#even if it's not executed well or done very clumsy

[amunyan]

Just a small misunderstanding

I’m back with a another little fanfiction :D hakubandoo inspired this one ☺️🤗

Hope you like it

Drops of sweat trickle down your face. It's not just from the strenuous training; At the moment you're fighting Leopold one-on-one, like so often.  

Unconcentrated, you try to evade his clumsy attacks. The emphasis here is on "trying". Because the youngest of the Vermillion siblings is hitting you unusually often today...

"Hey, (Y/N)! What's wrong? You used to dodge so easily?"

You don't react to Leo's words. They don't even reach you. They echo, as if you are far away. Muffled, as if you are under water, in the middle of a wave of thoughts that holds you tight.

"What the hell have I done?" You ask yourself. "Was it really so smart asking her for a private meeting after training?"

"Come on," he literally begs you. “If you carry on like this, we both are going to be punished by my sister.”

"What could she want from me? And why was she so nervous?" Unlike usual, Leo's older sister is pacing restlessly through the ranks of the Order's training knights, like a lion in a cage. On any other day, Mereoleona was extremely alert. She notices any imperfections in the execution of attacks and techniques. Whenever she sees a mistake, her attention was to 100% on that person. Some would call it passionate, when she would start with her loud, fierce and direct manner, calling the person a wimp or a weakling, unable to fight. But most of the knights don't see her in this way...

But today? She walks through the rows, restless and tense herself. Her face is set in a grim expression that demands respect from everyone.  Maybe that's why most of them made an extra effort and didn't want to attract negative attention. But the female Leader of the squad just walks past them all, impassively.

"Why would (Y/N) want to talk to me?" That was the one nagging question in her head. She still has the scene in her mind's eye;

"Captain Mereoleona... Could we… talk today after the training? Maybe? But only if you have time an… if you don’t mind a all. I… I... I have something important to tell you..."

"Something important?" Mereo broods further, letting out a soft sigh as she runs a hand through her wild red curls. The woman known as the Undefeated Lioness was able to read the mana of others. She could sense the slightest change in mood just by analysing their mana. A useful skill in battle. But she was never really able to read the intent or even the feelings behind it.

It was as if she was sometimes reading an open book whose words she couldn't understand or interpret properly.

"Does she mean to complain? Is the training too hard?" Mereo paused briefly. She had resigned herself to always being the brutal and scary one. The one no one wanted anything to do with. Fearing her powers... So the fact that she could hardly inspire anything but fear in people was nothing new to her. But with you? There was no way Mereo wanted you to see her like that. "Although she is so small and petite, she keeps up well. What she lacks in physical strength, she makes up for in speed and technique. “ It was your wild, often untamed water magic, like a thundering waterfall, that impressed her. But also this gentle, almost mysterious side of your magic. Very different. Very calm. Sometimes it can be quiet and still. Like a crystal clear lake in the moonlight.

With another sigh, adding to the uncertainty of the knights, Mereoleona stops and glances over to you.

 

Your magic has turned against you after a failed attack. And now you find yourself sitting on the floor, soaking wet. Leo next to you - ready to roll over and die of laughter at any moment.

Annoyed, you blow air through your nose and wipe away the wet hair that hangs in front of your face like a curtain of seaweed. A few heartbeats later, your eyes meet Mereoleona's.

 

Fuegoleon follows his older sister's eyes with a bad premonition.

He had watched you and her small talk just before the training. Something wasn't right. Nothing at all. Especially when he remembers the last few weeks. How close Mereo had been to you.

"(Y/N) is so quiet and friendly that she probably doesn't dare stand up to my sister on her own. Especially since she's still officially Captain at the moment. Damn..."

He also remembers the sight of you, as you talked to Mereoleona. The nervous kneading of your hands. The thin, almost inaudible and trembling voice. For Fuegoleon, there was only one logical conclusion: You were going to complain to Mereoleona. About her indiscreet behaviour, but you just don't know how to go about it.

The young leader of the order clenched his hands with determination. "I must help her! She doesn't stand a chance against my sister alone."

The training was tiring. Exhausted, you wipe the sweat from your forhead with the back of your hand before giving Leo the usual high five to say goodbye.

As the training ground begins to empty, you stop and look down at yourself. “Still wet and dirty as well…”, you have to admit. For a moment, you consider to abandon your plan. As horrible and also stinky as you are at the moment, you don't want to say those important words to Mereoleona. A deep sigh escapes your lips as you hear footsteps approaching.

"(Y/N)?"

You look up: "Fuegoleon? What's up?"

With a gentle smile, he looks at you and asks if he should accompany you.

"Accompany me?" You look at him questioningly. Turn around to make sure he means you and not someone else. You even point your finger at yourself and look at him forcefully, questioningly. He nods. 

"Why? Where to?" Confused, you look at him. He's still giving you a friendly smile, but under the circumstances it seems almost intrusive.

"Well, you wanted to talk to my sister, if I understood you correctly. I know how unapproachable and sometimes frightening she can be. That's why I want to help you."

"Was he listening?", you ask yourself and as soon as you realise, your eyes widen in disbelieve. "Not good. He got the wrong idea..." With a snap, you raise your hands in defence. "It's all right," you stammer quickly. "I... I'll be fine."

“Fuegoleon is nice and friendly... Yes... But totally inappropriate right now," you shout to yourself in your head. "How can I politely tell him that I want to be alone with Mereoleona?"

At the very same moment you hear a familiar voice: "So this is where you are..."

You open your mouth to answer in the affirmative, but Fuegoleon is quicker: "Not alone. I'm here to back her up."

Mereoleona had approached you and is now standing in front of you two with her arms on her hips. Her eyes wander critically from you to her brother. "Am I disturbing you? (Y/N), I thought you wanted to talk to me."

"What?" It slips out of your mouth.

Mereoleona raises her eyebrows before crossing her arms: "So, what do you have to tell me that's so important, that you need his support? Are you going to complain and now you've got your pants already full?" Her expression darkens more with every moment of silence.

But you can't get a sound out. Her gloomy look, Fuegolen's encouraging smile, who has misunderstood the whole situation...

You swallow deeply and open your mouth. But the words, the words you've been thinking about for so long, don't come out. You can only hear your own heart hammering in your chest. Louder and louder.. The leaden silence around you and the pressure on you become more and more intense. The moments feel like an eternity.

"Wait!"

But then: "Pah," says Mereoleona, annoyed. "This is too stupid for me. You two can play kindergarten alone."

As she turns on her heel, your rigidity loosens. You take a big step, reach out and grab her wrist. Your gaze, bright red, wanders to the ground. You can't even look at her right now. You're too afraid of a disapproving look.

"I... I don't know what your brother is doing here, but..." Your heart pounds harder against your chest. "And  I... I know we're both women. That I probably don't fall into your pattern of prey at all. But still…" You bite your lower lip before summoning the courage to look her in the eye. Your grip on her wrist tightens. But Mereo doesn't seem to care. Her watery blue eyes look at you curiously and a knowing grin appears on her lips.

"I... I've fallen in love with you," you blurt out.

"Please, what?!" Fuegoleon, who can't believe his ears, takes a step back. He shakes his head in disbelief. He glances hastily between you and his sister. But his eyes remain fixed on Mereo. Uncertain and demanding at the same time.

She now began to grin. Her pointed canine tooth flashed: "Oho... What do you say to that?"

You swallow and an uncomfortable silence slowly threatens to settle over you. Your eyes dart restlessly back and forth. You keep biting your lower lip, unsure how to interpret her look and especially her statement.

"Well... I'm sorry if I upset you, Mereoleona... I mean, Captain Mereoleona." You correct yourself, stammering, because you don't have very high hopes.

"Wait, wait!" her brother raises his hands in defence. "So my sister doesn't annoy you, (Y/N)?" he asks, looking at you. "You won't complain or... something like that?"

Slowly, with your eyes back on the ground, you shake your head. "The training may be hard, yes. And Mereoleona seems very frightening at the beginning, especially when she screamed at us at the festival a while ago, when she official took over the order for you. But..." You look at Mereo again. "I've been watching you for a while now. You, too, have that softer side. A hidden but caring side." A smile flits across your lips and your cheeks begin to glow. "That side of you... I'd like to get to know better. Even though you're known everywhere as the fierce, extremely strong - or the undefeated, uncrowned lioness, in my opinion, that's only one part of you. There is much more.”

With a gentle but firm grip, Mereoleona now releases your hands from her wrist. “The little lion cub can read me better than I can read her”, she thinks to herself, not taking her eyes off you, as she counties with a grin on her lips. “I didn't think you had that much guts," she grabs your hand to pull you closer. "But... can you take the heat?"

Her face comes closer to yours. You can feel her breath warm against your skin, her firey scent. But you can also hear her heart beating fast as her mana gets nervous.

In an instant, she closes the distance between you with a passionate kiss.  At first you are completely surprised. Taken by the moment, you close your eyes. Trying not to think about it - your brain would not be able to process it anyway - you feel.

As Mereo let go of your hand to pull you into a warm, intense embrace, her fingers finding their way down your back to your hips, you let your hands rest on her shoulders. The question of whether she was just playing with you is erased the moment she starts biting your lower lip. Needy. Wanting more. Just as she has been suppressing these feelings herself for some time now. A soft moan leaves your mouth as you open it to give her access. As her tongue caresses yours, your fingertips dig deeper into her skin.

Sinking into that feeling. Sinking into this passionate kiss that you never really expected.

As you slowly open your eyes and take a deep, nervous breath, you notice that Mereoleona's cheeks are also slightly flushed. But not nearly as bright as yours.

"You're quite a challenge," you whisper breathlessly against her lips. "But... If you are willing... I will take it."

"Don't worry too much. I thought your element was water anyway..."

"Yes, it is." You reply, not knowing what she means.

But she continues: "You can't get close enough to burn yourself. Not only because I will make sure not to hurt you." She touches a lock of hair behind your ear. "You really surprise me. I thought you were just a cute little lion. Fast and very good with fighting techniques, but also very quiet. So to see that you have the courage to confess your feelings for me, even in front of my brother, is a big surprise, igniting the desire for more..." She comes closer and looks into your deep, dark eyes, like an unfathomable ocean.

"So show me more of your mysterious and brave side..."

She leans in for another kiss, to place her lips on your still red, flushed cheeks.

