#double death(tm)

[faeriekit]

I feel like you’ll appreciate this flavor of feral brain rot as a true delicacy.

Ghostly Courting 101

1.) When you have someone you like, you politely sneak into their haunt and leave a gift that hints at your identity. If they’re interested, they’ll start hunting for you. If not, it’ll be removed without the other party feeling any societal pressure.

2.) For ghosts who died a violent or wrongful death, one of the most meaningful things you can do is avenge them. Attack their murderer, haunt their negligent doctor, etc. It’s not guaranteed to win their affection, but it’s a hell of a display.

Now, per the laws of unintended consequences, Danny finds Red Hood rearranging his freezer.

It’s 3:00 AM. He just wanted some water. Why is Gotham’s favorite son trying to leave him a fuck off huge casserole?

“Are you trying to propose or something?” Danny asks the liminal.

“Maybe???”

“Ghost weird or fruitloop weird?” Danny snatches his boo-berry ice cream and starts digging for a spoon.

Red Hood takes off his helmet to make sure Danny can see the Eyebrow of Judgment.

“Fruitloop then,” he says between bites. “We haven’t even sparred, and I sure as shit didn’t avenge you or anything.”

Oh. Oh no.

“Hood, why are you blushing?”

He couldn’t make out much from the outraged sputtering, but Danny nearly shat his fucking core out when it clicked.

“Is this about Joker???”

Danny was gonna take the stuttering as a yes.

Cool, cool, cool. He was calm. He was so fucking normal, it was fine, it was fine, it was—

Ancients take him, Danny beat the shit out of this guy’s murderer or something. He basically did a fucking flash mob proposal!

“Why the fuck am I even here?!” Red Hood screamed.

And the other guy’s fucking clueless!

I see, I see.

1: Which casserole. This is important. What casserole could the hindbrain of Jason Peter Todd's ghost instincts think is marriage material?? Is this like a comfort food can-of-cream-of-mushroom based casserole dish or like one of those newfangled sushi bake type things?? What did Jason whip out to prove he's marriage material??

2: What does JASON think is going on?? Did he hunt Danny down?? Did he just wake up in a stranger's apartment with a casserole in his hand?? Did he go to the grocery store with a list in mind or did he get home and realize he (for some reason) had every ingredient to make tuna casserole??

3: Wait. So does this mean that Jason thinks that casseroles are a good enough hint at his identity??? Does some part of Jason think that his most essential and core part of his identity is his tendency towards caretaking?? YO—

4: It's in a vintage pyrex. Look me in the eyes. This is not just Pyrex it's gotta be the old style pyrex that doesn't shatter in the oven without a pan underneath it. I am a connoisseur of white people culture and this is deeply important to me. It could even be one of the patterned ones. This is part of the gesture.

5: Danny is emotionally moved and it sucks considering that this was a complete accident

6: Jason is emotionally moved and has no idea what the fuck is going on. He wakes up at his safehouse one morning with bridal magazines in his hands which he apparently bought himself?? He's going insane. Is he cursed?? Did that twink who kicked the Joker's ass curse him??????? Curse him into...matrimony???????????????????

[faeriekit]

@ebonyheartnet.

batfam potluck! jason brought chili and cornbread :)

👉👈 if anyone wants to come to the potluck…. please do 🥺

[evilminji]

I wonder if Care Taking Reflexes are effected by Core and Obsession.

Like? Obviously? Frostbite keeps HIS patients Warm and gives them medical aid. Because he a Doctor(obsession) and an Ice Core? And when you have an ice core, anyone you meet who need Help is either Like Me-> Freeze Um, or NOT Like Me-> Warm Um Up(because of the snow, Obviously. Why would there not be snow, here, in the Sahara desert? There is ALWAYS snow! WE ARE COLD SO THERE IS SNO-).

Like? Some people will shove you in a stack of books in a dark nook, others bundle you up and force feed you, some try to help you sweat the sickness away. You gotta be careful. Because the reflex is there.

It's probably why Ghost Doctors can absolutely BODY your average ghost. They have to keep prying patients out of their well meaning, but actively in the way, friends/family/neighbors etc.

You can't fight somebody who's SICK! Let them HELP you! THEN we can get back to good, wholesome, old fashioned, family friendly Violence. Like the Zone intended. Now, they got some leeches to balance your humors... *tackled by a yeti*

Why do I bring this up?

Bet Jason's REAL sick. >:Dc

Bet Danny is flying along. Checking his map. Lost AF over what appears to be God's personal punching ground. Trying to find a COMPLETELY different city, to visit Tucker, when? Is... is that a Sick Child(tm)?! Why is he ON THE ROOF!?

WHY ARE PEOPLE SHOOTING AT HIM ON THE ROOF?!!?

Danny just absolutely REINVENTS the term "Death From Above". Jason is impressed. Or, at least, he would be. If a floating twink half his size didn't then IMMEDIATELY proceed to do a brooding chicken impression at him.

Sorry, let him rephrase that for the Bat's at home. Not AT him. ON him. He has a floating twink straight jacket that doubles as a hat. He can't move his arms. Kid has super strength.

Help. Now. Or his vengeance will be both petty and terrible.

So begins the saga of Broody Danny and his quest to sit on the baby. Surround him by space stuff. Should he ACTUALLY be taking him to a doctor? Yes. But give Danny a break! He's basicly a Ghost 5 year old. He's terrible at resisting his impulses!

@hdgnj @hypewinter @ailithnight @mutable-manifestation

[quicktimeeventfull]

how to make your fic easily findable

okay hello everyone! here is my somewhat solicited guide on how to make your fics easier for interested readers to find. 

please note that this is a guide to help you make your fics discoverable, not to make them popular(tm.) it’s also not a guide as to the best way to post fic. you do not need to do these things. doing these things will not make people like your fic more or less than they would otherwise. i do not do all these things, either. my aim here is purely to provide suggestions that will make your fic easier to search for and share.

where to post your fic

post it on ao3 as an individual fic. authors are often hesitant to post short fic on ao3, but readers simply cannot find it if it’s not there. multi-chapter drabble collections are a matter of preference and are absolutely fine to use, but in terms of findability they’re really hard for readers to pass around or put on rec lists. 

you can also post your fic on tumblr. ime fic posted in full is way more likely to be reblogged than an outward link. long fic posted on tumblr should use a read more cut, but at least a paragraph should be above the cut.

should i make a promo post? 

yes. ao3 does not have any features that facilitate promoting fic -- if you don't make a promo post, people will only see your fic if they regularly browse through newest fics or actively search for one of its tags.

what should i put in a tumblr promo post? 

a tumblr promo post should generally contain: 

title 

pairing

name of the fandom

summary of fic

link to fic 

your tags should contain

pairing 

name of all major characters

name of fandom 

the word ‘fic’ (so people who hate fic in the tags can filter it out. be polite!)

other optional inclusions: 

rating (explicit, teen, etc) 

word count 

major tropes

graphics (don’t forget alt text!) 

a sample of your writing (it’s common to grab a ‘best-of’ passage from within your fic, but personally i’ve found you get a way better response if you paste the first couple paragraphs then add a ‘continue’ link at the end.)

