#going all in on how there's definitely something supernatural about him lol

[1322daysofdoey]

As a neurodivergent and traumatized adult I definitely see where anon is coming from. I've been treated like I've had the mentality of a child because of how I reacted in extremely stressful situations and it's awful.

I think the problem may stem from the fact that some people use the "toys aged into adulthood" headcanon to justify sexualization in a similar manner to "I aged them up so it's okay!" which causes people to see the entire headcanon in a negative light, despite the fact that I have seen quite a few people on Tumblr headcanon them as adults in a respectful way and not using it for inappropriate reasons (and still being very much uncomfortable with people who do sexualize them). Like, just headcanoning it because it makes more biological sense, since as anon said, they're still alive. It was a surgical procedure, not supernatural possession of inanimate objects. So if you're alive, you age, that's just how it works lol. Even if the procedure involves death and then resurrection in the new body, the physical resurrection, realistically, would resume the aging process wouldn't it? Because it's their organs preserved, transferred into a new body, and then revived. Once again, not ghost possessions. Of course, if they aged, they were growing up in a horrible environment with no parental figures, which obviously didn't give them any chance to heal from their trauma. That's going to show in their mental state. I've seen people take Doey (Jack) saying "Mommy, Daddy, I just wanna go home" as him still being a child but that could just as easily be regression due to the immense stress of the situation. All of his personalities would be, really. You can see it in Kevin especially, comparing some dialogue with his personality from an earlier part of the game (yes, he doesn't only come out when Doey loses his temper, you know!) with how he speaks at the end of the chapter.

The way people are affected by trauma is not pretty. Being overwhelmed by your emotions is not pretty. Growing up doesn't magically fix it, it's something that'll stick with you for the rest of your life. And it's only going to be worse when you have no opportunity to heal, and when you experience even more trauma once reaching adulthood that mirrors your childhood trauma.

Also, on another note, I've seen some people claim that the "permanent children" interpretation is the objectively canon one, which I think may be a misconception as a result of people on the dev team having that headcanon despite them only being artists, voice actors, etc. and not the people who actually wrote the story and lore. Their headcanon gets treated as confirmed fact even though it's still just a headcanon at the end of the day. So some people may end up trying to shut down what they think are "incorrect" interpretations when there's actually still no confirmation one way or the other as of now. (Correct me if I'm mistaken and it actually was confirmed to be 100% canon fact and not just their personal interpretations, but please give proof so I know it's not misinformation. But personally, I think confirmation of something that important needs to be stated in the actual game... Like, if the procedure somehow stops their organs from physically aging forever, then they should put a lore document about it in the game itself.)

But of course, remember to still use common sense no matter what your headcanon is. Like for example I'm still very uncomfortable with toy x player ships because the player, being an ex-employee, would have already been an adult while the toys were still children. That's just gross.

(Sorry OP I hope it's okay I reblogged with a yapfest I just had a lot of thoughts.)

The wider PPT fandom has an extremely bad abelism issue.

When people get attacked/degraded for dare headcanoning the toys as deeply traumatized adults, detractors' reasons and they're overall messaging actually feeds into deeply bigoted beliefs that perpetuate abuse aimed at people who have undergone extreme trauma and are neurodivergent in ways that aren't "digestible enough" for most neurotypical people to tollerate. It's bad enough a lot of it comes down to infantilization.

And the comparisons often made with fnaf with "dead kids"... that actually misses the entire point of Poppy's premise. That the toys are LIVING BEINGS. Meaning none of these victims ever died in the first place upon being turned and furthur abused.

You people are effectively telling survivors of extreme abuse and trauma the game is deeply allegorical to (like what has been long normalized in asylums!) that they are better off dead. You are shaming them for dare surviving.

An important reminder: Doey directly said to Poppy "we are people". Not children. People.

‎

[windcarvedlyre]

brain: you know those aus you need to work on?

me: yeah?

brain: have another one

me: wait i don't need-

brain: we're thinking about this for the next 24 hours

[mintyys-blog]

Hello!!♥️ I really enjoyed all other invincible stories and writing for each mark i find em such a spot on. I was wondering if it would alright to request invincible (any mark) with reader having powers like Danny phantom? :0 i thought it could be cool idea in invincible world to have someoke with supernatural powers as in like ghost powers and stuff in way and would be useful when the power of possessing bodies comes in play and be helpful too? lol imagine reader spooking mark once a while ptff

MY BOO | mark grayson x danny phantom! reader

INVINCIBLE MASTERLIST | WARNINGS:

You’ve made it your life’s mission to scare the absolute hell out of Mark at least once a week. Whether it’s floating above his bed while he’s mid-sleep, your glowing eyes flickering in the dark like some demonic entity, or phasing through the wall with a blood-curdling whisper, it never gets old. The way he jumps, fists ready, eyes wide—it’s a masterpiece every time. And while he plays it off like he’s “used to it,” the haunted look in his eyes says otherwise.

There was one particular morning you phased through the ceiling right as he stepped out of the shower. He screamed and almost flew through the damn wall. “You can’t keep doing that!” he shouted, wrapping a towel around himself while still trying to act tough. You just floated upside down, smirking, saying, “If you didn’t look so cute when scared, maybe I’d stop.” He blushed. You called that a win.

When it comes to fighting, though, you’re a dream teammate. Mark’s all power and speed, but your ghost powers make you unpredictable. He flies in with brute force, and you phase through the ground, possess a villain’s body, and start using them as a puppet. Once, during a mission, you made a mercenary punch himself in the face so hard he knocked out cold. Mark stared, jaw slack. “Did you just—” “Yeah. Possessed him. Also made him twerk a little before I left. Hope that’s okay.” He couldn’t stop laughing… until you told him the next person you planned on possessing was him.

He didn’t take it seriously until one day you actually did. It was a light possession, nothing permanent—just enough to feel what flying felt like from his perspective. He freaked out the moment he felt his body moving without input. “Babe, this is NOT funny—oh my god why am I doing flips?! STOP DOING FLIPS.” You eventually let go and floated beside him, smug as hell. “So this is what it’s like to have pecs. Wild.”

You have a habit of turning invisible when you’re mad. Mid-argument, Mark would blink and realize you’ve vanished into thin air. “Seriously? You ghosted me? LITERALLY?” he’d yell, arms thrown up. You’d pop back in through the floor, say something dramatic like, “I rise from the dead… only to hear more of your bullshit,” and disappear again. It was infuriatingly effective.

Late nights were the worst for him. You’d wait until he’s half-asleep, then whisper his name like some haunted movie villain. “Maaaark…” and he’d jolt awake, looking around like he’s in a horror film. “You’re gonna give me a heart attack,” he mumbles, face buried in the pillow. “That’s the point,” you reply sweetly, curling up beside him.

Mark actually loves the deep parts of your powers too—the way you can feel shifts in the spiritual world, how your ghost sense picks up emotions, memories, and even lost souls. It’s not just creepy—it’s beautiful. You bring perspective to his strength, make him think about more than just punching the bad guy. He loves listening to you talk about the strange energy of being stuck between two worlds—living, but not completely. You once told him, “You were born to destroy planets. I was born already half-dead. We both carry things we didn’t ask for.” He kissed you so hard that night, holding you like you were the most real thing in the universe.

People definitely fear you more than him sometimes. You don’t just knock people out—you break them down psychologically, force them to confront guilt, possess their bodies and make them apologize to their teammates before walking off in your glowing form. Mark’s tried to act like the more intimidating one, but even he knows—when villains see you, they run.

He has a collection of ghost puns for you. “Boo-thang,” “my spooky girl,” “hauntie,” and even “Casper, but hot.” You pretend to hate it, but you secretly live for it.

And when he talks about the future, about maybe having a home or kids one day, he always says, “Would they be half-Viltrumite, half-ghost? Because that sounds terrifying, and I’m into it.” You grin, saying, “They’d be invisible until they want juice. Then they’d phase through the fridge.” Mark laughs but lowkey hopes it really happens.

You’re his chaos. His phantom menace. His mischievous, glowy-eyed, haunting little piece of home. And even if he never quite gets used to you floating through walls or making the TV talk back to him, he knows one thing for certain—life has never been more fun, more weird, or more perfect.

[mamawasatesttube]

ok i put a longer post abt tim's Emotional State in drafts for when my brain is less melted but re: tim and going to college im just gonna get a lil silly with it. hear me out.

i have this whole vague story in my mind for tim's college days moonlighting as red robin as he tries and figures out what he wants out of life. (it's a while after rr leaves off and all because he's like. Super Depressed for a hot minute and then has to drag himself through actually bothering to get his GED and applying to college, etc., but eventually lucius is like hey. you're great with gadgets, and you clearly love tinkering. i'd hire you for r&d in a heartbeat but you need at the least a bachelor's of engineering. i know you have a lot of the technical skills, but you need a degree. so tim goes ugh fine i'll get a goddamn engineering degree how hard can it possibly be.)

anyways. i think it's a universal experience that if you go to college and you hang with the STEM crowd, you will unfortunately get to know at least one Fucking Guy. it's like brentwood arc; tim does make friends, but there is just this One Fucking Guy he cannot stand and will never stand. this Fucking Guy is in the common room playing his guitar at midnight. he's drunk and yelling and laughing really loud when people have exams coming up. he's convinced everyone adores him. there's also a detective/supernatural plot going on. the subplot is just that tim hates This Fucking Guy.

at some point, there's a story beat where he as red robin has to rescue That Fucking Guy from a real dicey situation, and That Fucking Guy is really shaken and grateful to him, and he's like okay. maybe. maybe we are making progress. but then the next time he encounters This Fucking Guy as tim drake, the guy is just like. "ohhhh hey drake you missed it last night, it was AWESOME!!! i had to save red robin from a KILLER ROBOT. he's pretty cool though i guess. i bet you wish you could be more like him huh??" and tim is just. I Will Not Grind My Teeth About This. I Will Not. his life is a fucking joke. he dismantles the toaster oven in the common room kitchen to cope. it's definitely to cope and not just so that That Fucking Guy won't be able to heat up his pop tarts in the morning.

at another point, This Fucking Guy looks at street mode, lowkey, unremarkable Normal Car-looking redbird and goes, aw, dude, i thought your dad is loaded?? he only got you a generic-ass sedan?? that sucks lol, if you want we can take my car down to the game instead. and tim is just Say One More Fucking Word About My Baby I Dare You I Fucking Dare You One More Fucking Word.