What's going on here?" Perplexed, Fuegeoleon looks back and forth between you and his sister. "I thought (Y/N) was going to complain that Mereoleona's training methods are far too hard for her." He pauses for a moment to look at you. "And now this? This passionate kiss." The blush crept up his face more and more. He shook his head in disbelief and slowly but surely put his hands to his face. He couldn't and didn't want to see you and Mereoleona exchanging caresses. The gentle banter and the unusually soft side of his usually brutal sister was too much for him.

As a red rinse slowly finds its way out of Fuegoleon's nostrils and the flush gives way to a ghostly white, all life is slowly drained from the young leader.

[protagsbf]

hi can i request

coworker x reader hc:the reader who is good at a lot of things so their only flaws that they are very clumsy and shy.

head over heels for you! (literally..)

coworker x gn!reader, normal au : hcs + scenario

— suddenly getting thrown into a completely new workplace, you can't help but stress. luckily, your new coworker's here to help you out of your shell!

an: first request yayyyyy!! school starts next month BUT I PROMISE TO STAY LOCKED IN POOKIES also thank you for the request anon (´◡`) also im basing this off my case of shyness because idk i can!! AND YES GUYS YOU CAN CLAIM EMOJIS FOR YOURSELVES HEHEHEHE

picture this: you, the person who'd trip over their shoelaces, misplace at least half of their things, and practically break into a cold sweat when a stranger talks to you, go a job at a major corporation!

you honestly don't even understand how you made it past the interview (or how you got one in the first place...) but now you're here, sitting at a cubicle with a stack of paperwork that needs to be done.

but with your exceptional performance from your past jobs, you at least got put in a cubicle near the breakroom, which is where you'd hide yourself away during breaks so no one would come up and talk to you. it wasn't that you hated everyone in the workplace or anything, you just didn't know how to strike up a conversation without making you look like a complete idiot.

though one day, you found yourself stuck on a piece of a paperwork for a project. it needed a signature from a superior, whoever that may be.

now, were you going to walk up to someone, tap their shoulder, and ask who you need to ask to sign the papers? of course not. no way in HELL you're doing all that.

and that's why you're here now, wandering the hallway as people brush your shoulders with no clue of where you're going or who you need to see. soon, you found yourself nervously standing in front of an office, ' ████ executive' engraved on a metal plate on the door. surely this guy's signature would be enough, right?

after a quiet knock to their door and a somewhat loud "come in!" came from the inside, you hesitantly opened the door, walking into the office. you were met with a man sitting at his desk, pushing a burnt cigarette into the ash tray on his desk. he had blond hair and wore a green suit, nothing you hadn't really seen in an office like this.

to break the awkward silence in the room, you tried to small talk with him for a bit, and damn did he talk a lot. wanting to get out of the interaction as soon as possible, you mentioned the papers and walked closer to hold them out to him. he waved his hand dismissively, telling you to just leave it there. you nodded, putting the documents down before turning to leave.

yet, just as everything was going well, you tripped on seemingly nothing and fell face first onto the carpet. you groaned quietly in pain, quickly getting up. shit, shit, shit, you probably looked so stupid in front of that guy! before he could say anything, you practically dashed out of his office.

a few days went by, and you couldn't help but constantly think back to how you tripped on your way out of an executive's office, praying he'd forget.

though... turns out you weren't so lucky.

you tapped your foot repeatedly against the breakroom's carpeted floor, waiting for the coffee machine to finish. as much as you wanted to forget it, your brain seemed to enjoy tormenting you as it never let you forget that vivid moment of you tripping in front of possibly one of your superior's faces, then running away before anything else could happen. he probably thought you were some sort of weirdo! who even does that?! what if he—

"ah, there you are! took me long enough to figure out which department you were from."

a shiver was sent down your spine as footsteps approached, that voice being all too familiar. you then felt a hand pat your shoulder from behind.

"so, you're the one who handed me those papers, right?"

"yeah..?"

"so, this is your guys breakroom, huh? it doesn't even have a television? no wonder people who work here are so depressed.." the blond commented, looking around the room.

you had to restrain yourself from rolling your eyes. was this guy actually being serious? wait— why was he even here??

"by the way, how's that forehead of yours? you took quite the fall the last time i saw you!" he laughed, leaning against the wall as you took your mug of coffee from the machine. what were you supposed to say? i mean, your forehead was fine, at the very least.

"oh, uhm.. it's okay. thank you for the concern."

"hah, good to know! if it were anyone else, an incident like that would've scared anyone into never showing their face again!" he suddenly ruffled your hair, catching you by surprise. "y'know, i've heard people talk about you a lot. you sound pretty good for a newbie, despite you not being one for words. i'm looking forward to working with you!" that statement couldn't help but make you smile for a little.

you and him talked for a little longer before he made his leave, patting you on the back and saying he'll catch you later. even if he had been the one doing most of the talking, he still managed to make you feel all light and bubbly. like all your worries had been lifted off your shoulders in those few moments the two of you exchanged words.

maybe working in this company wouldn't be so bad.

ever since then, he'd often drop by the breakroom to chat with you. he even invited you for smoke breaks with him! (even if you don't smoke, he'd drag you with him anyway.)

when you asked him how he has so much free time to spend with you, he'd always find a way to dismiss the matter.

he'd also often help you when talking to others when he could. needed to send a request to another department? he'll send it for you. have a meeting you really don't want to attend? you're suddenly not required to attend anymore.

your tendencies of clumsiness never seemed to end, yet he found it endearing regardless. he'd often offer to carry your stuff and even replace the things you break. no matter how much you tell him he should stop or he doesn't have to, he still does it, he was just so persistent, maybe even a little stubborn. even when he'd take you out (as a friendly gesture to a coworker, as he says), he'd always offer to be the one to talk to the employees and cashiers of the stores and cafés.

no matter how much you fell, he'd always be there to catch you.

soo....... this ended up WAY longer than i expected. oops. i mean its still KINDA short but shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... anyways, i really hope i did your request justice!!!!!!! its kinda sloppy considering i wrote this in a day or two butttttt i feel like i pooped out as much as i could for this and i really wanted to post it already auduiaodsohsahosdo IM GONNA GO WORK ON THE OTHER ASKS NOW ILY GUYS BYEEEE!!!!!!!!!!! ^^

[smehur]

Drarry Fic Recs #3

Storm in a Teacup by @faith2wood

For reasons he'd rather not think about, Draco is obsessed with Potter's hair. This cannot end well.

It seems I can't put together a rec list without at least one story by Faith Wood. This one's soft in all the delightful ways I came to expect from the pen of my favorite author, with a sharp little pang of uncertainty that made it all the sweeter, and possibly the best-executed piece of dialog across all my reading. A beautiful fic that I'll be going back to over and over again.

Two Houses by @tackytigerfic

Two households, both alike in... meddling Floo connections, apparently? Draco Malfoy is a highly professional and well-respected Ministry official, with a demanding schedule, a loving son, and—through no fault of his own—a faulty Floo connection that keeps regurgitating the Minister for Magic through his fireplace.

I already gushed about this story on here, but I'm going to do it again. It'd be impossible to overstate how much I loved it. From the world-building surrounding the two magical estates, sprinkled with a wealth of delectable little details, to the delightfully mature and tender romance. Slow burn in 11k? I didn't think it could be done either, but here we are. There was this beautiful scene where Harry said that being around Draco is restful. What a perfect word! It captures everything I enjoyed about this fic: the warmth and the contentment and the unwavering certainty that everything would work out. What a joy to read!

everything you could ever want by @eleadore

Coming back to Hogwarts has given Harry more time to reflect than he really wanted, and he's learned he never quite stopped being the envious little boy in the closet. Wanting and wanting, never to have. If what Harry wants is pain, who better than Draco Malfoy to provide?

Oh, man. Where do I even start? Talking about this fic feels a bit like talking about a a close friend: no matter what I say, I know I won't do justice to just how much it affected me. It charmed me, and tugged on my heartstrings, and it still has a grip on my imagination. Reading it was like falling in love: first, with the reticent, stopped-up Harry bursting with passion he's unable to express or act upon; and then, even harder, with the portrayal of Draco, whose thoughts and feelings we can only guess at till the very end. And even then, he doesn't speak: his answer is in the sweep of his lashes. Ahhh. Such beautiful prose and stunning characterization. Bewitched, bothered and bewildered, I stay.

crawlin' helpless on the floor by @stationintern

It doesn't take much to torment a man when he's three broken contracts away from being out of a job and down a newspaper.

What a lovely little gem of a fic! Astonishing, how much atmosphere and feeling it delivers in less than 2k. A unique idea too (at least in my reading so far), that Harry and Draco as adults (and friends) might start a business together - and that it might not work out. Incredibly vivid, captivating, and rewarding. 10/10 will read again.

Like This and Like This (Dreams of Lace) by @primavera-cerezos

Harry gets an accidental peek. He can’t think of anything else.

Soft and sweet, and sizzling hot. I'm not sure I entirely buy a Harry who gets confused and clumsy to the point of losing his language when confronted with Draco's charms, but it's so much fun to read and this fic pulls it off perfectly. Draco wearing lace underwear is canon for me now.

That Old Black Magic by @bixgirl1

Centuries ago, marriage contracts were the norm — ready-made alliances between families, expected and complied with, without complaint. But norms have a way of changing, and when a long-dormant contract flares to life, Harry has to navigate an unexpected splintering of the path he'd thought would be easy after the war... with Draco Malfoy.

I'll be honest - I picked this up to see if a much-recommended author of some of this fandom's classics could sell me a trope I dislike (in this case, arranged marriage). And the answer is a loud, enthusiastic YES. Lol. I was sold on it within the first half of the first chapter. The premise is incredibly contrived, but the story built on it is so strong and compelling that I just didn't care. The pacing is phenomenal and the sex scenes are to die for. This is a whole new level of erotic prose for me; an amazing achievement, to have so little repetition, to infuse every encounter with so much energy and passion, even though it's a long story with many an encounter. It's just ridiculously good. I couldn't put it down and I'm already tempted to pick it right back up again.

I love this fandom. ❤️

[setsailforbyacona]

Beggar's Luck - Information Post

Your father has always been regarded as the greatest pirate hunter to have ever sailed the waters of the tropical Byacona.

But now the unthinkable is happening: Your father is charged with piracy!

