#happily damaged

[influencegetem]

[captainshyguy]

has no one else seen the new lethal company guys yet?? the little, mostly harmless friends?? ;-;

[athina-blaine]

genuinely don't understand people who gripe about someone getting into dunmesh for m/m pairings as opposed to f/f when none of them are even close to being the main point of the series

[desultory-novice]

Apologies AU - Good Ending Drop

Hey, everyone. It was my goal to finish Apologies in tandem with the Tournament, but for health reasons, I won't be able to as I planned. Because I tied the story to the tournament and don't feel like untangling it again and making everyone wait more, I'm going to give you all the ending spoilers, as I promised I would if I became unable to finish the story.

What I'm about to describe is THE Good Ending. The True Ending I had planned out almost from the beginning!

-

In the main-verse...

Susie, who sees too much of herself in Adeleine, decides to take matters into her own hands to bring the girl's older brother back.

She takes the vial of Dark Matter Swordsman DNA that was harvested from King Dedede. Meta Knight catches up with her and argues against it. It's foolish, dangerous, and liable to be nothing but painful to all parties involved. But Susie anticipated interference and asked Zan to bodyguard her. When Zan arrives (late) to the lab, the argument has caused the vial to begin to react to all the negativity in the room. Zan recognizes its contents as Dark Matter and insists on calling Lord Hyness, who in his own quirky way, analyzes their problem and suggests that while the contents are too weak to survive on their own, a resurrection could be possible, using Void's powers to mimic a hive queen, supplying whatever creature emerges the power to survive on Popstar without burning up into ash...

-

In the tourney-verse...

White-Haired Noir is at peace with his life and has come to accept the death of his precious little sister many years ago, but...a part of him still wishes to make Adeleine happy.

Using his fairy-born dimension sight, he discovers an Alternate Noir who is 98% percent compatible with main-verse Noir. This is the Purgatory!Noir from the Re_Birthday post. And he drags this unstable, utterly clueless Noir out of this peaceful void without his permission and secretly "volunteers"  the massively confused, un-alive but un-dead teen boy for the Kirby OC Tournament.

It is White-Haired Noir that is the "good" voice on phone and in Noir's head, encouraging rationality. His goal? Get Noir some friends. Get him to face up to/open up to people about his past. And get him caring about his life enough that he wants to live...! 

White-Haired Noir has seen what the main-verse Star Allies are attempting and knows that the odds of them actually bringing "Noir" back instead of just an emotionless monster are low without a compatible "Noir Soul" (haha) to inhabit the new vessel.

Over the course of many in-tourney events, including Noir learning to have faith in the sibling bonds he built with Gooey despite being Dark Matter at the time, learning to separate himself and Adeleine as individuals instead of clinging to her to his own neglect, privately opening up to King Dedede, who put the pieces together post-possession, about some awful stuff Noir put up with for years in secret from Raquelle's father (who privately loathed Neichel AND her kids and took it out on Noir) to "pay" for Adeleine's good life...

And lastly, using the power of wishes to interrogate if THIS Noir's true wish is to die and be free, to have never been born, to have had a normal "perfect" life, or if he simply wishes for a second chance to be with those he cares about... White-Haired Noir determines that Tourney!Noir is ready and reveals his plan to him. Noir confesses to him that he really does want to live and be with his family again and offers up his stronger soul for Susie and the gang's vessel.

-

Back in the main-verse...

The experiment is a success! They have brought, well, something back. It is not quite like Dark Matter Swordsman in form, nor is it exactly a human boy. It looks a little bit like a spiky haired-Gooey.

After some tense questioning of the emotionless, memoryless, unresponsive goo, it...suddenly seems to awaken. With the voice of a deeply shaken and scared young boy, the violet-eyed blob questions the mad scientist, cultists, and masked man surrounding him... Where the hell is he? And where are his little brother and sister?

Meta Knight welcomes Noir back to the world of the living.

Later, after Noir has time to dress himself in an appropriate scarf, Adeleine and Gooey are brought in and it is a happy and tear-filled reunion all around as Noir confirms that, while this form is strange, it's not dangerous and he's not in pain. He is then re-introduced to King Dedede, whereupon it's revealed that even though Noir likes him, he's still a snarky teen punk at heart, as he sasses the king horribly. (Dedede has gained another kid, but at what cost? XD)

...And that's it.

