informations you can't just seriously unironically say that there was nothing there.

And oh don't even get me started on the "But he is a vampire, the enemy of her family and he hates Hellsing because of Abraham something something stockholm syndrome something she's ace coded she's lesbian coded she swore to be a virgin until death she wouldnt throw it away for the enemy of her family etcera etcera" you're saying it as if ace people aren't allowed to date or have sex and you're saying it as if Alucard isn't canonically genderfluid. Why always view the ship as solely heteronormative while they were never conventional to begin with. And MIND YOU, i thought everyone love the enemies to lovers trope?? they were BARELY stockholm syndrome at all did we forget about the Bird of Hermes analogy as a metaphor for loyalty voluntarily given.

If you care so much about "monsters and humans are forbidden" and "they are not canon" maybe treat every ship with the same attitude since MOST of hellsing most popular ships fit into that exact two sentences above, maybe except Pip x Seras is canon, but they're also human x monster, so what now???? Just hate on a ship all you like, I hate ships too and I hate them because I don't like them, that's all, no need to do extra mental gymnastic to prove the ship is "wrong" or their shippers are "wrong".

[aimfor-theheart]

If you have the time, I would like to hear your thoughts on the parallels between itadori and suguru pretty pls😌🎤

omg i would love to. it’s honestly one of my fav parallels in jjk. i think it sometimes gets overlooked bc itadori is more jovial/fun/light color schemed like gojo and fushiguro is more serious/dark color schemed like getou BUT. just listen!!

to begin this parallel, we can start with the most obvious one in my mind. and that’s the fact that itadori and getou both ingest curses. they quite literally eat them. they’ve both talked about their taste—how gross they are. getou remarks that no one knows the taste of a curse. but now itadori does.

my next parallel between them is more in terms of their story arc. both of them have very strong morals; morals which their counterparts (gojo and fushigro) sort of scoff at in the beginning. itadori and getou both believe that people need to be protected. and those who are stronger, should work to protect them. NOW….getou’s do change. but let’s look at the moment that forever changes him; it’s strikingly similar to a moment itadori has, too.

the moment riko dies for getou is incredibly similar to how junpei dies for itadori; in the sense that, here was this person they had worked to protect and save, here was this friend who they wanted in their life, and all their ideals they had placed in them, being torn very gruesomely away. this is also a pivotal moment for every wide-eyed sorcerer. they must deal with death. and the death of those closest to them.

morally, this is where their paths diverge. but we certainly see itadori begin to spiral the way getou also had to spiral when faced with the constant death and loss of other sorcerers. specifically i’ll show these next two panels to depict that;

same position. same idea is being conveyed for both. lost, traumatized, uncertain of the morals they once held; where did it get them? where did it get others? for both, many ended up dead.

now the other parallels i’ll draw…one of which is almost an exact replica of the other, is the way in which their bodies are not fully their own anymore. kenjaku inhabits getou completely and uses his body to do things he would not have done. similarly, sukuna does the same to itadori. and there are moments where getou and itadori have tried to fight back against the one controlling them;

that parallel is the one that really did it for me. oh it’s so poetic in the most wretched way. i love it.

beyond that, both itadori and getou are not from prominent families in the sorcerer world. there is little expectation placed upon them in this regard. also, they both get entangled in the politics of the higher ups and both are ordered to be hunted and executed at a point in their story.

now i could also bring in gojo and fushiguro, too, which would also highlight the parallels between them. both are from prominent sorcerer families and have a lot of expectations placed upon an extremely powerful inherited cursed technique. both grew up in the sorcerer world. getou and itadori juxtapose them in which they have to learn how brutal this world is. in fact, they serve to remind gojo and fushiguro that the world doesn’t have to be the way it’s always been.

now, of course, morally, itadori is not like getou. and their parallels are not exact nor should they be!

itadori (and fushiguro) serve to try and end the cycles that getou (and gojo) were trapped in.

in my mind, the parallel here was always one of hope; itadori is supposed to do what getou failed to do. narratively, he has been set up to end the cycle.

at least, he had been. i’ll stop here before i start cursing out akutami and his absolute assassination of itadori’s character in more recent arcs and chapters. but really truly the getou/itadori parallel is a favorite of mine, much like the gojo/fushiguro parallel. i think this is where jjk’s writing is at some of its strongest.

thank you for asking!! i hope you enjoyed my lil analysis/presentation!

[mae-i-scribble]

So since I’m still not over how good How I Attended and All Guys Mixer is I’m going to talk about one of my favorite aspects of it: how they go about immediately revealing just how Suo is invested in this flirting of hers. The cool, suave, confident person with a more withdrawn, nervous, ‘everyday’ type character is a combination thats been done to death with varying success. One of the things I require to get me invested in such a dynamic is the expansion of the suave one outside of just being “so good at everything they do and so good looking all the time.” And this manga gives it in spades from the get go.

First up: the day after the mixer when Tokiwa (the dejected guy to the far right) needed to share notes with Suo for the class. It’s such a simple thing but she positively *lights* up afterwards. It’s just a very cute moment that shows genuine investment without having to hear her say anything.  

Next up, the little moment of jealousy that occurs right after. I’m missing the panel before this of Suo spotting the girls interrogating Tokiwa from a distance, but once again the intent is perfectly clear. Also!! While Suo is jealous she isn’t like, a jackass about it- though she is dramatic for literally putting herself in between them you aren’t fucking subtle there no matter how smooth you made it seem. But the jealousy here works for me in part not only bc of the casual way in which it is handled but also bc it’s revealing that Suo is possibly just as insecure or as worried, she just expresses it far differently. And this is from chapter 2.

Also featuring Suo’s instant jealousy meter a few chapters later which I just find hilarious.

Putting the rest under a readmore bc i can and will ramble so UwU

The second thing I think the manga does very well is how it handles Suo’s flirting? Suo is incredibly forward but not in a way that feels obnoxious to me? She isn’t pushy for Tokiwa to reciprocate her advances but she isn’t shy about making her feelings known either. (It also does a wonderful job showing why they both are and are not working on Tokiwa but that is another post). But take for example the point where in chapter 2, Suo is asked if she and Tokiwa are friends and this is her response.

Like. Wow okay you’re just gonna come out here and make it as a threat I see how it is. (unfortunately Tokiwa being Tokiwa he’s just surprised she sees him as a friend at all).

Another aspect of Suo’s flirting however is that a lot of it is seemingly tied up in her appearance. When she dresses more masculine she’s far more flirty, as the charming and elegant persona is one she plays for the customers at the bar and so it’s clear that she’s able to be more forward while masc presenting rather than the few times we see her fem presenting and being a lot more subdued. However even when we can see that aspects of her flirting are influenced by her job persona, we are shown explicitly that her interest in him is obvious even to those who know her work persona. Case and point the chapter where Tokiwa is strongarmed into getting omurice at the bar.

If Suo’s being obvious enough that even her coworkers have to comment on it then you know she’s laying it on **thick** even for her standards.

But the real kicker is seeing the cracks in that suave persona of hers. In general Suo is a very collected person, she keeps her cards close and doesn’t like appearing vulnerable to others around her, a lot of her genuine emotions are wrapped up in elaborate presentation (see above with her being flirty in general when masc presenting yet still honest). So what sells me on her interest in Tokiwa are the times where we see it break around him. First panel is right after he falls asleep in her lap and she gives him a light kiss (on the forehead i think??), and this is the first and only time we see her blush this deeply.