So it is up to you, his only child, to travel to the Byacona and help prove his innocence, or at least get him to reveal what happened.

Which is easier said than done, because whatever your father was doing seems connected to the sightings of a ship long thought sunk:

The Beggar's Luck, ship of the fabled Alistair Moray, King of Pirates.

Has Moray risen from the dead to seek revenge? And has your father something to do with it?

It's up to you to find out.

Hope you know how to swim and wield a cutlass.

Where can I play the game?

(No link to the NEW version yet. The game is still undergoing a massive rewrite and should be up sometimes in December '24/January '25)

Extremely Old, extremely short version is HERE

The world, Sildrys, the game is set on is home to various races besides human, allowing you to play as human or a mix of human and elves, dragons and other decently strange beings (as long as you can swim).

The age is set to 20.

All genders are playable.

--

ROs (Details bound to change):

Lieutenant Elliott Sewell (24, human, cis man): Elliot is a young Navy-Lieutenant working as Admiral Géroux’s secretary after a leg-injury send him into very early retirement. He’s as headstrong as he’s handsome.

He’s been a great admirer of the MC’s father, and seems dead-set on becoming a renown pirate hunter, filling the empty space the Commodore’s alleged treason left.

Midshipman Noah Paget (18, human(?), cis man): Mr Paget is commonly seen as a lost cause. Eager, ambitious and honest, but clumsy and scatterbrained. Has several rumours surrounding his heritage which weights down on him in addition. When push comes to shove he takes up the chance to prove himself to find the fable pirate port of Lobo Marino.

Lucy Kerrigan (19, human, cis woman): Lucy is regarded as the ‘soul of the Shredded Sail’ the scummiest tavern on all of Lobo Marino. She takes great pride in the fact that her missing father’s the new King of Pirates, even though no one else agrees with her on that.

She’s headstrong and boisterous, though no one can say what happens when her shell should be cracked one day. Great affinity for fire and explosives.

Florentina 'Shipwreck' Espinosa (26, Half-Elf/Half-human, trans woman): Regarded as the unluckiest captain to have ever sailed the waters of the Byacona, Florentina is good-natured but very sarcastic soul. And she has absolutely no patience for people betting behind her back how long her current ship, the Windmill will last.

(more to come)

Death

Guns

Alcohol

Blood

Piracy

Public Executions

(TBC)

If you like what you're seeing and would like to support the author, here's a few ways to do so:

KoFi

Pat-Reon

There's also a discord. Send a message (not ask) after you've followed this blog or any of the game blogs below for a good while.

Enjoy the stories <3

The author is currently working on the following games as well:

Ballad of Devil's Creek: A Weird West adventure @devilscreekballad

Curious Cuisine: A superhero/cooking slice-of-life romp @cornucopiagazette

Ashenmaw - Dragons of Marrowoods: A dragon adventure/mystery romp set in the same world as Beggar's Luck. @ashenmaw-if

[random-and-average]

Yandere Maruki Takuto Headcanons

Author's Note: What can I say? I simp for the clumsy man with the messiah complex. (Actually, I just simp for a good amount of the Confidant cast because you cannot tell me that Ryuji, Akechi, Haru, Joker, Yusuke, and Iwai wouldn't treat their loved one right. Do I have a problem? Maybe.)

Content Warning(s): Mentions of psychological manipulation, possible OOC Maruki

Regardless of how you met him, Maruki will always cherish you

Rain or shine, you can guarantee that he will do everything in his power to make you as happy as you make him—which is an amount that cannot possibly be quantified due to the fact that you make him so extraordinarily and immensely joyous

(And when I mean everything in his power, I truly mean everything in his power, but I’ll address that point later)

Even if the two of you are polar opposites, he will try his best to make you smile in his own way

I’d like to imagine that he’s a hopeless romantic too

While his career field usually makes one more practical and pragmatic, Dr. Maruki still holds onto the dream of being able to share an idealized romance with someone

Because of this, he’ll often write letters and poems professing his love for you, even though you two might already be in a relationship

Romantic dinners are a frequent occurrence, and they’ll either be at a place that is very expensive, significant to the two of you, or well-known for serving your favorite type of food

Just imagine that you want fried chicken, and he takes you out for some gourmet place that serves the best fried chicken you ever had in your life

Obviously, he always pays the bill

In fact, you never get to see the final price of the meal because he refuses to let you see the bill in the first place

Don’t worry though! He doesn’t mind the price

Seeing your face light up in delight makes the cost of the food completely worth it

There’s only one problem: he likes keeping all of this a secret from you in order to surprise you, but his clumsy disposition often results in you finding out anyway

In a perfect world, you would wake up to an eloquent letter—filled with nothing but compliments and thanks—right beside your pillow; though in actuality, Maruki trips on air and faceplants onto the ground with his letter in hand, waking you up immediately and spoiling the surprise

(In that situation, he prepares an amazing breakfast as an apology despite any protests from you that he doesn’t have to apologize)

When it comes to comforting you (and, if needed, providing advice), Maruki never fails to make to feel better as he’ll go out of his way to make the space comfortable for you before sitting next to you and listening to whatever is troubling you

If you prefer him to comfort you physically, he’ll give you all the hugs and cuddles you want until you feel better

Unless he has to deal with something extremely important, his time will be entirely dedicated to you and reducing your sorrow

(Although, it’d be important to note that advice he will provide might be a bit biased)

On another note, you can bet that he will always have your favorite snacks and candy on hand

But, don't think that Maruki is a complete softie

However, I can't blame you if you do think that way since he only shows you his more vulnerable and affectionate side

For all of the man's clumsiness, he is still capable of perfectly executing a malicious scheme

This is mainly done through psychological and emotional manipulation

(As one, the doctor literally studied the mind, and two, he is aware that he doesn't pose that much of a physical threat)

Any potential romantic rivals are driven away, believing that their flaws make them worthless individuals that burdens others

Your friends/family that don't like him become ostracized as he makes them out to be overly critical people who has it out for him for no apparent reason

And after all of this manipulation, he is still seen as the perfect boyfriend, or husband (｡ᐤヮᐤ ｡), that is head over heels in love with you

(Okay, so the last part is true, but not the first part)

Unless he wants you to know of his schemes, you are most likely none the wiser to his wicked ways!

Once his Persona fully awakens and he takes control of reality, Maruki will make the world your paradise, even if it's at the expense of other people

(I did say he'd do everything in his power to make you happy)

You wish that you didn't have to work a day in your life? Suddenly, you are a billionaire as some mysterious benefactor chose you as the lucky person to receive all of his money!

You really miss a deceased loved one or a pet? They never passed away, silly!

You want someone gone? Who are you talking about? No one even remembers they existed in the first place.

(He decided that simply removing them from reality was the best possible method of getting rid of them without causing emotional suffering onto those who don't deserve it)

"I love you so, so, so much, sweetheart. You're my entire world, just as I am yours."

[eldritch-spouse]

For Santi, Ludwig, Obie, Mervin, Rei, and Katia. They come home to find their living room covered in salt, and their in the middle of it is their S/O beating the shit out of a lower ranked imp that obviously broke in, with a salt container, because they didn't have time to make a salt circle

They find you putting the fear of God in an imp

Santi is instantly disgusted by the smell of salt. And very, very concerned. As soon as he sees you pushing an imp's shit in with a salt container he's doubling over in resonant laughter. It's too good. Once he's done having a giggle though, Santi quickly swipes the imp off your grasp and crumples their neck like a plastic bottle. You're very brave!! And hot. But remember to contact him when this happens, you have Santi's ring. He's really glad you aren't hurt, but imagine if it had been a mid-ranker? Summon him. Always.

Guess who's jerking off? Ludwig. Yeah sure, the salt is kinda ruining his mood, but watching you beat the ever living shit out of someone is like top-tier pornography. If it looks like you're handling yourself well, Ludwig is likely to keep touching himself with high hopes that you'll kill the imp in front of him. If not, he's perfectly capable of getting involved and tearing the little shit to shreds, showering you in blood in the process. He's going to fuck you in that half-done circle.

Obie is a little more tolerant of the salt than the others, and while he's so so proud of you, he's no less aggravated by the severity of the situation and will quickly tell you to throw the imp at him. You're given a warning to turn around (if you want) when Obie has them in his hands, because he's absolutely going to sink his teeth through that little fucker's skull and eat them head first. When he's done goring them, he comes over to check on you and thank you for the free meal. You basically prepared it for him...

Mervin's job reflexes kick in immediately. Intruder in his living space? Throw one sai at them. His aim is good, rest assured he'll impale the imp's head, not yours. He quickly tells you to stick very close to him while he gets rid of the salt and disposes of the body, basically on auto-pilot. This is like a regular Monday for Mervin honestly. He's subtly smirking out of genuine pride for your abilities as a fighter, and will teach you to wield a demon-effective weapon of your choosing afterwards.

Rei finds the salt absolutely repulsive to be around, but he's not turning down a free fight. He'll instantly join and throw himself at the other imp, you should probably take a step back and let him go hog wild, so as to not get accidentally decked. He wipes the floor with that little shit, all the while flexing and making flirty faces at you. Any type of execution styles you like, doll? He takes a picture of you two over their corpse to upload to his socials.

Katia is taking this shit very seriously. The salt is completely ignored as she squeals at the sight. Even if you're definitely winning, in her eyes it's like the love of her life is being violently assaulted before her eyes. She bulldozes in, lifts you out of the clumsy circle and comes back to grab that imp by the horns and throw them around the room like a fucking sack of potatoes. She's speaking a foreign tongue and their face is getting disfigured by the repetitive hits. She'll sniffle her way back to you, very very concerned. The boys are summoned.

[jichanxo]

playing LJ and idk what’s in the japanese water but Yagami is INSUFFERABLE!!!

