#even though that’s not really a theory at this point

[perfectlysanexd]

I haven't done one of these kind of posts in a while, but the expressions in Rebirth were top notch, and I wanted to talk a bit about and analyze Sephiroth's different smiles, both pre and post Nibelheim.

Nibelheim itself is difficult to gauge, because SOLDIER Cloud is actually Zack, and furthermore, some of it is definitely his own wishful thinking. But one thing you can say for sure, is that they portray that Sephiroth, despite being so emotionally weary, still summons up the energy to smile at his friend.

As soon as he turns away from Zack, his smile falls, and he doesn't give one to the Mayor at all.

However, when he turns back to inform the men that they're free until sundown, he summons up another smile for them. I don't think that he's just attempting to keep their morale up, he genuinely has affection for Zack, and cares for the others. He respects them for their service, putting their lives on the line for what they think is a good cause, and Sephiroth—as we saw in Ever Crisis—learned to be a compassionate person, who cares about the lives of others, even enemies.

Of course, he's deeply distressed during this time, the despair is eating him alive. Even Cloud acknowledges(despite having not known Sephiroth on a personal level) that he just wasn't himself once they arrived. But I'm not going to talk about my theories on all the Jenova stuff right now, that's not the focus here. Even at the window, you can tell he's feeling off, but when he turns to Zack, he attempts to smile again.

Sephiroth has never enjoyed his fame, and as we learned in Ever Crisis, he didn't choose it; Shinra made up bogus achievements and declared him to be a hero before even his first field assignment, as part of their recruitment campaign. Can't argue with results, I guess—it certainly got Cloud to join up out of hero worship, right? In EC, Sephiroth admits that all he ever wanted was to be normal, something that he knows he can never have. How sad...

So when this man wants to take his picture, it's no wonder that he's over it by then, and tells him no. And rather politely, too, all things considered. But even before that, he smiles and tells Zack that as long as he does his job, their young tourguide will be safe.

But as soon as he turns his back and walks away? Yeah, that smile immediately fades.

Which certainly doesn't change when the guy takes his picture. But of course, when Zack asks Sephiroth to pose for one, he just can't say no, even though he's not super happy about it. Anyway, he continues to smile at Zack for the duration of their journey up Mt. Nibel, making an effort to talk and even cracking a couple jokes, just trying to be a good leader and keep them in good spirits.

And of course, there's the very sad bridge part, where you can tell that he's genuinely upset that he failed to save the other infantryman that got washed away. He searches for him, but comes up empty-handed. Still, he smiles for Zack and teases him about a performance assessment, since their morale is quite low now, but they need to keep going.

Honestly, the Nibelheim part of Rebirth really did an excellent job of portraying Sephiroth's inner struggle. For reference, there are only 3 points in Remake, I think, when Sephiroth drops his ever-present, sometimes affectionate(towards Cloud) and often unhinged, smile: First, it's replaced with sheer rage as he kills President Shinra.

Second time, is when Aerith has a Cetra moment and suggests that his entire existence is "wrong".

And the third time is when he holds out his hand to Cloud at the Edge of Creation, and is rejected by him.

Anyway, back to Rebirth. Ignoring the bizarre smiles he showed us as Nibelheim was burning, as if he was in a trance and just not all there(that's a subject for a different chat), post-Nibelheim Sephiroth's smiles are interesting, too, if we consider what kind they are, depending on who he's dealing with.

For people he hates, like Tseng, it's much more unhinged looking, and very cold. You can tell there's a certain measure of satisfaction from shanking him, haha...

For someone like Aerith, who...I wouldn't exactly say that he hates her, but she's definitely in the way. I would almost say that he considers her to be actively preventing Cloud from recovering his true memories, leading him to remain as merely Sephiroth's "puppet", but that's a theory for another day. He looks at her coldly, as well, but it's a bit different. There's a bit more respect there than there was for Tseng.

And then there's Zack. Actual Zack. I feel like, deep down, he still cares about him, and has no intention of killing him. I almost sense a little...regret? Maybe? Hm. It's definitely a bit warmer of a smile. And of course, although he had many opportunities to get rid of Zack, he doesn't. Instead, he sends him off into the space between worlds safely.

And of course, last but certainly not least, is the way he smiles at Cloud. I know, I know. "But Sane, you like sefikura, so you're biased!" Look, I won't deny that. However, when you really look at it and compare his smiles, which is what this is all about, his truest smiles are always saved for Cloud. He has 2 different "flavors": pure affection and cruel affection. (There are also a few pity smiles, I think.) The former is used most of the time, whenever Cloud is in his sight, and the latter is used during moments when he's trying to control/influence him. I would almost say that he's...satisfied, yet regretful at the same time?? Like these:

And now, let's contrast that with his more genuine, affectionate smiles for Cloud... (The first shot here ⬇ can be contrasted with the shot 2 up from the bottom there ⬆, as the one above is when he's calling Cloud his puppet, and the one below is when Cloud goes to attack him and he opens his arms wider for the incoming uh...embrace.)

Remake had many interesting smiles from him, too, but that will have to be a different post, as this already has 30 screenshots. Anywho, you're free to draw your own conclusions, and not everyone reads faces in the same way, so maybe I'm nuts. Who knows? Either way, I hope you enjoyed this random, indulgent, very long post, haha. If you made it to the end, you're awesome. 💕

All screenshots were taken by me on my PS5. I won't ask for credit on them, since literally anyone can take an identical shot if they pause at the right second. (The exception are the 3 Remake shots, which were taken on PC with mods and the freecam. For those, I would appreciate credit if you use them anywhere, since I don't watermark them.)

[rayroseu]

(sketch) sundayfied knight of dawn lol and rambles lol

i really have no thoughts about this other than before book 7, i always hc that maybe Silver's father was an otherworldly being, bcs there hasss to be an explanation about his magical prowess even though i really know that both his parents are human. and thats the point of Silver's character..... that he's entirely human lol but theres theories that dawn and silver might not be orginally from twst anyways, so i think dawn being otherworldly is not far reach lol

(i really believe this theory bcs if im remembering correctly, silver and dawn are characters that you cant really apply as completely heroes and completely villains, like they both have potential to become either, but in the story, they never label themselves as such unlike other characters-- so the principles of twst as a world might not be a huge influence on them unlike with "originally in twst" type of humans)

plus i kinda thought about this bcs his armor helmet has tons of feathers on it, so this design is kinda fitting ajdjsjd and cute on him ✨😌↕️

also kinda hc that if his design was like this hr three good fairies would always fuss about taking care of him even though he can do it independently lolol I WANT MORE DYNAMIC OF THEN PLS JSJDJW😭😭✨✨

[cannibalspicnic]

I've been wanting to organize my thoughts and theories about the trial, so I'm gonna try writing through them here. Honestly, one of my favorite things about this show so far is the endless potential for speculation so, here it goes....

I think the trial itself was mostly Santiago's idea, and it was the perfect power grab for him.

Lestat's presence at the trial, however, I think is pretty much entirely Armand's doing and the main reason Armand involved himself as deeply as he did.

Santiago didn't know Lestat, didn't seem to particularly appreciate Lestat's presence at the trial, and moreover, didn't need Lestat at the trial. As Claudia pointed out, it was never really a trial. It was a stoning. Execution was the foregone conclusion, and the trial was just a piece of theater. All he really needed were Claudia's diaries and maybe Sam's more poetic extrapolations. The "jury" had no idea what was happening anyway and were just doing call and response.

But Armand's got this whole love/hate obsession with Lestat, and I think the hate and resentment part of that obsession gives cause for Armand to want Lestat to be forced to witness in person the execution of his family. As far as the love part of the obsession, I think Armand hopes that once Lestat is left alone, he'll have no choice but to stay with Armand. Possibly there's a part of Armand that genuinely wants Lestat to see him as his avenger.

I do not believe Lestat was there willingly. I think, like in the books, he was imprisoned and starved to keep him weak, but he wasn't as completely incapacitated as he was in the books. Lestat agreed to read the lines and rehearse etc. because if he hadn't, they wouldn't have let him participate in the trial at all, and the trial was Lestat's only chance to even SEE Louis and Claudia, much less try to save either of them.

And once the trial starts, Lestat repeatedly tries to undermine it, but he's still walking a fine line because if he fucks with the coven too much, he might be removed and lose any chance he has to affect the outcome. I think we also might find out that he tried and failed a few other ways to save Louis AND Claudia.

Which brings me to the question of Lestat and Claudia. I do not believe Lestat ever wanted Claudia dead, though it's understandable to believe differently from what we've seen in the show so far. I do think we're going to find out that Lestat made one last ditch effort to save Claudia after Louis was dragged offstage, even if it was only to plead with Armand for her life. Armand's being the only version of that moment feels too juicy to not come back to it. That being said, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Lestat prioritized saving Louis first, and that's one of the things that continues to haunt him after the trial about Claudia's death. Especially after all she says about it never being about her.

What I find really interesting is that when Louis is recounting the trial, he repeatedly insists that Lestat was there for revenge and that he believes Lestat helped orchestrate it. But in the flashbacks from Louis' memories, we also see Lestat is not having a good time and is somehow weakened, that something is not quite right with him.

It's one of my favorite examples of Louis reaching for the truth he knows is inside of him, inside his memories. That's why the revelation that Armand had directed the play and Lestat had saved him made such a huge impact. Those were the missing pieces of the puzzle, and they are what led him to recontextualize everything he already knew. Namely, if Lestat had saved him, he was never there for revenge. And his genuine contrition about the drop, his attempt to take some of the responsibility for Claudia's making, his unsteady and unhappy demeanor...they make sense because Louis realizes that Lestat was a prisoner during the trial, not Armand. I don't think Louis would have ever gone to find Lestat if he truly still believed that he organized Claudia's death or even agreed to it.

So back to Armand. I do actually think that Armand loved Louis. I've said before, when it comes to Armand, it's best to let go of reason and embrace the gremlin to understand his actions. I do think some of Armand's initial interest in Louis is specifically because he is Lestat's fledgling, but he did come to love Louis himself. And I think Louis came to love him. I know this is not a popular opinion, but hear me out.

