#four more attacks to post but i'll do them later

[flame-shadow]

Bloodsport Puppet Mantis God (and Charon) for @mantisgodsart [Attack #80]

(I did some work to this piece post-art fight, because the attack version felt unfinished but I hadn't had the time to poke at it and get it where I wanted. Below the cut are some of the iterations:

submission on art fight -> after some additions but still felt like it was missing a few things -> final

[thehusbandoden]

He Doesn't Realize How Much he Needs You Until You're Gone Part One- Dabi

A/n: 100th writing I've posted :3

I hope you like it haha.

General info:

Genre: pure angst \\ wc: 2,425 \\ female reader \\ posted: 06/06/24

Warnings!: arguing, neglect, pure angst, crying, yelling, screaming, hurt, feeling betrayed, injuries (reader gets burned- not by Dabi), pushing your partner away (both parties), feeling worthless, feelings being discarded, mention of therapy, thoughts of leaving, thoughts of death, fear of a loved one dying, numbing your emotions, Dabi raging (burning things), leaving, partner being very tsundere, mention of blood (Dabi's tears), regret, guilt, becoming a husk, I think that's all haha. Pls lmk if I miss anything! <33

I will post two endings, one with angst and one with fluff. Lmk if you want to be tagged!

Tears roll down your cheeks as you spam Dabi with texts. You had just gotten into an argument with your beloved when he stormed out, cursing you out.

"Please." You quietly plead, your voice broken with sobs. "Don't leave me."

All of your texts remain unread. All your calls declined. You were having a panic attack by now, yet nothing seemed to get the villain's attention.

Just as you're about to completely lose it, you hear footsteps. Your freeze, listening with an indescribable intensity. The window opens. Your eyes dart to the activity.

Familiar black combat boots peek through the gap, falling to the floor. Your eyes travel up the familiar torn jeans, the worn out t-shirt, the burned neck, the crooked frown, and finally to the comforting turquoise eyes.

You let out a sob of relief as you see your Dabi standing in front of you. He looks down at you, grimacing.

"What happened to you?" He scoffed.

"I-I was worried." Your voice was hoarse and broken from your sobs.

"Worried?" He grunts. "You're more idiotic than I thought." He groans, grabbing the sandwich you made before the argument.

"I-I thought you were leaving me."

"I'm not gonna leave ya. No matter how annoying you are." He scoffs.

Annoying....

Your mind repeats the word several times, your face stiffening as you numb your emotions.

"Sorry..." you mumble.

"Don't start that pouty crap." He scoffs, shooting you a glare. "I'm tired of you being such a bother. I have so much to deal with. Your pathetic emotions isn't on my list."

You quietly fold your arms, moving to the couch. You watch Dabi silently, taking deep breaths to contain your emotions.

"I'm leaving for a mission tonight. I'll be back before next week."

His voice was less harsh, but nowhere near as warm as usual.

"O-okay.." you mumble, fidgeting with your sleeves. He rolls his eyes with a scoff, stomping into your shared bedroom.

~~

"I'm leaving now, brat."

You scramble to your feet, swiftly moving to his side. You lean up, hoping for a kiss as you ever so slightly pucker your lips.

You know your husband. He will notice... won't he?

His cold eyes move down to your lips. He grunts, turning around and leaving. "See ya later, brat. Don't be pouting when I get home, you hear?" He mutters, hauling himself through the window.

He always came in and out through the back window... it would be bad if your neighbors caught a highly wanted villain in your apartment.. hence the sneaking.

You've lived together for over a year now, you've moved four times now.

"Wait-" you call out, reaching out to your husband. His cold gaze burns into you.

"Um- a-aren't you going to... going to.."

"Spit it out, woman."

"Aren't you going to.. kiss me?" You blush. Dabi scoffs.

"Don't expect needles privileges after your attitude yesterday."

"Attitude?! Do you mean our argument?" You protest.

"Here it goes again." He groans. "You're always complaining and refusing to take accountability."

"Thats nonsense." You clench your fists, trying to suppress your emotions. Tears burned your eyes, but you refused to let them shed.

"What's nonsense is your attitude. You can't even keep me around now can ya? Your attitude always drives me off! I wonder why I ever married you in the first place. You give me attitude and then act like I'm the victim. Pathetic."

Tears well in your eyes. You bite your lip. "I won't ask for anymore from you." You whisper.

"Good. Keep it that way." He lands outside, shrugging his shoulder before walking off with an nonchalant attitude.

You close the window, leaning against the wall as you try to slow down your breathing. Tears fall down your cheeks as you curl in a ball, feeling hurt, angry, betrayed, and worthless.

The days pass by as you wait for Dabi to return. You didn't hear from him, and he was gone far longer than he said he would be. Every text was left unread, every call ignored, every voice-mail left un-listened to.

Eventually, you stopped trying. You got a therapist, and ended up deciding on what was best for you. When he comes home, if he doesn't treat you better, if he doesn't even listen or try to change, its better for you to leave. Even if it was just for a little bit.

Days turn into weeks, and weeks blur into months. Many nights you lay awake, doubting yourself. Doubting your worth.

It killed you inside. Your self esteem plummeted. You stopped going to therapy. All you wanted was your husband. Your husband's love, his validation, his touch, his mere presence.

Curled in a ball, you stared at the wall with a blank expression. Horrid scenarios went through your head as you imagine your poor husband alone, injured, and dying.

Tears blur your vision as you imagine him already dead, his loving soul leaving this world without even telling you goodbye. You hadn't even gotten a kiss. Or an I love you.

The tears don't stop. And they didn't as the hours slowly pass by. You felt like ripping your hair out, screaming, hitting, throwing things- anything to get your mind off of your husband's doomed death.

The window opens. Your eyes dart towards the unlocked glass pane. Combat boots pokes through. You gasp in relief.

A worn, exhausted, injured, and in pain figure follows the boots. Revealing your beloved, Dabi. You let out a small sob, launching yourself at him.

You close your eyes in relief as you feel his warm chest, the familiar staples bringing you comfort. As you move to open your eyes you feel a hand to your shoulder, your backside hitting the floor.

You look up in shock, Dabi looking down at you in disgust.

"I thought you said you wouldn't ask anymore from me." He scoffed. You grab your arm, holding it to your chest.

"I-" you start.

"I really don't want to hear it. Just let me rest." He groans. You slowly lift yourself off of the floor, silently moving into your shared bedroom.

You curl in a ball, hiding under the sheets. You hear him walking around outside of the room, silently listening. Tears blur your vision once more. You cover your mouth, tightly closing your eyes.

You shake with sobs, doing your very best to stay quiet. You can't help but feel worthless. Tears stream down your cheeks as you listen to your husband's familiar footsteps, glad he's safe at the minimum...

Hours pass by as you cry yourself to sleep, your stray tears staining your cheeks.

~~

Dabi's POV

Dabi strolls into your shared bedroom. "Oi, make me a sandwich will ya?" He grunts. Yiu don't move, irritating him.

He moves to your side, snatching the blanket. "I said-" he stops as he sees you asleep, tears stained on your cheeks. A strange pain dtabs at his chest. Shaking it off, he drops the blanket.

Staring at you, he gently cups your cheek, pressing his lips to yours in a gentle kiss. He pulls away, caressing your cheek. "I've missed you. Even though you're a pain." He whispers before pulling away.

~~

Your POV

The next morning

You blink open your eyes, rubbing at the lingering sleepiness. Yawning, your eyes lazily run over the room. The curtains were hiding the small bedroom from sunlight, the entire room encompassed in darkness.

Sitting up, you rub your puffy eyes once more. Dabi was no where near sight. Sighing, you absent-mindedly trace the bruise on your arm where you fell.

Your heart aches as you remember your therapist's words. This isn't healthy. It needs to stop...

The door opens, revealing Dabi. "Finally awake, sleepy head?" His voice wasn't the cold growl like last night, but it was no where near gentle.

You nod, timidly. Afraid of upsetting him once more.

"I'm starving. Want to make breakfas..?" This was his way of asking you to. If you agreed, there would be no thank you, for you "wanted" to.

If you said no, he would be irritated for a while. He won't cook, no matter how many times you beg him to while you're away, so he will oftenly go without eating if you're unavailable or refuse to cook.

Biting your lip, you nod. He gives you a short grimace, something similar to a small smile before walking out. Standing up, you yawn, stretching your arms. Your eyes ache from all the crying, but you push that to the back of your mind.

You walk out to the kitchen, beginning to cook. You feel Dabi's eyes on you, but you don't pay much attention. You were guarded, unsure why he's acting so differently this morning. Cautious of unleashing the monster once more.

"Dabi?" You murmur. He grunts in response.

"I talked to a therapist when you were on your mission..."

"A therapist? What for? Did you leak my identity?!" He snaps.

"No, I didn't. I was really struggling for a while and needed someone to help me."

"So you relied on a stranger?!"

"You wouldn't answer. I called, texted, I left voice-mails."

"Oh so you think that your crappy attempt to get my attention justifies getting help from a stranger!? Was he a guy?! Were you sleeping with him?!"

"What?! No! I would never!"

"Then what were you doing with them?!"

"I was getting help for my mental state, Dabi!"

"Oh poor baby, you think being lonely justifies that?!"

"You're being unreasonable. Dabi she told me it was best for me to leave you if you keep treating me like this. I'm telling you this so you can wake up and change. This isn't okay." You snap, taking a deep breath to calm yourself.

"Leave me?!" He laughs. "You wouldn't. You can't live without me."

"You've been making me live without you for months, Dabi. You don't tell me you love me, you don't show me affection, I'm lucky just to have you not yell at me!"

"You're being dramatic." He spits. "You're a spoiled brat. I've been working my arse off for you and you're this ungrateful."

"You've been working for revenge! It's not for me, it never was! I have my own job that pays for all or our bills Dabi!"

"You're listening to a stranger's advice and plan on leaving me?!"

"Only if you don't change Dabi!"

"You knew what you were getting into when you married me, y/n. Stop playing the victim."

"You didn't treat me like this when we first married."

"Keep telling yourself that." He spits, putting his jacket on.

"Where are you going?!" You cry, the food far from recovery, you hazardously shove the pan into the sink, burning your hand. You cry out in pain.

"Y/n!" Dabi yells, hurrying your side. He aggressively graps your hand, making you cry out once more. "Idiot! Why did you hurt yourself like that?!"

"Just leave me alone!" You try to yank your hand away but Dabi yanks it back.

"Stay still!"

"Let me go Dabi!"

"Y/n just sit still!!"

You push him back, protectively pressing your injured hand to your chest. "I said to let me go!"

Dabi's face scrunches up as he looks down at you. After a few silent moments he turns away. "I'm over you and your dramatic act." He mumbled.

Walking to the door, he pulls his combat boots on. "Don't leave!" You cry, coddling your burning hand.

He ignores you, moving to the window. "Dabi! If you leave without us finishing this I'm leaving."

"Go for it. I don't need you. I never did." He sneered.

Your heart throbbed as your beloved husband jumped through the open window, not looking back. Falling to your knees you break into sobs.

You cry over the absence of your beloved, you cry over the pain, and you cry over the dreaded feeling of being completely alone.

You don't stop for hours. It goes on and on until your completely out of tears, numb to the feeling of utter loss. Your hand aches. Your eyes aches. Your heart aches.

It all just- hurts.

You slowly drift to sleep, the cold kitchen floor being the only thing that grounds you from the pain of betrayal.

~~

Dabi's POV

Three days later.

Dropping from the window Dabi nonchalantly glances around the room. It seemed unusually cold an empty. Paying it no mind, Dabi hazardly tossed his jacket and boots towards the front door.

"Y/n, I'm home." He calls, running his hands through his greasy hair, his roots were growing out. Rolling his eyes, he opens the fridge. It was... empty.

"Y/n!" He calls once more, huffing in annoyance. "I get home and can't even eat?!"

No response. "For Pete's sake you petty brat! Get out here!"

Silence.

Anger fills his being before he remembers your words before he left. A strange pain shoots through him, his eyes widen as he runs into your shared bedroom. Everything of yours was... gone.

His heart quickens as he searches the entire house for you. Nothing. Not even a trace. His breathing quickens as he pulls at his hair. Taking a shuddering breathe, he shakes his head.

"You'll regret this y/n... you'll be back and I'll laugh in your face!" He chuckles, losing a bit of his sanity. "I DON'T NEED YOU! YOU'LL SEE!" He screams, activating his quirk as he knocks over a chair. He let's out a scream, lighting anything and everything in sight on fire.

Months pass by. Dabi has turned into a shell, simply surviving. Work, sleep, work, sleep, work... a "good" day is when he remembers to eat or drink. A shower or change of clothes is out of mind.

Walking through the streets, he walks inside the charred apartment. Stepping inside, he closes the door. He doesn't care about his identity anymore, or anything really.

His turquoise eyes scan the apartment, his eyes landing on a photo of you and him. His heart strangely aches once more. "Y/n..." he murmured, his fists clenching.

Falling to his knees, he lets out a broken sob. His eyes burn, tears would be running if they could. Blood drips from his charred tear ducts. He falls to the floor face first, nothing but his beloved wife on his mind.

How could he be so stupid?! How could he be so utterly retarted?! He lost the one thing in this world that actually loved him. Grasping his phone, he dials your number.

Please. Please pick up... please... I need you...

~~~~~

Part two (coming soon) | alt. ending (coming soon) lmk if you want to be tagged!! <33

Dabi's masterlist | Masterlist | Navigation | Tips<3

Reblogs make me smile (bonus points if you tag) and comments make my day!!

~~~~~

Do not copy, repost, nor plagiarize my work. Ask before you translate or use my work in any way, minus reblogging. 

[thepiratefish]

Prime defenders if there was tumblr.

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🐺Fiddlemcgee follow

Why aren't there more Fics of Wavelength and Tide just hanging out?? I once saw wavelength topple over because of stomach pains, and instead of continuing the fight, they both started showing each other pictures of their kids and talking about them until they agreed to settle the battle later.

Why don't we have more funny fics of them acting like that??

‼️BLORGUMS🌟 follow

Fics where they act like that and kiss.

🐺Fiddlemcgee follow

fics where they act like that and kiss.......

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💥BUNGOBINGboNG‼️follow

Shoutout to WispMysterys for actually adventuring into ACTUAL haunted places and getting arrested for it, were on your side, buddy keep doing your thing

👻WispMysterys456🐺 follow

Thanks man

💥BUNGOBINGboNG‼️follow

WISPMYSTRYS456?!?!?!?!

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💜ThatsAlotOfAshe🎧

I'll be streaming minecraft later today with the Hero Tide since you all wanted it so badly. Join in around 6, collaborate with @👻WispMysterys456🐺 happening around next week 👍

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👤Hero-Updates-Central. follow

[ALT:Screenshot of post of the Hero Tide with the username '💙TidetheTidalhero🌊' reading `Dose anyone know where to find a good Pizzaplace? My boys are sick and I want to get them there favourite food!`

Water Hero Tide Has a child / multipule? More updates on this situation will be updated soon.

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🎵Killingwithcunt🎵 follow

We all should attack David bells Office more often actual <3

✖️Villanova-Gal-Deactivated

Actually, you shouldn't! >:(

🎵Killingwithcunt🎵 follow

You say this, but even fleas wouldn't touch your rotted skin as it is so unholy the devil wouldn't even stand amongst you

DanielDuck🦆follow

Op said this and they immediately died where they stood 🧍‍♂️

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🌼UtopiaEgg🌼 follow

Putting a fake frog on top of a comicly large red X to lure lefrog under it to then crush them with a piano,

🌼UtopiaEgg🌼 follow

[ALT: an image of the villain lefrog crushed under a piano.]

I DIDNT MEAN TO ACTUALY DO IT

🐶Pugpuppet🐺 follow

Oh my God, it finally happened... he's dead...

🌺LefrogFrogFan🐸 follow

THIS IS WORSE THEN THE POSSESED LE FROG ARC

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RATRATRATRATRAT🐀🐀🐀🗡 follow

Hwe tuyr

Wavelength-Offcial⚙️ follow

How do you not know how to type

Waelng gel heo tue hi 👋 whau he fu man ma u in copuer help help help help ge ou

Wavelength-Offcial⚙️ follow

Stay there I'm gonna teach you how to type

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Smokrslourp💨 follow

A man just ate a rat on the sidewalk thepn ran away on all fours I fucking hate this place

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[longwuzhere]

My Adventures with Superman Season 2 Easter Eggs

WHAT A FANTASTIC FINALE! HOLY SHIT! I TEARED UP SEVERAL TIMES AND MY GOD WAS THIS SUCH A GOOD FINAL EPISODE FOR SEASON 2!!!! This may be the last Easter Eggs post, episode wise, but we still have the other 4 issues of the comic so come back here each month for that and also at the end I'll give you some recommendations to keep you occupied til season 3 gets a premiere date.