He’s so fucking annoying his only argument is “muhhh sawa sensei” when Kuwana, Reiko or Ehara say the horrible things their kids endured like SHUT UP!!!! Reiko and Ehara’s children killed themselves bc they were bullied, I understand and support them fully for getting revenge, especially since the justice system is shitty when it comes to such cases

Did you feel the same or am I tripping?

putting this under the cut

sorry i know you sent this days ago and maybe your opinion has changed since then but i'll answer the best i can? (also i hope i don't accidentally spoil anything ahahah)

this take is not uncommon (and i felt the same at some point, though i've since changed my mind) so no, you're not tripping lmao. despite changing my mind, the fact that people say this pretty regularly probably means the writers didn't execute the idea as well as they could have. i would say that it feels clumsy and almost like a joke (cue sawa-sensei counter) to the point that it detracts from the point they're trying to make. i think some people will disagree with me on this -- rather than the writers, it's the players who aren't fully understanding what's being said to them in the text -- but regardless of whose "fault" that is, yes it's a Known Thing

(funnily enough, during my first playthrough, my sister mentioned seeing a meme about "sawa sensei" getting repeated a lot, and by the time the 2nd/3rd time hit we were like OH MY GOD THE MEME WAS REAL. which is a funny memory to me. lmao)

i think the thing that's getting lost here is that the "sawa sensei" argument is not meant to discredit how kuwana, reiko and ehara feel about the injustice. this part is not in question. yagami's stance on doing illegal shit is also not relevant to this conversation (and i'm not sure i could provide a compelling argument on this front anyway, aside from that he's very anti-murder, lol. clearly he does illegal shit himself so he's not against doing illegal shit based on principle alone. depends on circumstances probably)

sawa gets brought up because she clearly did not deserve to die. almost everyone agrees that sawa was a good person. kuwana puts her on a pedestal for confronting him about kusumoto being bullied, idealises her and muses that she would've understood him for what he's doing (killing people. and this is clearly a stretch). reiko says that sawa was the only person who visited kusumoto in hospital without an ulterior motive, which is one of the best testaments of character that she could give, really, imo. ehara probably holds a negative opinion of sawa for her false testimony about there being no evidence of bullying -- but this was clearly done under pressure of the people around her, and ehara's opinion is the exception to the rule.

so, sawa is a good person. so what? who cares? what's the point of bringing her up?

the point of what kuwana is doing is that he sees it as a way of righting the wrongs that the justice system leaves unaddressed. he needs to believe that what he is doing is right, because it gives him purpose and distracts him from his guilt.

sawa's death contradicts this. even if he and reiko didn't kill her themselves, it's proof that their extreme actions have negative consequences. they can say that the system is wrong, look what this monster did to my son, etc etc. but what they are doing also harms innocent people. the justice/revenge/whatever they pursue is at the cost of other innocent people. sawa herself represents the unforeseen cost of kuwana's self-imposed mission to kill bullies. they can justify themselves all they want, but sawa's death is a reality they can't talk around. they acknowledge she was a good person, but she died because of their actions. is this a worthwhile cost? yagami doesn't think so.

and the thing is, kuwana and reiko can be persuaded.

at least, that's kuwana's opinion about reiko

and later he says this about himself.

these screenshots are pulled from a youtube video w/ english dub so take it with a grain of salt, but you get what i'm trying to say here.

i think the repetition is the point. they agree sawa was a good person. they can be persuaded away from their current stance (that murder is an acceptable response). by repeating himself, yagami is using the argument that's most personal to them, mostly likely to convince them. repetition is not a bug, it's a feature. whether or not this was conveyed well by the writers is another argument altogether, but yagami's point itself is sound.

truthfully, i think LJ could have benefitted by leaning into what makes this case personally compelling to yagami. if you're not paying attention, the "but sawa sensei" argument can feel pretty flat, but putting emphasis on yagami's experiences would help it feel more rich and justified aside from "innocent people dying is bad" (even though that is a sound argument on its own). he does mention emi, i believe it's only once, so it's not like they don't do it at all, but i would like more. the impact of emi and of JE specifically is that yagami doesn't like to leave things unaddressed when he can do more, and that's clearly a motivating factor here. he won't leave kuwana alone for as long as there is 1. something yagami can do about it and 2. kuwana still intends to keep killing

think about the fact that yagami's parents were killed by someone seeing vigilante revenge, both a deeply personal tragedy, and a life defining event that set him on the path he walks now. leaning more into that would have helped, or at least been interesting, in my opinion. obviously it's not 100% the same since yagami's father was the lawyer and not the accused, but the key parts (vigilante justice + collateral damage) is there. of course yagami is trying to change kuwana's mind. not only does yagami understand kuwana's pain wrt the pain of inaction (yagami's regrets about emi) but he's experienced the aftermath of collateral damage, himself.

of course, yagami's personal experiences are only relevant to us, as viewers. sawa is still the best argument to convince kuwana and reiko (and i can easily imagine reiko brushing yagami off if he talked about his backstory LMAO), so that's what we get. sawa is what matters to them, so sawa is what he will keep reminding them of. that's why the sawa argument is what it is.

we can get into discussions about the inevitable failure of the legal system and what that means for "real justice", but we would never come to a consensus. instead, i think it's better to look at how kuwana and reiko are impacted on a personal level by their actions: neither of them have moved on, even after seeking their justice. they remain stuck in the past. their actions grant them no closure, and robs them of a future (reiko as a politician and mother, kuwana as a humble handyman: but as far as we know, a pretty damn good one considering how well he was able to leverage his connections to avoid being caught this whole time... at least in my opinion)

when kuwana argues, he asks how they should seek justice if legal avenues don't grant it to them. he asks, "what about the reiko kusumotos and akihiko eharas of the world?" he is right to point this out.

when yagami argues, he asks how revenge can be justified if innocents will suffer (and die) for it, even unintentionally. he asks, "what about the yoko sawas of the world?" he is also right to point this out.

there is no easy solution. they both have a point. that's what the story is ultimately about. kaito says it straight up at the end of the game:

well, that's my take. admittedly i'm not as well versed on LJ as some people are, so i could be remembering and paraphrasing some things wrong. i've seen people who really like LJ's writing, and others who straight up hate it LMAO, so yknow, your mileage may vary. hopefully this will at least help you understand the other perspective

if you want to hear another take on the sawa sensei argument, i'll put this here. i drew on it quite a bit while writing this, so yknow, credit where credit is due.

[fruitsofhell]

It's fucking crazy when you watch an Analog/Digital Horror piece so good it retroactively makes others scarier because it just executes upon the ideas so well you better understand what others were going for.

Like yes this is still about fucking Fazbear Toddler Fun because it is definitely the one I've seen with the highest level of detail in replicating a very niche old style of media in late 90s edutainment games. (Not always but by the end it's like never missing). And seeing such a pristine replica - so good that when nothing spooky is going on it actually brings YOU back to YOUR childhood - START DOING THE BIT is fucking ghastly.

Especially the end of the last episode with its beautiful clumsy uses of CG reminded me a lot of shit from the time that leaked into my childhood later. I think namely this showz 3-2-1 Penguins, a really fun kids series made by the VeggieTales team. And then when the video started being spooky it hit me how goofy but absolutely fucking horrific it would be to watch something stupid like that and feel it watching you. Feel it judging you. Feel it asking you to remember. Remember *something*.

Like it now has me looking back on shit like Walten Files which always scared me cause I can't stand (/pos) the way it plays with faces to represent harm done, but now that layer of context, or purpose of image is so much worse. It's not just that you or Sophie are seeing a spooky face, it's that that grotesque image plastered over the innocuous experience is asking you to remember something. To know something terrible and horrific that your mind and this game/media are struggling to even form into a coherent image.

As I've said before, I think this wave of indie horror is playing on the sort of hyperawareness any generation born after the invention of home video or VHS has of their past. The fact that so much of it is so easily traceable either vicariously through recordings of old children's media or literally through family-made (and with YouTube, self-made) archives of ourselves. I think we feel how often media these days more intimately than ever asks us to remember. It's not as literal as displayed in this horror, but it's an implicit message that reaches us at various volumes and with different tones.

The analog/digital horror/creepy pasta trope - with its tendency to conflate the personal and the commercial (especially with the FNAF-like "game I just found was made by the brand extension of my family's old business") - is the fear of that ask becoming louder and clearer and more sinister. Its nostalgia becoming an accusation, of accidentally treading upon demons from your past hiding in the cracks of what most made you feel safe at the time.

Or in the case of Fazbear Toddler Fun, a demon you left in your past has tried to find solace in something and you with your nostalgic yet cynical prodding have awoken it.

[zukkaoru]

MAY I KNOW WHO TAKARA IS 👀👀 bc flags member oc (?) sounds so epic

awkwardly looks around. um. so. let me preface this by saying takara was actually created with the intent of making everyone involved here suffer,

takara is a fankid oc born after ranpo and lippmann hooked up at some point shortly before the events of storm bringer. in the canon universe (ehhh well not Canon exactly but, the close-to-canon au where takara exists) lippmann dies before either he or ranpo even know she was conceived and his ability is passed onto her. then ranpo gives her up for adoption after she's born bc what's he gonna do? raise a child? absolutely not. he has no interest in that.

my notes on her copy and pasted from discord:

even as a kid, she's very charming and very good at getting what she wants from people, between being well-spoken and intelligent. she goes too far with it sometimes and doesn't really understand the consequences of her actions are, in fact, consequences of her actions. she's probably got the tism from ranpo. also important to note she has a beauty mark like lippmann's in approximately the same place

name: takara ishi, kanji for first and last name can be 宝石 which was the name of the irl edogawa ranpo's mystery fiction journal. takara meaning treasure/jewel and ishi meaning stone ability name: actor of a hundred faces

- she likes sweets - she's clumsy - her hair is impossible to tame - the bunny is a family pet

obviously in canon-esque universe, takara ends up coming back into contact with ranpo anyway at some point bc she's interested to know more about her birth family (and she's also got this insane ability for ?? basically no reason at all as far as she and her adoptive parents can tell??) so she and ranpo have an amicable relationship but it's more like.. ranpo's her weird older cousin or estranged uncle than her dad. which they're both fine with

but ohhhh in a flags live au...... lippmann would keep her and he would love her so much. and all of the flags would absolutely adore her. and through seeing their love for her, ranpo would end up liking her even more too. because in canonverse he carries out the pregnancy mostly out of a sense of obligation so while he doesn't resent takara, there's still a sort of.. disconnect there that just can't be gapped. but if the flags live and ranpo sees how lippmann looks at her like she's the sun moon and stars, he starts to see her that way too. they actually don't even end up together bc they want different things and they never planned for their relationship to go past a hookup anyway but they're still friendly towards one another. in my mind (said as if this isn't my oc story) there's a stretch of time after takara is born (while the pm and ada are at odds) where ranpo isn't really in contact with either of them, and then after the truce is made, he starts spending more time with takara. but because of the tension between groups it was safest if he just cut contact. also because can you imagine: pov you're ranpo edogawa the world's greatest detective and this new guy with a shady past shows up wanting to be part of your detective agency and you look at him and realize he was previously with the mafia instantly and then you look at him again and. this kid. this guy. demon prodigy mafia executive-turned-unemployed loser. held your daughter as an infant???? i would go insane. and then dazai on the inverse looks at ranpo and is like woah all those insane fan theories were wrong. that's lippmann's baby mama. and he's not a mama. insane. okay i'm done now

[the-meta-tron]

The Book of Lies: A Good Omens Theory

One of the thoughts I’ve had since watching and re-watching Good Omens Season 2 were all the references to the Book of Life. In the very first episode, Michael threatens that anyone involved with Gabriel’s disappearance will suffer extreme sanctions, aka the Book of Life.