First of all, I think Armand never let go of the idea that he was going to have to kill Louis. I think he always kinda saw his time with Louis as delaying the inevitable. But he did want Louis for himself, and so he kept buying more and more time. So when the coven confronted Armand, it didn't even feel to him like he was betraying Louis, so much as he'd run out of time to keep Louis alive. I think in Armand's mind, he genuinely didn't feel like he could prevent it.

As far as how Louis feels about Armand. I know I've seen people mention that the reason he can tell Armand, "I love you," is that he doesn't mean it. And I agree. I do not think Louis loves Armand during the events of "I Want You More Than Anything in the World." But season 2 takes place over several years, and I think Louis was able to find love for Armand.

However, because I love it when things are really fucked up, I think Louis only really started to let himself feel love for Armand after Armand left the coven for him after Louis turned Madeleine. Which is unfortunate because Armand was obviously lying his ass off about that.

But when we see them at the café, and Madeleine says she can feel Louis' love for Armand, we see a different reaction from Louis than in 2x04. He is more uncomfortable with the idea of it. I don't believe that Madeleine was misreading Louis or actually feeling his love for Lestat. I think Louis is uncomfortable because it is true.

I also think it's the first time Armand actually believes that Louis loves him. And because of that, I think that moment just before the coven descends on the café is the first time he even realizes that he had a choice in all of it. That he could have tried to save Louis.

If I'm right, UGH, so fucked up. I hope I'm right.

Anyway, I've rambled so fucking much. I don't even have a tl;dr because even *I* don't wanna have to read all that to summarize it properly. And I probably forgot some stuff, but let's all just be grateful for that.

Just to reiterate, this is all speculation. I could be very wrong, and I know there's stuff the cast has said that might indicate that I am, but I take stuff like that with a grain of salt, especially in this show.

[vickyvicarious]

Honestly, I think it could be very impactful if Van Helsing did die in the graveyard tonight. It'd continue the trend of people taking any direct stand against Dracula being killed almost casually in return. Up the stakes even more. Maybe he could be found the next morning on a grave with his neck broken, a look of fear or defiance on his face - a reminder of Mr. Swales's death.

Jack would get the note and then find him or hear about him being found in the graveyard. The suitors would arrive thanks to the note the Professor sent them and they'd link up with him. I imagine they would go together anyway, though more expecting to support a Jack who is wondering if it can be real after all or if it was just madness before he was murdered somehow. They would all learn just how true it is together, would have to save each other and then follow the directions left to them. Or possibly seek out the Harkers first and then they might be involved in the Bloofer Lady staking. That would be a good moment of horror too, Mina seeing Lucy like this...

When the groups united they'd have to do research of their own, or go through the documents left behind by Van Helsing. Books of fairy tales and superstitions, pages with scattered notes, comparing them to the diaries...

Thematically, it would fit pretty well with all the other deaths around this part of the book. The parents are all dead and gone. And while Van Helsing is not a parent to anyone here, he was a mentor and guide to Jack in particular. He would join in with the others who now are orphaned/have to figure things out themselves. Jonathan has inherited the responsibilities of a law firm, Arthur has inherited the title and all that goes with it, Jack would inherit Van Helsing's final task.

There would be more collaboration in general (rather than all mostly following) and more leadership emerging from Mina, probably. None of the suitors are going to be as ready to take the lead in this situation, at least not as totally as Van Helsing. Of course, issues with her being left behind probably aren't going to just totally go away. But I imagine less so, or in a different way. Along the way I think there could be more moments for Arthur or Quincey to shine as well, stepping in at different points where originally Van Helsing took the floor.

The end of the story, where everyone splits up three ways, would have to be changed somehow, of course. Either someone has to go alone, or they have to ignore one route entirely. But I think that might be the biggest actual plot change you'd find completely necessary. Other than what happens to Mina, of course. I do think Dracula would still go after Mina somehow, even if she went with them to examine his boxes. But maybe they wouldn't get to the point of doing so as quickly until they collated all their info. Maybe things happen slower, maybe what happened the final night (Jonathan hypnotized into sleep right next to him) would happen more often. Oh, I guess the other change might be no one to hypnotize Mina while spying, unless this is some skill Quincey happens to have or whatever. But then, Jack seems familiar at least with the theory, so maybe he could make an attempt at it.

I mean, there's no reason you would have to stick that closely to the original story. But for the most part I think you could if you wanted, and it would just be a different tone that would still be really powerful. And it would be kind of interesting to have Van Helsing's role be limited to failing to save Lucy throughout. Hiding information right up until he tries to share it, after which he dies. That phrasing makes it sound really brutal, but... I mean it would kind of be brutal, but his legacy would be bringing the two groups together, showing them the truth (or confirming it as the case may be) and entrusting them with the future.

[portraitofalinkonfyre]

hello :D i'm so in love with your writing i actually came up with a request for the first ever time *ever* since i joined like 5 years ago lmao

-reader gets into trouble with the chain for self endangering, reckless behavior, reprimanding/arguing ensues, maybe with reader not valuing themselves all that highly in comparison to the others? preferably with some rather rough lovin' as an escalation, just to get it through reader's thick skull that they're wanted and important

-i'd love to see Time, Warriors or Sky with this, but if you think someone else fits better that's perfectly reasonable too

-feel free to switch up any details you can't really work around (but no degradation please)

Absolutely!! I love this idea so much, so thank you for gracing me with it! I was also really inspired by this ask so it's going to be about 3-4 chapters long <3

The Bluest Eyes

Pairing: Warriors x Reader

Warning(s): A whole lot of smut and a few scenes of Reader suffering from PTSD. Reader is requested to be female.

Notes: Set in the same AU as Burning Love, where Reader is a retired war medic from Warriors' Hyrule. Also, a "night rail" is a type of nightgown :)

Main Masterlist | Fic Masterlist | Next Chapter

"Get down right now!" Hyrule's shout rang through the clearing, unusually annoyed for the typically patient traveler. Warriors lifted his head, blanching when he caught sight of you sitting atop the thick branches of one of the nearby trees, feet swinging down as you yelled back. 

"No! Go heal Wind!"

"Wind has a scrape on his arm," the traveler stressed, gesturing to the snoozing hero as the others began to gather under the tree, expressions ranging from concerned to downright shocked. "You've been stabbed, (Y/n)."

"I'm fucking fine," you hissed back as blood dripped onto the ground from the wound in your shoulder, and Warriors was caught between terror at your condition to complete bafflement at how you managed to climb the tree in such a state. "Leave me alone!"

"Not until you let me heal you," Hyrule ground out with a stormy expression, hands twitching as if he intended to make you come down with sheer force of will alone. 

"(Y/n)," Time tried in a soft tone, ever the voice of reason. "Denying yourself care will only hurt you further."

"Then I'll be hurting and Wind will be alive," you snarled, snapping your legs up when Wild took a running jump for them. More blood splattered from your shoulder, staining the sleeve of your tunic beyond repair, and Warriors finally noticed the unaltered fear in your expression. 

You were afraid, and he had an idea why. Being a medic during the War of Eras, there was no doubt in Warriors' mind that you had seen terrible things–death, disease, perhaps even betrayal--and the way your eyes nervously shifted to study each of them only confirmed his theory. You were trying to sacrifice yourself for them, though he couldn't fathom why; they had more than enough health potions to go around, and Hyrule had hardly even used his magic when tending to Wind. 

There was no reason for you to be acting this way, yet he knew exactly what you were. There was a faraway gleam in your eyes, like you were looking at something that didn't exist anymore. 

Warrior's stomach churned as he couldn't help but wonder how long it had been since you felt truly safe. 

"(Y/n), please..." Legend's voice was uncharacteristically soft, eyes wide with worry, an expression they all shared. "It was only a lizalfos attack, no one else got hurt."

"He did," you spat, pointing to Wind, and Warriors couldn't take it anymore. 

"That's it, we're coming up."

You gasped as the captain took a running start, leaping up and just barely latching on to the branch below your feet. "Get down right now, you're going to hurt yourself!"

"We're just trying to help you," Sky took a less physical approach, moving to stand beneath the branch with a look of barely disguised regret. 

"I'm fine," you repeated in a weak voice, and Warriors knew he had to act fast. 

"You're bleeding out," he grunted as he heaved himself over the branch, ignoring the blood dripping down onto his scarf; it wasn't like he couldn't wash it later. 

"It's just blood," you said, and he could have laughed at how disappointed you looked in yourself when the words sunk in. 

"Just blood?" Warriors pulled himself onto the branch, settling next to you, hand reaching around your waist to stabilize your swaying form. Your hands valiantly tried to bat him away, but you were far too weak to do any real damage. 

"Please," his heart ached at the beginning of tears forming in the corner of your eyes. "Get down."

"Not without you," he countered quietly. 

"You're hurt," you whimpered, and it was as if all the air had been sucked from the space. Your gaze was worryingly unfocused as you turned your head to look at him, and Warriors could only imagine what you were seeing. "I can't heal you."

"I'm not hurt," he replied gently, not wanting to scare you even more than you already were. "It's all yours."

"Oh," you blinked slowly, as if you were struggling to comprehend his very words. "I'm sorry."

There was a knot in Warriors' throat. He tried to gulp it down, but it bounced back with more force than he expected. "Don't be sorry, just let Hyrule heal you."

Your gaze flicked slowly to the heroes waiting below, a protective glint in your slowly-focusing eyes. "...What about them?"

"They'll be okay," Warriors promised, and you nodded weakly, head lolling to the right to rest against his shoulder, pressing your wound to his chest with nary a hiss. 

"Okay," you whispered in the most broken tone he had heard from you. 

Warriors was sure he hadn't moved quicker in his life, carefully gathering your limp form in his arms and dropping back to solid ground. He remained silent as Hyrule dashed over, hands already glowing with green magic. 

"Lay her down," the traveler said in a wavering voice, and Warriors did as instructed, placing you on the ground as if one wrong move would shatter you, and it was then that he truly noticed the ashy pallor your face had taken on, eyes squeezed shut as Hyrule worked his magic above you. 

Slowly but surely, the exposed wound on your shoulder closed, your skin knitting together under the traveler's hands, leaving behind a wide rip in the blood-soaked sleeve of your tunic. The fitful expression on your face softened some, but he could still see the slight frown tugging at the corners of your mouth. 