Second up is after she’s clearly dejected about not being able to  see the panda exhibit, but rather than focus on herself, she’s worried that Tokiwa picked up on her disappointment and was badly affected by it.

And then Tokiwa turns right around and proves her wrong by busting his ass to get her a gift and find a whole panda costume to do what he could to make her feel better (even after staying behind with her so that they would both miss the panda viewing). And Suo is so touched by it, you can see it in the quiet way the panel is drawn, rather than with the effects and embellishments that her more audacious maneuvers get. Also featuring another little blush from Suo.

And lastly the most explicit piece of them all, since it puts into words what was being implied this whole time.

Suo is *dead* serious here, and that alone is enough in turn to clue us in on how serious she is about Tokiwa. We knew that she had genuine investment in trying to woo him, this just gives us even more of that in her own words, and its absolutely wonderful. Enough to make my little aroace heart swoon and to get me more than invested in them as a couple down the line. Love these bitches.

[thetimetravellercat]

I've had the silliest idea for an AU and crossover: someone (the Crew? Fang? Stede? Ed *and* Stede? Sam?) hires Lockwood and Co. for a haunting and it turns out that the place is haunted but also a lot of it is just Izzy hiding out post-surviving his death and not knowing how to tell them/that person and thinking now it's too late to say anything because they/that person has moved on (or they seem to, at least)

I'm imagining Izzy going to Sam's big mansion/manor, but Sam is away on business (busy trying to pretend the love of his life hasn't just died, effectively killing any chance of reunion between them except beyond the grave)

So Izzy just slips in and starts living in dark corners/secret passages/attics/cellars while recovering from his injuries, "stealing" food and supplies while trying not to get caught by the servants, and he thinks he will tell Sam everything once he comes back but now he still needs a safe place to live in and he is afraid the servants are going to freak out without Sam there.

So he waits for Sam to come back and when he does, he gets cold feet, it's been so long after all, what tells him he will be welcome? So he just stays hidden a couple more days, thinking he is going to tell him anyday now and it's going to be ok, he will explain

But Izzy observes him, and from his pov, it's obvious Sam has moved on, he seems to be aware Izzy has died, but he doesn't seem particularly affected. In fact, he seems incredibly busy and taking many business proposals and always working and when he isn't working he is smiling (because there is always a servant present and Sam doesn't want them to worry) and being pleasant

So Izzy stays hidden. He doesn't know what else he can do. He doesn't know where else to go, and it doesn't seem fair to disrupt Sam's life, but he is also still not fully recovered so he can't high-tail it just yet.

But one day, Sam inadvertently brings back a Source. It's an inconspicuous vase he was given by a client and which he displays in front of a wall, actually a wall where there is a secret passage behind, one that Izzy frequently uses.

And so manifestations starts in earnest, and the servants become increasingly nervous because they've been thinking they were being haunted for a while (because it's impossible for Izzy to stay completely silent all the time, and he does most of his moving at night when there are less people who could catch sight of him).

In response, Sam hires Lockwood and Co. He has heard they were a good agency and he doesn't want to bother with the bigger ones who have already plenty of money anyway. But Izzy isn't aware as Sam went directly to their agency to hire them.

Shenanigans ensues as the Lockwood team pursue one real ghost and one human being they think is a ghost (tbh Izzy kind of looks like one at this point). At some point during the night, they see both the apparition and Izzy vanishing behind the same wall at different entry points (it's one of those panels that completely swivels, so in the darkness it looks like Izzy went through the wall)

They investigate, find the secret passages (Izzy safely fled to the highest point of the attic in yet another hidden location) and come to two conclusions:

- there are two ghosts ergo two Sources

- one is the vase, the other one is very likely to be this old ring they found behind a wall in the secret passage a few paces away from the vase, and which may have been lost a long time ago, but with the other Source being so closed, it might have awaken it

They show both to Sam who explains he got the vase as a gift for a business deal he closed, and he pretends not to recognize the other (but his heart stops when he sees it because it's definitely the ring he gave Israel all those years and years ago)

Lockwood and co are like "no problem, we will dispose of these for you, it's included in our fee", and Sam immediately jumps up and say "No!" in an instant of panic, then he calms down and explains he would like to keep one, ("those things are so interesting, couldn't they provide him with some sort of ghost-glass locket, perhaps he could keep the ring, it's small enough, he can always keep it safe in a silver box")

The trio is like "hm, weird but he is an eccentric wealthy man so ok, his funeral if something goes wrong" synchronized shrug

So they give the ring back to Sam.

Sam, until that point, is barely holding it together, it's exhausting to pretend everything is fine when all he wants to do is curl up and cry all he can somewhere away, somewhere far away.

He keeps staring at the ring through the ghost glass locket, and always carries it on his person, hidden, getting it out when no one can see (except for Izzy who is still watching)

And one night, it gets too much, Sam can't bear it, he needs to see Izzy. He knows it's crazy, he knows it's dangerous, but he feels ready. He is ready to go because they were never meant to be separated, and if he's gotta die, it might as well be from being ghost touched in a last embrace with Izzy, with his one true love.

So one night, he sits in his library, he's got a glass of wine, Israel's favorite vinyl from before they separated is playing and he sets down the locket in front of him. He opens it.

He finally openly calls to Izzy, breaking down, telling him he wants to be reunited, even if it can only ever be beyond the grave. He feels a sudden draft of cold air swishing through the room and thinks Izzy is there. He knows he won't be able to see him, he is too old, he's lost his Sight a long time ago, but he thinks he will still be able to feel him and that's fine with him, that's enough. He knows he can't ask for more.

So he is in complete shock when he sees Izzy advancing towards him.

Sam slowly opens his arms, waiting for him, he is ready... and then immediately gets slapped in the face.

He is in shock (mouth closing and opening like a goldfish).

Meanwhile Izzy is furious: "you were going to let yourself die?!", "for stupid little old me?!", "what on earth! fuck's sake Sam!", "what about your life? you think I would want you dead because I'm dead?!"

Sam gets the scolding of a lifetime until he recovers enough to process what's happening and reacts. Soon enough they're bickering because "YOU'VE BEEN ALIVE? ALL THIS TIME? WHAT THE HELL?", "stupid little old you?! you're the love of my life!"

They keep at it a bit until they each get it out of their system and calm down enough to explain what they thought and eventually all is well. Sam draws a warm bath for Izzy, bring him to his bedroom and does not let go of him for the entire night.

Sam has a lot to explain to his staff, a couple of them quit because they think he's gone mad and they're still not entirely convinced Izzy isn't some sort of paranormal entity, but apart from that it goes well. Mostly, the rest of the staff is relieved, because they kept hearing noises after the intervention of Lockwood and Co and thought they were all slowly headed for their early demise (but Sam is a fair boss and the pay is good so they didn't want to quit).

Sam stops taking on so many business offers and slows down, he tries not to go out of the country too often because he wants to spend as much time with Izzy as he can. Izzy can't believe he is really going to be able to spend the rest of his days living Sam. They're very much still madly in love and Sam has not lost one iota of his romantic heart.

