#even though tobi showing so much care about him getting hurt was genuinely really important for his character ??

[ur-local-kiwi]

im not retyping this whole ass ramble but i at least wanted to give it its own post bc. WHAT is this man. come on.

tobi WHAT ARE YOU ON ABOUT RN. be fucking fr rn

[ambroziadelphine]

Careful, I bite. Chapter 6

Masterlist Chapter 5

So, the past week has been filled with many arguments from Tobi and I. After not accepting his apology he seemed to become even more sour towards me. He hated what I wore, the music I listened to, the décor in my room, my smoking habits, literally everything. I was getting fed up with him and weed can only make me so tolerant when I also need to be functioning as well, with work and all. B and I decided that we'd trust them to stay home alone in the apartment as long as they had my spare old phone, we showed them how to use it to call us over snapchat so they could reach us at any time. This meant every little question they would call me because B had the more important job being a medical student and all, but god damnit I wish I could just keep ignoring them, but I kinda wanna know if they somehow burn the place down since I do live there.

I was currently driving home from the library after a few hours of studying for my horticulture exam, I only took part time classes though. It was Friday, its been a full week since they've been here. Hashirama was okay to be around, mainly watching Naruto and using my computer to look things up about the world, saying he wanted to know what his village had become while he was gone. We had learned about the fact these two should be dead, though they said the.. reanimation jutsu, I think they said, wasn't active anymore, meaning they were actually brought back to life somehow. It was weird to think I'm living with people that were actually brought back from the dead, but I tried not to think about it too much, usually that's what I did when something was bothering me.

I walked into the apartment to see Hashirama and Tobi in the living room with B, her study notes and text books spread out neatly like always when she was doing school work. She was a bit of a neat freak with her notes, but its her stuff so I didn't really think how her notes were organized mattered to me much. Hashirama was staring at the TV from the couch as Tobirama read from one of the spare textbooks she had, she was working to become a disease specialist, though she had a liking for psychology so she had a few books of it for fun, that's what he was currently reading. 

It was 6pm, Friday's I always got home at 4:30, 5:30 if I'm at the dance studio instead of the library; and if I didn't stop for coffee, this time though I had decided to pick up some takeout ramen I passed by on the way home. The restaurant said it was authentic Japanese food and the little old Asian lady there was quite nice so I decided it couldn't hurt to get it for everyone while I was there.

I got some Goma Daifuku and a small assorted box of mochi, I thought maybe I could use it as a peace offering for Tobirama to get him to stop being such a dick but I wasn't holding my breath. I wished this could he a situation where one of us just genuinely apologizes and we move on, but I didn't even do anything. He's the one being a stubborn asshole and if he doesn't take this token of truce, that just proves it.

I set the stuff down on the kitchen isle and started taking things out of the bags, getting everything into proper bowls before walking into the living room.

"I got ramen." I said, smiling as Hashirama turned towards me instantly just like B when she perked her head up. "It's in the kitchen, I also got sweets." I said, Hashirama getting up as B pouted.

"Can you bring it to me, please?" She asked me making me chuckle at her.

"Absolutely fucking not." I said, cooing it as if I was talking to a toddler making her stick her tongue out at me, getting up with her arms crossed as she mockingly stomped into the kitchen after Hashirama. 

I followed them into the kitchen before noticing Tobi wasn't following; pausing for a moment, I had a mental battle. Should I do the extra thing and bring it to him? He doesn't seem to be getting up. I took in a deep inhale from my nose and rolled my eyes, grabbing his bowl and chopsticks, as well as my own as I set his on the table beside the arm chair he sat in; finally his eyes darting from the book to the ramen. His eyes looked from the ramen to me slowly, watching as I wordlessly sat down on the couch, curling my legs under me as I leaned back against the armrest, looking up at the colorful cartoony show paused.

"So, is this show even good?" I asked as Hashi and B came back in, taking her place on the floor in front of the note covered coffee table and Hashi on the opposite side of the couch from me, closest to the balcony door as I sat closer to Tobi towards the open kitchen.

"I am unsure as to what you mean by, 'good', though Naruto as a child is quite amusing, we've only met him when he is a teenager." Hashirama said making me nod, playing the show as we all ate our food, Tobi suspiciously held his bowl for a minute, glancing at me but I didn't care, keeping my eyes on the show so I could at least try to understand their world. Tobi slowly started to finally eat his ramen after a few minutes though, seeming more pleased with this meal rather then the westernized food we've had the rest of the week; he was quite picky when it came to food we learned.

As expected, he liked Japanese food the most, and most other Asian food was good to him, though some dishes in my recipe books sounded strange. Fish was good in his mind, mainly salmon cause that's all we had for fish this week; He didn't mind pasta, but the heavy reliance on cheese and tomato didn't really coincide with his palette, same goes for a few others due to a high percentage of dairy. I've asked why but he just wouldn't explain, B joking if he's lactose intolerant, we then had to explain what that was to them. Turns out, he is. They just never knew the name of it.

"So, you can kill a man with your bare hands, but CHEESE can take you out?" I asked, laughing at his red face as he glared at me.

Dinner that night was fun, heh, lots of teasing Tobirama, though we did alter our eating habits to not include as much, if any dairy, after that until we could go get some lactase pills for him to try.

This weekend we didn't have much planned, I was on babysitting duty for the boys as B had a 12 hour shift on Sunday so I was planning on just playing some movies and having a little weekend in since I didn't know where tf I'd take them. I wanted to show Hashirama some Christmas movies, mainly Elf, Rise of the Guardians and Santa Paws, I think he'll like them, not sure about Tobirama though. Oh well, I'll figure it out.

The rest of the evening was quiet, after eating I did the dishes and went into my room, crashing into my pile of squishmellows, shark stuffies and Hei Hei, hugging the chicken close and relaxing before turning in for the night. I was just changing in my room, my shirt off as I stood in front of my full body mirror, going to take my pants off when the door to my room flew open and I hiked my pants back up lightning fast and turned around, covering my chest immediately upon Tobi barging into my room, Hashirama behind telling him to stop. They both froze at the sight of me, pants hanging dangerously low on my hips and my arms covering my bare chest, their faces flush red as Hashirama quickly looked away, Tobirama clamming up as he tried to speak but no words came out.

"Get out!" I yelled, grabbing the nearest pillow to throw at him as Hashirama ran out yelling apologies, the pillow hitting Tobirama and knocking him out of whatever nervous trance he was in, turning around and making a beeline out of there as I slammed the door behind them. I huffed and hurriedly put my shirt on, stomping out of my room and knocking on Hashirama's closed bedroom door where I could hear them both talking in whisper shouts. I swung the door opened and glared at the two boys with a fire in my eyes, my blood boiling at their disrespect of my privacy barging into my room like that. "What. The. Fuck. Tobirama." I seethed, my glare directed at the one who had needed to apparently see me so bad he had to walk in on me changing after I had told them I was getting ready for bed.

"I'm so sorry!" Hashirama said, dropping to the floor as he seemed to beg for my forgiveness. "Please understand, I didn't see anything! I swear!" He said making me roll my eyes.

"Stand up." I told him.

"Yes ma'am." He said on reflex, standing up quickly, his head hung making me sigh.

"I forgive you Hashirama. You weren't the one who barged into my room in the first place." I said, glaring at the white haired man who refused to meet my gaze.

"Thank you, Max." Hashirama said, breathing a large sigh of relief.

"Now, why the hell did you do that?" I asked Tobirama, seeing him clench his fist.

"Hashirama told me what you said about Madara and your cousin. I was coming to tell you how stupid it was to let her think she means something to him." He said, making me let out a loud scoffing laugh as he finally met my gaze.

"To think, I was actually trying to be nice to you tonight to start trying to end whatever the fucking issue you had with me, and here you are still arguing about this with me." I laughed, shaking my head as I felt anger flare through me. "You know what, I've already explained myself to you. Go fuck yourself Tobirama." I said, seeing him look at me in slight surprise, not expecting the amount of venom in my tone.

"You think, just because you're this big important person back in your world, that you know everything, but you don't. Wake up to the real world Tobirama, you are nothing and have nothing here." I said, both men looking at me in shock at my outburst; I was sure the neighbors could hear but I didn't care. "Madara is in the same fucking boat, but at least he's not being a complete asshole to the people around him. He's actually learning to live here so he can deserve a second chance." I said, my shoulders tense as I balled my hands into fists. 

