#every time you think their gone

[awesomecitys-blog]

One Piece Spoilers below

Something that’s really funny to me is that the Straw Hats are speed running being pirates, which I’ve talked about before, but it gets even funnier when look at it from the perspective of the World Government. Like, one day you get told that a random guy in a straw hat took down Buggy, Don Krieg, and Arlong, which gained the highest bounty in the East Blue, 30 million Berries. Which you think is crazy, but whatever, that just puts him on Smokers radar and nobody gets past Smoker, right? Wrong, cause according to Smoker, Dragon showed up and prevented Smoker from taking down straw hat guy. And for a while, that’s it. You don’t hear anymore about him or his crew, which you believe is because of the Grand Line being, well the Grand Line. Smoker calls you up one day and is like, hey, the Straw Hat Pirates, that what they’re called now, defeated Crocodile in Alabasta. To which you suddenly freak out, because know this Luffy kid is a threat, and you can’t have people finding out about his actions. So, the world thinks that Smoker took down Crocodile and that Luffy played a tiny part in that. In accordance, his bounty is now 100 million Berries. And then him and his crew vanish off the face of the earth, which you take to as a relief. Then Kuzan calls, informing you that the Straw Hats pulled up to Long Ring Long Land with Nico Robin in tow, he didn’t catch them, but that they’re most likely heading to Water 7. Great. Well, at least Lucci and co. are already at Water 7, so they just capture Robin, head to Enies Lobby, and… what? They did what? Scratch that, the Straw Hats broke into Enies Lobby, saved Robin, and escaped the Buster Call to boot. Increase the bounty, 300 million Berries! Poof, Luffy and crew are once again the wind, and you think they might ended up encountering Moria, so you send Kuma to warn him, as well as be there in case Moria washes up. Which he does, but so does Kuma, but at least it wasn’t public like Crocodiles. And besides, you have more pressing matters, what with the upcoming execution of one Portgas D. Ace and all the Supernovas arriving at Sabbody at the same time. Then that idiot punched a World Noble, because of course he did. So Kizaru rolls up, as does Sentomaru and some Pascifta, and the Straw Hats were totally defea… Kuma sent them away? Oh. Well, that’s basically a defeat, right? Huh? Luffy is were? Impel Down? Trying to free Ace, who’s apparently his brother? Ah, good ol’ Mellegan, I knew we could count on him to take down Luffy. Pardon me? Luffy escaped? With who? Crocodile, Mr. 1, Mr. 3, Ivonkva, Inzuma, Buggy, Jinbei, and a ton of prisoners? Gosh darn it all, I’m busy enough as it is! All right, let’s just focus on killing Ace and… GARP IT’S YOUR OWN DAMM FAMILY AGAIN! Fucking hell, Luffy just dropped out of the sky, caused so much trouble, and then vanished for two years, but at least he’s gone…he just showed up? Did we capture him? No?!?! What do you mean no?!?! Well, where the hell are they?!?! (Worth noting that Luffy’s bounty went from 300 to 400 million Berries during this time, and that Dragon was his father, which is probably why Luffy was saved by him all the way back in the East Blue.) At which point, the Straw Hats proceed to wreck havoc at Punk Hazard, according to Smoker, defeat Doflamingo, giving Luffy another bounty increase to 500 million Berries, pull another disappearing act, during which they give Big Mom a headache, which you decide warrants a bounty raise to 1.5 billion Berries, and then they hop their way into Wano, in which you have no power. But you do have spies, which inform you that they, along with their allies, dropped both Big Mom and Kaido. Because of course they did. So, you slap a bounty of 3 billion Berries on Luffys head, and the last you heard, he was gallivanting in Egghead, with Kizaru, Saturn, and a bunch of marines heading there to take down Vegapunk. Oh dear.

Like, Luffy and co. should not be where they are now, but they are and they’re pretty powerful as well.

[prlssprfctn]

Today I am thinking about Jason, who is fresh out of his coffin, catatonic and non-verbal. His mind is in a haze and in a constant terror most of the time, and when it isn't - when he manages to ground himself, to stop imagining Joker's laughter and the phantom screech of the crowbar - he can't bring himself to speak, because there is... smoke in his lungs. A fucking soot. Rare sounds and words that escape his mouth sound like a painful, inhuman shriek.