That's the ending to Apologies I've held onto for nearly a year.

For reading through all that, here is a short comic I drew a while back of the reunited family having a snowball fight in White Wafers.

-

(Not to unnecessarily over-explain the story but because the comic is a little vague, I have to tell you that no, Noir does not ever return to human after his revival. I meant it when I wrote in several places that their parting on Shiver Star was the last time they'd see each other "...in this form." This is merely meant to depict a moment in which Adeleine, seeing her brother alive and smiling and laughing and having real fun for the first time in so long, is able to imagine his old self smiling and is at peace that her brother is finally free from the hurt and misery he bore up with for so long.)

(...And yes, he has a long, silly tongue just like Gooey. Which is why he hides all but his eyes behind the scarf. Gotta keep up that cool older brother look even as a little goo creature! While Noir can't become human - frankly, he doesn't miss having a human body, given the stuff in his adolescence and being over-stressed, underfed, under-slept and just overall sick all the time in his later teens - he does eventually acquire the ability to shift into his old "Swordsman" form for short bursts of time.)

-

(Lastly, you might wonder how I could have had this exact ending in mind from almost the beginning when so much of it is tied up in recent posts like the tourney? ...Well, originally what was going to happen to allow Noir to be properly resurrected into the Dark Matter Goo body is that the Dream Rod from Star Allies was going to appear in response to a grieving Adeleine's wishes to see her brother again, bringing Noir-as-Swordsman back. At least for a LITTLE while, as it would be revealed that with Zero dead, Noir, who was entirely composed of Dark Matter at this point, couldn't survive on Popstar. Every moment he was there, his body was burning.)

(Still, he lasts long enough to have one final talk with Adeleine that helps heal him from the torturous events of DL 3 - in which we learn a highly disappointed Zero drove Noir to the absolute breaking point, shattering his mind and his newly regained soul. Adeleine also tells Noir she has finally realized everything he did for her during their childhood and apologizes to him for not seeing it before. With dawn on the horizon, Noir asks to look over Adeleine's sketchbooks with her before the end... He dies one last time, peacefully, while Adeleine finally gets to properly mourn him.)

(Then, all the "main-verse" sections proceed to happen as stated above!)

-

(...Okay, okay. One last thing. There was also an alternate ending planned where Magolor, taking advantage of the fact that Merry Magoland was built on a nexus point, finds a way to reunite Adeleine and White-Haired Noir - still a teen in this version - using his theme park as a union point, as special birthday gift for Adeleine.)

(I was kinda fond of this one for reuniting the timelines, but it opened up a lot of questions such as, if Magolor made it so that Noir and Adeleine from two different dimensions can see each other as long as they're both in Magoland, could others from the WH Noir-verse see the main-verse this way? It invited too many questions, so that's why I scrapped that one and just let White-Haired Noir grow up instead.)

[watcher0033]

When Gege be literally giving us an enemies-to-lovers template:

“Either we are alive or dead, together or apart, I have a promise with you.”

The High™️ Toxicity of this pairing, your honor.👏🏼

[scrumptiousstuffs]

do you think kantbison will have a happy ending? like ik pretty well bison will never forgive kant he lied about everything at some point…

Oh yes, I am firmly in the camp that we will have our happily ever after. But there will be angst, massive misunderstandings and tears (after all, what is a FK drama without their tears - they cry so prettily). And I'm not sure about you anon, but when FK cries, I think every single audience feels it and becomes emotional with them.

Jojo has sold to us that The Heart Killers is a rom-com. What I think a lot of people forget is rom-com does not equal pure fluff, lovey-dovey moments and light-heartedness.

According to Oxford Dictionary of Literary terms (I can't believe I am resorting to checking the dictionary to make sure I'm not telling lies!) - romantic comedy is defined as "a general term for comedies that deal mainly with follies and misunderstandings of young lovers, in a light-hearted and happily concluded manner while usually avoids serious satire."

Recall some of the well-known Hollywood rom-com in the noughties and early 2000s (and I think @firstkanaphans touch on this on another asked - Hollywood no longer makes great (if any?) rom-com) including "10 Things I Hate About You", which THK is based on.

