#hard compared to the rest of the game i guess
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The Companions and Separation Anxiety
So something occurred to me while working on a WIP. It mostly started with Astarion, but then drifted to consider the others you could romance as well. I was mostly thinking of Star at the time, and the others came from conversation
If you consider everything that happened, from the moment they met, Tav and Star have never really spent any time apart for maybe longer than a few hours at most. And yes, I'd considered even the times he's left at camp. Because even if he's left at camp, all of them have that underlying mission and the need to rely on their allies. For all the allies that you gather in the game, you still keep everyone outside of your little group at something of an arms length. The only ones that spend even a little bit of time at your camp in the same vein as the rest of your companions are Dame Aylin and Isobel (no I'm not counting Alfira, because in Durge runs she isn't likely to survive a single night XDD poor baby).
All of our time is spent with our companions from the moment we meet, and for the ones we romance, I don't think it'd be far fetched to think that after everything is said and done, the brain and all other enemies dealt with, our chosen romanced companion could very well have some measure of separation anxiety if Tav/Durge had need to leave their side for longer than a day or two.
Especially with Astarion I think he would be hit hardest in this, because before his adventure with everyone, he had no choice but to watch everyone he might have had even a flicker of feelings for being taken away and never return. Kudos where he deserves them, he did a LOT of growing during the journey, but old habits die hard too. So even if he's in a better place at the end, he could very well experience some measure of separation anxiety the first time they need to really be apart from each other. This could be even worse if playing a Durge, as it might be a bit more intense considering he's already experienced his partner dying in front of him and being completely helpless to do anything to stop it before Withers steps in.
With Durge, Astarion had spent 200 years praying to every god he knew for a savior from his torment, watching as everything, every piece of himself was taken away from him. Then, the first truly good thing to happen to him, the first person who acknowledged him as someone worthy of love and respect, was ripped away from him by a god. And once again, he couldn't do anything to stop it. Even with Withers bringing them back, I doubt he's going to be completely fine with Tav/Durge being too far away from him for a while.
I'd imagine Gale and Shadow might have similarly bad reactions, yet not quite to the level that Star may get. They would also have comparable ways of dealing with it I think, reassuring Tav/Durge that they're fine, and that they understand, but their mannerisms aren't as assured as they usually are, and their words may be more clipped and sharp. They just really don't want to think about it, and try their best to ignore it.
Lae'zel I think would just, do everything physical to try not thinking about it. She acts like she's not worried about them, when in reality she's secretly counting the seconds until they're home. She keeps it all inside, because realistically she knows they can handle themselves, but she's not the emotional type. I think she might try losing herself in training. Like she's just, working herself to near exhaustion, putting in every effort to not think about it.
Honestly I think the only ones who wouldn't really be hit by it would be Wyll and Karlach. Like, they'd still feel the worry, but they'd be the ones to handle it best. Wyll and Karlach have been used to being on their own for quite a while before the tadpole, and judging by their dialogue during the reunion, I would guess they may still worry, but it wouldn't truly bother them unless they got word that Tav/Durge was in some serious trouble.
Halsin would likely be the only one who would be a middle-ground in all this I think. He'd do everything he could with the kids and the village, but then if he finds himself with enough time to think about it, he'd probably just, I dunno, chop some wood and build a table or something XDDDD Tav/Durge would come home to find that he's got a whole new 12 person table with chairs and carved dining set and cutlery. He's also carved a mother and father duck gently touching beaks as a centerpiece, and all the other carved ducklings have the names of everyone he knows carefully carved into them and placed in front of each seat. He's also been talking to them. People have been worried about him, but they didn't want to say anything XDDDD
#bg3 astarion#bg3 tav#baldurs gate 3#bg3 karlach#bg3 wyll#bg3 shadowheart#bg3 gale#bg3 lae'zel#bg3 halsin#bg3 headcanons#halsin silverbough#lae'zel of k'liir#shadowheart#jenevelle hallowleaf#wyll ravengard#astarion ancunin#gale dekarios#gale of waterdeep#karlach cliffgate
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You're more amazing than drama
Booted up Cavern of Dreams for the first time in too long and immediately found and 100%'ed the 2nd world (Airborne Armada)
#asks#Lostleaf Lake is the 1st world and Cavern of Dreams is the hub#one of the eggs was a weird puzzle that i THOUGHT i needed the water monster's help for but i couldn't figure out how to get it to help me#so i got stuck on that and looked it up online mostly just to confirm that it's actually possible at this stage of the game#and i DIDN'T see the solution but i did see someone say it was possible to do early but was one of the hardest puzzles in the game#and then suddenly something clicked and i realized another solution and it worked!#no spoilers tho ;)#still have no idea why that made it click lol#i guess i was just too laser focused on the water monster and somehow reading that shook up my mind enough to have a different idea#it wasn't even that hard of a puzzle#hard compared to the rest of the game i guess#it was a good puzzle too and i'm super satisfied that i managed to solve it on my own#i was very close to reading the solution and spoiling it for myself#honestly still kinda salty that the water monster wasn't a possible solution#the sign said it can walk through any terrain! i made a path for it and everything!#oh well the actual solution was cool too#and i somehow managed to get all of the card thingies!#i don't even know where the last 2 in Lostleaf Lake are#i scanned that world from top to bottom and couldn't find anything#i'll have to come back with more abilities and maybe find secret areas accessible via other worlds i guess#neat thing about the game: it tells you that you can always get all the eggs in a world immediately when you enter it#mushrooms and cards might need late-game powers but all eggs can be obtained without backtracking#it promises you that so you know you aren't wasting your time searching for the last egg in a world. you CAN get it#i love that both for the design decision and for telling the player about that design decision
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ITâS THE INK CONSUMPTION. THATâS WHY PAINBRUSH IS SO HARD FOR ME TO USE. I CANâT BELIEVE I DIDNâT REALIZE THAT WAS WHY UNTIL NOW
#devinâs gaming logs#i thought it was just cause of how slow it swings compared to the other brushes#but thats barely an issue cause its a two hit weapon plus the splatana swings slower than brushes and thats my main#its the ink consumption! thats why#it feels like a decent weapon for anarchy battles but not turf war cause it just uses up too much ink so inking turf is kinda hard#i mean i guess maybe it could play the role of just an aggro in turf war? killing the opponents while the rest of the team inks#kinda like chargers but up close#anyway yeah i like playing with painbrush sometimes but it does frustrate me and now i finally know why
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SHIGARAKI VS. YUBEL: HOW TO SAVE YOUR VILLAIN
The failure of Deku to save Shigaraki isnât just a tragic conclusion for Shigarakiâs arc, itâs also My Hero Academia failing as a story. When I say the story failed, I mean the story has failed to answer any of the questions it asked its audience. Itâs themes, character arcs, everything that communicates the meaning of the story to the audience is no longer clear.Â
Saving Shigaraki was the central goal of not only the story itself, but the main character Deku. By failing in its goal you canât call this a good ending. In order to illustrate why this goal of saving the villain is so important to both Dekuâs character and the central idea of MHA, Iâm going to provide a positive example in Yu-Gi-Oh GX were the main character Judai successfully saves their villain. One of these stories fails, and the other succeeds. I will illustrate why under the cut.Â
BROKEN THEMES = BROKEN STORY
When artists draw they have to consider things like perspective, anatomy, shading, light, coloring. Drawing has rules, and itâs hard to produce good art without knowing these rules beforehand. If I draw something that has bad anatomy, you can criticize me for that.Â
Writing has rules, just like drawing. The rules of storytelling are important because writing is an act of communication. You can write whatever you want, just like how you can draw whatever you want, but if you break the rules the audience wonât understand what you are trying to communicate.Â
When I refer to MHA as a broken story, I am referring to the fact that it has broken the rules of storytelling. As this youtuber explains.
âI guess we should first define what broke and broken even means in this context. Has the story turned into an unintelligible mess? Not really. Value judgements aside, the narrative is still functional and fulfills the criteria of being a story. So how can a story that still functions be broken? Maybe to you it cannot. But to me a story that is still functional isnât enough. What I mean when I say MHA is broken is that itâs lost something crucial. A codifying style of structure, pacing and payoff that until a certain point was the core of its identity.âÂ
I could launch into a long-winded explanation of what themes are, but for the sake of simplicity I like to define themes in terms of âAsk, and answer.â The author asks a question to the audience, and then by the end of the story provides an answer. The audience is also invited to come up with their own answer which prompts them to think about the story on a deeper level. The question both MHA and GX are asking both its main characters and the audience is âCan you save the villain?â with the additional complicated question of âShould you save the villain?â This post will detail how both stories go about answering those two questions, and more importantly why those answers matter for the story.Â
With Great Power⌠You know the rest.Â
My Hero Academia and Yu-Gi-Oh Gx are actually similar stories once you get past their superficial differences. MHA is a story with way better worldbuilding, compared to a society where everything revolves around the trading card game, and people go to school to be better at a trading card game.Â
However, if you get past that. They are both bildungsroman, stories about the main characters growing up into adults. They both have an academy setting where the goal is for the main character to graduate and enter the adult world. They are both shonen manga. GX is the sequel of Yu-Gi-Oh a manga that ran in Shonen Jump the exact same magazine as MHA. The biggest point of comparison is their main characters, who both start out as young and naive who are driven by their admiration of heroes. Deku is a fan of All Might who wants to become a hero despite not having a quirk, because he loves All might who saves everyone with a smile. Judaiâs entire deck archetype revolves around âElemental Heroesâ and later âNeo-Spaciansâ who are all based on popular sentai heroes like ultraman.Â
The central arc for both characters is to grow up. Growing up for both of them not only requires figuring out what kind of adult they want to be, but also what kind of hero they want to be.Â
Now Iâm going to drastically oversimplify what a character arc is.Â
A character arc first starts out with the character being wrong. Being wrong is essential because if the character is right from the beginning, then thereâs no point in telling the story. A character often holds the wrong idea about the world, or has some sort of flaw that hinders their growth. The narrative then needs to challenge them on that flaw. It usually sets up some kind of goal or win condition. That flaw gets in the way of a character âwinningâ or achieving their goal, so they need to fix that flaw first. If their ideals are wrong, then they need to think about what the right ideals are. If theyâre too childish, they need to grow up. If they have unhealthy behaviors or coping mechanisms, they need to unlearn it and require better ones. Otherwise, that flaw will keep sabotaging them until the end.Â
Iâm borrowing the word âwin conditionâ from class1akids here because itâs an incredibly appropriate terminology. Midoriya needs to do âxâ in order to win, otherwise this victory doesnât feel earned. The âxâ in this case is usually character development. As I said before, a story where the main character hasnât changed from beginning to end feels pointless. Especially in Dekuâs case, he was already a brave, strong hero who would charge right into battle and defeat the bad guys in chapter one, so him defeating Shigaraki in a fist fight doesnât represent a change.Â
The story sets up not only âWhat does the hero need to do to win?â but also âHow does the hero need to change in order to win?â A character either meets these requirements before the end of the story, or they donât and usually this results in a negative ending.Â
MHA in its first half quite clearly set up both the final conflict of saving the villains, and also that saving the villains is its âwin conditions.â The hero shouldn't be allowed to win without first fixing this flaw.
From this panel onward the central question Deku is forced to answer shifts from âAm I strong enough to defeat ShigarakIâ to âCan I save Shigaraki?â However, much earlier than that All Might goes on to basically set up the win conditions of what makes the ultimate hero as someone who âSaves by winning, and wins by saving.â
All might: You can become the ultimate heroes. Ones who save by winning, and win by saving.
Therefore the story has set itâs criteria for what kind of hero Deku needs to become. If he wins without saving, then heâs failed to become what the series has set up as the Ultimate Hero.Â
Shigaraki and Yubel arenât just narrative obstacles, or boss monsters to be killed like in a video game. They are narrative challenges, which means that the character canât grow in any way if they donât answer the challenge presented by the characters. They are villains who actively resist being saved, to provide a challenge for two heroes who define their heroism by saving others. The challenge they pose adds a third question to the story and the main characters.Â
"Can I save the villain?"
"Should I save the villain?"
"If I don't save the villain, then can I really call myself a hero?"
In other words the decision they make in saving, or not saving their final antagonist defines what kind of hero they are. In Dekuâs case itâs even more critical he defines what hero he wants to be because the MHA is also a generational story, and several of the kids are asked to prove how exactly this generation of heroes is going to surpass the last one. The kids growing physically stronger than the last generation isnât a satisfactory answer, Deku getting strong enough to punch Shigaraki hard is not a satisfactory answer, because we are reading a story and not watching a boxing match.Â
Iâm going to focus on the last two questions though for a moment. Many people who argue against saving villains like Shigaraki argue he is a mass murderer and therefore isnât worthy of salvation. However, the act of saving Shigaraki isnât a reflection of Shigaraki himself, but rather the kind of hero Deku wants to be. It all boils down to Spiderman. In the opening issue of Spiderman, teenage Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider and suddenly gains super strength, the ability to stick to walls along with other powers. However, being a teenager he uses these powers selfishly at first. He doesnât feel the obligation to use his powers for other people, and therefore when he sees a robbery happening right in front of him he lets the robber go. However, because he lets the robber go, the robber then attempts to hijack a car and kills his Uncle Ben in the process. If Spiderman had stopped the robber then he might have prevented that from happening. He had the power to stop the robber, but he didnât feel responsible or obligated to save other people. As a result Uncle Ben dies. Itâs not enough to have power, tiâs how you use that power that reflects who you are, therefore: âwith great power comes great responsibility.âÂ
The choice to save Shigaraki actually has little to do with whether or not Shigaraki is redeemable, but rather how Deku chooses to use his power, and what he thinks he is responsible for reflects who Deku is as a person. Deku himself also clearly outlines how he wants to use his power, that One for All is a power for saving, and not killing.Â
How he uses his power reflects Dekuâs ideal in saving others, and therefore if he doesnt use his power to save, then heâs failed to live up to his ideals. It's not whether it's morally right to save a murderer like Shigaraki, but rather the way Deku wants to choose to use his power. It's about whether he feels the responsibility to save others.
Judai explores an incredibly similar arc to Deku. They are basically both asked what kind of responsibilities a hero is supposed to have, which is also a metaphor for growing up to handle the responsibilities of adulthood. As both characters start out with incredibly naive and childish ideas about what a hero is. Therefore realizing what a hero is responsible for is key to them growing as a character. However, Judai is different from Deku. In some ways heâs more like Bakugo. Judai is a prodigy whoâs naturally good at dueling. He doesnât duel to save others, but rather because duels are fun and heâs good at it. Heâs very much like Bakugo, who admired All Might as a hero just as much as Deku did, but admired the fact that he was strong and always won rather than he saved others.Â
However, I would say both Deku and Judai are questioning what a hero is responsible for. They are both asking if they have the responsibility to use their power to save others. If they have to fight for other people, just because they have power. His first big challenge as a character comes from Edo Phoenix, who calls out Judai for not thinking through what it means to be a hero, and what responsibilities heroes carry. Judai duels because he thinks itâs fun. He will show up to duel to help his friends, but thatâs because heâs the most powerful person in the group. Even then itâs because he finds fighting strong opponents to be enjoyable. Bakugo will beat up a villain, but for him itâs more about winning then if the action will save someone or not.Â
Judai is more often than not pushed into the role of being a hero, he doesnât play the hero because heâs a particularly selfless person, and heâll often avoid responsibility if not forced. He has power but no sense of responsibility and the narrative calls them out as a problem.Â
Edo: Can you even fathom that, Judai?