Warriors' hand found your uninjured shoulder, shaking it softly as Wild plopped down beside you, face twisted with worry. "How are you feeling?"

There was no response, and his heart could have damn near stopped when he registered the tell-tale softness your breathing had taken on. Nearly shoving Hyrule aside, he pressed two fingers to the side of your neck, fearing the worst. 

"Is she dead?!" Four exclaimed in absolute, unadulterated horror, and the others began to murmur in fear. Warriors' pressed harder, motions unusually desperate as he fought to find a pulse. No, his mind whispered, a cacophony of dread as his fearful thoughts soared, cursing himself for not acting sooner. He shouldn't have waited, and now you were paying the price for his stupidity--

The very notion of time seemed to skid to a standstill when you wheezed suddenly, throat bobbing harshly against his prodding fingers. 

"She's alive!" Hyrule exclaimed in palpable relief, and the tension in the air began to dissipate. Warriors took several breaths to calm his racing heartbeat, removing his hand from your neck as you coughed, turning your head to the side, groaning softly. "Fuck," you said, and the captain was torn between crying and laughing. 

"Are you alright?" Sky was quick to help you into a sitting position. You winced, rubbing at your healed shoulder with your free hand. 

"Yeah," you mumbled, looking around with mounting apprehension. "...Where's Wind?"

"Here!" called the sailor, having just woken up from his nap, and you gave him an exhausted half-grin. 

"Good," you tried to stand, only to be pushed down by Hyrule. 

"Not a chance, (Y/n)," the traveler chided, obviously still shaken from your initial refusal of help. "You're staying right there."

"I'm okay--"

"No," Hyrule said in a tone that brokered no argument. "You are– you are going to sit there and get better, or Hylia help me I will tie you down until you do."

You opened your mouth to respond, but Warriors noted how quickly you reconsidered the idea when Hyrule fixed you with a dark glare, crossing his arms over his chest in a manner that screamed 'try me and die'. 

"...Fine," you relented, slumping backward, and the captain had a distinct urge to ruffle your hair. Your cheeks pinked and you all but hissed: "Stop that."

"Nope," said Warriors, laughing softly when you fixed him with one of your practiced stares, though even a fool could see that there was no heat whatsoever in your gaze. He rose to his feet, deftly dusting the tops of his pants. "Time, do you–"

"Um, guys?" Wind's voice interrupted, filled with apprehension. Warriors turned to face the sailor... only to blanch. 

A portal had opened in the center of the clearing--pure white mixed with swirling hints of gold. The air around it crackled softly, charged with an explicably dangerous energy that had the hair on the back of his neck standing on end. 

"Is that...?" You trailed off, letting the situation speak for itself. 

"Time," Warriors drew his sword, stalking over to put himself between you and the portal. "Do we have another–"

"No," the oldest hero cut him off, tone unusually icy. "This isn't anything I recognize."

"We'll have to go through it, then," said Wild, already advancing forward. Warriors gazed back at Twilight and Legend, who both nodded, unsheathing their swords while the captain re-sheathed his, bending over to gather you in his arms. 

"I can walk," you half snapped, though you made no real move to prove that point. 

"No, you can't," Warriors responded, turning to face the portal as Time and Twilight entered it, disappearing in a flash of light. The others followed swiftly, and he could only hope they'd be able to survive what awaited them on the other side.

You recognized the castle gates as soon as you saw them. 

You had long since wrapped your arms around Warriors' neck, holding on for dear life despite the fact that you knew he wouldn't drop you, deftly studying the bustling streets as the group stepped into Castle Town. 

It was undoubtedly your Hyrule, and there was a certain comfort in being home again. You remained silent as the others chatted, half because you were nearly asleep and half because you couldn't fathom what to say to any of them at this point. Embarrassment coursed through you as you recalled their terrified expressions when you scaled the tree, too lost in your thoughts to realize what was going on. 

You liked to think you kept decent control of your emotions, but now...

"Hey," you felt the words rumbling from Warriors' chest before you heard them. "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing," you said quickly. Perhaps too quickly, from the way he cocked an eyebrow down at you in response. "I'm fine."

"You keep saying that," the hero paused, then continued in a far quieter tone. "But I don't think I believe you anymore."

"Maybe because it's none of your business," you hissed... and immediately regretted it. "I'm sorry, I just–"

"I understand," said Warriors. The hand on your ribcage tightened as he hefted you tighter against him. "I really do."

You didn't doubt that, you really didn't, but a thick ball formed in your throat and you didn't trust yourself not to start bawling in the middle of the street. With a shaky huff, you tucked your head against the broad expanse of Warriors' chest, letting familiar darkness consume you. 

You couldn't sleep. 

The bedroom Queen Zelda had so graciously gifted you was too cold, yet your pillow felt hot enough to burn a hole through metal. You flipped onto your stomach, gripping the pillow as you buried your face into it. Every time you closed your eyes, memories of the War would pop into your mind's eye like flies, only dropping when you awoke, panting like you had run a lap around the castle itself. 

"Fuck..." you whispered to the empty room. Warriors had passed you off to Twilight and Hyrule as soon as his boots crossed the foyer, declaring that he had a meeting with Zelda, only returning with a grim expression and ten keys. The Queen had heard reports of a black lizalfos roaming the land, but they were largely unreliable, leaving everyone with no choice but to stay in the castle for the night. 

While you were grateful for the unexpected privacy, there was something to be said about sleeping in the open with what you now considered to be some of your closest friends. The room, decked out in purple tapestries, was terribly lonely, as four-poster beds typically weren't the chattiest of company. 

The bed creaked as you shifted onto your back, staring up at the stone ceiling, hands fisted in the soft fabric of the creme night rail you wore. You tried not to think of how Wind had almost been slashed, or how close Time had gotten to being bisected by a moblin, but they kept popping up the harder you willed them away. 

It was hopeless, you realized. Completely, utterly hopeless. 

You swung your legs off the side of the bed, kicking your slippers on and shuffling to the nightstand, where a lone candle sat. With trembling hands, you lit it. A fierce orange glow illuminated the room, and you used it to guide you to the door, peering outside at the empty hallway. 

You were no stranger to the castle, which is why you stepped out for a short walk, shoes scuffing gently on the polished floor. 

Aimlessly, you wandered, uncaring of where you ended up. Dark shadows stretched and spun before you, quickly vanquished by the light of the candle. You walked beneath one of the many arches, entering a hallway you didn't recognize. A large portrait hung on the very back wall, a stunning caricature of Queen Zelda and... Warriors. 

You approached the portrait, holding up your candle for a better view. Their faces were relaxed–not too relaxed, of course–and could be vaguely described as peaceful. Warriors himself looked younger, like the burden of being a hero had not yet hit, with a small grin that made the corners of your lips quirk up. 

"...(Y/n)?"

You nearly dropped the candle as you spun around, heart nearly leaping from your chest. 

"Wars?!"

And there he was, in all his blonde-haired, bleary-eyed glory, dressed in nothing but a pair of pants. You tried not to look at his chest, mostly because it was highly inappropriate and partially because you were supposed to be upset, and looking at that glorious abdomen made you feel anything but sad. 

"You're not asleep," he observed in a matter-of-fact tone. "Why was I expecting this?"

You crossed your arms over your chest. "I could say the same about you."

"I know," his gaze flicked to the portrait, then back to you. "Do you want to talk?"

"Not really."

"Liar."

You bristled. "Excuse me?"

"You're unexcused," Warriors shot back, and you became distinctly aware of just how close a two-foot distance was when you were alone. "Tell me the truth."

"And that is?"

The captain fixed you with a half-hearted, largely exhausted glare. "Gee, (Y/n), maybe when you climbed a tree to avoid medical attention?"

"That's diff–"

"Or perhaps when you refused to let Hyrule heal you until we climbed the tree?"

"That's not–"

"Or should I mention that time you attempted to give Wild a healing potion after he stubbed his toe?"

"You–"

"I'm not done," Warriors cut you off, running a hand down his face. "Do you have any idea how worried we were? How worried I was?"

There was silence, because you didn't trust yourself to speak without breaking down. 

"Well?" the captain prompted. "Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"

You stared at him. This was pointless; you didn't want to talk, you wanted...

A knot formed in your stomach. What did you want? It had been so long since you considered something so... well, you felt it was rather mundane, but that didn't excuse that you had no idea what you wanted. 

You didn't realize you had begun to cry until Warriors' hand swiped gently at your face with a gentleness you didn't know he possessed. For you, at least. 

"It's going to be alright," he said, and, before you knew it, you were bawling, thick sobs shaking your shoulders. Wars wordlessly pulled you to his chest, wrapping his arms around your trembling form. 

"I can't do it," you whispered against his clavicle, arms encircling his bare back. "If I can't help him, how am I to help the rest of you?"

"You don't have to," the captain responded softly, hugging you a bit tighter. "You've helped enough-- no, more than enough."

"I know, b-but," you hated how your voice wavered noticeably when you spoke the last word. "I can't lose you."

"You won't."

"How can you promise that?" you hiccuped, pressing yourself closer, heavy tears blurring your vision. "Wars..."

"We're strong, (Y/n), we'll always be here," he responded slowly. Carefully. "Always."

“Promise me,” you whispered, unable to force any other words out. You needed to hear him say it, and the anticipation was tearing you from the inside out. 

“I promise,” said Warriors. He sounded genuine, but, then again, he always did. 

“Good,” you sniffed, feeling slightly sheepish for crying on him in the middle of the night. “I’m sorry, I just…”

You froze when Warriors put a finger over your lips, shushing you softly. “You have nothing to be sorry for,” he said, holding you like he would never let go. “Don’t apologize for things that aren’t your fault, okay?”

That… that was new. You had always liked Warriors; he was kind and reliable, not to mention an excellent strategist. Butterflies fluttered in your stomach, but you willed them away, hoping the night was dark enough to conceal the burning flush on your cheeks. 

“...Okay,” you agreed, distinctly aware of the flexing muscles lying just beneath your fingertips. Warriors was strong–they all were–and you felt as much anxiety over it as you did comfort. “Why… Why were you up?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” he responded quickly, and you couldn’t help but chuckle half-heartedly. “What is it?”

The words slipped from you like a knife through butter, like the softest silk and the quietest breeze. “We’re both hopeless.”