tumblr does remove posts with certain keywords from the tags, but honestly these keywords are very minimal. if you’re worried your post might not be added, double-check ‘latest’ and find an alternative phrase if necessary. don’t censor the word. you do not need to repost — tumblr will pop it back in as soon as you’ve removed the word. (it won’t push it back to the top, though, so it’s best to correct this asap.) 

a further note on tags

use the most commonly used tag. look at other people’s posts to find the fandom norms. it is fine to add multiple variations of the same tag. 

this is especially important if the tag is ambiguous. for example: ‘near’ is the most commonly used name for the death note character, but the full name ‘nate river’ should be included as well. take into account that a lot of people use plain searches rather than tag searches. an ambiguous name might be usable as a tag but not as a plain search. top vs latest searches will also give dramatically different results — ‘top’ searches tend to retrieve appropriate results with ambiguous names, but ‘latest’ results won’t.

what should i not put in my tumblr promo post? 

self-deprecating statements. this isn’t a moral statement. people just don’t like to read things if the author is telling them it’s bad

criticism of other people’s work, even if it’s really general. ‘i usually hate hurt/comfort but i wrote this anyway’ is obviously going to alienate the vast majority of your readerbase

anything unrelated to the fic. if people can’t tell whether or not something is a personal post, they’ll be hesitant to reblog. if you want to add commentary, put it in a second reblog. 

what should i include in my ao3 summary? 

this is a bit of a moving target. some readers like fairly detailed summaries. other readers look to tags for content information and prefer abstract vibes-based summaries. my suggestion would be to include the main selling points of your work — the characters, the tropes, and whatever factors make it unique.

at the end of the day, though, basically anything other than ‘i suck at summaries’ is fine.

what ao3 tags should i include?

any major pairings, any major characters, any major tropes. imagine your fic from a reader’s perspective — what tags would they look under if they were searching for something like it? 

also pay attention to whether or not an ao3 tag is canonical. only canonical tags can be filtered on. if it autocompletes, it’s canonical.

for more information on a specific tag, click into the tag to reach the ‘x works in TAG’ screen, then click it again. tags are often made synonyms of specific canonical tags, in which case filters will treat them as if they’re that tag. you can get pretty granular with all of this but basically if you use tags that autocomplete you’re good to go.

you can also use tags to clarify content. (ex. ‘this trope is only a minor aspect of the story.) ao3 used to ask people not to do this, but it’s now explicitly permitted. 

does posting time matter? 

yes. sorry. it does. quite a bit, frankly.  people often overthink this — there are so many variables trying to find the exact perfect time is a losing game — but it is absolutely worth taking into account. 

when should i post?

on ao3: do NOT post between 12AM and 5AM UTC. ao3 has a longstanding posting glitch that will backdate your work if it’s posted between these times. in general: broadly speaking fic tends to do best on sundays and worst on friday. posting on a holiday dramatically drives down traffic. fic should be posted on ao3 when most people would likely have time to read (ex. after the standard workday) and promo posts should be posted when people would likely be looking for fic (ex. commuting hours aka slightly before 9AM and at 5PM.) the majority of tumblr users operate in EST. 

the university semester also makes a massive difference to how much engagement a fic gets — views always shoot up during breaks and plummet during exams. honestly working around this would require delaying your fic so frequently that i can’t see it being worth it, but it’s good to be aware of in terms of the response you’re expecting. 

also the ‘best’ posting time does vary a lot genre by genre so you’ll have to experiment a bit. (personally i’ve found h/c tends to do better midweek, for example.) imagine your fic from a reader’s perspective: when would you likely be looking for this sort of thing? 

anyway don’t drive yourself crazy with this but also don’t shoot yourself in the foot by posting at 2AM EST on christmas morning. do you have a random piece of advice about posting on ao3? please be aware that if you write your fic as a draft, ao3 will backdate the fic to the day you saved the draft and index it accordingly -- it won't show up in the newest fics. multichapters initially posted as drafts will sometimes glitch and backdate every single new chapter. you can correct this by checking the 'set a different publication date' box and manually inputting it.

should i reblog my own promo posts? yes. do this. do it multiple times. make sure you do at least one reblog in the morning, one in the night, and one on the weekend.

i feel like authors are often embarrassed to reblog their own work because it feels self-important but the fact is most people are not reading your blog start to finish. no one will see all your reblogs. tbh you may lose followers for this but this is is a guide on fic visibility, not tumblr popularity. 

please conclude your post now

anyway!! i hope some of this is helpful. again, you don't need to do any or all of this, but i hope it can provide a bit of a framework and some suggestions.

[hunter470]

My 9-1-1 RANT

Ok, I don’t normally do these types of posts, but I can’t move on until I get some things out. These are just my thoughts about the latest episodes of 9-1-1 as well as overall comments on the Buck/Tommy relationship. These opinions are mine and are based on the countless hours of TV I’ve watched in my 54 years on this planet, as well as my knowledge of writing and how Hollywood operates. I’m not confirming that any of this is true or are the real intentions of anyone involved with the show. Just my opinions. So, you can agree with me or not. I’m not trying to persuade anyone in any way. Also, I’m not going to get into endless arguments about my opinions but feel free to comment if you want, I just don’t promise I’ll reply. 

Ok, here we go. Sorry it’s so long. Like I said earlier, I just needed to get it out. So many wasted opportunities.

If you think TM cares what the fans want, you’re seriously kidding yourself. If he did, Buddie would have been canon a long time ago. The only thing he cares about is ratings and his vision for the show, which can change at a moment’s notice with no rhyme or reason as we’ve seen. 

Although I loved Buck and Tommy together, I knew the show wouldn’t do their story justice. So, no matter what TM or OS have said, the bi story was only to garner publicity, draw in new viewers, and increase ratings especially with the show moving to a new network. There was no altruistic reason behind it so don’t kid yourself. They knew there was an audience for the story because of all the Buddie shippers. Just remember, it’s called show business, not show friends for a reason.

Do you think OS really cares about bi representation? Based on his latest comments and non-apology it’s obvious he only cares about getting the stories that garner him the most screen time and press. Seriously, read his latest interviews. He’s excited to get to have fun now. So, congrats OS, Buck gets to F around. Just shows how most, if not all, actors are ego driven no matter what they say. Sorry not sorry.

TM has commented that he doesn’t owe anyone anything. In fact, I recall him saying to Buddie fans if they don’t like it, read fanfiction. If that didn’t clue you in, then you weren’t reading the room. Kinda reminds me of another show runner…for those who watched H50 you know who I’m talking about. That’s why I don’t get heavily invested in these shows. I’ll watch but I never expect anything I like to last…especially if it has to do with gay relationships.

It says a lot that the show remained completely silent about the bullying and death threats Lou received just for playing a role he was happy to play. Again, they really didn’t care because they knew he wasn’t going to be there after episode six. What a great message for all the bullies…just keep bullying and you’ll get what you want. 

Again, reread OS’s interviews. He was doing the Hollywood double speak. Says just enough to keep you hooked with hope to get you to watch even when he knew all along it wasn’t lasting. It really was as clear as day if you go back and read what he said. 