Daniel 12:1: At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered.

Later that episode, we see Crowley and Beelzebub discuss the extreme sanctions:

BEELZEBUB: According to what I’m hearing, on a grapevine that obviously doesn’t exist, upstairs is seriously troubled by Gabriel’s disappearance. I’m hearing that anybody they find involved in this affair will be dealt with.

CROWLEY: How?

BEELZEBUB: Extreme Sanctions

CROWLEY: That isn’t actually a thing. That’s just something we used to joke about to frighten the cherubs.

BEELZEBUB: No, it exists! Extreme sanctions. Anyone found involved in Gabriel’s disappearance will be erased from the Book of Life. They won’t just be gone, they will never have existed.

This of course is the thing that pushes Crowley to help Aziraphale with Gabriel, to protect him from being caught helping.

Despite being a fairly serious threat, it isn’t brought up until episode six, again by Michael.

MICHAEL I am authorized to remove the name of anyone who helped Gabriel from the Book of Life. You will never have existed, Aziraphale. I am the Supreme Archangel.

URIEL: Duty officer.

MICHAEL: And I-

METATRON: Excuse me, I’m sorry. I must interrupt you there. Um... Oh, and I’ve brought over a coffee.

MICHAEL (not recognizing him): I don’t believe I asked for any interruptions.

METATRON: I couldn’t help it. You’re talking utter balderdash. I mean, complete piffle. You don’t have the authority to do anything like that.

So... that’s it? This Chekov’s gun, this ability of Michael’s (and Heaven) to remove anyone from existing past or present is just a bunch of bullshit? Was it all just a contrived and poorly-written plot device to get Crowley to quickly make up with and help Aziraphale in the first episode and then this scene in episode six is the clumsy way of resolving the loose thread?

It is possible, but I’d like to operate under the assumption that there is a different story happening here than the one initially presented to us. I could very well be wrong. But this is just a theory.

So I’m going to make a couple of possible conclusions based on what is presented two us in these two scenes.

The Book of Life can erase people from existence but Michael doesn’t have the authority to do so, and was bullshitting the entire time.

The Book of Life can’t erase people from existence and Michael knows that and was bullshitting OR doesn’t know that (and was probably still bullshitting).

I don’t think that the first conclusion is true, either, and simply because if Heaven did have the ability to erase anyone from existence or modify reality on such a grand scale, why have they never done it before? You could argue maybe they have and nobody knows because of the whole existence-erasure. But I would argue that even if that were the case, why would they use it in some secret, unknown situations and not in the situations we see play out on screen where erasing certain people from existence would actually be useful?

Take season one, for example. The whole triumphant ending of the last episode was that Crowley and Aziraphale tricked Heaven and Hell by swapping bodies so they could avoid execution. Why, if hiding an Archangel is sufficient for extreme sanctions like being un-written, is stopping the apocalypse not? Do we really think if Gabriel “shut your stupid mouth and die already” the Supreme Archangel had the ability to erase Aziraphale and Crowley from existence, he wouldn’t do it? If anyone in Heaven had the power to erase Aziraphale and Crowley from existence, they would have done it already.

One could argue maybe also Gabriel/the Supreme Archangel doesn’t have the authority, but then who does? The Metatron? Then why didn’t he let Michael erase Aziraphale from existence (or do it himself) instead of manipulating a loose canon like Aziraphale to come back to Heaven? If the whole point of splitting Crowley and Aziraphale up is to stop them from averting the Second Coming, again, why not just delete them if Heaven has the power to do that?

And going back to The Beginning, if Heaven really could erase any being from existence, even demons, why did they not just do that instead of having them all fall down? Why not just erase Gabriel when he nah’d the apocalypse instead of wiping his memories and demoting him, if Heaven didn’t want him to become an indication of an institutional issue? That would have prevented him from being a problem and retroactively undone his nah.

So, in conclusion: I believe the Book of Life can’t erase people from existence and someone was telling a lie before that piece of information trickled down to Crowley.

But it does raise the question, what does the Book of Life do?

Some might argue that the rules of world-building in Good Omens doesn’t have to follow scripture exactly, except they really like to.

According to the Virtual Jewish Library:

BOOK OF LIFE, or perhaps more correctly BOOK OF THE LIVING (Heb. סֵפֶר חַיִּים, Sefer Ḥayyim), a heavenly book in which the names of the righteous are inscribed. The expression "Book of Life" appears only once in the Bible, in Psalms 69: 29 (28), "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous," but a close parallel is found in Isaiah 4:3, which speaks of a list of those destined (literally "written") for life in Jerusalem. The erasure of a sinner's name from such a register is equivalent to death (cf. Ps. 69: 29, and the plea of Moses, Ex. 32:32–33).

In the Mishnah (Avot 3:17), R. Akiva speaks in detailed terms of the heavenly ledger in which all man's actions are written down until the inevitable day of reckoning comes. On the basis of the above-mentioned reference to the Book of Life in Psalms, however, or, according to another amora, of the plea of Moses, the Talmud states "three books are opened in heaven on Rosh Ha-Shanah, one for the thoroughly wicked, one for the thoroughly righteous, and one for the intermediate. The thoroughly righteous are forthwith inscribed in the Book of Life, the thoroughly wicked in the Book of Death, while the fate of the intermediate is suspended until the Day of Atonement" (RH 16b).

So getting erased from the Book of Life doesn’t mean you won’t exist anymore. It just means that you aren’t on God’s nice list anymore. The Book of Life is for those who are good and righteous, Book of Death is for those who are evil and wicked, and the people who aren’t wholly either exist in some kind of intermediate limbo waiting for future judgement. It’s the exact same structure that we see for the construction of Heaven vs Hell vs Earth.

Remember how we were talking about the Second Coming being the big set-up for the next season? Well, fun fact, the Book of Life also makes an appearance in Revelations from the Christian New Testament:

Revelations 20:12: And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Revelations 20:15: And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

So if being erased from the Book of Life means being cast out of Heaven into a lake of fire, aka Falling, why do Beelzebub and Crowley care? They did that already. Crowley wasn’t that bothered by the concept of extreme sanctions until Beelzebub brought up the Book of Life. It means something to them. Maybe because they know what it really does?

Now admittedly I’m not 100% sure that this works with Beelzebub because they seemed pretty convinced that Michael was telling the truth in their conversation with Crowley. But that entire conversation was hiding a lot, because we learn later on that Beelzebub was after Gabriel the entire time to protect him.Their desperation wasn’t selfish self-preservation, but saving the one they loved.

Gabriel was told that he would remain an angel, but his memories of his time as Gabriel would be erased. As if after his memories were erased, he would no longer be Gabriel, just a 38th-class angel. Then, when he put his memories in the fly, Heaven couldn’t find them anywhere or find Gabriel at all. All Gabriel had done was store his memories in something from Beelzebub (something from Hell, from The Book of Death) and take an elevator to Earth, but to Heaven he basically disappeared. When Beelzebub described what happened to Gabriel, they said that he vanished. There seems to be a strong connection with Gabriel’s amnesia and his absence from Heaven, for Heaven to not know where he was once he forgot who he was. Remember, they only “found” him because of Crowley and Aziraphale’s miracle drawing their attention. And they only actually found him after Crowley realized where Gabriel stored his memories and Beelzebub returned them.

The Book of Life is more than just a list of names of people, it’s a record of their works. This sort of stems from the Mesopotamian belief that the gods kept records of mankind’s actions and destiny. In Good Omens Season 2, there’s a lot of emphasis on people’s memories. Gabriel’s missing ones are the focus of most of the plot, but we get important flashbacks woven in with the story in present day, Crowley and Aziraphale even make references to their past events in the current day.

A lot of people have also pointed out how Crowley seems to be suffering from his own subtle amnesia. He doesn’t seem to recognize Aziraphale in Eden when we saw them meet before the Big Bang. He doesn’t remember Saraquel but she remembers him and their nebula work. He knows he helped create the stars but not that he was responsible for Banging Out the Big Bang and Letting There Be Light. Later on, he doesn’t remember the specifics of the gravitational rules he helped write and was once geeking out over. He remembers fighting the war, but he doesn’t remember doing it alongside Furfur. In short, I think it’s very possible when angels fall, they forget things. Maybe not everything, but certain details. They forgot their good works. Crowley didn’t remember what he did very clearly, except for the thoughts and feelings that led to his fall. (I admittedly have no explanation for how this can be true and how Crowley can ‘remember’ Heaven’s password but so many other things seem to match up. Maybe Heaven’s passwords just suck).

Once Gabriel lost (hid) his memories, he seemed to disappear from existence to Heaven and Hell (something further perpetuated by Crowley and Aziraphale’s joint miracle). Even Crowley and Aziraphale hiding Gabriel altered the memories of other characters, like Uriel and Michael, who could barely remember even meeting Jim once they got back to Heaven. Forgetting and erasing/hiding seem to be parallels to one another, if not basically the same thing.

So to go back to my previous question: What does the Book of Life do? It’s a record Heaven keeps of “good” people and the “good” works they did. Erasing them completely from the Book of Life may not erase who they are and what they did, but it would erase the record and more importantly their memories of who they are and what they did (at least for Angels and Demons). It wouldn’t retroactively re-write the universe, but it would take away someone’s sense of identity and their existence. And if that person were an Angel, they would probably also Fall.