"It sounds from my point of view you're just jealous he's got a good life already after being here for only a few weeks, while you have nothing to show for the time you've been here. You're pathetic Tobirama Senju. Fucking, Pathetic." I snapped, turning around and storming out and into my bedroom without waiting for his response. He's officially on my shit list now. He can truly go fuck himself. I don't care.

[creepy-carrion]

Hey, I'm sorry if I come across as a "pity me" type stuff, I'm sorry. I just finished crying my eyes out over some guy and I wanted to know what the creepy boys would do if they got wind if their friend being hurt to the point of tears? The minute I called my friend crying she went straight to wanting to kill the guy haha

Apologies, I meant to get to this sooner. I really hope you’ll be able to evaluate the relations you have to this guy and decide what the best next step is. I picked a few of the boys for you, also added Jane for good measure. I hope it’s ok that some of these characterizations are still a bit,, well,,, let’s just say they’re still themselves. they all mad

BEN Drowned

Contains his anger about the situation at first, but if you know what to look for, it’s pretty obvious this does not sit well with him. He licks his lips frequently, gets fidgety, maybe even starts pacing. He’s not the best with words and comfort talk, so his primary goal will be to just distract you with some fun things so your mind can calm down. But he can’t shake off this feeling of unease so he might be a little tense.

Honestly this guy does not have the time or energy to commit to fucking with this guy the same way he messes up his victims, but he’ll ask you if he can do some... damage, regardless. He will ask for your permission because he doesn’t want his actions to end up screwing with your mental health. Ben is more calculated than that. Give him green light however and he’ll gladly fuck with this guy’s life. Maybe he doesn’t have the time to personally mess with him, but doxxing him, releasing sensitive information, deleting important documents... it takes all but 10 minutes to ruin this guy’s life.

After that, enough time to make you feel better. Like I said, he’s not much of an advice-giver, but he will listen to you in silence and distract you with whatever he can think of. A movie, a walk, gaming sessions, or talking about anything more casual. 

Jeff the Killer

Ahh. If you are venting about someone bothering you to this guy, you must want them dead either way. Jeff has no internal breaks that are stopping his immediate desire to slit this motherfucker’s throat right open. Once the guy’s name accidentally slips past your lips, Jeff has already curled his fingers around the handle of his knife and dipped out the window.

He cannot really help it. You thought BEN was bad with words? Take a look at this fucking guy. He can’t comfort anyone to save his damn life. But he does know one thing, and that is showing he is capable of caring for you with his actions. Said actions involving knives, blood and murder, but hey, it’s all he knows.

Returns a few hours later, covered in muck and blood. He will just sit with you, his shoulder pressed to yours as he comes down from his adrenaline high. This is probably the best time to talk to him if you just want to empty your heart and not want to be interrupted with unintentionally snarky responses. Jeff cares, evidently shown by that he didn’t waste any time to solve your problem, but hey. It’s still Jeff.

Ticci Toby

You hear that loud noise in the distance? That’s this boy’s alarm bells going off like fucking crazy. Yeah, if Toby hears someone has hurt you to the point of tears, he gets this awful feeling in his gut and wants to drag you away from this fucker as soon as possible.

Toby does not remember any of the events with his abusive father, but they’re still drifting around somewhere in his unconscious, and if anything even implies you were in a similar situation he was in, it makes him feel incredibly uneasy, like something might go horribly wrong. Though unlike the others, he won’t be as focused on going after the guy as making sure you will not go back to him.

Probably the best guy to go to if you’re looking for some genuine, good comfort. Toby has no issues with physical contact, the opposite. He will let you rest your head on his chest, his fingers stroking your hair as you cry into his sweater. He will lay with you like that for as long as you want, his chest occasionally rumbling because of a deep growl. If you want Toby to go after him, you need only say it. But he’d rather make sure you are really okay first. He’ll keep you in his arms all night if he has to.

Jane the Killer

Dealing with pieces of shit harassing innocent people is not just her lane. It’s her fucking highway. So you best believe she’s already concocted a plan to get this guy off his bullshit before you can even finish explaining to her what happened. Kill him? No, she may be a murderer, but her standards for murder are a lot higher than one might think. Offenders and murderers are more up her alley, but that does not mean she will pass up on beating some sense into people who think they get to harm you in any way, shape or form. You won’t hear a peep out of this guy anymore, she’ll make sure of that.

Sorry, did I say Toby was the best guy to go to for comfort? Well, yeah. But Jane is the best person to go to with your problems. Once she hears your sobs through the phone, all of her plans are canceled, she demands you come over, and in no time you’re curled up on the couch with a blanket and a hot chocolate. Jane knows how to do shit like this.

Also, you need advice on how to deal with anything? Please tell her and she will do anything she can to help. Jane is very intelligent and calculating. She has multiple responses to most of the problems you tell her about, and if she doesn’t, give her a day to think about it. And if you just need a cuddle, a distraction, anything, she’d be happy to provide you with that too. Jane is a queen.

[a-little-slice-of-fandom]

In response to the Jane ask, I totally agree! Her song, as vague as it might be in the newer versions, is very much about emotional abuse and her realizing/reflecting on it. In the other versions this is arguably even clearer! Besides the list in the first verse, there’s a line in the student run version that always get me, in the second verse after “with out my son your love will disappear”. Usually in the lastest version it’s “I know it isn't fair, but I don't care”, which can be a sign of even tho she knows that he has hurt her at this point, her love will still be there for her son. But the student run it’s something like “you’ll let us fall apart, try to break my heart” which I think is much more powerful in showing more of her self awareness at what would happen to her. Also that opening monologue before about if she was really loved or just checked all the boxes on a list before she could make him angry, she knew that he would be willing to destroy her if she didn’t do as he wanted (Cause Anne wasn’t some death that would never happen again and that only happened cause Jane was there, he was to said to have threaten Jane with the same fate cause of the pilgrimage of grace incident (also well it did happened gain two queens later). Also just a slight unrelated thing, I can sorta understand why people blame Jane for Anne’s death but also not really. It was a whole campaign against Anne, and we only know that Jane was yeah trying to be queen due to influence from her family and others trying make sure she was but I don’t think it’s her fault Henry (and others) decided the best course of action would be to kill Anne. Though I am not a big Tudor researcher, this is only from multiple weeks and hours of searching and learning cause of curiosity and someone could fact check me but that’s what i interpreted the history as. Random rant over) Also the fact (and I’m pretty sure this is true in the newest version), she says “loved” most of the time. The past tense is important there, cause yeah maybe she did truly think she “loved” him. And he may have been the only one she ever “loved” but that cause she probably didn’t get a chance to love someone else (when Henry says it’s you, it’s you after all). This is just speculation though, I can’t assume what a 500 year old historical figure was truly feeling but a character in a show is different and ready for analysis. For that I say that maybe she did “love” him but it easily could have been out of fear or wanting to just deal with the cards dealt to her. But at the end she realizes where she wants her love to be directed towards, and that’s her son and in “Six” her new found family.

And fun fact about her part in “Six” (I kinda learned from something on tumblr but can’t remember who but either way here it is.) it’s 200% about the queens as her family, with her pun at the end being the main signifier of this. “You could perhaps call us the Tudor Von Trapps” is a reference to the Trapp Family Singers, an Austrian singing family (if you see the wiki for them, they are apparently the inspiration for sound of music, Neat!). So from that you would think “oh she’s talking about Henry and her kids with him having a band” but then she says “Just kidding! We’re called the Royalling Stones!”. A Rolling Stones references and they were made by friends forming a band, so that can be associated that the queens are said friends in this case but also part of family that has grown! Also Rolling Stones have a song called heart of stone, seriously this is the most clever joke Jane had during the show and it makes me, a pun/joke lover, very happy to see this be such a character trait that it’s in the damn description for her character for an auditioning sheet (check out Citadle Theather and Six the Musical in google, i think you’ll find it.)

Anyway sorry about this long ramble, it’s just that even though I totally can see how people view Jane as “weaker” in terms of some writing choices made, I still think there’s a lot to talk about with not just her current incarnation but also the other ones as well. I wish some changes werent made to her song, but she is a still strong character about the effects of emotional abuse and maternity. There’s nothing bad about talking about those things, your right that it doesn’t make her any less feminist. Anyway ramble over and I hope you have a lovely day :)

Hello hun!

