#everyone else must feel Very Bad at the end or else the show is dead 2 me (half a joke)

[cloud-based-and-rainpilled]

(Except conwilla, y’all’re a’ight)

[reareaotaku]

Yandere Leon Kennedy Headcanons

Tw: Paranoia

[Been getting really into Resident Evil (Mainly 4, 7, 8) & Resident Lover]

⚔️ He first met you when you were trapped in a cult town that was injecting people with parasites. You begged him to help you. You didn't want to die- Not like everyone you loved did. He's pretty reluctant at first, but he also has a savior complex, so he does help you.

⚔️ You are a little scared, because you don't have anywhere to go. This is the only home you have ever known, but you can't stay. You're fear is dwelled when he promises that he the people he works for will help you.

⚔️ You prove yourself valuable though, when you showed him you know how to use a knife and a gun. You two made quite the team when you were able to take out the people when they tried attacking him from behind.

⚔️ You told him your father used to take you hunting because he had no son, so you learned how to use a weapon.

⚔️ He's not going to lie, he does become slightly attached to you. It might just be the trauma bond, but he likes being around you. He likes when you laugh at his jokes, likes when you share your life wit him, likes when it's you and him... God, he hates this feeling. The feeling of attachment.

⚔️ You become attached to him as well though, because you don't know anyone else besides him. Everyone you've ever loved is dead or a monster. You don't want to lose Leon too. You become extremely paranoid that he's going to become one of them, so you stay up all night, when he decides you need to rest. You hadn't been attacked during those times, but the paranoia still sits with you.

⚔️ He doesn't realize that you weren't sleeping, until you were in a lab and you ended up fainting on the floor. He becomes worried about you when you don't wake up. You're still breathing though, so he's not as scared, but he's confused.

⚔️ He barricades the room and lets you sleep. He's on a time limit, but it's not essential- And he has plenty of time anyway. Besides- the cult is still going to be there when you wake up.

⚔️ You awoke in a panic and Leon was quick to recognize this and covered your mouth before you could scream. He reassures you that it's fine and you just passed out. Nothing bad happened.

⚔️ You felt terrible for falling asleep knowing he had a mission and you profusely apologize. He assures you it's fine, but you still feel bad. Leon's not to good with emotions, but he does feel bad that you feel bad and he promises you that it's okay. This whole thing must be so stressful for you and you're not like him and trained to fight like this, so of course it isn't easy for you. He assures you it's okay if you're scared.

--

"Are you?

Leon looks at you confused, his back pinned against the wall. "Am I what?"

"Scared."

He looks away from you, looking towards the door he had barricaded. His eyebrows scrunch together, before he responds. "No."

You don't believe him.

--

⚔️ You're incredibly thankful when the cult is destroyed, thanks to Leon. Your home has been destroyed and you are only person left, as the all people affected died when the leader was killed. You had nothing. You were scared, because you felt so alone. The D.S.O. decided to let Leon take you in, as they wanted to keep an eye on you and thought that Leon could do the best job, because you already trusted and felt safe around.

⚔️ He's very kind to you, even though he's not used to having someone around. He's used to being alone, but... He kind of likes it. It helps that you're easy to get along with and you make his life easier. You do things that skip his mind or he doesn't have time for. Ex. Dishes, laundry, making the bed [Which he never does, as he rarely sleeps in it], making dinner [Frozen Dinner's are his go-to.], etc. Just taking care of the place, because he's stressed out and/or overworked.

⚔️ You were already doing those things for your family, as it was traditional town [Hence why it was so easy for a cult to form], so it didn't bother you- In fact, it made you feel at home. Also, you liked taking care of him, especially since he saved your life.

⚔️ You don't have to be a great cook, he appreciates any of it. He likes that you cook FOR him. Besides, anything's better than frozen dinner. He also thinks it's sweet when he does finally get to his bed to see it all done for him. He doesn't remember the last time someone cared for him in such a way.

⚔️ He becomes extremely attached- Like more so than before. He hates leaving you for long periods of times, but god it's so good to get back to you. He doesn't want you to leave- At all

⚔️ He also becomes incredibly protective over you. He saw the evil you had experienced and so much more and he wants to keep it all away from you. He wants you to be safe and sound.

⚔️ He's scared of losing you and the fear of you dying does haunt his mind and dreams.

⚔️ He teaches you how to use a phone and technology, so that when he's on a mission, he can still get into contact with you. He just wants to talk to you- Hear your voice. Make sure you're still alive. He gets very anxious and paranoid if you don't answer him when he calls you. He won't do anything until he gets back into contact with you.

⚔️ When you don't answer it's just because you're confused by the technology, because you always try to answer him, but you get pretty overwhelmed by it

⚔️ He's just glad to hear your voice, especially if he just had a nightmare that you died. It helps calm his nerves, also he likes talking about the mundane with you, because you bring him back down to earth.

⚔️ You can never leave him. He won't let you become attached or close to anyone in fer of you leaving him. You don't recognize his toxic behavior, just seeing it as him caring about you. What else could it possibly be?

[jokeroutsubs]

[ENG TRANSLATION] JOKER OUT: THE PRINCES OF ROCK'N'ROLL WITH THEIR OWN LIBRARY

Original article written by Anja Leskovar for Ljubljana.si. for their December 2021 issue. English translation by @varianestoroff and drumbeat, proofread by @flowerlotus8

Even if you don't know their names and faces (unlike many young people), you must have heard of Joker Out. Kris, Bojan, Jure, Martin and Jan proved with their fresh first album 'Umazane misli', released this autumn, that they're rightfully one of the hottest musicians at the moment. And it's worth listening to them, as, behind the handsome looks, there are interesting guys making good music with very juicy subjects. And they're only in their twenties!

It was difficult to arrange an appointment as you were quite ill. Did recording the album tire you?

Yes, it was an adrenaline rush. But we were driven by excitement, we really lived for the album this autumn, or else everything would've sunk. We wanted to perform really bad!

When they comissioned me this interview, I knew the band name, but I didn't know who you were. But when I played your music, I found out that I knew it well, I even know most of the lyrics by heart! Is it more important to you that people know your music than you?

Yes, that's something a musician can only wish for. It's important that you like music for music's sake, not for the musician. For us, music comes first, then showbiz.

How nice do you find it that your audience includes not only enthusiastic girls, but also boys, older people...? So is music the reason why someone goes to a concert?

It's very important to us that we're seen not only as pretty faces, but also as a good band. A very clear indicator that we're managing to do that is the diverse audience in front of our stage. But also the girls who come to the gig (also) to see us, they know how to recognise good music and they're quality audience. That can go hand in hand! For us, everything starts and ends with good music. That's the most important thing.

And this commitment is recognisable in your music. It's just interestingly fresh. I hear classic rock in some parts, indie pop in others, funk in others. Do I hear it right?

Yes, of course. When we were kids, we all listened to Big Foot Mama, Green Day and Siddharta, then we started to discover different genres. Now we all listen to very different music. But we don't deliberately take inspiration from any music.

And it shows. I find your music quite unique, it's hard to pigeonhole it.

Thank you, it seems the same to us. It's hard to find references to our music in other music. We say we play shagadelic rock. We're just big Austin Powers fans. His catchphrase is: "Shagadelic baby, yeah!" His 'mojo' (A/N charm, allure) is just cool to us. And in fact we feel like we have that 'mojo' too, we want to display it, we want the listeners to feel that we're comfortable in our own skin. Especially when there are concerts, the 'mojo' just bursts out of us. (everyone laughs loudly) Every time we have a concert, we feel like we're going to a party. That's also why it's really important to play live. Without this, we probably wouldn't be making music. It gives us energy.

With four guitars and drums, you are proving that rock'n'roll isn't dead. How alive is it on the Ljubljana scene?

Of course it isn't dead, it's still very alive. When we were teenagers going to clubs, they were playing anything but rock. But when people get used to it, music that sounds very different attracts them. Ljubljana has a very active rock scene, and Slovenia has excellent conditions for the growth of rock'n'roll. There are a lot of places to play, a lot of competitions for young musicians and alternative clubs with an audience to grow on.

Do you prefer intimate or big concerts?

We do great on big stages, although we've done a great gig in front of three people. But in Slovenia you reach the plateau too quickly. If you reach Stožice right away, then where do you go?

Abroad.

Yes, well, that's our goal, of course. But at the moment we're looking forward to the concert in Križanke. There's no distractions, you know you're going there for a good concert. Križanke has a special aesthetic and character that means a lot to us. And you can't just decide to do a concert in Križanke. They must accept you there. So that's a very great honor for us.

As the venue is important for a good concert, the rehearsal space is probably important too. For example, is rehearsing in a bunker more conducive to harder music than rehearsing in a sexy, neat space?

Yes, absolutely. Above all, it must be a relaxing space, one that you can spend a lot of time in and that the vibe there is good. We've rehearsed in a lot of places so far, and every time you walk in, you can see if it's working for you or not. But until you play, you don't know if it's close to you in terms of creativity or not.

Have you found your new rehearsal space yet?

We have, but we're not saying where. (they smile mysteriously) We found a place we like so much, that we decided to turn it into a second home. It'll have its own 'mojo' that matches ours. It'll be truly magical! There'll be lots of wood, and we'll also have a library.

Yes, that, books! 30 years ago, we teenagers followed boybands of all genres, and the boys were usually extremely cute, even to the extent of wrapping our school notebooks in their posters. But there's more behind your cuteness. You're into cool stuff, you read interesting literature, you study...

Jure: I don't read enough, I'm not very good with words, I don't even listen to our lyrics. I listen to the mix, to the musical melodies. I mean, I'm a cameraman, but for me, music comes first. Period.

Martin: I study Maths and Computer Science and also make a living from that knowledge. Lately I've been reading a lot, and I'm very interested in Stoic philosophy.

Kris: Well, I'm interested in German philosophers, like Hannah Arendt and Nietzsche. I'm finishing my degree in Chemical Engineering.

Bojan: I mainly study TikTok these days (laughs). It's quite banal and doesn't fit with our philosophy in general. But Jan started making really sick content that's suitable for this format and we'll start publishing it soon. Anyway, I'm finishing my degree in Sociology and I've been drawn to Haruki Murakami and Arto Paasilinna literary lately.

Jan: I'm an expert at half-reading books, the last one I read was Slaughterhouse-Five (by Kurt Vonnegut, A/N). I don't even know why I half-read them, probably because so many things steal my attention that I must try very hard to finish something. I have a problem with that, also for films.

What are you not half doing?

Jan: Music. I'm literally addicted to different types of music. I always listen to albums all the way through. I definitely listen to at least one every day. And I'm very happy learning to play new instruments. I love all things that make sound.