Others that come into mind include "She's all That", "How To Lose a Guy in 10 days", "Sweet Home Alabama", "50 First Dates", "Bridget Jones Diaries" and even the trashier (but still fun!) movies such as "Maid In Manhattan" (why yes, I have watched all of these in my teens/early 20s)

What all of the above have in common? - Fluffy, light-hearted & comedic scenes? - Yep! The leads fall madly in love? - Of course, its rom-com after all!

BUT, the listed movies all have misunderstandings and conflicts arising between the leads causing heart wrenching, emotional scenes before they reconcile and the leads having their happily ever after (even if the ending may be somehow unexpected - "50 First Dates" comes to mind - cause Lucy having to start her day daily watching the VHS tape that Henry makes for her; chronologically detailing their lives so far due to her permanent brain damage is still bittersweet despite Adam/Drew characters living happily together at the end with their young daughter!)

I also think a lot of us are having spill-over from Jojo (and FK) previous work of "Only Friends", which is definitely not rom-com. And a lot of us probably still have trauma (is that the right word?) from OF (I love OF cause of its different story telling and the actors gave it their all, but I am very much aware of its short-coming as well!)

Plus, Jojo is actually quite known for his comedic series (I think most of us know him from "Only Friends" or "Never Let Me Go"). If you have not checked it out, do give "The Warp Effect", "Mama Go Go" and "Dirty Laundry" a try!

So, anon, I don't think we have to worry (too much) - our 4 boys will sort themselves out (eventually). However, I suspect we are in for some episodes where it will be anxiety inducing (and us cursing Jojo) when we see our boys being all mopey/depressed.

[ghostiesandghoulss]

“Yeah, mate, I’m fine. No worries, I’m all good. Thanks for asking.”

*rewatches the last ten minutes of Rogue One* *sobs aggressively* *does it again 5 minutes later*

[umbrellajamming]

sure would be nice. if people could debunk a dumb exaggerated/incorrect fanon without people immediately turning it 180° and happily hauling ass right into another dumb exaggerated/incorrect fanon. while gleefully crowing about how canon and correct this opposite take is.

sure would be nice 🙃

[valec275]

Congratulations to The Underworld for being the first song in Epic to make me bawl my eyes out!!

[foxykatie425]

Alright, time for me to give my thoughts on the results of this poll I put up last week. Long, drawn out, over-explained post ahead!

86.9% of voters think that Merrin would win if she and Cal had faced off in a 1v1 on Dathomir in JFO.

I am gonna go ahead and… disagree. HEAR ME OUT!

Y’all know I love my girl Merrin. She is wonderful and amazing and very very powerful.

But Cal is a JEDI!

I think because we see so much of them in Star Wars, we tend to forget just how powerful Jedi are. We’ve seen Jedi that are more powerful than Cal, but he’s still slicing through stormtroopers like butter!

Neither Merrin nor Cal is any kind of pushover, and it would for sure be very very close.

One thing to remember about Merrin is that while she is a very powerful Nightsister and implied to be above average for her age, she’s still very young, and was very young when her sisters died. Anything she’s learned since then she’s had to teach herself. (One could say the same about Cal, I suppose, but he at least now has Cere to help guide him.) When Malicos says to Merrin, “This power is beyond your control,” he says it with the intention of making her angry, which he does succeed at, but he also may not have been entirely wrong. Note that when Cal leaves Dathomir after making an alliance with Merrin, the undead Nightsisters are still attacking him on the way out.

(Side note: she doesn’t get to raise the dead in this hypothetical boss fight, that is no longer a 1v1! Plus, she already tried that and it didn’t work!)

Merrin, at least when we first meet her in JFO, has always struck me as someone who’s trying to present herself as something she’s not. She’s got something to prove: that she is capable of avenging her lost sisters. But she’s haunted by the fact that there was nothing she could do to save them, because she was, and is, so young. Malicos uses her insecurity about her lack of experience to gaslight her for his own selfish desires, and in her desperation to prove him wrong, her magick is unfocused and uncontrolled. And at the end of the day, despite her desire for revenge, she’s not a cold-blooded killer.

My point is that in terms of power and skill, Call and Merrin are probably pretty evenly matched.