(also i like to toy with the idea of this being a university in metropolis - he's out of gotham, but not too far. keeps him from getting antsy about what if he's needed because he can get right back over there. and in the meantime, he can hang out with kon and kara a lot, and occasionally enable and be enabled by lois lane and her snooping habits. there's another subplot in which tim and lois get up to shenanigans. at least once.)

it's sort of an introspective thing of him trying to come to terms with the way he no longer wants a fully normal life the way he always used to assume he would - he has the option to walk away from the cape now, like he always thought he would one day, but he just can't give it up anymore. he's fallen into the same black hole he watched dick and bruce dive headlong into. it's also about him finding joy in tinkering and working with his hands and getting to spend more time as tim drake first and foremost. and it's about him venting to kon about That Fucking Guy while they have a lil picnic on the green while kon loses his absolute shit laughing. all against the backdrop of a little mystery or something. <3

OH and also, most importantly. zoanne wilkins is there and laughing at him for assuming college would be easy. and kon gets her into wendy the werewolf stalker. My City Now.

[moolthecow]

i ain't gonna sugarcoat it.

[listofwhyyouloveher]

Greasers x reader who’s a romantic goth? Like with the dark moody reds and pinks and lace clothing (kind of like Morticia Addams’ style but with slightly more color lol) Do you think any of them would dig it or find it strange?

Summary: outsiders w a romantic goth.

Warnings: mentions of religion and the devil, harmful stereotypes

Author's note: short n different format today x

Ponyboy isn't into your style at first, he isn't exactly a religious person but he knows that the devil is associated with evil and you dress in outfits that would have socs whispering about you doing satanic rituals in the bathroom at school.

Later on, he learns to like your style. He appreciates the artistry and attention to detail that goes into it, especially when the Addam's Family first aired.

Johnny likes your style but refuses to get close to you or even glance your way. He does this because his parents are ultra religious and would give him hell if he was seen hanging out with you.

Sometimes when he's feeling creative he likes to draw you in the dirt of the lot. It's not very good but he thinks he captures your essence and your long flowing black sleeves very well.

Sodapop doesn't dig your style. He's into stereotypical bleach blondes, you are quite the opposite. However he couldn't help but notice when you went from wearing all black to adding splashes of colours to your apparel.

Sometimes, in the streets, he'll compliment something about your outfit, smile when you say thank you, and turn back to watch you walk away.

Steve totally digs your style, he thinks it's tuff and that you'd curse the socs if they made you mad. He's totally one to fall for rumors and believe everything anyone says. Despite his ideas of you being supernatural, he truly might be one of the very few, not including the Curtis gang, to treat you like a human.

He'll always tell you that if you ever find a hearse for a good price that needs fixing to get him on the job and he'll have it done quicker than anything.

Two Bit doesn't think much about your style. It doesn't cross his mind. He does try to stay away from you because he doesn't want any bad influences for his little sister but as soon as he gets to know you he let's go of that idea.

He definitely made you dress like the Bride of Frankenstien for Halloween and he of course was Frankenstein.

Darry tries to keep only the best people around. He's unsure of whether or not your clothes make you a "bad person" but he quickly let's go of that notion because he saw you teaching Pony somethings. He likes your clothes, really. He thinks it's cool how you can get a bunch of random things and put it into an outfit fit for a moon deity.

With much persuasion, he has dressed up as Gomez Addams, you as Morticia and Pony and Soda as Wednesday and Pugsley. He also dressed as Herman Munster and you as his wife. (All for halloweens)

Dallas tries not to engage with you romantically. He thinks your outfits are sick but he knows you won't do what he'd want you to because you are certainly not a conformed. He'd make a lot of weird conclusions about you because of how you dress.

He has a lot of old black clothes that he let's you take and repurpose. He really likes seeing what you can do with them but he always jokes and makes it seem like you stole his stuff.

[myceliumsunshine]

I Could Fight A Bear - Sam Winchester

a/n - little crack fic that came to mind when I watched a supernatural tiktok lol. no use of y/n, simp sam winchester (as he should), reader dissing (he's trying to be mad but he's to much of a simp). enjoy! Word Count - 602

Sam stared at you, watching you push the food around your plate. You looked smug, sitting there with your fork, and your green beans, and your carrots. You had this look on your face, like you knew that he was mad at you, but had chosen to ignore it - to ignore him.

To be honest it was only pissing him off more.

He wondered what you were even thinking about, in that pretty head of yours. How did you not realise he was mad at you?

You stabbed your fork at the carrots blindly, not really paying attention. When you finally forked something, you lifted it to your mouth, but it fell off the fork before it could get there. You put the fork in your stupid mouth anyway, the metal hitting your teeth and making you blink at the food.

You were so focused on ignoring him, ignoring that he was mad at you that you couldn’t even put the food he’d made for you into your mouth. That stupid, pretty mouth of yours. All Sam wanted was to slap the fork out of your hand and capture your stupid lips with his. Maybe then you’d pay attention to him, with those pretty doll eyes of yours. Everything about you captivated him.

No! Wait. Sam is mad at you. He won’t be distracted by how good you look all the time.

You narrow your eyes, then look up, as if you’re rolling your eyes. Or as if you’re considering something, judging by the pull of your lips. But no! You’re definitely rolling your eyes at him! Sam glares at you, willing you to notice how mad he is.

You glance over at him, considering him. You look him up and down, and Sam’s glare intensifies.

“Do you think you’re bigger than a bear?” Sam blinks at your question. “Or like, the same size at least?”

“What?”

“Do you think you’re, like, the same size as a bear?” You ask again seriously. “Do you think Dean is the same size as a bear?”

She ponders the thought as Sam reels, confused. What the hell are you on about?

“What the hell are you on about?” Sam asks. You turn to him, a serious look on your face.

“I could definitely take on a bear, right? Like I take down monsters, surely I could fight a bear.”

“What?”

“Not, like, a grizzly bear, but like a black bear. Do you think you’re as big as a black bear?”

“What?”

“Stop saying what, Sam, and answer the question. Do you think you’re as big as a black bear?” You ask expectantly. Sam looks at you like you’re crazy again, but sighs and shakes his head.

“Maybe? I don’t know. We could look it up, I guess.” Your eyes widen at the thought, and your phone is out in a second as you type your question into Google.

“4-6 feet in length. Huh. Well I think I could definietly take one down. What do you think?”

“Wait, so I’m bigger than a black bear?” Sam says, double taking.

“I’m bigger than some black bears,” You speak up, and Sam looks over at you.

“Surely that can’t be right.” Sam says, pulling out his own phone to check the facts. When they show what you’ve told him, Sam looks down at himself appreciatively. “I’m bigger than a black bear.”

“Why were you glaring at me earlier?”

“Uh, I don’t remember.”

“Okay.” You say simply. “I’m going to beat the shit out of you, to prove that I could fight a black bear.”

“Okay.” He replies simply.

[katescribblesabit]

What happened to Crocker? What was his reaction when Timmy went missing?

Would be be angry that Timmy had disappeared and doesn’t understand what happened? Did he ever worry about Timmy?

Did he come up with theory, thinking if it had to do something with fairies or something?

Just curious because it had been on my mind for a bit.

Also how would Timmy feel and thinks about AJ and his business? How he founded the business, believe that the fairies are dangerous or something?

What about Vicky? Her reaction about what happened? I know she probably doesn’t care, does she?

Did Wanda and Cosmo tell Timmy how they stood up towards Vicky at Dev’s place during his birthday?

My apologies, not sure if you watched those episodes or not.

You don’t have to draw if you want, just something I was wondering. I don’t know why.

ok here we go! thanks for your concern i am drawing as fast as i can lol

first thing first! i gotta say i don't have everything planned out, im mostly going with the flow. i also never expected people to love this au as much as you guys do, i was mostly planning to do like 2 or 3 posts about it haha. (thank you all btw this is nuts i luve uuu <3)

so Crocker! ok thinking about it, he is most definitely pissed his one lead to fairies is gone. after some time had passed and the police stopped looking for Timmy, he suspected something must have happend with magic and his fairly god parents. so he packed up his fairy detective devices and scooped out the turners house for clues but found nothing. when people asked he replied with being worried about the teenager and looking for him himself since the police stopped. perfect cover to hunt for fairies!

i don't think AJ specifically believes in fairies. i thought it was the supernatural in general, seeing as the galax institution is for everything unnatural. also his reaction to Crocker stealing the Trophy says a lot to, he still thinks his former teacher is crazy for believing in fairy tales. as for how Timmy feels, he's happy for his former friend, since AJ is revolving his work around supernatural science, it makes Timmy feel closer to him.

for Vicky, when she heard about Timmys disappearing she didn't care. Timmy went to live in fairy world when he was 16, so Vicky hadn't babysat him for a while now. they didn't see each other anymore, which Timmy was grateful for. Vicky just moved on to other kids to torture. the police did visit her when going around looking for clues but Vicky is a great liar, so she got away with it again.