Please don’t apologise for rambling! I’m always so interested in hearing other opinions on the queens and I love the opportunity to discuss any queen at any time! Frankly, I’m just impressed you got the whole essay into one message! Have they gotten rid of the character limit? Sorry, not relevant to the question.

(Also sorry for how long this took to answer! Uni happened sort of happened and I didn’t want to half ass my response to such a well thought out ask)

I adore the older versions of Heart of Stone, especially the student run version! I completely agree that Seymour feels so much more aware of her place in Henry’s life in the older versions. In the older version she knows she wasn’t Henry’s true love (even though she loved him) and she knows her worth is completely dependent on her ability to give Henry a son. She literally says “nothing lasts forever, I’ll fade away”. That is such a powerful statement and I wish that line was still in the song! I still think these themes are in the new version, but they’re nowhere near as explicit. Plus the character development in the student run feels much more explicit, with Seymour saying “soon I’ll have to go, I’ll never see you grow” instead of “him grow” in the new versions. She’s clearly speaking to Edward in the older version, so the last half of HOS in the old versions (at least in my eyes) is actually directly speaking to Edward and not Henry as many people think. I still think this is true for the new versions, illustrating Seymour’s character development as she breaks away from Henry and rather concentrates on her son, but again I don’t think it’s obvious in the new version. The older version just felt so much more powerful and I think it presented Seymour as much more as a victim than the newer version...which I argue is true! Seymour was as much of a victim as any other character in the show and I think she deserves more sympathy than the show gives her, and for as much as I love the newer versions of six, you can’t deny that Seymour is reduced to a joke for half of the show. The student version is such a genuine and earnest version of Seymour, and I can’t help but love her. It’s definitely a testament to the actresses from the student run that their characters are still on parr with professional versions of the show!

(Im so sorry I don’t feel like I’m adding anything to your analysis, but you’ve really summed up my feelings perfectly! )

Weirdly, I think that the student run and studio run play with the idea of having a “heart of stone” better than the modern version. I love the contrast between the material things that Henry can buy versus the natural world. Material things can fade, but the natural world (and Seymour’s love) transcends that. It’s a really nice use of juxtapostion in that song and I just don’t feel like the newer versions play with those images as much as the older version.

I do sort of get why they changed it (I think Seymour spends upwards of 10 just listing different objects, which is powerful in its own way but I do think audience members could get bored of those verses) but I wished they had still somehow managed to keep the theme that Seymour as explicit. I still think it’s there in the newer version of the song, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as obvious as the older version. It would make HOS more like AYWD in a way, and that would be brilliant. Six shouldn’t be afraid to tackle different forms of abuse.

I personally can’t comment on the whole Anne Boleyn vs Jane Seymour thing because I just don’t know enough about the situation. However I don’t think any of the wives should be burdened with the blame of what happened to their predecessors. It wasn’t their fault.

Also I’d never thought of the tudor von trapps vs the royalling stones indicating that it was a found family rather than a blood family, but it’s actually such a neat little detail and I think it makes complete sense! I have always maintained that Seymour’s “family” doesn’t have to be related by blood. Found family is just as meanigful and as important as a bloof family, and Seymour finding her place with the other queens and calling them her family rather than Henry is very powerful in my opinion. I just don’t think the “my family’s grown” lime has to be as literal as people take it. Thanks for bringing that line to my attention though!

Seymour isn’t a “weak” character, both in term of the writing and in terms of character development. As much as I love the older versions of Seymour, I still like the new versions and appreciate that Toby and Lucy decided to allow Seymour to be a motherly character and have that be treated as an equally empowering thing as the other queens. Some women want to be mothers and that’s okay!

Anyway thank you so much for this ask my love! I really enjoyed thinking about Seymour (since she’s not a character I talk about a lot). Sorry again for taking so long to respond ❤️❤️❤️

[buffyversefanfiction]

Slayer of Slayers

Warnings: I do not own, nor do I claim to own any of the copyright or characters within the Buffyverse which includes but not limited to the television shows Buffy and Angel, as well as the Darkhorse comics series’ continuation. 15+ Strong to moderate violence, Graphic to mild descriptions of gore, and torture, sexually charged scenes, sexual innuendos, mild to strong language, and practices of witchcraft. M/M, F/F, M/F, GEN, OTHER +

PART ONE LINK HERE

Part Two: Have Faith

Theo walked into his demonic dive bar with Faith by his side eager to introduce the slayer to the place he called home and it was not long before Faith noticed the customers within the dive bar were demons, vampires, and other supernatural creatures, all either looking at her with curiosity or hatred in their eyes while a few even looked at the raven haired slayer with a look of hunger, as if they would ever get a chance to taste her. “Your time working alongside that immortal Mayor was a rather impressive time for you Faith, going head-to-head with Buffy Summers and poisoning her beloved vampire Angelus was nothing short of magnificent but after your boss’ failed ascension you went radio silent,” Theo told Faith as the two of them walked over to the bar counter where Tobias was behind the bar serving drinks to customers. “I heard something about some kind of body swap, a jail stint, and Sunnydale being blown to pieces and then the rumors of course which I hope were just rumors.” “I swap bodies with B then tried to take out Angel again winding up in prison to which I broke out of and have been laying it low making sure my targets wind up dead, so the goodies do not come looking for me again. As for Sunnydale, well I was late for that party which is why I’m so on the ball with this one.” Faith lied to Theo as she quickly noticed the bartender Tobias listening in on their conversation. “So, are you the guy behind this whole slayer or slayers thing? Or is it a whole army? Either way, sign me up.” “I am known by those who fear me as the slayer of slayers, yes, but I rarely work alone. Have not had a slayer on my side before though so this could get interesting.” Theo replied to the slayer, proudly boasting about the evil deeds he committed. “This slayer tells a good story Theo but make sure she is not just selling it on behalf of the one we really want,” Tobias advised Theo, joining the conversation much to Faith’s annoyance. “What’s it got to do with you? The bloodsucking bartender seems to have big balls.” Faith snapped at Tobias. “He’s my partner in every meaning of the word and one day I intend to give up my mortal life so he will remain my partner forever,” Theo revealed to Faith shocking her by showing true warmth towards Tobias before he leaned over the bar and kissed his undead boyfriend. “Let’s just say if I were playing on team B Sunnydale would still be Sunnydale and not a poor man’s Grand Canyon.” Faith boasted, hoping her brag would be enough to convince this duo that she was on their side. “Here’s a thing Faith, I know you were something of a deal back in the day but she’s the slayer nobody forgets that one that defies all odds and changed everything making such a big mess of everything,” Theo responded to Faith making it clear his main target was Buffy Summers. “She’s the girl in all of this world, the one kill that will really mean something.” “I get you that think you’re a big shot because you’ve taken out a few rookie slayers, but B and I have been at this a hell of a lot longer than the others and she has this tendency to come back from the dead on the rare occasion somebody actually gets the better of her.” Faith reminded Theo and Tobias of Buffy’s impressive record. “You have not shown me nothing that proves you would stand a second against Buffy let alone be something of use to me.” “If I’m going to take advice on taking out Buffy, I’m not going to take it from some burned-out slayer who tried, failed, and fell straight into a coma.” Theo taunted the slayer, not convinced he needed or wanted her help. “I’ll admit I was a stupid go-getter back then too stupid for my own good which is exactly what I’m getting from you.” Faith said, mocking the man who claimed to be the slayer of slayers. “I do not care how hot you think your shit is you go up against Buffy with what you got now, and you will die.” “I think I’m going to like this slayer,” Theo told Tobias as the two lovers looked at each other with a sense of excitement on both of their faces, as Faith realized, she may have finally got her in with the

two guys who had been killing all the slayers who had the misfortune of coming to Los Angeles.