Let's say kitchen pots and lids?

Jan: (laughs) Also, indeed. I like cooking, I'm now exploring Thai and Chinese food.

Kris: And he makes superb onion and potato hash!

And do you like to explore the world?

Yes, everyone. We're in dire need. Our schedule is so unpredictable and events are so scattered throughout the year that most of us have not been anywhere for years, not even at sea. It's great when there are concerts, but we're missing going somewhere. Yes, to make an album also means a lot to sacrifice.

Where do you like to hang out in Ljubljana?

In many places. (they answer in harmony)

Kris: Metelkova is great. I think it's too underrated and has a wrongful negative reputation. That's also why it is the way it is.

Bojan: There's a really chill vibe in Gala Hala. I really like going unplanned to a gallery or museum. You don't go purposefully, you walk around, you observe. It's always cool. I meet people with a completely different background and you start thinking in a different way. Inspiring.

You are five in a bunch with very different characters. How do you manage to exist side by side?

Above all, there shouldn't be perfect democracy within the band. There's no need for one person to be the leader of everything. But someone must have the final say in a certain field; one in the creative one, one in the technical one, one in the financial one. And they have the last word and they're also accountable. Otherwise, we're good friends, we go everywhere together rather than forcibly apart.

How do you differ from the bands that were relevant 30 years ago?

They were much more put into boxes. They had to be already well-established to dare afford a musical journey into the unknown. We, on this album, already combined styles in a completely pressure-less way. Genres don't really exist anymore, everything is merged, mixed, everything is accepted. We live in a big melting pot. For us, energy is more important than a fixed image!

Joker Out are (from left to right) Kris Guštin - guitar, Martin Jurkovič - bass, Bojan Cvjetičanin - voice, Jan Peteh - guitar, Jure Maček - drums

December 2021

[thornybubbles]

The Cat Came Back (Followup) The Morioh Gang reactions

Note: This is a follow up piece to “The Cat Came Back” in which the Reader finds themselves in the possession of the Stand, Killer Queen and asks Josuke for help. The following is just showing how the other characters would react. So headcanons I guess… You can find the original story this is based on here: 

------------

Josuke: You already saw his initial reaction when you told him about your unwanted Stand, but there was a lot that Josuke left unsaid, mostly because he didn’t want you to see just how disturbed he really was. He can’t even imagine what you must be going through. This whole situation is horrific and… well… bizarre. It was bad enough that you were targeted and held hostage by Kira during the final confrontation, but now you’re stuck with Kira’s Stand as your own. He still doesn’t understand how something like that could even happen. How does a living person end up with a dead man’s Stand? It’s even more confusing if you consider how Reimi said that Kira died. If both user and Stand were torn apart by ghostly arms, then how is the Stand still active? And why, WHY, WHY, is it acting as your Stand now? Josuke never wanted you to get involved in the crazy, dangerous world of Stand users, but you are now and he can’t help but blame himself. If he had never become friends with you, then maybe you wouldn’t have run into Kira that day and this wouldn’t be happening to you now. He really, really hopes that Jotaro and the Speedwagon Foundation can help you with this, because this is one thing he knows he can’t fix. Just like with the death of his grandfather, he feels helpless and frustrated. But to you, he’s a beacon of calm acceptance. He’ll never let you see how shook up he is because you don’t need that right now. 

Okuyasu: He takes it pretty badly. He finds the whole situation to be freaky and incredibly unfair. Expect a lot of angry crying from him in the beginning. 

“Whaaaaat??!!” he shouts. “What the hell is this?! How does something like that even happen?! Can’t that creepy hand-humping bastard go haunt someone else?!” 

He insists that Josuke could probably fix it if he used Crazy Diamond to bring you back to a state before you became a Stand user, but Josuke explains that his powers don’t work like that. Okuyasu is so desperate that he even suggests, to everyone’s horror, that he could use The Hand to erase Killer Queen. That idea is very quickly shot down by Josuke. 

“Think about it, Okuyasu,” Josuke says. “If you erase a person’s Stand it’s like erasing their soul! Do you want to do that to our friend?” 

Okuyasu realizes his idea was awful, but dammit he wants to help okay? He feels helpless and frustrated that he can’t think of anything useful in this situation. He just wants the Stand to go away and leave you alone. He even goes so far as to ask you to summon Killer Queen just so he can say that to the Stand’s face. 

“Listen here you pink cat bastard!” he practically spits at the Stand. “You better fuck off and leave our friend alone or I’m gonna make your life a living hell!!!” 

Killer Queen merely stares Okuyasu down until the delinquent actually starts feeling a little nervous. Then the Stand has the nerve to give him a wry little smile and duck down to nuzzle his head against yours. Freaked out, you dismiss him and Okuyasu rages. It’s going to take a LOOOOOOOONG time for Okuyasu to come to terms with your new status as a Stand user. 

Koichi: Koichi is horrified, not just at the situation, but he is very worried for you. Like everyone else, he’s baffled at how you could end up with someone else’s Stand. Not only that, but Koichi is the first to notice that there’s something different about Killer Queen now that it’s attached to you. The Stand seems more lively and sentient with you than it did with Kira, even going so far as to mock others and show you unwanted affection. It was far, far more reserved with Kira. What did that mean exactly? Did it have to do with your personality having an effect on its behavior? He wants to offer you all the support and comfort that he can as your friend but he can’t ignore the creeping feeling of dread that comes over him when he’s in your presence now. He tries not to let it show, because the last thing he wants is for you to think he’s afraid of you. You have enough to worry about without having to consider if your friends fear you now. 

Koichi starts doing research on Stands and Stand users, hoping to find something he can use to help you. Maybe there’s a way to separate a user from their Stand without hurting them? Of course, he has considered your feelings on the matter. Would you want to be separated from Killer Queen? Koichi will never say this out loud, but he has a terrible fear that a little bit of Kira’s personality has remained within Killer Queen and that there may be a possibility that Kira’s violent tendencies will start to manifest within you. He really hopes that isn’t the case. He doesn’t want Kira somehow hurting anyone else from beyond the grave, least of all one of his closest friends. He doesn’t know what he’d do if you started turning violent…

Jotaro: As per usual, Jotaro’s reaction is minimal when he first finds out, but his eyes are filled with a myriad of emotions: anger, shock, horror, and exhaustion. Especially the last one. Jotaro is so very tired. It’s bad enough that he’s still having to deal with DIO’s evil influence on the world even after the blood-sucking asshole’s death, but now Kira’s Stand has fused itself with your soul and is acting as your Stand. What is it with villains and the need to cling to the living world even after their very deserved deaths? Jotaro is oddly reminded of that stupid old kid’s song he heard when he was very young: 

But the cat came back the very next day

The cat came back, they thought he was a goner

But the cat came back, it just couldn't stay away

That did seem to be the case with Kira. Though, Killer Queen wasn’t Kira’s Stand anymore so it technically wasn’t Kira anymore either. He couldn’t ignore that fact. Killer Queen was your Stand now. Like Koichi, he could sense a difference in the Stand now that it was yours. It seemed more sentient than it was with Kira and he wasn’t blind to the mocking smile the thing would give him and the others. That was worrying. That and how affectionate it seemed towards you. It very clearly recognized and accepted you as its new user. This sudden level of sentience it displayed was disturbing.

The whole thing annoyed him. Just like Koichi, he feared that some of Kira’s influence still lingered within Killer Queen and could have an effect on you. It didn’t help that you didn’t seem to have the best control over the Stand, due to the fact that it sometimes materialized when you didn’t want it to and how it hesitated when you tried to dismiss it. That settles it. He was going to train you on how to control Killer Queen before the thing decided to control you. From now on, you can expect to be dragged along whenever Jotaro is showing Josuke how to better control Crazy Diamond. He would work with the Speedwagon Foundation in order to better understand your condition and help you in any way he could. He made a silent vow to himself that he would not let Kira’s influence corrupt you. 

Rohan: Surprisingly, Rohan is the one to take the news the hardest, but he’s also the one to find something close to a solution to your problem. 

Next to Koichi, you’re one of the few people he puts any value in. When you reveal Killer Queen to him his first response is to recoil in fear (let’s not forget the multiple deaths he had to endure because of the Stand’s user). After that he gets angry. 

“If this is supposed to be a prank, it’s not funny! Did Josuke put you up to this? I never realized that low-life had such a demented sense of humor…” he says.

When you explain to him that it isn’t a prank and he realizes that Killer Queen has indeed become your Stand, he starts acting as if you just informed him that you had a terminal illness and only had a year to live. You watch as the poor man goes through all seven stages of grief in a matter of moments.

Denial: “This has to be a joke. I won’t believe that it’s true! Something like this is impossible! How can you have a dead man’s Stand!?” 

Anger: “How could you let something like this happen?! I know it’s not your fault, that’s not the point! Surely you could have done something to stop it?! And where was Josuke or that nitwit, Okuyasu?! Why didn’t they do something?! I’m not shouting, you’re shouting!!” 

Bargaining: “I’ll give you an autograph if you say that you’ve been messing with me this whole time! I won’t even get angry, I promise! What about one of my unpublished manuscripts? One of my figurines? You… you’re really not joking about this are you?” 

Depression: He goes over to his desk and just sits there staring out the window. You don’t get a response out of him but you notice the tears rolling down his face and you’re shocked. The “Great” Rohan Kishibe is actually shedding tears? And on your behalf? After a moment he wipes his face and starts talking to you as if nothing happened. 

Acceptance: “This isn’t ideal, but it isn’t the end of the world. You say that Jotaro’s been teaching you how to better control Killer Queen? That’s good. Now you won’t have to worry about it hurting anyone you don’t want it to.” 

At some point during the conversation, Rohan jumps up from his seat and grabs the sides of his head with disbelief. 

“I cannot believe I didn’t think of this.” he mutters. 

“Think of what?” you ask, hoping he has thought of some kind of solution to your problem. 

“We’ll use Heaven’s Door to prevent you from losing control over Killer Queen!” 

You stared at him, mouth open in surprise. How had no one considered that before now? 

“Give me your hand.” Rohan says and you oblige. 

Heaven’s Door manifests next to him and the little Stand touches the back of your hand. You stare at him amazed, having never seen him up until that moment. You are startled as the back of your hand flips open like a tiny book. You see writing on the inside of it, but don’t have time to read any of it before Rohan grabs a pen and jots something down in the margins of the page. It says, 

“I have complete and total control over my Stand, Killer Queen. It will never harm anyone that is not a threat to me or my loved ones.” 