Devs birthday story was Peris to tell, and well.. i don't think Peri would tell his big brother that his godchild wished him away.. yeahh so Timmy didn't know Vicky was even there.

no worries! i have watched the entire a new wish! so i am caught up with the new stuff haha

[wisteriagoesvroom]

LOL I can imagine for vampire au Lando starting to third wheel Carcar and so even though turning Franco is a complete accident he can’t feel too guilty bc he uses it as an excuse to hang around someone else, and somehow he learns more about vampirism lore through a human grad student than he’s learned in his whole life (he’s lived a long time, lots of info to absorb). Then also, if you don’t mind my ask, what do they all do for jobs/how do they get money and would Franco keep studying ?

HELP this is so cute. ok. norpinto-frando vampire au for those who aren't up to speed...

Lando starting to third wheel Carcar and so even though turning Franco is a complete accident, [Lando] can’t feel too guilty bc he uses it as an excuse to hang around someone else -> screaming cus, absolutely. random associated headcanons for this... i'll rewind a bit:

carlos is the oldest vampire, like, moorish/medieval era. he met lando while they were both at a masquerade ball in the early 1600s and smelled each other right away (carlos like wood and ink, lando like gas lamps and wet stone).

lando is an tudor era vampire. like he actually knew shakespeare and said he was one of the best viral marketers of the era

oscar was turned in the early days of the australian penal colony, he's like first or second generation white australian but he refuses to be called british. he moved in to the house because the rent was cheap and he doesn't feel the need to live extravagantly -- even though he, too, is $$ loaded $$

oscar didn't move in until about two decades ago - very short by vampire standards, to them it feels like yesterday - but carlos and oscar are basically They Were Roommates atp even though they squabble con-stant-ly

their neighbours think they are a new age-y polyam group but because the people who live opposite them are students, nobody ever hangs around longer than a year to remember them or dig deeper

so franco definitely brings a fun funky fresh dynamic

he learns more about vampirism lore through a human grad student than he’s learned in his whole life (he’s lived a long time, lots of info to absorb) -> things that baby vamp!franco teaches lando include

tiktok trends, like how to make ur teeth comically large in photos. lando finds this hilarious

how to use venmo

creating a roster on google docs for who needs to do what house chores

jailbreaking an apple watch so it doesn't read their pulses (they don't have any), but it will remind them of the moon phases and when they might be extra hungry to feed

at one point franco actually puts his academic skills to use and helps lando hunt down some of his family tree, because since lando was turned and it's been so long, he doesn't remember much about them : ( so one of franco's little gifts to lando is helping him trace his heritage

what do they all do for jobs/how do they get money and would Franco keep studying ? -> i love how practical-minded you are. um well let's say this fictional supernatural creatures' market mostly runs on barter trades and goodwill agreements. the entire house sometimes just gets lazy tbh so lando or carlos will just dig into one of the old chests of random shit and pull out an antique and go: "do we think this is worth anything?" then they take it to an antiques dealer who is also a mage (alex albon) and there is a 1 in 25 chance that the antique is actually is worth something, so that bankrolls them for another half a year or whatever.

carlos makes a lot of noise about being "an art dealer" just because he sold a goya painting to a museum once.

oscar is a man of industry, of the "newer" world (australia) etc etc so he spent the 80s and 90s learning C++ and Java and Python so he legit just codes for a living. or when he feels like it. oscar has helped launch at least a dozen startups under various pseudonyms and one of them is even a blue chip company by now. he doesn't do it for money tho. he just does it cus he likes a challenge, and otherwise fights with carlos too much. when he isn't coding he likes to tinker and fix things just for fun. like, he legit knows how to fix a boiler and stuff. his familiar is definitely a grumpy orange neighbourhood cat.

franco keeps studying!! he is such a nerd that he's like "i can totally learn everything about anything now, and i could in theory do like 20 masters degrees, and nobody can stop me"!! then lando is like, "well you might get bored of it after a while or burn out". but franco insists he will not. in fact with his enhanced neurological abilities he goes on an academic bender trying to fast forward through an entire harvard's undergrad degree's worth of material in a week, and he ends up faceplanting on his desk. and then poor lando has to go and find a fresh chicken or something to kill and revive franco 'cus franco wore himself out too fast being a bb vampire with accelerated mind powers.

franco promises never to do that again (but of course he will continue to do it once in a while, and everyone still looks after him in his lil study hangovers because he is so very nice. also he taught them how to use venmo.)

and. one time. franco is like. "i can't find this rare sonnet do you know what library i could maybe locate it in" and lando is like "wait i know that one" and pulls out an honest to god original copy that he at some point got laminated in the early 80s. and franco is like. "um i think this should be in a museum??" and lando is like "yeah but i gave them a copy of this, cus i spilled ink on the corner of this in 1603 after a really good night out" and franco is like "???? ok ????"

then lando swans off to moodily stare at the moon or some shit.

[littlevices]

What is this man!? Or: Me Overthinking Reigen's Fighting Ability, lol

Reigen Arataka. 28 years old. Used to be a normal salaryman. Runs Spirits and Such Consultations and is the self-proclaimed "Greatest Psychic of the Twenty-First Century.

Where did he learn to dropkick a bitch?

No, seriously. Where did he learn half the shit he does. Sure, you can explain his punches as something he can learn with his green belt, but not the fact that not only did he dropkick someone, he rebounded and landed on his feet. That is almost some Dimple level acrobatics for someone without any supernatural abilities or enhancements.

Sure, we can chalk it up to anime logic all we want, but that's not as fun, so I'm going to ramble and overthink instead. (As I do.)

Disclaimer: Some spoilers for later events in the show.

Okay, so. Reigen has a surprisingly large repertoire of skills. Some of this I can chalk up to his family life.

His father is apparently a local politician/civil servant, his mother a housewife, and his sister a bank employee.

Clearly Reigen gets his speech skills from his father, and maybe some of his other tricks, like using rice as glue, may even be from his mother. Granted I'm probably stretching that a bit. He could have just as easily learned that from trying to save money, lol.

We also know he didn't fit in while in school, which, as we all know, can lead to instances of bullying. Whether that bullying is physical or not, who knows. All I've seen looking around is that he apparently got skipped over when it came to games and stuff, but there could have been more to it.

Where am I going with this? You'll see.

So, the green belt. We know from season one that Reigen specifically says he has a green belt in shorinji kenpo. Now, I will be the first to admit I don't know much of anything about martial arts on a deep level. I can, however, do some quick research *cough* google *cough* (Do you think Reigen would be proud of me, lol).

According to what I've found, a green belt in a number of martial arts can be anywhere from beginner to a beginner-intermediate or even intermediate level. It depends on the martial art of course, but I think also the school. The same seems to apply to what I could find on shorinji kenpo. Or Kempo, because that's what I keep finding, someone please correct me if need be. I think people have also called it Xiaolin Martial Arts, which I also took a brief look at, but the concept appears similar there as well. Now, let's give Reigen the benefit of the doubt considering what we've seen him actually do, and assume the man went to a pretty decent school. A green belt is clearly not a master level or even a high level belt. If anything, though, this means the man can handle a regular petty thug just fine, and we've seen that. The seance scene in season 1 by itself proves that easily.

However, it's the other stuff that makes me wonder.

Again, this man drop kicked a dude, an esper that was currently using his power by the way, then rebounded off him to land on his feet. Beyond the dropkick itself, which from what I understand is impractical in a fight, he also rebounded. Rebounding can be hard to do off a stationary object, let alone a person. Yet here Reigen is, doing it causally off an esper that controls gravity.

His punches are also pretty damn devastating. Again, he can knock people out. He did this during the seance, but then tried it on Muraki. While he didn't knock him out, he definitely did some damage.

Not only would he need to be strong to do this, he'd also need to be fast. He's also fast enough that someone like Suzuki had to make a clone of himself to dodge Reigen's fist, rather than block or just dodge it normally. Either Suzuki was feeling extra that day (much to Sho's chagrin) or Reigen caught him off guard enough he actually had to use his powers.

This brings me to the next point.

Reigen knows how to hold a gun.

No, no. Wait, hear me out. Yes, I know it's a toy gun, but it is still a toy gun supped up on psychic energy. Not only does Reigen hold it nice and steady, he's got some damn good aim. That shot went for Suzuki's face or at least his throat.

Now, granted, I hear airsoft is a popular past time in Japan, so maybe that's where some of it comes from, which is still pretty neat.

He also didn't hesitate to shoot. One look at Mob and he pulled the trigger. Suzuki got one warning before that, and he didn't even get the chance to defy it before Reigen shot. Now, Reigen is a smart man, he probably figured the gun wouldn't work, but damn if he didn't try. Honestly, he was probably panicking and kicking himself on the inside, but he certainly didn't show it.

There's also the fact that, when you look, Reigen almost always instinctively knows to protect his head and neck when he gets thrown around. It's probably the most obvious in the Mogami fight when he gets picked up and slammed, but you can see it in the final episode as well when getting flung around by ???'s tornado.