Which, to me, sounds like a pretty good reason for both Beelzebub and Crowley to be worried for their respective angels, right? They may know that Heaven isn’t threatening to literally un-write them from existence, but that their angel is in danger of suffering some kind of cruel and terrible fate where they forget fundamental aspects of who they are (maybe even the person they love?). Which is a different way of erasing someone than what Michael was threatening, but still fairly awful. Crowley, after learning about the Book of Life being involved, only cared about Aziraphale, which admittedly doesn’t mean much since he usually does that. But also, Michael only threatened to erase Aziraphale for his role in everything, not Crowley.

Maybe that’s because Crowley has already been erased?

It’s interesting how the show refuses to tell us anything about who the demons were before they fell. Particularly Crowley, who’s angelic name purposefully is a large hanging question mark. It could be because Gaiman doesn’t want to commit to a certain angel for Crowley to have been, or it’s intentionally vague because the whole point of Crowley’s character is that he isn’t an angel anymore. But it’s also interesting to think the reason why it hasn’t been said is because it can’t be said. From a metaphorical standpoint, Crowley’s name from when he was an Angel has already been blotted out.

Who whole idea of “existing” with Angels and Demons reminds me of this weird response Neil Gaiman gave one time:

The angel Lucifer doesn’t exist anymore. Now there’s just Satan, the Adversary. Like whatever made Lucifer an angel was erased, and Satan is what remains.

It doesn’t fit everything perfectly and there are still a lot of pieces of the plot regarding the Book of Life that I still don’t entirely understand. But I feel like I’m onto something with the themes that memory is linked to identity/existence and how that is linked to Falling, and that the ability of the Book of Life as it is explained to us by Michael (and Beelzebub) in the show is misleading in some way.

Anyway, this is just a theory I came up with while reading some other theories about season 2, and it’s all in good fun so please don’t take it too seriously.

[hurlumerlu]

The waiting game.

A short THK fanfic (AO3)

Kant had winked before his jump.

He had looked pitiful, barefoot in his hospital gown, so out of place on the deck of the boat, and about ready to piss himself – but he had winked. As if he couldn’t leave Bison without giving him one last crumb of connivance, one last we’re gonna be fine. All this had told Bison was that Kant wasn’t so sure of it himself.

Bison hadn’t rushed to the side of the boat, nor watched the waters for a sign, and he certainly hadn’t dived in. He had stuck to the plan – Kant’s plan – and fled the fast-arriving cops.

"Relax", Kant had said on the drive from the hospital. "Kidnapping me was the hardest part."

Alone now, in another car, Bison begs to differ.

But no need for dramatics. Kant’s a great swimmer, and greater yet at getting out of a bind. He had spent an evening demonstrating this skill very literally, back when Bison still thought it was all just games, and it had taken some real creativity to keep him tied-up. It had been worth it, then, to see the confidence give way to frustration, to helplessness, to pleasure.

It’s worth far more now.

Sure, there’s a difference between freeing yourself to show off in bed, and doing the same thing underwater. Panic makes you clumsy and dumb. But Kant’s steady under pressure, right? Even starring down the barrel of a gun, at the wrong end of Bison’s wrath, he had kept his head. One life-threatening situation’s the same as another, Kant would say if he was here.

Then he would add something like "the sea’s got nothing on you, my love", with sly bedroom-eyes, and Bison would bury his fingers in his man’s hair and pull, hard, until – hmm. Maybe not that. Kant would be at the wheel.

Bison would say "you’re going to stop the car" and Kant would only hum, but he’d already be looking for a place to pull over, and when Bison would specify "if you know what’s good for you" he would get that slow widening smile, anticipatory and provocative, and – fuck, Bison hates driving.

Hates it now more than ever, in this busted car on these busted roads with a busted radio, and nothing but the cloying, cloying silence.

The safe house is empty when he arrives, like he knew it would be. Bison had to evade patrols, he took a number of detours and bumpy, winding paths, but Kant will likely have to come on foot, and before that he’ll need to reach one of their supply caches – he also warned that the captain was a canny old bastard and might not be convinced by Kant’s showy execution.

For all Bison knows, Kant is still waiting for the coast to clear.

He could also have gotten lost. He had assured he wouldn’t, that he knew the area well , but every word out of his mouth is a trust exercise, so...

The safe house is empty. Bison was not hoping he’d find Kant there.

He inspects the premises on autopilot. Anyone good enough to locate the place would have shot or arrested him the second he appeared, but Fadel would bitch about complacency, and he’d be right. Bison will have all the time in the world to become slow and unguarded once they’ve all regrouped outside the country.

He can’t grow careless so close to the finish line.

There’s nothing for him to do, here. Fadel would be working on straightening the bathroom cabinet’s door, or fixing the kitchen’s window screen, but Bison doesn’t even know how to try. There’s not much he’s good at besides murder, and nothing that would help now. He’s a decent bowler, a terrific dart thrower, pretty alright with young children. He’s learned basic first aid. He’s a competent waiter and his English’s serviceable. His flirting gets results, though in many cases just looking willing is enough. Mostly, he’s good at killing time.

Usually.

He could clean his gun. He’s already done it twice, and by now all it would do is open the possibility for mistakes in the reassembling, but he could clean his gun.

He doesn’t. Puts it on the coffee table, next to the burner phone that isn’t getting any signal. Bison knew what to expect. They talked about this, he and Fadel, agreed not to contact each other before the end of the week. Everything is going as it’s supposed to.

Any minute now, Kant will walk through the door, grumbling about the heat, or bug bites, or both. Bison will get up slowly from the couch, not daring to let himself believe, but there will be no denying it once they come face to face. He won’t even try to hide his relief.

Kant will get that look, the smug knowing one, with the raised eyebrows and downturned mouth that together form a smile, and Bison will cross the room, press himself against Kant’s salt-smelling clothes and burrow, burrow, burrow, until he’s home.

Any minute now.

[the-desolated-quill]

Okay. So here’s the problem I have with Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom.

It’s not a bad movie as such. It has its moments. There are things to like. The problem is that it pales in comparison to the first film. I LOVED Aquaman. I loved it way more than I thought I would. It was a well written, visually stunning fantasy epic. It was also a complete story with a beginning, middle and end. Which leaves us with a big problem with the sequel. Because the ending of the first film is so definitive, there isn’t actually anywhere for the second film to go. I mean they try. We see Black Manta continue with his quest for revenge, and we see Arthur try to reconnect with his half-brother Orm in the hopes of redeeming him, but it all feels kind of superfluous. Everything The Lost Kingdom does, the first film had already done and done better.

It also doesn’t help that this film came out at a time when Warner Bros was busy trying to suffocate the DC Universe with a pillow. Plus the extensive reshoots in order to erase Amber Heard from existence because Hollywood has the backbone of a chocolate eclair. And on top of that, the script’s environmental messaging is both clumsy and painfully on the nose. The villain, a dollar store Sauron, was imprisoned in Antarctica and now global warming is thawing him out. And the film ends with Arthur addressing the United Nations, lecturing humanity to look after the planet, which is not only a complete ripoff of the ending of Black Panther, minus the emotional payoff of a well executed character arc, it’s also unintentionally hilarious because Jason Momoa is doing his speech in his day-glow orange Aquaman suit. I’m sorry, but there’s a reason why Chadwick Boseman didn’t have his Black Panther suit on during his big speech, and that’s because it would be impossible to take him seriously if he was trying to tug at the heartstrings and promote international and intercultural unity while dressed in a giant cat costume. 🤣

And THEN there’s the racial allegory.

When the first film came out, I remember there was minor controversy because people were hoping DC would cast Polynesian actors as the Atlanteans. Instead they were all white, which was a shame… until you watched the film and you realised that all the human characters were played by people of colour, and you listened to the derogatory way Atlanteans talked about humans in the film, and you realise that, holy shit, this was deliberate. Atlantis is a metaphor for white supremacy. They view humans as ignorant, destructive, primitive, and savage. They even refer to Arthur as a mongrel at one point. I love this idea because I think it’s a clever way of tying Aquaman into the original myth of Atlantis, which people tend to forget was itself an anti-colonialist allegory. The Atlanteans conquered the world, enslaving other nations, and because of their hubris and greed, they fell out of favour with the gods, and so Atlantis sank into the sea without a trace. So using DC’s Atlantis as a metaphor for white supremacy is actually thematically appropriate and adds another layer to the film.

Unfortunately the racial allegory becomes very problematic in the second film.

Like the first film, the Atlanteans (with the exception of Arthur) are portrayed by white people and the humans by people of colour, presumably in order to keep continuity with the first film. The problem is that the context of this film is very different. Think about it. What happens? Black Manta, a black man, wants revenge against Aquaman. Humans, played by people of colour, have caused global warming, melting Antarctica, and now Black Manta wants to speed the process up to resurrect dollar store Sauron in order to gain the power to destroy Atlantis, where the white people live. He fails, and the white Atlanteans decide to reveal themselves in order to share their superior wisdom, knowledge and technology with the natives in order to save the world.

Yikes. BIG yikes. 😰

The racial allegory is a double edged sword that cuts both ways. What was used as a way to examine and condemn white supremacy in the first film is now inadvertently reinforcing colonialist narratives and stereotypes in the second. In fairness, I don’t think this was intentional on the part of the filmmakers, but it’s still a MASSIVE oversight, and I’m amazed nobody picked up on it during production. To say it’s dodgy would be an understatement.

So yeah. Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom. Not a fan. 🤷🏻‍♂️😕

[howtowhumpyourhiccup]

Whumpcember 2024 Day 2

Hurt & Comfort Bingo - Pick Your Poison

And It's All Your Fault

Summary: Set in RoB/DoB. A lot of things happened that day that shouldn't have and one of them happened to Hiccup. He blames Snotlout.

Warnings: Injury

Rating: Mature

Dead Dove: No

Words: 1 033

Prompt: "This is your fault!" (Whumpcember 2024) Acid (Hurt & Comfort Bingo - Pick Your Poison)

Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon

Characters: Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, Snotlout

Whumpee: Hiccup

Whumper: Snotlout, Changewing

Pairing: /

Author’s Notes: Had this idea for a veeerrryyy long time to turn this idea into a longer fic. I still intend to, I could just also use this idea for today's prompt.

Enjoy!

Fic and card below the "keep reading."