My Easter eggs lists for season 1 is here if you haven't seen it!

My season 2 episode 1 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 2 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 3 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My season 2 episode 4 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 5 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 6 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My season 2 episode 7 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 8 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 9 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

Spoilers if you haven't seen the episode

Starting things off the episode title is My Adventures with Supergirl. An obvious nod to the show title, but also good way to acknowledge the journey we had with Kara whether its seeing her past, what she did under Brainiac's control, and what our trio will do to help Kara be free from Brainiac.

Makes sense that Henshaw is part of the Human Defense Corp (or Squadron in this case) and it looks like the fool dies so maybe Cyborg Superman in the future who know, but I talked about the Human Defense Corp here and Hank Henshaw here.

As Superman and Kara lie on the street thanks to the Metallos and Brainiac's control over them, we see them get saved by the Intergang and Livewire and Heatwave! I talked more about Intergang here and Livewire and Heatwave here and here respectively.

Later in the scene Roughhouse makes a subtle reference to Lobo, but "the Main Man" in this case is referring to General Sam Lane. But if Lobo shows up in a future season, I'll talk more about him, and god I want to see him show up so bad!

Over where Lois, Jimmy, and Steve are, the Metallos chase after them and are saved by Dr. John Henry Irons a.k.a. Steel! I talked more about him here. I'd love to see him wear the helmet like his comic counterpart and the red cape in a future episode.

Later in the episode Superman, Kara, Intergang, Livewire, Heatwave, and Steel attack Brainiac's station and were able to break though his defenses and as they enter Brainiac's chamber, Brainiac activates Kara's brainwashing saying "Eradicator Override"

If you know your Superman comics, the Eradicator was first mentioned in Action Comics Annual #2 (1989) [W: Roger Stern, Jerry Ordway, George Perez, P: Mike Mignola, I: George Perez, C: Glenn Whitmore, L: Bill Oakley] where it was a weapon that was used to kill the Cleric on Krypton who was spreading his message about peace and the unethical uses of cloning on Krypton.

The weapon would later be found by Superman and it caused more problems for him until he threw it away in Antarctica where it created the Fortress of Solitude.

Later during the death of Superman, the Eradicator would emerge as an energy being who takes on the visage of Superman, take Clark's body back to the Fortress so he can heal, and would be one of the four Supermen who took over for Superman at that time. This version of the Eradicator first appeared in Action Comics #687 (1993) [W: Roger Stern, P: Jackson Guice, I: Denis Rodier, C: Glenn Whitmore, L: Bill Oakley]

When we see Kara fight Superman under the control of Brainiac later, she has red eyes just like the Eradicator in the comics as shown here in the panel from Superman #82 (1993) [W&P: Dan Jurgens, I: Brett Breeding, C: Glenn Whitmore, L: John Costanza].

Later in the episode, Clark, Lois, and Jimmy try to calm Kara and help her fight against Brainiac's influence and they succeed (also had me tear up in that moment too) and shout out Kara's Canary Cry! Black Canary would be proud AF!

After pushing back on Brainiac's station Clark and Kara battle Brainiac in space and Brainiac monologues about Krypton's destruction and his excuse of existing. He activates the weapon that destroyed Krypton, the Black Zero Protocol.

The first and only known version of Black Zero that destroyed Krypton was in Superman #205 (1968) [W: Otto Binder, P&I: Al Plastino] where the saboteur was hired to destroy Krypton by accelerating the internal planetary stresses that caused the planet to explode. He was planning on doing the same to the Earth before Superman stopped him. Other iterations and uses of the Black Zero name include, a Kryptonian Terrorist Group that created a computer virus of the same name that infected the Fortress of Solitude, a clone of Conner Kent, and a Kryptonian military group.

After Kara took the hit and plunged into the sun, she and Clark are saved thanks to their Kryptonian physiology because they get their powers from the Sun. You notice their Kryptonite scarring/veins glow a gold color bringing to mind...

Superman Prime One Million from DC Million #4 (1998) [P: Val Semekis, I: Prentis Rollins, C: Pat Garrahy & Heroic Age] who is OG Superman after outliving all his family and friends traveled throughout the DC universe and absorbing the Sun's radiant energy for like hundreds of years where his powers are now near infinite levels giving him this gold look. This version of Superman according to Grant Morrison is the same as the one in All-Star Superman.

In a Kryptonian religious sense, you could argue that Rao, the sun god of the Kryptonians, saved his last two people from death and giving them power to fight against Brainiac.

The MAwS crew really love their DBZ cuz the sun aura Clark and Kara give off is the same vibe as what Super Saiyans have when they power up.

We then see Kara and Clark glow a red and blue aura respectively which, I might be reading into it a lot, could be symbolic of Nightwing and Flamebird, the Kryptonian gods/heroes/dragons and the identities that Clark and Kara took up at one point in the comics with Clark taking up the Nightwing name and Kara taking up the Flamebird name. Also maybe its Superman Blue and Superman Red sorta deal who knows. It was cool though.

By the end of the episode we see people tuning to the aftermath of what happened and we see Channel 52 on display. I talked more about that here.

We then see Lex and Slade looking up on the LexCorp building. I talked more about LexCorp here but its first appearance in the comics is in The Man of Steel #2 (1986) [W&P: John Byrne, I: Dick Giordano, C: Tom Zuiko, L: John Costanza] as shown below:

Shout out to Clark still wearing the Stussy S/the cool S

and finally we close out the episode with Clark and Kara going to stop the fire at Perez Plaza, named after legendary artist George Perez.

George Perez is well known for his Wonder Woman run and being the co-creator of the Teen Titans in the 80s with Marv Wolfman. He helped design Lex Luthor's iconic battle suit (I really hope to see it in MAwS someday). Perez also had a run on the Superman comics too. He worked on Action Comics for a short while as penciler and did some breakdown work on the title. He also wrote and inked on the Adventure of Superman comics. Perez wrote, did the layouts, and drew the cover art for the 2011 Superman run. If you love the Teen Titans/Titans, like me, you gotta give thanks to this man.

DC in 2022 did a really awesome tribute to him by collaborating with other DC artists to show how much of an impact his career was on the DC universe give both images a look cuz its beautiful and you can see which artist did which character. Also check this video out and see George Perez work his art magic:

And with that our episodic look at the Easter Eggs and references come to an end, but we still have the other 4 issues of the My Adventures with Superman tie-in comic so come back here again in August for that.

In the mean time when we get a date for season 3 I highly recommend reading the My Adventures with Superman comics, read The Man of Steel (1986) limited series because a lot of pop culture's understanding of the Superman mythos and characters comes from that limited series, read the Death of Superman, A World Without Superman, and Reign of the Supermen because you will see how much of an impact Superman made defending Metropolis from Doomsday, his death affecting everyone he met, and his glorious return. Also give the DC Rebirth era of Superman comics a shot too because you get to see Lois and Clark raise a son. The DC Infinite Frontier Superman run that came after the Rebirth era is just as good that I highly recommend reading too. Out of continuity wise definitely check out Superman: Secret Identity, All-Star Superman, Kingdom Come, the current World's Finest run, and Superman vs the Amazing Spider-Man.

In terms of watching highly recommend watching Superman the Animated Series because that series is equally good to MAwS and it helped build out the DCAU which I also highly recommend everyone to dive into. Shin Ultraman (and hell basically all of the Ultraman media) because like Superman its an alien who defends the Earth, hides amongst the population and actually thinks human beings can live up to their potential. Tsuburaya's Ultraman and Superman would be damn good friends. If you need some goofy fun, the Super Friends is a fun watch if you need light hearted cartoons.

My Easter eggs lists for season 1 is here if you haven't seen it!

My season 2 episode 1 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 2 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 3 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My season 2 episode 4 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 5 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 6 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My season 2 episode 7 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 8 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 9 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

[styllwaters]

Primarily airborne sophonts hailing from the low-gravity planet of Hanidias, the Arrows are one of the oldest species in the Zhagaviit Galactic Community.

___

Introducing Arrows officially! These guys are the revised version of my older spec bio species, the Angelum. They've since undergone a lot of changes. Further information below!

Before I begin, I would like to make some things clear. A lot of the lore in the old Angelum info post is now irrelevant. Here are the revisions:

The Sacrazoa, Thronalia and Seraphae subtypes do not exist. Additionally, there is no 'Original Angelum'.

Previously I stated that the entirety of the population was genetically modified, but I've retconned this to only a select few individuals.

The only Genizix-touched Arrows are the Higher Arrows, which I will delve into later.

Lifepods do not exist.

Rather than communicate telepathically, the Arrows communicate with chemical signalling/pheromones.

Now that that's out of the way, time for some fresh new lore!

___________________

Arrows spend a good amount of time floating in the air. They possess a specialised 'gas bladder' which they can inflate and deflate to control their position, slightly similar to how a fish controls its buoyancy in the water.

They do not have the same level of agility as a bird or other winged creatures, their lack of powered flight making them significantly slower. However, they can change direction, dive quickly, land, and often take advantage of air currents and wind to increase speed.

Arrows feed on floating 'aeroplankton' which thrive in the atmosphere of their planet. Concentrations of these microscopic lifeforms are farmed in enormous quantities. Arrow's feeding tendrils are typically only deployed when they are eating; the aeroplankton is absorbed into the tendrils and nutrients are transported upwards to the main hub. However, they can also be deployed for courtship displays (especially for the males) and dancing.

Arrows, in the past, were the target of many predators. They were mainly concerned with attacks from other smaller, faster, flying organisms. To combat this, their five eyes aided in a wide peripheral vision enabling them to spot trouble quickly. In addition, they evolved countershading in order to camouflage with the dark sea below and the cloudy sky above. Males sport a more contrasting palette, clearly outlining them against the sky, but those who were able to survive indicated a viable choice for a mate.

Nowadays, with safer areas, infrastructure and impressive technology, predators are no longer a threat.

There are four main ethnic groups on Hanidias; namely Cursors, Needles, Indicators and Darts. Cursors and Needles mainly reside in the skies above the open ocean and cliff sides. Indicators make their home in the icy Northern and Southern poles, and Darts above the brackish river water further inland. However, all Arrows are very widespread.

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This is just an introductory post - there's still a lot to say about these fellas - but i'll leave it there for now. As always, asks are welcome!

[acknowledge-reigns]

Welcome Back, OTC. (I'll make love to you) | Roman Reigns x Black!fem OC. SMUT. 18+!! MDNI!

Description: Roman is full of surprises at the biggest party of the summer. Lilah is eager to welcome him back.

Warnings: Established Dom/sub dynamic, teasing, spanking/mention of spanking, praise/rewards ("good girl "), honorifics ("Daddy", "My tribal chief"), Nipple play, Petnames (Princess, babygirl, little brat?), vaginal sex, mild brating/brat taming and begging.

Face claim: Jaylen Barron.

Song: I'll make love to you by Boys ll Men

You can find more of my work here.

Stories that feature Roman x Lilah include: Jealous, 34+35, There goes my baby, Nonsense, and Worst to me.

Again, MDNI!!! THIS IS AN 18+ FAN FICTION. As always my stories are about Roman Reigns NOT Joe Anoa'i.

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Lilah sat backstage, anxiously waiting for her boyfriend Roman Reigns to return from the ring. She had no idea ahead of time that he was going to show up and go all 'Wreck everyone and leave' on his little cousin. She was honestly in disbelief. Truth be told it was probably for the best. Lilah couldn't hold water. If she caught glimpse of a birthday gift Roman had gotten for one of his cousins, it was within hours that she'd spill the beans. it's just who she was, surprises were not her forte.

She had been backstage removing her makeup and what-not after her own match, completely in the dark as to what Roman had up his sleeve when she heard the arena erupted in cheers and Lilah's heart skipped a beat. She knew that sound all too well - Roman's wrestlemania 40 theme.

Lilah rushed to the monitor, eager to see her beloved boyfriend. She watched in disbelief as Roman practically flew into the ring and superman punched Solo, giving him no time to recover before hitting him with a spear as 50k+ people roared thunderously in support of him.

After the match, Roman made his way backstage.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming back?" she asked, her voice neutral.

Roman smiled almost sheepishly. "I wanted it to be a surprise," he said.

Lilah was both angry and relieved. She was angry that Roman had kept her in the dark, but relieved that he was back. In the direct aftermath of wrestlemania 40 the two of them had gone on vacation together, had some island time and just took some time to reconnect, though after the first month Lilah made her return to WWE whereas Roman had not been seen since April. It was now August. Four months later. To the fans it had felt like an eternity. It had for Lilah too really. Being on the road without him felt incredibly weird. Especially now that she wasn't traveling with the bloodline.

With Jimmy and Paul both out with injuries after getting attacked by the new members Solo had brought into the bloodline. Jacob, Tama and Tanga had all been recruited post wrestlemania season when Solo decided that he wanted to play pretend, he had convinced himself that he was the tribal chief and Lilah didn't want any part of it. So she was more than willing to travel by herself, though she did sometimes ride with Trin, Bianca and Jade.

She'd kept Roman in the loop the entire time, constantly filling him in on the shit talking Solo was doing, down to him having the audacity to wear the ula fala. Roman was eerily calm each time, he just reassured her that things would be fine. Just do her own thing, keep her distance from Solo and the others and that he would be back when the time was right.

It seemed that the time was right at Summerslam. "OTC?" Lilah questioned.

"Original tribal chief." Roman responded, a smirk on his face. Lilah couldn't help but chuckle. She loved when he got petty.

As they entered Roman's locker room, Roman pulled Lilah into a tight embrace.

A petty Roman Reigns was a dangerous Roman Reigns. A sexy Roman Reigns. Not that he wasn't always mouth wateringly fuckable, but this attitude... yeah it was doing something for her.

"I missed you," he whispered.

Lilah melted into his arms, all thoughts of anger and surprise fading away. She had missed him too, more than she could put into words.

"I have another surprise for you." Roman said flirtatiously.

Lilah's curiosity was piqued. "What is it?" she asked, a hint of excitement in her voice.

Roman smiled slyly. "I can't tell you yet," he said, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "But I promise, you'll love it."

Lilah couldn't help but feel a shiver of anticipation. She had always loved the way Roman kept her on her toes.

"When can I find out?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

Roman leaned in close, his breath hot against her ear. "Soon," he whispered. "Very soon."

Lilah's heart was racing now. She couldn't wait to find out what Roman had in store for her.

"But I want to know now," she said, pouting playfully.

Roman chuckled. "Nope," he said, giving her a playful swat on the ass. "I'm afraid you'll just have to wait."

Lilah huffed in mock frustration. "You're no fun," she said, trying to hide her smile.

Roman chuckled and leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.

Lilah's annoyance quickly faded as Roman's lips met hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, and deepening the kiss.

When they finally pulled apart, Roman was grinning. "See?" he said. "I can be fun."

Lilah rolled her eyes, but she was secretly thrilled. "I suppose you're not completely hopeless," she teased.

Roman pretended to be offended. "Ouch," he said, placing a hand over his heart. "You wound me, babygirl."

"You think you can get away with talking to your tribal chief like that? Rolling your eyes at me?" He continued in a playful stern tone, "You want me to spank you, Babygirl?"

Lilah laughed. "You'll live," she said.

Roman chuckled taking a seat and pulled Lilah into his lap. "You're so feisty," he said, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "I love it."

Lilah grinned and snuggled closer to him. "You love me," she said, nuzzling his neck.

Roman smiled and kissed the top of her head. "That I do," he said. "That I do."

They sat in silence for a moment, just enjoying each other's company. Lilah was still curious about Roman's surprise, but she knew better than to push him... She still did it anyway though.

Roman chuckled again, sensing Lilah's eagerness. "You're really not going to let this go, are you, little brat?" he asked, his voice taking on a slightly dominant tone.

Lilah shivered at the sound of his voice. "No," she said, her voice low and sultry. "I want to know what you have planned."

Roman smirked and tightened his grip on her waist. "You're going to have to be a good girl and wait," he said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "And if you're really good, I might just give you a reward."

Lilah's heart skipped a beat. "I can be good, My tribal chief." she said, her voice breathy.

Roman chuckled and ran a hand up her thigh. "I know you can," he said, his touch sending shivers down her spine.