Bonus scene: Izzy being randomly poked by a rapier when he accidentally crosses paths with one of the Lockwood and Co agents (probably George in a shadowy corner of the national archives). Of course, Lucy and Lockwood both completely refuse to believe him about it.

...Until they get an invitation to Sam and Izzy's wedding that is, "for a job beyond well done"

The end.

[diltonsstrangescience]

So there’s this one comic where Dilton is absolutely FLIPPING OUT over how much Jughead annoys him. It’s really crazy. I’ve never seen him that emotional about ANYTHING. He looks like he’s going to murder someone. It’s one of my favorite comics.

I had wondered, before reading this, what a direct interaction between my two favorite characters would be like. This comic reveals the obvious fact that the two are polar opposites. The overachiever and the slacker. Of course they’d be at odds.

I’m going to completely overthink this comic, and write entirely too many paragraphs about my headcanons for it. You have been warned.

The first thing I glean from this comic is that Dilton has a serious control-freak streak. “Some people just aren’t happy unless everyone else is just the way they want ‘em to be.” I will Remember This Detail. I must collect characters’ flaws for future reference. Dilton gets pushy with other people when he thinks they should be different. It’s not enough for him to follow a strict set of rules, everyone else should too, or it irritates him to the point of cartoonish fury. (If anyone thinks they’re above the desire to change others, try being the only person in a group project who does any work, and see if you’re still willing to live and let live. I can definitely relate to Dilt here, to some degree.)

The second takeaway is that I headcanon exactly what led to the ending panel where Dilton’s been converted to Jughead’s way of life, instead of the other way around. I want to make a comic about it. Dilton’s been harassing Jughead for days about how he should change every aspect of his lifestyle. Jug asks why his lifestyle is so bad, and Dilt again lists off the things Jug does that he thinks are wrong. Jug then sort of disproves these claims, not denying them, but denying that they’re problems.

Sure he sleeps in class a lot, but that’s because class can be boring (surely gifted student Dilton understands this?). Jughead still gets mostly good grades, so he must be doing something right. He pays attention when he needs to. And maybe Dilton thinks his clothes are stupid, but who cares what he chooses to wear? How is that Dilton’s problem? And as far as “cluttering the landscape” by sleeping at the park, and eating a ton at the Chocklit Shoppe—seriously? He’s just existing in public places, doing completely legitimate things to do in those places. He’s minding his own business. Gluttony and sloth aren’t crimes unless they actually affect someone else’s life. And these actions shouldn’t be. So why are they affecting Dilton so much?

There are plenty of other reckless teenagers to try to reform, ones with way worse actions and way worse grades. So why Jughead? What makes him specifically the object of Dilton’s fury? Is it because he gets away with it all? Is it because—look, I’m gonna skip to my point. Dilton’s so bothered by Jughead specifically because he’s jealous of him.

He’s jealous that Jughead sleeps through boring classes because he already understands the material—Dilt is also sick of sitting through repetitive or easy lessons, but he wants to keep up appearances as the “responsible smart kid,” so he has to look alert even when he feels his time is being wasted. Dilton is jealous that Jughead finds it so easy to relax, napping in plain view of any passerby—Dilton cares too much about how other people see him, and he’s terribly afraid of appearing lazy or wasting time, and anyway he’s always too anxious to relax properly. Dilton is even sort of jealous of Jughead’s unabashed gluttony, because it displays a lack of shame that Dilton finds unattainable. Jughead doesn’t worry if the things he likes are “good” or “bad”, he just does what he wants. And it almost always works out for him.

To put the situation simply, Jughead is like the kid who speed-writes his essay the class period before it’s due, and still somehow gets an A. To someone who spent a week researching and revising theirs, this is infuriating. It feels so unfair. Sure, Jughead’s metaphorical A doesn’t do anything to remove Dilton’s A. Whether or not Jug succeeds, it doesn’t affect Dilton. Except it does, because it doesn’t feel fair that Dilton spends so much time anxious and planning and monitoring his behavior in an attempt to be perfect, and Jughead can just skate on through life without worry and be doing basically just as well. Because if there aren’t serious consequences for laziness and indulgence and nonchalance, then that means Dilton’s been putting himself through all this stress for nothing. If Dilton’s way of life is equivalent but less efficient, then it’s wrong, and Dilton is not used to being wrong about anything. It’s not something he handles well.

So yes, he’s flipping out. Because he needs Jughead’s actions to be objectively wrong and in need of correction. Or else he’s got to reevaluate pretty much everything about himself.

Probably Dilton’s not even aware that all of this stems from jealousy. He won’t admit it to himself. He feels far too self-righteous to examine his motivations. But at some point while he’s chasing Jughead all over Riverdale, he’s going to slip up and yell something that reveals basically everything I just wrote up there (but more concisely). He’s going to reveal (and realize for the first time) that this whole thing is just a desperate attempt to justify his own anxieties. After two weeks of this “reform Jughead” nonsense, they say something like:

J: [at the end of his rope] “I just don’t get why you hate me so much!”

D: [also at the end of his rope] “Hate you? I WISH I could BE you! It’s not fair!”

Jughead is completely shocked by this, and Dilton starts rambling about how hard he tries to be perfect and how he wishes he didn’t care what people thought of him and how Jughead can relax but he just can’t and how Jug has to be doing something wrong because if he’s not than Dilton’s wrong and he’s failed at life and that’s literally the worst thing that can happen and—

And Jughead immediately responds by saying that’s waaaay too much to worry about. (Because it really is. That doesn’t make it easy to get rid of though.) Jughead says okay, if you’re so jealous of me, then let’s flip the script. You stop trying to turn me into a teacher’s pet, and I’ll start teaching you how to enjoy life a little more. How to care less about what people think of you. How to worry less, and know which things are actually worth worrying about. How to be a little lazy and waste a little time without feeling like you’re committing some sort of crime. I am going to teach you to be like me, for the sake of your sanity. Because if that stressed mess you just said is what the inside of your head looks like all the time, there’s no way you can keep going like that for long without imploding. (Boy, he thinks, I always thought the brainiac students had the least worries out of anyone. If being on top makes you this paranoid, then don’t sign me up.)

So that’s how you get from point A to Dilton wearing a matching sweater and whoopee cap and asking for burgers. He’s learning through imitation. (Probably too strictly exact of an imitation, but those instruction-following instincts get drilled in deep.) The original joke is that he just spent too long around Jug and sort of absorbed his vibes, I guess, instead of the other way around. But my explanation makes more sense to me. It’s not like Dilt’s being brainwashed, he’s making the choice to act like this. And why? Because he really needs to be less hard on himself, and he finally understands that. Look at him at the start of the comic: wound up and melting down over this tiny little issue that’s not even his problem. Look at him at the end: relaxed, hanging out with his friend, going to do something purely recreational. Sure it’s funny that he’s dressed like Jughead’s mirror image, but when you think about it, this is clearly a good change for him (in all ways but the twinning outfit).

I really do think Jughead needs to impart his wisdom onto Dilton. Needs to teach him to calm down and do things not for a grade or an award or a reputation, but just for his own well-being. To go out to restaurants. To take naps in the park. To worry less about school. To exist in the world outside of his strict framework of self-imposed rules. He needs to teach Dilton to choose imperfection, and to be proud of it.