For Judai, he canât understand the responsibility of being a hero. For Deku, he idealizes heroes so much he canât understand that there are people out there the heroes have failed to save. These two callouts towards Deku and Judai are discussing similar because theyâre both discussing where a heroâs responsibilities lie. Is a hero responsible for saving everyone? Is someone strong like Judai responsible for using their strength to help other people?Â
Judaiâs arc continues into the third season where heâs not shown to just be naive but ignorant. Heâs not just childish, he actively resists growing up because he doesnât want to take on adult responsibilities.Â
THe same way that Deku just decides not to think about whether or not All Might failed to save people in the panels above. However, in Judai's case he's actively called out for his choice to remain ignorant.
Satou: Now, which one is at fault? Judai: Isnât it the guy who saw it, but didnât pick it up. Satou: Not quite. If one is aware of the trash that fell, it may be picked up someday. But there is no possibility fo the unaware one ever picking it up. Judai-kun you are the foolish one unaware of the trash that has fallen. Judai: Are you calling me out for how I am? Satou: Your behavior towards me was atrocious. The worst was attending class only for credit, even if you were there you only slept. Judai: Yeah, I know. I was all bad, but it wasnât that big a- Satou: It is important. You see, one by one, the students inspired by your attitude were losing their motivation. Now if you were a mediocre duelist, then this would not be an issue. Satou: However, you are the same hero who defeated the three mythic demons. Every single student in the academy admires you. You should have been a model for this academy. Judai: Me, a role model? Are you kidding? I just do whatever I feel like doing. Satou: Great power comes with great responsibility. Yet, as you remain unaware of that, youâve spread your lethargy and self-indulgence.Â
seems like a minor issue, but look how Judai responds to the accusations. âI just do whatever I feel like doing.â Satou is arguing that Judai should pay attention to the influence he has on others because of his power, because how he chooses to use that power affects others. However, Judai chooses to actively not look at the consequences of his actions because he doesnât want to take on that level of responsibility, and therefore heâs looking away from the trash.Â
While it seems like it doesnât matter in Satouâs specific example, not thinking of the consequences, or how you use your power can have unexpected consequences. Spiderman doesnât feel like itâs his responsibility to stop a bank robber, and that bank robber shoots his uncle. You could still argue itâs not Spidermanâs responsibility to stop every crime in the world, and I guess no one owes anyone anything from that point of view - but Spiderman failing to act responsibility had the consequence of directly hurting someone else.Â
Spiderman has to live with that consequence because it was his own Uncle that was hurt. This is where we really reach the duality of Judai.Â
In GX, Judai is, symbolically speaking, The Fool of the Tarot Deck, the Novice Alchemist â a person brimming with infinite potential, yet one who is also supremely ignorant, who walks forward with his eyes closed and often unknowingly causes harm in his great ignorance. In this, he is very much the embodiment of the faults we most commonly associate with teenagers â selfishness, recklessness, shallowness, a lack of dedication or empathy when itâs most needed. Like most people, he has good traits that work to balance out some of the above, but his narrative path through GX ends up being that of the flawed hero undone by his faults â and then that of the atoner, the repentant sinner. In his case, the mistakes of his teenage years are the catalyst for his growth from a boy into a man burdened with duty and purpose. Judai is someone with infinite potential, with great power, but also ignorant on how he should use that power, and that makes him an incredibly flawed hero who needs to learn how that power should be used.Â
Deku similarly exists in a society where heroes deliberately turn a blind eye to the suffering of a certain type of victim. Shigarakiâs speech heavily resmebles Satouâs speech about garbage on the side of the road.Â
Shigarali: "For generations you pretended not to see those you coudln't protect and swept their pain under the rug. It's tainted everything you've built."
Deku shares Judaiâs ignorance, because heâs not only a part of a system that doesnât even see trash on the side of the road, but he also worships heroes so much that heâs incapable of criticizing them. If Deku saw the flaws of heroes, but at first didnât have the courage to speak out, but eventually gained the courage that would be one thing. However, if he doesnât see the flaws of heroes, then the problem will never be fixed.Â
There are also consequences for both Judai and Deku failing to use their powers responsibly. These consequences take the form of the villains who came about because of all of societyâs ignorance to the suffering of victims (Shigaraki) and because of the main characterâs ignorance to their suffering (Yubel). Shigaraki and Yubel are also explicitly victims that the heroes failed to save, turned into villains who are active threats to the heroes.Â
Should I save the villain?
The answer is yes, because the decision to save is reflective of the kind of hero each character wants to be. Each story clearly sets up that Deku and Judai arenât punisher style heroes who shoot their villains, they are being set up as heroes who save. Deku needs to âsave by winning.â As for Judai, a big deal is made of Judaiâs admiration for another character Johan who represents a more idealistic kind of hero. Johan unlike Judai is someone who duels with a purpose, something Judai outright says he admires because heâs empty in comparison.Â
Judai: Johan what have you been dueling for? See, itâs about fun for me⌠Well, for the surprise and happiness too. I guess I do do it for the fun. Sorry, I guess I put you on the spot by asking out of nowhere. Johan: Whatâs this about Judai? Judai: Itâs nothing. Johan: I suppose there is one goal I have. Johan: Even if someone doesnât have the power to see spirits, they can still form a bond with a spirit. Thatâs why I do it for people like him. [...] Johan: I'll fight for everyone who believes in me, and I'll do it with my Duel Monsters. Judai: I'm jealous you've got feelings like those in you.
Becoming a hero who uses their power to help others isnât just a goal the story sets for Judai, itâs a goal that Judai sets for himself because of his admiration for Johan. Johan represents the idealistic hero Judai wants to be, but is also held back from because of his personality flaws. Johan represents the kind of heroic ideal that Deku is aspiring to be.Â
Johanâs ultimate goal isnât punishing the wicked, but to use his power to save others.Â
Johan: Judai, it was my dream to save everyone through my dueling!
The story sets up the idea that itâs not enough for Judai to simply be strong, heâs also challenged to become a savior who uses his power to help others like Johan. Deku needs to âsave by winningâ and Judai needs to âSave everyone through his dueling.â However, Johan also adds another condition to what saving means. His idea of saving isnât to defeat a villain, but rather his dream is to help connect spirits and humans together, even if there are humans who canât see spirits. Johan doesnât save people with the power of physical force, but rather the power of human connection.Â
Should I save the villain?
Here the answer is "Yes",  because wants to become more like Johan someone who uses their power to help others not just for themselves. Then we reach the third question
If I don't save the villain, can I really call myself a hero?
It once again comes to power and responsibility. Heroes have great power, and they are responsible in how they use that power, if they use it irresponsibly then there are consequences. Shigaraki wants to destroy hero society, because the heroes irresponsibly use their power to turn a blind eye to everyoneâs suffering.Â
People suffer when heroes fail to live up to their responsibilities. The entire conflict of season 3 is created by Judai failing to save Yubel. If Judai had helped Yubel when they most needed it, instead of abandoning them, then Yubel would never have been twisted by the light of destruction, would never have attempted to teleport the school to another dimension, would never have attacked all of JUdaiâs friends.Â
These consequences matter. Deku can turn his eyes away from Shigarakiâs suffering, but letâs say a hero failed to stop a robbery, or rather he didnât even try, and because of that his mom was shot and died in the street. Would Deku consider the man who failed to stop a bank robbery a hero? When Spiderman let a bank robber go instead of trying to stop him, was he being a hero in that moment? Both the stories and the characters themselves have defined heroes as people who use their powers to save others, therefore if Judai and Yubel fail to save their villains then they canât be called heroes by the storyâs own definition. Now letâs finally return to the question of "Can I save the villain?"
Was there ever someone you couldnât save?
m going to start with Yu-Gi-Oh Gx as a positive example of how to save your villain. Gx works for two reasons. One, itâs established from the start that Yubel isnât beyond salvation, and two, it makes it so Judai canât win without saving Yubel. The conflict of the story does not end until Judai makes the decision to save Yubel. In some ways the writing is even stronger because Judai is directly responsible for the pain and suffering that Yubel went through that turned them into a villain in the first place. Yubel isnât just a victim, theyâre specifically Judaiâs victim.Â
Yubel is a duel spirit who is also essentially Judaiâs childhood friend. A duel spirit just like the kind that Johan wants to save. During their childhood Yubel got too overprotective of Judai, and started to curse his friends for making him cry or upsetting him in any way. Until everyone Judaiâs age started avoiding him and Judai became all alone with only Yubel for company. Judaiâs decision was to abandon Yubel at that time. He took the yubel card and shot them into space, hoping that being bathed in space rays will somehow âfixâ what was wrong with them. I know thatâs silly but just go with it. Judai abandoning Yubel had the unintended consequence of Yubel being subjected to the light of destruction, a corrupting light that subjected Yubel to years of pain. This pain literally takes the form of Yubel burning alive.
Yubel connected to his dreams called out for Judai every night, only for Judaiâs parents to give him surgery that repressed his memories of Yubel causing him to forget them entirely. Yubel then spent the next ten years alone in space, continuously subjected to painful torture, with their cries for help being ignored.Â
"I was suffering even as you came to forget about me..."
Yubel is then met with the question of how can Judai treat them this way if they loved him so much? As from Yubelâs perspective, theyâve only ever tried to protect Judai, only for Judai to not only throw them away, but subject them to painful torture and ignore their cries for help. Judai effectively moves on with his life, goes to duel academy, makes friends while Yubel is left to suffer in silence all but forgotten. This is where Judaiâs ignorance has serious plot consequences.Â
Itâs not just the pain that Yubel endured that made them snap. Itâs that their pain went ignored.Â
Yubel holds out the faint hope that Judai will answer their calls fro help until they finally burn up upon re-entry into earthâs orbit. At which point theyâre left as nothing more than a single hand crawling on the ground. Yubel who cannot fathom why Judai would cause them so much pain, and then forget about them, convinces themselves that Judai must be causing them pain, BECAUSE he loves them.
But you see, I couldn't possibly forget about you in the time that I've suffered...
Judai is allowed to move on with his life, to make friends, to spend the next ten years doing so while Yubel is subjected to ten years of agony. When they finally escape their painful torment, they see all the friends Judai has made while theyâre left alone and forgotten. However, Yubelâs goal isnât revenge. Rather, itâs to make Judai share and recognize their pain. WHich is why I said itâs not the fact that they were made to suffer, but their suffering is ignored. Yubelâs entire philosophy revolves around the idea that sharing pain is an expression of love, and that they and Judai share their love for each other by hurting each other.Â
"That's why I sought to fill all those linked to you, your world, with both sadness and anguish..."
For Yubel, making all of Judaiâs friends suffer and Judai themselves suffer is a way of making them and Judai equals again. They want to show âtheir loveâ for Judai, but itâs more about forcing Judai to recognize the pain heâs caused them by forcing him through the same pain. Yubelâs philosophy of sharing pain is actually a twisted form of empathy.Â
Theyâre not entirely wrong either, that even people who love each other can cause each other pain, and that if one person is suffering alone in a relationship or the suffering is one-sided then thereâs something wrong with that relationship.Â
Yubel: I get it now⌠You werenât in love, with Echo. Yubel: No.. you may have loved her just enough to clear the conditions in palace for you to control Exodia, but the you didnât truly love each other. Yubel: You were only unfairly hurting her, while you stayed unharmed. You wouldnât suffer. You wouldnât suffer. You wouldnât be in pain. Amon: What are you getting at? Yubel: Iâve been hurt! Iâve suffered! Iâve been in pain. Thatâs why Iâm making JUdai feel the same things I did!Â
Yubelâs twisted theory of love, is a pretty thinly veiled cry for empathy.
They break out into tears when talking to Amon about the way theyâve hurt and suffered. They clearly state upfront that their goal is for Judai to recognize their love. One of the first things they say to Judai is a plea for Judai to remember them.
Yubel is presented as a very human character suffering through a lot of pain throughout their entire villai arc, they break down into tears multiple times, they cry out in agony, they're visibly suffering and you see their mental walls begin to break down when Judai denies them any empathy.
Yubel is actually incredibly clear and straightforward about their desire to be saved by Judai. However, Judai doesnât lift a single finger to help Yubel the entire arc, even though they themselves admit they are directly responsible for Yubelâs suffering but they helped create who they are today.Â
Judai plunges into a different dimension and gives up everything to save someone, but itâs Johan, not Yubel they try to save. You have Johan, the perfect friend, and perfect victim that Judai gets obsessed over and will not stop at anything to save, and then you have Yubel, the imperfect victim that is actively harming Judai and all of his friends that Judai chooses to ignore. The whole season Judai only focuses on saving the perfect victim Johan, and this is clearly shown to be a flaw. Judai doesnât just ignore Yubel to save Johan, he also ignores every single one of his friends.Â
Judai only caring about saving Johan, and deliberately ignoring and abandoning the friends who came with him to help, essentially abandoning them the way he did Yubel leads to another consequence. After he abandons them they get captured, rounded up, and actually die and become human sacrifices.Â
Losing his friends, causes Judai to snap. Judai becomes the supreme king and decides power is all that matters; he starts killing duel spirits en masse in order to forge the super polymerization card. Which means being left alone, suffering alone, being abandoned by everyone causes Judai to snap the exact same way that Yubel did.Â
In fact Judai is only saved from his darkest moment, because two of his friends sacrifice their lives, trying to get through to him and appeal to his humanity. At that point Judaiâs friends could have just chosen to put him down like a mad dog, to punish him for the amount of people heâs killed, but instead they try to save him because of their friendship.Â
I just want to save my friend. That is all.
By the time Judai is facing Yubel in their final fight, Judai doesnât have the moral highground against Yubel in any way whatsoever. Theyâve both lashed out because of the pain they endured and killed countless people in the process of lashing out. The only real difference between them is that Judai is lucky. He had friends to support him at his lowest point, while Yubel didnât. Does Judai learn from Jimâs example, and go out of their way to save Yubel the same way they were saved because Yubel is still a friend? Nope, Judai tries to kill Yubel at this point.Â
I made a lot of friends... And they all taught me something⌠real love is wide enough, large enough and deep enough to fill the universe. Your so-called love is only a conceited delusion.
Like, Judai, sweetie baby honey darling. How was Yubel supposed to make friends when they were floating in the empty void of space?
Judai hasnât learned, they are still ignorant, and still turn a blind eye to Yubelâs suffering. After all if his love is wide enough, large enough,and deep enough to fill the universe then why donât thy have any room in their heart whatsoever for empathizing with Yubel?