Then Heaven’s Door flips the book closed and your hand returns to normal. 

“Now, that settles that!” Rohan says with a self satisfied grin. “Really I’m surprised you hadn’t come to me sooner…” 

While Rohan is congratulating himself, you take the time to lean up and give him a kiss of gratitude on his cheek. 

“You’re the best, Rohan!” you say, overflowing with relief and thankfulness. 

Rohan freezes mid-sentence, a stunned expression on his face. For a full minute he just stands there staring with his mouth open in shock and a hint of pink dusting his normally pale cheeks. At first you thought that you might have crossed a line and he’d start shouting at you, but he doesn’t. Then you start worrying if you’ve broken him. 

“Rohan?” You ask. 

This seems to snap the manga creator out of his stunned state. Without saying a word, he turns on his heel, marches over to his desk, plops down in the chair and starts scribbling away in a notebook. 

“....rapid heart beat….feelings of almost unbearable euphoria…” 

He stops to reach up and touch his face then immediately goes back to writing.

“...cheeks feel like they’re on fire….” 

You blink at him, not knowing what to say or do. You guess he’s gone into work mode. There’s not much you can do to break him out of that once his creative juices start flowing. You decide to leave and go tell the others the good news. 

“Okay, well. I guess I’ll go let Josuke and the others know. I’m sure they’ll be relieved.” you say. 

“Later, Rohan.” 

You start to leave when Rohan suddenly turns to you with a serious expression. 

“Before you go, I want it to be known here and now that if you tell anyone, especially Josuke, that I cried, I will never speak to you again.” 

Your lips twitch as you hold back a laugh. 

“You’re secret’s safe with me, Rohan-sensei.” you say.

[anime-related]

AU where L and Light go to To-Oh together before the Death Note is dropped. (Whether Light is Kira is up to you, I think it'd be cool either way)

While L and the cops are investigating Kira, Light and L have began a relationship. Now, Soichiro (lights dad, if your memory is as bad as mine) is working with L, but has also literally seen him in the house.

Sufficed to say, he's shocked when he meets L and it's his son's college friend. Even more so when Light calls L nearing the end of a meeting and hears them talk more than platonically.

Here's some little excerpts my mind made up. I've watched the show only once, so I'm sorry if/that it's ooc

"Hello. I am here to see Light."

"Light! There's a weird guy at the door!" Sayu called. She glanced at him. "No offense."

"None taken," L dismissed.

Light ran down the stairs, smiling at the sight of L in the door.

"Hey! I picked up some cake, and we can go play that game I talked about."

"I figured as much, since that's why I'm here," L said. Light rolled his eyes fondly.

They walked into the kitchen, where his father was getting water.

"Oh, you must be Soichiro Yagami. Police chief, solved over 30 cases."

"Wow, Light. I had no idea you talked about me all that much."

"He doesn't."

Upon setting their sights on L, Soichiro's mind went blank. He would've never guessed. What were the chances. While everyone else was making their judgments on L and his appearance, Soichiro was trying to combine Ryuzaki with L in his mind.

He ignored it. It'd be safer for both of them if they didn't bring their personal lives into this. He took out his ID and introduced himself as if it were the first time.

"If I were Kira you would be dead Soichiro Yagami."

Combining these two people wouldn't be so difficult. He knew Ryuzaki reminded him of someone.

As they went on, he remembered small details. Light running downstairs because he and Ryuzaki had left their phones there. Ryuzaki also had an infatuation for sugar, and even when his wife made pretty universally loved tea, he'd still add stacks of sugar cubes.

Then there was...

"And from now on, I'll have to ask that you stop calling me 'L.' It's..." L glanced at Soichiro. "Ryuzaki now. Just to be safe."

How cautious was L to give a fake name to L before Kira was even a factor? And if Soichiro didn't know him, would he have used a different alias?

"Excuse me," L said, pulling his phone oddly from his pocket. "Your timing is perfect, I'm nearly done with my meeting. I'll be over shortly."

"I assume you have more puzzles to test me with?"

"Of course I do." Whoever was on the other side laughed softly. A small smile cracked L's face.

"I look forward to it, Ryu."

"So do I."

"See you soon."

L hesitated, but hung up without saying much more like usual.

"My apologies, I try not to keep him waiting."

"Was that Watari?" Matsuda asked.

"No, my boyfriend." He said it so casually, though it shocked everyone.

"You... what?" Aizawa asked.

"He's the only person I've ever met on my level. If it didn't put him in significant danger, I would've brought him in to help." He pushed his lip with his thumb. "Though that's not the only reason," he added in a mumble. He looked as ashamed as L could look.

"How long have you, uh..." Poor Matsuda was thrown extremely off guard.

"I've been queer my whole life if that's what you're asking. Though, I'm sure you're not. I've known him for a few months. He's very attractive." He pulled his hand away from his smile. "I'd tell you his name, but I don't feel comfortable doing so."

Soichiro feared he already knew who it was. Light didn't need to be put in more danger than he already was being his son. He didn't know how to feel about this.

"You'd place surveillance camera's on your own boyfriend?" Soichiro asked. He wouldn't mind placing them on Light, but L always had a certain level of respect for him.

"Of course. I've suspected he was L since before we started a romantic relationship."

This was a shock to everyone. Not only L dating Light, but L potentially dating Kira and knowing it.

"Why?"

"Light is my intellectual equal. Unfortunately that makes it more likely that he's Kira. And the fact that he made the first move only increases that likelihood, though he doesn't know I'm L. If he did, I'd be more sure."

"How sure are you?"

"About 5%. If he knew I was L before he kissed me, it'd be 7 or 8%. Getting close with the enemy is a good way of staying in their good graces and not getting caught, but I'm not going to excuse Light as a suspect just because he makes me happy. That would be ridiculous. And being his boyfriend makes it so I can monitor him outside the house without raising suspicion."

"I might be out of line, but that sounds messed up. Spying on your boyfriend?"

"Well, I don't have to. I can monitor elsewhere while they're at home. I will still be attending my outings with Light and I can't help but monitor him in those moments, though I can assure you we're usually focused on each other; I'm not sure he'd have a moment to kill with me there."

"And Light doesn't know you're L?" Aizawa asked. "Couldn't it be helpful for him to be brought on the case? He's helped on cases before."

"If Light isn't Kira, I don't want him in any danger. I'm sure Soichiro understands my dilemma." His voice was tense as were his hands.

"I do," Soichiro admitted. "I'm find putting cameras around the house. If there's any chance, we may as well check."

"Exactly."

[716chr]

Chihiro Natsuyaki Novel - “Choose Me!”

Track 3 - Semi-Final

From the apartment window, the sight of a setting sun could be seen.

My younger sisters, who were in elementary school, were still anxiously staring at the entrance.

Still dressed in my middle school uniform, I reassured them many times,

“It’s okay. If Mom doesn’t come home, your big bro will find us something to eat.”

But the truth is, even I was waiting for Mom’s return.

Once or twice a year, she’d come home in high spirits and say, “You must be hungry.”, while setting out bentos for us. I wished today was one of those days.

But since that seemed unlikely, I searched the kitchen shelves, only to end up with half-eaten cornflakes and furikake.

I sighed, realizing we were out of rice.

What should I even say to my little sisters? Not knowing what to do, I sat down on the kitchen floor and noticed the comic book I’d left on the shelf after I started reading it yesterday. Big sis got it from a used bookstore, and it’s now pretty worn out after being read for so many times.

It’s a manga where a Heisei-era gyaru is the main character, and it’s my most beloved book.

Upon opening it, I saw the life of a cheerful, energetic, and the strongest Heisei-era gyaru ever being depicted. Reading the story alone made me feel uplifted.

“She’s so cool….”

I muttered to myself unconsciously.

After all, the Heisei-era wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, right? There were really tough times too. Yet, she gathered all the things she thought were sparkly, things she loves, and dressed up in her own style. Despite everything, she maintained an unbothered attitude as she continued to smile and flashed her signature peace sign.

The most powerful way of living.

I wish I could be like that too.

In my ears, the tune of a Heisei-era idol song starts playing. Humming along, I stood up, dance lightly and spin.

At that very moment, the small, dirty kitchen seemed to sparkle.

…..If I could become the ultimate gyaru-minded, dazzling idol, I wondered if everyone would love me then.

Those were my thoughts back then.

It was during the “13Choose!” audition.

Completely absorbed, almost nothing else was on my mind.

Only the routine of waking up early in the morning, intensely practicing singing and dancing, which dragged on until the dead of night.

Since our smartphones were confiscated, we were practically cut off from the outside world. Some kids even cried due to the anxiety.

We were constantly being judged by people, sometimes being chosen if lucky, and sometimes not if unlucky…..

No matter how hard I worked, I found myself endlessly swayed by the “likes” and “dislikes” of mere strangers, which caused my emotions to become increasingly pressured.

Once the show aired, surprisingly, I somehow survived multiple rounds of selection.

Maybe my pink hair stood out and caught people’s attention.

Despite comments made about me saying I was great at dancing, yet bad at singing, and just decent at rapping, I received more viewer votes I thought I would.

Although it was edited out, the trainers gave me their full support, for which I was really grateful for.

Now there are 33 contestants left. We’ve finally reached the semi-finals.

That day, the next mission was announced: Perform a cover of classic songs.

What's more, some of my favorite Heisei-era songs were included. And of course, I was overjoyed and picked my favorite song.

——If you can make it to the semi-finals, it’ll keep the show engaging.

At that time, the words the director said to me on our first meeting kept flashing in my mind.

I’ve already made it to the semi-finals.

In other words, I’m as good as expired goods from this point on.

That’s why I decided I’ll give it my all.

I wanted to be seen as worthy of being a finalist.

33 contestants were randomly divided into different groups to perform their songs.

Individual evaluations were important, but if the group didn’t win, there’d be no recognition whatsoever.

That’s why, I volunteered to be the group leader, even though it wasn't my strongest suit. I wanted to push myself to grow.

But there were still some others in my group who weren’t good at either dancing or singing.

“Are you just here to play?”

The cold words coming from the trainer on that day’s lesson chilled the atmosphere.

One person was scolded, and called out by name. It’s obvious from the looks of it that his face instantly turned pale in that moment.

Once the trainer left, the person who was scolded dashed out of the rehearsal room in tears.

Unable to ignore the situation, I, both as a leader and a friend, went after him. As I comforted him who was crying in the corner, hearing him uttered, 'I'm done, I give up,' nearly brought tears to my own eyes.

……I know how that feels; That feeling of wanting to give it all up.

Despite your best efforts to hold on, each day feels like a never-ending struggle filled with anxiety.