This man has either gotten enough sparring that he knows to do this on instinct, or he's been in enough scraps that he's had no choice but to learn or get concussed. Also, in the Mogami arc, Reigen tries to stop Mogami (in Minor's body) by kicking him in the head. Mogami was moving very fast, but Reigen's kick did land.

Too bad it was Mogami and not any one else because it might have worked.

He also knows a couple knee strikes, which again was used on a moving target.

Now, let's step back and bring up Reigen's family again. There's always the possibility that Reigen got his green belt young due to his father's occupation. Now, that might only apply if his father was a rather important one, but still something to consider. It could have also been in self-defense if the bullying he faced in school got physical. I personally think Reigen got his green belt at an older age, earliest highschool, but obviously there's nothing to back that up. It also makes me wonder just how many of his clients have gotten violent, because while he did flinch at the knife during the seance, he also didn't hesitate to deck the dude.

This doesn't even bring up the fact that Reigen knows all kinds of massage techniques (I heard that his family wanted him to be a massage therapist, but I don't know if it was said where that information came from), psychology, his ability to cold read people, and everything else this man does.

Granted, a lot of his effectiveness comes from him being smart and charismatic. This man is a manipulator and thank god he's got morals because holy hell the damage he could do being able to manipulate Mob.

Or the damage Mob could do if anything serious happened to Reigen. >.>;

All in all, I think Reigen has gotten into way more scraps than is suggested. I feel as if he might have had a rougher life at school than what little hints we've gotten. That whole thing with the Separation Arc felt kind of like him projecting onto Mob, but I could be wrong. Personally, I headcanon Reigen as being something of a truant and/or delinquent (or at least a gremlin) when he was younger, but that's just me, lol. I do think he's had a rougher go of it than he likes to tell, though.

I know I didn't cover absolutely everything here, like Shimazaki, and that there's probably more context or something in the manga, but this post was already long enough and I haven't read the manga in full yet so apologies if there is missing context.. If you made it to the end of this post, I want to both thank you, but also apologize for my long winded rambling, lol. I just - Have no idea what to make of Reigen and all that he does. It doesn't help that a lot of his backstory is fairly non-existent. We only know tidbits about this conman, but I guess that's part of what makes him interesting.

Well, hopefully you had fun reading this post as much as I had making it. I know most of this can probably be just anime logic, but I had looking into it at least! If this wasn't a world of espers, Reigen would probably fairly formidable in a fight, on a physical level anyway. He's already like that on several others already, lol. This sweaty rat just always seems to grab my attention. . .

[juniperhillpatient]

hey mutual i was just looking through your jackietravis tag and i just want to say i CANNOT WAIT to hear your thoughts on the finale.

Oh my gosh HI, my beloved mutual!

Well, I think THIS post (not mine) does a great job of summarizing the wildness of Jackie/Travis in the finale lol :)

But seriously, let's talk about the fact that Travis is still thinking about Jackie, still imagining himself as her! THIS is one of my favorite Jackie/Travis moments. Jackie doesn't ultimately seduce Travis with her usual sweet, flirty fun ways that she tries initially at the Doomcoming dance. Instead, she gets him to kiss her by reminding him that they are doomed. The "we're just shells with nothing inside" speech is what gets him to break & kiss Jackie even though he just admitted to being in love with Natalie.

Jackie & Travis don't even necessarily have real romantic feelings for each other. They're just the arms they fall into when they're both hurt & at their lowest - Jackie after the betrayal from Shauna, Travis after what he perceives as a betrayal from Nat. They're each other's comfort, their last recourse when they're both desperate & sad & aware of how doomed they probably are.

Part of what I love about these 2 & their dynamic is that they ARE the definition of "doomed by the narrative all by yourself darling?" They are both so doomed & so tragic & there was never a happy ending for either of them in the books. Not Travis, whose death is the mystery that kicks off Natalie's story in the adult timeline. Not Jackie, who's loss defines Shauna in the adult timeline, forever haunted by her ghost. They're both such dead wives <3

THIS is a really good meta about how Jackie & Travis are both treated as the group's "property" & I think it's interesting that in this season where Travis's mind & body have been so repeatedly violated & used, he thinks of Jackie, who was iced out (literally) & left to die for the crime of speaking up for herself & not acting as "property." (It's honestly more complicated than that, but you know what I mean).

Travis has been treated like Lottie's property for a lot of the season. We know that he manipulated Lottie into thinking Akilah was the new prophet of the wilderness, not him, & that he regretted it when he saw Akilah suffering in similar ways that he did under Lottie's thumb. But let's talk about his time as Lottie's prophet: Pushed to do drugs & make himself see things by the very person who initiated it when the group sexually assaulted him & almost murdered him when he was drugged unknowingly all the way back in Doomcoming!

I know that Travis said the thing about how "his favorite thoughts are Jackie's" & made the comment about Jackie & Shauna's slumber party make-outs partially to piss Shauna off. BUT it's clearly something that was in his head. Whether you want to go with the supernatural explanation or not that's INTERESTING.

Travis also mentions having some of Javi's thoughts, which is heartbreaking. I don't know if I think it's actually something supernatural (I've always sort of leaned toward...no? probably not?) but EITHER WAY. Travis has been hallucinating the thoughts of his dead brother, & the thoughts of his dead situationship who he related to in some fucked-up ways & that's WILD.

Does he think that Jackie & Javi's thoughts come to him because he ate them? He doesn't mention Laura Lee or Crystal & SURELY given that he spent this season interacting almost exclusively with Lottie (& Akilah, but he spent a LOT of time with Lottie) Laura Lee's thoughts would've come up.

Does Travis feel connected to Jackie when he hears her thoughts? Does he remember how they shared that messed-up comfort in each other's arms when they were both at their lowest? Does he look to her ghost for comfort because she was also assaulted by Lottie that night - though not nearly as violently, she was just locked in a closet but she was still humiliated for the blood on her clothes right after losing her virginity & treated like nothing by the rest of the girls. They both lost their personhood, in a way that night. I feel like maybe Travis doesn't see it that way but he might still connect with Jackie because of that, if that makes sense.

Anyway, I'm TOTALLY rambling. I love my doomed by the narrative failed situationship girlies <3

[sunshine-zenith]

(Different anon) one of ANW's writers talked on twitter about how the crew was thinking of bringing Timmy back in S1 (as the founder of the Galax Institute! neato), and that's a fascinating what-if, but I'm glad that the writers ultimately elected to hold off. I kinda agree with the other anon -- Timmy's doing a good job of haunting the narrative, right now. All the parts of ANW that he's (in)directly impacted fascinate me. And yet... I'd also love to see him again? The writers withholding him while they figure out how/where they want him to show up makes me hopeful that whenever he *does* debut in ANW, it'll be good.

I remember hearing that — it could’ve really worked with the episode, especially with how Crocker was specifically reminded of Timmy because of Hazel’s outfit (if Timmy had been the Galax Institute’s founder, this would’ve gone from a reference to actually pretty neat foreshadowing). Still, I’m glad that they didn’t go that route — I watched an Awestruck Vox video on the topic of Timmy a couple weeks ago and he pointed out that Timmy opening the Galax Institute could easily turn into a Crocker 2.0 situation, which I kinda agree with — I want Cosmo and Wanda to matter to him, and him spending his adult dedication to studying the supernatural is kinda cool, but I don’t want to see him derailed completely due to obsession

The more I think about it, the pickier I realize I am when it comes to adult Timmy lol — I definitely don’t want him to be miserable, otherwise it feels like Cosmo and Wanda’s love and efforts did nothing to help him in the end and the irl decade+ the OG series ran for was a waste; I don’t want to see him be a stick-at-home-in-denial-about-growing-up adult (which is why I avoided the live action movies as a kid, even if I knew he’d get character development); I’m torn on him becoming a fairy — if it happened during the OG series and he spent his life from childhood onward as a fairy, I’d be super down with that, because he’d officially be able to grow up with Cosmo and Wanda and never lose them because they’d be his actual adoptive parents, BUT learning the timeline where he became a fairy in canon is the timeline where he grew up, got in a serious relationship, and then died trying to save his loved ones is a little… why tho??; and overall I love that ANW is generally compliant with Channel Chasers, because seeing Timmy grow up to be a genuinely average, seemingly well adjusted adult with a loving family who, even if he doesn’t remember Cosmo and Wanda, still has positive feeling associated with them — it amazing to see as a kid… until it was revealed that his kids had their own awful babysitter and needed fairies. It was less a the story goes on moment and more a slap in the face, especially as a third grader

That said, I 100% trust the crew working on ANW. They did a great job with references to him in season 1, and if they want to bring him back in a potential season 2, I know they’ll do something wonderful. Plus, ANW has Infinity Train alumni working on it — if there’s any series that mastered balancing bringing character back and knowing when to leave characters behind, it’s that series

[a-vibing-potato]

Season 4 of Supernatural is eating me alive. I watched episodes 2 and 3 yesterday, and haven't gotten a chance to watch any yet today but it's killing meeeee.

I didn't realize how different Cas was going to be from the clips and pictures I've seen of him on here and around the Internet, so that's definitely something I'm still adjusting to. I thought he'd be a lot more open I guess for some reason?? Even though that doesn't make sense since he's literally just met Dean. So I had to wrap my head around that change, but then thought, "Oh, he'll probably be like how he is in Lazarus Rising then." and he's not really like that either????

I don't know, in Lazarus Rising I feel like he was so talkative, looked at Dean all the time, etc. and in the last two episodes it's like a 50-50 chance whether he'll even say anything in response to Dean talking to him, and he never looks at Dean. I get that he's like that, but I thought he talked?? And the super vague answers, like I thought he'd be somewhat of an overexplainer, maybe he is later on in the show and I just need to be patient and realize that Season 4 Cas is not like Season 9 Cas lol.