Judai making friends while Yubel was trapped in space doesnât make Judai a better person than Yubel, it makes Judai lucky. Judai doesnât even appreciate that luck, because he treats his friends like garbage. Itâs not about whether Yubel is worthy of salvation, because Judai is a mass murderer and his friends still went to great lengths to save them anyway. Itâs that Judai doesnât want to empathize with Yubel, because they still want to remain ignorant and irresponsible. Judai wants to continue playing hero, with a very black and white definition of what a hero is. By this point Judaiâs killed lots of people, but if he makes Yubel the villain in the situation, he can keep playing hero. He doesnât have to look at himself and what heâs done, because blaming everything that happened on Yubel and then putting Yubel down like a mad dog allows Judai to absolve his own guilt. Judai practically ignores Yubelâs cries for help, even when Yubel spells it out for them.
I couldn't have lived with the heartache unless I felt that I was being loved...
At this point Yubel themselves acknowledges that their love was just a delusion. That it was a coping mechanism, because they couldnât live with all the pain otherwise. WIthout it they would have just died, which makes Judai unmoved. The implication here is that Judai thinks yes, Yubel should have just died in that crater. It would have been easier for Yubel to die a perfect victim, then for Yubel to crawl out of that crater and go on to hurt other people. While that may be true the same can be said for Judai - it would have been better if Judai died rather than become the Supreme King. His friends could have put him down like a mad dog, you could have even called that justice - but they didnât. Judai making no attempt to save Yubel isnât because he thinks itâs morally wrong to save someone whoâs killed as many people as Yubel has, or because he thinks he canât forgive Yubel, itâs because Judai is taking the easy way out. Johan is a nice, easy victim to save, because heâs Judaiâs perfect boyfriend, while Yubel is a complex victim that requires Judai to understand their suffering. Even the act of saving Johan isnât about Johan himself, itâs about the fact that Judai feels guilt over Johanâs disappearance. What Judai wants isnât really to save a friend, but to stop feeling guilty over that friend. Judai isnât just disgusted by Yubelâs actions towards his friend, he also wants to avoid the guilt he feels over causing all of Yubelâs suffering, because it requires acknowledging the complex reality that he is both victim and perpretrator in this case, just as Yubel is both victim and perpetrator.Â
So how can an arc where Judai doesnât try to save Yubel until the last possible minute, be better than an arc where Deku makes it his goal for the final act of the manga to save the crying boy in Shigaraki?Â
Itâs because the story does not let Judai get away with his continual refusal to empathize with Yubel. Yubelâs entire character revolves around empathy, in the form of sharing pain. As a duel monster, Yubelâs effect is that they are a 0/0 attack monster who is immune to all damage, but when you attack them they deal all the damage back to you. Which means that Yubel will respond to all the pain they feel, by causing you just as much pain in return. Yubel is not a character who can be defeated in a fight, or a duel. In fact theyâre the only Yu-Gi-Oh villain who never loses a duel once. The most Judai can do is duel them to a draw, and they draw three times. Yubel wins against everyone else who challenges them. In a way Yubel is like Shigaraki, the ultimate, unkillable enemy that canât be done away with violence. Judaiâs refusal to empathize with Yubel or attempt communication also makes them worse, every time Yubel is hurt they escalate. THe more Judai hurts them, the more they will hurt in return, itâs a cycle that will never be broken simply by killing Yubel, because Yubel is unkillable.Â
Not only that but the story has gone to great lengths to show that saving Yubel is the correct course of action. If Judai doesnât save Yubel, heâs basically spitting on the selflessness Jim showed in saving him. In fact if he doesnât save Yubel, Judai is contradicting his own words on what makes a good friend. Sho once asks Judai after witnessing his brother change, what he should do if a person you lov ehas changed into an entirely different person. What if they're a person you don't even recognize any more? A person you donât even necessarily like anymore?Â
That's why if it were me. I'd probably just be looking after him until the very end, even if I didn't like him. I'd do it cause I think it'd prove that I care about him.
Judai doesn't even say that Sho is obligated to save his brother or morally redeem him, just that he has to keep looking at him instead of turning away or ignoring him.
Judai is being a bad friend, by his own definition. By choosing to deliberately look away from Yubel, Judaiâs not living up to his advice for Sho for how you treat people you care about.Â
Which is why the resolution for Judai and Yubelâs arc is so important, because itâs done by Judai finally acknowledging Yubelâs pain, and promising to watch over them from now on, words that are followed by the action of physically fusing their souls together so theyâll never be alone again. Judai doesnât just say pretty words about how they wonât ignore the crying child inside of Yubel, but instead he makes a sacrifice to save Yubel at risk to themselves to show their words are backed up by actions. Judai says Yubel will never be alone again, and then he commits.Â
"And even if that means I won't exist anymore... I don't care."
Judai has resolved his character arc by this action, because Judai is finally taking on responsibility and that responsibility is watching over Yubel, so the two of them can atone together. Judai even says himself this isnât an act of sacrifice on his part, but rather him finally accepting adult responsibilities.Â
Judai: I wouldn't sacrifice myself for you guys. I'm just going on a journey to grow from a kid into a man.
Judai needed to save Yubel to complete his character arc and grow as a person. If Judai hadnât saved Yubel, he would have still remained an ignorant child. By learning not to turn a blind eye to Yubelâs pain, and also smacking sacrifices and physically doing something to atone for the way they ignored Yubel up until this point theyâve not only saved Yubel theyâve also done something to address their wrongs. This also continues into the fourth season where Judaiâs personal growth results in him learning what kind of hero he wants to be as in Season 4 in order to atone for the spirits that Judai slaughtered, he decides to leave his friends behind and walk the earth with Yubel helping spirits and humans get along with each other. In fact Judaiâs final speech as a character isnât even about how strong he is as a hero, but how weak he is as a person.
And I put my friends through some rough times. Form that, I figured a few things out... all I can do is believe in them.
The lesson Judai learned is because heâs weak, he needs to empathize and believe in other people the same way that his friends once believed in him when he was at his lowest point. Judaiâs not the strongest hero, heâs the weakest one, but that gives him the ability to empathize with people who were lost just like he was, and guide them back from the darkness.Â
The story of how Deku became the worst hero.
Iâm going to say this right now it might turn out next week that Shigaraki is just fine, and heâll use the overhaul quirk to reconstruct his body. However, even if that happens Deku has completely failed at his goal of saving Shigaraki for the reasons Iâll illustrate below. In theory, Dekuâs arc of saving Shigaraki, and therefore winning by saving should be much easier for the story to accomplish and also much less frustrating to watch. After all, Shigaraki has been around since the beginning of the manga, heâs literally the first villain that Deku faces. Heâs also the first villain that Deku talks to, where he brings up the idea that there were some people All Might failed to save. Thereâs also many intentional parallels between the two characters, the entire manga is about their parallel journeys of becoming the next generation hero and the next generation villain. Shigaraki even directly quotes the line at one point that all he wanted was for someone in his house to tell him he could still be a hero, the same line Deku said in the first chapter was that he wanted his mom to tell him to be a hero instead of apoalogizing to him for being quirkless.Â
Not only is the setup for Shigaraki and Deku made obvious (Deku can redeem Shigaraki by telling him that he can still be a hero too), but Deku himself states out loud that he wants to save the crying child inside of Shigaraki.Â
Judai runs away from Yubel the whole time, whereas Deku is running towards Shigaraki and actively makes it his goal to understand Shigaraki and continue to see him as a human being rather than a villain. The story also makes it clear that saving Shigaraki is necessary to saving hero society as a whole. After all Yubel is just Judaiâs victim. Whereas Shigaraki is the victim of all of society. Heâs the crying child who was ignored. The cycle wonât be broken if heroes continue choosing to ignore people like Shigaraki, because more victims will grow up to replace him.Â
Shigaraki: Everything I've witnessed, this whole system you've built has always rejected me. Now I'm ready to reject it. That's why I destroy. That's why I took this power formyself? Simple enough, yeah? I don't care if you don't understand. That's what makes us heroes and villains.
Shigaraki rejects the world because the world continues to reject him. THe solution to this problem is not rejecting Shigaraki, because Shigaraki wonât go away, the system will just continue to reject people like Shigaraki. As long as heroes and villains donât understand each other, theyâll keep being forced to fight and the conflict wonât end, because hero society is what engineers itâs own villains.
clear as day by the story itself. If the objective of saving Shigaraki is clear, then how exactly did the story fail in this objective? What went wrong? In this case itâs a failure of framing, and breaking the rules of âshow donât tell.â Stories are all about actions and consequences. When a character makes a certain action in a story, the way other characters around them, the world, and whatever consequences that action frames that action in a certain light. It provides context for how we are supposed to interpret that character in that moment.Â
For example, when a character does something wrong and another character directly confronts them over what they did wrong, that frames them as in the wrong. The story is criticizing the character for what they did wrong. Context is everything in a story. Stories are just ideas, so they require framing and context to communicate those ideas for the audience. Certain character attributes can be strengths or flaws depending on the context. My go to example is that if you put Othello in Hamlet, the conflict would be resolved in five seconds because Othelloâs straightforward personality and determination would have him kill Hamletâs uncle without questioning things. Whereas, Hamlet constantly questioning and second guessing himself would lead to the worst ending possible. However, if you put Hamlet in Othello, then Hamlet wouldnât fall prey to Iagoâs manipulations, because Othello doubts and questions everything so he wouldnât believe Iago the way Othello did.Â
Hamletâs contemplative and introverted nature can be a strength in one situation, and a flaw in another. Othelloâs tendency to act without thinking things through can be a strength in one situation, and a flaw in another. Context matters, because context tells you how youâre supposed to interpret a certain characters actions, and therefore tells you more about that character. This is why people repeat âShow donât tellâ as the golden rule of storytelling, itâs one thing to say something about a character, itâs another to us the characters actions in the story itself to show them something about the character.Â
Whatâs even worse then breaking the rules of show donât tell however, is telling the audience one thing, and then going onto show in the narrative something completely different. In that case the narrative becomes muddled and confusing to read. If I the narrator say âHamlet is someone who overthinks everythingâ and then in the story Hamlet walks up to his uncle and kills him with no hesitation, then the narrator is straight up unreliable. It becomes impossible to tell as an author what message Iâm trying to get across about these characters, because Iâm telling you one thing and showing another.Â
This is why the writing fails in the second half of My Hero Academia because we are constantly told one thing, but then the story shows something entirely different and sometimes even contradictory to the thing we are being told.Â
Judai is a much worse hero than Deku, he always runs away from Yubel, and weâre never directly told that heâs supposed to save Yubel either. However, the narrative is incredibly consistent. Judaiâs behavior of running away is consistent with his character. All the other character call Judai selfish for abandoning his friends (and theyâre not even talking about Yubel). Judai is never painted in any positive light for his actions, therefore we as the audience understand Judaiâs behavior is wrong and he needs to fix it. The narrative makes it clear that Judai needs to grow up, and Judai is never rewarded for his refusal to grow up, heâs ruthlessly chewed out, not by his enemies but also by his own friends. However, the narrative isnât merciless on him either. Season 3 of GX is dark, but itâs not grimdark. Even when Judai loses his way, heâs still shown love and compassion by those same friends who go to great lengths for his sake. The narrative criticize Judai but it never insists that heâs beyond redemption and needs to be put down like a mad dog.Â
The message is very clear, that not only does Judai need to grow up, but he also deserves the chance to grow and change, which is why he should give Yubel a similar chance. In comparison the story sets out this clear narrative arc for Deku of understanding Shigaraki, but it never challenges him for failing to understand Shigaraki. If you listen to what the narrative says, how other characters describe Deku, and what Deku himself says and only read it on a surface level then yes, Dekuâs goal is to save Shigaraki. If you analyze actions however, he is in effect just like Judai he never takes any meaningful action or steps towards Shigaraki, nor does he think of what saving Shigaraki might look like or entail.Â
The story describes Deku as someone who is possessed by a drive to save others that eclipses all common understanding, but does the story give us any examples of that behavior?
Judai is characterized as a selfish, irresponsible child, and the story gives us countless examples of his immaturity and how it hurts others. Does the story of MHA do the same for Deku's purported virtues? Letâs run through Dekuâs actions, step by step, the actions themselves and how they are framed in order to find any evidence that Deku possesses this drive to save others. Does Deku reflect at all on the question of:
Can Shigaraki be Saved?
Deku leaves on a journey to try to understand villains. When he makes a perfunctory attempt to understand and empathize with Muscle, and Muscle replies that some people are just evil does Deku keep trying to reach his heart? Nope, he just punches him.Â
Well, if heâs failed in his goal of understanding a villain then does the story call him out on his failure? Does Deku face any sort of narrative consequence for that failure? Is he framed negatively for failing to understand Muscle, the same way that Judai is framed for abandoning Yubel? Nope. Deku doesnât express any frustration at all over is inability to reason with Muscle. Thereâs also no negative consequence for Deku just choosing to punch muscle, it turns out that there was no reasoning with Muscle and some people are just bad eggs so Deku was right. Itâs okay for characters to fail, but if a character fails and itâs not framed by the story as a failure then the writing itself as failed. Why even bother to include this scene in the first place if it doesnât advance Dekuâs character in any way? This scene in spite of showing Deku failing to understand someone actively paints Deku in a positive light, because of how much stronger he is ow that he can OHKO a guy that gave him trouble all the way back in the camp arc.
This scene doesnât tell anything about Deku as a character, it just makes him look cool. In fact thatâs precisely the problem, Deku isnât adequately challenged as a character, because heâs never allowed to fail. Even when he does obviously fail at the things the narrative set out for him to do, heâs never challenged on those failures, because the priority isnât to make Deku grow, itâs to make Deku look good. As I said before, Judai is the hero because heâs the weakest. Deku is the hero because heâs the strongest. Well, next a big flaw on Dekuâs part is that he worshippd the same heroes that were making the world corrupt. Heroes like Endeavor who created people like Dabi. So, does Deku take action to either criticize the older generation of heroes, or separate himself from them in order to try to be better than them? Nope, he teams up with them. Not only that, Deku canât do something as simple as tell Gran Torino out loud about his plans to save Shigaraki. If Deku feels that Shigaraki is worthy of salvation then he should at least try to make an argument here about his ideal of saving others.
Now hereâs the thing, if Deku hadnât directly looked at the camera and told us he wanted to save Shgiaraki, would we be able to deduce his intentions from his actions? If you took away all of Dekuâs internal monologue, and just showed him punching Muscular and saying nothing when Gran Torino says he may have no choice but to kill Shigaraki would anything about Dekuâs actions indicate that he wants to save Shigaraki? Let me use avatar the last airbender as a positive example for a moment. People say that Aangâs desire to spare Ozaiâs life comes out of left field, but like if you analyze Aang as a character down to their bending, and the way they react in situations they always prefer de-escalation, or taking a third option as opposed to confronting things head on. Itâs literally why Toph says Aang has trouble learning earth bending, because as an airbender, he always tries to look for some other way to solve the problem, instead of a direct confrontation with force. As early as season one, Aang tells Zuko someone who has tried to kill him several times that he was friends with someone from the fire nation one hundred years ago and in a different situation they could be friends. Aangâs desire to save the Firelord may not have been told to us until the last possible minute, but Aangâs aversion to violence has always been a part of his character from the beginning. However, Deku never shows any similar aversion to violence. Thereâs basically no example where he ever tries to de-escalate a situation, or he avoids a conflict by seeking a third option.Â
Anyway, letâs move onto the next example. In the confrontation where Lady Nagant fights Deku, when Deku learns the fact that the heroes were employing government hitmen to attack people for uhh⌠exercising free speech does Deku give any reaction to this information? When Lady Nagant says that Deku is only going to bring back the status quo, does he show her any meaningful evidence that he wonât do that.