Also, if you thought Buck was going to get into a meaningful long-term relationship, then you didn’t watch the video from the You Tuber “Call Me Chato” that TM posted on his Facebook. The video was all about characters and how they should always stay fundamentally the same with minimal development - I’m paraphrasing. However, Buck is the golden retriever, heart so big it gets broken, character who will remain on a hamster wheel and unlucky in love because that’s who he is. If he changes too much it shifts the dynamic, which only happens if the show was ending. 

If you thought the writers would do justice to a bisexual story, then you haven’t been watching the show closely. There’s been minimal Buck/Tommy relationship development on screen. Taylor got more. Viewers were lucky to get crumbs in the limited screen time Buck and Tommy got. Then, a breakup out of left field? One minute Buck is saying Tommy is it for him and he wants him to move in, and then it’s over? If he truly felt deeply for Tommy, why not fight to keep him? Why give up so easily and let him walk away? What’s the point? Also, to end it on a terrible stereotype is yet another clue. Horrible writing and another sign that TM and OS had zero investment in the relationship. The whole break up was rushed and made no sense. Essentially, it was just used to draw people in and to get Buck single and sleeping around again because that’s who he is. I for one won’t care for any of Buck’s future relationships. I mean, why would I when they never last. 

Also, writers that give you a 66-year-old police sergeant and a 10 y/o boy landing a heavily damaged plane on an active freeway in LA with no prior training, and sorry playing video game flight simulators is not training, is some Sharknado level writing, which is not a compliment. Oh, and that whole story was truly the shows “jumping the shark” moment. If you don’t know what the term “jumping the shark” means, look it up and try to tell me I’m wrong. 

Not having Tommy involved in the three part premier episodes, other than a few minutes at a birthday party, was so obvious as to the show’s intent. I mean, the fake captain from Hotshots got more screen time. 

They claim they wanted someone for Buck that was connected to him and the 118 and then you don’t use the character at all. You wanted Buck off the hamster wheel? What a crock! Such a wasted opportunity.

Since it’s been confirmed episode 6 was filmed before 5, Tim’s just playing god with peoples’ feelings and crushing their hearts at this point. I mean, how do you have such a great episode (5) and a wonderful speech by Josh (6) just to break them up? Plus, having Tommy break up after six months? That man was all in, which was obvious in episode 5.

Guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that’s how TM would handle things after that horrible Tarlos breakup. At least on Lone Star we knew Rafa (Carlos) was a main cast member so there was hope. Lou was a guest star so it seems kinda final based on his interviews. Again, what was the point? They could have had Buck's bi revelation be with a random character. So, building up the Buck/Tommy relationship just to take it away was to inflict the most pain. Good job. 

Do I think the show will make Buddie canon? Who knows…one thing I do know is I wouldn’t trust them if they did. Also, even if Tommy somehow returns, I don’t trust TM with anything related to this story. Sure, hope he’s happy with ruining the show for so many people. Again, like another show runner I mentioned in item 4 above. Honestly, I can’t believe the Buddie fans have stayed for so long. That’s commitment, I guess. 

Do I think Lou should go back to 9-1-1? Hell no! He was screwed over by both TM and OS. Prove it to me otherwise. However, it’s up to him and of course, he loves acting so I wouldn’t blame him.

Finally, even though I’ve watched the show since the beginning, it no longer brings me joy. There are too many other TV shows to stick with one I no longer enjoy. So yes, I’m announcing my departure, and I don’t give an F what OS, you, or anyone else thinks about it. Not that any of this matters any way…

[cheezybiscuits]

I wanted to take a crack at a murder drones hummoons au and give it a biblically accurate twist.

Ideas behind this flavor of au include:

-This is an urban fantasy post-apocalypse setting. Loads of witches n' stuff. Humans are separated by natural-borns and homunculi, the latter obviously being a slave class that makes up most of the survivors after the catastrophe.

-The kind of vampirism where mana/soul energy is consumed.

-Everything else is angel-like. After the apocalypse people call them "death angels" unless you're in one of those crazy cults who think humanity deserves this, those folks call em "god's wrath/soldiers"

-they don't wear shoes because divinity symbolism. Also I think it's pretty metal if V just lets her feet get sliced up on sharp debris out of sheer masochism.

-The other thing on their double halos are for hearing. One side senses low pitches and the other senses high pitches humans can't hear.

-Actually being angels is just the myths humans have come up with.

-The more I think about urban-fantasy absolute solver the more I realize it looks like the eldritch psychic powers in Akira so fuck it. Uzi's having that kinda bad time. As you can see I like to put fur on the viscera.

-This version of the solver intends to do the Flood(TM) thing where it collects as much assimilated biomass as possible for a huge fleshy home base.

[presidentlokis-hornyhelmet]

Loki x wife!Reader Headcanons [throughout the MCU]

Thor1 Loki: He's so soft soft baby TM and caring and always so sweet to you, in private or in public. Love is overflowing! Always kissing you and spoiling you. Not handsy but is always hand holding, or wraps arm around your waist. 2x Verbal Admiration than when he courted you. Favorite thing in the world is your blush and your laugh. You make him melt and he worships the ground you walk on. Gifts, LOTS of gifts. 

"i don't deserve you, y/n."  "If You don't deserve me, no one else does." 

💕How is the love-making?: Soft and Full of emotion! Worships your body; worships You. He'll make you understand why it's called love-making. Frequent eye contact because he loves getting lost in your eyes. Asgard who? (Odin has to forbid you from seeing Loki at work hours because it distracts him😂)

Avengers1 Loki: won't even look you in the eye, ignores your presence like his heritage. When you do manage to get a word with him, he'll Loki-talk you (i.e. vague words with ambiguous meanings that can be interpreted any way) into thinking he's been cheating on you (LIES). Not even a decent answer. Refuses to give you anything but his ire. 

"You still think me a lovesick puppy, girl?"  "My husband is a God who's just deeply devoted to his wife! Who are you and what have you done to him!?"  "Tut tut, my darling Lorelei -oh wait, that's not Your name." *smirks evilly and vanishes* 

💕Um.. love-making..?: most probably not, he's busy being Villain TM. But if you do manage to, he'll end up leaving you unsatisfied or humiliated, tossing you away like a rag doll -anything to make you think he's a bad guy (He's not. But you have to, otherwise The Other might hurt you too.)

TDW Loki: he'd still keep up the A1 facade and if you still want him, he'll be mean and act borderline disrespectful, claiming it's your duty as his wife. But in reality, he only wants to hurt you because spending the rest of his life locked up will be easier with you hating him. Looks at you longingly from his cell with an inexplicable sadness in his eyes, but will aboslutely deny it. 

"I know you wouldn't invade Midgard simply for power. I know you are above that, Loki."  "It is 'my Prince' to you. And, I'd rather you stick to your duties as just my wife." 

💕Smut?: Sure, if you hide it from Odin's knowledge. Lots of degradation, though. You can see the apology on his face, feel the desperation on his touch and hear the veiled sadness is his piercing words. His body language is begging you to stay, yearning for you and hoping you'd understand. Once it's over, he won't even look at your eyes knowing if he does, he can't be mean to you. What hurts him should make him stronger. 

TR Loki: After he shockingly discovered his mysterious survival, he ran back to the palace in search of you. But got to Odin first and.. y'know. He's successfully avoided any romance with you thanks to his disguise, but yearning is on the double when he sees the depth of your devotion. 