You can't help but imagine how much relief it would bring to just let it all go. It's agonizing to long for something that remains unattainable, no matter how badly you wish for it.

But even so…… Even so, I just can’t ignore this blazing feeling of not wanting to give up here, in this place.

“It’s okay. Just take it one step at a time, okay? I believe you can definitely make it. I’ll be here with you ‘til the end.”

To comfort him, I began listing off all the good qualities and traits he has. When I returned with the boy who had now stopped crying, the other group members looked at us worriedly.

With my resolves tightened, and as cheerfully as possible, I tried to quell everyone’s anxieties.

“So, as y’all already know, we’re doin’ a Heisei song this time, right? That’s why Chii’s here with a suggestion! How ‘bout we all dive into a Heisei gyaru mindset together? First, let’s give ourselves a good pep talk! When we can't do it and feel frustrated, who's the one we're most upset at? Ourselves, right? So let's get mad at ourselves first, and then let's cheer ourselves up!”

In front of everyone who’s still wearing cloudy expressions, I’ll take the lead and be the demonstration.

“Chihiro! Stop fucking around already! You’re absolutely useless yourself too! Don’t fucking think you can become an idol acting like that! You’re just a worthless scum who needs to push yourself harder!”

Facing the massive mirrors plastered on the wall of the practice room, I hurled insults at myself with everything I got. When I glanced back, the other members were taken aback. I laughed and kept going.

“But still, I'm thankful for all the effort you've given so far. I have faith in you. And you've got incredible groupmates there with you.”

I could see everyone’s eyes getting misty. I hope that my feelings could get across to them; that I, too, believe in them.

“Don’t give up, Chihiro! March on with a spartan mentality!”

After I finished my part, I gestured to the other members, urging them to go on ahead.

The guy who was crying just a moment ago inhaled sharply, and shouts at the mirror,

“Stop crying! Instead of wasting time crying, put in the effort! You can do so much better than this!”

After venting out his frustrations, his face brightened, and now he’s smiling, saying, “I’ll definitely get through this!”, as a form of self-encouragement.

Laughter broke out, and everyone gave themselves a good scolding. After that, we all praised and cheered each other up. By that point, everyone was already grinning. We shifted our mindset once again and focused entirely on our rehearsals.

Our performance was a success. Bonded by the strong ties we made during rehearsal, we challenged ourselves to surpass our limits in both dancing and singing.

Results are the reason for victory; if you win, those votes add up to your ratings.

We all embraced each other in celebration, and even Komu-kun, who’s from a different group, said, "I could tell that Chii and the others would win the moment I saw you guys perform."

I felt satisfied to have achieved this. It was as if every void in my heart had been filled for the first time.

I even felt that sense of fulfillment.

Until I watched the on-air broadcast.

——Stop fucking around already! You’re completely useless too!

What is this?

What on earth… am I watching right now?

I don’t understand any of this. On the screen, the footage showed me yelling and losing my temper.

It happened when the contestants were gathered in the hall to watch the program that recently aired.

Everyone was rattled when they watched the scene of me yelling.

The “Chihiro,” I said before I started yelling, was edited out.

The member who ran out of the rehearsal room crying after being scolded by the trainer was edited to make it seem like he ran out because I yelled at him.

The boy in question, who was sitting nearby, looked at me in panic. The other members whom I went through the same challenge with turned to look at me, and called out worriedly, “Chihiro….”.

I could only smile warmly and reassure them with my gaze.

Because……. I’m their leader, after all.

But truthfully, my mind was a mess. My heart was pounding and I felt like throwing up. It felt like raw hostility and malice were suddenly being rained on me.

They gave us back our phones for an hour after the broadcast. We’re allowed to check social media, but posting was a no-go.

Breaking the rules is an immediate ticket home. So I can’t even post to say, “That was a misunderstanding.”

If I can't defend myself, it’s best if I don’t look at it.

That was what I planned, but after locking myself in my room alone, I ended up giving in and went on an ego-search.

I knew. I knew it well, even before looking, that it would be a huge disaster.

My personal SNS account was flooded with a massive amount of hate and abusive comments.

“Low-life”, “Scum”, “Kill yourself”, “We don’t need power-harassing idols like you”, “So you were actually a piece of shit”, “Not gonna support you anymore”, ……

Everything in front of me began to spin.

Why? Why was it edited like that?

…..Was it because I’m no longer needed after the semi-finals?

My heart pounded so fast that it hurts.

My breathing became shallow, and I felt like I’m going to collapse at any moment.

As I crouched on the floor, I desperately comforted myself.

——Stay strong, Chihiro. Don’t let this break you, Chihiro……

The me on TV was just a fake.

A version of me edited for convenience. A false image created by the director.

……That’s right, Chihiro Natsuyaki is still safe and sound.

It’s “Chii” that everyone hates.

An alert sounded in the hall, signaling the time to collect our smartphones.

Knowing being late will lead to a penalty, I slowly rise to my feet.

I mentally urge myself to switch it up, switch gears.

After leaving my smartphone in the basket in the main hall, Komu-kun started talking to me in front of the fixed camera.

“Chii….. Are you okay?”

They're filming us right now, right? We’re clearly reflected in the camera lenses, right?

I knew he was genuinely worried about me, but I couldn’t help but wonder why he chose this place to ask.

I only smiled brightly and threw out a peace sign.

“Absolute~ly! Chii would say he’s feelin’ super duper hyped with all this attention he’s gettin’, y’know? Feelin’ totes Very Lucky right now~!”

Aware of the camera's presence, I folded my arms and wondered out loud, "Did I go overboard back there?”

“Since it’s a Heisei song that Chii got mad respect for, the ‘Chii’ vibes just couldn’t be contained at all, oopsie ♪”

Playfully pressing my fist to my forehead and sticking my tongue out.

This isn’t me. This is "Chii."

It’s "Chii," so people could think whatever they want.

That‘a what I thought.

With the mindset of the ultimate gyaru, Chii can sparkle and smile brightly, and because of that,

——He’d never get hurt, no matter what.

Track 1 | Track 2 | Track 3 | Track 4 | Track 5

[shana-silver-fox]

Le Paradis Pour Toi TBOC 2.04

Officially Caryl’s song!

I know other Carylers have already discussed the French song of the same name, but here’s the part that’s very Caryly to me

Life isn't hard at all

We're more or less fishermen

We don't have a home

We sleep here or somewhere else

I found paradise for you

This totally fits with the original nomadic theme their spinoff was supposed to have. Paradise is wherever the two of them are.

Lots of thoughts on the episode

This is my favorites of the series. It was like Consumed x1000.

The opening shot of super sad Daryl under that window, not knowing Carol was right outside! I really think he thinks he was going to die there.

Ok. Carol’s plot armor here was level 9000, but 🤷🏼‍♀️

Seeing Carol and Codron go Furiosa was awesome!

I already made a post about how Izzy dies. It was so Beth coded. Right down to the stupid little weapon and bad aim.

They held onto that Tinkerbelle theme to the end. Tink drank poison and was holding her belly like Izzy. Seeing her bleeding out alone, and then being saved by Carol was so emotional. Carol was so caring 🥹

The look on Izzy’s face when Carol told her name. She knew instantly. She knew she could never compete with this bond. She probably was a little sad, but like Clemence said I think it more acceptance. She still believed in signs and God moving their lives through fate. She knew she was looking at Laurent’s new parents.

And I must point out that Daryl didn’t shed a single tear. Dude was was just bawling all over Carol, but no tears for Tink.

It appears Carol put her down since she pulled out her knife at the end of the scene. No burial? No revenge mad Daryl tearing through the castle looking for Losang? No his focus was Laurent, which I think it always was. Izzy was just part of the package. Just like Carol/zeke/henry

I did wish the Caryl reunion had some dialogue, but what could they say that would fit, but wouldn’t trigger the TOWLers to claim they were copying them?

Flew half around the world in a feeling. More Peter pannery, Daryl is Carol’s happy thought!🥰 💫✨

ABCers were all claiming how romantic d’paysant was and how that would be the Tinkyl catchphrase. I loved seeing Daryl smile and say it to Carol not 24 hours after Izzy died.

I could write a book on Didi and Theo. We got a flashforward of future Caryl.

Carol stepped right into being Isabelle in a symbolic sense for the viewers. Pretty obvious what they are saying.

I wil have to do a seperate. Thidi/caryl post. There’s just too much. But how you can’t see Caryl coming after that is crazy.

The convo while Caryl were waiting shows Daryl is still thinking of staying in France even though Izzy is dead. So it was never about her, it was about Laurent.

I think they also hinted that Daryl just wants to start a new life. When Carol says, what about the Grimes kids back home?, he said “this is different” 👀 He just threw a little shade at having to play Rick’s nanny. He’s done and he wants a family with Carol.

Daryl saying he would never be afraid of becoming Carol! ❤️ He loves her just as she is. Flaws and all

Daryl apologized for losing himself

Theo bringing up sex eggs is a foreshadowing! It will be an actual Easter 🥚 ! Mark it!

Everyone being a little jealous of the old man losing his memories. 😢

Didi: Will you stay in Paris? Daryl: we’re still working in it.

See he still didn’t want to go home.

Theo : for you my love. For us. 💔 Sounds like something Daryl would do.

Genet saying “my love-my hope” equating her romantic love with hope. And the narrative has established Carol is Daryl’s hope.

God was not on Genet’s side 🫣 Her death was a really great death befitting a great villain.

Daryl tells Carol Laurent is Henry GLUE and Carol totally understands.

Don’t tell me Daryl Dixon isn’t head over heels in love with Carol.

Ending (happy ending) with Carol and Daryl both having giant smiles when he says Laurent is coming home with us.

Us. The two of us. Look at those smiles!

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

Punk music is, politically speaking, a vehicle that was built to express sentiments of working class rage and destructive tendencies. That doesn't mean it's perfectly left wing, poor people are not perfectly left wing. From the patches and safety pins and ripped denim that are staples of punk fashion to the subject matter of songs by the Dead Kennedys, The Clash, Black Flag, and even the Sex Pistols, its all class rage and resentment all the way down.

Goth and Punk both as subcultural movements have relatively clear intentions, even if the politics get jumbled. They're nihilistic, angry, angsty reactions to a world that beats down on poor people. It's the idea that there is something deeply wrong with a society that doesn't take care of its people and using music to express how you feel about that situation.