After sharing several drinks with Theo and Tobias, Faith had decided to go on a walk with Theo strolling through the dark and dirty alleyways of L.A, knowing that this slayer of slayers had either taken her outside to lure her into a trap, or worse, he was going to try to make her prove her loyalty to his mission by finding another slayer, one that Faith would have to kill. “I’ve never had any issue beating anyone in a fight, the fighting comes pretty easy to me too easy, that is why taking down the big one, Buffy Summers is so important to me, I long for the challenge,” Theo admitted to her as they continued their walk. “Tobias thinks me a fool for not fearing her enough but my hatred for slayers, especially that one is just too strong for me to want to do anything but kill the bitch.” “I get hating on Buffy, but the girls got serious game, The Master, Angelus, The Mayor, are just some of her hits, and let’s not forget that cyborg guy and the freaking god she slew.” Faith replied, reminding Theo of Buffy’s rather impressive track record. “I am very aware of Buffy’s never-ending victories however, to fear anyone who feels the need to go into hiding is somewhat pathetic and it makes me wonder whether or not you have gone soft on me,” Theo revealed as the two stopped walking, and a group of vampires appeared from out of the shadows to absolutely no surprise to Faith. “Hey, if you want me to prove myself by turning your lackies into dust then that is on you dude.” Faith boasted, as she looked around at the vampires marching towards her, knowing that she could take them all, as she wondered if Theo had any power at all or if he was hiding behind his rather lackluster army.

It did not take Faith long to get the better of the vampires who Theo had sent to test out her slayer abilities and once she did exactly what she promised to do, dusting all the vampires, Faith decided to head back to the demonic dive bar to gloat about her victory only to walk into the mostly now empty bar to find Theo and Tobias behind the bar kissing passionately once again. “Do you two ever come up for air or is that a bit pointless considering one of you is dead?” Faith asked as she walked over to the bar counter. “Actually, won’t that make one of you need air even more?” “Those vampires were disposable just like the slayers themselves, however, you do seem to be the exception.” Theo complimented Faith on her victory. “Consider me impressed by you still being alive and looking like you did not so much as break a sweat.” “So, we’re down a bunch of minions and if things went wrong, we would have been down a slayer too,” Tobias complained to Theo, making it clear to Faith that he had not been part of Theo’s ambush. “Some of those guys have been with us for a long time Theo, not to mention another slayer on the side would be a bonus despite what she thinks about her.” “She’s alive, isn’t she? And if they could be taken out that easily then they were of no use to us in the first place.” Theo snapped back at his love appearing to be more soulless than the man next to him, who literally had no soul. “You should have let me in on the plan, I know you like to think you run things around here Theo, but we are meant to be a partnership,” Tobias said with a saddened sigh, shocking Faith by the look of hurt on his face making it clear that this vampire really did have genuine feelings for Theo. “I do not mean to interfere in this lover’s spat but who’s this she who I’m guessing does not think of me too fondly?” Faith asked in an attempt to break some of the awkwardness, as well as learn more about their little operation. “Toby’s vampire mother, he’s a total mummy’s boy never likes straying too far off her path it gets rather tedious to be honest,” Theo told the slayer willingly, making a dig at his partner at the same time. “You know I hate being called Toby. And as for me being a mummy’s boy, I am just smart enough to follow her rules unlike you who seems set on doing whatever the hell you want whenever the hell you want to.” Tobias continued to complain to Theo making his feelings heard. “Babe, you know I love you but sometimes I just got to be me. If I told you my plans, you’d have just talked me out of it and I know she’s got an eye on everything but that does not mean that my plans are not solid either.” Theo replied to his lover in a softer tone. “I just need you to believe in me more sometimes than I would not have to keep anything from you.” “Wow, for two evil guys killing slayers wherever they go that was pretty deep.” Faith told them both, surprised by the clear love between these two men but before either of them could reply to her, two vampires walked into the bar with a woman clearly drugged out, being held by them both, an innocent, making Faith realize they had found their next target. “Did you order takeout?” Theo joked with Tobias, as the two smiled at each other unnerving Faith by the sudden turnaround between these two men. “This is not just some woman boss, it’s a slayer, she took out some of our guys before we got her and delivered her here to you.” One of the vampires confessed. “I guess you picked the right ones for your suicide mission after all,” Tobias admitted as he kissed Theo on the lips. “You know it, babe!” Theo replied with a sense of excitement, as Faith recognized the look on his face, it was a look she knew far too well, a look that meant Theo enjoyed every kill, got off on the darkness as she did once upon a time.

Faith knew that the slayer which Theo and Tobias now held was not going to make it out of there alive if she did not take any action and so when she had the opportunity, she left the dive bar claiming to be ready to hit the sheets but instead, she went to see Angel at the Hyperion Hotel to fill him in on her discoveries while being undercover. “So, I have no clue if this dude has powers or what, but he’s definitely got himself a following and a vampire lover.” Faith confessed to Angel after walking into his office within the Hyperion Hotel. “There is something about him that I cannot quite figure out yet and his whole relationship with that vamp is all kinds of uncomfortable in the sense that they're basically like a married couple.” “Does this mean you’ve found a way of earning their trust or you wound up killing everybody to avoid things getting too cringey?” Angel joked with Faith as he stood up from his chair. “Thing is they’re currently torturing the hell out of another slayer, so we are going to have to stop earning trust and start taking action!” Faith revealed making it clear how urgently the situation had to be handled. “There used to be just one or two of use now there are so many folks are collecting them…then killing them I guess, sure doesn’t help if they’re not being hunted by the forces of evil, we have military operations to contend with too not to mention the supernatural secret being out for all to know,” Angel replied to the slayer, reminiscing about less complicated times. “Listen I do not know if this is a set-up if the girl is even a slayer, but either way we cannot just leave her there for the slaughter, we got to save the girl, slayer or not.” Faith warned Angel, showing how far she had come along since her old days of being the vampire slayer causing all the trouble. “I am game for whatever the plan is, and I’ll get Illyria in on everything, so she’s caught up too, she’s always down for a fight anyway,” Angel told her, making it clear he trusted her completely and it was entirely up to her how she played this one out.

After a quick de-brief with Angel, Faith got herself back together, contacted Theo and Tobias, and decided to return to the dive bar, knowing damn fine that she was either walking into a trap set up by the two or she was about to blow her cover by saving the woman that they were holding hostage. “Who sent you? Was it her?” Theo questioned the slayer that he had tied up to an upside-down table, before throwing a poisonous dart right into her chest, with several poisonous darts already in her body, causing the woman to scream out in pain which was met by laughs from Theo, Tobias, and the others in his bar, as Faith walked into the horrifying scene. “Nobody sent me L.A. is my home.” The girl cried in pain as Faith stood there reluctantly watching Theo throw yet another poisonous dart at the fellow slayer, this one launching itself into her right leg, noticing how the woman’s screams only served to further delight the twisted Theo. “I thought you were going to sleep or something like that?” Tobias said to Faith as he walked over to greet the slayer, while Theo’s focus remained on playing a deadly game of darts with the captured slayer, reveling in her pain. “Theo tends to get a little carried away when he gets a new toy, but the customers love a good show, and it makes him happy.” “I bet they do…you do not seem too on the torture side of things? I’ve done my fair share of torture and I can tell when a guy is not into it.” Faith replied to the vampire bartender as she kept her eye on Theo, who eventually stopped what he was doing and walked over to greet his supposed new ally. “I am more of an old-fashioned vampire, I like to hunt as much as any, but I like my prey to not even know they are being tortured, there is nothing more thrilling to manipulate than one’s mind and blood of the seduced tastes so sweet,” Tobias answered Faith before Theo put his arms around the vampire. “I do love to watch you in your element,” Theo said to Tobias before kissing him on the cheek tenderly. “So, do I get a shot at playing darts or what?” Faith asked rhetorically, not waiting for an answer as she walked over to the bar counter and picked up one of the poisonous darts, noticing they had a smell something that if she had to guess, it would be something acidic. Faith stood there for a moment and looked over at the beaten, bruised, and bloodied slayer, who had been used as a human dartboard by those she was in the bar with, as she began to recall her own methods of torture she inflicted on her former watcher Wesley Wyndham Price, knowing that although he forgave her in the end that she inflicted trauma on him that could never be erased and for a split second she found herself relating to Theo. She knew there was a chance of good in this guy because he was in love and surely evil could not truly love? And she knew there must be something inside of him worth caring about if a soulless vampire loved him back but despite her conflicting feelings towards both Theo and Tobias, she knew more than anything that one way or another they had to be stopped, and so she launched the poisoned dart which was in her hand and threw it in Theo’s direction, only to be left shocked when Theo caught it in his hands in true slayer style, making her wonder if he was actually a slayer, a male slayer. “Damn girl! I guess this means our perfect partnership has come to an end before it ever truly begun.” Theo said to Faith as he threw the poisonous dart to the ground. “Buffy really did break you, didn’t she?” Theo and Tobias began walking towards Faith, as their demonic, and vampire, clientele circled the slayer so she could not escape but just as things were looking outnumbered for Faith, Angel burst through the front door and instantly pulled out stakes from both his sleeves and staked two vampires, distracting the devilish duo by his arrival as their two minions turned to dust. “Angelus,” Theo stated with a sense of excitement, clearly having heard of the vampire with a soul’s impressive history. Angel and Faith wasted no time as they began fighting their way through