Dekuâs response is because the world is so grey, he needs to extend a helping hand to others. Which you know what thay could be a response. Deku saying that his response to the corruption of the hero world is that he now understands that society led some people down the wrong path, so his way of addressing the wrongs of that society is lending a helping hand to as many people as possible even people he used to think was irredeemable.Â
I will give Deku the benefit of the doubt, I think this is an acceptable answer. I canât save everyone, but thatâs not going to stop me from trying to save as many people as possible and maybe I can save people who were this societyâs victims on the way too. However, does Deku demonstrate his resolve to extend a helping hand in any meaningful way.Â
Deku is met with an armless, insane Overhaul whoâs begging for someone to help heal his father figure in the Yakuza from his coma. This isnât like Muscular who insists that thereâs no helping him, Deku is met face by face with someone asking him for help. Dekuâs gotta extend a helping arm whenever he can, because he knows some people were abandoned and led astray by this society⌠Unless that person is someone he doesnât like personally. At which point he only helps them on a conditional basis. We are told Deku will save anyone and everyone, but Deku is met face to face with an armless man who is begging for help and Dekuâs does nothing to help him. Dekuâs not criticized for refusing to help overhaul either, itâs never brought up again. When Deku begins to experience a mental breakdown because of all the people heâs trying to help in the Dark Deku arc, we are told this is the result of Deku trying to save everyone, but we do not see Deku attempting to save a single villain after Muscular and Nagant.Â
He exhausts himself beating up villains that AFO sends after him, and only helping innocent civilians. Which would be fine if this arc were about how Deku is running away from his real responsibilities the same way that Judai was running, but thatâs not what weâre being told. We are told that this is all part of an arc of Deku learning to understand villains and be a hero.
Deku is asked âCan you save Shigaraki?â by the story, but Deku never at any point has to deliberate on that question. Judai doesnât deliberate on that question either, but him choosing not to think about things and stay ignorant is the point.Â
Itâs actually fine to make Deku stagnate as a character. Itâs fine to have him take the easy way out by just punching villains and giving up on them after one conversation. Itâs fine for him to be empathetic to other peopleâs suffering, or even self-righteous. Itâs fine for him to be ignorant.Â
He could be all of those things if it was a part of a narrative teaching him to unlearn his behavior. In fact the narrative might have been better if Deku started out by saying he didnât want to save Shigaraki, that there was no choice but to kill him, because then at least his actions would be consistent with his words. Then his lack of empathy and his tendency to resort to violently beating up villains instead of avoiding violence would be character flaws he could work on. Deku however, is presented to us as this empathic hero who is always willing to give others a second chance though he never actually sticks his neck out in order to do so. Continuing on with our slow crawl through MHA, one of Dekuâs friends is revealed as the traitor. Deku has a heartwarming scene fo saying that Aoyama can still be a hero, but look at his actions. He lets the adults in the room physically tie Aoyama in a straightjacket and imprison him, for the crime of⌠doing bad things while he was in a hostage situation. Apparently, if a bank teller helps the bank robber by giving them money when the robber has a gun to his head, the swat team should just snipe the bank teller. Not only does he not defend Aoyama against the adults, or stand up for him, or tell the adults theyâre wrong to treat Aoyama a clear cut victim who had a gun to his head and was bing held hostage like heâs a villain - he also lets the adults use Aoyama an innocent victim as bait in order to lure out AFO. Deku tells Aoyama he can still be a hero, but he doesnât defend Aoyama as a victim of being taken hostage, nor does he stop the adults from further taking advantage of him and throwing him right into danger. Some people are just led the wrong way thatâs why they need to be extended a helping hand, but fuck Aoyama I guess. He needs to earn the right to be sympathized with by physically putting his life in danger.Â
Deku canât even go out of his way to save a friend who heâs known for the better part of a year, when that friend is a complex victim forced to do bad things.Â
Then Deku and Uraraka have a conversation where they both, kind of ruminate on the idea that maybe the villains are human beings who are worthy of sympathy.
In fact Uraraka is actively trying to dehumanize Toga by looking at the destroyed city, so she won't have to think of Togaas a person.
The language here is also a major fault of this arc. It focuses far too hard on âforgivenessâ over and over again. As I said before, saving Shigaraki isnât about Shigaraki at all, itâs about Deku, and how he wants to use his power as a hero. Deku has even stated himself that he doesnât believe that OFA is a power that should be used for killing people. So why does whether Toga or Shigaraki are forgivable or not even matter? Itâs the same with Deku refusing Overhaul any sympathy. If heâs so morally opposed to abusers, then why does he work with Endeavor and defend him at every visible opportunity, even in front of his victims? Whether or not Deku can forgive Shigaraki doesnât matter, because Deku is not the moral arbitrator or right and wrong. In fact Deku doesnât even have any morals, so how is this a moral debate? Is there any point where Deku gives a clear definition of what he thinks right and wrong is? Does he quot Immanuel Kant to the audience?Â
Batman doesnât kill people, not because he thinks that every last person on earth can be saved, but because Bruce Wayne an incredibly rich white man thinks that maybe he shouldnât have the authority to decide who lives and who dies. When Bruce doesnât kill the joker, it doesnât mean he thinks the Jokers actions are forgivable, itâs because Bruce thinks itâs not his place to determine whether someone has the right to live.Â
The whole conflict that MHA presents us is that heroes pick and choose who to save, and only save the ones they deem as innocent. So, how does Deku saying repeatedly they canât forgive Shigaraki contribute to that theme in any way? In fact by focusing on forgiveness, rather than whether or not he personally has the right to pick and choose who lives and who dies Deku is ignoring the elephant in the room. The question isnât about whether Shigarakiâs redeemable or if his deeds should ever be forgiven. The question is whether Deku has the right to decide who gets saved and who doesnât.Â
We are told that Deku as a character is someone who wants to save everyone no matter what, so Deku shouldnât be focusing on whether or not Shigaraki is worthy of forgiveness, he should be making an idealistic argument like Xavier does in this panel. Why doesnât Deku talk out loud with Uraraka on how he believes his power is for saving others, and not killing? If heâs meant to represent some idealistic hero, then why doesnât he even talk about his ideals? Why donât I as the reader know what those ideals are?
I think Xavierâs ideals of forcing the X-men to provide a good example to the mutant community, in order to try to earn the respect of other human beings is wrong, but at least he has ideals. He tries to inspire the other people around him to live up to those ideals. The story can criticize him for his ideals and point out how theyâre wrong, while it can also uplift parts of his idelogy like where he believes there are no evil mutants. Deku has a chance to do the same to Uraraka, to tell her clearly, âI donât think we as heroes have the right to pick and choose who we helpâŚ?â but he waffles. Not only does he waffle, but this moment is meant to be read as an indication that both Deku and Uraraka are sympathetic individuals who want to save their villains. They are supposed to look good and idealistic here and they donât. For Deku it just seems like a repeat of his behavior with Overhaul. The only villains that are worthy of sympathy, are the ones that he personally decides are forgivable.Â
The story isnât about whether or not itâs moral to save someone whoâs killed as many as Shigaraki has. The story never seriously discusses any sort of complex morality or moral philosophy. Once again to bring up avatar, yes you can argue Aang sparing the life of a war crimminal is bad, but Aang mentions on multiple occasions that he wants to retain the cultural values of the airbending people. Aang has a morality, a consistent morality, it might not be a morality you personally agree with but at least he has one. Deku hates abusers, unless heâs next to Endeavor then he thinks abusers should be given the chance to atone. Deku doesnât believe that One for All is a power for killing, but he never stands up to any of the adults who are blatantly trying to kill Shigaraki, he doesnât even express out loud to Uraraka that he doesnât think heroes have the right to decide who lives and who dies. In fact heâs given the perfect opportunity to, when Hawks kills a villain and itâs broadcast live on the news in font of everyone, but Deku never has anything to say about that. The reason Deku and Uraraka both put such an emphasis on âforgivingâ their villains has nothing to do with the story itself. Itâs because the author Horikoshi, is afraid that some people will misinterpret his story as saying that he actually thinks that saving a villain like Shigaraki means that he condones mass murder, so he has to have the characters talk about not forgiving Shigaraki.Â
Judai doesnât have any consistent morals either, but once again thatâs the point and something the story relentlessly calls him out on.
Cobra: Fortune would never smile on a fool like you who fights while prattling on about enjoying duels. Cobra: You are certainly a talented duelist. But you have one fatal flaw. Judai: A fatal flaw? Cobra: Yes, your duels are superficial. Someone who fights with nothing on his shoulders, cannot recover once he loses his enjoyment. What a duelist carries on his shoulders will become the power that supports him when he's up against the wall! Cobra: But you have nothing like that! Those who go through life without anything like that cannot possibly seize victory. Cobra: But I know that nothing I say will resonate with you... because you have nothing to lose but the match. Judai: I... Cobra: Afraid aren't you? Right now, you have nothing to support you.Â
Judaiâs regularly called out for his superficiality. Judai is only a hero because heâs strong and wins fight, he doesnât feel any responsibility towards other people, and in fact he loathes having to feel responsible for others. Judai isnât just naive, he deliberately chooses to remain ignorant. Since heâs ignorant of his own faults, he makes awful decisions when it comes time for him to lead, and his friends die because of choices he made. We are told that Deku doesnât want to remain ignorant, that he wants to understand villains, but Dekuâs actual actions are him continuing to ignore societyâs ills and the suffering of victims. In fact if you take away Dekuâs internal monologue and the narration, Dekuâs actions almost exactly mirror Judaiâs.
Deku is just as superficial as Judai, and he also doesn't want to spend any time thinking about what kind of hero he wants to be, but the narrative never punishes him for it.
Judai is asked what burdens he has to bear and he has to meaningfull answer that question, Deku is allowed to get away with not having to think about anything. Deku remains superficial. Both Judai and Deku spend the entire arc running away from their villain rather than confronting them in any meaningful way. They both never express out loud any sympathy for their villain, or try to empathize. THey both never step down from the role of hero, and only confront their villain as a hero, because they donât want to think about themselves as complicit or in the wrong. Shigaraki and Dekuâs final confrontation mirrors Judai and Yubelâs but without the same clear framing. THe entire time Yubel is trying to get Judai to empathize with them, and Judai only responds with physical violence, because they donât want to stop being the hero and because they canât see Yubel as anything other than the villain. As soon as Deku arrives on the battlefield (by the way everyone else and their mom pointed this out, but Deku who doesnât think OFA is a power for killing, is completely okay with a plan called the âSky coffin planâ where every other hero was clearly trying to murder Shigaraki).
When Deku arrives he asks if Shigaraki is still in there, but he doesnât do anything to try to reach Shigaraki, he jumps right to punching him. In fact he never tries anything besides punching him as hard as possible. How is punching Shigaraki with the force of a thousand suns saving him exactly? How is that different from how he tried to defeat Shigaraki the last war arc, before he saw the image of the crying child that made him want to try a different approach in saving Shigaraki? In Judaiâs final fight with Yubel, itâs made explicitly clear that Judai is not trying to save Yubel, and thatâs a fault on his part. In fact Judai gives the traditional âI have friends, and you donâtâ speech to Yubel but itâs a subversion of how that speech is usually used. Usually that speech is used to show that the protagonist won because of they valued friendship,while the villain treated their friends poorly and only cared about power. However, itâs ironic in this case because Judai got all of his friends killed. Judai treats his friends like garbage. This speech isnât used to show that Judai is winning because he values his friends more than Yubel does, it shows that Judai is a hypocrite, playing the hero in this situation where they are just as bad as Yubel. Judaiâs not morally superior, heâs just lucky that he has good friends. Friends that were willing to save him. The only connection Yubel has to anyone else, Yubelâs only friend is Judai and Judai is a shit friend.Â
In fact, Mirio tries to give a version of the âYou donât have any friendsâ speech to Shigarkai, only for Shigaraki to get mad and tell Mirio that he does have friends and people he wants to protect.Â
This fact is also something that is blatantly ignored by Deku, even though Mirio tells him about it⌠even though we are told that Deku is trying his best to see the humanity in Shigaraki.Â
Judai blatantly admits theyâre trying to kill Yubel. Which makes them a worse person, but a better character than Deku, because their actions are clearly framed by the narrative and consistent.Â
On the other hand we are told that Deku doesnât want to kill Shigaraki, and yet everything Deku does makes it look like heâs just trying to kill Shigaraki and put him out of its misery. If we didnât have Deku stating out loud that he wants to save Shigaraki and wants to see him as a human, thereâd be nothing in his actions to indicate that heâs trying to avoid killing Shigaraki. Deku says he canât pretend he didnât see Shigaraki crying, but like, does he ever hesitate to punch Shigaraki, does he ever think that causing Shigaraki more harm is wrong when heâs already suffered so much? Deku says that Shigaraki is a person but does he treat him like a person? Does he try to talk to him like a person? To use avatar again, Aang does talk to Zuko pretty early on. Deku doesnât even give the classic âWe could have been friends under different circumstancesâ speech. When Shigaraki resists Dekuâs attempts to see him as a person or emapthize with him, Dekuâs response is to just resort to punching harder.Â
Which is in effect the same thing Judai does to Yubel, just kill them as a villain so they donât hurt anybody else, but framed in an entirely different light. Judai is shown to be ruthless, and cold in his attempt to only settle the conflict with Yubel by violently putting them down. On the other hand weâre being told that Deku is compassionate and empathic while he punches Shigaraki with the force of a thousand suns.Â
Thereâs another eerie similarity between both of these final confrontations. At the climax of the confrontation, both Judai and Deku have a psychic vision where they see events from Yubel and Shigarakiâs childhood. This vision is supposed to help both characters understand the good in the villain theyâre facing.
Letâs see the contents of this vision and how the visions change each character. Judai is shown a vision of his past life where Yubel sacrifices their entire body, and even their humanity to go through painful surgery to turn into an ugly dragon, all for the sake of protecting Judai in a previous life.Â
Judai is then forced to witness the good side of Yubel theyâve been ignoring all along to paint them as a villain. Yubel is simultaneously extremely selfish and willing to hurt people Judai cares about, but theyâre also extremely selfless and will do anything to protect Judai and have made great sacrifices in the past for Judaiâs sake. Deku gives lip service to not ignoring the humanity in Shigaraki, but Judai is literally forced to acknowledge the humanity in Yubel. Not only that, but Judai changes his behavior immediately after learning this new information. After seing the sacrifice that Yubel made for him in the past, Judai responds with a sacrifice of his own. A sacrifice that perfectly mirrors the sacrifice that Yubel once made for him. Yubel gave up their humanity for Judai, so Judai fuses his spirit to Yubelâs, becoming a human / spirit hybrid so Yubel no longer has to be alone.Â
Judai also doesnât just fuse their soul with Yubelâs in order to stop Yubel from destroying everything, itâs because both of them at this point need to atone together, and Judai is fulfilling his responsibility of watching over his friend until the end to prove that you care about them - as he said to Sho. Judaiâs also fulfilling Johanâs dream of helping repair the bonds between spirits and humans, by reconciling with Yubel and repairing their bond. Itâs also Judai atoning for his previous behavior of abandoning Yubel, by choosing to stay alongside them as they both atone together. Deku does sacrifice OFA during the fight against Shigaraki, but their sacrifice isnât to help Shigaraki, but rather doing psychic damage to Shigaraki by using OFA is the only way to defeat them. He transfers OFA in order to break Shigarakiâs brain so heâll stop reissting and Deku can beat him down. Judai fuses their soul together with Yubel out of empathy and a responsibility they feel to help their friend fater abandoning them, Deku transfers One for All to Shigaraki in order to hurt him and make him easier to punch. It's funny that Deku doesn't travel to Shigaraki's mind to learn more about him, but instead with the specific intent of harming him.