I came up in the 2010s, which meant that Emo was on the back end of its moment when I was discovering music outside of my parent's taste and whatever was on the radio. I've heard a lot of things about the emo movement as it relates to other subcultures but one thing I heard that I want to respond to here is that it's not about anything, which is not perfectly correct but it looks that way on the surface and is actually a very interesting observation. Punk's about how we can't pay the rent our government is taking advantage of us, rich people are taking advantage of us, and unlike those hippies who think they can solve all the worlds problems with peace and love and non violent protest, we're gonna break stuff. We're gonna make it everyone else's problem. Goth coming from the punk scene was less angry and more purely nihilistic and death obsessed but still had that sort of vibe of the aristocracy's time has come, look how easily I can look like a decaying version of them. Emo doesn't really have that clear of a message by comparison.

I would like to posit that this is because Emo is end of history punk. There's still that feeling that there's something deeply wrong, there's still angst and rage and nihilism and resentment, but by now the enemies of the United States' capitalistic global hegemony have fallen, there is no alternative, terrible things keep happening but the propaganda machine is pumping it into your brain every single day that this is the best of all possible worlds. The problem can't be society it has to be you.

So punk music evolves, we're not doing a revolution anymore the revolution is dead, we're not watching it decay anymore because this shambling corpse won't drop dead and has managed to convince us it's immortal. But the feelings are all still there. So they turn inward. The destruction becomes self-destruction. You can't be feeling this way because society is bad, it must be you, you must be depressed, that girl you didn't really like that much broke up with you, maybe it's that. It couldn't possibly be the fact that you're poor and you're sick but can't get help and the corporations are destroying the planet and you can't do anything about it. This is the best of all possible worlds, remember? You are an acceptable casualty of that, if you don't like it you can either suck it up, take pills, or slit your wrists, the choice is yours. And the emo scene says maybe I will slit my wrists because I can't live like this.

I think now both punk music and emo music along with the fashion are having a bit of an interesting revival, and I don't think the revival is good but I definitely think it is necessarily a sign of the times. The common person has been given access to a certain level of celebrity, the cracks in the political hegemony that the 90s and 00s propaganda told us would last until the heat death of the universe are showing, corporations in their quest for endless growth have made us into modern serfs and commodified every aspect of our lives. We see so much death every day from covid from state violence that used to be easier to cover up. The apocalypse we were warned about but unable to stop is here. There's an appetite for the nihilism, the rage, the self destruction from the failure to change anything, and in pursuit of profit, the companies see that appetite and respond to it with fast fashion and industry plants, and the common person who is under constant surveillance and has been convinced it's what they want has prettied up the grittier aspects of the scene in order to make it social media ready. The goth bars close and the regular bar has an emo night, social media influencers who used to bully you for your DIY fashion does a "Tradgoth" makeup trend that looks more like Gottmik than Siouxie Sioux just to wipe it off and post it for a Sephora sponsorship. You say anything about any of it and you get accused of being more hardcore than thou even though you're just making observation about the scene you've been in for a decade. And you look around you and the same thing is happening to hip-hop and the state of the music scene is even worse for normies so this is clearly a universal problem.

[kravchikfreak]

i feel like sometimes people would come up with some cool headcanons and interpretations, but then they'll convince themselves that it's literally shown canon with no place for doubt and then they'll act as if everyone else is dumb for not consuming the media the way they do it

(i guess i'm guilty as well, but i'm allowed to cause i'm actually right all the time)

like the second season of arcane got tons of criticism for bad writing, and, naturally, there're people who would defend their favorite show just cause THEY interpreted it in a way that makes sense to the point that when i go to arcane criticism tag to see what problem other people have with the show i also see show's defenders who pissed not everyone sees it as they do

and um i mean it's fine, i get it, we are all the same, just in different camps, whatever. but i have a story. one time i had to do coursework and i barely touched it before the last night before deadline came. and i thought to myself "welp i really need to work on it now, i only have 8 hours left" and when i turned on my laptop and was about to open up the files the power went out in the entire building. and my laptop had a shit battery that worked for like 1,5 minutes without charging. so i thought it was kinda funny and called my mom and told her "see? the only time i decided to do something studying-related and this happens. universe must be trying to send me a sign" and my mom went like "yeah, a sign that you need to try harder! despite all the obstacles that might come to your way"

so, who out of us two doesn't have a sign literacy? is sign literacy dead? or was it just a shit unclear sign and its interpretation depends solely on the person who interprets it and their life experience, beliefs, mentality and so on?

anyway, if you think you feel the character and you can imagine their motives and goals that's cool i guess, but doesn't mean the show actually succeeded to state them in canon. if you can see just some random plot points without any actual on-screen transition between them and just understand what transitions was implied it's also really cool, but for me for example if i wanted to just have some guide points and use my imagination for the rest i'd just scroll through "imagine" tag on tumblr rather then watching an actual show that's supposed to tell the story, not key points of the story

and no, the show doesn't have to tell a viewer everything by words. but it still have to tell you everything, actually, just by all different kinds of storytelling. and leaving everything to viewers imagination isn't a storytelling. like yeah i guess i can come up with some character development that makes you go from pointing a gun at a child (when you already compromised your ability to sharpshoot) to very judgmental "why is peace always the justification for violence?" (right after you actually tell you aren't ready to withdraw your forces and half an hour early we have a cool montage of your forces being pretty violent already) but i feel like it's writers job, not mine

but hey, you do you anyway. who am i to care

in fact i actually feel you. i'll die on the hill of silco being a great dad and caring deeply about jinx. but tho we have in fact canon proof she mean the world to him (actual story actually telling us he chooses her over his ultimate goal) at the same time we don't really have a good explanation on his whole beef with vi. yeah, i still can make my headcanons about his insecurity and fear of losing jinx after she tells her something about something, but it still sounds weak and not really explained in the show. also not a great writing

okay i'm officially lost in my thoughts, gotta wrap it up somehow. let's end on the point that some of interpretations the show leaves you with this season don't make much sense and in other cases it doesn't even give you any material to interpret but straight up leaves you with the responsibility of come up with events and development of the story and characters. and while a viewer might be good at this or even enjoy it, it's still very bad writting actually

peace

[charsimsalot]

Lou's Winterfest Special

I just finished doing the Cozy Celebrations with the Wildfangs. I chose to do it with them because Lou likes Winterfest music and I thought it could be his favourite holiday!

Before we begin our tale, I do not have high hopes for those clothes drying in this weather. Bianca must have been feeling very optimistic...

The first task was to watch channels on the new TV reward from the channel. No way are the Wildfangs affording that themselves, but Bianca and Kiril stole one and generously donated it to the Grimtooth Bar and Bunker — Rory has been on at them about pack participation. Lou's siblings Annie and Hoot have been in town for the holidays, and he got everyone together to watch movies!

The most shocking thing to happen was that Bianca and Inna started flirting with each other. This made Kiril jealous and he wants a divorce... as if he isn't himself aspiring to be a Villainous Valentine?

Lou stepped away to make some hot chocolate for everyone, including Olive and Layne apparently, who have been showing up everywhere in this save. Morgyn also showed up and stood around in a bad mood for reasons unclear to me.

That night, Rory and Lux were the only ones not working, and Lux attempted a mistletoe kiss to Rory's great delight! Quickly afterwards, the full moon rose. Lux had a very chaotic night while Chris mostly chilled and listened to winter holiday music in Bianca and Kiril's cabin.

The next day, the Wildfangs took it easy and completed the task to play videogames together. Finally, Lou submitted his research to Jasmine Holiday using one of the library computers...

Then proceeded to eat a chair, a desk, and a computer. Rory would clearly have preferred he connect with his wolf side in a way that doesn't leave the library down a computer. @dead-lights has suggested he steal a new computer for the library to make up for it, which is a suitably Lou way of handling the situation.

In the end, as a reward for his research, he got a new jumper and scarf! Looking cozy, Lou!

I hope everyone else has been having fun with the Cozy Celebrations event. A couple of warnings in case other Simmers are having the same difficulties I had:

Watching TV on a community lot didn't complete the task for me. I then did it on their home lot and I got it to work there.

For some reason, the option on the computer to submit research to Jasmine wasn't appearing. I left the game, deleted some cache files (possibly unnecessarily), came back in, it still wasn't showing up, but then after waiting a bit and clicking the computer several more times it showed up.

[iron-touch]

Of Bones and Body Horror: Bad to the Bone and How JoJo Weaponizes Fear

While this essay focuses on Stand design for the main villains of JoJo, it is also meant to explain the creation process for Boney and his Stand, Bad to the Bone, in Iron Touch. Spoilers for Chapter 38 of Iron Touch and all of canon JoJo below!

In recent years, I feel there's been a push for villains and antagonists in fiction to be sympathetic to the heroes and audience, usually with the endgame of redeeming them by the end of the story. While this is a perfectly fine character archetype, my favorite type of villains are the ones that you love to hate. You understand why they do the things they do, but you do not want them to succeed or have a happy ending. Someone you can rally against and want to see the protagonist defeat. Whether they're a misunderstood friend or a brutal tyrant, though, the main antagonist of any given story must pose a challenge for the protagonist, and in the context of a JoJo part, I think the best way to do that is through fear.

While the Grand Marshal was also designed with these principals in mind (suppression and mind control are both Very Scary™), it's with Boney and Bad to the Bone that I think I best executed the concept of fear and intimidation in a villain. Besides, at this point, I consider Boney to be more of a """"main"""" antagonist than the Grand Marshal is.

When making a character/ability designed to invoke fear in a shonen story, there's two key concepts that you should keep in mind.

First of all, it needs to seem unbeatable. This isn’t just a villain we’re talking about, this is the main villain. Whenever the audience sees their ability in action, they should think "how the hell are the heroes going to beat that?" They should be a step above everyone else at first glance, otherwise it won’t feel like there’s as much of a threat for the protagonist to overcome. This is where I came up with Boney's resurrective ability. If you see someone die and die and die over and over again, to the point where they just casually kill themselves and come back fine later, how can someone ever expect to truly defeat them? That, and it had two bonus points going for it: it goes against a fundamental rule of Stands that Jotaro lays out ("no Stand can revive the dead"), and it parallels Diavolo's ultimate fate at the end of Vento Aureo.

The second thing is a little more complicated. The ability itself should invoke fear. Any superpower can be scary in the right environment; you can put a guy with super strength in a series where none of the other characters have any special powers and he'll seem scary by default. That's not what I mean. Something about the ability should be fundamentally terrifying.

To better explain what I mean, let's compare Dio and Dio. Err, I mean, Dio and DIO

Designing for Intimidation vs. Designing for Fear

I don't care what anyone says, Dio is a great villain. He's this perfect Satanic archetype that the story expertly frames and builds towards as a powerful adversary, the ultimate threat. He's egotistical, calculating, weirdly charismatic, and most importantly, scary. Both Phantom Blood Dio and Stardust Crusaders Dio convey the feeling of fear extremely well, but they both do it in different ways. You can best see this through their respective abilities.