Also very confused about the different "Missions from God" he seems to be sending Dean on and what the goal of them is. In episode 2, Dean and Sam and Bobby had to fight off the witnesses, but they failed and one of the 66 seals was unlocked (that's a whole other problem I'll talk about in a minute lol) and Cas seemed disappointed? At least to me he did, he's not really the most expressive guy lol. But I thought he seemed disappointed like he thought they could defeat the witnesses, and they couldn't and that's literally their first test? Like if they can't pass their first test what are we supposed to do??

But then in the third episode, he sends Dean back in time to "Stop it." AND DOESN'T EVEN SAY WHAT "IT" IS, but Dean assumes it to be the Yellow-Eyed Demon killing his mom (and the whole time I was watching the episode I was like... "Would Cas really want him to do such a history-altering, timeline-changing thing?" and I didn't think so but what else are we to assume when he just tells us to stop "it"?).

But I digress. But then when Dean can't stop the Yellow-Eyed Demon (and the two wolves inside of my were FIGHTING oh my gosh. Half of me was trying to comfort myself and be like "There was actually no way he could have stopped it, there's nothing he could have done. He did everything he possibly could have, there's no way." but the other half of me was like "CRAP... we failed our second test and why can't we pass any of them and are we supposed to be passing them because I don't even know???") But then Cas acts like it's okay that he couldn't stop it. Like. Why did you tell him to go stop it if you KNEW he couldn't and then he couldn't. Which, then he kinda turns it into a lesson about how all roads lead to one and you can't avoid your destiny yada yada yada. And implies that he made him go back in time so that he could "know all that angels know/know as much as they do", so whatever, that's fine.

But I'm just confused on the goal and point and purpose of the missions? Are we supposed to be winning them? Are we winning them? Do we not necessarily need to win them and we're just learning lessons along the way or what is going on? Because I feel like they should be preparing us for the Literal Apocalypse that is coming and we aren't passing them and we aren't ready. But maybe I'm wrong and just feel that way because that's kinda how the last three seasons have been set up and Season 4 is different.

Anyway, the Seals. I'm also scared that we are going to run out of Seals and they're all going to get unlocked (which, I mean Season FIVE spoilers I guess because I've been spoiled, I guess that they do get unlocked because Lucifer gets out at the end of Season 4 or beginning of Season 5, but that doesn't stop me from worrying. I knew that Dean wasn't ACTUALLY going to be stuck in Hell for forever at the end of Season 3 and I still didn't want him to die.) But Cas says that they're fighting all kinds of different wars and tons of angels are dying WEEKLY, so I'm afraid that if we keep failing our tests, more seals are going to get unlocked, and we don't even know what's going on elsewhere. We could already be down to only ten Seals left or something, we aren't in charge of EVERY single Seal. Hence another reason why I'm so worried about us failing our tests from God or Cas or whatever.

I don't know. I have so many questions about Cas and what he knows and what he's doing when he's not with us. Fighting wars and everything, but I want to know the specifics lol. Also.... when Cas isn't with us, is Jimmy Novak, the vessel, just living his normal life? Or is he dead? I'm so curious about the differences between angels with their vessels and demons with theirs, because there seems to be a lot of similarities, but I would guess there are also some differences. Is Jimmy Novak a "prisoner" (as much as he can be a "prisoner" when he prayed for this) in his own body like Meg said she was in hers and having to watch all the Destiel moments with his own eyes? Because I think that'd be really funny (also a little awkward, but hey).

But I'm adoring the "Dean being special to God and the angels and being an important person to them" and the "Sam being special to the Devil and the demons and being an important person to them" parallel, especially since you would think it'd be the other way around with Sam being with God and Dean with Lucifer. I love it :)

Next episode continues from Sam doing whatever probably evil things with Ruby, so I'm excited to see where that goes and what he's up to now. I feel like they laid the groundwork for that way back in the first episode of the season when he telepathically killed that girl in the diner with his eyes closed, so he's definitely up to something not great. Wondering what he could possibly be working towards or why he's letting out his more murderous, Prince of Hell powers now and why he, I assume, worked on them while Dean was dead and why he stopped trying to control them and forget about them. Crazy how in Season 3 he hadn't had any psychic vision stuff happen for ages, and now in Season 4 he's got more powers than he ever has before. He definitely had to have put some work in, but I'm curious as to why he would do that.

Random end thoughts: Where is Lilith? What is she doing? Probably breaking Seals and everything but she's such a huge ginormous root of our problems problem and also such a forgettable one at the same time somehow for me. Also Bela? Are we ever going to see her again? Probably not, I'm afraid she's going to end up like Ellen and Jo did where we didn't really hear about them after their introduction season, but I started to like her :( and I have questions about what happened to her. She probably just died to the Hell Hounds, but did Dean and her ever see each other in Hell? I have a lot of questions about Dean's time in Hell, actually. What demons did he see? Which demons hurt him? Did he see Bela, or John? Or Mary, if she's down there? What did they do to him? We've only had the flashes of the screaming and his eyes frantically looking back and forth, but there's so much room to put more horrible things that he witnessed and have him mention them later on.

Anyway, I can't wait. I saw a post on here once from someone (I don't know who otherwise I'd definitely tag them!) who said they had to continuously convince their friend to watch/keep watching the first three seasons of Supernatural, but when they got to Season 4 it was "all they thought about" and I think about that post about 27 times a day. Roughly. Lol. Because I loved the first three seasons and thought I was obsessed then, but Season 4?! Absolutely not, Cas being introduced has made my obsession so much worse. I'm literally at the stage of looking up what episodes he is and isn't in (so I know that he's not in the next three episodes :( I'm gonna miss him, but I know they'll be good nonetheless, especially because one of them is Yellow Fever :)). None of my other hobbies, hyperfixations, or interests are appealing to me right now, so that's the vibe lol. Loving my time with this show so much, but in classic hyperfixation style, I wish I didn't have any responsibilities and places I needed to be, and could just sit and watch for 16 hours straight without stopping.

But I might try to watch an episode now if I have time before supper, otherwise I'll watch later tonight. There's no way I'll get to Cas tonight, but maybe in the next day or two.

Love you all and hope you're doing great <3

[neverpathia]

I'm just assigning weapons to the voices and vessels because I am a fantasy nerd like that. [WARNING: LONG ASS POST]

(alternative title: watch nevvey lose his mind over random blades and not-blades, and lie about being esoteric for who-knows-how-long minutes straight. gets exponentially both longer and worse the more you read.)

(@/phospolipid-bilayer influenced too many of these things by accident thanks to their lobotomy corporation series thing going on)

(this is also mainly for my AU, I guess)

-- -- -- -- --

Hero - basic ass yee yee sword

Hunted - a kinda primitive cross between a mace and a spear? but it's really more like claws and teeth grafted to a sharpened stick. lord of the flies core and all.

okay i can also see him using a crossbow and bolts, or perhaps tribal darts. i don't really think he'd want to approach a potential threat up close. he'd prefer to shoot from beneath the concealments of foliage instead. singular fangs attached to splintered branches, whittled to straight implements of death, of defense. i kinda like this one more to be honest.

Beast/Den - no shit sherlock she already has pre-ordered weapons. claws. fangs. hack and slash and gore and tear.

Opportunist - switchblade. one that's small and easily concealed up his sleeve. the hilt is gilded with gold and embedded with emeralds because he's flashy like that. the thing's probably also soaked with some sort of venom for added inconvenience, though the blade is probably too small and thin by itself to actually be majorly dangerous.

(someone on discord suggested that he'd use a stiletto or cinquadea hidden up his boot instead and that's a pretty valid take, fuck that's cool as shit you brilliant brilliant fella, but i'm still kinda attached to my own take lol.)

Witch/Thorn - I mean she does canonically use her claws but I feel like I wanna lean more into the magic-user aspect of her. probably a sort of wand, that's also small and easily concealed up her sleeve like oppy's knife. greatest affinity with trees and roots and grass and the like. also easily smacked in someone's face and shoved down their throat or nose if needed. probably bladed at one end too, even if it does cut her a little when she's hiding it.

side note: she's definitely going to be amazing with poisons. would be able to pinpoint every single one of them, and she knows more specimens and symptoms than even the resident para(noid)medic. why? no reason. she's just a witch.

Wild - do I even need to. nerve root strangulation???

Skeptic - I mean he's a detective, so honestly?

OH. okay. good cop, I see you. cold harsh logic in the absence of the supernatural, I see you. LET HIM HAVE GUNS. specifically, revolvers, because I wanna stay loyal to the high fantasy aesthetics we have going on. he dual wields (something about covering every eventuality, blah blah).

(sigh now i'm getting an idea for a scene with stubborn, cheated, contrarian and broken playing russian roulette with skeptic's revolvers while the peepaw detective remains oblivious and wonders where the shit his guns went.)

Prisoner/Cage - GARROTE. GARROTE WIRE. YEAHHHHH BABY, ASPHYXIATION FOR THE WIN. like. she'd be a natural with the thing, she already strangles you with chains anyway. perhaps the thing is made of thin yet heavy chain-links with hooks at the ends, kinda like the chains in cage? a bit like a surujin, perhaps? maybe spiked? at this point i'm letting rule of cool drive all this.

although to be honest i'm also slightly enjoying the image of her using clinical instruments like a scalpel. she can share that with paranoid as a side thing, i guess.

or i can also see her using a weighted flail, because prisoner. god too many options

Drowned Grey - dunks you with water balloons and a super soaker. nah I'm just kidding, but I can see her using a sort of harpoon, perhaps?

at this point my brain is veering into Off Topic Land and proposing the headcanon that prisoner goes fishing. great. no thanks.