Once he's inside Shigaraki's mind, he doesn't take time to reflect on how Shigaraki used to stand up for bullied kids, or how he wants to be a hero to villains because no one else will stick up for the outcasts in society. No, he only care about Shigaraki when he takes the form of a child crying for help.
In the aftermath of the psychic vision Dekuâs behavior doesnât change towards Shigaraki in any way either. You could say he sacrificed his own arms in order to try to comfort Shigaraki within the depths of his own mind - but thatâs not a real sacrifice either because his arms immediately come back. When Judai learns about the sacrifice that Yubel made in a previous life towards him, he stops seeing Yubel as an enemy and finds a way to resolve things peacefully between them. When Deku lanterns that Shigarakiâs a victim of All for One, and that his entire life was a lie, when he sees Shigarakiâs suffering first hand does his beavior twoards Shigaraki change in any way?Â
When he sees Afo has taken over Shigarakiâs body again, does he try to shout for Shigaraki, to tell Shigaraki to fight from the inside, to reassure Shigaraki that heâs still in there that thereâs still good in him? Nope. He just punches Shigaraki some more.
What Deku needed to tell Shigaraki is so obviously set up by the narrative too. Shigaraki wanted just one person in that house to tell him he could be a hero. Deku wanted his mother to tell him he could be a hero if he was quirkless. Deku sees that Shigaraki started out as a boy who wanted to be a hero, and who was manipulated into being a villain but does he try to appeal to the boy inside of Shigaraki by telling him he can still be a hero? Does he now see the good in Shigaraki? Nope, he just tries to kill him by punching him really hard.Â
I purposefully chose the images for the banner of this post, because it shows how differently MHA and GX treated its villains in the end. Yubel is embraced by Judai in the end, Shigaraki evaporates into dust.
"Judai, now that our souls have become one we will never be separated again. I have now been filled with your love and power. Let us fight together, against the wave of light leading this universe to destruction!"
Shigaraki could so easily have been given the love and empathy that Yubel was shown, but instead their life ends with no show of empathy from Deku, and with them dying believing that their long life of tragedy meant nothing in the end. Shigaraki realizes he's a crying kid, but he's never comforted.
Shigaraki: I only stole my body back from Master, and I didn't destroy anything. "In the end, I was just as you said... A crying kid, huh?"
Yubel is embraced and comforted, Shigaraki disintegrates into nothing.
One of these stories is apparently an optimistic story about heroes saving people, but it ends with the lifelong victim being killed in the most nihilistic manner possible, never receiving comfort, and never achieving anything with his long life.
The other story is a silly anime about card games, shows that when people are alone and suffering they can lash out and do terrible things. That all people are weak especially when they're alone, but the solution isn't to abandon them, or condemn them for their faults, but to believe in them and help uplift them the same way that Judai decides to uplift Yubel so they can atone together.
Which is why Deku gets an F in being a hero. Go directly to summer school. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $100.Â
#mha meta#ygo meta#mha 423#bnha 423#mha 423 spoilers#bnha 423 spoilers#izuku midoriya#deku#shigaraki tomura#tenko shimura#judai yuki#yubel#soulshipping#yu gi oh gx#yu gi oh
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You Flinch During an Argument -Bakugo Katsuki
I finished this yesterday but forced myself to wait to post it due to my one part a day pattern I've had going on.
Anyways~ as I said in Shoto's part, I did make this one a bit angstier, but I hope I didn't stray too far away from the original prompt :'). It's kinda bittersweet lol but I kinda like it.
Angst to fluff/Comfort | Kinda bittersweet~ | 993 words | female reader
Warnings!: arguing, yelling, being scared of your partner, parents arguing (the kids were not present), kids being left at school (not for very long), caps, excuses, self hatred, and insulting themselves (Bakugo). Please let me know if I miss any <33
Dabi | Hawks | Todoroki Shoto | Bakugo Katsuki | Midoriya Izuku | Shigaraki Tomura | Aizawa Shota | Amajiki Tamaki | Kirishima Eijiro | Shinso Hitoshi
You both had been fighting for at least half an hour, screaming at one another for this and that. It started with Bakugo 'forgetting' to pick up your sons from school, and has now escalated into you screaming at him for not 'caring about this family' and his yelling about how hard he works for your family.
No one was totally to blame, both parties had some points that were right, and some that were wrong. But it should have never reached that point.
~~~
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD I WORK TO PROVIDE FOR THIS FAMILY! I TOLD YOU WHEN YOU BEGGED FOR KIDS THAT I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO HELP OUT MUCH! WHAT ELSE DO YOU EXPECT FROM ME!"
"I UNDERSTAND THAT- BUT YOU'VE HAD THREE DAYS OFF! YOU'RE FULLY RESTED- AND SHOULD'VE PICKED UP THE KIDS NO PROBLEM WHILE I WAS HELPING OUT YOUR MOM!"
"WELL WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO! I FORGOT ABOUT IT, OKAY! AND YOU DIDN'T CALL TO REMIND ME EITHER!"
"I EXPECTED YOU TO HAVE ENOUGH BRAINS TO REMEMBER, BUT I GUESS THAT WAS IDIOTIC OF ME!"
"I HAVE SO MUCH TO DEAL WITH BESIDES THIS BULL CRAP THAT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY! I WORK, YOU TAKE CARE OF THE KIDS!"
"KATSUKI I CANNOT WATCH THE KIDS 24-7 WITHOUT YOUR HELP! I NEED BREAKS TOO! YOU HAVE TWO DAYS OFF A WEEK TO RELAX, AND CATCH UP ON SLEEP! WHILE I HAVE NIGHT TIME, BATHROOM BREAKS, RUNNING ERANDS, AND NAP TIMES TO CATCH A BREAK! I SHOULD BE ABLE TO RELY ON MY HUSBAND TO HELP OUT WHEN HE HAS TIME OFF!"
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WANTED THE KIDS IN THE FIRST PLACE- WHY ARE YOU WHINING TO ME ABOUT HAVING TO TAKE CARE OF 'EM!"
"WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THEY AREN'T YOURS!? WE BOTH AGREED ON DOING THE BEST WE COULD FOR OUR KIDS, AND YOU SAID THAT YOU'D HELP OUT WHENEVER YOU COULD!"
"Y/N IT WAS THIS ONE TIME- I WAS BUSY, I FORGOT!"
"YOU WERE PLAYING GAMES ALL DAY WITH YOUR FRIENDS! THAT IS NOT BUSY!"
Blazing anger filled Bakugo as he stepped towards you, planning on simply getting closer to you to somehow try and make you see his side of things. He didn't mean to forget about picking up his kids, he loves his kids, he was simply engrossed in talking about them to his friends as he gamed, totally forgetting about the time and the fact that they were at school, waiting for someone to pick them up.
In truth, Bakugo felt bad. Really bad. But you wouldn't stop, so he continued, his unwavering pride making it near impossible to simply apologize and leave the argument behind.
Storming towards you, Bakugo stopped dead in his tracks as you flinched from him, eyes holding a certain terror. Wait- did you- did you think he was going to hurt you?!
Apologies and 'are you okay's were caught in Bakugo's throat as he opened his mouth, too terrified to speak.
Y/n.. his y/n was scared..of him. HIs y/n- the person that tore him out of his 'I don't care about anything or anyone' stage. She brought him out of his dark pit of self loathing, hating himself for how weak he was, how he couldn't do anything compared to that idiot Deku. She brought light into his world, she is his light. His first and last love, his wife, his center, his other half, his partner, his reason for life, the mother of his children, his one and only lover, his queen, his everything.
And he scared her.
Screamed at her for something that was his fault.
Treated her so badly that she flinched away from him- terror filling her eyes.
Her gorgeous e/c eyes. The same eyes that his sons had inherited. Now he's brought tears to three sets of those goregous eyes. What a scum bag.
Pain seared through Bakguo as he embraced his y/n, knowing if he left now she would entirely break, thinking that he was giving up on her. On their love. When in reality, he would't be. He would never dream of leaving her, or their beautiful children.
Because no matter how much of an a-hole Bakugo may be, he would never stoop that low. Never. And so he held her, and continued to hold her as she tearfully cussed him out, telling him how much she loved him and how much of an a-hole he was for treating her like that, their kids like that.
He just held her, telling her that he was sorry, that he knew, that he would make it up to her -and their seven year old twins- somehow.
And for now, that was enough. His love, and comfort was enough as you clung to him, insulting him while telling him that you loved his idiotic self in the same sentence, telling him that you loved him too much to not be able to forgive him.
And that if he was serious about making things right, that you would help him.
Because you were Bakugo y/n*. You chose to take his name and become his wife. Bakugo has helped you through so many up and downs, so you would do the same for him. Because he truly loved you, and you truly loved him.
*Japanese last names go in front of the first name to pay respect to the family name, and that's why Kirishima and Bakugo's other classmates call him Bakugo instead of Katsuki -to pay respect to his family name-. So you would be (in Japan anyway) Bakugo y/n (if you choose to take his last name) and strangers/aquaintnesses/not so close friends and co-workers would call you Bakugo instead of y/n. Annd due to me not liking Bakugo a whole lot I call him Bakugo or Baka/Bakuhoe instead of Katuski and call Todoroki and Midoriya, Shoto and Izuku- do you get what I'm saying?? I hope you do <33
Series' masterlist | Bakahoe's Bakugou's masterlist | Main masterlist | Navigation
Reblogs and feedback are greatly appreciated<33
Do not copy, repost, nor plagiarize my work. Ask before you translate or use my work in any way, minus reblogging.
#mha#bnha#mha fanfiction#mha x reader#bnha x reader#mha angst#angst#angst to fluff#mha x reader angst#mha x reader angst to fluff#fluff#mha x reader argument#mha x reader you flinch during an argument#bnha x reader angst#bakugou katsuki#bakugou x reader#bakugo x reader angst#bakugou x reader angst to fluff#bakugo x reader#bakugo x reader angst to fluff#bakugo x reader you flinch during an argument#bakugou x reader you flinch during an argument#dad bakugou#husband bakugo x reader#bakugo x female reader#thehusbandoden
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âYou really took care of us huh?â
âşâ pairings. genshin men x gn! creator! reader
âşâ warnings. nothing that i know of?
âşâ synopsis. albedo created a machine where it would bring back their creator, who was stuck in another world, back to where they belong. but instead of bringing you here to them, it brought them to where you were.
âşâ a/n. OMG IM SO SORRY FOR PUTTING THIS OUT LATER THAN EXPECTED đ instead of writing i was playing a game so thatâs on me, i was also unbelievably tired this week, my fault! but itâs out now đŤśđť
âşâ wordcount. 4.1k
⧠part one | ⧠part two | ⧠part three | ⧠part four | ⧠part five | more tba.. NAVIGATION
recommended to listen to: wave to earth - seasons or only - leehi
You never expected, not even in a million years or like.. in a lifetime for the video game characters coming alive and appearing in your room.
And they were handsome too, like, drop-dead gorgeous and the fact that they all respect and love you⌠You were surely the luckiest person alive right now.
These men also made your bank account cry, the amount of money you had spent on themâpulling for them (and losing many 50/50âs) and their weapon, grinding for hours trying to get their materials to ascend them and for their weapons, artifacts (youâd rather not talk about it) skills and EVERYTHING.
You put more work into making sure theyâre all fully taken care of and put to the best of their ability than compared to your work. It was a bit concerning yes but, this gameâthe characters, weâre so comforting to you than anything else. So of course you poured your whole soul into the game and their characters.
(Also the fact that you also read fanfics about them and now theyâre suddenly in your room does not help with your infatuation with them)
And so this brings you to where you were now, showing off their showcase at 10 in the morning.
âOh wow Y/n! You worked really hard to make us strong.. no wonder why I felt so strong all of the sudden in one day..â
Aether watched in awe and amazement as you showed him his artifacts and his weapons with Venti, Pierro, Diluc, Kaeya, Tighnari and a few others hovering and peeking out from behind your chair, watching as you showed Aetherâs build to everybody.
The rest were in your living room, eating breakfast. You had decided to eat breakfast after showing the people who wanted to know their builds.
For some reason their characters were still in the game despite really being in your world. You would have to ask Albedo about this later.
âWhat about me?â Diluc grumbled, trying his best to ignore the states he got. âWhat? I canât ask Y/n something so simple?â Everybody shook their heads ânoâ.
Smiling, you replied. âOf course! I remember when your skin first came out I was all over it, I made sure to buy it to, did you like it? I think it looked beautiful on you.â
Diluc blushed at your words and nodded his head. âMhm. I loved it, Y/n, thank you.â He stated, smiling warmly down at you.
You began to stroll through your characters until you found Diluc. âThere you areâlook at you! So handsome..â you sighed dreamily before snapping out of your trance and cleared your throat and began to go through his build.
Once you had finished showing Diluc and everybody his showcase, more people wanted to know about theirs and obviously you couldnât say no so thatâs how you ended up showing nearly everybodyâs build and showcasing their skills and whatnot.
âAnd yeah! I did spend a lot of money but it was.. I guess worth it? I mean Iâm glad you guys felt strong and all!â
Tighnari sighed and rested his hand on your desk. âWe are all thankful, but seriously you didnât have to spend all of the days you worked so hard for..â he explained, Diluc agreed with him.
The rest, too, didnât want you to waste your hard work but then again for you to work so hard on and take care of them ignited something inside of them, so they couldnât complain.
Before you could respond, a knock was heard. âCome in!â You shouted, turning around in your chair to see who it was.
Lyney entered the room and smiled at you (ignoring the others) âare you done? Your breakfast may get cold you know..â his gaze wanders off to the guys beside you. âOh, and yours too.â
You could hear the scoffs coming from Diluc and Pierro. âYeah Iâm pretty hungry right now, and was it (Vietnamese) broken rice I smelt?â You asked, getting up from your seat and walking towards Lyney. He nods his head.
âYeah, Aether found the recipe in a book and found the ingredients for it, lucky huh?â
As you smiled at him and began to walk out of your room followed by the others as Lyney cocks his head to the sideâordering them to get a move on and out of your room. âCome on, I bet you all are starving right now!â
Making your way to living room, you found everybody already done with their breakfast, with only a few plates placed on the coffee table for you and the others.