Because I need him to teach me that.

As always, this entire thing is 100% completely projecting.

[justagalwhowrites]

Beskar Doll - Ch. 47: Plans

You and the Mandalorian work with your allies to save your son. A continuation of Beskar Doll ch. 1-46 found on Tumblr here.

Pairing: The Mandalorian/Din Djarin x Female Reader

Warnings: Smut :D No use of Y/N. Minors DNI 18+ Only

Length: 3.8k

You were relieved when Sosha dismissed Pell and a handful of assistants who were hovering just outside the door. She closed you, Donné and Din into the salon and hugged you again, tightly. 

“I’ve missed you,” she said quietly. “I never should have sent you away…” 

“It was the smart move,” you said, holding onto her, the one person left who knew you before you became what you were now. 

“It wasn’t the right thing to do,” she pulled back from you and took your hands before looking at Donné. “Have the others here by morning, we leave first thing. Arrange for the fastest cruiser we have to be ready.” 

Donné bowed her head and left the room, too. 

“Well, since this is just between friends,” Sosha smiled a little toward Din. “Including some new ones, let’s get you out of those wet clothes and start finding your boy.” 

She led the way down a grand hall - all gleaming stone and soaring ceilings - to her chambers. 

“Normally, I wouldn’t allow a man back here but, given that he’s your husband, I think we can make an exception,” she led the way to her dressing room and paused, getting you a towel and a robe. It was disconcerting, having Sosha get things for you, look after you. Not that she never had, of course, but the nature of your relationship the last time you’d seen her had been decidedly reversed. She hardly treated you like a servant but you regularly helped her dress in the elaborate robes of the queen - including making sure there enough protective fabrics and plates to keep anyone from taking her out too easily. 

“It looks like we’re still the same size,” she said absently, going to her massive closet. “But I’m guessing you don’t wear the kinds of things we used to much anymore…” 

“Can’t say I’ve had much of a reason to,” you laughed a little as you toweled off your damp hair and started taking off your wet clothes. “I’ve been spending more time in the… less reputable parts of the galaxy lately. And we’re bounty hunters…” 

“You’re a bounty hunter?” She raised her eyebrows. You nodded. She laughed once. “Can’t say I expected that!” 

You wrapped yourself in a robe and she pulled a gown out of the closet, one that you knew was simple by the standards of a former queen but was more elaborate than anything you’d worn in years. 

“Once you’re dry, so you have something appropriate for dinner,” she said. “Of course, we have more… practical options for when we leave.” 

“You mean the things we used to wear to sneak around on Imp bases?” You asked, smiling a little. She smiled a little back. 

“So he knows about all the trouble we used to get into?” She asked, looking at Din again. He just looked at you. 

“He does,” you said. “We ran into Teav a few years back…” 

She nodded slowly, going to something that looked like a vanity. But she pushed a button on the side and it opened to reveal screens and panels. She keyed in a code before stepping aside. 

“This has all the information the rebellion had known Imperial bases,” she said. “It’s a lot of data but if you have an idea of how to narrow it down?” 

You sat at the vanity, Din standing at your shoulder. He put one of his hands in the middle of your back, his fingers splayed wide, like touching you was making him feel better. 

“We can start with research facilities,” you said, looking up at him. “Those are going to be more limited…” 

“Anything tied to genetics,” he leaned over, his body curving over your own. “Was there anything you saw? Either when you were on his ship or through Grogu?” 

“Not that I remember,” you sighed, adjusting the search parameters and drumming your fingers impatiently against the surface of the vanity. “Do you know what they wanted him for? Besides the obvious?” 

“The obvious?” Sosha asked. You felt Din stiffen at your side and you put a hand on his. 

“Grogu is… special,” you said. “Remember when my mother told us stories about the Jedi she knew when she was young?” 

“Of course,” she smiled. “Handsome sorcerer warriors? Like I’d forget that.” 

You smiled a little. Sosha had hung on your mother’s every word when she talked about her time with Amidala. Like she’d known, even when you were both just five or six, that she’d one day be queen, too. 

“Grogu is like them,” you said. “He has powers and the Empire wants him. We’re not sure why, outside of research…” 

“Who has him?” She asked, coming to sit beside you on the small bench. You moved to the end of the bench, pressing yourself against Din. 

“Gideon,” you said. “He’s also particularly interested in old Rebellion information, he wants to know how we moved information, how we embedded spies into Imperial systems…” 

“He’s got to be planning something big, then,” Sosha said absently, shifting to information gathered on specific Imperial officers. She pulled up the information on Gideon and a chill ran down your spine when you saw his face. “Looks like he had an interest in cloning…” 

She switched back over to the information on bases. 

“Just two cloning facilities,” you leaned in closer to the screen. 

“That narrows it down,” Sosha frowned. “Any way you can tell which…” 

“It’s Phindar,” you said, looking up at Din. “It has to be Phindar. I can feel it, he’s there.” 

“How…” Sosha began but you felt Din’s fingers on your back tighten against you. 

“He’s taunting us,” he said. “It’s in Mandalorian space. He took him to Mandalorian space. Because he knows I don’t have other Mandalorians to call on for help.” 

“Made another Imperial enemy?” Sosha asked, brows raised. 

“Something like that,” you ground your teeth. 

“Good,” she said. “All the more satisfying when we destroy him.” 

“He’s ours,” you said, looking at the image of Gideon on the screen. You let the heat of hate soak you. You wanted him, you wanted his blood, you wanted his pain. He took what was yours, the most precious thing. You wanted to make him pay. “No one kills him but us.” 

“He’s yours,” Sosha said, putting a hand on your arm. “All yours.” 

She turned her attention to the Mandalorian. 

“I’m afraid that during chaos of your arrival, I didn’t catch your name,” she said, looking him over. 

You went to give an excuse but he spoke before you had a chance. 

“Din,” he said. You looked up at him, surprised. “Djarin.” 

“Would you like us to find something for you to wear to dinner, Din?” She asked. “I’m afraid I’m not sure what Mandalorian traditions are, we didn’t have any dealings with your people during my reign so it’s a bit of a blind spot…” 

You half smiled at that and wondered if you’d have gotten over Din’s armor sooner if you’d known better. 

“I don’t remove my helmet in the presence of anyone but my wife,” he said. “But I appreciate your offer.” 

“Really?” Her brows went up. “In that case, I will have something sent to your room after, assuming you’d like to accompany your wife to dinner?” 

“I would.” 

“Good,” she smiled. “But I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to excuse us while we dress for dinner. I’m sure Captain Pell would love to discuss some finer points of the plan of attack. He always hates it when I sprint things on him…” 

“Please tell me you’re not still causing trouble!” You gaped at her. She shrugged. “Sosh! You can’t just…” 

“I can do whatever I want,” she smirked a little. “And I believe I’m no longer your concern.” 

You glared at her but she just looked proud of herself. You turned your attention back to Din. 

“I don’t have to…” you began but he cut you off, cupping your cheek and tilting your chin so his eyes could more easily meet his own. 

“Stay, Cyare,” he said. “I’ll see you soon.” 

You watched him go for a moment, a knot forming in your stomach at the distance. You knew you were both safe here, that nothing would happen to him here, but so much had happened within the past few days. The only secure place you had was with him. You’d lost so much, you couldn’t lose him, too. 