Before long they were back in the luxury hotel suite Roman had booked for them, it was dimly light with rose petals all around and led candles flickering. There was champagne and strawberries. The room itself smelled faintly of lavender which he knew was one of her favorite scents. Soft r&b music, mostly from the 90s played from the Bluetooth speaker on the bedside table.

Lilah's eyes widened as she took in the romantic atmosphere. "You did all this for me?" she asked, her voice filled with awe.

Roman smiled and pulled her closer. "Of course I did," he said. "You deserve the best."

He led her over to the bed and gently pushed her down onto it. "Now, it's time for your reward," he said, his voice low and seductive.

Lilah's heart racing with anticipation. She felt Roman's hands on her body, tracing a path of fire over her skin. She moaned softly as he kissed her neck, his lips moving down to her collarbone.

Roman's hands moved lower, slipping under her shirt and tracing the curve of her hips. He kissed her passionately, his tongue exploring her mouth. Lilah arched her back, pressing herself closer to him.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured, his breath hot against her skin. "And all mine."

Roman began to kiss his way down her body. He removed both her shirt and her bra then tossed it aside,"You were such a good girl. So patient and loyal while daddy was away." He said before he took one of her nipples into his mouth, sucking and teasing it with his tongue.

Lilah moaned louder, her body writhing under his touch. "Roman, please," she begged. "I need you, My tribal chief."

Lilah's body was on fire with desire. She could feel Roman's hands everywhere, his touch sending waves of pleasure through her. She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him closer.

Roman groaned, his own desire evident. "You're so eager, princess." he said, his voice thick with lust.

Roman continued to kiss and touch her, his hands and mouth exploring every inch of her body. Lilah was lost in a haze of pleasure, her mind consumed by the sensations he was creating.

Suddenly, he stopped and pulled away. Lilah opened her eyes, looking at him in confusion, "Daddy..." she whined at his teasing.

Roman's eyes darkened with lust at the sound of her voice. "Yes, princess?" he said, his voice low and commanding.

Lilah shivered at the sound of his nickname for her. "just fuck me already," she whispered. "I want you so badly, my tribal chief, please fuck me."

Roman growled, his control slipping. "You're playing with fire, babygirl," he said as he began to pull down her shorts followed by her black lace panties.

Lilah moaned again, arching her back as he exposed her skin to the cool air. "I don't care," she said. "I need you, daddy."

Roman's hands moved slowly, his fingers tracing patterns over her skin. Roman smirked, enjoying the effect he was having on her. "Is someone feeling a little needy?" he asked, his voice filled with amusement and his signature cockiness.

Liliah whimpered, her body aching for his touch. "Please," she begged. "Please fuck me, daddy."

Roman chuckled, loving the way she begged. "Well since you asked so nicely..." he said before shedding his own clothes.

Roman's hands moved to her hips, gripping them tightly as he positioned himself between her legs. "Mm go ahead, babygirl, acknowledge me." he growled, before thrusting into her.

Lilah cried out, her nails digging into his back as he started to move. "Oh fuck! I acknowledge you, Daddy." she moaned.

Roman continued to thrust into her, his movements rough and possessive. "That's right, babygirl," he said, his voice rough with desire. "You're mine, and I'm going to make sure you know it."

Liliah moaned louder, her body writhing beneath him. "Yes, Daddy, I'm yours. Only yours." she said.

Roman's pace quickened, his thrusts becoming harder and faster. "You're so tight, babygirl," he groaned. "You feel so good around me."

Liliah could feel herself getting closer to the edge, her body tensing with pleasure. "Please, Daddy, I'm so close," she whimpered.

Liliah's body shuddered as she came, her orgasm washing over her in waves. "Daddy!" she cried out, clinging to him tightly.

Roman leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Come for me, princess. I want to feel you come undone around me."

Roman continued to thrust into her, riding out her orgasm before finally finding his own release. He groaned her name as he came, collapsing on top of her.

Liliah wrapped her arms around him, panting and spent. "Welcome back, OTC..." she said, her voice hoarse.

[andreabandrea]

The AndreaBandrea UTY post

I need some place to put my Undertale Yellow (UTY for short) thoughts & criticism, and this is my blog, so I might as well put them here. If you don't want to see constructive criticism about Undertale Yellow, don't click below the readmore!

Pretty much everyone I talk to really likes this game, and honestly, I'm really sad that I don't like it more. I like some parts of it quite a bit! But I have mixed feelings about other parts-- I think the writing and characterization could have been a little more impactful than they were, and I’ll be discussing that here. I don’t want to just rag on this game without expressing suggestions and parts that I do like in more detail, so those will be covered as well. 

I also want to add a disclaimer that I don't have negative feelings towards the development team or fans of this game in the slightest. I have nothing but respect for the creators of Undertale Yellow. This project was obviously a massive undertaking with a lot of love behind it, and I'm glad to see that it's found success and a community of people who do enjoy it. 

The reason I’m writing this post is that, again, I liked parts of this game and wish I enjoyed it more. If I didn’t like it at all, I just wouldn’t engage with it at all anymore. I also haven’t really seen any other people expressing constructive criticism on the game’s writing, so it’s felt more important for me to express these thoughts, be heard, and see if others feel the same way. 

The Good

I'll start off with the things I like. The art, the animation, and the music are all fantastic. I was very impressed by the battle backgrounds and the little touches, like the way Clover runs. Clover doing things like reaching for other’s hands, giving fistbumps, drawing their weapon, changing their expression at times-- they feel very dynamic and fun to play as.

The music is really catchy and fun. I love the iterations on the battle theme-- Snowdin’s battle theme having bells, for example. 

I also had fun with most of the fights in the game! I liked the unique mechanics that came into play (e.g. the lasso in North Star's battle). I think that changing the way Clover attacks compared to Frisk feels organic and fun. 

I also love the mail system. Ever since you could deliver and receive letters in Paper Mario 64, I’ve been hooked on mail as a storytelling system in video games. I think the letters you receive are interesting and clever, and it’s a great way to keep past characters relevant in lieu of a cell phone. 

I’m going to be discussing criticism of the characters later, so I’m going to take a moment to talk a little about things I liked about them. I really like Martlet’s optimism and belief in humans. Starlo made me laugh quite a few times and the Feisty Five have a great dynamic with each other. A lot of the background characters in the game are fun-- I like the one who serves you at the Honeydew Resort. The fact that you can go back to these vendors later on and get four new topics to talk about is fantastic and makes the world feel a lot more alive. 

The Slightly Less-Good (and more disclaimers)

The writing is where the game falls short for me-- and it’s sad for me, because the writing is the heart of Undertale. I don’t think that the writing is bad by any means! I like the characters and story well enough, but- again- I just wish that I liked them more. I’ll try to incorporate suggestions so this isn’t just a total downer post without anything backing it up. 

I want to express something about the ‘suggestions’ that I’ll be offering after the criticism. I know that Undertale Yellow  is now out, and the team isn’t going to go back and change it now, and that’s totally fine. I don’t want to make it sound as if the team should change Undertale Yellow just because I have some reservations about it. I’m just one fan out of many. In the very off chance that a member of the Undertale Yellow development team is reading this--

First of all, hi! 

Second of all, I know that changing major parts of Undertale Yellow at this point is very unrealistic, and I wouldn’t want you to. If anything, I’m honored you’re reading my ramblings at all. I’d be touched if you’d be willing to take some of my words to heart as you move onto your next creative projects.

The reason I’m including suggestions, therefore, isn’t because I think that the team should or must make these changes, but because I don’t want to just sound excessively negative about this game without offering a little feedback. 

I don’t presume that my criticism and suggestions are objectively correct or better than what the Undertale Yellow team created. This is my personal blog, and these are my personal rambly thoughts about Undertale Yellow. The reason I’m including so many disclaimers is because I’ve gotten into discourse before due to poorly thought-out posts about Undertale, and I hope to avoid that this time. I don’t want to just not post something on my own blog, though, because I’m afraid it could be misconstrued or possibly upset somebody. So, I’m trying to discuss this as carefully as I can. 

As one final disclaimer, I'll say that I know that it was more likely than not that I'd be at least a little disappointed by Undertale Yellow. The original Undertale was a very important game for me, and very little could reach that standard. (I think this is one reason why Toby decided to do Deltarune, a sort of AU/spinoff rather than a full-on "Undertale 2", and I respect that decision.) 

I also think that quite a bit of my criticism is subjective-- several of the characters didn't fully click with me and several of the jokes just didn't land for me, personally. More people than you might think just didn’t connect with the regular Undertale, either. I’ll be talking a little about my subjective opinion on characters, but I’ll try to explain why I feel the way I do rather than just say, “XYZ character sucks because they’re lame, moving on.” 

With that said, the post. I’ll be addressing my criticisms from smallest to largest. To begin, I’ll recap the plot of UTY to better analyze aspects that I do and don’t quite like. Spoilers abound.

Undertale Yellow Plot Recap!!!!

The central story of UTY, to my memory and understanding, is as follows:

In the past, a fallen human being went on a rampage in Snowdin and hurt Kanako, the daughter of Chujin, a former royal scientist and monster who happens to be a boss monster. Dalv, an unrelated monster, was also hurt in this incident and sealed himself away in the Ruins in a self-imposed isolation. Chujin’s family (presumably him or Kanako, but not Ceroba, as she doesn’t recognize Dalv) felt bad about this and left him corn from Starlo’s farm as a gift. But, when Chujin died, the corn gifts stopped coming. 

Stepping back a bit, after the incident, Chujin developed a deep hatred for humanity. He invented a security robot called Axis and told it to go kill the human. Axis did this (and we will return to this later). Chujin kept the soul (at least, for a time) to experiment on.

At some point in this, Axis failed to impress Asgore and Chujin was fired as the royal scientist. At some point as well, he began to teach Martlet how to build puzzles. Martlet got a job in the royal guard and Chujin disapproved because humans are very dangerous.  

Due to experimenting on his own boss monster soul in an attempt to find a way to turn regular monsters into boss monsters so that monsterkind could potentially stand up to the threat of humanity, Chujin wound up very ill and then passed away. He left video tapes to his wife, Ceroba, asking her to finish his research. However, he asked her to leave Kanako out of this so she could live a normal life. 

Ceroba agreed to finish this research, but Kanako found out about it and asked to be experimented on because she, like her father, has the power of a boss monster. Ceroba agreed to experiment on her, which injured Kanako and caused her to ‘fall down’. Ceroba sent the near-death Kanako to Dr. Alphys, the new royal scientist, who was collecting ‘fallen down’ monsters for her own experiments with determination. 

Plot summary over. I’ll take a closer look at some of these aspects going forward.

UTY Plot Criticism

I don’t feel like this is a bad story, necessarily. With that said, it doesn’t feel quite as tied together as Undertale’s story does, and I think certain aspects don’t land. 

First, I feel that the majority of the plot elements about Chujin & Kanako get dumped on you at the last minute. You might be thinking that the story about Chara & Asriel is also dumped on you at the last minute-- and to an extent, this is true. You do get a massive amount of information regarding their story near the end of the game, in the True Lab.

However, Chara & Asriel's story is a massive part of the narrative from the very beginning. You meet 'Asriel' (Flowey) in the very beginning of the game. Toriel is in the Ruins due to the fallout of Chara & Asriel's deaths. Asgore and the monsters are trying to kill Frisk and steal their soul because of this, and the royal guard has taken it up as their mission. Sans is aware of an anomaly that will end everything (implied to be the player), and he would have 'killed Frisk where they stand' had he not made a promise to Toriel. And so on.

I’ll be reviewing criticism of the game’s plot in sections themed around each major character. I will be discussing suggestions about each character in their respective section here, as I discuss things I didn’t quite like about each character, my suggestions are intrinsically tied to why I didn’t quite like them. 

Dalv

The connections between characters and the Chujin & Kanako plot feel a bit tenuous to me. Similarly to Toriel, Dalv is in a self-imposed isolation in the Ruins due to a major incident in his past. He fears humans due to the attack he suffered in Snowdin, and he suffers loneliness  after losing his friend (who left him corn). When he sees Clover, he wonders if this is “some sort of haunting” (implying he knows that the human who attacked him was killed). 

In the pacifist route, Clover can prove to Dalv that not all humans are evil and Dalv can move out and learn how to trust people again. This becomes a recurring theme-- Clover, pure of heart, proving to monsters that humanity isn’t that bad after all. 

However, Dalv then disappears from the story. His motivation is to basically be left alone, but once you prove to him that humanity isn’t so bad, his role in the story is essentially complete.

I feel that, by comparison, Toriel’s motivation is more active-- to protect humans who fall down from Asgore. It’s this motivation that drives her to return at the end of the true pacifist route and ultimately make the true ending of Undertale possible.

Dalv’s passiveness makes him a weaker character to me. Now that you’ve proven that you’re his friend and humanity isn’t so bad, I would have liked to have seen him take an active motivation to protect his friend or help them in some way. We don’t have to copy Undertale beat for beat and have him dramatically save Clover from Asgore or anything, but it would have been nice to see him vouch for Clover in some way at some point. 

Now, for the final time, I know that UTY is released and major changes aren’t likely. Some of my suggestions are “I would have liked to see this, but this change would require redoing the entire game,” which I don’t think should or could be done at this stage. This is just daydreaming and- if I’m praising myself highly- potential considerations for the devs’ future works (and the works of any other creatives who are reading this). 

With this proposed major change to Dalv’s character out of the way, I’ll suggest instead the most minimal possible change that I would like to see, so my suggestions don’t feel entirely like just daydreaming. 

I really like how Dalv sends Clover a letter about his moving out to Snowdin. This is active of him in terms of motivation-- Clover is his friend and he wants to keep in touch with his friend. I’d be absolutely thrilled to see a little bit of extra dialogue for him in an update. After you go back to Snowdin and see him, I think the dialogue he already has is totally fine! But, I’d be really happy if he’d take initiative and tell Clover a little more about his experience with the past human, or invite them to rely on him, too. 

Martlet

Martlet felt… a bit restrained in terms of her writing, to me. I think that one aspect of Undertale’s writing is that it’s not afraid to go over the top. Papyrus isn’t just silly, he wears a costume every day and cartoon eyes pop out of his head when he’s surprised. Undyne isn’t just determined, she aspires to be a badass anime heroine. I like Martlet just fine, but she never had a moment where she really stood out to me in this way. 

Martlet’s defining traits are that she likes puzzles, she loves reading and abiding by the rules of the royal guard, and she believes in humanity and wants to help Clover. As I said before, I really like this optimism and belief. I’d like to see more of it. 

Near the end of the true pacifist route, Martlet says that she was taught in the royal guard that humans are scary, but Clover proved to her that humans are kind. This felt very abrupt to me at the time-- we know that Chujin disapproved of her joining the royal guard due to his own trauma, but Martlet had no personal involvement in the last human’s violent actions. 

Martlet doesn’t seem to have any reason to dislike humans more than any other monster. We learn in her diary that she essentially joined the royal guard out of a desire to help people and build puzzles, and also because she needed a job. 

If she’s just supposed to be a representative of the average monster and their feelings toward humanity, and her growing to like Clover is meant to represent how all of monsterkind could grow to like humankind, that would be one thing-- but I think that she specifically is meant to represent a person who wholeheartedly believes that humans can be good and that humans and monsters can live in harmony. In the no mercy route, she repeatedly pleads to Clover to do better, that they don’t have to act this way, that she wants to help them. That’s not the response of the average monster, who fights Clover or tries to flee from them. 

I believe the intention is that Chujin & Martlet represent either end of an ideology axis (no pun intended). Chujin believes all humans are evil no matter what, but Martlet believes that humans can choose to be good. But why does she choose to believe in humans other than a sense of personal optimism? 

I would have liked to have seen some defining event that made Martlet choose to believe in the goodness of humanity. I would have liked to have her being kind and optimistic to a fault be more of a defining trait-- to have that go over the top in an Undertale-style way. A lot of her interactions with other characters just personally weren’t very memorable to me. 

Martlet spends a lot of the game sidelined. She loses you in the Mines. She gets thrown in jail in the Wild East. She has to go back to Snowdin once you're freed. Yes, she's there for you in the true pacifist route, but she's otherwise pretty absent through the neutral/true pacifist routes.

I recognize that the main characters in Undertale can be absent after you leave their respective sections of the game. However, you're able to call Papyrus & Undyne as much as you want, and you get a major hang-out (or “date”) with each of them and Alphys which gives time to expand on their backstory and character arc. Martlet doesn't get that. We even get a little bit of time to hang out with Dalv after we become his friend, but Martlet shoves us on a boat and hurries us to the next area as soon as we beat her. And sure, we get to talk to her on the boat, but it’s just a bit of silly dialogue-- it doesn’t really expand on her character. It feels like a missed opportunity. 