Smitten - for all his knight in shining armour rambling and shambling and garbling and warbling, fine. sword and shield. specifically, a grand broadsword and shield, both carved with very elaborate depictions of flowers and maidens and chivalry and the like. don't ask me how he's carrying both at the same time, each with one hand. he's probably freakishly strong, he's smitten after all.

Damsel/HEA - as damsel she's probably going to rely on smitten to protect her, but i like to think she picks something up after HEA. perhaps she gets a little rapier hidden up her skirts. plain and undecorated, unlike her opulent garments. sharp despite its small size. honestly i don't even think it'd be practical to get it out of there but i might also decide to redesign post-ending HEA for the sake of this thing. i do plan on redesigning the vessels anyway.

(also it took me this long to realise that technically she does have a weapon, and not a weapon, the weapon, the dinky little knife itself resting beneath her neck- nah. fuck it.)

I also love the idea of damsel with one of those crude little fairy godmother cartoon wands that's pretty much just a rod with a star on top. the one that's in all those transparent pngs and kindergarten textbooks. would be funny. wonder if she'd know how to actually cast with it, though? well, if it makes you happy.

Burned Grey - look, i absolutely adore the image of her just throwing around a flamethrower like there's no tomorrow. but i'm staying loyal to the high fantasy aesthetic so we sure as fuck can't have that. allow me to propose... yeah actually? i have no fucking idea. i'm going to google.

and one train of research and distractions later, i have been led to the handgonne which is pretty much a medieval flamethrower-esque kinda thingy. seems a little impractical. but hey, what with burning down both LQ and herself, which is sure to cause a LOT of inconvenience, the burned grey is all about impractical.

Stubborn - fists. do i even need to explain

Adversary - fists. do i even need to explain

okay but we do know that advy sort of has claws, but we don't really see her use them, though. and i like to think that stubborn attaches blades to his knuckles for maximum impact.

but in all fairness, when they don't use their fists, i like to think that they have matching sledgehammers. big and messy and violent. heavy. bloody. they love it.

Eye of the Needle - this is another one has who pre-ordered weapons free with her hands. claws. I'm not gonna bother. she probably retains the sledgehammer from advy though. or perhaps a gigantic battleaxe? don't know. probably has an entire arsenal because of how dang bloodthirsty she is.

Broken - would smack you upside the head with a bible while wailing and weeping. not funny, nevvey.

okay, he's probably the least combat-oriented of all the voices and I kinda see him as a sort of cleric? he's likely gonna be another magic-user like witch/thorn and paranoid. I can sorta see him wielding a staff like DnD-

WAIT. ALTAR KNIFE. ALTAR KNIFE. A FUCKING ATHAME. the thing's not even intended for genuine cutting, it's just there for ritual and channeling purposes. broken, I'm looking at you. PERFECT. and it's probably set in ivory and cracking porcelain and there's a bit of gold thread wrapping around it oh fuck yeah

Tower/Apotheosis - she would tell you that she doesn't need one, because her compelling voice is already enough. however, she is a girlfailure and you should never take her word for it.

I can low-key see her using a sort of scepter. something simple yet elegant carved from ceramic, radiating divine energy. yeah that's it. I don't really know. and she wouldn't stoop so low as to use a close-range bladed weapon, or anything that really uses a lot of physical effort at all. apothy's gonna need a HUGE one though

Fury - she can literally reduce you to subatomic particles. what need does she even have for a weapon? although I am SERIOUSLY digging the idea of her using a brutal bloody terrifying spiked club. way too large and way too many spines, perhaps ivory or bone. a bit of grisly membrane coating the material; a few fleshy tendrils travelling down its length. yeah. glances warily at body horror demon lady. would.

actually i can also see her using a meat cleaver because that would be kinda cute

Paranoid - FUCK YEAH I WAS WAITING FOR THIS ONE. staff. he wields a mage's quarterstaff. no question.

he definitely uses it for a ton of healing. the 'heart lungs liver nerves' mantra as a sorcerous incantation, fuck yeah. but paranoid is also really powerful and can probably use the same staff for minor transformative or conjuring spells.

now this one's probably been engraved all over with protective runes and symbols, to the point that you can barely even tell where one stroke ends and another begins. otherwise it's quite plain, but there's an orb at the top for better channelling. sometimes he uses it in conjunction with a grimoire.

it's also really handy for whacking annoyances upside the head as required.

side note: he uses a scalpel too. but he hates close-range, if he even needs to fight at all. he prefers to let hero or cold handle it while he plays support.

Nightmare/MOC - organ failure. why would i even need to elaborate.

well apparently i felt like elaborating anyway so i think she'd use...god, actually, this one is pretty hard.

OH, HOLD ON. Nightmare with oversized scissors/shears like a horror movie doll, all guro-lolita core. huh. that might be interesting. bonus points if the scissors are comically sharp. the handles are bone porcelain, smooth yet chipped, and painted with black-and-white patterns like her mask (so that I don't stray too far from the fantasy motif, because if i do, that would just completely break the rule of cool.)

Cold - well. phospo's (absolutely amazing beautiful splendid divine) cold wields a scythe and i am very extremely tempted to steal that concept from them. however, that would be plagiarism. and i am trying to avert plagiarism.

my original idea was always for cold to have a series of throwing knives and daggers like an assassin. i kinda see cold as someone who operates on stealth, shrouding himself in the shadows just as he shrouds his emotions. so he's just. throwing these things at you from out of fucking nowhere with deadly intent and precision. and he has excellent aim.

then again, this is probably really unoriginal but fuck cares

Spectre/PatD - does. a ghost. even need. a weapon?? how would a ghost even wield a weapon????

i'm gonna steal the flail from pris because she already has her nice little garotte and give it to spectre because it seems fitting enough. plus, i'm running out of ideas. sorry spectre.

although i like to think that patd gets a few avian features like talons and feathers in her hair, thanks to the switcheroo. so she can use those talons too, i suppose.

Wraith - OH. NOW THIS ONE. SPOOKY LITTLE SCYTHE, LIKE THE GRIM REAPER. no question. no question at all.

Cheated - so i apologise in advance because i am DEFINITELY committing plagiarism here. phospo, if you don't like me using your cheated-with-a-bayonet idea then i utter my sincerest regrets but. cheated. would use a bayonet.

i won't even talk about the fact that it's cool. but he'd also get it for the sake of maximizing his chances and for its versatility and, well, the fact that it is cool...and razor would still skewer him. not to mention it's not easy to use. so he'd probably attempt, and fumble, and attempt again, and just rage quit and smash the damn thing everywhere in combat like a berserker.

and it's probably just as fucked up and rusted and tattered as he is, but he still keeps it close, out of spite more than anything.

Razor - what are you talking about, she definitely isn't going to need a weapon, it's not like she's going to stab anyone anyway, it's definitely not like she's the weapon

discord said she'd use one of those disappearing trick knives. funny. nah, i think i'm giving that to...

Contrarian - you get the disappearing trick knife. and a nice rubber mallet. and a goose.

okay jokes aside i think he'd probably dual-wield as well, with weapons that have been specifically designed to be a pain in the ass for opponents.

personally i would give him a scimitar or khopesh because 1. i am OUT of ideas and 2. he's gonna have a lot of fun deflecting with the curved blades and using them to hook the opponents' weapons, then disarm them, then throw their blades out the window. then again, giving him a blade's a pretty bad idea. he'd throw it out the window himself-

wait. it's more like him to use a weapon that's not even designed to be a weapon. but that could be literally anything.

okay nevermind, contrarian is too hard to decide for. hell, he's a literal contrarian. fuck it, i won't be giving him a fixed weapon. he'd probably swap them out every two seconds and throw them out the window when he's done.

Stranger - oh shit. all five of her identities gotta have different weapons. this is the part where i'm getting lazy so i'll just steal from minecraft and go:

nondescript - bow

gentle - pickaxe

harsh - sword

evil - axe

depressed - spade

there we go. i suppose you can say she's multi-armed.

-- -- -- -- --

man this took way longer than i thought it would. what the fuck induced me to do this for like every single voice and vessel-? oh well it was worth it, especially now that i've given myself even more drawing and writing ideas especially for adventuring and fight scenes. yay.