A great many things happened today that just shouldn’t have. There is a Changewing on Berk that’s not supposed to be there. It took time to finally gather all the Dragon Riders in the Academy. Much too long, according to the chief. Snotlout was somehow listening even less than usual when Hiccup tried to explain the plan he came up with on the fly. They were clumsy in their execution, the Changewing got agitated and that’s when something happened that really shouldn’t have happened.

Hiccup got sprayed with Changewing acid.

Now something did happen that should’ve. Toothless’ reaction when he saw what the other dragon was about to do behind them was immediate. He knew what to do and he got them as safe as he could as fast as he could. It’s just unfortunate that Hiccup still got hurt despite his best efforts.

Now he sits in the shallower side of Lars Lake, shivering not because of the freezing chill of the water, but because of the sheer agony in his right shoulder.

Toothless thought quickly. The Changewing hit them from behind, grazing his human with it’s acidic spit and he knew to dive into the water. The acid may not dissolve, but it does wash off. The dive, while a chilling shock, did keep a huge hole from being eaten into Hiccup, which wouldn’t have just resulted into him losing his right arm, but would’ve cost him his life as well.

It would’ve eaten through his shoulder and ribs. Disolving muscles and bone and organ before going through bone and muscle. His clothes would’ve barely been a bother, unable to prevent a horror from taking place before the eyes of everyone present. Toothless did prevent it.

Still, he wishes he could’ve done more.

Seconds after the hit, Stormfly set down next to him and Astrid jumped out of the saddle. While Toothless whines at the injury from one side, she stares at it from the other.

It’s an ugly thing. It looks exactly like a burn caused by fire. Red, raw, dry, there are a couple of blisters forming near the bottom of what is a big blotchy shape on the back of Hiccup’s right shoulder that appears to drip down with splatters that travel left and some more down his right arm. If it hadn’t been for Toothless’ quick thinking and the clothes the boy wears, every single one of these largely superficial wounds would’ve burned a hole right through to the other side.

It’s only natural that Hiccup finds himself unable to move, just holding his right arm to him and desperate not to agitate his injuries even further. He can’t believe he’s in this position again.

“Oh, it’s terrible!” Fishlegs gasps once he has joined them. Out of curiosity, Meatlug and Stormfly come to take a look as well and neither appear to like what they see.

At his words, the shaking of Hiccup’s shoulders worsen and his tears finally come. He’s scared of just how bad it is. Like he needed more burns. Like he needs more scars. Like he needed more pain. He only just healed from his injuries from his battle with the Red Death, he only just took off his bandages for the very last time. It took months!

When she spots his growing tears, Astrid smacks Fishlegs’ arm. She can’t believe he just had to say that out loud. He mutters a quiet apology and fidgets with his fingers. Toothless appears in his human’s sight and purrs reassuringly as he nuzzles his cheeks. It draws pained noises from him.

“That’s just gnarly!” Are the twins’ contribution once they join them as well. Well, one twin says it and the other one agrees with an approving nod, but Hiccup doesn’t care which.

“Ugh, who cares what it looks like! We have to get him home and tell Stoick,” Astrid makes the twins keep their distance before she moves to Hiccup’s left side to grab his arm. Pulling him up on his feet isn’t without trouble as Hiccup can’t stop himself from whining and moaning. Of course, how can he not?

And even so, his pain tolerance is much higher than it used to be.

It’s at that moment that the final Dragon Rider lands together with his dragon. Snotlout Jorgenson and Hookfang. Needless to say, the others stare at them. Or rather, they stare at the human on his neck.

“Uh, where have you guys been? That Changewing is totally getting away!” Snotlout yells at them. He was doing such a good job chasing it down, too.

It takes him a moment, but eventually he notices that everyone is staring at him and Hiccup is soaking wet for some reason. So he dismounts and approaches. “What?”

“What? That’s all you have to say? “What?!” Hiccup screams and the other boy is taken aback. “I am burned! Again! And it’s all your fault!”

“Wha- No, it’s not! I didn’t do anything!” Snotlout is quickly on the defensive. What is Hiccup talking about this time? He didn’t burn him, he and Hookfang were nowhere near Toothless and his stupid accusatory Rider.

Hiccup rips himself free from Astrid despite her best efforts to keep a hold on him. Angrily, he stomps towards him. Snotlout takes a shocked step back.

“Exactly! You didn’t do anything, but agitate it and agitate it! All you had to do was stick to the plan, but no, you had to try and solve it yourself! This? My back? Your fault!” With tears streaming down his face, he yells and tries to push the other boy. Toothless is quick to stop him, Hiccup ends up draped across his head.

Snotlout stares at him. At his reddened face stained in tears and snot, at his angry eyes. Then he stares at his other friends and notices that they’re wearing similar looks of anger. Even the twins’ previous enthusiasm seems to have melted away with his entrance. They’re all blaming him.

Hiccup climbs into the saddle with Toothless’ help and they take off with Astrid and Stormfly following immediately after. Snotlout watches them go and catches only a glimps of the other boy’s awful injuries.

[clevervonskelli]

I finally edited my post-finale, notes-app thoughts so that they're somewhat intelligible and I'm leaving them here in one rambling lump. 

- ROSIE!! I would give this man all the screentime ever. The depiction of his mission and crash was executed so well! Nate did a stellar job with that and later at the concentration camp. 

- Take the "true" out of the "we were the masters of the air" part! I hate it. Who put that in there? It sounds corny, and weird, and like they achieved some sort of divinely dictated status and it really pisses me off. The vibe is manifest destiny, American imperialism-type shiz and I hate it. Just "we were the masters of the air" with a different emphasis in Anthony's Crosby voice would have been great. Miss me with that "true" bullshit. Yes, this miniscule moment is what I will fight over. 

- Ngl, I thought there was some sort of design/editing oopsie when a tumblr post last week zoomed in on the opening credits where it shows a collection of dudes standing beside a plane and one of the ones wearing a life vest had Rafe Law's face. But now I'm so happy that in the show Lemmons got to take flight and participate in such a cheerful mission. 

- The roles and screen time for the Tuskegee men: It should have been better for sure but it was at least tasteful?? as weird as that sounds. In my (white) opinion, their initial introduction offered a very limited look at the unit as a whole but still felt a lot more intimate than for other characters we have seen more often. In episode 9, Macon, Jefferson, & Daniels didn't say much but they felt so integral to the scenes they were in and had quiet moments (like the nods when they arrived at the new camp or being right in the thick of the scramble during the liberation) that felt all the more powerful because of the lack of dialogue. 

What I would have really liked is for their storylines to run through every episode as more of a parallel to those of the 100th, with equal attention dedicated to them/their missions, but at least they weren't simply tossed into the show in a way that felt careless or grudgingly forced. 

- I'm not sure I like Solomon as the one lifting the guard during the march. Yes, the circumstances really did lead to some of them helping each other like that, even as wild as prisoners toting the guns might seem, but having it be a Jewish POW in the show felt very morally pedantic, like some sort of Sunday-school lesson on being the bigger person. I can only speak as a non-Jew, but it felt odd! Instead of being an effective way to underline the complexity of the relationships between prisoners & captors or Germans & Americans it felt like it was trying too hard to also connect to the Holocaust elements of the episode. I feel like the result was clumsy and strange in a way that I don't think it would have been if it had been a character other than Solomon taking those actions. 

- And while I'm on the subject of the guards/prisoners angle...

That one guard yelling and bragging about how to handle the prisoners was awkwardly done. I can't remember it exactly, but if the show wanted to highlight that "not all Germans and not all the prison staff were Nazis but some definitely were and those ones were real bastards!" then they should have had the other guard looking conflicted or upset by it or something. There should have been some kind of nuance distinguishable to the audience.  Most of the faces were just so blank it felt like one guy was giving the scene his all while everyone else spaced for that take.

- They managed to convey the "old men and kids" thing pretty well without hitting us over the head or putting it in the voiceover. There's a more effective way for it to have been done, I just know it, but I have no actual suggestions and therefore must be gracious. I'm just happy they tried to show a tiny bit of how staggeringly drained and unrecognizable the entire German nation was by the end of the war. MotA's ✨bombing morality discourse✨ often felt unsettled throughout the show, but I think the attempt at illustrating that the first country the Nazis invaded/attacked was their own ended up being more successful. 

- I'm not sure exactly what they were doing with the moment where Buck and the horse stare into each other's souls but I love how it gives us the opportunity to have cracky, 'Cleven is a horse boy' jokes 🐎. 

(Ok, but seriously, what was with the horse? Were they trying to increase tension wondering if it would reveal them? Was it to show how dire things had become in Germany compared to when earlier they had such technological might? Was it supposed to be one of the emaciated horses they often passed while on the march? Is it for white horse symbolic reasons? Just for the aesthetic? WHY?!?). 

- I could have easily spent 40 minutes just watching the POWs trying to pack up for the march and I still wouldn't have had enough. I'm absolutely wild for the details and background stuff in Stalag III and I can't wait for all the gifsets and whatnot to be able to take a closer look at things ❤️

- They gave Crosby his locked supply shed moment!! I was really hoping for that, or when he intellectually destroys the 390th's navigator, to be included and it is so satisfying to see. I love having something else to focus on besides his voiceover and early episode struggles (both of which I do enjoy) or the weird af way they did the him+Sandra thing (which I quite despise). Add it to his Nietze quote and anxiety concerning their roles in the war and I feel like we got a decent characterization of him again. 

- I guess I can accept not enough budget for a 10th episode but there wasn't even enough for Meatball in the finale? Man, I'd sure like to go back in time and crowdfund that shit. 

- When Sammy yelled "they won!!" as the kiddos were playing after everyone leaves Thorpe Abbotts I got super annoyed. 

The hero worship would be very real of course, but Hanks & Spielberg can't convince me that a British kid who has been living a huge chunk of his life in a country at war would not make that a "we won!". Not only was England a part of the victorious side but Sammy was basically a part of the Thorpe Abbotts/100thBG family and therefore would likely feel like a part of any of their successes too. It's kind of petty but, again, it felt a little too "USA! USA!! USA!!!" for my tastes. 

- From the moment his casting was announced I expected Callum Turner to put his entire being into this role and he certainly has. They nabbed a 6'4 dude built like an old growth pine to play a man who was something like 5'6 and 120lbs soaking wet, but I could definitely see the vision. His dedication has been so clear in other episodes as well but there was just something about Episode 9 that went above and beyond. Maybe because there are scenes where Egan is alone more often (or at least separated somewhat from the others), just like when he first bailed, but Callum's facial work and body language was impeccable. 