“You love him,” Sosha said. You spun to face her and she was smiling softly. 

“I do,” you smiled a little back, the most you could bring yourself to smile under the circumstances. “I really, really do.” 

“I wasn’t sure you’d ever find that again,” she said, getting up and changing the vanity back into a vanity with the press of a button. “I’ve been worried that you were alone but you’ve found someone who is more your match than you could have ever found here.” 

She picked up a brush and started running it through your hair. 

“Sosh…” 

“Oh hush,” she cut you off. “I did your hair now and then when I was queen, too. Let me do this, it’s been far too long.” 

You closed your eyes for a moment, focusing on the feeling of your oldest friend untangling your hair and starting to plait it. It was a comfort, the knot in your stomach easing. 

“So,” she said conspiratorially. “The helmet…” 

“Yes?” You asked brows raised, a small smile on your lips. 

“Did he really leave it on for EVERYTHING until you were married?” She asked. 

“Sosh!” You elbowed her lightly. 

“What!” She laughed, pinning a braid into place. “I met a Mandalorian, a few years ago. I think she takes a different approach to the creed, though, as her helmet came off rather quickly… she was plenty talented with her tongue, though…” 

“You met another Mandalorian?” You spun, eyes wide. “When? Where? Also, a talented tongue? How fast do you work now that you don’t have to meet the standards of royal decorum?” 

“Just fast enough,” she winked before putting her hands on your shoulders and turning you back around. “Now stay put or I’ll never finish. I can find all the information for you, but it was at least four years ago…” 

You deflated a bit at that. 

“Have you been in touch with her since?” You asked. “I know most of the Mandalorians Din knew were wiped out about a year ago…” 

“Oh no,” she frowned. “We haven’t kept in touch, it wasn’t exactly that kind of relationship. But I hope she’s OK…” 

“Me too,” you fidgeted with the sleeves on the robe before meeting Sosha’s eyes in the mirror. “How have you been? Are you happy?” 

“Now I am,” she nodded a little, focusing on a braid. “It was hard, after the war. You were gone, my reign ended not long after, Naboo was still in tatters when it did… I had a hands on role rebuilding which was a blessing, it kept me busy. Gave me purpose. But I’ve since become the Ambassador to the New Republic, which has been fulfilling. And I’m not married yet but… Well, there is someone.” 

“There is?”You smiled turning to look at her. 

She rolled her eyes and gripped your shoulders again, facing you to the front. 

“Stay put,” she said, stern but smiling. “But yes, there is. Maybe, once we find your son, you can meet him. You’d like him, I think. He’s a flyboy, just your speed.” 

You laughed a little. 

“You never answered the helmet question, by the way,” she said, sweeping some of your hair back. “Was it really on the whole time?” 

“I didn’t see his face until the day we got married,” you said, cheeks hot. “But… he took it off in the dark plenty before that.” 

“Good, because I’d have tried to talk you out of marrying him if you were going in that blind,” she teased, pinning the last chunk of hair into place. “Who knows what kind of bad decisions we’d make without each other.” 

You laughed once. 

“Who knows.” 

***

Din liked Pell. The man was smart, thorough, dedicated to Sosha’s safety almost as much as Din was dedicated to yours. 

“I’ll have 20 men with me,” he said, pulling up a schematic. “This is what we know of the facility. With the firepower of the ship, we should be able to brute force our way in at this point, it should be away from any holding cells and ensure that your son isn’t in danger.” 

“That will put us in a funnel,” he frowned below the helmet. 

“Which is why you and I will be the first in,” he said. “We’ll be able to take out the first volley of troops and get Her Highness and the Ladies in quickly. They can disperse from there, searching the facility. I’ll leave five men to hold the entry point, we’ll send three with each Lady. I’ll stay with Her Highness, you will stay with your wife. We’ll keep them in one piece, find your son, kill Gideon and get out.” 

Din nodded. 

“Gideon is ours,” he said. “He’s too dangerous to leave alive and he’s taken too much from me. He’s ours.” 

Pell nodded once. 

“I don’t care what makes the man fall as long as he falls,” he said. 

“I appreciate…” Din started to say but the words died on his tongue when you came into the sitting room. 

He’d never seen you look quite like this, even when you’d gotten them into the party on Coruscant. Your hair was mostly up and back with some hanging in curls around your bared shoulders. He wanted to remove his helmet and trail his lips over those shoulders to your neck, your cheek, your lips.  The gown you borrowed from Sosha fit you like a second skin, highlighting every curve, your breasts full and soft and all but spilling over the structured top of the gown, the skirts flowing around your legs while hinting at your shape. You’d done your makeup, too, your lips lush and dark, lashes long. You were living art, something too beautiful for him to touch. But you smiled when you saw him. 

“Cyare,” he said, going for you. It was automatic, an instinct. The anxious ache in him eased when his hand went around the back of your neck and your hand held his wrist, your eyes finding his below the helmet. He felt some of the tension leave your body at the contact. 

“How’s planning?” You asked, your unoccupied hand finding his waist. 

“As far as we can get it for now,” he said. “We’ll need to go by the Crest before we leave. There’s something I want you to have before we leave.” 

You frowned a little but nodded once. 

“Then, as long as Captain Pell is OK with it,” you glanced around Din. “I’d like to borrow my husband.” 

“He’s all yours, My Lady,” Pell bowed his head a little when he finished addressing you and you smiled a little before taking Din’s hand and leading him toward the dining room. 

“The other handmaids will be here overnight,” you said, pressing yourself against Din’s side. “I feel so… foolish, getting dressed up and eating and doing anything else right now…” 

“We’ve done what we can for the moment,” he gave you a squeeze. “It’s your first visit home in years. We’re getting him back. That’s what matters.” 

You just nodded, your hand slipping around his bicep. 

“You look beautiful, Cyare,” he said, knowing it was an understatement. But he wasn’t sure how else to say it, especially now. How could he say that stars you loved so much paled in comparison to you? That, in all his travels through the galaxy, you were far and away the loveliest thing he’d ever seen? 

“Well I have to try to hold my own against all that beskar,” you gave him a small smile. “You’re always dressed to impress…” 

“Not like you,” he tugged you closer. “Never like you.” 

Dinner, Din was surprised to find, was a pleasant affair. The other handmaids were still on their way so it was just the two of you with Sosha and Donné. 

“Normally, this would have been a much happier evening,” Sosha said. “Reuniting with our sister this way is bittersweet. But, since I know we’d like to know what you’ve been up to and I’m sure you’re only able to think about your son, please, tell us about him.” 

You looked at Din and laced your fingers through his below the table. 

“Din saved Grogu from an Imperial bounty,” you said, looking at him, your hand tight in his own. “And he’s just the most precious little boy.” 

“He’s a troublemaker,” Din smiled a little below the helmet. “Obeying is not his strong suit.” 

“And he’s very good at letting you know exactly what he wants,” you smiled broader. “If you don’t get it for him, he’ll figure it out on his own and Maker help you if that happens…” 

It felt good to talk about him, to focus on him. It made it easy to forget, for a moment, just how afraid he was. How much he hated standing still, even though he knew that this was the best way to help him. 