He vividly remembers screaming his lungs out in the coffin, though, as he woke up to realise that he was buried six feet under, locked away from the rest of the world. So, maybe it was the last drop - a last attempt to use his voice.

His next tries are too painful. And when his desperate cry for Bruce - for someone to call his dad - is getting ignored, pushed aside, Jason doesn't even want to try any more. What use it would be? No one listens to him anyway.

He is as good as dead.

Oh.

He is dead.

[kaiserouo]

"Huh."

[starbuck]

Flint and Billy’s dynamic is really so much because you get the impression that Flint thinks about Billy 0.05% of the time at most, whereas Billy thinks about Flint 80% of the time at least.

And Billy also KNOWS that Flint doesn’t think about him and that’s what at least 20% of his thoughts about Flint are about.

[drolta]

no notes. just louis and madeleine.

[jamingbenn]

the thing that is really making me crash out about this video is how casually tanger says baby to geno. like hes said it a thousand times and will say it a thousand times more

source from pens fb and youtube!

[trashcatsnark]

i love gale so so so so much

but fuck does his initial reaction to the player beaming romantic thoughts into his head via weave make me wanna peel my skin off

don't get me wrong, it's cute, he's cute, i love it, its such a sweet bonding moment and I scream- but also when he has that initial shock and embarrassment before the elation settles in, it makes me want to die and that's not a criticism of him or anything because that is a very realistic and understandable why to respond even if he is genuinely interested but just didn't expect it

but as someone who is also very fucking awkward and rejection sensitive my immediate instinct every time is "Okay, swing and a miss, thanks for having me- gonna go kill myself now."

and I know he immediately goes like "No, no, I really like that- I really like this."

but realistically my ass would have already been jumping off the nearest cliff, like- all i heard from that narrator was the word embarrassment and I blacked out from shame, goodbye cruel world, here lies Snark, dead from wanting to hold a wizard's hand

[ardate]

Every Boromir hater makes my enormous love for him grow stronger. Sorry you couldn't understand him, I get him tho and we're holding hands and the whole of Gondor is laughing at you

[juney-blues]

i think gamers dismissed the notion of keeping score in non-arcadey titles too easily i think. some games are a lot funner if you try to play them with score in mind

[heartorbit]

a mob of emus for an artstyle game on twt! ^_^

[xxplastic-cubexx]

it doesnt need to be said but its genuinely so funny how at-the-hip charles and erik are in krakoa like they really had the green light- the OBLIGATION- to be as obnoxiously close to each other as possible and abused that right to the fullest extent

[fizzigigsimmer]

Steve: *proposes randomly in bed* I think I wanna marry you.

Billy: Fuck you Harrington!

Steve: Wha…?

Billy: *muttering obscenities* Now I gotta cancel the gondola and the birds. We’re still going out to eat though cause I’ve had this reservation for like six months.

Steve: Oh… well I wasn’t really proposing, I guess? We could still -

Billy: Fuck you! No take backs. You’e marrying me. End of story!

[hazelcallahan]

i don't wanna have any adventures unless they're with you. / i am, and have been for some time, just totally, ridiculously, desperately in love with you.

[gods-perfect-idiots]

❤️💛

[landfilloftrash]

seeing ghosts everywhere you go?

are they all in your head or are they here causing that chill in your bones?

[summertimemusician]

Linktober 2024, Day 1, Mirror (Self)

Alright here we go again.

Technically a sneak peak of a bigger thing to come in the future that I'm repurposing, and the result of my final playthrough and readthrough before EoW dropped being Four Swords Adventures and that made me sad about Shadow Link again.

Note that this is for the Four Swords Adventures iteration of Shadow Link that might evolve into an LU Shadow, not Dark Link in either LOZ or LU, I have other plans for him.

This one shot was brought to you by Scars by The Crane Wives, Ribs by The Crane Wives, Ruin by The Amazing Devil and Two Minutes by The Amazing Devil because the author's playlist decided to be incredibly cheeky when they blacked out to write this like an ancient seers being cursed with visions and then called mad and hearing they've been put up for execution.

As always the nature of the relationship can be romantic or platonic, mostly due to the author's time constraints and further plans.

Anyway enjoy the reading!

It was cold.