the crowd of demons, vampires, and creatures, fighting, staking, and killing, anything in their way to getting Tobias and Theo, the two quickly make an escape from their bar as Tobias dragged a reluctant Theo along with him, despite his pleas to stay and watch the show as the two made it into the alleyway outside of the bar before Theo pushed Tobias’ grip off him, infuriated by Tobias’ escape plans. “Why the hell are we running? We never run away from a fight especially not one including him!” Theo shouted at his vampire lover, infuriated by Tobias’ fear of Angel and Faith. “If we stay then we die Theo, I know you’ve got one hell of an ego, but it is not worth dying for even if you could take Faith there’s no chance, we could take both her and Angelus,” Tobias admitted to him, making it clear they had to run to survive. “I do not care, Tobias! If we lose this fight, then we lose but what a bloody awesome way to go out.” Theo replied making it clear he was more than ready to risk his own life if it meant he’d be challenged in a fight. Before Tobias could argue anymore with Theo, Theo suddenly saw hands appear around the vampire’s neck before his head was torn off his body, turning the vampire to dust, as the goddess Illyria now stood in the ashes of the man Theo loved, leaving the slayers of slayers screaming and sobbing. “You killed him you bitch!” Theo screamed as he launched his right fist across Illyria’s face, punching her with such strength that Illyria had only felt from one species before, slayers. Illyria responded by punching him with all her goddess strength, sending the grieving lover flying across the alleyway, landing in a bunch of rubbish, before quickly getting back on his feet, clearly injured, as he began running away from the blue-haired god with a limp to his run, leaving Illyria amused to see another running scared from her after a single punch. “Humans…you give them a bit of strength and they think they are gods.” Illyria scoffed, mocking the so-called slayer of slayers, having hoped for more of a fight from this male vampire slayer.

“The male is a slayer it seems the first man of his kind.” Illyria declared to Angel and Faith, after the three returned to the Hyperion Hotel, thrilled to have destroyed the slayer of slayers’ operations. “He punches like a slayer but falls like a mortal.” “Except for Billy who is still more an associate to the slayers, the slayer line has never touched upon any males before so why the hell has it changed now?” Faith asked the group, wondering how Theo could even be a slayer. “Willow changed everything when everyone started becoming slayers maybe it’s time for the men to get into the action too.” Angel guessed. “There was something strangely familiar when he called me Angelus…I’ve never met him before, but it felt like he had met me.” “He seems to have a real personal hatred for Buffy the kind you only get from meeting a person but it’s not like we can ask her who Theo is considering she’s been M.I.A since…well we all know.” Faith responded, stopping herself from bringing up the situation that had made Buffy quit slaying, knowing it would only upset Angel. “I say you two stop playing detectives and take on the roles of an executioner. This blood bag has the power of a slayer nothing too impressive, but I sensed a stronger power somewhat dormant for now, so we kill him before whatever power lies within him becomes active.” Illyria informed the two, trying to get them on her side of thinking, that Theo had to die just like Tobias. “We killed one of them…something tells me we’ve already broken Theo.” Faith stated with a sense of sadness, unable not to feel sorry for her fellow slayer who had just lost the love of his life. “You sound like you feel sorry for the guy? Did you not see the state that woman was in when we took her to the hospital?” Angel questioned his friend, before going on to say. “Do you really think he’s worth saving?” Faith wanted to answer yes, that if she could find redemption so could Theo, but this rogue slayer had just lost the only love of his life and she knew they were to blame for that loss, fearing that if they did not put Theo down he would stop at nothing to kill every last one of them, and so she was left with a difficult decision but luckily Angel was there by her side so she did not have to make that decision alone.

[masked-disciple]

1, 4, 5, 6, 11, 15, 21, 22, 23 for the writers ask?

1. Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Currently, I’m working on a fic titled A Monstrous Manifesto, which is a fic entirely inspired by Cat Valente’s poem of the same name. Every line is a chapter, every noun is a part of that chapter, and every single beast named corresponds to a Spectre, allowing me to dig directly into their heads and demonstrate their full psychology. 

Progress stopped unfortunately back in July on part four - a fiend, which I picked Deadly Beetle Stand for, because I just couldn’t get into his head. Kiril played soundboard for it and I’ve been humming and hawing over him trying to figure it out, but let’s be real it’s gonna come to me in a dream.

Because see here, most folks who’ve read my works, if told to point to my best, it’ll either be a) my breakthrough with Armour Adventures (which tbh if I redid I’d do better on), b) In Kismet Marcescence (which I need to sit down and plot out properly before I continue), or c) rather unexpectedly to me, Green Grows The Asphodel. Guess everyone likes that soft MiAlba where Alba gets his bastardization arc, but also I let him speedrun it in Broken Shine The Stars and people seem to like that one too, so.

The thing is with AMM is that this would be my greatest work. Like AA, it’s gen, but here’s the one advantage I’ve realized I actually have over pretty much everyone else in this fandom: I am myself a monster, fictionkind and all. I’m a Devil and a feral little beast, which means when you offer me Spectres - warriors of the dark and death who are all based around animal motifs - I take one look and go “oh! You’re like me!” and proceed to write them as actual monsters while having some unspoken and long-winded conversation about what it means to be human, what it means to be shunned, and what it means to belong among the broken.

It means that I write Spectres wildly different than anyone who isn’t Kiril (who is on the same wavelength as me and we argue back and forth about the inner details of everyone’s monstrosity), which means when I do it, nobody’s seen this shit before and apparently people seem to think it’s cool. So AMM is the very epitome of that style, of that psychological and philosophical discussion. I don’t really have a background of research in either of those things, so any similarities to works or theories already out there is entirely coincidence. Cat Valente’s poem was the first stepping stone I ever took to accepting myself for who - and what - I am. I owe as much of my identity and confidence to her as I do Zamorakian philosophy, which built my personality and is a major part of how I survived the middle school era of my life. The least I can do in return is offer the best of me out into the world.

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

“Somewhere deep below conscious thought, below his training and the life and this Lemurian body, buried under lifetimes of war, buried under the idea that a Spectre was a fighter, his blood remembered how to love the memory of the fallen.” - Beneath Blood Ties

BBT is one of my most unappreciated fics, which makes sense as it’s set almost two thousand years prior to Classic, starring a fourteen-year-old Lemurian Minos and the Saint who raised him, Aries Kirien, whose name is probably still spelled Kiriel at least once in the fic because no beta we die like Gold Saints.

The original inspiration comes from Seanan McGuire’s Once Broken Faith, and the line in question is Toby reading the Luidaeg’s blood memories after the latter told a young Karen that she couldn’t speak Faerie even in her dreams - she speaks it in her blood memories, and Toby notes that her blood remembers.

It stuck with me, though I’ve read OBF approximately a million times. It, along with A Killing Frost and An Artificial Night, are my three top Toby books. And it responded to me as someone who’s fictionkind: I couldn’t speak the language I spoke as a Devil in my dreams, or in the waking world, but I know some part of me remembers it. Would know how. The Chaorruption filters all of that into English because it thinks it’s helping, but if I were a magical creature right now, in this world, I’m pretty sure my blood would remember.

So I wrote about Minos, and the sorrow he carried. The premise of BBT is that a Pope realized some Spectres come back, went around before they became Spectres, and kidnapped the lot of them to train as Saints, leaving them all traumatized as fuck, unsure of who they were or who they followed, and messed up for lifetimes. I also wanted to show more that Spectres were more than what the Holy Wars made of them, and about digging through that exotrauma to remember that they could be kind.