"All-Father, I wish to petition a statue on my... late husband's behalf. Of him, of what he's done for Asgard."  "He's a traitor and a convict."  "Who gave his life in atonement. It was a misguided atte-"  "Misguided!? Is that what you call acting against the Hlidskjalf? He invaded Midgard and took innocent lives!"  "And paid for it with his own. I beg your reconsideration, All-Father."  *After a long, scrutinizing pause* "The council will decide." "T-thank you, All-Father."  *Loki as Odin looks at you bow and retreat, sadness in his eyes* 'Oh, my love, how do you still love me after all I've done to you?' 

After evading death by planetary destruction and back in the Statesman hale, healthy and alive, he makes up for earlier. You refuse to accept, still feeling bitter, but Loki has his ways ;) 

💕How so? 👀: As I said, making up. For dayyyys. Lots of apologizing, lots of begging and even the occasional spanking. Many, many rounds even. Thor is quite concerned. Wait, why is Loki carrying you everywhere, can't you wal- OH. 

IW Loki: If you thought you knew how much he loves you (in Thor1), oh baby, you're about to be proven wrong. F*cking killed Thanos in, like, 2 seconds max. All it took was Big Ugly Grape-head to see you and give a creepy smile, the next minute he's lying headless on the ground, his army dissipating into dust. 

"The tesseract or yo-" *gets decapitated by Loki* 

❓And the love-making?: .... uh, doubtful.. Thor is busy choking your husband about why the f*ck he didn't say anything of having the tesseract. (Seriously, Thor, how else did you think he survived a planetary level destruction!? *exasperated sigh*) 

And you lived happily ever after <3 

The end. 💚

[prezaki]

Bucchigiri?! and 'being Honki' - a Show about Identity and Human Connection

With Hiroko Utsumi's newest work as a director now completed, I want to take a moment to discuss the thematic through-lines of Bucchigiri?! and explain why I think that the story was very coherent even if it first seemed erratic.

At the heart of the series is the concept of the Honki Person(TM) - and that's where the confusion starts. Leaving the word 'Honki' in Japanese for the subs suggests a lore-heavy emphasis on some kind of supernatural mechanic in-story. It caused many viewers expected a well-defined shounen-typical power system - but that isn't what Honki is nor what it was ever meant to be.

"Honki" is the Japanese word 本気, which means Seriousness, Earnestness (or doing something 'in earnest, for real' if used as an adverb). 'Honki People' literally just means 'Earnest People'

And thus "Honki" is doing double duty as a red herring Lore Concept and a regular word - an intentional ambiguity that is inevitably lost by translation.

In the show, the characters do initially think of the 'Honki Person' as a literal thing to become (a supernaturally powerful master martial artist) rather than as a state of being in which one is earnest - but the thing is that the narrative proves them wrong.

But before we get to that, we need to dig a little bit deeper into what a Honki Person is thought to be in-universe:

"Historically", those thought of as Honki were fighters who participated in conflicts 300 years ago - a bit after the end of the Sengoku Period, the continuously warring states that had defined Japan for two centuries. With the advent of the rigidly structured Edo Period, honorable fighters with no clear systemic alliance were no longer needed and the aspiring Honki People(TM) were mercilessly gunned down. This feels out of left field for an anime like Bucchigiri?! to focus on, so I propose a second more allegorical layer to impose over the literal pseudo-historical read.

Even beyond the historical fact that gun imports changed warfare, the usage of guns here is deliberate to represent something. Guns are associated with authorities, and contrasted against the Honki People(TM) shunning weapons and fighting only with their own bodies.

To be Honki(TM) means to be true to yourself and secure in your own identity - this is something that is a hindrance to a social system that relies on rules and groupthink to sustain itself. Supporting this assumption, the theme of 'death' by weapon/authority is mirrored in the show several times:

On the one hand, we have the NG Boys, a gang set apart from the other gangs in the story by their even more rigid hierarchical structure and their willingness to use weaponry. They all follow one leader, have one uniform look, and appear basically brainwashed into blind obedience.

The association of weapons=structure and authority is made pretty clearly through that alone, but is also enhanced by all the members of the NG Boys living under constant threat of being fed to the real authorities of society: the police. Fear keeps everyone in line.

And further, the idea of society as an oppressive force (especially to the lower class) is put into direct focus through Mitsukuni and Matakara. Poverty is brought up briefly before through Senya (our main Honki Person(TM) was a nameless orphan after all) and brought back with the Asamine brothers:

Mitsukuni wishes to escape his social status in order to offer a better life to his brother - and he's forcibly held down by the oppressive system around him.

The cop that causes Mitsukuni to go to jail is equivalent to the guns that shot Senya and Ichiya.

(Utsumi has explored this underlying socially critical current before. Not for nothing, her previous series SK8 opens with the memorable bridge of the title song reading: "before society can kill us".)

But Bucchigiri?! isn't about overthrowing the system. It's about the individual. Understanding the context about authority just helps setting the real theme into focus.

And that theme is to hold on steadfast to who you are and allow yourself to connect with others, even in various kinds of adversity.

After this long, long preamble, let's get to the actual main characters!!

Matakara and Arajin are people who are ruled by fear and who spend 11 episodes running from others and themselves in two very different ways.

Arajin is pretty hated as a protagonist, which amuses me a little, because nobody hates Arajin more than Arajin hates Arajin.

His past cowardice in failing to protect Matakara has clearly shown him that he is a pathetic person and he's spent his whole life since then trying to avoid being reminded of this. He avoids Matakara, the strongest reminder of his failure, but further than that he avoids connection with anybody that he could see as a peer.

Arajin is solely focused on finding love and romance because he feels inherently inferior to every person he would be invited to contrast himself against. He avoids other guys because he hates himself. He shuns connection and pursues only people (girls) he views as different enough to not invite any comparison.

Matakara meanwhile has major abandonment issues - he's lost his parents, Arajin, and his brother. Everyone important to him keeps vanishing from his life and in order to keep himself from feeling powerless about this he decides to blame himself.

If it's his own fault that people leave him (because he's weak) then there is something in his power that he can do in order to avoid being hurt again (becoming stronger). In order to maintain this state of motivational self-hatred, he puts others on a pedestal.

Matakara needs Arajin to be strong, powerful, honest and admirable... because that is the image he holds himself up by. In Mitsukuni and Arajin, Matakara creates god-like icons to chase after. And by doing so, he also shuns genuine connection.

Being confronted with Arajin as a flawed person gives Matakara a breakdown because it makes it harder to run from his own loneliness by focusing on chasing after Arajin.

Arajin is always running, but Matakara is always chasing... because he can't stand to look behind and face his monster.

In a lot of ways, Arajin and Matakara can't connect because they care about each other. Arajin can't stand what he allowed to happen to Matakara because he cared about Matakara. Matakara clings to Arajin because he loves him.

This theme of love hindering connection is again mirrored in two other characters - Senya and Ichiya, of course.

Ichiya, unwilling to confront his own terminal illness head-on, wishes to avoid it by goading Senya into killing him. By doing this, he can run from his own weakness and put Senya on a pedestal instead.