Warriors hummed and turned his sparkling cerulean gaze to you. “Maybe,” he whispered to the night. “Helplessness can be helped.”

“You think?” You were almost afraid to ask, but you could have done anything to hear his voice again. 

“I think it’s time for bed.”

You laughed before you could stop yourself. Warriors released you when you pushed lightly on his chest, arms hanging loosely by his bare sides. “Isn’t that Sky’s line?”

“...I won’t tell if you don’t.”

“Deal.”

With slightly-lifted spirits, you peered outside, studying the star-spangled sky with mild interest. The moon was bright, bathing the hallway in a milky sheen that made it all the more eternal, and you wondered why you hadn’t taken the time to study it before. “It’s so–… I never noticed…”

“Beauty comes in many forms,” Warriors intoned softly with a glance in your direction. “There are people who go their whole lives without appreciating the little things.”

“And you are?”

The captain hesitated, shoulders slumping slightly, making you wonder if he would appreciate a hug. “I’m still working on it,” he admitted softly, and made the executive decision not to pry.

“So am I,” you shot an exhausted grin his way. “...How mad do you think Hyrule will be if I don’t sleep?”

Warriors ran a hand down his face, and only a fool would miss the very obvious, very large smile he was attempting to conceal. Until it shifted to a grin, then a smirk. 

“If I have to sleep, you do too.”

“Actually–”

“Hush,” you blinked dumbly when his hand extended, palm up, toward you. A few seconds passed, and Warriors let out a small huff. “(Y/n)–”

“Present.”

“...Just take my hand.”

You did.

First chapter done! This is the second ask that has activated me like this, and I'm excitedly-terrified of the other wonderful ideas y'all might send me in the future!

[momentov1vere]

Been thinking a lot about Agatha All Along and at this point, because there’s too many hints for both people Teen could be, my current theory (and stop me if this makes no sense) is that he is Billy and Nicholas.

Basically I think he is Nicholas, Agatha (unwillingly) gave him to Mephisto in exchange for the Darkhold, and at some point Billy’s soul got put into Nicholas.

Marvel has done weirder things so stay with me here!

This is just for fun bc I’ve been thinking about it and want to write it out bc theorizing is fun!! (And if I’m right that just makes it more fun)

I could also be going insane and this may not make any sense! But here’s why I think this:

(minor spoilers for ep. 3)

1. There’s a lot of Nicholas Evidence

Marvel is sometimes really bad at being subtle even when they try to be and I feel like they wouldn’t have done a Mephisto name drop without meaning to bring him in.

Teen looked a little freaked out/ nervous (as if he was worried he’d be caught) when Jen mentioned Agatha’s son being an “agent of Mephisto”.

Plus, he looked upset when Jen said Agatha gave up her son for the Darkhold (like he didn’t want to believe that his mom would do that). He’s basically been attached to Agatha at the hip this whole time so he could be trying to bond with his mom even if she doesn’t know who he is.

So basically that whole Teen/Jen conversation was either a huge red herring or a confirmation that he is Agatha’s kid.

Nicholas is apparently a big Fantastic 4 villain and they have a new movie releasing next year so having him be Nicholas would lead into that movie (maybe).

2. There’s a lot of Billy Evidence, too

Teen said “a lot happened to me at 13 too” which (according to other people on the internet) is when Billy Maximoff’s soul inhabited Billy Kaplan.

Nicholas (to my knowledge) doesn’t have any big events happen when he’s 13 so this would be a hint towards Teen being Billy.

He keeps writing down things about magic so he could be very early on in understanding it even if he has been studying it for a while (as he says he has).

Plus we see him surrounded by blue magic at some point in a trailer & one of his character posters has a blue background, which is Billy’s magic color in the comics. Another one of his character posters has him dressed very similarly to young Billy from Wandavision (blue headband, red shirt, etc.) so either Marvel is messing with us or they’re being super obvious about it.

To conclude:

Marvel likes messing with characters and timelines & making really big changes, and I wouldn’t put it past them to combine two characters even if it doesn’t make much sense. They don’t really care about ages (ex. aging up Kate Bishop and aging down America Chavez) so I don’t see them finding issue with Nicholas (who should be like, old) and Billy being combined into one person.

Basically I know it doesn’t make a ton of sense but I think so far there’s enough evidence to say he’s either character, so I decided to be different and say he’s both! I won’t die on this hill but if it’s true that will be really funny and I’ll feel very smart. (Marvel don’t hire me bc I don’t know how people would feel about this and honestly it doesn’t make much sense)

Maybe he is Nicholas and just had some crazy stuff happen to him at 13 (maybe that’s when he enlisted with Mephisto!), or maybe he’s Billy and just didn’t want to believe that Agatha would give up a child in return for power because he idolizes her.

Marvel will have to explain his reactions to certain things if he is just one character or the other though bc some of them are too coincidental.

Whatever the reveal is, I just love this show so much it’s so fun and I can’t wait to see what happens next :))

[veronicawildest]

NAKSHATRA SERIES: OBSERVATION FROM DIFFERENT NAKSHATRAS

SHRAVANA

The symbolism for this nakshatra is the ear, No wonder they LOVE to gossip. Also if you want a music recommendation just ask a Shravana/Dhanista natives. They have great music taste.

Major placement in Shravana nakshatra (especially the big 3) have distant relationship from one/both of their parents.

This nakshatra(including Dhanistha) have major RBF

The most shallow thing about this nakshatra is about their reputation. Sometimes they don't care but i often found this nakshatra to be obsessed about how others perceive them (not in a people pleasing way but how it benefits them)

Besides Ketu vimshottari nakshatras, Shravana is often found too in lead singers (One of the members in Air Supply, Lead singer of band Styx). Saturn in general creates timeless songs that often play even if singers already die.

The Coca-Cola have connection with this nakshatra. Someone from Twitter mentioned about the C*caine and correlation to this nakshatra.

Most likely to be addicted to substance besides Ketu ruled (extends to other Moon vimshottari ruled nakshatras)

DHANISTA

Dhanista women seek roles that have leadership position

It's pretty ironic how Dhanista's yoni is lion evem though their rashi (Capricorn to early degrees of Aquarius) isn't comfortable on Sun

Dhanista is one of the rarest type to be born. (Most people that i know are born in August, I've only met 3 Dhanista in my life, so this observations mainly come from celebrities)

Dhanista women are really into fashion (Heart Evangelista, Paris Hilton). They usually have squad like friends.

Someone said on Twitter that Fame is a karmic thing and i agree. Sidereal saturn rashi (especially Dhanista) deals with the good, bad and ugly sides of fame. They often deals with people only want the idea of them, not them.

KRS said that they have displays/ have instruments in their home. Please confirm if you have Dhanista placements.

SHATABHISHA

It's common for this nakshatra to be related to science. Arda and Swati do this too but not in a way Shatabhisha often does (Rick and Morty, Breaking Bad)

The common thing about this nakshatra is pointing out racism to others. Someone did a meme of comparing Shrek to Get Out and the main characters of this is Shatabhisha. Niko from NDL/Beta Squad do this too in his most popular video

They have cult fans too besides Jyestha (Justin Bieber, Chapell Ronan, Rihanna, Olivia Rodrigo)

Unevolved trait of this nakshatra is hypocrisy in a way that they love to impose rules just to get benefits from it but if someone impose rules on them, they don't follow it.

Shatabhisha is often have a weird connection to rumors. They love rumors (biggest gossiper)and they often have rumors that are more likely conspiracy theories related to them.

[adventures-in-mangaland]

Yet Another Dead Boy Detective Fic Rec List

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

I've been having so much fun with these, so I've decided to make another! See above for links to my other fic rec lists. ♥️

Like We're Gonna Die Young (Again) by RoseGanymede95

The latest installment in the superb Codependency World Cup series has the boys attend a nefarious house party and grapple with old frenemies, 90s fashion and temporary amnesia. Also fleshes out their achingly sad backstories, but compensates with the triumphant return of Pierre the rabbit.

When I Picture You by Gruoch

Charles gets braceleted by the Cat King instead of Edwin and receives his heart's desire... being alive again. This author has a special gift for taking fun sounding premises and turning the angst up to 11. So excellent.

young blood (never get chained) by ghostinthelibrary

University AU in which half-demon Charles intervenes in Edwin's ritual sacrifice and inadvertently binds their souls together... I'm genuinely obsessed with this AU, it has so much potential for ton of delicious tropes. Human!Edwin getting a crash course in supernatural shenanigans! Soulmate vibes!Found Family! Demon lore! What's not to love??

Ghosts and Monsters by justafandomfollower

Charles is also sacrificed and the boys meet in Hell! Fantastic premise and executed really well. I loved Masterful Edwin taking charge and protecting Charles while inwardly despairing. Highly recommended.

back to back they faced each other by ShanaStoryteller

The Night Nurse has a theory about how Charles was able to rescue Edwin from Hell so quickly... I'm genuinely shocked I haven't recced this one already. Sorry guys, I forgor. Anyway, this has interesting "Guardian" (angel?) lore, great meta and we even get some temporary amnesia as a treat.

boyfriend jacket by skadii

5+1 times Edwin borrowed Charles' jacket. The characterisation is on point, and it has some great OCs (Kyle the snarky seeing-eye cat!) and really sweet payneland moments. Plus Charles' jacket doing its most to annoy the Cat King.

Looking Like the Sunrise by letters_of_stars

Edwin thinks he's cursed so he and Crystal must team up to solve the case of his Mysterious and Suddenly Appearing Rizz. Funny and sweet friendship fic with some quality Edwin-Crystal bonding and discussions of trauma.

The Case of the Anonymous Confession by Mayarenerose

College AU featuring Charles posting an 'anonymous' online confession about his complicated feelings for his bestie. The closet is glass, but Edwin is oblivious and Crystal is in pain. Cute and funny epistolary social media fic done really well.

the middle of something wonderful by KiaraSayre

Does what it says on the tin and gives us a trope salad of cosy vignettes, including a time loop, temporary amnesia, sudden corporality and Crystal and Edwin trying to get a good grade in Party. Wholesome.