The vampires in JoJo have some pretty scary abilities. There's the classic blood sucking and healing factor, but then you get the really weird shit like the Space Ripper Stingy Eyes. Compared to other JoJo parts, though, Phantom Blood is a much "lower level" story. That first fight with Dio in the mansion after he rejects his humanity perfectly shows just how strong and durable Dio has become after using the Stone Mask, but it's only as tense as it is because at that point in the story, none of the other characters have any sort of super powers. Put any Stand user worth their salt up against Dio there and suddenly the fight becomes much more even.

Also, really think of the powers that Dio has in Phantom Blood. Super strength, a healing factor, some ice abilities, laser eyes...none of these are really scary on their own, right? You can all find those abilities on an X-Men lineup. I'm not saying that makes them bad or Phantom Blood Dio a bad villain, but he's made scary through his actions and narrative framing more so than just his powers on their own. Dio isn’t an effective villain because he can shoot lasers out of his eyes, he’s an effective villain because he tried to poison the protagonist’s father and fed a baby to its newly zombified mother.

Ironically, I think the scariest of Dio's abilities are the one he neglects to use in combat. He hypnotizes/mind controls a guy at one point and he somehow creates a bunch of grotesque zombie chimeras out of different people and animals. He does send a bunch of these chimeras out after Jonathan, but most of the time they feel like generic grunts rather than imposing monsters or tragic victims.

Compare this to Dio in Stardust Crusaders. The World is as scary as it is iconic, and I think part of the reason that it is so iconic is because of how scary it is. While it does lose some of its fear factor after Jotaro realizes he also has the same ability, it remains a horrifying ability nonetheless.

Time stop goes beyond just intimidating the way something like super strength and laser eyes are. Even if Dio wasn't a vampire, he would still be terrifying with The World (his vampirism just adds some extra sauce to it by making him especially strong and sturdy). It stops everything, everywhere, with just a call of its name. There's nothing you can do against Dio; in fact, you won't even be aware of what he's doing until its already over with. Rewatch the scenes where Dio kills Kakyoin and stabs Joseph in the throat, or even when he surrounds Jotaro with a shit ton of knives. They're all helpless, oblivious to the fact that they're about to die. That is scary.

What makes it even better is that the whole part builds up to this reveal. As early as the Steely Dan fight, the Crusaders beg and bargain with Dio's cronies to reveal the secret to his Stand, and we even get to see little out of context demonstrations of it later on in the part (like when Hol Horse tries to shoot Dio or when Dio moves Polnareff down the stairs). The fan speculation surrounding what the hell The World's ability was must've been wild at the time of Stardust Crusaders' initial release. While the reveal doesn't have the same impact it once had, those early readers must've been blown away back in the day.

Dio is not the only JoJo villain that's framed like this. Killer Queen installs a certain paranoia that anything someone touches could literally blow up in their face, King Crimson weaponizes disorientation and the idea of not being fully in control of your body/actions, and Whitesnake takes the idea of wiping your memories up to eleven by outright stealing them. Even ignoring Stand abilities for a second, Kira and Doppio/Diavolo use the idea of a devil hiding in plain sight while Pucci and especially Valentine exploit their positions of power for their own gain.

Now, back to Boney. In addition to his resurrective ability, I wanted something that truly scared me on a personal level. After all, there are a bunch of ways you could bring someone back to life. Michelle even anxiously rambles some of them off in Chapter 35. But that wasn't good enough for me. It needed to be scary.

Transformational body horror is something that I've always been scared by. I think my first exposure to anything like that was that one episode of SpongeBob where he spends the whole segment slowly morphing into a snail (as I'm writing this, I'm wondering if this episode is also what gave me my fear of needles, given that a syringe is what starts the transformation). I'm 24 now and I still can't watch that episode. David Cronenberg's The Fly is the scariest movie I've ever seen purely because of the vile, nauseating body horror on display throughout most of the film. I remember accidentally stumbling across a transformation porn story on DeviantArt as a kid (I didn’t even realize it was a fetish thing until I was much older) and being completely revolted by it. This shit freaks me the hell out. Our bodies are our most personal aspects of ourselves; so having them be forcefully, non-consensually violated and mutated into someone else, something else is perhaps one of the most sickening experiences I can imagine.

So of course I had to put it in Iron Touch!

It was precisely that disgust and terror that I wanted to convey with Bad to the Bone. Boney doesn't just die, he doesn't just take you down with him, he forces you to become him. Against your will, you are forced to metamorphosize into an adult man, feeling every muscle and bone twist and contort into something definitively not your own, and that will be the last thing you experience before your soul is overridden and erased forever. That is scary.

I decided to have Bad to the Bone be activated by touch because it was specific enough for Boney to have control over while also being inconspicuous enough to feel like a threat in every day life. It's got that Killer Queen feel to it; anything Kira touches can turn into a bomb, while anyone Boney touches can turn into him. Since Iron Touch and most of its main cast was conceptualized in mid-2020, I wouldn't be surprised if certain current events at the time also influenced this aspect of the Stand.

Another thing I find interesting is that while JoJo does body horror a lot, it generally doesn't freak me out or make me uncomfortable. I can watch Rohan turn people into books just fine, I can watch Jolyne unravel herself into string without a sweat, I can watch Cioccolata dissolve people into mold no problem. Characters get dismembered, cut in half, stabbed, punched, crushed, burned alive, and even decapitated and I don't flinch. The only time the anime ever made me scared or uncomfortable through its body horror was when Dio's bone started turning everyone into plants in Stone Ocean (I remember some of the stuff with the Corpse Parts freaking me out in Steel Ball Run, but its been a while since I've read it and I don't feel like going back and looking for the specific panels that gave me the heebie jeebies).

I think what separates people turning into plants from something like Heaven's Door is the process between the two. There's no great effort of Heaven's Door turning into people into books, nor do they fully turn into books, their face just peels open like a book and they've got a bunch of pages underneath (oh, and Okuyasu's arm got all twisty I guess). That sounds a lot more graphic than it actually is. It's too instantaneous and fantastical to freak me out. Holes may start to show up in Jolyne's skin as she unravels herself into string, but she's also always fully in control of this ability and there's never any gore shown underneath the exposed skin. These abilities don't convey that sense of a forceful, even painful metamorphosis the same way that something like The Fly does, no matter how overpowered or deadly they are. That's what freaks me out about the plant guy in Stone Ocean. The sequence in the anime where his eye turns into a flower is expertly animated, but god damn it made me feel sick.

So, that's how I came up with Bad to the Bone. But that's just me. What does all this talk about fear and body horror do for you?

For people writing JoJo fanparts or stories heavily inspired by JoJo, I hope that this serves as a helpful guide for conceptualizing your main villains. One of the biggest hurdles I see people come across when writing a story like this is Stand development, with the main protagonist and antagonist being the biggest source of frustration among up and coming authors. While protagonists are another beast entirely, for antagonists, people often get caught up in making their Stand the strongest or most complex thing they can think of. From what I've seen, this usually doesn't go well. Instead, focus on what scares you. The main villain should be the last person you'd want to fight, so you'd better give them a good reason for that.

[elliemarchetti]

When Home is a Person

A little something for @lucienweekofficial Day 5

Ship: Elucien

Prompt: Home (very loose, I'm sorry)

Plot: Zombie Apocalypse AU

Words: 945

Dead bodies were strewn around them, a cluster of rotten limbs and oozing stab wounds. The closest call they’ve encountered so far was over, ended with panting breaths and the faraway cry of vultures approaching for their next meal at the edge of the mess. The smell of meat and gore hang in the air, thick and putrid and so similar to when it had been thrust upon her long ago, during a different battle, against different enemies. This time, though, the carnage was hers: she saved herself, she felt strong, vindicated, and although their own bodies should certainly be assessed, she was triumphant, and she wanted Lucien unabashedly, something she had never allowed until now.

Through the ash cloud he made, she turned to face her partner in combat, her body moving on instinct, just as it had in the moments before, while she ducked, stabbed, and protected like he taught her to. With nothing else to kill, only their hard-won survival remained, so she crushed her mouth against his, the shameful dreams that have haunted her few unconscious hours hurtled into reality.

In the privacy of her own mind, she had thought he might taste bad in some way, but he didn’t, no more than she must, after so long spent in the dry air without reliable water, and yet, it didn’t bother her. Nothing could at the moment: not the injuries surely littering her body, not the setting sun, the overuse of her limbs or the hunger in her belly, worse than what she experienced when she still travelled with her sisters. It all faded, leaving nothing but the feeling of no more space between them. Connection, the likes of which she had nearly given up on finding.

Sinking deeper into the moment she had stolen, she felt him pull in a breath against her cheek through his nose, and she pressed harder, her body singing in relief until his hand gripped her shoulders, pushing. Their lips barely separated, yet her mind flooded with terror. Fuelled by something perverse, she’d done the unspeakable, the unfathomable, the undoable, and as she chanced a glance upward, at the molten red frame of a face disfigured by violence, a thought occurred to her, hilarious and terrifying: all that fighting, and now he was going to kill her for kissing him, for upsetting the tenuous balance they’d taken days to carefully craft. He could fit her throat in one of these beautiful hands, throttle the life from it as she blinked with her deer-big eyes, like many described them when she still knew more people than Lucien and the survivors with whom they occasionally communicated through his radio. She would’ve let him do it. She wasn't even sure why she was so stubbornly clinging to life since the virus had exterminated almost everyone she loved. It would’ve been the most poetic way to go: killed by the one she had refused to love when the time was right because she changed her mind when it was too little too late. She would’ve died in the evening’s cool, but the last thing she would see would be her own personal sunlight, colours fading from her vision because of him. Would he regret it? Would he slowly carry her lifeless body in a nice place, if any still existed, for eternal rest?

“We survived!” she barked out, half exhilarated, half embarrassed, unable to read the expression in the one eye he had left, incapable of interpreting the angle of his swollen red lips, still slick and shiny with spit, or what his features expressed under the remnants of their battle. There was no way she could face him, face the consequences of her own unjustifiable actions, with their breaths still intermingling with the unsaid.

“We did it,” he whispered, quiet but fierce. “Together.”

She tilted her head, a mimic of the fascination he showed weeks ago in the remains of a different state, of a place they could’ve called home, if such a concept still existed, until a sudden jolt ripped through her, shocking and disorienting. If she had thought her kiss had been forceful, his was a dam broken, a consuming ravage ferociously invading her mouth, so passionate and unhinged she thought he might actually eat her, like he did with her gasps and the unending questions he silenced.