Spectres, originally, would make sense as really just Hades’ servants and the ones who keep the Meikai running. Pretty sure that means they know every single death rite that’s existed in the past three millennia. Pretty sure they know how to be respectful of the dead. Pretty damn sure that below all that soldiering and war, they’re all really exhausted librarians who want to do their job and also dig graves.

But I like this sentence here best, because that’s pretty much the climax of the plot here: that there is, in fact, something underneath all his exotrauma, all the current trauma he’s been dealing with. That below all of that bitterness and war, he’s a better person than what Athena made of him.

Idk, I just think it’s neat and no I’m not projecting being ‘kin on him again. /j

5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

Albafica, to nobody’s surprise. I mean, come on. A guy with a fuckton of traditionally-feminine beauty whose looks keep getting brought up, is very introverted, has seen some shit, just wants to kill people who hurt what he cares about while also not hurting the people he does care about, really wants you to keep your damn distance, is super touchstarved, and holding onto his humanity with his fingertips? Come on the only things he’s got that I don’t is an actual male reproductive system and naturally blue hair.

Once you realize that especially in TLC Athena’s actions are pretty damn horrific, especially to her Saints, Albafica has the perfect setup to become a Spectre. Seriously, if he’d been offered Luco’s deal but while holding a dying Lugonis, do you really think he wouldn’t have taken it? I explore that more in Broken Shine The Stars, but like. Albafica is the perfect fallen angel of a character. He has genuinely good intentions. He’s hurting so damn bad and only fucking once in his entire onscreen performance is that acknowledged (shoutout to Luco for that one), and if you take his sorrow and let him turn it into anger, he’s a glorious monster indeed. Albafica’s descend into monstrosity and Spectrehood is exactly what would happen if I got angry and also hadn’t been fucking nerfed physically.

I love him way too much.

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

Surprisingly, Aiacos. Alba’s hard as fuck to write. Aiacos, though. You’ve heard me go off about Aiacos at length, but like. He’s the very embodiment of the worst person you can become while still loving, still surviving. Aiacos is the type of person we’re all capable of becoming, and we all should be terrified of becoming, because every single choice he’s ever made is completely understandable and that much more horrific for it.

It’s somewhat unsurprisingly easy to get into his head. He’s fun to write because he scares me. Because if I let him do all the dumb, selfish, sadistic-looking, survival-focused things, then I don’t have to worry about doing it myself. I let him look out for only himself when the pieces are down, so I can do better.

Also I haven’t seen anyone else write him that way (Kiril being the obvious exception here), so it’s double the fun because new territory.

11. What do you envy in other writers?

Hey. Hey you fuckers who can plot shit. Give me the number of the demon you sold your soul to. Let me PLOT SHIT.

15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?

Summaries! Titles are easy, I steal them from songs and Toby books. They’re just fancy wordplay and I have literally a list on my fic spreadsheet of titles I want to use. Summaries, though, are very important. People don’t pick fics based on title and tags, they pick based on summary. They’re your hook into the work, so you’ve got to give the audience your premise short and sweet and actually sounding appealing.

Sometimes I can write them no problemo. Other times, they’re a fucking nightmare. I try to imply the tone of the ending in my summary, because I have absolutely been blindsided by the ending in a way I really didn’t like because I thought the summary was hiding the ending. (Example - there was this one fic that made it sound like my OTP was going enemies to lovers, and it wasn’t, it wasn’t, it needed the fucking dead dove do not eat tag, stopped just short of serious nonsexual noncon (which wasn’t tagged at all), and ended very unhappily and it messed me up for days, I did not like it.)

So for my summaries I set the scene, set the tone, and imply the tone of the ending so you have a vague idea of where it’s going. Easier said than done.

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)

Anime, probably! Manga wouldn’t lend itself too well to my style, but I’d enjoy short anime episodes, I think. I honestly don’t know. Someone tell me what my stuff would work good as. I dunno.

22. Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?

For fic, all the time! I write what I want to read, and since six out of seven of the Dohko/Kagaho works on AO3 were my fault, I’d better get used to reading my own writing for pleasure. Fortunately, I like most of my writing recently, so that’s pretty all right!

Don’t ask about what I had up on ff.net. Don’t. It’s old and bad and I didn’t know how to write.

23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?

Hmmm... I want to rephrase this better as ‘what fic exists only as a concept and has done so for the longest out of all the concepts of fics currently in my head’, and hmmmm. Honestly, it’s either Shion and Aiacos’ romance fic where they also get a daughter (which has a title actually, The Lost Sea Fantasia, but still hasn’t been written); or it’s Wyvern Rose and the Trials of Lightning, which is about 15th century Rhada’s two daughters, the elder of which is surprise-given his surplice and his job when he dies right before Hades does, and the younger of which is kidnapped by a spiteful goddess who doesn’t like the elder of the two.

ToL is a fic that I have somewhat plotted out, but really needs a lot of work. I’m not really sure how to go about writing it, because whenever I sit down to sketch it out, it never comes to me. It does, however, lend itself well as a bedtime / campfire story that Albafica tells Regulus while they’re out on a mission together, as part of Alba sneakily teaching Regu how to be a Spectre without anyone knowing. It’ll stay a concept for a long while until Rose crashes into my headspace and actually fucking tells me more about herself other than “oh yeah btw I’m fucking Julia” like thanks, already knew that from Julia herself, tell me more about you you awful little Judge of a dragon princess.

[ask game here!]

[mayamatiln]

can u please talk about your love for Johnny DiMarco? gush about it bc me too

sorry it took me so long to answer this. I’ve tried to come up with a coherent way to describe my love for him but I’m not sure this will do it justice but I’ll try. 

Long story short: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Not only that but it was subtle character development shown through his interactions as a supporting character. It’s what skyrocketed him to becoming my favorite character because if you didn’t watch him closely you would never pick up on how much he was changing with every new episode he was in. Let me analyze a bit:

Season 6 - He is introduced as just another bully from Lakehurst and honestly I didn’t really notice him until Rock This Town when he was there and watched Drake stab JT. Obviously my initial reaction was to hate both of them so much, just like the other characters on the show did. Especially after he watched it happen then immediately ran away. BUT after watching the episode for the billionth time a crazy thought popped into my head: “Imagine what Johnny is going through in his head.” I mean it was clear by the look on his face that what Drake did was completely not okay with him and he was clearly traumatized by watching it. I realized that he ran away (which was the wrong thing to do) because he panicked and got scared like any 16/17 year old kid would. The show completely skipped over the fact that he was probably heavily interrogated by the cops for possibly being an accessory to murder but I was immediately intrigued by what is possibly going on in this boys head.

Season 7 - When first see Johnny this season he is up to his old bullying ways and in my head I was like “really this kid goes through watching a guy he was bullying die and he just keeps on picking on people like it didnt affect him at all?” But then we get that scene where Toby confronts Johnny about how he watched Drake kill JT and you can clearly see Johnny deflecting and trying to shut it out and forget that it ever happened. To me it was so clear that Johnny was going through some really dark things and the only way he knew how to cope with it was by doing what he usually does and taking it out on other people. He keeps doing this until we get to Bust A Move where we see that Johnny is attending the Red Pines camp along with Darcy. If you weren’t really looking for it you would completely miss him being there but at the beginning of one scene we hear him talking to the group about exactly what I had suspected that he had been going through. He talks about how since JT died he has sorta been off the rails and he keeps asking himself why does he have to be such a jerk. This moment confirmed to me what a complex and layered and extremely human character Johnny was even though he was only a background character. It was the pivotal moment that cemented him as one of my favorite characters. 

Season 8 - These were the seasons where we finally began to chip away at the tough guy exterior and see the real Johnny that he was hiding underneath all because of Alli. Although we only ever saw that relationship from her point of view as a way to tell the stereotypical “young girl gets with older guy and realizes she isn’t as mature as she thinks plot” it was still very clear that the relationship meant a lot to the both of them which wasn’t stereotypical at all. From Alli’s point of view we see her chasing after him but it’s also made very clear that he really does like her just as much (if not more) than she liked him but he was initially too much of a coward to admit it. What was so important about this relationship though is that Alli was the first person, other than Bruce (which doesn’t count), who ever sought him out and genuinely liked him and wanted to get to know him. She was never afraid of him like everyone else was and she was persistent which is exactly what he needed. Like he says in Heart of Glass, she wasn’t just some hook up for him, he genuinely liked her as a person because she took the time to pay attention to him and notice that he is actually kind of a nerd. He likes books and literature and he cares about making sure she gets home on time and buys her a flower when he hopes that she never finds out that he’s the one who sent it and he buys her a heartshaped necklace because he’s never been in a relationship before and he doesnt know what he’s doing. She brought him out of his shell and taught him that he is so much more than a bully and that people outside of his small friend group can genuinely like him. I also want to note how when he lies about her being his first time too, like yes it was bad to lie, but from his point of view he finally found someone who genuinely likes him for who he is and he is terrified of hurting her and her leaving him. Yet again we see Johnny making a big mistake but still it is understandable and realistic because he is in fact a teenage boy.