My heart is like a haunted house (series) by halffulljampot

Charles (unknowingly) befriends the ghost of Edwin's mother and constantly gushes to her about his amazing best friend/boyfriend. Beatrice is a great OC and it's just nice (though extra tragic) to read a fic in which Edwin had loving parents. Read it for Family Feels and wholesome intergenerational friendship.

the first rule of fight club by e_va

The boys are captured by an evil underground fighting ring. The fic is from Charles' PoV, so the prospect of having to fight Edwin was especially stomach-churning. Still, we get Edwin being a badass and a brilliant surprise cameo I don't want to spoil.

The Case of The... by sophisticatedyet

Edwin borrows Niko's negligee and Charles' brain breaks. There's also a case and giant squids, but Charles' Distracted By The Sexy crisis is the main (hilarious) event.

in those heavy days when love became an act of defiance by aletterinthenameofsanity, JUBE514

Daemon AU and first meeting fic! Loved the worldbuilding, insightful character work and lovely use of Greek mythology. Honestly, this fandom needs more daemon AUs.

spinning around and around in an ocean of grief (your ladder came down to the sea) by Ingi

Prequel to DontOffendTheBees' excellent College AU, expanding on the boys being alive and in school together. Also has its own prequel about their first meeting from Edwin's point of view. This one, though, is a Charles' Bisexual Journey/Feelings Realization fic. So lovely.

head in the clouds but my gravity's centered by shadowquill17

Face Touching: The Fic. I just love non-sexual intimacy in fics and this one is so tender. I also love Accidental Kissing and Feelings Realization so my cup runneth over.

i don't want to rest in peace by handwrittenhello

Different First Meeting fic featuring Poltergeist Charles! Loved the concept, even though it made me sad.

the great snogging debacle of '95 by thatgayprince

Edwin disguises himself as a girl and Charles starts and then defers a sexuality crisis for 30 years. Funny, steamy and emotional.

a beautiful day to say goodbye by ofstitches

The agency take on the case of a depressed house. This is another bittersweet Edwin backstory fic with discussions of grief.

Smitten in the Stacks by cordelianoir

Adorable prequel to lolotr's equally adorable library AU. Meet cute featuring (platonically married) Dad!Charles crushing on the hot librarian who leads Children's Storytime.

Jenny Green: Butcher, Hot Mess, Reluctant Queer Elder by Money_Maker

Jenny-centric fic! The focus is on Jenny and her financial, mental and emotional struggles post-canon, but mentoring Edwin through his queer self-discovery becomes a big part of that. This turns into a really sweet friendship, plus Found Family Feels and some fun outsider PoV of the boys' dynamic.

I've always got more recs so watch this space! ❤️

[l-in-the-light]

The Red Line and the All Blue

I have been thinking about the All Blue lately. I really, really like the theory that to get to the All Blue we need to destroy the Red Line. But there's just one problem with this. It lacks story reason. It doesn't have the oomph the usual mysteries in One Piece deliver. It's like the fandom discovered this piece of puzzle and left it on display, instead of trying to connect it to other things to make bigger sense of One Piece's world.

Red Line is called, curiously enough, a line.

If we ignore the seabelts, it looks like it seperated the world into two parts, two halves, because that line goes all around the globe. Interestingly enough, it seems like the North-West part is the one that is scientifically more advanced in comparison to the East-South. We have the family of best doctors the Tragalgars and botanists Mont Blancs in the North. Germa Kingdom with it's advanced science also is located in the North. And there are also Ohara's scholars in the West.

Meanwhile, there's no notable locations like that in the South and East, and most places seem to look very primitive there (lots of villages and small towns, not counting Goa Kingdom itself). In South Blue it seems to be similar, though there's one exception: Torino Kingdom. It looks primitive but actually hides lots of advancement. This makes me think that (at least some places in the) East and South might be pretending to be more primitive that they actually are, hiding their inventions. Flevance or Ohara were pretty open about their achievements, knowledge and technology, like it was to be expected that they're advanced and proud of it.

Oda doesn't really expand much on West and South Blues, but we know quite a lot about East and North, so I will focus on them primarily as we move on.

Shakky makes it sound like calm belts are means of protection, not something posing danger, like we were led to believe so far. But now they're not so safe anymore because of scientific inventions. It makes it all seem like calm belts were placed there intentionally somehow and aren't a result of coincidence. Not even Marines could go to the calm belts before using Vegapunk's inventions.

Now the question we should ask is this: what are calm belts protecting? People like the Kuja tribe (personally I think Kuja are just benefitting from it, they weren't the original purpose)?

Or... perhaps to protect the Grand Line itself by seperating it from everything else? And by extension, also from the Marines. Grand Line is the place where all pirates go who seek the One Piece, it can't be a coincidence.

"This is the boundary between justice and evil!" said the Marines as they painted the line and told everyone to respect it. What we know from the Void Century so far is that it was a war between two different ideologies. What if the Red Line is the result of those two fractions seperating from each other, literally dividing the world into two parts? "Don't ever cross that line". Crossing the Red Line is definitely a difficult thing to do for normal people and if anyone crosses it it's either Marines or Pirates. It divided the seas for forever.

Vegapunk also said there are still scars left on the world from the Void Century's war. Not only the world sank by 200 meters, apparently there are literally traces from the war left behind, and normally you would expect to see some ruins. But 800 years passed already and so many nations are so fast at rebuilding their kingdoms, what possible "ruins" or "scars" could be left behind that are still visible? Unless... those scars are the Red Line and the calm belts. It would be indeed very challenging to get rid of those. Coincidentally we have no idea when the Red Line got created. All we know is that Lunarians used to live there at some point. Marco knows that from Whitebeard and I wonder who Whitebeard heard that from? Perhaps Roger, because Roger told him what the D. stands for, so why not that as well.

Unless it's somehow connected to the D.

Because in the "land of gods" this is what welcomes the visitors. Cloaked figures of warrior-guardians (my guess based on their looks alone), those on the left wieldings swords, those on the right spears. This must be a relic of older times, because it has literally nothing to do with Celestial Dragons. And it kinda fits the idea that current Government just stole the older structures for themselves. Impel Down (that bears poneglyph-like writings), Gates of Justice, Marie Geoise, they might have even had different functions long, long time ago. What all those locations have in common is their advancement and heritage that seems not to be used to it's full potential, more like recycled for a different purpose. Impel Down was probably never a prison to begin with. If you want more headbending mysteries, then I can't reccommend enough to play One Piece World Seeker. Just the map alone of the Jail Island raises so many questions. It's also a mining town and has an underwater prison as well...

This looks like there was once an entrance or a passage way, allowing the ships to go through between the North and East Blues. It has been sealed off or something else was done to it.

Curiously enough, doctors were the ones allowed to pass the line between "justice" and "evil". Because doctors save lives. We know Trafalgars were apparently a family of doctors for many generations. It is possible they didn't even originate in the North Blue, but moved there at some point. Because doctors are allowed to cross borders.

Many people speculate that the red figure of Luffy (or is it a statue of Joyboy?) symbolizes the Red Line in the logo of One Piece. The horizontal lines are the calm belts protecting the Grand Line. What's the anchor and skull&bones with the Strawhat then? In the very first chapter of One Piece Luffy wears this shirt:

Is the anchor Luffy, or rather, the East Blue where Luffy comes from? Is the skull and bones with a strawhat the North Blue then perhaps? So then, the idea behind destroying the Red Line would be to finally connect the East and the North Blues together again, seperated for centuries. That might be what the rope symbolizes: connect them together (coincidentally, the "full" name of One Piece treasure includes the word hitotsunagi which might have a second, double meaning: connect the people). The goal of destroying the Red Line is to bring the two seperated seas back together, and by doing that we discover the All Blue. Perhaps, long long time ago, in the ancient times there was only one sea.

Zou is on the back of Zunesha for over thousand of years. That's way before the Void Century even happened. Which means minks have the knowledge about the world that dates back a thousand years. And back then there was only one sea, the All Blue, and 5 islands in the whole world. It's likely the world was not divided yet into two parts with the Red Line either.

Why is the skull munching on the rope, I have no idea.

I have a hunch this is all part of the plan. Roger's plan and Joyboy's plan (yes, I believe Roger did something as well to help Joyboy's plan to succeed). They're waiting for the "right people" to show up, after all. They are stationed in certain places that can't be avoided on the voyage to Laugh Tale, like Twin Capes, Sabaody... all ships have to pass through these locations on the Grand Line.

Maybe they helped fate a little?

But clearly fate isn't all there is to the story.

Merging those symbols together get us a "sun" symbol we have seen in many places before (like Alabasta and Shandora and Kozuki's clan, they're all the guardians of the poneglyphs and had possible ties to Joyboy). Blackbeard has it too, he apparently likes to study history, so maybe he knows some secrets.

My current bet is those two fractions used to be one, then they divided into "crossbones" (later outcasted and villainized, perhaps?) and "crosses" (World Government, the "good" guys or in other words: the winners).

But I bet you anything there will be a twist, or even few twists, here. There's no way the final answer will be that simple ;) And I'm sure Joyboy's plan will be one crazy ride as well :D

[agerefandomstuff]

little soldier boy???

I think he'd be small but also have bigger ages? But if you could write about him being a small guy it be much appreciated!

Soldier Baby - Is it Him or the Drugs?

Content warning: not kids’ appropriate media. and has not been censored to be even though it involves sfw age regression.

(if you’ve watched The Boys you have an idea of what to expect from the characters’ vocab and personalities.)

Word count: 3175

Tags/warnings: Regressor Soldier Boy - Ben, Caregiver Billy Butcher, Hughie Campbell, poor hughie’s always bullied, Soldier Boy and Butcher accurate cursing and sexual jokes, general vulgarity, Ben being borderline racist/sexist/homophobic/ OUTDATED THINKING except I didn’t actually wanna make it as bad as he actually can be and I also don’t know how to be, anxiety, mentions of drugs and alcohol, mentions of violence, threats, insults, French fries dipped in frosties, if that’s something that disturbs you idk, my American attempt at writing a British man played by a Kiwi man, first time regressing, confusion, panic, misunderstanding, I don’t know, Ben commenting bad things about The Little Mermaid, Butcher being dumb, Butcher taking charge and being a dad, not beta read. Never beta read. I don’t know who I would be if it was beta read.