Meanwhile Senya is attached to their connection as-is and wishes to maintain this master-disciple dynamic forever - going so far as to deny his own strength in order to avoid acknowledging their changing dynamic.

Both of them are denying something about themselves.

It is their self-denial that makes their communication and thus connection break down.

Ichiya can't make Senya go Honki(TM) (which should have definitely been translated as an adverb here, e.g. 'failing to make him get serious') because he is also not HONEST with him or himself.

In the finale, Senya finally admits his motivations (his illness, his perceived weakness) and he is rewarded with the honest fight he'd been craving. They both stopped running.

This theme becomes even clearer through the two leads, of course, but even earlier than that it exists in Mahoro.

Mahoro's scene in episode 6 is the thematic linchpin that carried the whole show on its shoulders. Through Mahoro, everyone in the cast gets their first glimpse at true unrelenting Honki(tm) - and it is something totally unrelated to fighting prowess.

Mahoro is physically powerless against Akutaro, but she won't run. She has a heart that won't run away, the key quality of the Honki Person(TM), because she has an unshakable sense of self-identity.

It would be easy to dismiss her cutesy design as a contrivance to give Arajin a conventional-looking love interest despite going to Delinquent Academy - but it also says something about HER. Mahoro marches to the beat of her own drum. She does not care that she does not fit in, she does not mind being alone - she'll stick right to her own aesthetic and priorities.

So it's easy for her to call out Akutaro - and in doing so, call out the whole cast along with him:

You're empty. You are nothing but a shell, shaped by how you relate to those around you. You have nothing to offer.

And how are you supposed to connect with anybody, when you don't even know who you are?

(Notably, Mahoro is also a character who refuses to compromise on her self even for love - she knows she does not appeal to Marito, but she's not changing herself to be more his type. Her Honki does not budge, even for him.)

And lest you think I am exaggerating by connecting the theme of identity and emptiness back to all of the cast instead of just Akutaro: it does come back with Matakara.

Matakara can't believe anybody would know him and care for him, because he doesn't know himself.

For Matakara, facing himself means acknowledging his fear of abandonment rather than externalizing it as a hallucination of a literal monster.

But facing yourself doesn't just mean facing your demons, it also means facing your own positive qualities. And that is Arajin's story.

Even as Arajin turned into a scummy, evasive and selfish guy, there is a part of him that has a throughline to who he always was. He's someone who can get invested in others with reckless abandon.

Whether as a child with Matakara, or in the present with Mahoro... Arajin wants to connect.

Bucchigiri?! is a show full of innuendo and sexual gags. Merging with a genie gets equated to sex, fighting gets equated to sex... and of course this is for laughs, but it's also thematic.

Because all these things are about connection. About facing someone else with your whole self.

On a literal level, yes, Arajin absolutely wants to get laid. This is his sincere desire, and good for him.

But at the same time, his battle cry of 'I want to lose my virginity!' is him crying out for a real connection, even at a time when he shunned the idea thereof.

In the end, being a Honki Person(TM) has nothing to do with fighting. Fighting is the way a lot of the rough and tumble guys on the show like to connect, but it is not the only way to do so and not the only way to be Honki(TM).

Arajin never learns to love brawling - he did it out of circumstance and necessity, but it's not his hobby. He does not need to discover some hidden love of fighting, because this show fundamentally isn't about how 'fighting is inherently good' or anything.

It's a show about how even when you hate yourself and think you're as low as it can get, acknowledging your own self in full is the first step to finding a real bond with somebody else.

It just also happens to feature a bunch of delinquents who love to punch a lot.

[ice-lice-and-2-many-dice]

Ok so I just finished Grian LimitedLife episode 4 and I would like to share the top three moments that made me go Absolutely Feral tm

Grian seeing that Scar is the one who got the Sneak 100 achievement and immediately getting double life flashbacks

When he keyboard spammed in chat and Pearl immediately asked what summoning spell he was using this time

Grian returning to fulfill a promise he made to help someone NOTORIOUSLY DEATH PRONE, stay alive

[nat-20s]

There's a poll going around on which Nuwho Doctor you could take in a fight and I don't wanna limit it to just choosing one so here's my very official and correct ranking of in Doctor vs Me who would win:

Twelve: Twelve straight up can and probably will beat me to death. Please do not make me fight Doctor Disco she has a guitar and he WILL use it like a steel chair against me. Also there's a decent chance I deserved it.

Nine: Can beat me to death but I'm PRETTY sure I could talk her out of it. For as much as Nine is a Bitch TM (EXTREMELY complimentary) I think I COULD be like "cmon man you don't wanna kill me :( aren't you tired of going apeshit?? don't you just want to be nice??" and he'd be like yeah okay :/

Fifteen: The only nuwho Doctor that I know actually goes to the gym and has a consistent workout. They would absolutely beat me in a fight but I think it'd be like a bar fight where we would go out for drinks and become best friends afterwards. I have a broken nose and I'm just like "oh yeah that came from my good buddy The Doctor :)!"

Thirteen: This is the most even match I'm not sure either one of us would win as much as we'd both be walking away with some serious wounds. We are both short kings and both of us would fight absolutely NASTY. There is a LOT of biting and hair pulling and scratching and kicking involved. One of us is leaving with a torn off earlobe and I genuinely do not know which one of us it is.

Ten: King of having a glass jaw. This Doctor gets knocked tf out SO many times. Like sure he's scrappy and Much taller than me but also every time I see David Tennant I'm like. Yeah I could probably pick that man up and throw him a good few feet. She gets a few good hits in but ultimately I am winning this fight.

Eleven: I am so sorry to both the Eleventh Doctor and to Matt Smith but they are EASILY the most punchable doctor. His face and clothes and demeanor all add up to an extremely specific type of like male computer science/physics double major that brings out the fucking worst in me. I am turning into a chimpazee that you made eye contact with. There is a 75% chance I'm straight up killing that man. I want cool house mother Doctor Disco and that regeneration is happening MUCH sooner.

Fourteen: From a physical standpoint? The Doctor I straight up could win in a fight easiest. As i stated with Ten I'm pretty sure I could pick him up and throw him but Fourteen wouldn't fight back. She is NOT scrappy her rage is burning out in seconds he is so so sad and wet. Wet paper towel of a man. I could take 'em down. I would feel so so so bad about it though.

[bonefall]

Super interested in how you plan to write Leopardfoot! I feel like both fanon and canon tend to make her into a sweet mom(tm) who’s super sad that Tigerstar is evil, very similar to how Goldenflower is usually treated. What’s her thoughts on Pinestar and him leaving? How did she influence Tigerstar? What are her political beliefs?

Society has progressed past the need for sad moms who stare tearily at their evil sons and boohoo about all the murder. It's MOTHER AGENCY TIME

BB!Leopardfoot was FEROCIOUS. Her father was the indominable Adderfang, and he taught her about the importance of honor and glory. When Tigerpaw was given to Thistleclaw as an apprentice, she was proud of it. It felt perfect to her-- that her father's apprentice was now her son's mentor.

For his brief rule, she supported Sunstar completely. It helped that he came after the disastrous and embarassing exit of Pinestar, which ruined the legacy that she wanted him to give her son. Pinestar was a damn coward and a codebreaker... and she assured Tigerkit that he was more HER son than his.