A meal had been delivered to the room that you were led to after dinner and you closed and locked the doors. Din removed his helmet and caught your arm as you passed, bending and trailing his lips over your shoulder to your collarbone to your jaw. 

“Din,” you breathed. 

“Just needed to kiss you there while you looked like that,” he whispered against your ear, your cheek against his. You were so close. It was right that you were so close. Having you close was the only safe thing. 

You took down your hair and he watched you while he ate. He thought the food must be good but it was hard to taste anything, between the fear and stress and you. 

“Are we ready?” You asked, looking at him. “At this point, I don’t care if we are or we aren’t, we have to go get him, I can’t wait anymore…” 

“I know,” he said, glad that he could look at you without having to look through the mask right now. It would feel wrong, having that barrier between you when you were this distraught. “But we’re ready. Because of you, we’re ready.” 

You nodded, fisting the fabric of your dress in your tense hands. 

“Come here, Cyare,” he said, getting up and going to the end of the bed. “Let me help you take that off.” 

You just nodded before going to him, sweeping your hair over your shoulder and exposing your back to him. The gown laced up and he removed his gloves before he untied it, sliding his fingers into the spaces between the ribbon, loosening the corset and brushing against your skin as it became exposed. 

When it was so loose that you had to hold it up, he slid a hand over your shoulder to your chest, splaying his fingers wide over your rib cage and tugging you back against him, your head on his chest as you looked up at him. 

“Do you think you can rest tonight, Cyare?” He asked, his nose brushing yours. 

“No,” you breathed. 

“Then let me help you,” he said. 

You dropped the dress and stepped out of it, exposing your all but naked body to him. He nudged you back down on the bed and slid your underwear - your last remaining stitch of clothing - off your body. 

“Din,” you moaned. 

“I know,” he said, removing his armor quickly, followed by his flight suit. He left it all with the dress, crawling up your body. He brushed your hair back, searching your eyes.

You were afraid, like him. Hurting, like him. You were his mirror and he was yours and he needed to be one with you. 

He kissed you, gently, his hand tracing down your body to the apex of your thighs. He lightly brushed and teased your clit, making you whimper. 

“Promise me it will be OK,” you begged him, your lips brushing his own. “I need you to tell me it’s going to be OK…” 

“It’s going to be OK,” he said, not sure he believed it himself. He believed you’d given them the best chance, the best hope, of it being OK. He knew he wouldn’t rest until it was OK. “I promise, it will be OK.” 

You clung to him and he worked your clit faster, sliding two fingers into your wet heat. Your velvet walls gripped him tight and he groaned, ready for it to be his cock inside of you like this instead of his fingers. 

He pressed his fingers into the soft space inside you that he’d claimed as his own over and over again until you came with a gasp around him. 

You ran your fingers through his hair, looking at him, your eyes wide and pupils blown. 

“Need you,” you were panting. “Please, need you close…” 

“Need you, too, Cyare,” he said, taking his swollen cock in his hand, spreading your wetness over himself. He notched himself against you for a moment before sinking into you, your fingers digging into his back as he entered you. 

Your back arched and he slipped an arm below you to hold you closer, your skin impossibly soft against his. You rocked your hips up against him, hooking a leg over his hip as he pressed into you as deeply as he could, your body tightening around him. 

“Din,” you panted, holding your whole body against him, like you couldn’t be too close. “Please…” 

“It’s going to be OK, Cyare,” he managed, so focused on how you felt it was hard to be aware of anything else. “It’s going to be OK. I have you, we’re in this together, it’s going to be OK…” 

You came with a strangled gasp and the tightness of you set him off, filling you. 

He held onto you, your body all but completely wound around his as he enveloped you. He liked it this way. That you needed him to be this close, too. 

“I love you, Cyare,” he panted, holding your face in his hand. “I’ll protect you. We’ll save him. It’s going to be OK.” 

“I know,” you took a shaky breath and nodded. “I know.” 

[kikimorart]

Okay so as I mentioned somewhere in passing, I wanted to make a bonus post explaining my inspiration/ideas for the most recent comic strip I posted. though this time around, I also wanted to talk about the worldbuilding and respond to some notes (wow people can see and form an opinion on my work thats craaaazy) so this post might get a bit long again (oh and also - and i can't stress this enough - Totally Optional and not necessary to enjoy the rest of my work. call that supplementary readings from the bog.)

the first two panels show a style of decoration from the fictional town of Selenka (which is the hometown of Kirik). paganism as a religion is hmm... decentralised?? by which i mean there isn't really a pantheon or system of beliefs that would apply to everybody in a certain region or ethnic group. often people would have their own local dieties. for people in Selenka, that would be some sort of a lunar diety that probably isn't significant anywhere else. the most obvious thing here is the prevalent moon motif, especially so with multiple lunulas.

from what i managed to find the symbol originated in ancient Rome, but was also known amongst medieval Slavs. the amulets above were found in current day Czechia, Ukraine and Poland respectively. they are usually interpreted as symbols of femininity and protection. after the introduction of christianity lunula was reinterpreted to symbolise Holy Mary. i think the influences are particularily obvious on the middle image.

in contrast, a trinket depicting the Mistress was inspired by icons (as in, Orthodox religious art). of course i can't really paint an icon on a small comic panel, but i tried to emulate the composition and shine of the varnish. in retrospect i wish i made it more accurate to real life so the inspiration was clearer because now that i look at it it feels like a stretch lol. that was the idea tho originally i also wanted to add some text to make it more iconlike but that led me to the pipeline of the grammar of old church slavonic and frankly... not even i am autistic enough to learn old church slavonic. she rarely ever appears in public and when she does, her face is covered, so this isn't actually what she looks like. it's more of Kirik's idea of what she might look like.

okay, so to avoid me calling him my Ultimate Moon Themed Deity Local Legend Major Magical Being all the time - i gave him a name, his name is Konstantin.

and the connection is... well i'd love to make a comic to elaborate since i'm pretty bad at writing but i guess i'll do what i can. so Kosti is just a priest and not that powerful of a mage, let alone a diety, but to people in Selenka he might as well be one. as mentioned in a previous comic, many places struggle with being infested with fern flowers and other malicious creatures. Kosti made deals with local guardian spirits of the forest as well as strong mages so that his people could enjoy some respite. and, well, he ended up developing a total saviour complex and kinda sorta died in the process. the connection between the two is that a lot of people think that Kirik is either reborn Kosti or a some fae creature/changeling that's pretending to be him. Kirik definitely isn't a changeling but also doesn't feel any connection to his "other self" literal blue hair profiling lol

^ it's so them it's cracking me up

hmm well there is a being called the firebird that appears in some folk tales, and there is also a very similar demon called the Rarog. they are sentient and could rmean blessings or doom for their captors. to be completely honest my first idea was to make it a crow buuuut it wasn't really popping off the page like i wanted it too so i changed my mind mid coloring. yeah no special meaning to it or anything. also WHY are 90% of results for 'crow flying' ai generated like who wants this

they ARE it's so cool that you noticed i know i complained about designing a bunch of random background characters for one of the panels but in retrospect i'm glad i did because it created a contrast between a diverse group of the Mistress' followers and uniformity of her actual retainers. plus it's just plain cool and creepy. i saw it first in one of the crones from witcher 3 and was like wow. thats peak.