Perhaps it was because he had taken too much. Or more likely Butcher gave him something laced since his body filtered out most drugs within minutes and he'd been feeling this way since he’d started yawning a couple hours earlier. His yawns started while watching dumb new century movies, one moment he was bitching to Hughie about how his generation relied too heavily on special effects instead of getting creative (like back in his day) the next he was getting asked when the last time he slept was. As if he was some toddler and not a grown fucking man who can occasionally yawn if he wants to damn it! Hughie might’ve been his “babysitter,” as Butcher titled it, when they were alone but he wasn’t a fuckin child for him to fuss over like some sniveling house wife.

“I’ve stayed awake for over a month before partying, kicking ass, and slinging pussy all while doing my damn job as a hero. Then I was asleep for decades because of Russian scum. This is nothing.” He growled at Hughie, the poor boy shaking like one of those fuckin rat dogs he use to see rich women carrying around at those mind numbing Vought galas. “I am not tired. And you'd be wise to stop assuming I was.”

Although if Hughie hadn't said something about it he probably would've put more thought into it. because… beyond just yawning he was feeling… uncharacteristically spacey, even though he really hadn't been awake long enough to excuse that. He hadn't been here for more than a week, right? Doesn't matter now. He was stubborn and would purposely not give it any more thought because Hughie was a cunt.

...that was until his eighth yawn of the day. It was like he was yawning all the time. He couldn't stop himself and at this point he wasn't even watching the movie let alone making his usual commentary. His mind was just focusing on fighting the yawns and the odd feeling in his mind. He couldn't remember a time he felt so unfocused like this. Even in his most fucked up state at the first Herogasm party he threw, he didnt feel this way.

It had gotten to the point that even Butcher had noticed once he had come back from his food run. However Butcher’s attention on him only fed into Ben’s theory that he’d been slipped something and they were just waiting for him to go down so they could do something to him. Maybe the food he’d brought just had more of whatever supe roofie was inside and they would use it to get a second dose in so they could drag him back to the Russians to be tortured again. Maybe they were working with the evil sons of bitches to turn him into this perfect weapon they wanted and this had all been a ruse to gain his trust.

“The fuck you lookin at?” He snapped out at Butcher but the man only raised his hands in surrender, not even putting up an argument which almost made him feel bad since he… had respect for the guy. He was a badass leader that did–albeit unintentionally–released him from his permanent cyro torture. Even if he was suspicious of him right now… He somewhat owed the man.

Also he was placating him with his favorite things. Drugs, trashy food, his own movies. Only things that would make his time better would be to not be spending it in this shithole hotel unless it was with a woman.

Or a few women.

Aged-like-wine women.

Maybe he was overreacting to this spacey-feeling bullshit.

He probably just needed to do a couple lines to get rid of the yawns and he would be good as new.

“Didn’t say nothin, mate. Calm yer pretty little ticker down.” Butcher responded, glancing down at his chest in warning, reminding them all what would happen if he didn’t get over whatever he was getting so defensive about. “Take some pills, take a nap fer all I care. Whatever keeps this buildin from shambles and our goals within sight.”

The nap line was really all he heard and it was definitely the worst thing to say. The bottle in his hand shattered between his fingers like it was nothing more than a breakaway and Hughie’s face drained of color in time with the beer that dripped down his arm.

Ben stood up his finger pointing at Butcher in a real warning, “Whatever the fuck you think you accomplished–whatever shit you roofied me with–it’s best you undo it right now before I turn your queer side piece into– into…” he couldnt even think of a clever threat. It's like his brain was completely malfunctioning leaving him to just angrily settle for a more embarrassingly simple correction. “Before I fucking kill him.”

The Brit raised his eyebrow as he had to take a second to actually will his mouth to hold back a sarcastic comment about the tongue trip, shockingly actually valuing their lives for once since he was so close to getting Homelander with Soldier Boy in his pocket. “A’right.. hold on now. I ain't got a clue whatcha accusing me of but we ‘aven't done it.” he closed his laptop softly, never taking his eyes off Ben the same way he would never take his eyes off a wild horse. “Why d’ya fink we roofied ya? Beyond the actual roofies yew requested, that is?”

His reaction made Ben second guess his theory again. He never second guessed himself like this. Even when he was wrong. And he sure as shit didn't share his feelings. Feelings were for pussies like Hughie. You didn't have feelings in war or at Vought. Yet…. he felt oddly compelled to answer Butcher’s question honestly and without more threats. He couldn't rationalize this strange compulsion other than maybe it was the way Butcher talked to him or managed to not be afraid of him. Or maybe it was because he was potentially slipped something–he still hadn’t ruled it out!

“I feel… wrong. My head ain't clear but everything I’ve taken should’ve worn off by now.” His hand dipped in the air like a physical indicator of his current lowering confidence and defenses which Butcher–in true Billy Butcher fashion–promptly took a shit on.

“Sounds like someone’s backed up. How boutcha go have a wank in the shower while we plug our ears and pretend we hadn’t noticed yer on edge?” Ben scoffed at the suggestion, his defenses rising back up. Butcher didn't get it. He didnt have blue balls, he had a fucked up head!

“No, you fuckin foreign– guy! ” this was really getting pathetic.. “I-it’s like… like–”

“Like PTSD…?” Hughie nervously piped up from where he was watching, still frozen to the couch. The other two men looked over at him and Ben opened his mouth to shut him down but hesitated. While he was actually kind of glad the little runt was taking him more seriously than Butcher had.. he also didn’t have an answer. He wanted to say no, I've seen shell shock, idiot. I don't have it! He wasn't really sure this time because he really didn't feel normal which was only making him feel more… antsy.

Picking up on his discomfort and hesitation, Butcher turned back towards Ben and watched him for a second, actually deciding to have a good look at him beyond his front of anger. He was tense but his body language was severely lacking its usual arrogant confidence. Like he wasn't comfortable within his own space right now. Once Butcher really looked, even his face, which normally lacked any expression beyond irritation, was practically screaming; I don’t know what’s going on! Someone fix it!

He’d seen that look more times than he could count in his life with his line of work but something about it reminded him more of a little kid than an adult in the middle of a PTSD episode. The look was similar to the one that made him call Hughie “kid” regardless of him being a full adult and insisting on it all the time.

He could see something in Ben right now that activated the part of his brain that had always taken care of Lenny as a kid.

The softer part of him that insisted he help the poor sod’s silent beg for help.

“Oi..kay, kid.” Butcher softened the gruffness in his tone and stood up from his seat at the table, snagging a bag of greasy fries and the frostie he had yet to dig into. “Let's get on then, yeah?” He slung an arm around Ben’s shoulder and led him back to the hotel bed in front of the TV he had long set up shop on.

Although still confused, Ben didn’t stop him. Instead following on autopilot while his mind still reeled with thought until his knees bumped against the mattress.

“No– I'm not tired. I told you I'm not tired–” had he told Butcher that or had he only yelled at Hughie today? “I’m not taking a damn nap–!” christ, he sounded like a whining child! Sleeping wouldn’t kill him for fuck’s sake! If the Russians hadn't figured that out after this many years surely they never would– unless they did. He didn't want to be tortured more– how long would it be before his mind broke for good? Before he died?

“No, y’ain’t so hush and stop yer worrying. Were jus’ gonna sit and eat the food I boughtcha before my money goes ta waste.” Ben looked surprised to have been effectively told to shut up and do what he's told but what he was most shocked about was the fact he didn't immediately get the desire to punch the shit out of him for having the audacity to do so. He just felt… odd. Like there were butterflies tying uncomfortable knots in his stomach. Like… it was almost nice to have a direction to go into so his thoughts would pause.

“Come on. Don’t make me wait. Fries ain’t neva last too long outside the frya.” Butcher pat his lower back, almost like he was a little kid getting encouraged forward and he listened. He crawled up onto the bed and sat in his spot looking at him with big eyes, clearly at a loss with the situation. He felt like he didn't know himself. This was a part of him he’d never experienced and he didn't know what to do, yet Butcher… seemed as at ease as ever. Like he’d dealt with a hundred men with nukes in their chests yelling at him.

Though he knew him longer than Ben did, even all Hughie could do was watch with the same odd mixture of shock and amazement when Butcher sat down beside the supe, tossed the fries between them, then changed the channel. No one had touched the remote since Ben had figured it out just enough to channel surf onto his own films. He had guarded that thing like a kid who found a new toy he didn't want to share.

“I.. was watching that.” Ben struggled to get out in a mumble that had never left his lips before.

“Won't spoil the ending for ya then, just say it ain't worth more than a prostitute that's got the clap.” Butcher casually informed him while he looked through the menu. The hotel, although shitty in every other aspect, actually had a Vought+ subscription, which begrudgingly had a pretty good selection. “Hughie, be a good lad for me an name a tolerable animation that aint Disney.”

“The Little Mer…maid..?” Hughie stuttered out, his brain automatically picking the last Disney movie he’d watched with him, too scared to really absorb the question.

“That’s Disney, Champ. Lookin fer somethin on Vought+”

“Oh. Right. Um..” He racked his brain for a moment trying not to mess this up and get his butt chewed by Soldier Boy later for choosing a movie he would hate sitting through. But the more he thought about everything the grumpy old man complained about when they were alone the less movies he could think of. In fact all he could think of was Ariel. Ariel.. Ariel, save me. Oh wait. “Isn't… isn't there a Disney princess section on Vought+ now?”

“Hn.. There is. Good thinkin.” Butcher cleared his throat a bit as he clicked on the movie then tossed the remote to reach for a fry, not paying attention to the way Ben was currently staring at him like he was an alien. “Redheaded broad it is.”

“Disney.. prin…cess? Like… the films for.. little brats..?” Ben slowly asked out, his voice not really feeling like his own with how insecure and… small it sounded. This all felt like a drug fueled dream. A really weird one, not one of the fun ones. Maybe he’d already fallen asleep and was back in some cyro-coma.

“Mmhm. Hughie likes em. Usually he leans more towards that lil boffin Belle over the glorified sushi princess but–”

“I like Ariel!” Hughie instantly defended but his cheeks went pink as he realized he meant to defend himself in a different way. Like one that might keep his reputation intact or keep himself from being relentlessly bullied by resident tough man, Soldier Boy. “I-I mean–” He gave Butcher an embarrassed, desperate look as he hissed out between his teeth a clear plea. “Butcher..! Come on..!”