She even gives him a life, for Legacy, in defiance of StarClan

She was friends with Bluemoon for a time, but after ascending to StarClan, she learned about the Forget-me-nots.

This changed her opinion of her. Leopardfoot supports Thistle Law, STRONGLY so.

She supported THISTLECLAW when he tried to forcefully void the Queen’s Rights. If Bluemoon hadn't broken the code, then what did she have to hide?

She backed off when Thrushpelt leapt to her defense though, "She didn't reveal it because she doesn't love me are you happy now??"

Leopardfoot: *awkwardly turns away feeling like an asshole now, tea SPILLED, her friend's dirty laundry EXPOSED, thought she was crusading for the law but she just dug up drama*

Towards the end of Pinestar’s reign, he was getting exhausted. He wanted peace. Leopardfoot wanted kittens around that time, and figured that there was no better cat than the son of Oakstar, architect of the infamous Crusade Era.

If Pinestar had no children, a glorious bloodline would have died out. She wanted it for her kits. Pinestar agreed on the condition that he would be their Mi, which she happily accepted.

So when Pinestar left, she jumped into the nursery to take over and had to explain to her kits where their Mi went.

She drove it home to them that he abandoned everything, because his weakness took over. They would never be like him, she promised.

Mistkit died very young. Nightpaw made it to apprenticeship before she also succumbed. Tigerclaw remembers very well how hard it was to lose his sisters.

Leopardfoot herself was taken shortly before TPB, in Spottedleaf's Plague. Her death causes Tigerclaw to have a bit of a moment.

After the trial in Bluestar's Flowers, Leopardfoot leaves StarClan along with a bunch of other Thistle Law supporters, including Thistleclaw himself. She joins the BOTTE at the end of OotS, fighting to the end with her son.

She misses him a lot, and remains in the Dark Forest to the current arc. She chose her path; and has the dignity to walk it.

She does miss StarClan sometimes though, and will tell you stories about it if you ask.

In terms of demon friends, she's somewhere in the clique between the harsher and softer spirits.

She dislikes Morningstar, Cloudberry, and Ryewhisker on the softer end, and has come to resent Thistleclaw and Finchflight on the other, but likes Darkstripe, Leopardstar, and Silverhawk.

Gets along with a range of "mid" level demons.

In particular I imagine she hangs out with Darkstripe a lot. Taste test buddy, he asks her to try his experimental recipes because she's honest but not mean. One of the few Thistle Law supporting cats he hangs out with after the double-death of Tigerstar.

He calls her Lefty. Her official nickname is "Left" but he calls her Lefty.

(Clanmew: her name is Saorpwyyar. Others call her Saopr. He calls her Sapyy.)

Her mom and dad Swiftbreeze and Adderfang are here too, following Thistleclaw like she did, but she's been minimizing her contact with her dad. She feels like she is owed an apology somehow but also doesn't have the emotional intelligence to know that it's what she wants.

She just knows that she feels really bitter talking to him, and that's unpleasant.

She used to be VITRIOLIC with Pinestar, who is also here, even going after him physically when he chose to join in with the Dark Forest trainees. But now... honestly so much shit has happened, she just doesn't like seeing him. She wishes he wasn't here.

I write her being very dignified. She doesn't like to admit publically she was ever wrong and speaks with confidence, quietly backing off and not wanting to speak about her mistakes. She loves her children and her family, but explores the world in a very "self-centric" way, trusting her feelings and personal judgement over anything logical.

A reactionary sort of person, if that makes sense.

Her Land Mar has to develop over time because she is an ex-StarClan migrant (damned souls get theirs instantly after judgement), but it's called the Fence Cliff. It's a picket fence that blocks off a sheer drop, making a sharp turn down the cliff face and acting as a walkway. Follow the fence down the slope, and you can access the Dark Forest's town biome.

[rayshippouuchiha]

Okay but what does Unohana think of Urahara taking an interest in her prodigy? Amusement? Protectiveness??? Kinda feeling mama bear Unohana myself, hehe.

I'd say a bit of both.

Because Unohana, much like Ichigo, doesn't have time for most bullshit. Over the years she's had to deal with more than a few members of other Squads not only routinely thinking down on the 4th Division but also daring to think that just because their primary focus is healing that means they can also be used as the unofficial Comfort Division(TM).

Which is something she does not abide by and never fails to set her off just a bit. And if she were to find out that Urahara has those kinds of plans for Ichigo?

Well.

So there's an overall protectiveness in Unohana for her Squad which is doubled for Ichigo as her direct apprentice.

Eventually though, when it becomes obvious that Urahara-taicho is Serious, she finds it all a bit amusing.

Because Urahara is so Smitten, like an adorable little wolf pup, all bloody fur and begging eyes, straved for Ichigo's attention.

And Ichigo is so obviously not immune to him no matter how Ichigo might try to act. Unohana has walked in on Ichigo treating Urahara for this or that more than once and she's seen the small smiles, the exasperated sighs, the soft hands that never falter as long as Ichigo thinks there's no one around.

Doesn't mean Unohana wouldn't be willing to beat Urahara to death with his own spine and then revive him if she was pushed to.

[sylvanus-cypher]

Okay I'm going batshit insane with Celestial Bodies builds and I'm about to make it everyone's problem. Watch out followers because I'm gonna be on this bullshit for a while, and if you don't understand what madness I'm spouting, check out Celestial Bodies here. They've got a bunch of free copies to go around, and I didn't specifically buy the tier that adds three copies to the community pool for nothing; go read it! I'm certain you Lancer fans would enjoy it

This is the layout L//F model of frame, a quick and quirky little guy notable for having all the HP of a tuberculosis-ridden Victorian child and the speed of a cat on crack. That Streamlined trait that doubles its movement? We're gonna be abusing the hell out of that to run loop-de-loops around bitches. This build will require exactly four components:

First, we'll need an ultra thruster in square configuration on the far left of the build. Normally, this oversized thruster would make us move 5 units per move, but Streamlined lets us move 10. For context, the furthest-reaching weapon in the game is range 6, and average unmoddified mech speed is 2.

Second, an ultralight reactor. Now, you might point out that this means exactly one lucky hit will instantly kill our mech. I would point out that I'm no coward and I can handle a little death every now and again.

Next, a recoil compensation processor. This crucial piece of equipment will prevent us from pissing in the wind with our main method of attack, God's Favourite Weapon:

The Big Fucking Gun[tm]. To prevent lighter builds from abusing this bastard, it specifically causes increased inaccuracy when fielded to anything smaller than a heavy build. Unfortunately for anyone on the business end of this thing, that's Not Fucking Enough, especially since one (1) RC processor gets us back to standard.

Since you get 3 actions per turn, the plan is comically simple: Zoom in with that 10 speed (1); introduce your target to the BFG (2); zoom tf out (3). With 10 entire movement speed, this means you can reliably go toe-to-toe with ultra mechs and swooce right out before they can so much as target you. You'll be reliably out of range of basically anything, and even if by some miracle you do end up in range the 20 movement you make gives you 6 entire evasion which makes you functionally immortal to anything with less than 4 full-auto attacks or explosives. You can straight-up outrun missiles.

Everyone else is playing Battletech while you're playing Project Wingman.