So, yes, my major suggestion on her would be to zoom in more on her belief in you and let her be a liiiiitle sillier and more over the top, and give more opportunity for Clover to hang out with her. 

At this stage, however? In this proposed minor ‘dialogue update’, I’d be really excited to see a little something more from her. Maybe a letter? She does send you one, but only in the neutral route to tell you to meet her on top of the apartments. It would be a good opportunity to either let her be silly or explain a bit about when she came to want to believe in humans-- or both, ideally. 

Starlo

I honestly have very little to say on Starlo. He seems to be the fan favorite, and I did find his section fun! Ultimately, though, he's just kind of… there? I mean, he's on the periphery of Ceroba's (and Chujin and Kanako’s) story because he's her childhood friend (and his family grew the corn that Chujin gives to Dalv), and yes, he later on reminds her that she can still choose to be a better person because he also almost killed Clover! However, every monster in the game almost killed Clover.

There’s nothing wrong with having a silly character who wears a costume and isn’t a major player in the plot. I feel like Starlo is similar to Papyrus in this way. But Papyrus isn’t just a goofball, he’s the monster in Undertale who believes unerringly in Frisk & the player’s ability to do better because he firmly believes that you can make anything happen if you just try. This belief helps elevate Papyrus from comic relief to an actual rounded character. 

I don’t feel like Starlo has any sort of strong conviction like that. We do learn that he wants to bring hope to the Underground by roleplaying as a sheriff in the Wild East town, giving them a slice of (supposed) surface life. I think this is fine, but I’d like to see a bit more of it. In the no mercy route, he does bravely stand against you because he’s a sheriff and it’s his job to bring justice to murderers like Clover. 

My expectation when I first met him, a fellow cowboy (gender-neutral), was that he’d have his own ideas about justice. I expected that he would clash with Clover about these ideals, and neither of them would be quite right or wrong-- and this would prove that justice can’t be measured mathematically, and one outcome can’t be applied to all situations. 

But, he’s not at all bad the way he is. He has a lot of fans, after all. The minor change I’d suggest now that the game is out is that I’d be interested in learning why the cowboy aesthetic specifically appealed to him. Maybe a diary in his room explaining that Westerns are the epitome of ‘justice’ to him? I’d like to see a peek into the motivation that transformed an ordinary farm boy into someone who could bravely stand against a murderous human. 

Ceroba

I’ll be honest. I want to like Ceroba, but I don’t.

I understand that there's an attempt to mirror Asgore in that the war against humanity, in general, has taken Ceroba's partner and her child from her-- and ultimately, Clover forgives her and helps her learn how to move on. It's about letting go, just like Undertale. I get that. But Ceroba’s story doesn't land for me, personally. In order to talk about Ceroba, I need to talk about her husband, Chujin, because Ceroba spends so much of the story acting out Chujin's will. 

Whereas monsters in Undertale do attempt to kill Frisk and steal their soul, and Asgore has killed other children before, it's framed in a very 'video game' violence sort of way (again, Undertale has these meta elements). Ultimately, in the True Pacifist route, none of Frisk's deaths have stuck, and Asgore's actions- while reprehensible- allowed for Asriel to break the barrier once and for all.

Chujin, in the video tapes he leaves for Ceroba, implies that Axis’s murder of the human- presumably a child, like Clover and Frisk- was very violent and bloody. It feels a tiny step beyond the 'video game violence' aspect, for me. While it’s shown that Chujin regrets this, it still doesn’t change the way that this violence is expressed in the game. 

Instead of giving the human’s soul right to Asgore to bring monsterkind closer to freedom, Chujin- who has already been fired by Asgore, I should add- chooses to keep the soul and experiment with it.

This is very selfish, even though he has good intentions. He’s told nobody else about his experiments with his soul at this point- not even his wife- and Asgore has told him to cease all activities as the royal scientist. 

While monsters do want Frisk's soul for their own selfish reasons, they notably do not butcher them violently, succeed in this, and still try to get painted with the same quirky and fun brush that the other characters get. 

After Chujin dies, he leaves detailed instructions for his wife to continue his work-- and although he says "don't involve Kanako", he leaves her all the tools she would need to experiment on Kanako, and notably, no other way to finish his work except to experiment on Kanako.

As I said, Kanako finds out about this and asks to be experimented on. And while she does give consent, she is a child. I cannot stress this enough-- she is a child who just lost her father and is still wracked by grief. Kanako is a child who cannot possibly know what she is consenting to. 

Ceroba chooses to experiment on Kanako and more or less kills her. And then she chooses to send her 'fallen down' daughter to Alphys's experiment, despite the fact that Kanako presumably has some sort of trace of human soul/determination left in her-- which could have compromised Alphys's work as well.

Let's return to how I said that Ceroba is a mirror for Asgore. She's made so many mistakes and it's cost her her family and she can't stop now or it will all be for nothing. She's done horrible things, just like Asgore.

But the difference is that Asgore is the king of monsterkind. Asgore has no desire to kill human beings. He declared war on humanity in a fit of anger and grief, but the Underground had lost hope due to the loss of Chara & Asriel. Believing that Asgore could gather seven human souls and free them all brought hope back to the Underground.

His actions, while wrong, are selfless-- and much less explicitly violent and more 'cartoon violence'-like. Chujin & Ceroba have the well-being of monsterkind as their own pure intentions, but their actions are far more selfish and violent. Axis, Chujin’s creation, massacred a human being. Yet we're still expected to find them silly and fun and relatable-- it just feels unusual.

I’m not someone who hates nuance or morally gray characters. One reason I’m so sad that I don’t quite like Ceroba is that I love morally gray women. It’s just that we’re not allowed to really dislike Chujin or Ceroba for what they’ve done, and instead we’re supposed to see Ceroba- and Axis- as silly and relatable like the rest of the characters. 

Immediately after Ceroba’s boss battle, instead of processing what just happened to a greater extent, Clover chooses to sacrifice their soul for monsterkind. 

I understand that the intention is that Ceroba's grief and Chujin's desperation to protect monsters from humanity contributed to Clover's decision to sacrifice their soul. However, the idea is- to me- abrupt. Ultimately, too, Clover's decision is just as much about how much they love their friends (and how it's impossible for them to hide out in the Underground forever) as it is about Ceroba and her family.

Chara & Asriel’s deaths, Asgore’s war on humanity, the war of humans and monsters-- these elements impact every part of Frisk’s journey. But Chujin and Ceroba’s actions, while impactful on Martlet and Dalv to varying extents, are only part of Clover’s journey. And Chujin and Ceroba did awful things for this comparatively minor impact on the plot. 

EDIT: Further analysis about how Ceroba doesn't have a lot of agency and spends a lot of the plot just acting out Chujin's will, as well as the inconsistency in her characterization (and feelings about sacrificing Clover and the well-being of Kanako), with input from @carlyraejepsans. Thank you!

I would have liked to have seen a bit more from Ceroba without any influence from Chujin- maybe an interaction explaining her relationship with Martlet and an additional conversation about Martlet’s nearly unwavering belief in humans vs Ceroba’s inherited grudge against humanity- but I don’t know where this would fit in. Adding more time for Clover to process Ceroba’s boss fight before sacrificing their soul might throw off the pacing. 

In general, though, Ceroba's boss fight- while flashy and fun- ultimately feels pointless with how little she learns from it and how quickly she changes her stance on using Clover's soul for the benefit of monsterkind, and what will happen to monsters after they break the barrier. To quote @carlyraejepsans in the ask linked above:

In addition, it's like the writing didn't want to commit to her delusions and little character development. She feels that her daughter is alive and thinks she can save her—wait no that was a lie—wait it wasn't. The moment she's defeated she goes "Agh, what was I thinking!" out loud (which is already a questionable writing choice imo but i digress), and recognizes that sacrificing Clover for her plans is horrible... and then 5 seconds later Clover chooses to sacrifice themself to break the barrier and whoops nevermind she's suddenly the one getting the others onboard with the idea... wait. didn't she say she was making the serum because the humans would've only slaughtered them again if they broke the barrier? oh wait wasn't that also chujin again? whoops.

I would have felt better if there were more room to view Chujin and Ceroba in a critical light (and time to view Ceroba outside of just being a mom and wife). I can’t think of any ‘minor’ suggestion that wouldn’t require a lot of editing. 

Axis…

And... okay. Let's talk about Axis real quick.

I want to give the dev team the benefit of the doubt, but I need to point out that this security robot's name is "Axis 014." If you don't know what I mean by pointing this out, I'll just say that both of these terms are nazi dog whistles and allow you to look up the specifics.

I recognize that, by this point, it’s too late to change his name. I’d at least be grateful if the team would acknowledge this and confirm that they aren’t nazis. 

Axis’s name makes his actions far worse in retrospect. He, as a security robot wants to kill a child, but he isn't able to anymore because his programming has changed. So, as a legal loophole, he forces them to hold 'a weapon' (a trash can lid) so he can justifiably kill them. This is the same robot that brutalized and murdered a human being in the past at Chujin's behest.

It feels tone deaf and ultimately the one thing I’d just outright call bad about UTY. I don’t think it was intentionally done this way, but I don't like that we're supposed to find this nazi-aesthetic police brutality robot "quirky and relatable" like the Undertale cast. In the true pacifist ending, he falls in love with a robot made out of a trash can and his eyes turn into cartoon hearts and etc. It’s even more jarring than viewing Chujin & Ceroba in a fun/relatable way. 

In the no mercy route, Axis will defend himself and claim that his programming forced him to kill the human and he didn't want to. This "just following orders" defense feels weak to me as well, personally. Axis clearly delights in harming humans, going out of his way to try to kill Clover. But also, Axis spends a significant amount of the game displaying a very similar amount of free will to the other characters. He’s not just a janitor robot that sweeps back and forth. 

He’s a nearly sentient being-- and the fact that there are these nearly sentient robots makes Alphys’s accomplishment of creating “a robot with a soul” (at least, so she claims-- Mettaton is only the ghost in a machine) much less impactful to me, personally. Yes, Asgore thinks that Chujin failed in creating a sentient robot, and so it’s impressive that Alphys supposedly did it. But I don’t know why Asgore wouldn’t be more skeptical of Alphys’s accomplishment after Chujin failed more than eight times and set fire to his flowers. 

I think that Axis is ultimately a missed opportunity to make a really villainous character. This concept that he disobeys his programming- used as sort of a parallel for law, as a security robot- to attack Clover could have been explored to further the ‘justice’ theme. He doesn’t write his programming (the laws), he just carries it out (violently enforces the laws). 

The ‘minor’ suggestion I’d make, though, is to just acknowledge the name. 

Undertale & Meta Elements

Now, we’ll be addressing my largest criticisms-- the omission of meta elements and the way Flowey is written.

Undertale Yellow never quite stopped feeling like a fan game to me. And it is, of course-- but I think that it feels as if it tries so hard to be Undertale (in the writing style, the humor, etc) that it fails to forge an identity of its own, and that holds it back from being just a fangame to a fangame that succeeds in expanding on the original creative work. 

At the same time, although UTY tries to feel like Undertale, I don’t think it captures certain elements that make Undertale be Undertale. 

Whereas Undertale was ultimately about video games as a medium and the normalization of violence in them, UTY doesn’t have this level of metatextual commentary. UTY does have a running theme of 'justice'-- and I don’t think this is bad! After all, if Undertale already said all there was to say about video games and violence, why retread that path? I respect that UTY knows its limits and simply focuses on justice as a concept instead.

At the same time, Undertale isn’t just an RPG about mercy-- it’s an RPG about RPGs. The fact that you can talk to and spare enemies isn’t just a quirk of the game, it’s what the game is about. This is one thing that makes Undertale great that UTY doesn’t focus on.  

UTY doesn’t completely ignore these elements, of course. Flowey takes over resetting for you, and you do have three distinct paths based on whether or not you kill enemies-- the ‘true pacifist’ path, the ‘neutral’ path, and the ‘no mercy’ path (I will not be calling it the ‘genocide’ route, especially in light of recent world events). Through whether or not you choose to kill enemies, the theme of ‘justice’ is explored-- who is Clover seeking justice for? In the true pacifist route, Clover seeks justice for the monsters, while in the no mercy route, Clover seeks justice for the fallen humans before them. 

However, Flowey taking over the mechanics of saving and resetting for you makes concept of ‘the player’ obsolete. I recognize that not everyone in the Undertale/Deltarune fandom quite enjoys the concept of 'the player' and the meta elements of these games due to the fact that there can be implications that playing Deltarune (as an example, which ups the meta elements quite a bit) can actively hurt Kris and make their world a worse place. However, Deltarune isn’t a complete work and we don’t know this for certain. Additionally, I feel as if at least acknowledging Toby's intentions are important to analyzing the work, no matter what one's personal feelings are about them.

The Importance of the Player

The presence of you, the player, is important in Undertale. Frisk is a subversion of the 'blank slate protagonist' trope. You think that you're able to name them and control them, but in the True Pacifist route, Frisk begins to act on their own (they walk slowly in some parts of the True Lab because they're presumably afraid, etc). In the end, you realize that Frisk is their own person with their own name, and you as the player have to let go-- when Frisk & the monsters go to the surface, Flowey (a mirror of the player themselves) urges you to let them go. Don't treat this as a game anymore-- don't replay and wring out any last drops of content you can. You enjoyed it, now move on.

But many players want to see the No Mercy route because it’s the last thing they haven’t done in the game, and they don’t want to let go. And that's where the role of you, the player, becomes undeniable in the game's story. What is the No Mercy route except playing a 'typical' RPG in the way it's meant to be played? You grind to become stronger, killing every enemy that stands in your way. And when you've killed all the monsters and become as strong as you can be, you've won.

Many players didn't do this because they hate the characters in Undertale and want to hurt them-- if they hate them, they likely just wouldn't play the game. Many players did it because they like the characters in Undertale, and wanted to see what would happen. They couldn't stop playing. And this is exactly what Sans means in his dialogue during his boss battle-- to paraphrase, "you think that because you can, that means you have to."

This is one of the ways that Flowey is a mirror of the player. Flowey didn't start killing out of malicious intent, but because he had become so bored and isolated that he just "had to see what happens".

Chara's role at the very end of the No Mercy route is to call you out directly for this. They tell you that their power was yours. Their words were very misconstrued by fans for a long time, and they themselves wound up as a scapegoat for the No Mercy route-- but ultimately, there's no reason for Chara or Frisk to kill every monster in the Underground. The only reason is because of you, personally. You want to see what would happen. You want to grind and play it like a typical RPG.

They call you out for this if you don't want to delete the game world at the end. Why go back to that world that you've already destroyed? Why play nice with the monsters that you just massacred because you can?

Why am I talking about this at such length? Because I believe that ‘the player’ and how they interact with the world of Undertale is important. Characters lampshade the UI and battle mechanics often-- Flowey talking about the world as a game and ‘saving’ and ‘loading’, Papyrus telling you to “press C to open the dating HUD”, Sans explaining ‘LV’ and ‘EXP’, and so on.

This is my personal opinion, and I recognize this is very nitpicky, but I feel that not acknowledging this or adding to these meta elements in some way makes UTY weaker for me. 

Flowey’s Role in UTY

Flowey essentially saves and resets for you because he's bored, and he wants to use Clover as a tool to access Asgore’s five stored human souls. His role as a mirror for the player becomes him essentially just acting as a stand-in for the player. While this in itself can invite self-reflection, I think that the execution of his role is a little awkward. 

We learn at the end of the neutral route that Flowey has already reset the timeline hundreds of times by the time we first start playing the game. According to him, Clover always ends up at a dead end (they choose to stay in the Underground for the rest of their life) or they die (and they can’t reset of their own power). Thus, Flowey chose to set Clover on an alternate path by sabotaging a lever in the Ruins, which made them fall into the Dark Ruins and meet Dalv.

Flowey then tries to kill Clover and absorb their soul because they, again, hit a dead end. Yet he gives up on it after a while because Clover won’t stop fighting back, and he thinks he can just reset and try again anyway. 

At the end of the true pacifist route, Clover instead opts to sacrifice their soul willingly to Asgore & monsterkind. Flowey comments that he could just reset (and you still can, if you want to play again), but Clover “earned their rest” and he calls them a friend. 

This progression from “Clover is a tool that Flowey is using to access the 5 human souls” to “Clover is a friend and Flowey willingly lets them die and stay dead” feels undeserved and underdeveloped to me. 