Ben’s head swiveled between Hughie and Butcher feeling like he was missing out on something. He felt like that a lot recently since the world was so much different than it was back when he was last in it but this felt like he was out of the loop on something he should know.

“Why… why does Hughie like–” Before he could even finish his question, Butcher had slipped an ice cream dipped fry in his mouth, surprising him further. His reaction time was lacking, he hadn't even seen the man’s hand until it was too late. His senses were dulled. Could only imagine the foul shit his father would say if he saw him now.

“Film’s startin, kid, eat yer food.” Butcher spooned a mouthful of frostie into his own mouth with the grace expected of a grown man whose shirt was stained as much as it was and Ben watched him as he slowly followed instructions and chewed what had been given to him. His gaze flicked over to Hughie still trying to figure out what was going on but all Hughie was telling him was that he’d rather be swallowed alive by the couch than make eye contact with him.

The sound of water splashing alongside loud music on the tv stole his attention away from his less than stellar detective work and he watched for a few seconds as sailors began to sing. His brows furrowed and he turned to Butcher to protest and ask again about why the hell grown men would watch cartoons like this but the moment his mouth opened he was spoon fed some frostie. And while it was more careful than how the Brit had fed himself the action was aggravating. Ben looked at the Brit with an unhappy glare that probably looked more harmless than his usual happy expression if the rest of him looked as pathetic as he felt. But when he was given no attention from it he finally turned away to begrudgingly watch the stupid movie they insisted on making him watch instead of dealing with his problems.

Twenty minutes was all it took for Ben to be fully enraptured, his thought process having melted away with the colorful fish on the screen without his knowledge. Butcher had kept a casual eye on him after he’d realized he was dropping, mildly worried that the loose cannon might start to get anxious again if he broke out of his distraction. It was a little rockier at the start of the movie when he was still incredibly uneasy with the situation and unhappy with having been fed twice without permission; however Butcher was stupid and confident. An that’s what got ‘im this far in life, right?

So sue him if he let himself feel a bit smug as Ben obliviously settled into this new headspace, watching the movie as if it were the most interesting thing he’d ever witnessed. The only time he occasionally turned away from the screen was for the brief moment it would take to be spoon fed another bite being offered. Nothin beat the tried and true combination of an age regression classic an comfort food t’keep someone perfectly satiated in a headspace, eh?

Kid would barely wait to swallow before pointing at the screen to yell something about it because he was trying so hard to listen after having been told “ta swallow ‘is food ‘fore speakin,” but still NEEDED to give his commentary on everything since at his core he was still Ben. He might be acting younger but he was still who he was for better or for worse. And that included movie commentary.

Ben: “That crab is such an ass-munch! I mean look at him! He’s practically makin out with King Trident’s butt.”

Butcher: “His name’s Sebastian, you’ll like him more later on, bud.”

Ben: “I don’t like commies.”

Butcher: “Now why’dja go an call the poor ol bastard that?”

Ben: “He’s red.”

Butcher: “That don’t mean… he’s a crab, mate.”

Ben: “And? Crabs can be commies.”

Hughie: “That’s weirdly the most inclusive thing I’ve heard you say.”

—

Ben: “Hell yeah King Trident!”

Hughie: “You can't cheer for him, he just destroyed his daughter’s most prized collection!”

Ben: “Uh yeah. She didn't do what he said so she earned it. And she was probably kissin on that statue like a weirdo. Anyway he looked cool doing it.”

Butcher: “An how’dja know she was doin that?”

Ben: “I dunno.”

Hughie: “Ariel wouldn't kiss a statue!”

Ben: “Shut up, Hughie, you don't know that!”

Hughie: “Yes, I do! I’ve watched this movie more than you!”

Butcher: “Boys.”

Hughie: “Sorry..”

Ben: “Well I’m not sorry.”

Once the junk food was gone, Ben started his yawns again but Butcher counted himself lucky that his anxiety didn't notice them this time since that was the only thing he could guess set him off earlier. That or he just took too much while he was gone and got paranoid. Supe was a nutcase anyhow and Butcher probably trusted him even less than Hughie did.

Near the end of the movie though was when the brick of a man made himself comfortable against Butcher’s side and without making it a big deal, the infamous bloke wrapped his arm around his shoulder to pull him in tight. He was softer than he looked. Maybe that level of comfort he was providing was why Ben’s aggressive commentary died away before he could give a final scathing review and instead slipped asleep the moment the next movie started. But Ben would certainly deny that to anyone that brought it up. Including his own thoughts. He’d rather blame those supe-special roofies he never confirmed.

[radfemsiren]

I identified as a trans man for close to 5 years when I was a teenager as an attempt to escape from all the hardships a woman has to face. I had the largest amount of support from my friends, online communities, and felt like I finally knew who I was. That was until I snapped back into reality and reclaimed my female identity, this caused those people to drop me and I honestly couldn't be happier. They mocked me for going back and said I only socially transitioned for "oppression points".. hello? As if women aren't oppressed? Anyway, I feel like the online space isn't a safe space for young women because instead of giving us support, we are given "solutions". This is also another reason why I support not allowing teens to have access to puberty blockers, testosterone, etc. because, no, we don't always know ourselves especially as vulnerable teenagers. I could've very easily gotten them and messed up my hormones for good.

Thanks for sharing your story! ❤️ I really wish there was better support for detrans women. So many people, esp the trans community, treats them like a joke or a threat. Esp that girl that made a PSA about how hormones made her start balding, the trans community mocked and degraded her for weeks, even though she wasn’t angry or didn’t say anything against them. They also made conspiracy theories about how she was a conservative plant, it was disgusting! And now the detrans tag is just full of porn, not actual support…

What you said about getting support really made me think, and it reminds me of when so many girls admit they loved having a teen pregnancy because it was the first time in their life they got unconditional love, praise, and affection...

If only we as a society gave this love to young girls as the standard, then they wouldn’t resort to altering their bodies… they can feel comfortable in their natural state. That won’t happen until society stops hating/sexualizing/dismissing the teenage girl and her experiences.

[terukosnumberonefan]

Levi’s Former Identity: A Danganronpa Despair Time Theory

Levi is one of the most interesting characters for me, and I remember when I watched him and Eden discuss his backstory. I found it weird when Levi mentioned wanting to be a good person, since he had shown himself to be kind and caring towards his classmates. So when he said he didn’t actually care about anyone, that sentence finally made sense to me.

However, as I watched that episode, I began to ponder when I thought about another fictional character with antisocial personality disorder, and that’s when I began to realize they had a lot in common. At first, I struggled to believe the realization I came to, like I’m sure you guys will as well. After all, what I’m about to say sounds outlandish and ridiculous. But after looking through all the evidence I compiled, I do have reasons to believe this.

Personally? I believe that Levi used to be Nicole from Class of ‘09.

Now you may be saying to yourselves “But that’s not possible, those two can’t be the same person, right?”. So I ask you to listen to my argument, and by the end you will understand why I believe that these two are the same person.

Argument one, appearance

Firstly, I want you to take note of one really important thing:

The appearance. Appearance is everything you know. Arturo would be pleased to know we are currently focused on appearance.

So let’s focus on appearance.

Take a look at Nicole. Notice the following:

She has blue eyes, brown hair and is wearing blue, a cool color.

Now look at Levi and notice the following:

He has blue eyes, brown hair and is wearing purple, a cool color.

Do you see the similarities?

Now, I know what you may be thinking:

“But… they clearly have different shades of brown in their hair.”. Which is a fair argument to make, young reader, they do indeed have different shades of brown in their hair.

However, as you age there is the chance of your hair becoming lighter, and while Arturo mentioned being 18, that doesn’t inherently mean everyone else is 18 too.

So yeah, for all we know Nicole could have either dyed her hair lighter, or she could have her hair go lighter.

Furthermore, they have almost the exact same shade of blue in their eyes, perhaps from all the stuff Nicole has gone through her eyes turned more gray or she now wears contacts to disguise herself (even though she doesn’t wear glasses). They also have similar-ish shaped eyes minus the fact Nicole doesn’t have two little lashes on the bottom of hers, but who’s to say she doesn’t just grab mascara or false lashes?

So we agree that they look similar, right? Well, perhaps you’re saying “But Levi is more buff than Nicole, they can’t possibly be the same person!”

Well, from those who play Class of ‘09 would know, Nicole is a drug user. We’ve seen her take quite a lot of stuff throughout the series, so who’s to say she’s never taken steroids?

“They have different face shapes”, contour my friends. Nicole can contour up her face.

And yeah they have different genders, however who’s to say that Nicole isn’t disguising herself as a man for reasons that I will get to in a bit? And yes, I do think that Nicole is disguising herself as Levi and not vice versa, and my argument and what I believe happened will clarify this.

So appearance isn’t the problem, they have similarities in appearance and while they may be different personality wise, there’s another thing they have in common that honestly solidifies my theory that Nicole and Levi are indeed the exact same person.

Plus, we don’t know where Nicole’s originally from besides “Coastal America”. I asked the Class of ‘09 subreddit and they pointed out since she’s from Coastal America, doesn’t have a regional accent, obviously not from the west side, then the most likely state could be Connecticut.

Plus, that state is close to New York, which has a fairly high Italian population. Where the last name Fontana originates. Do you see where I’m getting at? It is very likely that Nicole’s last name is Fontana.

That’s evidence 1, they look very similar and the slight differences they do have can be explained through characters and who they are.

Argument 2: Their fault

As we know from the chapter 2 trial so far, Levi had mentioned he killed his dad. But we don’t know how he killed his dad. Technically there are many different definitions we can use here for “killed”.

And one of those definitions? Driving someone to suicide.

As long as we don’t know how his dad died, we can come to our own conclusions. While NOW we know Levi wouldn’t do that anymore because he feels a sense of duty to do “good” even if he doesn’t care about the outcome, how do we know younger Levi- the same person who killed three people (admittedly one in self defense)- would have that same principle?

He wouldn’t.

And do you know who canonically drove her dad to suicide even if we have no clue how she did it? (Not even she knows herself)

Nicole.

Even then, we can use Levi’s duty to do good as even further evidence of him and Nicole being the same person. Yeah, Nicole might not hold the same principle, but people can change as well.