[clare-with-no-i]

theogony part 1 behind the scenes

**SPOILERS ahead for theogony and mild spoilers for Outlander!**

this is just going to be a long infodump of all of the things I pondered while writing theog (specifically part 1, part 2 will come later) but never talked about! I'll try to go chapter by chapter, and maybe I'll end up adding more later on, but for now I just think it'd be fun to chitchat and reminisce on some of my favorite tidbits. this story is really my baby idk :")

Prologue - Alalá

one thing that I wanted to establish in the prologue, other than the obvious James-Sirius dynamic, is the presence of otherworldly or spiritual premonitions in this universe. it was always important to me that the first person who actually made any sort of prophetic declaration was James.

so much of the story relies on Lily's status as an oracle, but this little tidbit here helped build the world for me so much; we can't be sure if James's various dreams and premonitions are wishful thinking, or really the Gods speaking to him, or something else entirely. of course, this story deals with time travel, so there's an inherent supernatural element. but Lily and James's conflicting – and sometimes competing – conceptions of God felt like such a necessary tension for me to explore. it was such an incredible shorthand for the tension between modern and ancient sensibilities. and we never get a definitive answer to those looming questions, which I knew I wanted to do from the outset. did the Gods bring Lily back to the past? did James? did she do it herself? does God/the Gods even exist?

also: there are probably moments where I failed to do this, but I tried to capitalize Gods in all of the James chapters but not in Lily's, unless she was referring to the Abrahamic Capital G God. that is, until the last chapter, which I'll elaborate upon later :)

also: i wrote the prologue first, then the epilogue, and then i posted the prologue pretty immediately after. I had the entire story roughly outlined but I absolutely jumped the gun when it came to posting the prologue LMAO I didn't even really announce the story, I just joked about writing it and then posted the prologue, which you can see from the beginning note. i remember Suze was about to go to sleep and she started messaging me like wtf Clare what do you MEAN?

and the rest was history (pun completely intended)!

Chapter One: Ouroboros

the narrative brushes past the other statues in this section pretty quickly, but I always imagined that the first bust is Philoctetes, James's father. I think the consensus on this one tends to oscillate between Philoctetes and Aristides, which is another great interpretation.

The reason I wrote it this way and imagined it to be Philoctetes is because I thought it would have been nice to let Lily 'meet' James's father (in a sense), even before she 'meets' him. when I read this chapter back after I first finished the story, I had a very soft moment where I close-read my own fic (lol) and thought that maybe it was Philoctetes who sent Lily back to the past. maybe he sensed something about her and knew she'd be right for James and for antiquity.

sooo many people forgot about this! which i was hoping for!!!!! I was hoping everyone would forget about James's statue holding something until the Big Reveal. fun fact is I wrote the reveal right after this. I liked the idea that, no, he was never going to actually be holding anything. he'd be reaching for Lily. the choice to accept his hand was always going to be hers.

a fun fact about this chapter is that I had to pull from a bit more Outlander lore than I originally thought. and no I don't mean the 'Jesus H Roosevelt Christ' part lol. It was always hilarious to me how Outlander set up Claire to be the objectively perfect person to go back in time. she was a combat nurse who happened to develop an interest in medicinal botany and Scottish-English history. she also happened to spend her formative years with her adventurous archaeologist uncle after her only living relatives died. like girl. lol.

so I had to really toss up which traits I thought it would be appropriate for Lily to have as she traveled back in time. the biggest one, obviously, is her field of study, which was necessary given the language barrier and the completely foreign nature of social norms in Classical Athens. I toyed around with the idea of making her mum a nurse so as to give her some base medical knowledge, but that felt a) unnecessary given the circumstances of the story, and b) far-fetched that she would have gleaned enough transferable skills to apply in 479 BCE.

it was also fun to give her more reason to go back to the future; she has a sister who, while they aren't in contact, is a significant emotional attachment; she has academic goals; she has a best friend (however toxic we know him to be). it added a layer of conflict that I enjoyed playing up, even if I definitely could have explored her modern life more fully.

Chapter Two: Kinesis

soooo much exposition and worldbuilding in this chapter. oml. it was so much fun to play around with the reasons why James would be in Tatoi in the first place; I can't remember quite how I landed on the Persian auxiliary soldier thing, it might have been from my initial (admittedly extensive) research on the months leading up to Plataea; it may have just been the fact that I KID YOU NOT this story used to take up all of my fucking brainspace. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I'd be doing work for my research fellowship and just daydream about theogony. the initial idea came to me AS A JOKE!!!!! when i was idly pondering before going to sleep (as one does), and then it just wouldn't leave me alone. i kept imagining what it might look like. I thought about how the time travel might work. I thought about James's Greek equivalent. I ranted to my sister and her dog (he did not care) about what the statue might look like and mean (sorry bestie love u).

one narrative decision that has given me a bit of strife was the Dimitrios-James name change. I've had a number of people ask me if I'd ever try to pubilsh theog – and this is one of the (many) reasons why that would be pretty categorically impossible. using James's English name in his internal narration, instead of the name I give him as a Greek man, is something that only translates to fic. it makes pretty much no sense at all if you consider these original characters lol.

honestly putting the word 'practicum' in here caused me SO much pain. in James's chapters I tried really hard to use words which had Greek roots and not Latin roots, even if they're in modern English today. in most of his chapters, I'd try and find synonyms for big/complex words so I could use ones that came from Greek. it just helped me stick to his narrative voice a bit more.

I forgot how much STUFF went on in this chapter. oh my god SO much happens?? we get the lack of the Parthenon as the time marker (felt very clever doing that), Lily processing the fact that she's time traveled (lazy writing on my part to not have this happen in a Lily POV chapter but I'll take that on the chin), the Plataea reveal. OML. tired just thinking about it. lily sweetie i am so sorry

guys, the amount of time I spent wondering if I should Greek-ify Sirius's name is insane. For so long I thought about making him Seirios, which is the original Greek version of Sirius. But I felt like I had already messed with their names too much, and so I left it. but honestly I'm still torn. looking back, maybe it would have been the right move to make him Seirios and have Lily give him the name Sirius, but I guess we'll never know!

one of my favorite Sirius moments, and something that, essentially, sets up the rest of the story. but I wanted there to be a little ambiguity throughout the story about how much of this Sirius actually believes.

we know that James has just confessed to Sirius and Pétros that he was hoping they'd desert the Athenian army. we know that he thinks he's going to die, and he's adopted this sort of fatalist view of his future. and then here you have Sirius, who could never abide such a thing, pretty much leaning into the idea that Lily can tell the future – which would allow him to challenge James's prediction. I always wanted to leave it up to interpretation, and I know it comes up in later chapters (at the komos especially), Sirius's skepticism about Lily's origins. but it's such a fun question to ask: does he really believe that she's the Oracle that James prayed for, or does he just need that to be true so he can try and influence the future himself?

Chapter Three: Peribolos

omg. lol. the chapter three opening academic argument scene. this is a favorite of mine, and something I had so much fun writing. it's actually based on an argument/"spirited discussion" I had with my dad a few years ago about moral absolutism versus moral relativism which forced me to interrogate and expand my knowledge on the subject. I thought it was such a fun way to get into Lily's politics and her character without doing crazy exposition in the ancient world.

it also touches upon one of the touchstone themes of the story: that to study something is, in a way, to detach yourself from it. academia is routintely completely disconnected from its subject matter, and it creates this weird disdain for lived experience versus book knowledge. Lily has spent upwards of ten years studying (in some capacity) the ancient world, but she is so utterly out of her depth when she experiences it herself. as such, she espouses these very revolutionary politics when examining historical conflicts, but she has a blindness to what the real-world realities may have been for the people living in those conditions at the time.

alsooooo, The Return of Martin Guerre is one of my favorite books I read in college, and the easter egg here is that it's about a person of dubious origin entering a community and the politics of how the community might accept or reject them. ha ha!

^^based on something I said in an argument with a Poli Sci major in college and I have to say one of my better moments. was an absolute haymaker. this was very 'author gives main character a zinger' of me and I will not be ashamed of it

this! ladies and gentlemen! this was basically a declaration of love!!!! to be loved is to be remembered!!!

in a very romantic way, the study of history can be such an act of love to those who lived before us. i just adore the idea that, even before Lily developed real romantic feelings for James, she had this itching sort of feeling; AKA, when someone has made such an impression on you, and you know (or in her case, you think) that you'll be leaving them at some point, and you just want to be interesting enough, be impressive enough, that they remember you, that they think of you randomly as time goes on. that is such a giddy hallmark feeling of having a crush, in my book. I liken it to making eye contact with someone or having a brief conversation on a night out, maybe at 3am on your way back from a bar when things are sleepy and dizzy, and you just have this sense that you're being seen in that moment as anyone you want to be. i love this moment so much I feel like I could give it its own meta LMAO

Chapter Four: Hamartia

this chapter really put the pedal to to the metal lol. at the time of writing the story, I generally didn't (and still don't) love fake dating that much as a trope; I don't typically love plotlines predicated on (even harmless) deceptions, it's just a sensitivity of mine that I don't expect anyone to relate to or share. but when I was considering how to structure theog, it just made so much sense for James and Lily's arcs to have them get 'married.' there was no way that Lily was going to be able to navigate Classical Athens as an unsupervised woman alone, and even with the Oracle title offering her some protection, there was nothing really tying her to James. much like Outlander, it really did feel like the last possible resort, which softened me to the idea of using the trope.

fun fact, i got a snarky comment a few months ago complaining that i was trying to pass the story off as historically accurate (lol to the fifteen disclaimers I embedded throughout which addressed that) and one thing they took issue with was that lily wouldn't have been able to own property and the only thing that would have kept her from being a slave would have been marriage.

which! yknow! none of which contradict the story! but anyway I digress.

I was initially nervous about how early on the fake marriage happens; we don't really know the characters that well yet, we're not sure who James is as a potential partner to Lily, or how Lily's feelings for him are starting to bump up against her very rightful and justified desire to get the hell out of dodge. but – we only really see James in canon as a husband and as the father to the main character, so it felt pretty true to the source material to throw him into being a husband pretty early.