[kobeniliker]

Chapter 133 of CSM has a lot going on and I love that but here’s a longpost about Yoshida Hirofumi because he’s a really interesting and important character in part 2 so far, but we know very little about him! 

Chapter 133 makes Yoshida’s affiliation clearer, it seems that he is working with Public Safety. And based on his coworker’s response to his distress, it seems he isn’t being taken seriously.

I dunno, that guy doesn’t seem like he’s (Guy in the suit walking the dogs) trying to kill Nayuta. He seems pretty chill, wheras Yoshida is freaking out. I think Yoshida was lying to Denji about the threat to kill Nayuta. Which would make sense! It would be stupid to kill Nayuta, public saftey probably knows this as they know firsthand how powerful both Makima/The Control Devil and Denji/Chainsaw man are.

I think that Yoshida is genuinely trying to protect Denji in his own way, but I don’t think that public safety knows/cares about what he’s trying to do. He’s basically just making himself more important and inserting himself into Denji’s life because he wants to be friends with Denji and does not know how to make friends.

This is pretty telling, especially given Yoshida’s attitude towards other characters. He’s polite even if a bit blunt, but never friendly. Nor does he make any effort to be, except with maybe Kishibe. And Denji, obviously. He shows up, does his job, and leaves. 

Yoshida doesn’t have an official backstory, but based on what we know about him there’s a few things that stick out. 

He’s a prodigy devil hunter, was well-known enough for Makima to hire him, and he held his own in a fight against Quanxi.

He’s around the same age as Denji (Being able to transfer into Denji’s High School, mentioning having to study for finals)

He cares greatly about Denji, even if it’s just because of his job.

None of the other characters know much about him either (except maybe Kishibe, he seems to be a mentor figure)

I think his situation is probably similar to Aki’s, in that he lost his family and felt Devil Hunting was the only thing he could do. While some people choose to become devil hunters, it isn’t a great job and most people would choose something else if they could. There has been no mention of Yoshida’s family. He has enough money to treat Denji at the cafe, but (reasonably) complains when Fami orders the whole menu. People at school only seem to know him as “that guy who’s a devil hunter”.

He probably started devil hunting at an early age based on how skilled he is, and while he goes to school he doesn’t seem to have any friends. If he was constantly training and fighting in between going to school, he probably never made friends. And from his job, he probably saw a lot of people die in front of him and had to kill a lot. Similar to Denji, but Yoshida’s family is a mystery and he seemingly was taken in by Kishibe or another Public Safety member and was able to go to school.

I think he’s similar to Makima in that he wants to have connections and relationships with people but goes about it in a horrible way. I also think he’s an interesting parallel to Denji, who is always up-front about what he wants. Yoshida has never given any obvious indication to his motives outside of “protect Denji” (And even that’s unclear what that means to him!). He hides all of his emotions under an unchanging smile that I was genuinely surprised when he got visibly angry this chapter.

Killing a man in an alleyway:  :)

Being trapped in an infinite aquarium:  :)

Talking to one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse:  :)

Denji being stubborn asking a group of protesters to kill Yoshida:  >:(

The panel after Denji yells that he wants the protestors to kill Yoshida. I think that’s the first time Yoshida looks genuinely hurt. Bro looks like he got stabbed and hes dying. Even though Yoshida knows he is in no danger from the protestors, they don’t know Denji is chainsaw man and they probably didn’t hear him either. He just gets irritated when Denji says he wants to be Chainsaw man and have Nayuta alive or when he thinks Denji is being dumb. 

What really stuck out to me was his reaction. He’s irritated before, but after that he really gets visibly upset. Sure Denji has insulted him and threatened him before, but he never made any move to actually do anything. But Yoshida knows that Denji probably thought that he could kill Yoshida by yelling at the protestors, Denji expressed that he genuinely wanted Yoshida gone, and there is nothing Yoshida can do to make him stay. 

Which is pretty understandable, Yoshida has kidnapped and stalked Denji, and even if he has good intentions that’s just creepy and he shouldn’t do that! 

I think that by trying to prevent Denji from ever transforming into chainsaw man, he is, in his own way, trying to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled. Fami wants to prevent it by killing chainsaw man, because she thinks that the prophecy can’t be fulfilled if there is no chainsaw man. Which is probably what Yoshida is thinking, but he doesn’t want to kill Denji and he doesn’t want an age of devils to arrive, and Yoshida doesn’t want to choose between the two.

So he’s trying to prevent chainsaw man from existing by trying to convince Denji to have a normal life, and Denji doesn’t want to choose between the two.

But if Denji chooses both options, to be chainsaw man and have Nayuta in a normal life, Yoshida thinks he will have to choose to kill chainsaw man or live in an age of devils, which he doesn’t want either of.

I think it’s just interesting about all the choices!!! I also think Yoshida and Denji have a lot of similarities. I’m also biased towards Yoshida since I think he’s super neat so I also could just be making up excuses for him to not turn out to be evil bc I don’t want him to be evil :(

[jeremywhitley]

Julie Power, Queer Relationships and OTPs

Hey, two provisos before I jump into what I’m about to say:

1) My last name is not Marvel and I don’t own these characters. Before and after I write them, other people will write and/or have written them. Most of them. That’s what success in corporate comics looks like in this day and age - not that you get to write a character/group of characters forever but that other creators remember they exist and include them in new stories and they get to have a long happy life. That said, characters change and the valid interpretation is the one that leads to more stories. You, as a fan, are also interpreted to love whatever version of the character you like as long as you don’t hassle creators about it.

2) As always, I am not the perfect person to write this mini-essay, I’m just the one writing the comic and therefore the one that can explain the thoughts and feelings that went into making the decisions I did.

We good? Okay. Let’s continue!

Being gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, asexual or wherever else a person falls in a spectrum does not make a person more or less than human. It does not make every relationship perfect. In fact, having a sexuality for which there isn’t quite as many years of literature and self-help books often leads to complications that you don’t know how to navigate. It is a rarely acknowledged but pretty obvious fact that this would go double or more for people who were also dealing with the complications of being a superhero in the modern era. A lot of those people have experiences with multiple apocalypse scenarios, a knowledge that there are parallel universes in which pareallel versions of them exist (like a version of me who types parallel the same way twice in a row, one can dream), mind control, reality manipulation, and time travel. Their life is complicated and relationships are difficult in a world where few of those things are commonplace.

In talking about Schitt’s Creek, Glen Weldon expressed a frustration and distaste for the central gay relationship in that show, not because it wasn’t cute and precocious but because it wasn’t realistic. You have a person who has been dating around and having several unresolved and unsatisfying queer relationships paired up with a freshly out, just admitted he’s gay, never dated another man love interest. It’s sweet. It also gives an unrealistic portrait of what life is like for a queer person. It’s hard to argue with people loving that relationship, but it’s impossible to argue with Glenn’s point. Dating is complicated and difficult. Adding queerness to that only makes it more complicated, not less. We often don’t know what we want or need and it’s more difficult to understand what you want and need with less context. Straight people have been struggling with telling their partners what they want and need even as their relationship has been a necessity of human species survival.