Another thing to consider is timing. Admittedly now we’re getting into my own vision and maybe things would play out different if you put this fight earlier in the story, but if we’re to assume this boss fight with Merrin takes place in the same time frame as the Malicos boss fight, either in addition to or in place of it, we’ve got Cal at his strongest emotional point in the game. He has just made peace with everything that happened to him. Merrin, on the other hand, has just had everything she thought she believed in come crashing down around her. And if we’re at the point where she’s still attacking Cal, she’s not thinking straight. There is no legitimate reason left for her to be angry at Cal specifically, she’s just angry. She hasn’t cooled down from “You both shall learn!” And to be fair, from her perspective, if Malicos used her and lied to her, why should Cal be any different?

In this scenario, Merrin has got to be at a point of hopelessness. She may no longer be certain that the Jedi killed her people, but she feels like her anger and desire for revenge is all she has left, and she will get her revenge or die trying. And (possible trigger warning) now that she’s uncertain that her anger at the Jedi is justified, there probably is a part of her that almost hopes she dies trying. Because even if she did kill Cal, then what? Then she really has nothing left!

Why go after Cal instead of Malicos? Well for starters, that fight she definitely wouldn’t win, because the only way she and Cal were ever going to be able to defeat him was together. And I think rather than being afraid that Malicos would kill her, she’s more afraid that he wouldn’t kill her and that he would force her to continue serving his selfish desires. (Side note, there’s a possible headcanon in the subtext there that I really, really don’t wanna entertain… my poor girl has been through enough!)

I think in the end, a lack of focus and lack of confidence in her own motivation would be Merrin’s downfall. In a way, it’s somewhat reminiscent of Obi Wan vs Anakin. Anakin was more powerful than Obi Wan, but Obi Wan was more focused and more precise. Anakin’s lack of focus caused him to make a bad judgement call (ignoring the high ground) and Obi Wan quickly took advantage of it.

So let’s write some fanfiction real quick!

The way I see a fight between Cal and Merrin playing out at this point in JFO, they would be somewhat evenly matched, and at a moment when Merrin has the upper hand she would hesitate, because she’s unsure if she really does want this, unsure if she really should want this, and as stated before, she’s not a heartless murderer. Perhaps, even, seeing Cal at her mercy might remind her of herself as a child at the mercy of the monster who killed her family. (A Reva moment, if you will.)

Now one could argue whether or not Cal could’ve held her off at this moment had she not had this crisis of conscience, but regardless, she would hesitate just long enough for Cal to take the upper hand and checkmate her. But he wouldn’t kill her. He doesn’t want to kill her. He knows how misguided her anger is, and even if he can’t get through to her, he doesn’t believe she deserves to die. The victory condition for Cal is simply to get the Astrium and escape with his life. Perhaps he might have killed her to reach that goal if he had to, but it would’ve been a hollow victory.

In this moment, pinned beneath Cal’s saber, Merrin reverts back to the little girl she was on the day of the massacre. She is scared, and not ready to die, but she no longer has the strength or will to fight back.

Everything freezes for a moment, and then Cal slowly lowers his lightsaber. She opens her eyes and looks into his as he turns the blade off and steps back. He walks past her into the tomb, leaving her alone, in shock as she thinks about everything that just happened.

So I think there are a few reasons this didn’t actually happen in the game. First of all, a Merrin boss fight followed almost immediately by a Malicos boss fight would’ve been too much. But more importantly, for it to have an emotional impact would’ve required more character development for Merrin earlier in the game that there just wasn’t time for because at the end of the day, JFO is Cal’s story, not Merrin’s. Cool as Merrin was in the first game, what really made her character interesting is the dynamic she forms with Cal, and to try to develop that dynamic earlier would’ve required more cutscenes at a point when the player is not yet invested enough in Cal as a character to really care that much, and all those cutscenes would do is interrupt the gameplay that people came for. I think if the story of JFO were being told in a different medium that didn’t rely so much on action, such a book or *cough cough* a stage production perhaps, this subplot would fit in a little better.