Anyways check out Celestial Bodies and maybe give them some support, the system they've crafted is really cool!

[rocksibblingsau]

This probably going to be spoilers, but how do you hc that rock trolls deal with grief/organize their funerals?

I feel that they would either double down into their hard-rockness (destroy literally everything and throw the corpse into lava kinda shit) or embrace more of the gothic and/or melancholic side of the genre (Fleetwood Mac, F+TM, The Crane Wives, Depeche Mode, etc and etc)

The first option sounds more canon, but it should be fun to reimagine a sub-genre not as a complete different type of troll but "it depends of the mood" shorta deal, it creates more variety (especially for rock, that has a million sub-genres)

I think with Rock there's actually a wide variety of ways funerals are conducted! So some trolls, especially those in the more gothic/emo/folk rock scenes, do focus more on the melancholic and grief-stricken aspects of a funeral.

Meanwhile some trolls focus more on the anger that comes with loss. There's crying but also screaming, destruction, etc. Actually in Rock Troll culture there's a bit of a more lighthearted (by their standards) tradition of insulting the dead. Some people simply insult the circumstances of like 'I hate all machinery. I hate all soda now because you were crushed by that can crusher.' But some are like 'How could you die to that? Why were you so weak and squishy that you died? How could you leave us and die to a can crusher of all things?'

Down the line they might do more 'honor the life over the death' activities like moshes and stuff, but rock concerts held in honor of someone normally has the iconic 'everyone holding up a lighter as a slow song plays' scene.

They definitely don't throw the body in lava, as to Rock Trolls that'd basically be like tossing a corpse into the swimming pool. I'd love to say they have a viking funeral/funeral pyre and burn them but... Rock Trolls are lava proof. Lava or fire is a TERRIBLE arrangement.

Branch would probably appreciate the more somber aspects and maybe some of the rage. I don't think he'd be up for insulting his grandma, but maybe the circumstance of her death (cough chef cough).

I should add that the insults are only for close people. Even if Branch were okay with the concept, he would be the only one permitted to do so. Even with Branch's permission, Barb joke-insulting Rosiepuff would be a huuuuge insult to her memory even in Rock culture standards. The point of it is one last teasing session between friends and family, not to entertain anyone else or air actual frustrations.

[a-libra-writes]

Hello! Just wanted to request if you can do another Mordecai and Reader. Maybe like a part 3 lmao cause I'm kinda curious on how his relationship with reader will progress after Atlas's death and he joins the Marigold gang. Will he leave and watch over them from afar (basically murder anyone who does anything to them) cause he now feel even less deserving of their relationship? Or will they be like a double agent couple who pretends to join the marigold gang just to learn the truth of Atlas's death. Really just wanna see this murder cat double down on the protective instinct especially when the Savoys are involved. Like, I can see Mordecai practically growling at then lmao. Thank you!

Yes YES part 3.... I still keep thinking about this.... Continuation of Part 1 and Part 2, PLUS all the stuff surrounding Atlas' death and afterward.... GN reader, angst ahoy!

So, uh. cute things first, yes?

After years of this slow build-up and burn, and you two are finally Something Of an Item (tm), you might slip up and be a little physically close and affectionate in front of others. Mordecai will never talk about it, so anyone with suspicions would have to go to you with questions (and really, that's only Mitzi because she's been invested in this for a while). Because your partner is so private, it's probably best not to get into details. If he could blush he'd be burning red when Mitzi pats his shoulder and says she's so happy he found such a good person.

If you have a fur pattern that's aysmmetrical, or have odd-eyes, birth marks/beauty marks or just. Any really distinct appearance like that, sometimes Mordecai just stares. At first, years back, it was a stare of annoyance. Now that you're closer it's still intense, just, uh ... a different kind of intense. Unfortunately while most people have a cute doe-eyed look when looking at their partner, Mordecai's is consistently a little creepy. Oh well. He gets easily flustered when you look right back and stare him down, though.

He's never really celebrated his birthday, especially once he fled New York city. Once you figure it out, you won't make a big deal of it, but you do get him a nice meal and something practical he'd enjoy. A new pair of gloves, a nice plant, good quality shoes, something like that. It's a little present that he isn't sure how to react to at first. After doing it year after year, he finally accepts them with quiet appreciation and will do something similar for your birthday. His gifts are much the same, practical, well-made and simple. He prefers to leave them at your apartment rather than give them face to face.

When he gets into his wound up and irritated moods (probably something Viktor said), all you need to do is sit next to him and rub your face lightly against his, or just put your head on his shoulder to settle him down. Mordecai outright deflates, and struggles to hold onto that anger. You can only get away with this once you both are romantically attached and, seriously, you are the only one apart from maybe his sisters (who you probably don't even know about). This is a culmination of years of trust slowly building up; now he can finally start to show shreds of vulnerability.

(Tho if you purr on him he's going to get SO embarrassed he just shoots up and walks away and you flop back on the couch).

As much as you make him lose his composure, he's just as good as giving it back, though totally unaware of it. There's the rather intense staring as mention before, but Mordecai may also just grab your shoulders to keep you still as he adjusts some of your clothes. He's ... surprisingly strong when he wants to be. When you're both on a job with guns drawn, he has a habit of standing in front of you or jumping in front once trouble starts. When you're wounded he sits you right in front of him so he can bandage it up and do what he can and, yes, he will drag you to Elsa even though he's an absurdly difficult patient with her. She tells him as much.

(And he waits right by your side as you slowly wake up from the morphine).

Also ... if you're a lighter-haired cat, esp a long-haired one, he starts finding your hair all over his damn clothes and there is. Not enough lint brushes in the world. Love the mental image of him and Atlas having a discussion, when Atlas just reaches over and pulls off a long, lighter-colored hair off Mordecai's normally impeccable black coat.

Intimacy will still be tough; you almost have to walk him through it. He isn't ignorant of the mechanics, he just dislikes the whole ... business of it. Mordecai will do a little for your sake, and again, it's a lot of building up and easing him to be more comfortable with prolonged touching and intimacy. It's tough to say if this is easier depending on your gender, but regardless, he has to be the one whose more in control and setting the pace (even if you're encouraging him along). And of course, plenty of reassuring that you two can stop at any time.

(This has been stated many times before, but you are the exception. The thought of him being this close and vulnerable and intimate with anyone else makes him nauseous.)

Afterward he almost seems small and skittish in his tall body. Mordecai always has to shower and clean immediately, though it's no insult to you (and he doesn't mind if you join, though he gets very quite and embarrassed). He's just repulsed by filth and sweat in general; you know this, once he's washed up he's a lot more relaxed and even willing to cuddle for a while.

The first few times he had to remember the last time he'd been so close to someone, or even hugged them this long. The best he can remember is when he had to share a bed (more of a mattress) with his sisters when they first came to New York. Rose was still a baby and always cold, while Esther was scared of the noise of cars in the street and rats in the wall. The three kittens would pile up together and tremble until they fell asleep; sometimes their mother would join them, exhausted from work and cold herself. Even when they moved into a slightly less dilapidated apartment, his sisters would sleep in his bed during the frigid winters.