"But, Andrea," you might say, "Flowey went from trying to kill Frisk as Omega/Photoshop Flowey to hugging Frisk as Asriel really quickly too!"

Yes, but in that short time, Frisk and Flowey/Asriel had a Whole Thing where Frisk 'saved' him like everyone else and he learned he needs to let go, too. It was a short time, but it was a poignant time. By contrast, Flowey is pretty much absent throughout most of UTY's true pacifist route. Sure, you could easily say that he just got bored of Clover and gave up-- but that, too, doesn’t feel quite right to me. 

I really hate to say this, but I feel that Flowey’s writing in UTY cheapens the original Undertale for me, which is why this is one of my major criticisms of the game. 

Flowey's entire character arc in Undertale is about how he was stuck with the same places and same people for an endless amount of resets. In my opinion, the limited amount of places and characters for him to interact with in Undertale only adds to how trapped he is (and the Underground being so small really strengthens the concept of "there's overpopulation and the monsters are running out of time to find a solution/earn their freedom" that we see in the game, but I digress).

So when something finally changes and he meets Frisk, it's deeply impactful to him. Finally, someone new to play with! Finally, potential for change! Even though Flowey admits that, even if Chara came back, there's a great chance that he couldn't really love them due to his lack of soul, just experiencing something new for the first time in ages is as close to love as he can possibly get. So Flowey:

Starts to believe that Frisk is Chara, this person he ‘loves’ or wants to love, or some manifestation of Chara. 

Refuses to let Frisk go, even if that means- when Asriel has the power of seven human souls- just resetting the Undertale timeline over and over instead of going to the surface or doing anything else.

For Flowey to have gone through everything that he does in UTY- all these new places, all these new people, Clover included- weakens this, in my opinion. And sure, there's very heavily implied to be lots of places that Frisk doesn't explore and people they don't meet-- 99% of New Home and its residents, for instance. But Clover themselves is the real problem for me.

No matter how many times Flowey reset with Clover, I really struggle to believe that he would get bored of a human being that easily. He even said that Clover's actions and choices would sometimes change from reset to reset, and he only recently learned how dramatically he could alter their path by sabotaging that lever in the Ruins. Clover isn't a static being-- and even if they were, they're at least a new static being.

And although we learn in the neutral route that Flowey can't really absorb Clover's soul because they fight back too much, I can't believe that would stop Flowey so easily. What about at the end of the pacifist route, where Clover has given it up willingly and it's being transported in a little jar? Clover’s body is separated from the soul, now-- could Clover still fight back?

Or, what about if Flowey tried to kill them as soon as they entered the Ruins? Or, what if Flowey played nice the entire route and then at the end tried to convince Clover that if they sacrificed their soul, he would take it to Asgore for them? With access to full control of the timeline, I don't think Flowey would give up on this. We learn in Undertale how painful it is for him to be soulless and how desperate he is to access power so that things will change.

For Flowey to acknowledge Clover as a 'friend'- maybe even a true person, not just a compilation of dialogue- suggests character growth. It suggests remorse for his resets that he isn't capable of having and doesn't have until the events of Undertale. I just don't feel like it’s earned. 

Flowey is, of course, an unreliable narrator. 

At the end of the no mercy route of UTY, Flowey expresses that he never saw Clover as a friend-- he only enjoyed watching them die over and over again. It should be noted that this was said while under extreme duress (Clover is LV 20 by this point and has killed everyone save for Asgore), and this route isn’t canon in the way that the neutral and pacifist routes are. 

With that said, if we agree that Flowey can’t feel love as a soulless being, then I could argue that this is about as much of a ‘friend’ as anyone could be. This is how he wanted to keep Frisk (“Chara”, in his mind) for eternity when he had the six human souls + the entirety of monsterkinds’ souls-- just watch them try over and over again, for eternity. 

Why am I contradicting myself? Because, let’s suppose that Flowey doesn’t mean Clover is a ‘friend’ in the traditional sense- that they earned his respect and he cares for them in some way- but Clover is a new toy that he got bored with and gave up on. I feel like this, too, makes Undertale a little weaker. 

If Flowey did have some type of positive regard for Clover, but was willing to let them go, then it feels- to me- like Frisk’s role in his story isn’t that significant. Frisk helped him learn how to let go and move on, but Flowey has already demonstrated being capable of this. The circumstances are different- if Flowey gives up at the end of Undertale’s true pacifist route, it’s over for real, whereas if he gives up at the end of UTY, he can just wait for another human to fall- but I feel like the core feeling is the same. Flowey, by the start of Undertale, doesn’t strike me as someone who’s capable of letting go. 

So, how would I have changed this?

I recognize that- again- Undertale already made these points about video games and violence, and Flowey has his entire character arc in that game. For Flowey to have more of an arc in this game would potentially make this game no longer line up with canon Undertale or weaken Undertale further. And why retread old ground that Undertale already talked about?

I respect the decision to tell a self-contained story, but the meta commentary about video games in Undertale is so significant for me that I personally would have liked to see a bit more of it in Undertale Yellow. I also recognize how much of my criticism of Flowey’s writing in UTY is subjective. It feels unrealistic for me, his arc feels abrupt for me, it makes Undertale less poignant for me. 

A lot of people love his inclusion in this game, and it’s very novel to see Flowey as a friend throughout most of UTY and hear his snarky commentary on demand rather than having him as an enemy who’s absent through most of the game, as he is in Undertale. 

The Flowey Suggestions

First, I’ll be honest. I know this is not and has never been possible, but my easiest solution to the dilemma of Flowey’s lack of a character arc- and the lack of an ability to give him a character arc- would have been to just remove him from UTY. 

I think that Flowey’s inclusion in the story of the yellow soul human and his role saving and loading could have been interesting. It goes against certain story elements implied in Undertale, and popular fan theories-- and I don’t mind that, if something meaningful is done with it. But, I feel as if Flowey’s relationship to Clover isn’t impactful enough to justify including him. 

To clarify on ‘implied story elements’ and ‘popular fan theories’: 

While I might be misremembering, I thought that it was implied in Undertale that Flowey came into being after Asgore had already collected six human souls, and that a significant amount of time had passed since the last human had fallen down. 

I won’t go into it at length because this post is long enough and I, again, am not an Undertale expert. With that said, it’s also implied that all human souls are capable of saving/loading/resetting in the Underground. If you make Frisk tell Asgore that he killed them before, he just nods as if he’s used to it-- and he’s the one character who we know has killed humans before.

Now, how did Asgore successfully kill beings that can just reset the game whenever they die? Well, Sans faces the same dilemma in Undertale’s no mercy route. There’s no way that he can permanently defeat you, the player, who is a real being. Therefore, the way he ‘wins’ is by infuriating you enough with his difficult boss fight until you give up and stop playing Undertale (or, at least, reset and make better choices). 

Think about all the times you’ve played a game, got stuck on a hard boss, and never played it again. While it’s not ‘canon’ to the story- giving up on your copy of Mario doesn’t mean Bowser really wins- functionally, giving up on a game means that the story ends for you. This is how I believe Asgore captured the six human souls, even if they were also capable of resetting like Frisk is-- he fought them until they gave up.

Humans all are said to have great amounts of ‘determination’, not just red soul bearers. We don’t even know what trait the red soul exemplifies. Whatever it is, I don’t think it’s determination itself. 

The bottom line is that I don’t think it would be unrealistic for Clover to be able to save/load/reset on their own, or for Flowey to not exist yet during the time they fell down. 

But, I get it, Flowey was in UTY’s demo that has been out for seven years. He’s in the trailers. He couldn’t be removed at any part of development, and he sure as hell can’t be removed now. 

My second suggestion would have been to zoom in on him, instead. While the prequel is about Clover, the yellow soul human, I would have liked to see it be about Flowey in a significant way. I kept hoping for Clover to have an opportunity to ask Flowey at some point, “why are you helping me, anyway?”.

This is my personal interpretation, but I’ve come to believe that Flowey thinks that the reason he’s stuck as a flower is that it’s a punishment. Because he, as Asriel, refused to fight back, he failed Chara, and now they’re dead. Now he’s stuck as a rinky-dink flower with no soul, he can’t love his former family, and he can’t stop playing this game. 

In the no mercy route of Undertale, Flowey feels very much like he’s trying to appeal to Frisk- the person he believes is Chara- in a way like a younger sibling trying to impress an older sibling. He says he’s impressed by how you killed everyone. He helps solves puzzles so you won’t have to slow down. He brags to you about how he’s also a heartless killer. 

Notably, he talks about his past. He tells ‘Chara’ that he was afraid to start killing, at first. He said he wouldn’t enjoy it, but he just had to know what would happen.

Then, Flowey laughs and says that you (Chara) know how liberating it is to be this way-- to kill people and shape their fates. He ‘recognizes’ Frisk as being actually Chara because of how they killed everyone in the Ruins. 

But we have no indication that Chara was a violent or evil person in their life. I believe that Flowey is partially projecting and partially recognizes Chara because, in the last moments of their life, they were telling him to kill. He always knew that Chara hated humanity and wanted power to better the position of monsterkind. This is why Flowey brags about how he has a plan to get the human souls, and once they do so, they can go to the surface and “finish what [they] started.” 

To Flowey, in my opinion, killing people isn’t just about seeing what happens. It’s about trying to understand and appease Chara and doing what he thinks he should have done all that time ago, as Asriel. 

I bring this up because I think that I would have liked to have seen this be explored in Undertale Yellow. Flowey is still a very misunderstood character today due to being an unreliable narrator. I believe that a lot of Flowey misinterpretations are due to taking him at face value-- hearing him say that he’s an unfeeling, manipulative, patient killer and agreeing with him.

But Flowey contradicts himself at several points. He gives up his “catch these friendliness pellets” trick after you dodging just a few times. These aren’t the makings of a perfect manipulative killer, but an impatient child. That’s who Flowey is at his core-- a child. 

I recognize that, again, if Flowey told all of his tragic backstory to Clover and they became true friends, this wouldn’t fit with canon Undertale and his actions in that game. Flowey and Asriel distance themselves from each other, and it wouldn’t make sense for Flowey to tell this to Clover-- especially if he just views them as a tool to use and play with. 

I think, however, it wouldn’t have been impossible for Clover to have learned this information about Flowey in a way that could still be canon compliant with Undertale itself. Hypothetically, maybe the “hopes and dreams” statue in the UG Apartments near the Core could have sparked intrigue in Flowey. 

Maybe analysis of Flowey could have come up during his neutral route boss fight-- after all, Clover appears to peek into the minds of Ceroba and Martlet during the true pacifist and no mercy run boss fights, respectively. We already get a little of this- Clover has to run through a hallway of flowers in Flowey’s boss fight, and we hear sad and scared dialogue that’s presumably from a past version of Flowey himself. However, it’s not necessarily new and doesn’t quite add to Flowey’s character in my personal opinion.

I feel that including Flowey’s story more in some way would justify having Flowey in the game, and knowing the history of Asriel & Chara could factor into Clover’s decision to give up their soul for the sake of monsterkind. Chara, too, sacrificed themselves willingly, after all. 

I don’t have a ‘realistic suggestion’ that could be implemented with a dialogue update because these suggestions are so vast-- and, ultimately, very personal and subjective. I have very strong feelings about Flowey.

Meta Elements of Undertale 

In Undertale, you’re asked when you should or shouldn’t fight. As a pacifist, you can get through the Ruins without killing anyone. Flowey will then ask you what you would do if you met a relentless killer. Would you betray your morals and fight? Or would you give up and let yourself die?

Undertale is the friendly RPG where nobody has to die. While you have to kill Asgore at least once to do the neutral route, and you do have to fight back against Omega/Photoshop Flowey to end his battle, the game ultimately posits that there never is a good time to fight. You don’t beat Omega Flowey by being stronger than him, you do it by appealing to the souls and allowing them to rebel. You don’t beat God of Hyperdeath Asriel Dreemurr by beating him up, you do it by saving your friends- him included. The game, again, is about an inversion of the necessity of violence in video games to me.

I would have been interested in seeing an exploration of when it is necessary to fight, and this could be done through the lens of ‘justice’. Would Clover fight if it brought them closer to justice (on a pacifist route)? Is it morally correct to kill one person if it saves thousands? 

Sparing someone is always the correct option in Undertale. In that way, the true route is quite linear-- there’s one solution that works for everyone. What if there were situations in UTY in which there is no single correct option that works for everyone? What if Clover were placed in situations in which they had to act as arbiter and decide between two outcomes and what is right? It could have been like how they get forced to solve the trolley problem in the Wild East, but with consequences. 

Adding to putting a ‘twist’ on the elements that Undertale introduces with its combat system-- what if sparing someone ultimately enabled them to keep hurting others? What if fighting to weaken someone was the correct solution for once? These inversions could have built on the meta elements of Undertale, and I think that it would make Clover’s decision to sacrifice themselves to bring justice to monsterkind more poignant to me.

Again, I have no ‘realistic’ suggestion for this in the full release of UTY. I think that the plot about justice alone isn’t bad, but I would have been happy to see it tie into the gameplay a little more. 

Conclusion

Ultimately, I think that UTY tries too hard to be Undertale without iterating on the aspects that made Undertale memorable. The characters feel like they fail to pop or relate to the game’s story in meaningful ways, and to me, the main story isn’t executed as well as it could have been (and far darker than the main Undertale in ways that don’t feel as if they’re handled sensitively). 

I will say, again, that this project is very impressive in scope, and I applaud the dev team for finishing it and releasing it. I recognize that a lot of my distaste is subjective, and creating another Undertale is a fool's errand considering the acclaim that Undertale got. I recognize one final time that my suggestions are just daydreaming, and this game has already found a lot of success-- which I think it deserves.

I tend to criticize a lot of media I like, which might sound contradictory to some, but it makes perfect sense to me. If I don’t like something, I won’t engage with it. I think that the original Undertale has its flaws, too. At the end of the day, I like UTY, but no media is perfect. This is how I think it could have been better, and I hope that I think other creatives who want to make Undertale fanworks (or any creative works, for that matter) will take these thoughts into consideration.

Thanks for reading.

[1moremilgram-enjoyer]

Kotoko's Clothes Throughout HARROW

CW Death and murder, vigilantism, online radicalization, mentions of kidnapping, Little Red Riding Hood (so a wolf eating someone and animal death)

In my Kotoko brainrot arc (aka working on a full HARROW analysis), and I think it's really interesting how much Kotoko's clothes seem to change throughout HARROW. Changing clothes in general usually represents character change, which certainly fits how much Kotoko's attitude towards everything seems to switch up as she becomes more and more radicalized (presumably by online discourse seeing some of the other stuff in the MV) and violent. Not to mention the whole Red Riding Hood thing. Let's take a look!

(Btw, I'm not going to talk about the weird changing clothes at the end of the MV, where her clothes are completely different when she sees the kidnapping than when she actually kills the serial killer. It's too much of a mess for this post, so I'll leave it for the full analysis)

(This has probably been done before but you can't stop me from posting >:D)

So, there's four distinct fits Kotoko wears in HARROW, which I'll call White Jacket, Blue and Yellow Jacket, Foggy Forest Fit, Murder Fit. (Clarification: I don't think she actually killed the alley dude, I'm calling it that exclusively for the final murder)

Let's go one by one, in order of appearance. White Jacket shows up first. It's made up of, as you can imagine, a white jacket with red streaks, shorts of the same color, a black tank top, and white shoes.

The interesting thing about this outfit is that it shows up first, then completely disappears after Kotoko attacks the man in the alley. Even when we later see her back in the studio, by that point she's already wearing her red hoodie. This makes sense, as the primary color used here is white. In this MV, I believe white is being used to represent purity of some kind, while red represents danger and aggression. So in this outfit, we see a Kotoko yet untainted by violence (white), but who already has that latent danger lurking underneath (red streaks). Hell, for all we know, she hasn't even dropped out of the faculty of law at this point.

(T1) Q7: What did you study at university?

KY: For a while, I studied at the faculty of law. There's something I want to do, so I'm currently taking a break from studies, though.

But also worth noting, in that first shot, the red hoodie she uses to murder is already behind her. Again, latent danger.

Her shoes are also important, because for Kotoko, shoes are her murder weapon. But not these shoes. The white, pure shoes are those of an innocent individual. In this case, it's because she literally hasn't done anything with them yet.

Finally, the black tank top, which she shares with her "murder" outfit. Allowing myself to go a bit insane, this is the piece of clothing literally closest to her heart. The black doesn't represent evil, but rather grief and pain, I believe.