Season 9 - We start off the season with Johnny making possibly one of the biggest mistakes he has ever made (well at least to me). Him sending Alli’s nudes to Bruce because he was mad that she posted a silly picture of him being HIMSELF was so childish and immature and disgusting. That being said it was completely in character and necessary for his character to hit this low point when things were finally looking up for him. When thing’s don’t go Johnny’s way he has always been known to act out cruelly to those around him and sink deeper into his tight friendship with Bruce who he knows would never leave him. He gets upset and reverts into his old habits and thus loses Alli in the process which is probably the biggest reality check he has ever gotten. Then to top it all off he finds out he has genital warts which seals the deal that he has lost the one person who genuinely liked him and cared about him as a person. He initially reacts just like he always has and returns to picking on others as a way to cope. Then as we get to the episode Why Can’t This Be Love we have another turning point. First I must point out that the part 1 of this episode is one of my favorites because it is the only episode where Johnny has an entire plot from his point of view. In it we see him asking Alli to prom because he clearly still has feelings for her and she immediately turns him down. He tried to rebound and fails miserably because when it comes to talking to girls let’s just say he is a total goof who has clearly lost his touch over the past year with Alli. At prom he sees Alli flirting with Dave at prom and he picks on them out of jealousy, by the end of the episode Johnny watches Alli move on with her life and knows that it is over for good. BUT this is the moment that Johnny also decides to turn his life around. From this moment on we never see him bully or threaten anyone else. He took what Alli taught him and he used it to become a better person and really believe in himself. And to top it all off we get a glimpse that he graduated with honors. I’m so proud of my smart boy!!

Season 10 - We only see Johnny in one episode this season but BOY IS IT A GOOD ONE. I remember when the first promo for Hide and Seek Part 1 came out and you have that moment where we see Sav knocking on the door and then Johnny answered. Let me tell you that I completely lost it. I had come to terms that I’d never seen Johnny or another Bhandarco scene again and it was literally the best blessing ever. Anyway, we see Johnny in college and his amazing slowburn character development arc is finally complete. Seeing Johnny with his life together and being happy and involved in school activities is so important. Him giving Alli advice to get through her hardships was such a beautiful parallel to how she helped him get through his whether she knew it or not. And to top it all off he ended his journey by bringing it all back to the beginning and talking about JT. He mentioned his relationship with his parents and how much of a hard time he had after he watched his best friend kill the completely innocent and harmless JT. Seeing him express how much it truly messed him up was so important especially since he never got the solo plots to tell his side of the story. I still cry when I watch that episode just because I am so proud of the man he has become. Seeing him in this episode also taught that when you go to college you have a change to completely reinvent yourself and let go of any reputations that may proceed you. Also it was a neat way to show that even the terrible people you may have once hated can change for the better and that not everyone’s redemption arc reaches it’s peak once they graduate high school because realistically their lives are just beginning.

Johnny DiMarco managed to witness a trauma just as mind altering as Emma, Toby, and Sean did after Time Stands Still. The only difference is that Johnny never got to have his trauma told from his point of view. He is so underrated because yes on the surface he has done horrible things but in context all of it is completely reasonable and realistic based on the things he has been though. Not only that but he never had one single life changing moment where he realized “yeah I’m over my trauma now I can stop acting this way” much like many characters do when they deal with their trauma during the plot of a single episode. All of Johnny’s recovery was a slow burn over the seasons. With each season he grew more and more mature and he managed to do it all with only ONE plot that centered around him, which was basically a filler plot and nothing really happened. I get hurt when people hate on Johnny because it shows that they really haven’t been paying enough attention to him at all and they aren’t thinking and watching the show knowing that all of the characters are human and incredibly realistic. But unlike many other characters, Johnny never got the proper screen time. 

I like to think that after college Johnny became an English teacher. The cool and rough around the edges kind of English teacher that literally changes the lives of all the kids he teaches. Not only is he passionate about literature, he has the life experience to deal with troubled kids and would easily be able to relate to them and help them through life. Maybe someday he reunites with Alli. Unlike the last time they saw each other they are now both mature and a lot more down to earth. But regardless, I’m so beyond pleased with how Johnny was last seen on the show. They brought his character to an excellent close and did as much justice to him as they could. So all of this is why I love Johnny DiMarco and he is my favorite character that Degrassi has ever had. He had such an underrated and under utilized arc but still he managed to steal my heart. 

[never-a-tale-of-more-poe]

In the show Alex raped Toby, killed Wren, kidnapped Spencer and Ezra, tortured Hanna, stole Emily's eggs, impregnated Alison.. I feel like I'm forgetting something... How is she not a villain? How does anything justify that? If someone did those things, even just one of those things, to me or I heard it on the news no way would I be like but she's really just misunderstood. I don't mean this rudely, I just really don't get how she's not meant to be seen as the bad guy. Ya know?

Wait, wait. I think we have misunderstood each other! D: Let me try to clear things up. First, let me start by saying I apologize if I come off as rude and/or snotty my response, as it is not my intention. 

 In no way am I claiming that Alex is innocent and without fault. She certainly is guilty of quite horrid acts. Like you stated: she raped Toby, murdered Wren, kidnapped Spencer and Ezra (but Idgaf about him, lol) and stole Em’s eggs. Technically, since she didn’t do the procedure, she didn’t impregnate Alison, but she’s still involved.

However, she is not entirely to blame for what she did. Since the show didn’t divulge much into her past, we are left in the dark. Though we can assume based on what we learned, she didn’t have the best upbringing. She was sold to a wealthy couple in London so Mary could get out of Radley. 

Then she was abandoned AGAIN, and left at an orphanage, because her adoptive parents didn’t want their name “soiled” by the likes of some poor kid whose circumstances were no fault of her own. I can only assume that her life, in layman’s terms, was hell.

She was never loved. Never cared for. Then she meets this guy. This guy who tells her of a life she never knew existed. Her sister’s. Her TWIN’S life. Then she met Charlotte, and Charlotte told Alex everything she herself had been through, and what the girls did.

So Alex got the short end of the stick. While her sister, this girl she never knew existed, has the perfect life in her eyes. She has parents, friends, a home, wealth, etc. She is loved by so many people, and Alex…isn’t. 

In fact, two people cared for Alex, both of whom are dead, albeit Alex killed Wren; Charlotte was killed by Mona. So the two people with whom she had any connection at ALL, are dead. She doesn’t know how to love. She doesn’t know how to truly care for others. She is seemingly without remorse (in the show) because no one had any remorse for what they did to her. What she did certainly isn’t justified, but she does deserve some understanding.

I think Alex needed help. Therapy, both individual and group. She needed a positive outlet for her mental and emotional impairments. Alex feels cheated. Abandoned. She’s hurt and confused. Hell, Alex is just as smart as her sister. Who knows what she could have done with herself had she been given any ounce of love and support throughout her life? During the times it was most important for her development, of course.

Given the circumstances of her birth (in regards to genetics) and her environment, it’s not surprising that she went down a dark path that was unlocked when she met Wren. I don’t believe she is innocent in the slightest, but I also don’t think it’s fair to pass judgement on a character we barely know anything about, you know? All we know are the bad things. The writers did Alex so dirty and it’s B.S., because she could have been a great character. Not someone we meet in the last fucking episode, with what, a thirty-minute storyline? Fuck that, my guy.

With my fic, I’m trying to do Alex justice. I’m trying to give her the voice she never had. The voice she deserved. Yet, I’m also playing around with her. Her psyche, what makes her tick, etc. Giving her her own background story. 