When he licked past the barrier of anything chaste, all she could think about was how unlike any other kiss it felt, as if he hoped to find everything he’d ever needed at the back of her teeth, on the roof of her mouth and in the fleshy centre of her bottom lip. He was kissing her like he was trying to prove she shouldn’t want it, like he wanted to make her regret it, taking selfishly, gripping her waist too tightly, but she wouldn’t, not after he risked everything to save her in New York, not after, despite the anger and the misunderstandings, he did so much to keep her alive regardless of the fact she never acknowledged his feelings.

A dull thud echoed in the silence as she dropped her knife, and as prompted by the sound, his hands started to roam, search and squeeze, a savage exploration she was ill-prepared for. It hit her, how little thought she had put into her actions, when she started to feel too incredibly, acutely alive, and ready to lay on the ground under him.

That wasn’t the place nor the time, though, so she followed him on the way to the coast, silent and willing, their fingers brushing against each other too often for it to be accidental.

[coraniaid]

Do we see anybody that we knew as a human turned into a vampire after The Harsh Light of Day? Do we see how the others react to that?

(I know we see Sandy from Doppelgangland as a vampire later, but that's not what I have in mind: I'm talking about characters that Buffy or the rest of the Scooby Gang actually knew as people.)

I've complained about this before at least a couple of times (although Tumblr's search feature wants me to believe otherwise), but the way the gang react to finding out that Harmony is a vampire in that episode just feels iike such an abrupt tonal shift. And I'm wondering whether it marks a genuine change in how the show deals with newly sired vampires completely, or if it's just the last time the issue ever comes up.

Yes, Buffy's vampire lore isn't particularly well-developed, but prior to this point the show had been pretty consistent. You don't 'become' a vampire, there is no true continuity of self. You die, and a vampire with your memories takes over your corpse. Yes, that vampire's personality is often based on yours -- even if the show isn't explicit about it until Season 3, that's obvious from the first time we see Jesse become a vampire in The Harvest and continue his obsession with Cordelia, and it's the only reason that can explain why Giles keeps telling people that various vampires were hardened killers even "before" becoming vampires, which he does as early as Season 1's Never Kill A Boy On The First Date -- but the show maintains a clear distinction between the vampire's victim and the newly risen vampire. You do not become a vampire. You are not them, however similar they are to you in appearance and behaviour and desires. You are dead.

So we have Giles talking to Xander about Jesse in Season 1's The Harvest:

"Listen to me. Jesse is dead! You have to remember that when you see him, you're not looking at your friend. You're looking at the thing that killed him."

And Buffy talking to Ford in Season 2's Lie To Me about his plan to "become immortal":

"That's not how it works. You die, and a demon sets up shop in your old house, and it walks, and it talks, and it remembers your life, but it's not you."

Even in Season 3's Doppelgangland [which has the gang treating Willow's vampire alter ago very oddly at the end] everyone's reaction to seeing Willow as a vampire is still to be shocked and saddened and speak about Willow in the past tense.

Here's Angel breaking the bad news:

"Something's happened ... Willow's dead."

And earlier, Buffy blaming herself for her friend's death:

"I-it's [my fault]. She must have gone out and gotten attacked [...] And now my best friend is..."

Or Willow when she walks in on them mourning:

"Jeez, who died?"

As late as the Season 4 opener The Freshman we have Buffy's reaction to finding out what happened to her new friend Eddie:

"I was worried that something had happened to you ... and of course it has, 'cause you're a vampire.  I'm sorry."

Not explicitly saying that Eddie's dead, sure, but certainly acknowledging that something bad happened to him (and completely consistent with the take on vampires that goes all the way back to the beginning of Season 1).

Then we get to The Harsh Light Of Day, just a couple of episodes later, and the collective reaction to finding out that Harmony is a vampire -- Harmony, who Buffy's known for years and the others have known for longer, who it's at least strongly implied was killed during the battle against the Mayor in Graduation Day, meaning that unlike Eddie or Theresa or Jesse or whoever else Harmony's death actually is Buffy's fault, at least a little bit -- and how does Buffy react?

She laughs.

"Harmony's a vampire? She must be dying without a reflection."

And I know none of the gang like Harmony -- I know Harmony was very hard to like -- but isn't this just remarkably callous? Harmony isn't "dying" -- she died months ago, helping them all fight against the Mayor's Ascension. She didn't decide to "become" a vampire on some fickle whim. She died saving the world. The Gang could at least pretend to be sad about that for five seconds.

[horizon-verizon]

Can we discuss how irritating this whole cry of "why you want jaehaera to die, why you want a little girl to die" is, I don't know… it must be because she actually dies? It's canon, it's in the book? I don't know, go complain to George like they already do, he wanted it that way

It wouldn't make any sense to me for her to stay alive in HOTD because everyone knows her ending, everyone knows that the mother of Aegon III's children is Daenaera… so why waste time with that?

and besides, ryan wouldn't show a child throwing himself out of a window, he didn't show jaehaerys' death which is horrible

And then they get mad when one says HotD is not an adaptation but fanfiction. Like, if you want to drastically change the plot so bad, it's no longer a damn adaptation! they clearly want fanfiction and they're getting it; they clearly didn't like F&B for reasons and think that some very obvious themes are not there or are so unimportant was to not have them in an adaptation. so why so pressed other than they only wish for their pro-green nonsense (the very antithesis of F&B and the entire series exploration of how institutional sexism is unnatural and what it looks like and how it ruins most things) to keep going through Jaehaera. Because why hate Daenaera or any other Targ woman aside from Helaena so bad?!

The whole point, as I've said time and time again, is that this war that was supposed to destroy the precedent of female rulership AND autonomy for male leadership ruins everyone, child or not, disabled or not....and especially so for disable female children even when they are of the upper class! You say you care about Jaehaera or respect her...do you when you can't or won't accept that her death and loss comes from the very ideology you mask behind the idea of "culture is culture"?!

And yeah, HotD or any attempted adaptation was going to have original "fill-ins" for what might have happened between characters pre-Dance, but as I've said before, some things are less likely or just plain impossible within the broader lore's logic AND what we do know and can reliably know that the book tells us.

More than anyone else's deaths, Jaehaera's death seems to "matter" more to those people because of their dull victimology ideology, too and really only enjoy fiction where there's a "redemption" or fluffiness and think everyone should only ever consume such stories. Makes them feel morally superior with leverage as social currency over others. With Daenerys it's different because she quite literally in necessary to the themes and plot's direction of ASoIaF that if she were to die a "mad" queen or be killed in lieu of what she represents and does for "smallfolk" and those exploited, it'd undermine what GRRM has already remarked several times about being able to resist destruction of self while wrestling with the nuances of authority and being "legitimate" for having it. As guiltless as Jaehaera was, she is a character with a very specific role, not mean tto be the savior or even progenitor of anything but a victim just as the children r*aped, tortured, and killed during the Dance or after it were under these systems. The real reason why they are so adamant abt her is bc they either/both hate-envy Dany/the "prominent" Targs and Jaehaera is a noble girl who like her mother doesn't stray from her gender-based designation of victim or chess-piece for men, so it's also veyr easy to project oneself into her position of victimness and self indulge that way. They want thatfantasy of accountablitiy-lessness while still being "elite". Very Sansa-stan energy.

You definitely can be sad for her and rightfully blame the adults around her, even the long dead ones while Maegor and Jaehaerys I. But it's not that anyone wants her tortured so much as they want the story that was given to us AND they know why she has to be killed the way she is told to have been.

If you don't like the narrative or refuse to really ingest its true meaning and how it gets there, you're under no obligation to continue to consume it.

[littlesoka7567]

I wanna see Hunter just going absolutely feral.

Bad batch spoilers, rated M

Imagine he gets to the planet Omega and Crosshair are on. He manages to get into the base somehow, and he doesn’t even wait for Echo and Wrecker. He doesn’t use the stun feature. The entire landing pad is gone by the time the other two join him.

He’s pushing on, through hallways. He shoots down storm troopers as he goes, paying attention to which ones are just troopers and which ones look like higher ups.

“Um, Hunter?” Echo asks, his blaster raised but still cold from disuse.

Hunter finally finds an officer. Grabs him by the throat, slams him into the wall. “Where’s Hemlock?” He growls, teeth bared.

Echo and Wrecker pause behind him, blasters raised at the ready for any back up this officer may call.

“I don’t know,” the officer chokes, hands uselessly clawing at Hunter’s arms. “But if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“I believe you,” Hunter spits, and the blast in the officer’s stomach forces the man limp.

“Hunter?” Wrecker asks, eyes looking on worriedly.

Hunter doesn’t answer. He goes through a door. Another. Dead bodies pile up, never even had a chance to shoot back. Hunter doesn’t pause, doesn’t stop moving. He shoots as he goes.

Through another door. Down a flight of stairs. Another officer. He shoots everyone else, aims his blaster at the officer’s face. “Hemlock,” is all he says.

“I know where he is!” The officer says, hands raised in surrender. “I can take you to him!”

“Where is he?” Hunter growls.

“Floor -70. He’ll have heard the alarms by now. He’ll be in his bunker.”

Hunter shoves the man into Wrecker’s chest, who grabs him by the scruff of the neck and starts walking him to follow Hunter.

Elevators. Hunter fucking hates elevators. They’re slow, they force him to stand still. The officer won’t stop whimpering, face forced to look at the floor.

“Hunter,” Echo tries again.

Hunter works his jaw. Tilts his head just slightly to show he’s listening.

“What’s the plan?”

Hunter rolls his jaw again, looking back at the elevator doors. “Find Hemlock. Make him take us to Omega. Get out.”

“Are there any…in between steps?”

Hunter doesn’t answer. The door opens. He shoots down everyone running at him. Echo stuns the ones running away. Wrecker punches a few people in white coats standing in doorways.

“Take a left up here,” their captive whimpers out, refusing to look at the fallen teammates. “It’s a long hallway. His bunker will be at the very end.”

Hunter does. It’s only lab coats now. Hunter shoots them down, uncaring.

They reach the door, and Hunter kicks it in easily. It’s not a bunker. It’s an office. Hemlock isn’t there. He turns to their captive, fury turning his vision red.

“He’s supposed to be here!” The man cries, wincing as Wrecker’s hold tightens on his neck. “He said he would be here if there was ever an invasion.”

Hunter walks over to him, grabbing his chin. Wrecker lets go. The man whimpers, the words to beg for his life dying on his tongue. “I believe you,” Hunter says. For a second, a flicker of hope lights up the man’s eyes. But then those eyes go dull as Hunter quickly snaps his neck.