Becoming light-headed again, it all becomes crazy, the normalcy sought for, fading away, everytime death comes. The soul moves forward - I hate all the evils in this world, I feel like I’m about to break The surrounding net covered with poison

Want to find “HARROW” “HARROW” I feel like I’m going crazy after straining my nerves The person that can’t be saved, is now understanding the abnormality

(Note: I personally think the person being distressed (harrow-ed) is Kotoko herself, becoming distressed at the world's evils. I also happen to think she considers herself "the person that can't be saved" but that's for another time)

So yeah, Kotoko's suffering a lot. We been knew.

Next up we have the "field investigation" fit, the one with the blue and yellow jacket.

Apart from the jacket, she wears a cap of the same brand, Jacques Roulet (I talked about that in this post), and some shorts. As you can see, her shoes are generally hidden, but I think they're the white ones? Either pair would make some sense, but the white ones fit better since Kotoko never performs any violent actions in this outfit.

As stated, this is the outfit Kotoko uses to investigate outside. Going in person to check out crime scenes, talking to the one guy... Thus, the blue of her jacket likely refers to wisdom, patience, intelligence, that kind of thing. It's "calmer" than the colors of the other outfits, because Kotoko is not showing her more dangerous parts (red).

See, the main thing about this design is that Kotoko is being guarded when she wears it. Note that this is the only one where she doesn't show her undershirt, which before I related to her feelings. The cap serves to further imply that, she's keeping herself vaguely hidden. Basically, in this fit, Kotoko is both hiding her feelings and vulnerabilities, as well as "hiding her fangs", if that makes sense. Presenting herself as calmer, more put together, and more rational than she actually is.

However, there's still the yellow. I think that one's meant to represent fun; Kotoko still enjoys what she's doing here. It may even be somewhat stylized as a thunderbolt, because electricity is usually related to excitement. As shown in her T1 Voice Reveal distorted line:

...Fufu... This feels so good.

(I would like to say that she obviously doesn't do vigilantism just for fun, because that's a weird take I've seen mentioned. She has other reasons, she just happens to enjoy it a bit)

The point is that this "fun" is still muted in comparison to the blue of the jacket, because it's essentially in the background. Kotoko's analysis and investigations are the most important parts of these scenes, the fact she happens to enjoy vigilantism is sort of incidental.

Last note for this one, having a "yellow streak" means being cowardly, but that doesn't really apply to Kotoko so we ignore it.

Then we have the outfit seen in the forest scenes. Red hoodie, white tank top, white shoes, black shorts. This one remains the same in all of these scenes.

The important thing to note here is that, because this is the one outfit we see exist inside her mind, this is how Kotoko sees herself, or more likely, how she would like to see herself. Note the black tanktop of despair (Milgram makes you say some ridiculouos shit huh) has been replaced with a pure white tanktop, because Kotoko doesn't want to be sad and hurt. Obviously. Similarly, her shoes remain white even after she attacks Oshii, because she still considers herself "innocent" in the sense of "justified."

Still, though, her hoodie is the red one she wears while murdering. Because she considers herself dangerous and powerful. And she is, girlboss stay winning (preferably away from the other prisoners though).

One important thing which many have pointed out before me is that, by virtue of wearing this red hoodie and being in a forest with wolves, this outfit seems connected to the story of Red Riding Hood. How exactly is a fun question, especially since Red Riding Hood is a fairy tale and thus doesn't have an official version, but let's see.

I imagine you know the gist of the story. Red Riding Hood (RRH) is a girl tasked with delivering food to her grandma, who is sickly and thus weak, but along the trail finds a wolf who asks her where she's going. The wolf then goes ahead as RRH gets distracted, and the wolf ends up eating the grandma and disguising as her. When RRH arrives at the house, she notices the grandma looks slightly different, before she gets eaten too. In later tellings a huntsman comes in and cuts the wolf's stomach open, allowing the grandma and RRH to escape unharmed, somehow. The wolf is also insanely resilient evidently, as it's still alive at this point, but the humans fill its stomach with rocks and then it dies.

... This story is a lot darker than I remembered.

We already have a few superficially shared themes with Kotoko. Protecting the weak, calling out deception... wolves-

In particular, being devoured by the wolf could be seen as Kotoko being consumed by the radicalization which led her to murder. This is especially notable because of the actual underlying themes of Red Riding Hood. See, the story is generally interpreted to be about "rites of passage" and rebirth, where RRH exiting the wolf's stomach is the rebirth. Generally it's connected more to children growing up and going through puberty, but for Kotoko we need a more general reading. As I said before, changing clothes is sometimes considered a symbol of change of character, and Kotoko certainly changes a bit throughout HARROW. For example, by forming an idea of what a "win" entails in the context of her vigilantism.

Stained emotions, what is winning or losing?

“I didn’t mean to offend”, “I won’t do it again” How many wins in a row?

Hell, one of the last lyrics in the song, which plays over a scene of the foggy forest, explicitly says it.

Newly born “HARROW” “HARROW”

And if you need any more symbolism, Red Riding Hood is also sometimes interpreted as representing natural cycles, with the girl being the sun (that's why her cloak is red) and the wolf being the night "eating" her, before dawn (when the girl gets out of the stomach). A completion of one of these cycles is also a symbol of change and rebirth;

Goodnight “HARROW” “HARROW” Laugh and I can get to like myself

so when Kotoko says "goodnight" to herself, she's making an oath to change, say goodbye to the old her and greet dawn with a new version of herself, one which she actually likes ("laugh and I can get to like myself").

And there is an actual cycle referenced in the video. The moon in the forest scenes is always a waning moon, except at the end, where it's a full moon, which is not just connected to werewolves and thus indicates Kotoko "completing her transformation and getting her fangs", but it also represents the end of the lunar cycle. Again, rebirth.

Not to mention the fact dawn breaks in the last scene.

You get it? Natural cycles being completed, being reborn, etc. Kotoko transforms herself significantly as she kills the "wolf", probably the serial killer dude.

And yet, her clothes in these forest sections never changes. To me, this shows a disconnect between how Kotoko sees herself and the way she actually is.

Timelines - 20/6/18 Kotoko: Treat you [Amane] like a child? Hah, you’ve got to be kidding. Back when I was your age, I was already the person I am today. 

This is demonstrably false. I just spent several paragraphs talking about how much Kotoko changes throughout HARROW, let alone during the last 8 years of her life. The point is that Kotoko doesn't realize how radicalized she's becoming while browsing all the websites we see her going on during the video. And you know, there's probably some interesting social commentary and character complexity to talk about there, but if I get too much into it I will be here forever, so I'll leave that as food for thought.

Anyways, you may have noticed I'm not really talking about the pants. You're right! Moving on.

Finally, her murder fit. Same red hoodie as last one, but with a black tanktop and black leggings.

Her shoes are also different, a pair of men's shoes which are also her murder weapon. You see how they're (primarily) grey instead of white? Get it? Because she sees herself as only good and morally right, but she's (say it with me everyone) morally gray.

(Using both spellings to bother everyone)

I've already talked about how her red hoodie represents her violence and danger, literally covering up her black tank top of despair (might as well just run with the term).

Finally, I know I haven't been talking about the pants since I didn't see anything too interesting, but the change from shorts to leggings did catch my eye. However, I think that may just be a more 'practical' change as opposed to a 'symbolism' change. I imagine that if you're doing something illegal like beating up some dude in an alley, you'd feel more comfortable the less skin you showed, even if rationally there shouldn't be any way to identify Kotoko just by her legs.

I know I wouldn't kill with shorts and a t-shirt, but give me some leggings though, and I'm already looking at Amane's mother like she isn't dead enough yet-

Ehem. Disregard that last point.

Well, that's the end! As I said, I'm not gonna deal with the change of clothing at the end of the video, because to explain that I would have to explain an entire murder theory and talk about how I don't actually think Kotoko ever saw the exact scenes we see in the small room with the wooden floor, etc, which is all just too complicated for what's supposed to be a relatively short post. I'll address it in my full analysis, but there's too much going on for me to explain it here. With that said, I hope you enjoyed reading! Take care!

[ratspaguetti]

Splatoon headcanon- Fuzzy inkfish

Okay so! In splatoon 3, return of the mammalians, I was sorely disappointed when said mammalians where just...hairy and brainwashed, literally that's it, which had let me down so bad, given the fact that slight alteration of character model and brainwashing had already happened before (sanitization) and genuinely, the occasions haven't changed much behavior wise, so this is how I have headcanoned what should have actually happened in splatoon 3!

Behavior

Given the fact that the fuzzy ink fish are now mammalian, depending on the inkfish, they might hiss, scratch, bite, and attack like a wild animal, really depending on the type of animal they are based off of, I imagine most would be bearlike because it is Mr Grizz that made this happen, but imagine, a fuzzy inkling with Spirulas growing out of their head like sheep horns, completely ramming a another inkling a good couple of feet away! Making interesting gameplay! And given Japan seems to love cat girls (can't blame them) give a octoling some cat ears and very agile and bam! Happy fans- (I will probably talk more about behaviors in a different post)

They also do not use weapons! Given the fact they are mammals, they use their animal like features instead to fully attack [this is what will be explored in a different post]

Body

I need bullet points for these because there is a lot I wanna go through

Mammals aren't just fluffy creatures, they also have these cool nest things called bones and warm blood

So fuzzy ink fish will first experience "fever" like symptoms as their ink slowly heats up, and over a long period of time (depending on how much furry goop they have been exposed to and how long they have been a fuzzy inkfish) and go into a hibernation like state, when they come back to, their body will have had the changes, first, they are not hot blooded and have furr in their tentacles

Later on, their body will slowly shift to a more animal like appearance, like hands slowly enlongating and growing large claws, more hunched like posture to more easily run in four legs, growing new teeth that are more mammalian in nature (could be herbivore, could be carnivore) some will grow more furry along their extremities as well, some will even grow more animal like ears and eyes

At this stage, most of these bodily changes are still reversible with enough medical equipment, as the ink fish are still majorly cartilage and ink, so they can be reformed (kinda how they can still change into a squid or octopus)

Yet, when their bones start to grow, these changes are mostly irreversible, bones will form after a good couple of months, this will make fuzzy inkfish tanks compared to normal ink fish, the skeletal structure has downsides however, like the inability to turn into a squid/octopus anymore, given the fact that you can't really shapeshift into something as small as a squid, where would all those bones go??

But their inability to shapeshift smaller does not mean they cannot shapeshift at all, by or consuming the fuzzy ooze or ink, their body will grow in size, and they take a much more animal like shape, like how a human where to turn into a werewolf, in this form, they do high amounts of damage by the swings of their claws

Their bones and thicker skin would also do that one think most inklings and octolings can't do, get in water, cuz let's be honest, unless the oceans are actual acid, having a body with thicker skin, bones and muscle tissue, probably makes these Fuzzy Inklings/octolings able to actually swim!

Also, when their skeletal structure is growing, they will likely also grow tails (you can't have tails otherwise, yah need the spindle bones to make it, no-?)

I'll continue all this later- it's just my ideas I've been thinking of-

[sebastianstansqueen]

Lost in The Shadows Sixteen

A/N: Hey I'm back, this is a little bitter sweet I will post the final part of this series soon, but that maybe my last post depending on later feelings, I'll always keep this account up however just very little interaction, Tumbler hasn't been what it was when I started using it like 4-5 years ago, when I was a freshmen in High School, it was a lot more fun and had a lot more interesting stories being posted at that time, I haven't found myself coming on here intentionally more out of boredom, and even then I don't see anything I'm interested in anymore. But this also could be a hiatus that last a few months to a year I don't know, my app will still be on my phone so don't be afraid to interact or ask me things, I still have another project I was working on and then stopped, I've also been so busy with my Job, that I just haven't had the energy to Wright like I used to be able to.

Wordcount: 1,404

Warnings:  Angst, Guns, then obviously Brock, kid’s, possible torturer, , If forgot anything let me know please!

Masterlist // Series Masterlist // Taglist open// 

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Four Years Ago

After coming back from being gone for months verging a year, Steve seemed to show up out of nowhere looking for Bucky. When Y/n answered and saw the policeman, her already pissed demeanor seemed to intensify, as her eyes shot looking at him that he knew he should already be ten feet into the earth with, he. “What do you want, Rogers?” She hissed. “You couldn’t give a mourning widow and Pregnant woman her space?” 

“Mourning Widow?” He asked, making her eyes widen with realization. 

“Uh, I’m sorry, you didn’t know, Bucky and I were attacked in Romania, where he was shot… twice.” Her fingers knocked themselves around each other. At this moment, Steve was seeing the woman, and not the crime syndicate boss. 

“Y/n, I’m sorry.” He said softly, not really knowing what else to say, he left to process what he’d been told.

A week later he came back. “I want all the information on Brock, Y/n, I want to help you finish this.”

_______

Y/n learned as much as she could about this new chest piece Brock had added to the puzzle, he had insane abilities that matched nothing anyone she had, Y/n wasn’t ever going to send her men, nor Natasha into an unfair fight. So she  decided that tonight, she would end this war that had taken her babies father away, and a good portion of her time away from them as well. They were young, so Y/n knew if she died now, when they were older hopefully they’d forget. As she busted her way through the doors of the warehouse, allowing only the moon’s light into the dark building she could barely see anything. She had her gun ready to go off as soon as she saw anyone. “You came alone.” Brock's voice echoed. 

“I’ve seen what your guy can do. I wasn't going to risk any of my men.” Her voice was cold looking for where the man could be.

Brock’s laugh echoed through the building. “I’m the one who sent Romanoff the tip, I let him be seen by her, Y/n, I’m the one who gave you those videos. I wanted you here.” Brock’s voice turned dark. “I wanted you to see him, come out.” The tall brooding man stepped out of a shadowed corner, moving forward in the darkness, Y/n was only able to see the outline of his foreboding frame, when her arm came into contact with cool metal, the shiver it sent down her spine was one of memories, of being on the sandy beach of the Island in Romania and Bucky’s prosthetic running down her bikini clad back, or when it was nice and cozy that one whiter night and Bucky’s hand reached to pull her impossibly closer. 

By the time her brain caught up with her body she was thrown on the dirt looking up into a cold blue eye that held the moon's rays in them. “Bu-Bucky.” It came out in almost a sob of fear, relief, and sadness. In his eyes however all they held was nothing, maybe confusion, but mostly nothing. “This isn’t you.” 

Four Years Ago

It happened so fast Bucky hadn’t been thinking, as Brock lifted his gun at Y/n, Bucky swiftly moved so that she wouldn’t have gotten hit, as the gun went off once then twice, and the brutalizing pain that went through Bucky’s stomach and chest was worse than when getting his arm amputated, then again that had been done when he was partially in a coma and by professionals, but as he saw Y/n’s wide eyes he realized that for her and for his unborn baby he’d do it again for either one. “Get out! Leave Y/n!” She began running on instinct. 

“Grab him!” Brock’s voice of frustration was the last thing he heard.  Before waking up to himself being operated on by Brock's guys getting the bullets out, he tried to fight them off but quickly found his arm was strapped down and his prosthetic missing. 

“Don’t worry Barnes, you’re gonna be very useful in the downfall of your wife.” Brock Spoke from somewhere out of Bucky’s view. “Give it to him.” 

A blue liquid began to be put through two IV’s and Bucky felt everything in him burn.

_______

“That isn’t going to work Carter, he doesn't know you anymore, we put his mind into a blender.” Brock spoke passively, fueling Y/n’s anger. She only needed to get him, she didn’t want to hurt Bucky, if it wasn’t necessary.

She looked around for an out, so instead She let a low pitched whistle through her lips, making Brock arch a brow, The door’s she had just burst through, came in Steve and a squad of feds. “So you work with cops now?” He recoils into the shadows for his escape. “Ascetic, atack.” And as if a wire was plugged into a TV Bucky’s eyes seemed to darken, as he began to stock towards Y/n.

Steve ran to follow Brock, before he could witness what was about to happen, and all of the feds followed him choosing this time to rade the building, all while she was there facing him alone, he quickly got a hold of her forcing her to the ground, she swiftly jabbed his side. “Bucky, stop this, you need to come home, we have two beautiful babies waiting for us at home, Autumn and Aiden, and they would love to meet you.” She spoke softly, leading him outside as she moved backwards towards the doors. 

“Stop acting like you know me.” His voice held virtually nothing in it.

“I’m not gonna hurt you.” She shook her head. “So you can kill me now, and leave Our kids orphans, or you can return with me.” He faltered taking a step back when Y/n offered to immediately be killed, it was shocking, but he felt a twinge of something when she mentioned the kid’s being orphans, why did he care? He thought.  She could see it in his eyes. “Death and I have shaken hands a few times, I’m not scared, and I’ve made my peace, so if you're going to kill me get it over with.” 