The sort of cold after a wildfire, when everything's turned back to ash, the sort that left burned your vision white after the flames licked through your veins and left an ache in your bones. He shuddered, coughed black onto the stone floor, shaking with a muffled whimper.

It never got any easier, being dragged from the Dark World and into the Realm of Light, the goddesses' world itself revolting against an intruder, wanting the wound torn asunder into their oh so precious realm cauterized. To purge the intrusion and smite it where it stands.

Too bad for them (and for him), his master didn't particularly care about what the world wanted. Didn't particularly care that he hadn't grow accustomed to the pain or the cold, he had to stand up. There was work to be done.

(Shadow gritted his teeth, willed himself not to think about the prophecy of a golden haired princess- because whether he liked it or not, it was prophecy. As those with divinity running through their veins are wont to spill from their throats so carelessly- of violet eyes and a smile a third moonlight and hands holding a hammer.

It always hurt more, after one of the heroes liberated one of the maidens, or the jewels, the pain lingering for days afterwards and carving a home in his metaphorical bones. But just this once he'd take the cold bite of the Four Swords over the pain in the hole in his chest that Vio's betrayal had left, something that felt so much worse than every other time before.

Just this once he wished that maybe, just maybe, the hurt would be too much to bear, that he wouldn't wake up again-

Why? Why does it hurt so much but he's still here? He already knew the Light was uncompromising and unforgiving, but he thought them at least above curses.)

His ears twitched as soft, almost silent footsteps came up to his side. Someone crouching by his fallen form, setting a cautious hand over his own that Shadow couldn't help but draw away from with a hiss, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the world again, to your face, carefully blank as you guided him to lean against your side, a silver choker with a crimson gem winked mockingly at him, the shade closing his eyes and going boneless against your side.

Shadow was so, so tired.

He heard you quietly sigh, plucking his cap from his head and running your fingers through dark amethyst, smoke and mist made hair. "I told you so."

"Shut up." He grumbled, nuzzling further into the crook of your neck. One clawed hand curling against your free wrist, digging into the skin. Absentmindedly noting there were new scratches just above the metal.

It was routine by now, the warmth of your existence against his own a welcome balm, not quite of the Realm of Light where it's unpleasant, not too close to the Dark World where he felt like melting back into the embrace of the darkness, only to howl in agony at being dragged out.

Memories not quite his own bled into his mind all the time. How you'd shape ice into flowers for the princess in winter with nary a though, of blinking and from one second to the next you'd have whatever sword he had hostage if you though it was time for a break with a smile brighter than the sun.

His master had changed that though. It took months for you to stop trying to claw the collar out and to stop trying to fight Vaati.

(Funny how holding a mage's dragon as a bargaining chip is just as effective as kidnapping a ruler.)

Your gaze flicked to the polished obsidian of the Dark Mirror, to the gold, ornate frame. "The offer is still open, you know. Let me take the suffering from you."

"No." He scowled, leaning back to glare into your eyes, a hint of fangs poking out from a maw struggling to keep the shape of a human jaw, "You helped him. Helped them." Shadow spat, there is that hurt again.

You shrugged, a movement that's just slightly awkward as you flinch, "That I did." You confirmed simply, it almost made Shadow see red as he leaned away, knocking your hand from his head in the process, but if there's anything him and the heroes shared, was a lack of a desire to hurt you. It was a little grating to be honest, "Vio even offered to take me with him, to be honest."

"Then why didn't you leave?" He demanded.

Why did you stick around?

Your eyes shuttered, a hint of conflict in your pursed lips. Before you found your words, they come out softly, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you why. You'll just have to find out yourself."

You tug your wrist from his grasp, and Shadow lets you go.

(Stubbornly pushing down on memories and emotions that arearen'tarenotanymore quite his.)

You stand and turn away, pushing the curtains away from your sight, you turn your tired eyes to Shadow with an emotion he can't put a name to. "Just keep it in mind that there's more than one way to end this. Nothing is truly inevitable."

Shadow watches you go. 'There's nothing that can be done. He tells himself, hand hesitating above the Dark Mirror, briefly, it curls into a fist. The hero's original self stares back at him.

'… Does he really believe that?'

He shakes his head, and focuses on willing the Dark Mirror to show him his counterpart.

His chest still hurts.