âOuuuuh it looks absolutely delicious? Who cooked it?â You asked, sitting down on a pillow beside Xiao and Wriothesley.
âThoma did with the help of Neuvillette and Childe, surprisingly.â Cyno responded, eyeing Childe from the corner of his eyes.
âHey⌠whatâs that supposed to mean?!â Childe yelled, pouting at Cyno before looking at you, betrayed and defeated.
You shrug your shoulders and began to dig in your food with Diluc, Venti, Pierro and Tighnari mirroring your actions, sitting down and eating their breakfast.
Childe began to make his way towards you and pushed the other men away that were behind you, this obviously annoyed them but before they could yell at him (start world war 3*) he had wrapped his arms around your waist and buried his face in your neck.
âYou donât think I poisoned your food, do you?â He mumbled, even though you couldnât see his face you knew he was pouting.
You shake your head no, not even reacting to his affectionâyou were somewhat used to it. ââCourse not, I donât think you could ever actually.â
Childe smiled on your skin and tightened his grip on you. âMhm. Thanks snookums.â
Everybody cringed (some nearly gagged) at the corny pet name. âSnookums, really? Out of all the petnames.. and itâs not the first time he called them that.â Kaveh whispered to Al-haitham who was obviously disgusted by the pet name.
âMhm, it truly is disgusting..â Al-haitham whispered back, looking away from the ginger.
Childe rolled his eyes at their reactions and continued to hold you in his arms, Xiao holding back his urge to tackle him right there and then but you were in his arms so he couldnât, because if he did you would get harmed and he would rather die than hurt you.
While you were eating your breakfast, you grabbed the remote and began to go through the channelsâanimal documentary, no.. news, yes. Setting down the remote on the table you listened closely to the news.
You werenât the type to listen to the news but today was an exception, because you just felt like it. âWhatâs that?â Ayato asked, eyes ogling at the news reporter in the middle addressing the weather.
âOh-â âhow does she know the weather so precisely?â
âBecause, she is a news reporter, she reports on the weather and gives us all of the latest news about whatever.â
The sounds of them âooohâing and âaahâing could be heard from all around you. With Al-haitham and Dainsleif just giving a small âmhm.â
You spend the next few minutes just eating breakfast and watching them all eye the TV and listen closely to the woman. This was.. interesting to them, they had never experienced this before.
Finally you were done eating breakfast, you were the last one to finish so as you began to wash your dish, you looked back and found Neuvillette behind you.
âOh- god!â Your body jolted as your heart rate spiked up. âYou scared me!â You said, sort of breathless.
Neuvillette sends you an apologetic look and apologies. âIâm so sorry for scaring you like that.. I apologize. I shouldâve told you beforehand..â his brows furrowed, he looked extremely guilty it was eating your heart away. You couldnât just not forgive him!
âItâs really okay Neuvillette! I just got a little scare was all..â you laughed at his scared face and turned back around to wash your dish. âWhat did you want?â
There was silence at first, Neuvillette didnât respond, there seemed to be a nervous and awkward tension between you two.
âNeuvillette..? Did you want something?â You repeated, placing your dish in the dish rack before washing the other utensils, still awaiting his response.
âI-..â Neuvillette pauses, cheeks slightly tinted with red. âI uhm. I wanted to..â all of the sudden Neuvillette suddenly pulls you in a hug from behind, his arms awkwardly wrapped around your waist.
You were caught off guard by his action but you already knew all of them were touch-deprived and or just wanted to be next to you all the time.
âWhatâs the matter?â You asked, letting him embrace you in his warm arms from behind. âWhen I saw Childe hugging you I just.. felt something weird. I wanted to, lord forbid, push him and take his place.â
His words caught you off guard causing you to laugh abruptly and drop the utensils in the sink, a loud "CLUNK!" could be heard. "Oh whoops.. any who uh- Neuvillette are you.." you turn around and raise your brow, smirking up at him.
"Am I what?"
"Are you jealous~" your teasing voice made his heart skip a beat, his eyes focused on you, brows furrowing. "Me? Jealous? I don't know what you mean." Neuvillette sighed, his grip on your waist tightened.
You eyed him and slowly nodded your head. "Mhm.. sure.." Neuvillette peeks his head to the side and spots the utensils still unwashed. "Would you like me to clean the rest? You could go rest and bond with the rest."
Turning your head back around to look at the utensils that laid in the sink. You hummed for a few seconds before respondingâ"why don't we both clean them? You wanted to be with me right?"
Neuvillette nods his head, offering you a smile. You two began to wash the dishes together with Neuvillette standing beside you, after a few minutes all the dishes were on the dish rack, water dripping off down into the sink.
"All done! Now let's go join the others" you excitedly hummed, grabbing a hold of Neuvillette's arm and walking over to where the rest were.
Kazuha smiled and waved his hand at the both of you, once spotting you with Neuvillette. "You're back! What do you want to do now?"
You sit down on the end of the couch and sighed. "I'm not sure.. I do need to clean my house though, its been a while since I last cleaned it." ever since the men appeared in your room your house has.. sort of been trashed.
Not entirely trashed (Thoma, Kazuha, Diluc, Tighnari and Al-haitham kept the house clean) but still, you really needed to do a deep cleanâever since you've bought a house it really has been a hassle to keep everything in place as you were still in college and had to multi-task.
The mention of cleaning your house definenetly perked some heads up. "Cleaning? I can help!" Thoma offers, eyes shining with excitement (yes he loves cleaning and cooking and everything domestic, he IS the male wife).
"Me too!" "me three, I can help as well!" others chimed in as well, Childe stood up and raised his hand. "I will be the biggest help, don't worry Y/n! What's the biggest job I can do?"
Everybody groaned at the ginger's words and shook their heads in disappointment. Giving his words a thought, you hummed and put on your thinking face.
"Hm.. well I would say cleaning every single crevice you know.. the nook and crannies." you replied, smiling at Childe. He immediately grabbed a duster and set off to clean single crevice.
"I'll wipe the surfaces and all." Al-haitham states, getting up and grabbing some wipes before doing his thing.
"I'll organize your clothes Y/n! Oh and ours too"
"I'll go mop the floors."
Soon, you pretty much gave everybody a role to do (or they just gave themselves the role) and they all set off to do their jobs. Honestly, this had to be one of the best days everâyour house was going to be squeaky clean and plus you get to see them doing domestic chores.
"If you guys need any help just ask me okay?" you mentioned, dusting the books on a shelf. A collective "yes ma'am!" could be heard. They were so respectful it made you fold.
After what felt like hours of cleaning (it was, approximately 4 hours of cleaning) you flopped down on the couch along with a few others and heaved a great sight.
"Good job everybody!! the house looks so much cleaner now..." you sighed, chest heaving up and down. You were all tired, apart from Thoma, Tighnari, Al-haitham and Albedo, they still had energy left.
As you got up from the couch to fetch a glass of cold water, you got a fright from seeing Gorou sitting at your feet, looking up at you with puppy-dog eyes.
"Gorou? What's wrong?" you asked, your heart melting at the sight of his ears pressing flat against his head. Gorou stared up at youâhis eyes glistening.
He inches closer to you, his arms wrapping around your legs. "What. Is. He. Doing." Childe whispered to Pantalone, eyeing Gorou with... some disgust. Pantalone shrugs. "Lord knows what."
"Uhm, If I may ask Y/n.. Do you think I did a good job today? For uh.. cleaning the house."
Your brows furrowed in confusion as he asked the question. What does that even have to do with anything.. "Yes, you have, why?" you questioned, watching Gorou lower his gaze to the floor.
Everybody watches as the scene unfolds, they were confused, scared, worried, but more so confused.
"Could I get a head-pat?" Gorou asked quietly, his eyes still focused on the floor, his head lowered as if to invite you to pat your head. Was he asking for a head-pat (some kind of reward) for his hard work?
Nodding your head, you began to pat his head softly, enjoying how soft his hair was, your hands would occasionally caress his ears and my god were they super soft!! Heat rushed to Gorou's cheeks as he realized you had no intention of stopping. Not that he was complaining.
"Gorou.. did you know your hair is very soft? Like, unbelievably soft! I could touch it all day if I could.." you exclaimed, if Gorou allowed you, you would definenetly be running your fingers through his hair furiously because it was just way too soft.
You wondered if the other's hair were soft too, I mean, all of theirs's looks soft, Neuvillette and Ayato's looked soft and silky. You should go look for an excuse to touch their hair soon..
As everybody watched Gorou enjoy his head-pats, they all eyed him with jealousy (if you look closely you can clearly see fume coming out of their ears right now), wishing that they were in his positionâreceiving head-pats from you, what a dream. And they were sure to make it come true.
"Ahem, dearest Y/n, don't you think that I too, did a fantastic job in scrubbing the shower too?" Kaeya sighs dramatically, sliding down and sitting next to you, batting his pretty eyelashes at you.
You turned to face him, pursuing your lips. "Well.. I mean.. yeeeessss..?"
It was a bit confusing after that, Kaeya asked for you to pat his head as well, saying that he "deserved it" (which he did) but then after that the others started to ask for some head-pats too. So in the end you had to give everybody a head-pat, it was very time consuming.
Soon, it was 1 pmâit was time for lunch. Time has gone by so fast with them, you (unfortunately) stop petting Al-haitham's hair and stand up from the couch.
"I'll go make some lunch now okay? Something simple like maybe a sandwich or something, is anyone hungry?"
While a few replied with "I'm hungry" some replied saying that they weren't hungry and would eat a snack of some sort. You began to grab out the ingredients to make a simple grilled cheese sandwich.
You made sure that the men weren't allergic to anything beforehand, you would definenetly not be having beans around Itto at all, while you were busy making everybody sandwiches, Zhongli sat on the chair behind the kitchen counter, watching your every move.
It was sort of uncomfortable, yes, but you didn't really mind at all. You were used to their curious stares after all.
"Zhongli, would you like to be the first one to try it out? I want to see if I need to add anything or fix anything up."
This wasn't your first time making sandwiches but still, you were positive they weren't used to your (earth) sandwiches so why not make Zhongli your taste-tester?
Zhongli nods his head, giving you a warm smile in the process and god was he so handsome. "Of course, It would be an honor to be the first to taste your sandwich." and with that you placed the plate â with the grilled cheese sandwich on it â on the counter, waiting for Zhongli to take his first bite and his opinions on it.
As Zhongli grabs the sandwich and takes the first bite, munching on it. You weren't nervous at all, watching him eat your sandwich. Okay that was a lie you were totally nervous. I mean making a grilled cheese sandwich? Nothing big! But the fact that Zhongli, a handsome, fine, fancy man is sitting right across from you and eating your sandwich is!!!
Studying his face got you nowhere. His face was as always, nonchalant and somewhat still, after swallowing, he looked up and set his gaze on your face.
"It's... amazing! I've never had anything like this before, a simple grilled cheese sandwich I've had but to have it made from you and in your household, in your world, makes it all the better. The taste is also immaculate, truly other worldly. Quite literally."
You crack a smile at his joke at the end and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god.. so it's okay, thanks Zhongli!" you thanked him before going back to making some more before finally setting them all down on the kitchen table, counter, and coffee tables (and some other places as well since those all of them can't fit in three spots).
Tighnari had noticed that you had a couple of plants in your home, they were.. not in the best condition, he had to say. But that was no problem! He could help you raise and take care of them.
"Say, Y/n. Please do not take any offense to this whatsoever but do you take care of your plants?"
The question was out of the blue, yes, and it did catch you off-guard for sure. "Oh- uh, my plants? Well the truth is I haven't really been taking care of them.. I mean I would love to but I'm very forgetful." You explained while smiling sheepishly, it was embarrassing after all.
Tighnari nods at your response and offers you help to which you obviously agree to! I mean who wouldn't? He would take care and nurture your dying plants? Deal!
Everybody began to eat lunch as for the ones who weren't hungry just lounged in your room, Al-haitham read a historical book that you haven't even finished reading (you only bought it because of you thought the cover was really vintage), Pierro stood in front of your window, staring out to the view of the skyscrapers and buildings. Albedo and Cyno were sitting on your bed in silence, waiting for you to finish eating and come back.
"What a total weirdo.." Cyno whispers to Albedo, eyeing the tall, old (and stinky, that's what they call him) fatui. Albedo simply glances at Pierro and looks back at Cyno, confused. "How so? I think it's totally normal to gaze out of the window, don't you think? I mean, the view is absolutely fantastic out there.. so many things we've never seen and don't you agree that the flowers that bloom down near the window looks absolutely-"
Cyno groaned as Albedo ranted on and on, what Albedo was trying to say was basically, staring out the window was "normal". But of course, he couldn't be rude about it so he had to painfully listen to Albedo spitting out nonsense.
Finally, you (along with others) finished your food and washed your dish before walking into your room, leaving everybody else who was still not done (Heizou, Kaveh and surprisingly, Tighnari, are slow eaters).
"You're done eating? What do you want to do now?" Pierro asked, his voice rumbling deeply that it gave Cyno a spook, it gave him the hibbie jibbies. Humming, you thought about your answer but concluded that you wanted to do nothing but sleep.
"Eh, not really. I do want to get a nap in though, I'm sort of tired." You yawned, flopping down onto your bed between Cyno and Albedo. "Would you want us to leave and let you sleep in peace or..?" Pierro asked once again, his face scanning yours.
You shake your head, covering your body in your sheets and curling into a ball. "I'm okay with you guys here don't worry. Pierro could you close the blinds please?"
Pierro nods and closes the blinds at your command, the room now dimly lit. Soon your heavy eyelids take over, but not before the sound of the door clicking open and then followed by Childe complaining about you leaving him.
The obvious sounds of groaning and complaints about Childe could be heard too (Itto was complaining REALLY loudly.), Cyno shushes everybody entering your room, pointing at your trying-to-fall-asleep figure.
"Ooooh, whoops! Sorry Y/n!" Childe apologizes, cringing at the thought of his loud voice waking you up. You could barely hear him though, drowsiness taking over your body and thoughts, nothing was left in your brain except for one thingâsleep.
Kaeya rolls his eyes at Childe before slowing and carefully closing the door shut. "It's only 2:30 pm, isn't sleeping in the afternoon bad or something?" Gorou asked, peeking his head from behind Itto to look at you.
Albedo hums. "Well, yes, but considering that they have been tiring themselves out since we've arrived, I think they deserve this well-deserved rest. Don't you agree?"
The surrounding men agreed, nodding their heads. "I agree, we should let Y/n sleep, I think I should too, without Y/n I'll be bored..." Kazuha yawns, already getting ready to take an afternoon nap with you.
After Kazuha laid down on the mattress, a few others started to mirror his actions. Itto, Ayato, Capitano, Thoma and Kaveh began to settle down on the mattresses while the others went to the other room to take a nap as well (some didn't want to so they stayed out of the rooms and watched the TV or played board games).
Normally when you sleep during the afternoon, you would wake up in the middle of the night, and oftentimes you fail to fall back asleep. And that is exactly what happened to you.
In the dimly lit room, darkness envelops every corner. The only source of light is the faint glow seeping through the curtains, painting the room in a hazy ambiance. You lie on your bed peacefully, your chest rising and falling rhythmically with each gentle breath you take in your sleep, the softness of the pillows cradling your head.