Again, I do apologize if I came off as rude, and I appreciate this question. I’m glad I can have this discussion with someone who genuinely wants to talk and didn’t attack me. For that, I thank you. =)

[trafalgar-bleedingheart-law]

Long post - Character Development for my Law

Ok all. This post is mainly for the benefit of @pilawforhire is response to this post.

Some people will find themselves tagged in this post as you have been key people in Law’s development. You don’t have to read :) Not every important person is tagged. I have only used a few as examples.

@pilawforhire, before I answer your questions I feel like I should explain my own development. Law’s development is not my own doing. It has been influenced by the people Law has met in his travels. I don’t want to simply answer your questions ... I want to explain WHY I am answering them the way I am. For that you need to know my Law.

If there are any specific headcannons you want to ask about after then just come ask <3

When I first started RPing Law, I simply went by his official bio. Nothing special ... no real development. I didn’t realise at the time how much work I would need to put into Law. 

He may be a pirate but he is a doctor first: The first key person Law met was Anya played by @traflagardanya. Anya is a young, poor girl who was very sick. When interacting with Anya, I wasn’t able to simply brush her off with attitude like Law had been mostly doing before. There was a desperate need to help this person. It reminded me that despite the reputation he had been given ... Law was still a doctor. Law wanted to help and save this child. So he did. Anya joined his crew and became a part of his family. From this point I looked at Law more as a doctor than a pirate. With the exception of marines, he would help people he saw suffering if he could. Pirates would have to pay. Civilians he would help for free if they were brave enough to ask for help. 

Meeting Anya really made me think hard about Law and what made him how he was. Once we learnt of Law’s passed, I created a child muse for him. Law started as an angry child, hellbent on destroying everything. 

Small Law: I didn’t really have a Corazon to interact with when I first started child Law. So the people he met during this time are people he bumped in to while looking for Cora after getting lost on their travels. @pirate-jenny was the first person to show him real kindness. She offered him food ... specifically an apple. This was a meeting he always remembered. It taught him that people could be kind. Not everyone was cruel. Whenever they met, Law always thought of apples. @marco-fushicho was a very key person. When they met, Marco offered to help Law find the person he was looking for. It was Marco that also gave him the idea of a family. After losing his own, Law never considered having a family again. But Marco with his idea of a family (not having to actually be related) changed this. It was also Marco that started him trusting others. 

Then there was @tyraelnshryskull, the large ancient demon that inadvertently saved him from people chasing him. What was most important though was their second meeting after the loss of Cora. The first person he went back to was Tyrael and she became the first member of his new family. She encouraged him to learn how to use his devil fruit so he could save himself. She became a mother to him but also gave him an understanding of the natural world around him. Law became much more considerate of the world around him. He was no longer the destructive little child he was before. 

Gap Years (Unwritten): Law remembered all the people he met as a child. He met many of them again over the years like Tyrael and Marco. The creation of his crew/family happened over a long period of time. Bepo was a small injured bear that wouldn’t leave him alone after he helped. Other members of his crew were being sold in slave auctions. Of all the people he saved, many chose to stay. He educated them in fighting and medicine. 

Development of fun: This is all thanks to @someidioticurl with her OC Emil. At first Emil was a bit of a pain for Law, but really helped to develop his lighter, sillier, more childish side. Emil is someone he can completely relax around. Going out and getting ice cream ... or just sitting and chatting. Emil gave him a reason to genuinely smile and laugh. 

Development of love: My Law has always been a flirt, mainly if it means he can get what he wants. However meeting certain people allowed him to learn that he was still capable of truly loving someone. @eliteofficercorazon, @eustasskid-redhairedbastard, @lost-mosshead, @black-tiger-lover, @deathoftheinnocent, @spottedsoftpaws. They gave him a reason to stop thinking selfishly ... to consider others. 

Awareness of himself: This is important. The development of Law’s awareness of his own strength. Law knows he is strong, however he knows he is not the strongest. There are people out there that could and would kill him. 2 people come to mind straight away though both from another fandom. Toby @despairforme with Nnoitra and Zeke @sadisticperfection with Szayel. Before writing with either Toby or Zeke, I had to really stop and think about Law and his limitations. As cocky as he was, both of these muses could kill him easily. So I had to approach them differently. Starting with Nnoitra there was a bit of trial and error. Law’s default flirty attitude did not work so he had to try something else. He fell back on what he learnt as a child with Muffy ... offer someone food and it might make him less hostile. This did seem to work. Though Law is always cautious when they meet. He does not go looking for a fight. With Szayel it was very different. There was no real hostility in their first meeting ... just curiosity. Law was able to fall back on his normal flirty attitude. He is under no illusions though. He is well aware that Szayel could ...and still might kill him. But as long as he can keep the scientist’s interest, I don’t believe he has too much to worry about. (Though what started as flirting is starting to develop into more lol). 

Ok ... questions time.

What are situations that amuse him?

Law is pretty easy to amuse. Upsetting the marines, people falling over, cutting his crew’s heads off ... no permanent damage of course.

How does he show it? (Smile vs laugh till he cries– if he would ever do that vs hide his amusement)

Law will openly laugh in front of his family. To others it will just be a smirk. Though the smirk is unlikely to be malicious.

Is he able to laugh at himself/life (when things go wrong or when he self-reflects)?

It is hard for him to laugh at himself without it being a bitter laugh. He holds so much sadness and regret that he doesn’t like to share with others. I think this is why his crew are happy to let him laugh at them.

Does he seek or avoid confrontation? (He doesn’t seem like someone who would go picking fights, yet his cocky behaviour pre TS seems to me like he enjoys rubbing people the wrong way)

As mentioned previously. He will always avoid a fight. He would rather stop and observe. He has no issue pushing a few buttons for his own amusement though. But hurt his family and you are fucked.

What is his self-esteem/self-confidence/self-worth levels? Does he hate himself, and how long does he dwell on it before moving on?

All are low. He just covers it with the cocky and flirty attitude. He thinks very little of himself and often won’t believe others when they try and say otherwise. Even the people he loves have a hard time convincing him. He hates himself for being the only survivor ... for running away.

Does he understand most jokes?

Yes. He is clever and witty. He understands most forms of humour.

Does he use humour to cope?

Not really. He uses drink  to cope.

Does he keep silent if something rubs him the wrong way? (His shock at his own outward declaration of hating bread seems to infer that he usually doesn’t vocalise his concerns or when he doesn’t like things. And yet, in Dressrosa, he was complaining a lot, but that’s because he was under a lot of stress, exhaustion, and the circumstances meant he probably couldn’t care to hold things in anymore.)

Depends who he is with. If he is comfortable around the person, he will complain ... sometimes a lot lol. Around strangers or less known people, he will keep quiet or eye-roll and simply walk away.

Does he worry about what people think of him? (He seems to value his reputation, and likes that people think of him as cruel/sadistic though I believe those are limited to rumours)

Again it depends on the people. He cares what his family thinks of him. He is happy to let marines believe he is a fucked up pirate that cuts out everyone’s hearts as it keeps most people out of his way. But he doesn’t really care what others think of him.

He’s always cool-headed and calm, but is he overly sensitive? (It seems like he is? Although he doesn’t show it.)

Oversensitive about certain things ... bread .. Cora .. Doffy...

What does he think of himself? Does he hate himself? (He would seem to harbour guilt of his failure to protect Corazon and his family; to have failed as an older brother, have low self-worth.)

Law hates himself. No matter how much others love him, how good they make him feel ... there will always be hate for himself deep down. For all the reasons you listed in the question.

Does he find amusement in others’ misfortune? (I don’t see it. Like he’s humble, and I don’t think he laughs at others’ disabilities or misery, and yet he isn’t beyond messing up his enemies in a cruel way. SO! What are his limits? Where does he draw the line in his ‘cruelty’?)

Not really. If he needs to mess with someone then he will. The damage is rarely ever permanent and he will normally reverse it once out of harm’s way. He does not like seeing others suffer ..... I am not going into my Ace feelings right now because omg that is a whole other range of feels and headcannons XD @freckledinferno WE STILL NEED TO WRITE LAW SAVING ACE AND FEELS!!!!!

Does he meditate?

No. He sits there and wallows in the past.

What does he do when stressed?

He breaks things and cuts off heads of anyone that bothers him.

What does he do when things get hopeless?

He thinks back to every person he has ever met and wonders what they would do.