Okay fine, maybe this is all just my vision for what I’d want a Fallen Order musical to look like! I’m telling you, IT COULD WORK!! 😂

So to recap, I think Cal would win in a 1v1 with Merrin (at least in the first game), I think Merrin in the first game is more bark than bite, and I think underneath the hard exterior she’s a sweet broken baby bird and I wanna give her a hug! 🥺🫶

Besides, if we did actually have this boss fight, video game rules dictate that Cal would have to win eventually! 😉

[influencegetem]

[just-another-dream-about-yuu]

japanese dub: ''bakabakashi'' (how stupid/lame)

english translation:

[monty-glasses-roxy]

For some reason, this round of meds (same dose and everything as last time) is making me have very violent Realisations and Remembering Things moments. And by that I mean the Thing I Forgot and/or the Realisations show up with a bat and see how hard they can make my brain hit the wall. So anyway.

YOU GUYS REMEMBER SPIKE THE WETFLOOR BOT??? YOU GUYS REMEMBER HER??? THE FIRST FAZBEAR ANIMATRONIC TO BE BORN FROM LOVE INSTEAD OF PAIN??? YOU REMEMBER HER???

CAUSE I JUST DID

[volivolition]

Idk if you saw or not but a new chapter of the fury of a shattered mirror dropped last night! I haven’t read it yet but I thought I should let you know 😎👍

awughgh HELL YEAH!! ive been away from my laptop for a while so i didnt see, thank you birdy!! :] this is the best news ive had all day hkjgh <33 excited very excited going to read it now <33

[found-wings]

oh how I love the way that acts of care can so fluidly translate into acts of hurt 🙏🙏

anyway

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

the way that it's so easy for the federation to start shit and just lay back as the island completes their objectives for them

like it's so clear that the president thing holds little weight in the federations eyes and was just around to tear people against each other and making them fight each other with little interference other then the announcement and debates being held? this holds similar weight, all they needed to do is fuck up phil once within their experiments and let the rest of the island unconsciously do the rest of the work breaking him down in ways they can't. by having him be hurt by the people closest to him in ways that are meant to be comforting but end up harming. bracelets made of barbed wire shared from friend to friend when it comes to these acts of care. I don't think phil would fully blame anyone for these feelings as he knows that as long as the federation has a hold on him and he can't keep this part of him under control when aggravated- then these precautions have to stay for the safety of himself and others. but god does it hurt knowing that his entire independence has been ripped from his grasp from no fault of his. at least if it had been his fault, he could attempt to fix things, but everything at the moment is fully out of his hands. - 💿

YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!!

M A N

Phil starts to recognise how right everyone was in the beginning. Figuring out how much of a hold the Feds and Codes have on him makes it clear how dangerous his very being is - even if he himself would never want to do the things he‘s forced to.

Phil is dangerous and the others doing all of these things are not just for his safety, but theirs too. It‘s why he can’t be mad at them about treating him like this even if it hurts.

And knowing that, I wouldn‘t blame Phil if he just starts to feel guilty and blame himself for being the cause of all of this, even if he knows it‘s not even his fault.

So what does he do?

Well, Phil recognises that isolating himself is bad. Not because it will damage him ( as if it isn‘t already ), but it means he’ll push the others away and that can leave an opening for the Codes or similar to hurt and use him again.

So he starts helping.

He offers to accompany Etoiles in his explorations to assist or notes down places and dungeons for him, he offers to spar more often.

He helps Forever in overlooking the island, helps building whatever he needs. He offers emotional support, assuring him that he‘s doing a good job.

He offers Tubbo to help gather materials for his machines, he offers Foolish materials and assistance in building his bigger projects.

He helps Fit in his job and causes less messes that he‘ll need to clean up later on, even going to clean them himself.

He offers everyone that he‘ll always notify others when he‘s going somewhere and where he‘ll stick to staying.

He offers that he can take care of the Eggs as much as possible later on, so everyone else doesn’t have to stress about them for a while.

He offers and offers and offers.

If Phil is a danger and such burden, he can at least make himself useful to everyone.

*Insert sobbing and wailing noises of me* IAJEBBWBW

[twomancon]

spn thoughts post episode 12x19: is it a coincidence that the only non-jewish showrunner of supernatural is the one who pretty much shits all over the concept of free will in favor of 'faith' and 'destiny' and 'this child must be born to save the world 🥺' or...