[mar64ds]

I’d like to replay the game to have more cohesive thoughts but looking at some of the dialogue i’d like to give a small analysis on how undertale handles lovelessness in both a very clumsy way and very accidentally nice way. I made a whole video essay about Flowey’s lovelessness already, but I’d like to give some new thoughts now that I know I’m on the loveless spectrum myself

The negatives

While Flowey is a very important character to me and I will discuss the positives aspects of his character, there is no denying the game falls into some bad tropes and lines of dialogues.

In the pacifist run, Flowey only really talks about his lovelessness if you keep visiting him after the neutral ending or when he becomes Asriel.

In the neutral ending he seems to imply that love = care, stating he can’t really feel anything for anyone, which to him it means he doesn’t care. This is obviously false in general, but even the game itself proves him wrong over that fact, making it very clear that Flowey does care multiple times. (NOT talking about low empathy, which Flowey might have as well, I mean like… him not caring about killing people). However, this is not super well executed if there are A LOT of people that still see Flowey not feeling love as him not caring about anyone, and there are even people that think Flowey DOES feel love. While the story contradicts Flowey’s statement about love = care, it’s done in a way that the characters never really tell him that it’s okay to be the way he is. It’s never fully acknowledged that it’s okay for Flowey to be loveless, it’s mostly implied. Flowey is constantly seen as a tragic character or a cruel character, by the game and by the fans.

The game doesn’t really challenge the way that love is glorified. Love is seen as an inherently good thing in the story (LOVE is not the same thing, that’s obvious), the thing that ultimately makes you care about others, one of the main things that saves Asriel, it’s even stated to be the one of the things mosnters claim their souls are made out of. Quite literally a ‘love is what makes us human’ but with monsters. They even add a bit of a cruel line stating that humans don’t need love in their souls to remain alive, and this is not said in a positive way, it’s implying that humans can be cruel and still be alive.

In the pacifist ending, Asriel states he doesn’t feel love, which (in pacifist) he hasn’t really done before. Flowey is established early on to be a villain that doesn’t care about people and is willing to kill people over and over, but it’s only here where he states he didn’t really feel love when he was Flowey. Maybe you can predict so, but it’s never stated until this moment. Asriel speaks of Flowey as this sort of horrible monster and while this can be interpreted as self-deprecation and Asriel’s lack of understanding of lovelessness… again, the game doesn’t really make an effort to prove him wrong. It’s all reading between lines, it’s all things you can interpret and imply, but the game itself doesn’t go out of its way to tell Asriel he’s wrong for thinking this way. This scene is meant to make you really sad that Asriel is not going to feel love again, because that is something ‘very very sad and very very tragic’. And I feel like a lot of people don’t understand that while you can show the struggle of an identity, you can’t JUST show the struggle. Specially if you aren’t loveless yourself. If you do that, you’re just being insensitive, framing lovelessness as a horrible tragedy.

In a violent run, Flowey speaks more about his lovelessness. How he suddenly couldn’t feel anything for anyone, not even for his parents. This segment is worded a bit strangely too, again implying love = care. The obvious thing is: Flowey does not feel love anymore. He’s scared, he tries to feel the way he did before and is unable to, he doesn’t seem to really talk about it to his parents, he runs away and isolates himself. The events that lead him to find out about his reset powers happen as well. Needless to say, Flowey is very miserable. This in it of itself is not a problem, again it’s okay to show a loveless character that struggles with their lovelessness, you can make a good story and a good commentary with it. But AGAIN, the game doesn’t really challenge this, it doesn’t really do anything with it. This is just seen as Flowey’s tragic backstory that leads him to start his evil path. It’s NOT the reason why he’s evil, Flowey’s evil actions are more a reflection’s to the player’s. Unfortunately, the game also does not make this super clear because a lot of people still attribute Flowey’s evil actions to his lovelessness. Maybe it’s lack of media literacy, or maybe the game also did not try very hard to make you understand lovelessness was not the problem.

Finding out more about his lovelessness just makes the pacifist ending more cruel to me. Asriel really invalidates Flowey’s lovelessness, and it’s framed as a way that the game itself is ALSO invalidating Flowey.

The neutral?

From what I remember and from some dialogue I’ve read, while Undertale has a very obvious theme about love all throughout the game, love isn’t really mentioned as much as you’d think. The characters don’t really say ‘I love you’ to you or to each other, they have their own ways of expressing that they care about you and each other. Aside from that one Sans’ scene, they don’t have big speeches about love either. These are things you really expect in stories very centered around love but Undertale doesn’t actually talk about love as much as you’d think. They talk more about being kind to others, which is what we should be really talking about. Really, Flowey/Asriel seems to be the biggest emphasis in the game when it comes to love, but it’s all related to his lovelessness. This is both a good thing and not a great thing, neutral it is.

The positives

Undertale does something not many stories do and that is for the loveless character to actually remain loveless at the end of the game and for the extra content of the game to state over and over that Flowey cares about others and seems to have a pretty happy life. It IS a problem that this does NOT show up in the actual game, but it is good that canonically this is the character’s fate. Flowey still talks to Frisk and Papyrus and took care of Toriel when she needed it. He seems to be doing okay and he is not framed as an evil person just because he’s back to being loveless. He is okay! He is happy! Even if the game frames his ending as a tragedy, it seems they are rectifying that and stating that actually, it isn’t a tragedy and he will be okay.

Aside from that, while the game has issues in how it handles lovelessness, I can’t deny that a lot of it works really well for interesting and positive loveless metaphors and interpretations. Like I said, the problem is that the game doesn’t really explore them, but the themes ARE there. The glorification of love, the fact that because of that Flowey feels like there is something wrong with him and decides to isolate himself, the fact that he even thinks life is not worth it without love… the commentary is all there. Asriel not liking Flowey is a bit of a metaphor for how Flowey doesn’t accept himself, and that he needs to learn he doesn’t have to be Asriel to be happy again, he doesn’t need to feel love to be happy again.

It’s also super nice that Asriel says that Frisk should ‘go back with the people who love them’ and yet Frisk keeps visiting Flowey, implying that Flowey doesn’t need to love Frisk for Frisk to want to spend time together.

I don’t think Undertale is the worst story ever when it comes to how it handles lovelessness, while there are some harmful stuff I genuinely think it has one of the best probably completely accidental portrayals of a loveless character. Flowey was a very important character for me to realize that I was loveless myself, he is the ONLY loveless character that: 1) remains loveless at the end and 2) isn’t inherently evil- that I have actually seen on media. Most ‘loveless’ characters tend to either feel love again, or seen as evil or a tragic fate. Flowey, while flawed, is a huge difference from most loveless characters. He is very complex, he is very deep, he is very important to me.

Flowey is a really great character that might fall into some bad tropes, but he’s still a cool loveless character that helped me in my journey to understand my own lovelessness. Flowey doesn’t need to be saved, he doesn’t need to be Asriel and he doesn’t need to feel love. Flowey just needs to be accepted as Flowey, a little flower that doesn’t feel love, and that’s okay.

[skypiea]

(I'm with you with regards to the "quite easily I like it" OP post btw! Just wanna make that clear ^^;;) I almost wonder if the gripes are like, in part people who see how the women are drawn and base All Their Opinions of the series on that. That or they got mad at the clown thing Tumblr did and just decided to hate the series for it. Or they're just a little hater, honestly anything can apply. I'm not a fan of OP, haven't seen a second of it to make a decision, but like. 5 or 6 (including you- im not just a random, im just really shy LOL) of my friends are, and the one thing keeping me off from watching it is the fact that it's one of the longest animes still going- And I almost wonder if that also has a part to play in the "lol how can u watch one piece" thing people have going on. Also, have you seen the bananawanis yet?? I don't go here but I love them.

Thanks for the message! I hope you don't mind a bit of rambling (all that I'm capable of, always).

The thing is, I think there are plenty of things to criticize about one piece. I’ve seen and had many thoughtful discussions about elements of the work that can easily be considered harmful stereotypes, as well as some well-intentioned ideas that I think were executed in a subpar and clumsy manner. Some of these are directly a result of the author being only 1 guy with 1 lived experience, some are the result of broader issues in the shonen genre.

And these discussions are great! Everyone is better off for having thought about these potentially damaging aspects deeper, and it’s incredibly important to be able to recognize that an author you respect and follow isn’t perfect and doesn’t need defending over every single thing. And at the same time, I fully respect anyone who has no interest in getting into the work because they don’t want to put up with any of the parts that are far from perfect.

Personally, what I can’t stand is the tone of condescension people are very quick to take… I do not fault anyone for not digging the show's visual style, it's not for everyone. But I don't really appreciate the implication that I'm like, stupid or misogynist or cumbrained just because I enjoy the work overall. Or even because I do enjoy Oda's art; I think he is a really talented artist, but elements of his stylization are not always my favorite, including both his general figures for both women and men. This is not even starting to mention the incredible talents of many of the individual animators who work on the one piece anime, who all put a lot of their own amazing flair into adapting the work.

On the topic of the latter thing, I've truly never understood the length being a barrier to the ability to enjoy the work. It's always really baffled me...? I don't know if it's like, people who are only interested in getting into OP specifically to interact with the fandom, but in my opinion there's no actual factor that makes you need to catch up to current as fast as possible. In my mind, having so much of a new thing is wonderful for me; I'll have a lot of great story to enjoy, I can take it at my own pace, enjoy watching a bit at a time for a long time. I guess everyone just wants to be done with something as fast as possible these days... Pretty sad... Make it last and enjoy it lots :-)

I've gone on for long enough, but basically, I couldn't care less if anyone doesn't enjoy the same thing that I enjoy a lot--that's life! I simply can't stand being treated like some sort of idiot for liking it, and I'm done basically agreeing with those kinds of people by giving them any ground. None of this is a super serious problem of course, just a pet peeve... but what is a blog for if not talking at length about my silly little pet peeves ;-)

Of course I adore the Bananawani, as well as all the other fun and silly animals of the one piece world. I hope we'll see them again one day, it's been so long... Here's one of my favorite one piece species for you, the Lapin. Love these guys.

To finish off, I'm just going to include one of my favorite recent pieces of one piece's animation. Hope everyone's havin a lovely day ^_^