“Hunter!” Echo hisses, disapproval painting his voice.

Hunter ignores him. He pushes past them both, forcing his way back down the long corridor. He takes a right where he before took a left.

“Clones!” Wrecker yells, looking at the cells upon cells of locked up clones.

“I’ll let them out,” Echo says, something raw in his voice. “This must be where they’re taking the decommissioned clones. Rex was telling me about a mission to save-“

Hunter holds up a hand, indicating silence. Echo’s voice falters, stops.

Hunter listens. The prisoners are yelling, begging for release. Distractions. “Silence!” Hunter yells, after shooting three rounds into the ceiling.

Quiet. Good. He closes his eyes, focusing. “Wrecker, with me. Echo-go ahead.”

He feels more than sees Echo nod his affirmative, and he sets to work on unlocking the doors.

Hunter leads Wrecker down the hall. Left. Right. Another right. Through a door. Another left. Pauses, has to shoot a guard. Through a door.

Hunter raises the gun, aiming it at the woman in a white coat. “She looks important,” Wrecker says softly.

“My name is Emerie Karr,” she stutters out. “I’m the lead scientist.”

“And I care because?” Hunter growls, stepping forward and getting the blaster closer to her chest.

“I’m the one working on Omega and Crosshair.”

Hunter’s blood goes cold. He stops breathing. His hand shakes. “Where. Is. She?” He spits through gritted teeth.

“This way,” she says, but doesn’t indicate or move. She only stares at the blaster.

“Move!” Hunter yells, frightening her. She starts to back up, but realizes that’s not fast enough quickly. More rooms. Moor hallways. More doors. It takes no time at all and an eternity.

“She’s in this room,” Emerie says softly. “Hemlock is in there.”

“Open. The. Door.”

Wrecker moves closer, blaster trained on her. “I’ve got her, Hunter. You check it out.”

Hunter can barely hear over the blood pounding in his ears. The door opens. His blaster aims inward, no target yet. He looks around, his own breathing deafening him.

“Hunter!”

He almost breaks.

The high pitched voice is scared. Hunter momentarily worries he’s covered in blood. If he’s scaring her. But no; it’s not him. It’s Hemlock.

“Take one more step and I shoot her,” Hemlock’s low, soft voice lilts. As if he’s the one in control.

Hunter aims his blaster, teeth bared in aggression. “I won’t ask you twice,” Hunter spits.

Hemlock presses the gun more firmly into Omega’s temple, and the girl cries out in pain or fear. “You aren’t the one making demands here, Hunter.” His voice annoys Hunter, and the growl which rips through his throat is involuntary.

Hunter’s entire body is shaking with the desire to rip Hemlock apart. “Omega is too close,” Emerie whispers unhelpfully.

“Put the gun down, Hunter. It’s over. Put the gun down and let my scientist in the room. My guards will be here shortly.”

Hunter grins, too much teeth to be anything other than threatening. Any guards will be meeting the fury of countless decommissioned clones right about now.

Hemlock seems undeterred. “I’m only keeping her alive to control Nala Se. I don’t care if she lives or dies. Now that Nala Se has seen her, I can convince her Omega is safe and held in a cell. You’re the one who wants her alive.”

Hunter laughs, and it sounds so unlike anything he’s ever made before. “If you kill her, I will tear you apart, piece by piece, until you beg for mercy that won’t come.”

Hemlock has the sense to at least hesitate now. He looks between Hunter and Wrecker, whose gun is still aimed at Emerie.

Omega cries softly, not looking at Hunter anymore. “I’m scared,” she whispers.

Hunter fights back the urge to growl again. He works his jaw instead, eyes flicking from her to Hemlock. He sees movement behind the pair as he does; it takes everything inside of him to not focus on the body slowly inching towards them.

“You hear that?” Hemlock asks, voice somehow still calm and soft. Taunting. Hunter bares his teeth in rage, allowing Hemlock to think he took the bait. “She’s scared. Do you think she’s scared of me, or of you?”

Wrecker shifts behind him, and Hunter can practically see the excitement he’s trying to conceal. Hunter ignores them both. “Omega,” Hunter pleads, lowering his gun. “I’d never hurt you,” he promises.

Omega looks up, eyes full of tears. “Hunter,” she whines.

Hemlock pretends to coo, mockingly. “Hunter,” he copies, but a wicked smile distorts his face into something inhuman. Emerie’s breath catches as she notices, but Wrecker presses the blaster more firmly into the back of her neck. “Go ahead and put the gun down, Hunter. I win.”

Hunter holds his gun tighter, still lowered to point at the floor. He grits his teeth, pretending to fight himself on what to do. “It’s okay, Omega,” Hunter says softly. “Just look at me.”

Omega stares into Hunter’s eyes, her own full of tears. “I want to go home,” she says.

Hunter takes one hand off the gun, pretending to raise it in surrender. “I’m here, Omega. I’m here.”

Hemlock laughs in victory, aiming the gun instead at Hunter. Stupid, arrogant mistake. “That’s right. Put that gun down. Nice and slow.”

The blow is sudden, and hard. Hemlock loses consciousness immediately, and Omega sprints for Hunter’s arms. Hunter catches her easily, arms wrapping around her and holding her as tightly as he can.

“You lose,” Crosshair spits, swaying on his feet. He leans heavily on the bench Hemlock is now slouched over.

Wrecker hits Emerie over the back of the head with the handle of his blaster, and is pushing past Hunter and Omega before her body hits the floor. He throws Crosshair’s arm over his shoulder, using one arm to help support his weight. “I knew you were still in there somewhere,” Wrecker says lowly.

Hunter pets Omega’s hair, holding her to his chest. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you. I’m here now.”

“Hunter,” Omega cries, tiny fists clenching at his hair to keep him close.

“Hunter,” Echo calls from behind them. “Rex is on his way to get the decommissioned clones. Or…” his voice turns sad for a moment. “The ones who are left. There were a lot of guards here.”

Hunter raises himself from his kneeling position, bringing Omega with him. Her legs wrap around his waist, and he half rests her on his hip. “Good. Help Crosshair. Wrecker, grab Hemlock.” All three of his brothers hesitate, questions on the tip of their tongues. “Now,” Hunter growls.

Wrecker gently passes Crosshair to Echo, and then throws Hemlock over his shoulder. Omega buries her face in Hunter’s neck, quiet sobs breaking his heart.

They make their way to the elevator, and Hunter glares at the escapees so they won’t join them. There isn’t much room left anyway.

“I’m sorry,” Crosshair says after several minutes of silence.

Hunter looks to him, and for the first time since Ord Mantell, his face softens. He raises the hand not holding Omega to cup his shoulder, squeezing. He doesn’t say anything; he doesn’t need to. The sigh of relief Crosshair tries to hide is indicative of message received.

There’s a lot of questions which will be asked later. Later. Once they’re free from this hell planet. Once Omega is safe on their ship. Once he has time.

[allyricas]

I am now home and fuck, I have so many thoughts about why this song feels like a Nancy anthem!

The who's who of "Who's that?" is poised for the attack But my bare hands paved their paths You don't get to tell me about "sad" If you wanted me dead, you should've just said Nothing makes me feel more alive

There were so many people that were out for blood. From the high school bully level to the goddamn government, Nancy has her enemies. This is apparent right away, but no one gives Nancy more grief than herself. She has so much guilt for Barb, that I believe she will always hold. When Barb goes missing and is presumed dead, everyone besides Jonathan expects her to move on. To keep going like her best friend is not gone- and that had she not walked inside with Steve, Barb may have very well survived. No one else can tell Nancy Wheeler about sad. She is intimately acquainted with grief and pain and sadness.

But...in the midst of all of this, she finds herself. she finds her strength and she turns her sadness into rage. Even when Jon isn't as understanding anymore, she fights her own battles and for what she believes is right. Nothing makes her feel more alive than to fight back.

"Who's afraid of little old me?" You should be The scandal was contained The bullet had just grazed At all costs, keep your good name You don't get to tell me you feel bad Is it a wonder I broke? Let's hear one more joke

And

You caged me and then you called me crazy I am what I am 'cause you trained me

That first time she screams who's afraid of little old me, she is genuinely asking. But that first you should be is a realization of her own power. They should be afraid of her. She is realizing just what she is capable of. Nancy Wheeler fights monsters and wields guns, is willing to do whatever it takes to avenge Barb, to do what is right.

Steve wanted to go back to normal, to pretend like everything was fine because he was scared of his parents reaction. He cares so much about whatever thinks. (at all costs keep your good name, you don't get to tell me you feel bad) He comes through in the end, but nancy felt betrayed by his insistence to carry on. To go to parties and play act like they were in love. Meanwhile, his friends are making fun of her and she knows it. Nancy is very aware of everything going on around her. She breaks. She chooses to right the wrong regardless of the cost to her or her relationships.

I was tame, I was gentle 'til the circus life made me mean "Don't you worry, folks, we took out all her teeth" I wanna snarl and show you just how disturbed this has made me You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me I'm always drunk on my own tears, isn't that what they all said? That I'll sue you if you step on my lawn That I'm fearsome and I'm wretched and I'm wrong

The soft, sweet even prim image that Nancy has in the beginning of the show quickly reveals that her truest nature is something much more fierce. She was the quiet bookworm. Hell, she was that person to an extent before trauma transformed her into a woman who is fearsome and wretched and wrong. We see her seek out something to make her world a little less tame and gentle only for her to realize that isn't who she truly is.

Nancy is willing to do whatever it takes avenge Barb, to take out Vecna, to do what she believes must be done. This is without apology and with no concern to what it costs. We see it in her relationships with Steve and Jon. We see it in the way she is the first to suggest going right back into the Upside Down. What is called mean is something else entirely because she is not mean. But she is absolutely fearsome.

I think she realizes how this makes her seem sometimes, but she is a woman on a mission. It is as much a flaw as it is one of her best qualities. The duality of her nature that makes her such an engaging character. She took on the government and won. She shot a monster in the face, dove into a lake knowing the monsters were waiting to just to save a boy who hurt her.

Nancy's is fierce and unrelenting in the face of adversity. She is also deeply caring and willing to fight for those she loves. She is undeniably the woman you want on your team when the world starts falling apart. I think it's unreal how often Nancy gets characterized as being cold or unfeeling. Isn't it clear just how truly the exact opposite she is? She feels and loves with everything. It's why she had such monumental grief and rage. It's also why she is such a good friend.

So, who's afraid of little old me? You should be. Fuck yeah, you should be and Nancy Wheeler unabashedly knows it and I love that for her.