I loved writing this scene with Aristides. I've always been partial to his appearances throughout the story, and this one is just so special to me. I think of him as a driving force in humanizing the ancient world in theog, sometimes even more so than the main cast of characters. to elaborate a bit on that: with the Marauders and Lily and the other transplanted HP characters, I think there's this inherent sense that they are already fleshed out people (to some degree) even before they hit the page of the story, because they appear in canon and across Marauder fic verses. no matter how much I make James into Dimitrios and Peter into Pétros and Fleamont into Philoctetes, people know them and love them outside of theogony verse. but not Aristides. he doesn't have a one-to-one HP character. there is some version of him that really existed in 479 BCE (my complex and largely negative feelings on RPF are setting off alarms at this but we proceed) and that's it.

it would have been easy to just give him this very gruff and surly character, to make him a military general who didn't care about anything other than the war. I think that's how we conceptualize historical people sometimes, often without meaning to. but he was a person, and he had likes and dislikes, he probably had a family and maybe he'd fallen in love, and it was such an honor to give him such dimension. not to say that I'm putting that personality upon the actual historical person; but just to really take my time with a character outside of the Marauder canon. in this scene he has this human moment where he reminds James that, yes, love is a worthy pursuit, even to those in positions of incredible power. even when the discussion isn't about romantic love but about James's love for his closest friends. it's this permission that James didn't even know he was seeking but ultimately that changes the course of his and Lily's lives. Aristides is who James might become, in many ways. in the actual Plataea chapter this becomes more and more prevalent. (more on this later!)

overall, I am forever hoping that people come out of reading this story with an appreciation for the humanity of those that came before us. I did a poor job with other characters in this story, and I own that, but I'm proud of how I wrote Aristides.

oh my godddddd I fucking love this part. i am so fucking proud of it. LMAO. achieving wordplay in an ancient language that i have never studied should be on my fucking CV I swear. like this was just perfect I'm sorry I am BUZZING that I pulled this off.

also, a cute way to introduce a phrase to the narrative which will become very important: se filo!

I remember that I wrote this passage, which many people commented on and which I loved writing, in a coffee shop on a sunny day when my cousin was visiting me to introduce me to his girlfriend. there wasn't any wifi in the coffee shop so I was blessedly devoid of distractions and could only focus on the doc, and i was LOCKED IN let me tell you.

when my cousin and his girlfriend arrived I told them I was sending an important email and edited the last sentence of that paragraph about four different times while they sat in silence and waited for me to finish LMAOOO

Chapter Five: Ascesis

a profoundly insane moment in my personal history was reading excerpts from Eudemian Ethics, Nichomachean Ethics, and Memorabilia just to passively mention them in a flashback in a fic. relied heavily on Foucault for this, I will be so honest. why did i do that tho. like girl take a breath...

but in all seriousness this was just a joy to write. i miss being a history student and having these discussions – law school is great, but history classes will forever hold my heart ngl! also, this passage is in some ways an homage to my grandfather, who is one of my favorite people ever. he taught himself Classical Greek and Latin when he was in his 20s, before he went to medical school (and get his pilot's license for fun, he's seriously the most interesting guy alive). he gifted me his leatherbound Great Books printings of Aristotle's works and of the Iliad and the Odyssey shortly after I started theogony, and I cherish them so much. he spurred my interest in ancient greece when i was young. so this is for him :)

one of the hardest things for me to articulate (and maybe something I could have done better) was the war and the balance between James's inherent goodness and his growing feelings for Lily. i wanted her to have plausible reason to think that he doesn't at all feel romantically towards her, even as she's growing to admire him more and more. I hoped, as I wrote the story, that these little interactions where the reader clues into his feelings (this protective 'peninsula' moment being one of them) still walked that line. as in, i wanted lily to reasonably believe that he's just that good of a guy that he would take issue with anyone being taken advantage of, not just her. she's so destabilized in this moment as well, I think that worked to my advantage. or I hoped it did LOL.

from what I remember of writing this chapter, it just came really quickly and naturally. much more than the later ones. this early period of writing was just an outpouring of the ABSOLUTE BRAINROT I was going through after conjuring up the idea for the story. it just flew. the ending scene where they have their little almost-moment was probably about an hour's worth of writing. it's like I couldn't type fast enough to keep up with my thoughts. not sure i've experienced that since!

also, the now, here, alive line reappears in the last chapter, which is one of my favorite callbacks:

:) :) :)

Chapter Six: Kleos

one thing I used to worry about CONSTANTLY is that I was losing the classic (and necessary!) Marauder goofiness to the more somber setting. so it was a jaunt and a boon to write scenes like the opening one here, where it honestly could be copy-pasted into the Gryffindor Common Room and it'd look a lot like my canon stories.

he's just a dude being hungover and embarrassed about the previous night with his bros!

the first time we get a hint of Pétros disappearing to dubious locations!

this chapter was one of the most research-heavy. it was a new setting, filled with new characters, and predicated entirely upon planning the Greek front at Plataea. so if I couldn't nail that down (at least to some degree), I was going to have trouble. of course I took liberties, but I spent a lot longer combing through sources for this chapter than some other ones, I'll tell you that for free. it took ages to find any treatises on ancient athenian sword combat, sigh.

yeah I mean i remember thinking that the subtitle for this chapter could have been 'I am going to create an environment that is so toxically masculine' because that's pretty much the whole vibe. James is not immune to that, either, and that was intentional. he feeds off of the violence and the anger of the men surrounding him, and he exhibits some behaviors in this chapter (rushing off to kill Anaxagoras after he grabs Lily's arm, for instance) which are not ideal! but I do think that there's meaningful conversation to be had about Lily's cultural assimilation into an ancient, misogynistic society, and how there was absolutely no way I was going to get out of this story without giving James some sort of period-typical attitude. now again, I took the liberties I deem necessary, because I have no desire to make my main romantic lead into an asshole. that's not my James Potter. not that that's news [gets taken out by a sniper]

i got CLOWNEDDD for referring to this dude as Dion son of Dion but idk what to tell you!! that's how the old documents referred to him!!! i didn't make that shit up I swear to god!!!!

also - that's the actual text of the Oath of Plataea, except (as Lily points out) it should read Athena Areia. is it likey that she'd remember this off the dome? no. is it possible that she just recognized the missing descriptor from context clues? yes. did i care enough to explain this either way? no, no i did not.

the Big Ticket Item of this chapter, though, is the oh.

and it wasn't just an oh, it was an oh followed by this innocuous conclusion that isn't even about Lily. i made myself laugh so hard with that. he's just like 'oh god my friend is going to wave this over my head FOREVER' and you know what? he's right!

as for the previous paragraph in that passage, I pulled a bit of a bait and switch, but not as badly as you might think! it was a risk to even bring up the idea that James could leave Athens, because I know it spurred some people into thinking that he'd go to the future with Lily (sorry babies that was not on the table). but what I intended for this passage (however successful it may or may not have been) was to just…allow him a moment of real, visceral empathy for the sensation of displacement that Lily's experiencing, and as well, introduce the idea that he might leave the life he's cultivated in Athens. his entire upbringing has been himself, the consummate Athenian man, surrounding himself with people from outside of Athens and drawing from their experiences, but never venturing outside of his little realm. in so many ways, the story questions what Lily's relationship with 'home' is (especially later on), but it always felt necessary to me to reckon with how 'home' may change for James as well.

finally:

yeah honestly i just remember the exact moment i thought of this passage. i had been reading the secret history (shoutout Donna Tartt i idolize and fear you) and i was lying down in my local park in the summer. I just thought about the Greek myths I knew, and the kind of cosmic horror that it is to really admit you're falling in love with someone, that they have this power over you that you didn't anticipate. and that closing line of the scene really struck me out of nowhere – I wrote it down in my notebook and just stared at it for a good few minutes. it's still one of my favs of the story :)

ok! if you made it this far, you are just amazing. this has to be a few thousand words at least. TYSM!!!!

see you all later for the part 2 BTS ❤️

[mayorofcattown]

I am free from work so I can now finally scream abt tanumum lore drop, and on the one hand tanuma not telling anyone that his mum was actually alive this whole time is very funny, but also the more I think abt it the less surprising it is? both on a meta level and from tanuma's pov

cause like on a meta level, while I tended to default to "tanuma's mum is probably dead" cause it was the most obvious conclusion, I always kinda wondered if it could be something more complicated, like a divorce or even adoption scenario (tho the second felt less likely) because of the way they always talked abt tanuma's mum, or more like the way they didn't talk abt her. whenever they brought up that tanuma didn't have a mum, it was never "tanuma doesn't have a mother" or "his mother passed away" or even just "his mother is..." it was always phrased as "its just him and his dad" which I thought was an odd choice of words. if she was just dead midorikawa could've easily just said so or implied it, the fact she deliberately avoided talking about her likely meant something more complicated was going on that she couldn't talk abt yet. tho I never expected it to be due to the youkai hijacking his dad lol

but also from tanuma's pov keeping it a secret kinda makes sense for him too? cause he's A) just generally not good at talking abt himself or confiding in other ppl abt his problems and B) two of his friends have similar or worse family situations to him, in a way where bringing up his own problems may make them feel Worse. Like kitamoto's went thru smthn very similar with his own dad, and natsume is The Most Tragic Orphan, he can't really just bring it up. there's also the fact that his mum's health issues are Probably the result of youkai, (even if they don't know the specifics of it) so that makes it kind of difficult to explain to nishi and kita. like how do you explain that your mum is now allergic to being in the same room as your dad to someone who isn't familiar with the supernatural lol

so like I get it. but also his friends definitely do all think his mum is dead. natsume is polite enough to not say anything but you know tanuma offhandedly mentions talking to his mum to nishi after this and he's just like DUDE I THOUGHT YOUR MUM WAS DEAD???