We also know they both have at least one brother, and a mother, and that their families were dysfunctional and toxic. And bad influences on each other.

While yes, Levi mentioned having more than one brother, I believe he’s lying about this due to him and Nicole being the same person and very soon I’ll explain why.

We don’t know how Nicole caused her dad to kill himself, and we don’t know how Levi caused his dad to die. And would you honestly believe that Nicole wouldn’t track guys down and kill them if she got something out of it? And we know Levi NOW wouldn’t have done a lot of the stuff Nicole did… but we also don’t know about Levi's past. We know he killed people, we know he holds no remorse, but why would he care about being a good person? At some point he developed a sense of doing good for others.

What caused him to change and become the person we know him as today? Why would Hope’s Peak scout Nicole as a Personal Stylist of all things? Was Levi responsible for the destruction of the Photo Lab? What happened to the other Class of ‘09 characters?

I think it’s time for me to explain the entire story of what I think happened in order for all of us to truly understand the mystery behind Levi’s past identity.

The story on how Nicole became Levi

So back in High School for Nicole, after her dad killed herself, we know Nicole started doing drugs as I mentioned earlier. At some point however, Nicole messed up. Perhaps this was after breaking Megan and Hunter up, or this was revenge from Mr. Lorre after Nicole and Emily ratted him out. In any case, they sent guys after Nicole and in the process the guys killed Jecka, Nicole’s best friend. When they went after Nicole to attack her, she killed the leader in self defense and then went after the other guys several days later as revenge for killing Jecka. Before Nicole could go to jail however, Emily used her connections with drug dealers to get Hope’s Peak to scout her as the Ultimate Personal Stylist, as she knew Nicole looked good and everyone agreed Nicole was beautiful and pretty fashionable.

And so, Hope’s Peak agreed, and they wiped out Nicole’s past. Nicole realized she probably wouldn’t get bugged by men if she disguised herself as a man and thus she did so. She changed her first name to Levi but kept his last name in order to hold some memory of the past. He cut his hair, dyed it, and started contouring his face so he wouldn’t look like his old self. From the depression of losing Jecka, he stopped caring for good, and he started taking steroids which now give him the muscular appearance. It worked, and Levi started to try and do good things for the sake of Jecka and for her memory. And that’s how we got the Levi we know and love. But was it all worth it in the end?

In conclusion, the story behind Levi and Nicole is a tragic tale, and I do hope this essay proved to you why I think these two are the same person due to being brunettes with ASPD. Thanks for reading the truth. Wait, what do you mean not every brunette with ASPD is the same person and this was a waste of time, what?

[bestworstcase]

So having already moved past the idea of Yang as a Maiden - I do suspect the other reason people jump to that conclusion is people getting Raven's trajectory wrong. Yang as Maiden is the obvious conclusion if you think that Raven is going to come back to save Yang and die for it. Which... look, I can see Raven getting badly hurt. But dying - nah. The STRQ team and the Rose-Xiao Long household is not getting any outs from the most awkward family conversation ever. (Though your points about Raven actually being very difficult to kill does mean that the show can have the Spring Maiden get Yang out of a really tight spot without killing Raven or sacrificing tension) But it does feel like the idea has bit at least in some respects of the fandom that way to balance Raven being a coward/bandit and the setup for the untested "Everyone Only Gets One (Save)" rule is for Raven to come in and die for it.

mhm

i think something that is broadly true of this fandom is a general struggle to conceptualize what the narrative can meaningfully do with old-guard characters that isn’t… killing them off. qrow gets this a lot too, he’s nominally ruby’s mentor but she’s outgrown that relationship and is now on a level with him and there’s a persistent belief that it’s only a matter of time before his time is up. but it isn’t just him, i’ve also seen this attitude toward pietro, for example. (including one. memorable post that outright expressed surprise that pietro and maria survived v8 on the grounds that without penny the op thought it was pointless for the narrative to keep them around, because what would they even be doing in vacuo. which is absurd!)

and then raven in particular is a difficult character – fandoms always have a hard time with performative/masking behaviors, rwby is no different, although i do think the specific way rwby utilizes archetype and allusion makes it worse because fandom is also bad at paying attention – on top of also being, in v5, an antagonistic character to yang.

(i hesitate to describe her role as villainous, because raven’s response to getting backed into a corner was to neatly sabotage salem’s operation; she didn’t help salem under duress, she acted as a double agent on behalf of team oz under duress, and what she did wrong was mainly not communicate this to them. as ever raven is very brave about everything that isn’t having a slightly difficult conversation with someone she cares about. lol)

the point being, raven gets this general difficulty this fandom has with the old guard stacked on top of 1. being a difficult character (as a woman lmao) so a lot of people just don’t like her very much, and 2. being an antagonistic (or outright villainous) character depending on whether one takes raven “joining” salem at face value or not. so a fair amount of “speculation” that raven will die is either character hate in the guise of theory, and i think there is a large share of raven-will-die-saving-yang theories that boil down to redemption-by-heroic-sacrifice thinking.

what’s funny about that, aside from the obvious factor of raven being in vacuo now (and the most probable reason for her to only be in the last section of the epilogue being that she arrived on the refugee ship from vale and the likeliest answer there being that after haven she went to loop glynda in and help out because she knew salem would be coming back for the crown sooner or later), is how pragmatic she is and how desperately in need the heroes are right now of pragmatists – real pragmatists, not “leave mantle to die”-ish cowardice masquerading as pragmatism.

like. raven has been the leader of what appears to be a quite large encampment of bandits for more than a decade now, right, and to all appearances she’s done a great job – they respect her, trust her to have their backs, morale seems high, they’re well-supplied (by non-huntsman standards) and well-provisioned, they’re disciplined enough to erect fairly impressive temporary fortifications surrounding their camps – all of this suggests that raven is skilled at managing problems of scarcity, attrition, morale, grimm predation etc under fairly harsh conditions.

those problems are much larger in vacuo and the branwen subsistence strategy of raiding settlements is off the table, but – raven’s experience managing these sort of challenges in the animan wilderness is invaluable here! (especially if she brought all her bandits with her, because that’s a small militia that can whip up very nice ad hoc fortifications in an hour or two, given materials to work with, and two maidens solves the “no trees in the desert” problem).

and raven is also – demonstrably – someone capable of being very cunning, and turning lose/lose situations to her advantage even under intense pressure. salem’s people strolled into her camp like they owned the place, and raven took a deep breath, went “okay, we planned for this,” and played them like a fiddle! she is the reason salem’s infiltration of haven failed, and had everything gone according to raven’s plan, cinder would have died that night with omen in her back.

without the spring maiden, they’re all going to die. not because of her magical power, but because of who raven is. they need someone who can think and plan like this. they need someone who can evaluate an impossible situation and make tough choices like “i want my brother dead” – given the choice between capitulating or letting her people get massacred, raven bet on qrow not being stupid enough to walk unarmed into an obvious trap without backup, and tricked cinder into letting her tiny infiltration force be outnumbered almost two-to-one by highly trained combatants.

raven is what ironwood thought he was.

and she’s decided to join the coalition at a critical moment when they have zero good, easy choices ahead of them.

it would be absurd and baffling for the story to kill off raven at this point – this is Her Moment! and she and yang get to have their uncomfortable, painful, incredibly fraught reunion after haven in a time where raven has plainly earned back the full trust of the vacuo coalition, in all likelihood in large part by showing the fuck up at exactly the right moment her skillset and perspective were most helpful. which creates a really juicy tension for the personal relationship she has to now build with yang!

[voice-no-13]

#13 is a part of the virus designed to keep the virus safe btw. It doesn’t matter how they feel on the matter, they are complicit by existing.

Just a hand of a much bigger entity who’s workings aren’t entirely visible to one voice

[morganbritton132]

Living for conspiracy Steve. You know if they tried anything Joan the Disservice cat would be on the case. You also know Diane clocked it during her looky loo walks and she’s got tea. An alliance is forming.

What’s funny about Steve’s paranoia with the electric company van parked outside is that it’s definitely just the electric company.

If SoMeBoDy would just listen to reason then maybe they might remember the bad weather they’ve been having. They live in a suburb just outside of Chicago. It’s windy and wind messes with powerlines, but Steve isn’t dumb. Thank you very much.

He knows that.

Just like he knows what logo Mike said was on the van that El flipped. And like he said, “It’s spycraft 101. Of course, they’re here after a storm. It’s inconspicuous.”

“Big word,” Eddie replies appreciatively. “How do you know that?”

“I took the SATs?”

“Now the word! Why do you think that they’re tapping our phones?”

“It’s in all the movies, Eddie.”

There’s an unspoken duh tacked on to the end of Steve’s sentence and Eddie kinda loves it. He kinda loves how confident Steve is when he’s convinced himself this shit is real and a little part of Eddie wants to play along, but he knows how quickly it can all go bad so, “Baby, please. Stevie, what are they tapping into? We don’t have a landline.”

Steve pauses to think and then peaks back out through the blinds. He mutters, “You don’t know how wiretaps work?”

“Do you?”

Steve just purses his lips and looks even harder out the window which is just Steve-speak for ‘no, actually. I don’t know how wiretaps works because no one does.’ It makes Eddie grin, sliding up behind him and whispering in his ear, “Don’t you think one of our half dozen nosy neighbors would’ve told us if someone was spying on us?”

“Not if-“

“Baby, Diane came over twice last week because she saw a suspicious car in our driveway,” Eddie hums. “It was our car, Steve.”

Steve relaxes back against his chest a little but he knows the battle is not yet won so, Eddie adds, “Sweetheart, think about it. They’d know.”

“That’s true,” Steve relents just a little and then says, “Unless one of our neighbors is a spy.”

“No, baby.”

“Like a nosy neighbor that’s always in our business,” Steve continues, building confidence. “And who has always been in our business ever since we moved in…and who is talking to the electric company people right now.”

Eddie looks out through the peak in the blinds Steve is making and watches as Diane makes her way down her driveway in her pink house shoes, waving at the man halfway up the telephone pole. She calls something up at him but they’re too far away to hear it.

He can feel Steve pull away and Eddie thinks, damn it.

“Well, that friendship was good while it lasted.”

[torybrennan]

show tempe gang crossover with the morris islanders would actually have been the best episode of bones ever. btw