He knew he couldn’t he knew what this would result in when he’d go back, they’d beat him for not completing this, this is what he was made for this is what they told him that he would have to do no matter what, and sure he could and had killed people before but this was different. “You don’t have to go back with him either, you can come with me.” She spoke softly, as the moon shone down on them and made her eyes sparkle, he just shook his head before bolting away into the night. Y/n on fast feet, chased him, she wasn’t about to let him go again, but she only got so far until she felt as if her lungs were going to give up and her legs felt as if any more movement would cause her to collapse, the red, blue, and white, of a cop car was flashing nearby, she fell to her knees, as Steve came and found her his hand went to her shoulder. “We’ve got Brock.” He spoke looking for any sign of Bucky in the shadows, but there would be none, he was so fast he had to be at least a mile away by now. 

She nodded, getting up and composing herself, before getting into Steve's car. He turned to her with a look of concern as he drove. “What is it Steve?” She huffed.

“Are you alright, when you chased Bucky, Y/n you both ran ten miles in thirty minutes.” Steve told her, making her brows furrow, it hadn't felt that far or short for the distance, but her vision had gone into tunnel as she followed Bucky back there. 

She just brushed it off, shrugging, but her thoughts began to stir thinking of Bucky’s strength at the where house, when he tried to force her to the ground there was no possible way to fight back, and his speed he was a decent amount a head of her though still in view, she had no clue what Brock had done to him and she didn’t know if she wanted to. 

[azures-grace]

Hey

Hey @atomiclace

You wanted to hear about my goobers. (In fake Italian accent) I make-a de post

I'll ramble and then drop a bunch of art of them..

Ok so

Lissy and Butch? At each other's THROATS for like. 12-13 years of their life. She was getting shoved around at like. Age four.

For the most part, after about age nine or so she was just like, "I don't have the energy to care about this" but her apathy like. Made this kid mad, so the issues spiked for a bit, but it stopped being physical attacks after she shot Butch and Co with her BB gun when they jumped her after her party.

After the. Gun violence. They kinda like... Cooled off a bit? Her relationship was more chill with Paul than anyone else. He's all Tunnel Snakes Rule and all that, but they've never had any real vendettas against each other personally. She doesn't like Wally, she thinks his older brother is scary (foreshadowing 😔), and she thinks his whole family hates her (they do 😔) so she doesn't interact.

She might not be getting into physical spats with Butch from 11 up, but she's certainly like. Throwing things at him. They're stabbing each other with pencils instead of fistfighting <3. She ends up sitting right in front of him in class and it's. Not her favorite.

Not a whole lot changes after that until the GOAT.

Big changes: 1) she starts avoiding Wally like the plague after breaking into his family's house and like. I think they're vault fanatics and she's literally just living there, she couldn't care less, the brainwashing ain't working, but the Macks fucking terrify her. 2) she ends up picking up a side gig as the tattoo artist (at first to work on her finger dexterity for lock picking, but she stays because she enjoys the job and the money) and that's where her relationship with Butch starts to develop.

Those two bozos go from enemies to coworkers, but it's like. Coworkers >:[. They're relatively amicable, but they'll argue and she'll mess with his stuff when she goes to search his house. They start eating lunch together. She'll bring him food occasionally. The animosity bar is slowly lowering.

After Freddie joins the gang whenever he does, Felicity just kinda goes, "hey man, we've hated each other forever, how about we change that, your gang has all the men, and I need to not be hated by y'all in the future" and Butch is like. "Ew. Sure." And they become Coworkers :|

There's also this like. Very small period of time where they're like. Off and on in like. The world's worst, most awkward, closed off relationship.

That's mostly because Felicity's generally afraid of attempting to date anyone, because the last time she tried that with Amata at age 13, they got busted by the overseer so fast, and she's for sure it's because she tried to date someone and not because the overseer is like. Very against lesbians because that's not gonna help the vault population or something.

Anywho, so she saves his mom before busting out of the vault and then some months later comes back. I have been bullied into the canon 😔

Anywho, she doesn't kill the Overseer, she gets booted out, and then goes back to mourning her dad. She goes back to Rivet City to get some of Dr Li's things to bring them back to the Citadel. That's where she picks up Butch. They start traveling together and it's. Interesting.

They don't. Really know what to do. They aren't fighting anymore, they're not in the same situation they were in, they're both basically orphaned, you know what time it is? If you guessed two idiot teenagers bullying a bunch of small children, you'd be wrong it's the other way around

So they get their asses beat in Lamplight by a bunch of like. 12 year olds and it's not until they're separated by the enclave that Felicity really realizes "aw shit I do like this guy and I do actually care a lot about him" and when they're back home with the GECK, she's like, "hey I know we're like friends n stuff but like. What if we could be like. Dating." And bam they're. Dating question mark.

After Take It Back and her two weeks of being out, they're pretty much like, "yeah no we're dating now"

They head out west after a year in DC, and they make a lil farm a bit away from Goodsprings, and Felicity gets a job as a fragile items courier. She's got the fragile ones because she's not the fastest walker, but she's never had a package break.

OH NO HEADSHOT TIME

So anyway she finally gets back to Butch after like. Five months of him thinking she's dead because Benny stole her pip-boy. She comes home with her party in tow before going to the fort to break her loser out and get her chip back.

She sends Benny to live with Butch and then goes and Yes Mans her way through Vegas while killing as few people as possible and only getting blown up a few times.

She comes back home and is like

"hey Butch, I've slept with other people in the past 8 months"

"ok."

"also I joined another gang in Vegas"

"

"

Anywho, they start the world's worst poly relationship with Benny, she and Butch get married after a few years, she gets off whiskey, they have a baby they name Catherine, all is well.

In like.... 2284(?) Felicity is like, "hey I know we're nice and settled here and we have a five month old, but I wanna go back home for a while cause they don't have any lactation consultants over there" (when she had Catherine, it took forever to see one in the fort full of doctors, so she was like, "I gotta do something")

So they bully the brotherhood into sending a vertibird (maxon was not happy) and went back to DC

They got called by MacCready to come help him after Lucy died, Felicity immediately said yes because she's like, "omg a baby"

So they go over there, live with him and Duncan for a while, and keep watching Duncan while he goes to find the cure.

After MacCready comes back (with Cynthia, my SoSu), they head out and decide they actually want to go back to the Mojave after a year.

They bully the brotherhood into getting them another vertibird, promise to stay in touch with the MacCreadys, and head back to Vegas.

Then they have their son who they name Paul and I haven't thought much past that.

Pictures time yippee

I don't have a lot of drawings of Paul 😔

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

it's been over a month since you watched your last monkie kid episode and that episode was before halfway through the season have you dropped the show and completely moved on to ninjago?

Bruh a month already that's wild I hadn't even realizedhglkdjf

Short answer for conveniences sake: I don't know!

I'm Just kinda going with the flow and following the serotonin right now so hard to say if I've dropped it or not or if i'm just very distracted XD

Longer more dramatic answer I'ma slap under the cut:

I have been dealing with IRL stuff and in all honesty this new season is just really hard to watch!

I really love the first seasons of monkie kid. They've done a lot for me and for my mental health so the fact I'm not liking season 5 is kinda doing a number on me because I really really want to like it.

I want to get that same joy and excitement that I got from first seasons but it is just! Not coming at all! And that's rough cause monkie kid was a big source of my happiness for a long while.

So many people seem to be totally fine with it and even say its the best monkie kid has ever been and I just feel! Kinda awful that I'm not seeing what they're seeing! Really wish I could! But!

I find myself being really negative when I watch any of the eps in this new season or even think about them at all because of how much I dislike them. Heck, I could like make a list of all the things I'm disliking about this new season but honestly I don't enjoy being negative! I just don't really like the person I am when I watch season 5.

I feel bad for not enjoying it and letting negativity into my reaction posts regardless of whether or not that is how i truly feel or even is just my gut reaction in the moment that i process and feel differently about later. It honestly doesn't help that I'll regularly get asks after posting the reactions telling me I'm being too harsh or that they didn't see what I saw and I just! I know it's honestly lighthearted and the askers don't mean anything bad by it but. Y'know what? I'd rather do without all that. Even if most of the asks are understanding and kind and in no way attacking me (so no trashing on my anons pls i love them <3) I really hate the feeling of bringing negativity when all I felt and brought was joy before. I don't want people who followed me for good vibes to be brought down because I complained about how they write monkey king for the 1245th time.

The hard part is I still want to finish it, people have said many many times it gets better, and maybe if I managed to watch the whole thing I'd come out on the other side really liking it! In fact I REALLY hope that's the case. but all of this combined is making it REALLY hard to work up the motivation or even the desire to watch. So...

Yeah! I don't know!

I find I'm getting a lot more good vibes from Dragons Rising right now. I'm loving the animation and the handle on the characters. Ninjago's writer transfer has been a glow-up and so much fun and I can feel that positivity and love i got from monkie kid coming from ninjago right now so ofc i'ma be focusing more on that. All in all I'm having a better time thinking about funky fruit ninja rather than brick monkeys. I do miss monkie kid a lot, but I only miss it more when i watch the new eps instead of less so... yeah. I guess we'll see!

Who knows maybe I'll wake up one morning and be good to go but I have no idea when that'll be. Haven't had the best experience with the first four eps or the fandom after watching them, so :T

Sorry this got really long-winded I am simply a jumble of emotions at all times :pensive_emoji:

Thanks for the ask! I hope the answer wasn't too disappointing and I hope you have a really awesome day dude <3

[bayofwolves]

Rereading Fire and Ice

We're back again after a short break! Sorry this one took so long to get out, adult life caught up to me. As you might know, these posts are to discuss interesting tidbits and things I hadn't noticed before. Let's get right to it!

Once again, please mind the tags.

In A Revised History of Erdas, Rollan is native and has his long hair in two braids, so this cover messes with me. I really fuck with the colour scheme, though.

Meilin thinks Maya might be crazy. She also jokes about burning Pia's house down in a later chapter, which is a little unsettling! These are definitely just throwaway lines that aren't meant to be thought about again, but I find myself wishing the authors had purposefully written Maya to be a little bit off. It would add something to her character, at least.

Rollan is confirmed to be a person of colour! Yay! "His brown eyes were warm, his brown skin speckled with dirt from the road, his broad face comfortingly familiar." I wasn't a fan of the ambiguous "tan" description he got before.

It seems Abeke may have been physically abused in her home as well as emotionally. She says that if she had ever talked back to her father like Rollan did to Pia, she would be switch-whipped. Pojalo, mark my words, you will answer for everything you've done to hurt this girl.

Abeke being a Rain Dancer becomes relevant! Everybody cheer! Being near water helps her think clearly and make sense of the situation in Samis. Would have been nice to show her actually making it rain at any point like Rain Dancers are supposed to do, but I'll take this, I guess…

Aidana may have had Rollan when she was a teenager. This doesn't have any real merit, but I think it's very possible. And no matter her age at the time, given her circumstances -- living on the streets, mentally unwell and experiencing frequent blackouts -- I doubt her pregnancy was of her own will. Especially considering how she never mentions anything about Rollan's father, and he never asks.

Rollan doesn't seem to remember Wikerus. (Perhaps he only had traumatic memories of him, and his brain covered these up along with the memories of Aidana's sickness.) He probably would have mentioned to the Greencloaks that his mother was Marked if he'd known.

Zerif must have found and cured Aidana while he was in Concorba seeking Rollan and Essix. I doubt he would have visited that city on two separate occasions. He likely came across her after losing Rollan to Olvan. Another element of tragedy to their story: Aidana was possibly just hours or minutes too late to safely reunite with her son.

Aidana talks about the Devourer helping people, seeking out those afflicted by the bonding sickness and curing them with the Bile. It's unclear if she means Gar or Shane by this, but I'm inclined to believe the latter. In that case, it would have been interesting to see some of this -- Shane finding people the Greencloaks passed over and taking their pain away. He would have genuinely thought he was doing something right, even if he was offering them up to Gerathon in the process.

Pia may have been alive in Feliandor's time, as Rollan notices she doesn't seem surprised to learn of the new war. This is entirely possible, as Suka presumably froze herself and stopped visiting Samis soon after the Fall of the Four in the First Devourer War.

The animal that attacks the group's boat on their way to Arctica isn't fully revealed. I hope it was a creature that doesn't exist on Earth. I imagine a hippocampus or something like it, since the noise made when Tarik strikes it is described as sounding like a wet horse's flank.

Tarik's bond with Lumeo gives him the power to control water. Wish we'd seen more of this.

Abeke has never seen hail before their nights in Arctica.

Conor singing has always been one of the most memorable parts of this book for me. I wish there'd been other instances of him singing folk songs for the group.

So as we've seen with Suka, Great Beasts can devolve into a beast-like state -- presumably if they are comatose for a long period of time. Suka had probably been asleep for hundreds of years, so it makes sense that her mind would be delayed.

Jhi calming Suka reminds me of what Meilin's bond token was intended to do. It would have been a neat callback to what happened here if it had stopped Song's murderous rage.

Halawir's identity as the Betrayer has actually been hinted at in a few books prior to the reveal, this one and Tales of the Great Beasts. Here, it's clear that him asking for Suka's talisman meant he was up to something.

Abeke and Maya's little conversation where they hold hands for comfort and call each other magical is the gayest thing these books have given us since... Suka and Jhi, a few chapters ago. It's a really sweet but also sad moment, Maya revealing that she is traumatized and Abeke not knowing how to help. Definitely one of my favourite parts.

The dream Conor has about the group all wearing strange shoes could have actually had some meaning behind it. The laces on Meilin's dumpling shoes that stretch behind them for miles could symbolize her Bile bond leading the Conquerors to them. Abeke falling through the ice with her fire shoes, but Conor being unable to save her, could foreshadow her being captured by the Conquerors in the next book. As you may recall, Conor was not present and could not do anything when this happened.

I don't believe Shane had any intention of cutting Uraza off Abeke's skin. It's this line for me: "Shane is too much of a diplomat, so Zerif made sure we [Ana and Tahlia] came along and enforced the plan. He was especially hurt by Abeke's betrayal." I'm assuming Shane knew of the plan, and may have been okay with threatening Abeke to get what he wanted (similar to how he used Achi to win his fight against Lishay in The Book of Shane: Vendetta), but wasn't going to actually harm her. He knew he could get the talisman another way. Zerif, on the other hand, wanted Abeke to suffer and so sent two of his minions along. Less plausible is the chance Shane wasn't even in on it to begin with, and Zerif (and his minions) deliberately conspired behind his back. (I'm all for the Conquerors defying Shane's authority, given that ARHoE has Drina stage a coup, so I find this possibility particularly intriguing.)

Kind of wish Abeke had ridden on Great Briggan with Conor in the final battle. Would have made for an iconic scene.

Poor Abeke is concussed during the final battle. I never spotted this growing up because I've never had a concussion and didn't know the signs. I thought she was just tripping, to be honest.

Rollan begins to slip into suicidal ideation after his mom tries to kill him. This book has not been kind to our protagonists, not one bit.

On this quest, the team has done two terrible things: destroyed the Ice Palace, a place built by generations of Ardu, and condemned the entire village of Samis to death. And all for a talisman that slips out of their hands, no less.

My final thoughts on Fire and Ice are mixed. There were some inconsistencies and relapses in character development, and while I can chalk it up to being a product of the many different authors working on this series, it still got on my nerves a little. Let's be real, Conor's animosity towards Shane came out of nowhere and is wildly out of character for him. Rollan shouldn't have been grating on Conor for giving away the Iron Boar when they resolved that conflict back in Blood Ties. It's a little messy. But I liked the rest. They introduced some elements in this one that really grabbed me. I absolutely love Aidana and her relationship with Rollan; she's a good example of how the war is not so black and white. I love how our protagonists firmly believe anything they do is justified because it's for the greater good, choosing to ignore the destruction they leave behind. I love the depth Rollan got, though it unfortunately came at the expense of other characters'. I wish they hadn't waited to develop Maya until we were nearing the end; I really enjoyed her when they gave her a bigger role. The focus this author gave Conor and Abeke has always been a highlight of the series for me; their relationship is so sweet and caring, though I see it as more platonic than anything. And of course, I loved the darker elements that this book had. Not only that, but it left me in emotional pain, which is exactly what I need to consider something a good read.

All in all, another solid addition to the series. This journey hurt our protagonists so much, and it hurt me.

This is part of an ongoing series.