So it while it may surprise you that Mordecai is so close and clingy in his sleep, to him being that close is a very comforting warmth and sense of nostalgia. It's a toss-up with whose the big spoon. This is also one of the only times you'll hear him purr; it's quiet and only lasts a few minutes before he drifts off. Because he wakes up at the crack of dawn, you rarely get to see him sleeping unless you stay up after he falls asleep.

So ... moving onto the whole. Atlas business.

When it all goes down, well. He considered Viktor a good friend, and that friend ended up kneecapped so Mordecai wouldn't have to cross guns with him. An incentive to leave the life that was ruining them. Make no mistake, Mordecai would - while still bloody - warn you about leaving, too. He'd raise his gun at you, hoping the scare would be enough, knowing each second he does is actively tearing down the closest thing to a "other half" he had. His green eyes are cold and frighteing but mentally he is the one begging you to just listen to him and run. Don't make call his bluff, because he can't do it. The very closest he'd get is if you actually tried to stop him, or tried to talk him down, or took the gun - and the nerves would snap, and he'd give a warning shot. A piece of your ear is torn off, and there's a ringing in your head. It could've been your head; he's an excellent shot. He only missed because he wanted to.

It was a warning, but even that makes his hands shake. He's in disbelief that he did it. It was a sort of out of body experience when he shot Viktor, but for this he is vividly, painfully awake. Mordecai retreats from there, unable to make himself do anything else, hoping that's enough to destroy any shred of love you had.

If you stick around with Lackadaisy ...

Well. You and Viktor have a sort of ... awkward, unhealthy bond of being betrayed, with one of you having paid far more dearly than the other... though one could argue while he paid physically, you're paying in feeling like a piece of your heart was ripped out. You wouldn't be blamed for thinking he holds some resentment toward you, but that isn't the case at all. He feels sorry for you, and anger toward Moredcai for what he did to the two of you. There's still the resignation and guilt, but it's tinged with far more anger. Mitzi thanks god one of her best triggermen is still in good form, although - well, you're a little ... different than before. Your hearing still hasn't recovered from that shot, she knows, and the stitch-job wasn't ... the best.

The real problem is when - not if - you and Mordecai ever cross guns again. Mitzi is terrified of that inevitability, and to be fair, Mordecai does his utmost to avoid it. He wants no confrontation, not ever. If you two ever meet again, it's painfully obvious he wants to escape. For many nights, he thought you may hunt him down and shoot him - he'd deserve that much. As much as he's obsessed with the truth behind Atlus' death, if you chose to stop him dead in his tracks, wouldn't he deserve it?

If you left Lackadaisy, all the better. Mordecai may never hear from you again, and he tells himself that's for the best, even if there's a hole where his heart used to be. His mother, his sisters, you, Viktor, Mitzi, Atlas - he's failed many, many people. This is a new feeling, an emptiness, and that is what goads his frantic investigation on what truly happened to Atlas. It may be the only thing he has left.

Regardless if you stay or leave, Mordecai is more irritable and cold to those who knew him before ... though, considering he cut ties, that isn't many. He's a little thinner, and doesn't sleep as well. Asa Sweet couldn't tell the difference, and while the Savoy siblings can tell something isn't quite right, they don't know the history. They've heard stories and rumors, sure. Perhaps Serafine even hears a morsel of some former Lackadaisy gunman he was chummy with... it's all so intriguing. The first time she brought it up, he gave her such a venomous look that it only encouraged her curiosity.

Asa brought you up one time when talking with Mordecai, and holy shit he's never joking about that again. He broke into a sweat.

(Hell, even Mitzi tried to bring you up when she and Mordecai had that private conversation in her car. He shut her down so coldly, it frightened her.)

And yes, that means if you're still doing Lackadaisy operations with Rocky and Freckle, he has to hear about it. He's in the room when Asa gives the order to the Savoy siblings going after you, or worse, if Mordecai is brought onto the job. He makes it clear that he'll take care of you, and they can deal with the rest. Although it always seems like you're able to get away before it comes to that ...

If you two ever had to meet again for an extended period of time, yeah, the ... year of isolation and guilt and hurt (it feels like its been five years) is just palpable. Serafine and Niko quickly piece together that there was some serious history, more than they initially thought ...

Remember those silly photos Mitzi took, and she shared? Maybe you threw your's away, or lost them, but ... Mordecai keeps one in his wallet. If he anticipates trouble (as it always is with the goddamn Savoys), he moves it to his bedside for safekeeping. He's careful about preserving it. The corners are already starting to wear. There's fleeting thoughts of putting it in a picture frame, but - no, that'll just draw attention to it, and what right does he have to keep a photo of someone who hates him? When he thinks of you, he feels that picture burning a hole in his breastpocket. Any photos that have the two of you - even the blurry, distant ones Mitzi took while trying to get used to her camera- he blotted ink on himself, leaving only you there. Back when you had a smile.

Long story short, he's a mess. He's mentally frayed and physically he's not doing great; you're probably just the same. Mitzi worries about your health often, Rocky knows that some days he just shouldn't talk to you. Ivy remembers when she used to chatter away with Viktor, Mordecai and you, but she knows she can't bring those days up anymore. There may even be an odd wall between you two, whereas before you often spoiled and doted on the little Ivy.

There are probably moments in the past year where Mordecai just ... something gets ahold of him, and he goes out to where you live - if you left the city entirely, this would be difficult, but if you were still in St. Louis or stayed with the Little Daisy - he'd just stand out in the street where your home is, feeling incredibly creepy and exposed. Debating if he should write a letter, or leave something or - no, he shoots all those ideas down. He doesn't know if he stays a few minutes or an hour, but eventually the nerves get the better of him and he hurries away, feeling like a rat.

Well, you two were like peas in a pod for years ... it was a bond that neither of you had before, so it makes sense that just a year isn't enough to heal or repair much of it ...

[nepdapurrbeast]

gonna draw stuff tomorros maybe but i just had to hot down my ideas rq for an a hat in time ducktales (2017) collab bc i saw a drawing of webby talking to snatcher and it inspired me

scrooge in mafia town - hes there for some lost treasure belonging to the original inhabitants of the now named mafia town, and while looking for it he has to team up with some locals (mustache girl) to take down the mafia and find the treasure

dewey in dead bird studio - he got sucked into the glitz and glam of starring in a movie, and hes suprisingly chill about all the death defying stunts that are typically required for dj grooves and conductors movies! double win!

webby in subcon (obv) - she would be lured there by all of the supernatural history of subcon and she would definitely have alot of fun discovering the secrets of who the snatcher actually is and all the history and stuff like that. plus this is where snatcher is and its kinda a subway to that webby snatcher drawing that started this

huey in alpine skyline - he was going to try his hand at the badge he was tryna get in the mount neverrest episode (i cant remember the name rn im really sleepy) by mapping out the mountains of alpine skyline! while there he accidentally starts spreading the evil seeds (i dont know what to call them 😭) and it leads to him having to fix that (like hat kid did) and hes so caught up in it that he loses his chance at getting his badge

donald in the s.s literally cant sink - he tried to have another stress-free vacation on a boat, and once again, its ruined by some unforseen disaster. either this or he got a job there along with the seals i couldnt decide which fit better

louie in nyazuka metro - hes pretending to work with empress to eventually scam her of all her and the nyazukas money. classic louie tm louie inc