But we tend to push the idea of an OTP or “one true pairing” onto queer couples for a variety of reasons, but mainly two:

1) There are so few queer relationships in media that when one happens, queer audiences tend to hold onto it tightly in the worry that there will never be another one like it.

2) The idea that all or most queer relationships are the result of an undeniable love between two halves of the same whole reunited at last and it would be horrible to part them, makes queer relationships more palatable to straight audiences who are still growing in their understanding of the difference between same sex sexual attraction, same sex romance, and same sex fucking.

The end result is a pretty warped understanding of queer people and same sex relationships.

All of this is sort of preamble to say that in this week’s issue of Love Unlimited, I broke up a romantic pairing off panel that I created in Future Foundation a few years ago. In the last issue of Future Foundation, I had Rikki Barnes and Julie Power kiss. They had just been through an extremely dangerous prison break during which they had both almost died and saved one another’s lives. The moment was absolutely ripe for two Sapphic people to get swept up in the moment and intensely make out. It was a relationship I would like to have explored more, especially as they are two characters I care very deeply about. I think it would have been fun. I also do not think it would have worked out long term. Most relationships don’t and they are very different people.

I saw a post somebody made earlier today on tumblr about how Julie Power throws herself at every queer and available white girl in the Marvel Universe. There’s only one part of that I would prefer to not be true and that’s the white part. It is true about the comics as they have come out, but I don’t see Julie as the kind of person who wouldn’t fall in love with a person of color. In fact, to the point of that post, I see Julie as a person who is open to connection and cares a great deal about physical affection. She’s a hugger. She’s constantly taking people under her wing. She falls for people hard and loves hard. Not to get too intimate with it, but she’s probably a person who enjoys sex and physical contact and affection. Those things aren’t important to everyone or meaningful in the same way to everyone, but they are to some people.

But also, that doesn’t mean that every relationship those people enter into has to be THE ONE. We all enjoy our own OTPs and a lot of us have that same investment in people we know in real life. God knows, I have had that investment in queer friends that found love and there are people that have had that same investment in my wife and I because we’re a mixed race couple. Those facts about a relationship don’t make it work out without the same sort of effort, love, affection, and sheer luck as any other successful relationship. I think ascribing that same sort of mythological status to every same sex relationship is ultimately short sighted and harmful.

Julie’s way of finding love, like a lot of us, is to throw herself headfirst into relationships, love hard, experiences extraordinary moments, and get hurt when things don’t work out. She, literally, has a heroic impulse toward relationships. Is that healthy, maybe not. But hey, I kind of admire it.

So yeah, I broke up a relationship off panel that barely had a chance to exist on panel because that’s the way I see it going. On the bright side, she’s in another relationship now and we’ll see how that goes.

If there’s a thing I guess I want people to take away from this, it’s that it’s okay for your relationship not to work out and that you shouldn’t treat your queer friends like they’re characters in a Shakespeare play that have to love each other unconditionally and die together in a crypt if things don’t work out.

[sueske]

How much do you think Sasuke cares about Sakura? It’s obvious he doesn’t love her back, called her annoying couple times, and never visited her for years, but he’s still a kind person and cares about his teammates. Maybe it’s a bit of pity?

putting under read more cuz this is a very anti-ss post in case there are people who would rather not see/read it.

I think you might be new to my blog, I've talked about it a bit before:

sasuke and team 7

sasuke’s feelings for sakura 

sasuke taking on his family's wishes as his own

In part 1 sasuke viewed sakura as a teammate who he protected and didn’t want to worry. but he was able to break his ‘teammate bond’ with her that night when he left.

in part 2 he doesn’t even view her as that. during the reunion scene sasuke told the new team 7 he was able to cut off the bonds he had with konoha. however, we know it's only the bond with naruto he had failed to break. I've talked about sasuke's on a whim before too. and then throughout shippuden sasuke explicitly states naruto's importance to him and how he still needs to cut off their bond. sasuke doesn't mention anyone else, because like he said prior, he was already able to cut off all other bonds.

I see ss shippers say ‘sasuke always acknowledged sakura first and she’s the only one he apologised too’ as a means for them to show that sasuke still had a bond with her in part 2, like during the reunion and war arc. despite the fact that after acknowledging her presence (wow #hecaressomuch. guess sasuke cares for kakashi a lot too since sasuke also spoke his name despite kakashi not even being present during the reunion) his attention shifts to naruto and then just ignores sakura for the most part. I won't even bother putting in all the manga panels where sns stare each other down cuz this post would get too long lol. revisit the reunion scene. look at the kage summit arc scene. look at the war arc. they all follow the same pattern. In the war arc sakura herself acknowledges that sasuke doesn’t care lol. I don’t know how much clearer it can get - sasuke says the only one standing between him and complete loneliness is naruto. naruto is his one and only… friend, the one person he needs to cut down. where’s sakura, where's anyone else in this equation?

also sasuke apologised to karin before joining the war arc too. he also apologised to kakashi. sakura isn't special in that regard, and sasuke was only going to take juugo (because of his natural energy) and naruto away from what was surely going to be a killing blow during the war. everyone else sasuke was willing to let die, karin and sakura and kakashi who he apologised to including. sasuke saying "oops sorry" to someone does not equate something extraordinary in relation to bonds. this is what happens when kishimoto stresses how important naruto is to sasuke vs everyone else. people take these panels and blow them out of proportion when in the grand scheme of things don't matter, as shown by sasuke again and again.

in 699 sakura got the brotherly forehead poke which symbolises distance. idc ss shippers can do all the mental gymnastics they want, but that's what the poke symbolises. it's not that sasuke re-invented the meaning behind the poke - itachi used it to keep sasuke away from him, creating distance between them (something sasuke also confronted itachi with) - and that's what sasuke ends up doing to sakura too. which is why before edo-tensei itachi died he brought his forehead to sasuke's, to finally bridge that distance! it's like the simplest things are so hard to understand for ss shippers. they take panels of sasuke when he was happy he got the poke when he was a kid to 'prove' that the poke is a good thing completely ignoring the fact that sasuke didn't know anything about anything at the time. and even as a kid sasuke expressed his displeasure at receiving the poke. and in the end, that's what sasuke does - keeps sakura at a distance. she even ended up chasing him down yikes. how is this lost on people... and then sasuke kept creating even more distance from her. for over a decade. all the while he was meeting up with his bestie too. seems to me like sasuke is using the poke just like itachi originally intended... listen, if u care about someone u take the time to communicate with them, to see them. that's just common sense lol.

in gaiden sasuke does go to help save sakura and he does take those rod things out so he doesn't want her to die lol. but beyond that? he doesn't see his 'wife' for 12 years and the first thing he says is 'why are you here?'; the famous: 'because we have you sarada' line; how miserable he looks during their first family dinner (sakura doesn't look all that happy either really). so he cares to not want her to die but beyond that? what bond do they even have? what meaningful conversations and interactions did they have? girl doesn't even know if her precious sasuke-kun wears glasses cuz they didn't see each other for over 10 years lol. probably the feelings and bond he had towards her in part 1 reformed after part 2 to the uhm interesting bond those 10 chapters that is gaiden showed us.

sakura does try and make herself pitiful around him, she tried to invoke those feelings in her confessions. I think a wife who was implied twice to never have been kissed even though she desperately wants to be kissed is quite pitiful indeed lol.