Wild Born | Hunted | Blood Ties | Fire and Ice | Against the Tide | Rise and Fall | The Evertree

Immortal Guardians | Broken Ground | The Return | The Burning Tide

Heart of the Land | The Wildcat's Claw | Stormspeaker | The Dragon's Eye

Tales of the Great Beasts | The Book of Shane | Tales of the Fallen Beasts

[polliwoggers]

Hi! So I saw your Matter headcanon post and I loved it!

So I was wondering about your headcanons about the Master Crown!

(Image unrelated,I just thought it was funny)

Hi!! thanks so much for the ask! :D

I do have some headcanons about the Master Crown! i'll give the short version for now, since a lot of my ideas about it depend on more structural worldbuilding that I haven't posted about yet, so I'll gloss over those parts.

it's still quite long though (sorry), and i don't have any pictures for it like my other lore posts do (sorry x2), so it's going under the cut --

The Master Crown, as an uncorrupted object, was a ceremonial headpiece passed down the original line of Halcandran kings, but eventually fell out of use and became something of a cultural artifact instead. It was later associated with the mythologized versions of the first Halcandran hero-kings, known for their wisdom and temperance in ruling. Time passed.

Thousands of years later, the then-emperor of Halcandra was approached by a dark matter clan led by an usually tactful Queen-Type Dark Matter who was interested in forging diplomatic ties with the Halcandran Empire. To keep this simple, I'll call the Queen-type Dark Matter "Mistilteinn", even though they wouldn't have been called that yet in-universe.

The emperor refused any Dark Matter representatives into the government in their current forms, but was open to the idea of a "declawed" Dark Matter representative -- one that could neither possess nor otherwise darkly influence fellow members of his parliament or royal court in "supernatural" or unfair ways.

So, with the emperor's full knowledge and permission, Mistilteinn turned to Jambandran magic experts to brainstorm a way to convert one of its drone-type Dark Matters into the perfect "declawed" representative for the dark matter species in Halcandran politics. They landed on fusing a Dark Matter into the Master Crown, an ancient symbol of reason and wisdom, and making the Dark Matter held within it unable to influence anybody other than its wearer, who would speak for it as the representative.

There was either a major miscommunication or deliberate sabotage in the fusing of Dark Matter and Crown. Instead of a simple drone-type Dark Matter being fused to the Crown, it was Mistilteinn itself who was fused and "declawed", throwing the clan of Dark Matters it led into chaos without its leader and sole reproductive member!

Thinking they had been betrayed, the remaining Dark Matters of Mistilteinn's clan rained destruction on Halcandra. Everything was flung into darkness. The panic and sense of betrayal for everybody involved was the major inciting incident that led to the banishment of all Jambandrans, including Hyness' clan, from all Halcandran territories, as well as for the dissolution of Halcandran parliament altogether and the reinstatement of the emperor as absolute ruler of the empire.

interestingly, despite everything, nobody but the emperor really knew what had happened with the Master Crown -- and even he didn't know everything! Because Mistilteinn's attempts to integrate into Halcandran politics were quite hush-hush, the public assumed dark matter had attacked them at random, and there were no Jambandrans left to inform them of what had been going on between Mistilteinn and the emperor behind the scenes.

To further legitimize his new absolute power, began wearing the Master Crown like the kings of old, confident that he was too strong to be corrupted by its influence. Mistilteinn, thoroughly enraged, did not grant him this luxury.

Cut to thousands of years later, and the Halcandran empire has truly fallen -- they're known only as "the Ancients" now. It takes the might of four dragons to withstand the Crown's corrupting power, and even they are weaker than they used to be. Mistilteinn, trapped in the Crown for so long, is very much insane and more than willing to mutilate any poor soul who wears it into a vessel for its hatred and obsession with vengeance.

In the modern day, the Crown's origins are shrouded in mystery, and its power level has been exaggerated from "as powerful as a Dark Matter Queen" to "limitless". Magolor reads of the legendary Halcandran relic in an ancient tome, and the rest is history!

there's more i could go into about different Dark Matter clans, the different eras of Halcandran civilization, and the process by which Mistilteinn was sealed within the Master Crown, but I think that's all a bit much for now. Thanks again for asking!! i love to talk about this sort of thing lmao :3

[coldgoldlazarus]

I know the metroid timeline is purposely pretty vague, but do you have a headcanon for how long it's been since metroid 1? I figure it has to be at least a few years, even in the games themselves don't take place over a long period of time each

I think my initial off-the-cuff guesstimate would be somewhere in the vicinity of eight to ten years, with Samus in Zero Mission being in her mid twenties, and in her early-mid thirties as of Dread. Wanna double-check what little canon info there is later to make sure there aren't any glaring contradictions, and it's hard to say how Prime 4 may alter things or not, but here's my rough guesses about the timeskips between games.

Zero Mission to Prime - A couple years, enough time for the escaped frigate Orpheon to set up shop on Tallon IV before Samus comes calling. For simplicity, let's round to an even number; my instinct would be to say two years, but apparently one source says it is actually three. I'll split the difference and say 2 Years, 6 Months.

Prime to Hunters - A couple months at most, mainly because I'm pretty sure it was said explicitly somewhere that Prime and Echoes were six months apart. 2 Years, 8 Months

Hunters to Echoes - A few months, probably a slightly bigger space on this end of Hunters, but still not too long, in keeping with the aformentioned six-month gap. 3 Years.

Echoes to Corruption - Approximately a year, give or take, allowing for Urtraghus's near-complete seed conversion (unimpeded compared to Tallon IV) and creation of Urtraghan Pirate Phazon Cult, along with the other logistics groundwork laid for their massive attacks seen in the game. 4 Years.

Corruption to Federation Force - Merely a few months, as Samus would still have to have been recovering from her phazon corruption for the pirates to have feasibly captured her, and for the Federation to switch gears from their now-useless PED technology to Project Golem. (Meanwhile, I hold the headcanon that the Pirates are quite vast and decentralized compared to what the games claim/imply, thus the Urtraghan Phazon Cult was not representative of the entirety of the Pirates, and the Doomseye crew were a completely different branch who had been setting up seperately from the Urtraghans during the same time period, and were unaffected by their fall.) For rounding purposes, let's say that's four months, putting us at 4 Years, 4 Months.

Federation Force to Samus Returns - This space is the big unknown variable, especially given this is most likely where Prime 4 will fall, and we don't yet know whether it will ultimately be a one-off or start a brand new trilogy or what. But for now, assuming only Prime 4 goes in this space, I'll give it something like a round two years, with P4 happening closer to the back end of that, to lead fairly directly into Samus Returns with only a few months between them, with whatever incident occurs there finally spurring the Federation to order the Metroid extermination. But if they do wedge in even more games after Prime 4, I would stretch this section out to three or more years. But for now, 6 Years, 4 Months.

Samus Returns to Super - I detailed in another post that while I originally agreed with the general consensus that Super follows extremely closely off of SR, I have since changed my mind. Even though I have my issues with the forced inclusion of Proteus Ridley and the general tonal mishandling of Metroid II's ending, if we are to aknowledge that that event occurred, I feel like Super must make far more sense with some temporal distance between it and SR. Ergo, I posit that rather than them being a week apart at most as popular consenus goes, there must be a minimum of four months between them. Enough time for Ridley's attack to be written off as a fluke, and somewhere in that time Samus and the hatchling Metroid embarked on an adventure that convinced her it was unsafe at her side - either in too much danger, or too much of a danger to others, or both, thus prompting her to bring it to Ceres Station, kicking off the events of Super. So going with that conservative estimate of four months, that puts us at 6 Years, 8 Months.

Super to Fusion - (I am of course just not aknowledging Other M in this timeline. Fed Force is overhated IMO, but I don't have enough patience for OM.) Given that enough time must have passed between Samus Returns and Fusion for the Biologic Space Laboratories asteroid space station to have been set up around SR388 and brought into operation for the habitats to be filled, but the X parasite propogation on said planet only reached the station shortly before Fusion begins, I would guess about a year or so passed, with the bulk of that time being spent simply building the station before operations proper began only a month or two out from Fusion's opening. But that's relative to Samus Returns; relative to Super I would estimate that gap to be somewhere around eight months, bringing our total up to 7 Years, 4 Months.

Fusion to Dread - This is another kind of weird one given how Dread just has Samus working with the Federation again, even if presumably on rockier terms than before. There must have been at least a solid couple-month stretch of initially dealing with the fallout of Fusion, then things settle back into an uneasy status quo, before the transmission comes that sets off this newest adventure. At the same time, not too much of a long stretch, given Samus still has the Federation-loaned purple Gunship and her new/old AI friend. So another eight-month stretch there puts us at 8 Years.

If I say Samus is like, 24 in Zero Mission, (given it seems she was in her early 20s when she was with the Federation, and had already been a bounty hunter of good repute for a couple years as of ZM) then that puts her at roughly 32 (or 33 or 34 if I do stretch out the period between FF and SR) in Dread, which just feels right to me. These are of course all rounded to exact numbers, I imagine the actual stretches of time to be a bit more uneven, but still amounting to this overall length.

[dominimoonbeam]

Bite to Bruise - Epilogue + Extra Scene

This work is mine and I do not give consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted without my permission. I am sharing chapters as I work on this story but it is copyrighted material that I plan to rework and publish when completed.

story tags: modern-fantasy mashup, werewolves, witches, monsters, romance, learning to trust, hurt/comfort, blood, violence, explicit sex, explicit language

The earlier parts can be found under the tag or over on patreon. <3

A huge thank you to everyone who read this and commented or reblogged or just sent good vibes. I'll be editing and adding a bit more to this one and then self publishing it soon. Thank you!

BITE TO BRUISE - CHAPTER EPILOGUE + EXTRA SCENE.

EPILOGUE

There were a lot of questions about what happened in his territory that day.

The other fenrir wanted to know if the shades had attacked, if it was a call to war.

The shades had their own questions but locked them behind their teeth.

Ever brought Wren back to the house and the pack watched Grendel and Hymn carry Baron’s body from the woods, the curse still wrapped around him.

Blackwell’s shades ripped the old god apart and dug her out of its guts. The pack allowed them to leave, carrying their undead back to their vehicles in a trail of blood that was everything but fenrir.

Later that night, they discovered the hole where Soren had been buried. Ever suspected Primrose had recovered his missing shade, just as he had set out to do from the start.

From what he heard months later, Baron’s court managed to get the curse off of him and the shade recovered—only he forgot the name Baron and went back to being Kish. The bounty on the witch was canceled.

Eventually winter gave way completely and the last of the snow and ice melted, taking the bloodspill with it into the earth. After they had cleared the fallen trees and the grass grew in the valley, it looked like none of it had ever happened. No human would guess at it, even if every fenrir could smell that hint of shade and monster in the soil for years to follow.

It smelled like violence and victory, and when he stepped through the back door of his home to see his witch sitting in that field, picking at long grass and watching the trees with a smile, he knew she smelled it too.

EXTRA SCENE

Before Ruby realized it, the streets had changed. Ceres had gone quiet and nearly abandoned within just a block. She kept walking, expecting to run into another stretch of brightly lit shop fronts and restaurants overflowing with guests.

A few more steps and she felt the skin on the back of her neck prickle, her hands twisting in the sleeves of her hoodie.

“Are you lost?”

Ruby turned toward the voice. Yellow eyes stared back at her. The man was fenrir big. She exhaled a little relief, smiling. “I didn’t think I was…”

“Where’s your mate?” another voice came from the side.

Her heartbeat sped up, pounding against her throat. There was something pointedly unfriendly about this interaction. Had she done something? “What?” the word came out thin and unsteady. What was their problem? Did they know Liang? He’d said Ceres belonged to his cousin and they were safe here.

She took a step back and the one to her right, still deep in shadow between buildings, growled.

The sound made her jump and jerk away from it, stumbling off the sidewalk and into the street. A wolf stepped out of those shadows, darkness rolling off of its massive body like it was made of it. Lips curled back to bare long teeth as it continued to snarl at her.

“Well?” the other asked, as if he hadn’t noticed. “Where is he?”

“Who?” Ruby played dumb. It felt easy when she had no idea what was happening.

The wolf at her side snapped and Ruby screamed, legs tangling and dropping her on her ass right there in the street.

“Why would a rogue send their mate in here alone?” the other wondered aloud, stepping closer. Somehow, he was more menacing than the one on all four.

But then he froze, his expression dropping and his head turning to the side like he’d heard something she couldn’t.

The fenrir on all four had stopped growling too, ears flicking before it backed away.

“Knock it off,” a third commanded, walking onto the scene and right past the one asking questions. He was just as tall but leaner, and yet the other man backed up, dropping his head. The third flashed Ruby a smile that actually looked genuine and offered her his hand. “Hi. I’m Sunny.”

Ruby took the hand and was hoisted to her feet. “Ruby,” she muttered, confused.

He smiled the way she’d become used to fenrir smiling when she gave her name, but he released her hand a took a step back, giving her just enough space to have the illusion of being out of his reach. “Are you lost?”

She exhaled hard. “Why does everyone keep asking that?”

The fenrir on four legs snorted and turned to walk back into the shadows.

Sunny stepped to the side, gesturing for her to join him back the way she’d come.

Ruby frowned but started walking. This was at least better than possibly getting mauled… “Did I do something wrong?” she asked when she could see the brighter lights of the familiar streets ahead.

Sunny had maintained a distance from her, a step ahead and to her side. “No. You just smell like a wolf that doesn’t belong to our pack. So, they got a little… defensive.”

“I thought Ceres belonged to Royal?”

Growls rumbled from the streets behind her but when she looked, she couldn’t spot any of the wolves in those shadows. The man beside her just smiled. “Half of it does. The half you were on. You couldn’t have known, and it wouldn’t have mattered if—”

“If I didn’t smell like a wolf.”

He nodded. “Speaking of…”

The growls in the dark got louder when she spotted Liang marching out of those bright streets and straight toward them. If he knew where the border was, he didn’t show any signs of caring.

Ruby felt a mix of relief and worry. She almost reached for him, but she was scared she’d led him into a conflict. “I managed to get lost,” she announced, hoping to break some of that tension she could see in the line of his shoulders and the curl of his lip flashing long pointed teeth. His eyes stayed fixed on her, moving over her from head to toe like he was looking for injury.

“I left you alone for twenty minutes,” he pointed out, his usual easy humor there but with a tension underneath she’d never heard. She really must have stepped in it this time… He pulled her gently behind him, away from Sunny.

Ruby blinked, surprised. Sunny was far from menacing, and she had seen Liang fight worse. But Liang took a step back, nudging her farther away. “She didn’t know,” he explained.

Sunny wasn’t smiling anymore, she realized. His eyes were on Liang now. “But you did.”

Liang took another step back, keeping her behind him, and she realized he might not be backing up at all if it weren’t for a need to get her away from the situation. “I wasn’t part of the pack that lived here before yours and I don’t belong to Royal.”

“But you are his blood.”

“And you are Ever’s blood but that doesn’t mean you belong to his pack anymore, does it?”

A series of snarls and growls echoed through the dark streets behind Sunny, and Ruby wondered how many there were out there.

Sunny kept his eyes on Liang, like he was trying to read something that wasn’t said or seeing something no one else could. “Welcome back to Dog Lands, Liang. Stick around long enough this time and you might even get rid of that Blood Country stink.”

Liang tensed. She felt it in his back where her hand was curled in his t-shirt against his spine.

Sunny smiled, more friendly than threatening. Why was everyone so scared of him? “What? You thought you would know about me, and I wouldn’t know about you? Tell your cousin hello from us.”

Liang nodded tightly and took a few more steps back before turning, his arm slung around her shoulders and walking them toward that invisible territory line in the city.

“And Ruby,” Sunny called. She looked back to see him sliding his hands into his pockets. “I’m sorry if they scared you. You’re welcome over whenever you want.” His smile became a grin, brilliant and true. “Even if you want to bring your mate with you.”

Liang didn’t stop walking or even look back, but she managed to watch just long enough to see half a dozen shadows move around Sunny.

When they were back on the busier streets, still walking deeper into the lights and crowds, Ruby looked up at Liang beside her. “Why do they keep calling you my mate?”

Liang snorted, his own smile back. “That’s your first question?”

“It seems like a good one…”

“Because you smell like me.”

“So?” she argued. She smelled like him? She tried to discreetly tuck her chin and sniff at her hoodie. It’s not like it could be a bad smell. Liang smelled amazing.

He tugged her tighter into his side and dropped his head to bury a kiss against her hair. “Because you smell a lot like me, Red. Even a tracker would be hard-pressed to tell us apart at this point.”