The darkness of the room seems to cocoon you and everybody, it is as if the night itself has woven a protective blanket around you all, the silence is broken only by the distant hum of the city, a lullaby that lulls you deeper into your peaceful slumber.
But soon, your eyelids flutter gently, and in the dark room, you can hazily make out the scene before you. Outside, the moon casted its soft glow through the window, casting delicate patterns on the bodies of the men and on the wall. It illuminates your face.
It was so comforting to you, the soft glow of the moonlight completing everything.
As you take in your surroundings you begin to understand that you were cuddling Kazuha while Ayato had his arms wrapped around you. Smiling softly, you snuggled in closer to Kazuha's chestâpressing your cheek against his warm and slowly rising chest.
And in this dimly lit room, you slumber on, oblivious to the world outside. The darkness embraced you like a mother's embrace, offering comfort, it is a place where dreams are born and nurtured, where the imagination takes flight and as the night deepens and silence engulfs the room, you continued to sleep peacefully, unaware of the outside world.
But then before you could fall asleep your eyes shot open, I have to work tomorrow. Groaning, you nuzzled your face more into Kazuha's chest, knowing the next day would be tiring.
note: IM SO SORRY FOR PROCRASTINATINGGGG i just got home a couple days ago and my jet lag is pretty bad and i have to work and all of that jazz!! thankfully i got myself together and finished it :)
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part 0.19. UNSPOKEN CONFESSIONS
"it wouldn't break your back to stand beside me."
from superstar sh*t by dominic fike, left at the umeda sky building, osaka
âare you gonna tell me where weâre going yet?â he asks as the train starts to move, their arms brushing as they both lurch to the right from the sudden change in force.
itâs taken everything within her not to immediately spill out her entire heart to him. the moment she opened the door and saw him, she couldnât think of anything but all the art heâs been sending her for the past two yearsâ of all the places heâs taken her. she knows heâs done so much for her, and she tells herself she needs to do the same. she needs to wait until they get to their destination.
ânope,â she hums giving him a bright smile. thinking of what sheâll say when they finally arrive (sheâs trying not to refer to it as her impending doom) makes her feel surprisingly calm. perhaps, compared to the amount of stress that's been building up for the past four years starting from when she first saw him at the vending machine, the thought of actually getting out her feelings isnât as bad. âbut iâm sure you can guess. youâve got the train weâre going on, and iâve mentioned something about what weâre going to do before.â
he looks at her, brows raised and his lips quirked up into a smile like hers, as if her mood is rubbing off on him. he started off the day feeling quite lethargic, but ever since her texts, heâs been feeling more energetic. his heartâs been racing almost every time he looks at her, and heâs reminded of the texts he sent her two nights ago, and how she responded. she's been tweeting about him, saying sheâs missed him, and he has yet to bring it up. depending on where they go, maybe heâll find the time to bring it up today. âdo i get to know what stop weâre getting off at? and when did you mention it? like in the last week orâŚâ
she purses her lips in thought, looking ahead of them, out the window and the bright city passing by them in a blur, âno, you donât get to know. and i think i mentioned itâŚ.within the last two years?â
he lets out a laugh that has her turning back to him, confused as if she hasnât given him the biggest time frame ever to work with. âwithin the past two years? yeah, i think iâm better off just waiting until we get there, actually.â
âi guess thatâs fair,â she says, letting out her own laugh, glancing down at her own phone to double-check what stop they're getting off on.Â
the rest of their ride is quite relaxing. she finds it simultaneously hard and easy to talk to him; sheâs giving him curt answers without meaning to, as most of her focus is directed towards thinking of what sheâll say to him in the next hour. but he notices and opts for a quiet game they often play on long train rides instead. he kicks the side of her shoe with his foot and she kicks him back. itâs a game that usually gets out of hand, and soon theyâre knocking knees and hitting each other through fits of laughter before they try to calm downâ an old lady is giving them the eye from across the train and only shakes her head when they both try to straighten their clothes, acting composed.
he smooths down her hair without thinking twice about the action, but the feeling of his hand on her makes her freeze. her face turns red and she canât bring herself to look at him, instead pretending to be distracted by something on her phone, when sheâs really just staring at the map on her screen.
the train slows to a stop and she stands up, turning to glance quickly toward him to make sure heâs following. he walks behind her as they step off the train where she momentarily stops, trying to navigate which direction theyâre supposed to be walking in while he looks up and around, taking in his surroundings. his brows are knit, like heâs trying to figure out what could have possibly brought them to this area of osaka.
âand you still wonât tell me?â he asks, walking alongside her when they start moving again. he tries to peek at her face, but she's still refusing to look up at him from her phone and heâs not entirely sure what heâs done to make her suddenly act so shy again.
sheâs a mess and she knows it. and she knows sheâll continue to be until she talks to him, so she only shakes her head. âno, iâm not ruining the surprise. but youâll figure it out soon enough.â
the walk is short. it takes them just under 10 minutes and after crossing a busy road, they're walking through a trade center next to a tall building towering high above them.
rintaro walks next to her, but his head is tilted back as he looks up, and she canât help but admire him from the side. âa skyscraper?â he observes aloud.
she nods, âitâs the umeda sky building. have you not heard of it before?â
he looks back down at her, yellow eyes sharp as always as he stares at her, and she tries her best to keep her composure under his gaze. âno, i havenât. what are we here for?â he asks, tilting his head. âit's cool, but iâm just curious. you seem like you have something planned.â
she bumps shoulders with him, feeling like for once she gets to be the mischievous one, hiding something from him, âi do have a plan! i guess youâll just have to keep walking with me, and find out.â
heâd walk with her to the end of the earth and he wouldnât utter a single word of complaint about it if he had her. he almost thinks to tell her as much, before he holds himself back, continuing to look at her while she turns forward, trying to find the entrance to the tower.
they take an elevator up at least 30 floors, the both of them watching a small screen at the top of the elevator that counts how high up they are in the sky. afterwards, a long escalator takes them up even higher. itâs a little dizzying, seeing the ground so far below her, and she ends up stealing glances at the boy beside her instead. he seems intrigued by the height and sights below, and as they step off the escalator, they stand at a window and watch the sight of the city below them.
sheâs feeling a little brave, and hell, sheâll be confessing to him later today anyway, she might as well start giving him hints. subtly, she tugs at his hand, pointing to her right with her free hand when she has his attention, âthereâs a cafe over here if we want, and then weâre actually here for something else.â
he nods and follows her, but she keeps her hand wrapped around his. the contact is making his breath shorten. heâs torn between holding her hand back or just letting her continue to drag him along, but he decides to intertwine his fingers with hers and when she looks back, lips curved into a smile, heâs glad he took the risk.
the cafe serves drinks and ice cream, and they settle on just a matcha ice cream, with two spoons to share. they talk a little more, sitting at a high table with the sight of the bustling city below them right outside the window before she pulls him along again. they walk through a doorway to a balcony outside where a breeze is gently blowing through. they pass by a security guard, clad in a white button down, who is leaning against a railing when he sees it.
a level below them, there's a fence with an assortment of padlocks on them and it pieces together. the day he asked her to take him to the darkroom with her, and the conversation they had on the way there. she follows his gaze down to the fence and they both stop, looking over the railing from where they are. âdo you remember now?â she asks, watching as a couple walks out from the floor beneath them, a locket in hand as they search for a place to put it on the fence.
âi donât think iâll ever forget a word you say to me.â he wants to say. so many words have gotten caught in his throat today, all of them unspoken confessions. âyeah. i remember now,â he opts to say instead, eyes following the same couple she is, as they bend down to attach it to the fence together. "couples leaving a mark on their city. a lock symbolizing their love that will last longer than they were," he recounts from their conversation years ago.
âwanna put one on with me?â she asks, looking him straight in the eye.Â
every noise dies out for a second at the question. is this where heâs supposed to tell her he likes her? way more than a friend? and that she shouldnât ask him to put a heart locket on a fence that will be there for the rest of their lives and even after when he doesnât see her as just a friend? because sheâd tell him if they were putting this locket on together as something more than friends, right?
âsure,â he ends up saying, because no matter how much he worries about his feelings and how he shouldnât be doing this to her, he canât help it when it comes to her. heâs selfish, and he wants to do everything he can with her. he wants to be with her every second of the day.
his hand is in hers again, and he decides to take the chance, rather than worrying about how he'll overthink the moment later. wasn't this what his entire high school volleyball career had taught him? the banner that hung behind him at every game; telling him to live in the present, rather than thinking about memories. he holds her hand just as tightly as she is, and they practically run down a set of stairs, coming to a counter, a sign reading HEART LOCKS hanging on the wall behind it. underneath the sign is an opening in the wall, where heart-shaped lockets are hanging, organized by color.Â
they decide on a pink one, and theyâre given a blade to engrave their names onto it. she etches her name into the back of the padlock first before handing it to him, and he feels the pit of guilt gnawing at him as he writes his own name. he shouldnât be doing this when he feels differently from her than she does, but when they give the blade back to the worker and she looks up at him with a smile, the locket in both of their hands, all of his worries melt away again.
like the pair they saw earlier, they walk outside and along the fence, looking for a place to put their own locket. they decide on a high rung of the fence, and they both close the padlock around it together, his hands over hers.
when they step back from the fence, both unable to look away from the lock, she tears her gaze away first, looking at the boy in front of her. this is the moment sheâs been waiting for. ârin,â the words spill out of her mouth before sheâs truly ready, but he looks away from the lock to her, giving her his full attention, and she canât back down. the script in her mind that sheâs worked so hard this whole time to form fades away, and she decides to just go for it. âi like you.â
his breath hitches at the words, and he swallows heavily, frozen in place. his eyes dart back between her and the padlock, mouth opening slightly. ây/nââ the only thing that comes out of his mouth is her name, but she cuts him off before he can finish.
âwaitâ pleaseâ let me finish. just hear me out until the end, please. i donât want to get any of this wrong.â his lack of response is causing her confidence to dwindle with every second, and she nervously pulls at her fingers out of habit, but he gives her a small nod and she continues, âthis is gonna sound really stupid, but iâve liked you since high school, honestly. iâve wanted to tell you for so long but iâve just been scared. and then i found out youâve been leaving art about me in other cities and i felt selfish. like this entire time i've been wrapped up in my own head and it's been preventing me from giving you clear signs about how i feel about you when you've been doing so much for me. and iâm sorry but godâ iâve liked you since weâve met. iâve been drawn to you ever since. even after we graduated, my feelings hadnât gone away. but i didnât think you felt the same wayâ i mean youâre just completely out of my league. youâre so talented and i feel like i donât deserve everything youâve done for me. all the time youâve spent with me, everything youâve sent me, all the places youâve shown meâ you're too good to me. but this is my way of trying to give back to you for once. and i wanted to take you up here to confessâ although i guess i shouldnât have forced you to sign a love lock with me before doing thatââ she laughs nervously at her own mistake, and he laughs with her, out of his own anxiety.
and because sheâs cute, for thinking thereâs any chance he doesnât return her feelings. he doesnât think thereâs any words that could explain to her the yearning in his heart for her, thatâs been pulling her towards him in the same way ever since he first saw her. so instead, he steps forward, hands lifting to run through her hair and gently hold the sides of her head to pull her close before he kisses her.
her eyes widen in shock initially, but soon enough she's squeezing her eyes, reaching up her own arms, wrapping them around his neck and pulling him closer. their noses knock into each other, but neither of them can care. their heads are dizzy and light without oxygen, but itâs like they arenât even close enough, despite their bodies being flush with each other.
he only barely pulls away when heâs forced to catch his breath, but his face is still inches away from her own, pretty yellow-gray eyes boring into hers. âyou have no idea how long iâve wanted to do that for,â he says, lips brushing against hers again as he talks.
the corners of her eyes crinkle as she smiles, unable to do anything but laugh again, âyou have no idea how long iâve wanted to do that. and it still feels unreal.â
âi can do it again,â he replies quickly, not even giving her the chance to respond before heâs kissing her again, hands holding onto her sides.
his lips against hers feels like everything she could have asked for. itâs more vibrant than any picture sheâs ever taken, and despite her eyes being closed, the feelings it gets across is more powerful than any sight she could ever see.
when they pull away again, theyâve ended up against a railing, her back pressing against the cold surface as they both hold each other close.
âand just for the record,â he says, a teasing smile on his face, still unable to look away from her, âi think i wouldâve stopped you before we signed a locket together if i didnât feel the same way. just a thought.â
her cheeks flush, and she feels like sheâs been brought back to reality, her eyes averting away from him as the grip of her arms around him loosens.
âhey,â he has a hand on the side of her face that draws her attention back to him, and she finds herself reflexively pressing gently into the palm of his hand, âkeep looking at me. iâm not letting you out of my sight now that i have you, and iâll give you my whole confession too.â she laughs, continuing to stare at him, finding herself admiring every small feature of his face. sheâs never been this close to him, but now that she is, she finds herself memorizing every curve and line of his face. âiâve liked you for just as long, you know. sometimes you being there for our games would mess me up. iâd keep looking at you and eventually kita caught on and chewed me out. but i thought itâd be weird if i told you in high school, because we never talked so i didnât think youâd return my feelings. and then at graduation, osamu lectured me too and i decided when we got to college iâd finally get to know you. i was really surprised, honestly, when you let me follow you around the photography department, and take you on walks at night around the city, and would let me bother you your entire shifts with osamu. and you deserve every single thing i've given you and more. but i thought you just considered me a really good friend after everything we did together. i thought i'd completely messed up and gotten myself stuck in the friendzone forever. and honestly, i was going to be happy there. i was gonna be happy as long as i had youâbut iâve thought about you every waking second. iâve wanted to be with you since i met you.â
she canât help the way her face softens at his words, and her heart is beating faster, she does the same thing he did after her confession. she pulls him in for another kiss, and heâs quick to reciprocate it, a hand pressed against the small of her back, keeping her from the railing.Â
when they break for air again, they remain in each otherâs arms. itâs an unspoken, mutual thought theyâre both having: ânow that i have you, iâm never letting you go. itâs been too long.â
she ends up running a hand through his hair, combing it back, and heâs admiring her face, taking in every single detail.
âwell, osamu will be happy finally, wonât he?â she canât help but joke, and he chuckles.
âyeah, heâll finally stop getting on our ass all the time, thatâs for sure. maybe thatâs why iâve been so tired lately. heâs been the one giving me a headache this entire time,â he says, finally taking his eyes off her, only to lean closer, nuzzling his face into the side of her neck while she holds him close.
âhe meant well,â she says halfheartedly, running a hand through his hair. âhe has been with us these entire four years as well. so has atsumu and omi. they got sick of it and told me about your graffiti.â
his head snaps up in surprise at the mention, âtheyâre who told you? those little shits, atsumu canât keep a secret to save his life, i shouldâve known. but omiââ
âwellââ she cuts him off, trying to defend their friends, âatsumu was tired and was running his mouth and accidentally ended up saying it, so he doesnât have an excuse. but then i pulled in omi to the conversation and forced him to confirm it, so you canât blame him.â
rintaro rolls his eyes, âwhatever. they both still betrayed me, and omi almost gave me away with the flower box, didnât he?â
âspeaking of which,â she says, looking at him with a smile, âyou need to take me back there. you promised to give me those flowers, you know.â
he returns her smile, a lively glint as always, and she canât think of anywhere else sheâd rather be than his arms. theyâve always been on the move, wandering around new places, and going new places, yet it never bothers her. she has him with her. he is her comfort, her walls to keep her safe, and her home. âwe can go now, if you want.â
âletâs do it.â
prev. | m.list | next
extras <3
everyone thank osamu for his service that man was definitely one of the people pushing the hardest for suna and y/n
THEY KISSED (finally) <3 i hope you enjoyed!!!! and that this wasn't a super underwhelming chapter or anything :)
the umeda sky building is a real skyscraper in osaka where you can legally put love locks on a fence <3 it's only purpose is for love locks! it's vv cute <3
i watched a 12 minute video last night of someone touring the building so i could see what it looked like LMAO
when suna was leaving to see y/n the rest of his roomates were in bed but they heard the front door unlock and all peeked their heads out to see who was leaving
i did make moodboards for love notes as a whole, one each for suna and y/n, and one for them together <3 you can see them on the masterlist if ur interested!!
one chapter left!! let's go epilogue <3
taglist: @0moonii @iluvmang @bluebeanbee @wyrcan @oyasumeii @zumicho @gyuijns @nbcvs @milkteade @eggyrocks @guitarstringed-scars @makkir0ll @mylahrins @cherrypieyourface @vivian-555 @sharkerino @r0seandth0rns @staileykout @lunavixia @thvvluvr @elliott0o0 @wolffmaiden @rockleeisbaeeee @toges-cough-syrup @cnnmairoll @ryeyeyer @hibernatinghamster @localgaytrainwreck @lemonocity @bows4life @sereniteav @madiexuberant @eclecticeggknightpsychic @phoenix-eclipses @sonicsolos @httpakkeiji @brkfclub @snail-squasher @starry-magicshop @cr4yolaas @kitnootkat @zzzlevislothzzz @iluv-ace @iluvaquaphor @stayyyyyyyyyyyy21 @applepi25 @twiishaa @girlkissersco @sleepystrwbrryy @encrypta Â
#suna rintarou#suna rintaro#rintarou suna#suna#sunarin#suna x reader#suna smau#suna x reader smau#suna rintaro x reader#suna rintaro x reader smau#suna x reader fluff#haiykuu smau#haikyuu x reader#haikyuu#hq#hq x reader
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Differences between the models from Sonic 2 and the Knuckles Show Masterpost!
I'm sure there are more but these are just what I've noticed so far...
(Also, this is kind of hard for Sonic and Tails because we don't see them much, but I'll do my best)
::Knuckles Show on top Sonic 2 on bottom
Okay, first...
Textures
For the most part, they're less furry.
Comparing these you can see that the fur around his muzzle is shorter or at least not as well defined. This is true for the rest of them as well. Everyone looks "smoothed out," especially around the face.
Another example...
You can see the fur around his ears is actually less fuzzy, and the triangle shape of the inside of his ears is more obvious. (Almost like he got a trim or something haha.) This is true for Sonic as well, especially the ear definition bit. Tails' cheek fluff is also more shapely and long, evoking his game design more. His forehead tufts now face slightly different directions instead of all pointing right.
This goes for Knuckles' chest pattern too...
The shape is SO much fuzzier in the movie.
His body fur is also less voluminous in the show (likely the cause of the aforementioned definition.) I think this goes for everyone else too (Except for Tails maybe, I can't really tell since we can't see his body that well ÂŻ\_(ă)_/ÂŻ.)
Another one...
They got rid of his nosebridge pattern. The delineation between his muzzle and head color is much clearer. (You can also see the muzzle fur and ear change here.) I'm actually kinda sad about this one :( It was one of my favorite parts of his design. It could be due to the fur shortening and just for the show, but I'm not sure... :/
Exceptions
Tails' tails actually appear to be MORE fluffy.
and Sonic's chest fur is WAY fluffier
If I had to guess, I'd say most of these changes were made to cut down on rendering time. Switching out the movie's "denser" textures for these "lighter" ones cuts down on the budget without sacrificing the looks. Very smart, very smart. (Obviously, I don't know for sure that they did this, I'm just guessing based off of the differences.)
Structure Changes
Here are some things I noticed about how the bones of the models have changed (meaning not due to textures) (It's mostly Sonic lol.)
From the images above you can see that Sonic's shoulders are broader and his arms are thicker. His upper chest area is now more prominent, giving him a body shape closer to a "V" than the rounder "0" Sonic from Movie 2. It's really obvious in the second picture.
His quills also don't start on his upper forehead anymore, now beginning further back. His quills also appear to be thinner. They blend in with his fur more than before. (See below.)
He also emotes differently. His face rig must have changed with his model, because when he furrows his brow the way pictured above his face wrinkles like 3x more than before, haha (I hope that doesn't stick around, it's kind of weird to look at lol.) Actually, now that I think about it, it might just look that way because the show's less voluminous fur is not hiding it as much.
Yeah, that's definitely why haha. You can actually see the indents of the same crease placements in the movie model.
Also, is Tails taller?!?!? He sure looks taller here! But it could be a case of forced perspective since we can't see their whole bodies.
Knuckles' eyes are very different. I don't think the other's eyes are different, but we see them for like two seconds from afar so...ÂŻ\_(._.)_/ÂŻ
Also, I might just be imagining this, but it looks like everyone has more "neck" than before. Weird sentence, I know. You can kinda see what I mean here...If this is the case, it was likely done so posing is easier for the animators.
And generally, everyone is at least twice as vibrant, especially Sonic! Just look at the comparisons. My boys are G.L.O.W.I.N.G! Beautiful!
I think that's all I've got. If I can think of any more I'll make a part 2. If you noticed something that I didn't, leave a comment and I'll add it. Or add a reblog of your own if you want^^
(This took way too long (ÂŹ_ÂŹ"") )
#knuckles series#scu#Movie!knuckles#Movie!sonic#Movie!tails#tails wachowski#sonic wachowski#knuckles wachowski#sonic movie#sth
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steddie prompt! steve struggling with his dyslexia and feeling like he isnt smart enough compared to eddie and the kids?
In an effort to, in his words, "convert him to the light side," Dustin had given Steve an armful of what he deemed "essential reading" and sent him away to "learn the ways of the Force."
If Steve didn't like Star Wars so much, he would've made fun of that little nerd.
But, honestly, he's a little grateful. With no more monsters to slay and it being way too cold to venture outside of his house to go swim or play basketball, the books fill up a good chunk of time.
Too good a chunk.
It's taking him way too long to get through them.
He didn't try The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings because those looked way too intimidating. Dune's first twenty pages were boring as shit, and Ender's Game was a lot, to say the least.
So, he's been making his way through A Wrinkle in Time.
Slowly making his way through it. Too slowly.
Steve has been quickly reminded about why he hasn't voluntarily read a book since elementary school, and why he stopped reading the required books in high school.
It's hard. Reading sucks.
He doesn't know how other people get through it when the letters don't make sense and seem to switch, like how "b" and "d" or "f" and "t" look way too similar.
"Whatcha readin'?"
Steve looks up from the book - god, it's probably taken him at least an hour to get through chapter one, hasn't it - to find Eddie in the doorway of the living room.
Guess he's taking advantage of the spare key, Steve thinks to himself, but he's not mad about it, not even a little.
"A Wrinkle in Time," he says, holding up the book so Eddie can see the cover.
Eddie lights up. "Oh, I love that book! I think the last time I read it, I was in, shit, maybe fourth grade?"
Steve knows he didn't mean it, but damn. That hurt a little bit.
He can't even get through a book Eddie read when he was in elementary school?
"What part are you at?"
Steve tucks the book against his chest so Eddie doesn't see how the bookmark isn't very far in. "Not very. Just met Mrs. Which. It's kind of hard to get through-"
"Oh, yeah," Eddie nods. "It took me, like, three days."
"- because the letters keep switching."
Eddie frowns. "What?"
"The letters," Steve says. "Like, they're moving a lot for this book. I don't know why."
Eddie looks at him blankly.
Oh.
"Does that... not happen for you?"
Eddie shakes his head.
Steve huffs out a laugh because of course this would be a uniquely him problem. Of course people like Dustin and Eddie and the rest of the party would like reading, because of course they would be able to do it right.
"I guess I really am stupid."
"It took me three tries to get through my senior year," Eddie says seriously, putting his hand on Steve's shoulder. "Does that make me stupid?"
"No," Steve says instantly. It doesn't. Just because Eddie wasn't good at school doesn't mean he isn't smart. He's a brilliant storyteller and musician, and both of those take brains.
Steve doesn't have a hobby that takes brains because he just... doesn't have enough. Plain and simple. That's how it's always been.
"Ok, then you're not stupid for having trouble reading," Eddie says like it's the simplest thing in the world.
"But-"
"But what? We're all gonna struggle with something. For me, it was school. For you, it's reading. It's why we've got other people to fill in the gaps."
Other people don't fill in the gaps. Steve does. Steve stretches himself thin, makes sure he's everywhere at once to make sure the kids and Robin and Eddie are okay.
No one else can do that because. Well.
Steve has to be irreplaceable somehow. He's gotta be necessary somehow.
This is the only way they need him.
"Get out of your head, martyr," Eddie says, reading his mind. He's not as good at that as Robin is - Steve doesn't think anyone will ever be able to read him like Robin can - but he can still do it.
It's weird, just like Eddie is. Steve's learned to love weird over the past few years.
"Do you want me to stick around?" Eddie asks.
"You can stay, if you want," Steve says.
"I always want to stay with you," Eddie says, and damn if that sentence doesn't take Steve's breath away. "But I figured I'd ask."
So, Eddie lays his head in Steve's lap as Steve dives back into a world of tesseracts and space and time, and when Steve tilts the book down and points to a word that just isn't making sense, Eddie reads it for him.
He doesn't comment on how often he hears the pages flip.
#sorry this sat in my inbox for SO LONG#but i hope you like it anon!!#this was really fun!!#anon#asked and answered#steddie#steve harrington#eddie munson#steddie ficlet#stranger things ficlet#stranger things#tw internalized ableism#ria writes#dyslexic steve harrington
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Halcyon - Ch. 5: I've Never Been a Bad Influence a Day in My Life
You and Joel get closer as you put together your lists. A continuation of Halcyon from the prologue through Ch. 4, a modern no outbreak AU TLOU fic found on Tumblr here.
Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader
Warnings: Masturbation, fantasy about P in V sex. Modern No Outbreak AU, No use of Y/N, Slow burn, 18+ only, Minors DNI
Length: 5K
AO3 | Main Master List | Prologue | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
October, 2022
âWhy canât I add to your list?â You pouted a little, can of hard seltzer in your hand as your float drifted to the middle of Joelâs pool.Â
âBecause youâre gonna just use that power for evil, not good,â Joel replied.Â
âWould not!â You shoved off the side of the pool with your foot, floating back toward the middle of the water.Â
âAm I allowed to put shit on your list?â He asked, sitting on the edge of the pool, his feet in the water and a beer in his hand.Â
You scoffed.Â
âAbsolutely not.âÂ
âWell, there you go,â he shrugged. âGoes both ways.âÂ
âYouâd be a dick about it!â You kicked the water in his direction but the spray of it fell short and you watched him try to not laugh. âYouâd put things on there like âbuy Joel beer for the rest of his lifeâ or âspeak in a bad British accent for a weekâŚââ
âCan you do a good British accent?â He asked, brows raised.Â
âThat is beside the point.âÂ
âWhat are you gonna add to my list, hm?â There was a teasing edge in his voice as he took a sip of beer. âGet a new wardrobe? Get Sarah a dog?âÂ
âOK, both of those are good additions,â you said, defensive. âBut no, not what I was thinking.âÂ
âThen what, Goldie?âÂ
âPut in a hot tub,â you said, chin raised.Â
He barked a laugh.Â
âA hot tub?âÂ
âA hot tub,â you nodded. âHow can I come over to your house and float in the water if itâs too cold to go in the pool? Which it will be in like⌠a few weeks. You need a hot tub.âÂ
âItâs already too cold,â he said. âThat waterâs below 70 degrees, couldnât pay me to get in there now. Lucky Iâm in this far as it is.âÂ
âSee?â You said. âHot tub.âÂ
âYouâre ridiculous,â he shook his head.Â
âIf your list is shitty can I add to it?âÂ
âIf you actually think my list is shitty we can discuss it,â he said. Your float drifted close to him and you were afraid, for a moment, that he was going to splash you. Instead, he just pushed the edge of it with his foot, sending you drifting back toward the middle of the water. âStill down to compare tomorrow night?âÂ
âThink so,â you said, taking a sip of your seltzer. âAs long as you donât mock me relentlessly for it.âÂ
âWhen do I not mock you relentlessly?âÂ
âExcellent point,â you said. âI should get better friends.âÂ
âProbably so.âÂ
âAt least now you come with Sarah,â you sighed dramatically. âSo I guess Iâll keep bugging youâŚâÂ
âGod, you two are gonna kill me,â he said, trying to look serious but a hint of a smile on his lips. âWorst idea I ever had, lettinâ you two get to know each otherâŚâÂ
You giggled a little at that. You and Sarah had become thick as thieves since you and Joel had reconnected now two weeks ago.
It was hard to believe that heâd only been back in your life less than a month. But then, it was hard to believe heâd ever been out of your life at all. Youâd only gone a few days without seeing him since that night at the bar and, on those days, the two of you were almost constantly texting. It was the most natural thing in the world, having your life fall into step alongside Joelâs. It reminded you so much of high school even though you were in your 30s now, your lives moving in parallel until they collided at the end of the day and you came over for dinner or went and cheered on Sarah at her soccer game or Joel showed up at your door with beer. Even after all this time, he just knew you and you just knew him. You could read his posture as easily as a book, instantly knowing the kind of day he had by the way he opened the door or flopped on your couch. He seemed to be able to peer inside your mind on command, just a raised eyebrow or a sigh telling him everything he needed to know about how you were feeling and how to make it better.Â
There was one day where you hadnât intended to see him at all but itâd turned shitty and he just somehow picked up on it from the tone of your texts. New paperwork had come over from Galeâs attorney and you resigned yourself to spending the evening picking over the bones of your marriage with a bottle of wine and a wilted salad - because you definitely didnât have the emotional energy to go by the grocery store - when Joel texted. It was a meme that you responded to with just an lol before going back to the paperwork. He FaceTimed just 30 seconds later and you frowned, answering it.Â
âHi?â You said brows raised.Â
He nodded sagely.Â
âWhat I thought,â he said. âYou look like shit.âÂ
âGee thanks.âÂ
He rolled his eyes.Â
âFor you you look like shit. Whatâs wrong.âÂ
You narrowed your eyes and he laughed.Â
âWhat?â He asked
âHow can you just tell?â You replied. âItâs weird.âÂ
âCome over,â he said instead of answering. He flipped his camera around and Sarah made a face, sticking her tongue out, her hair in two springy buns on the top of her head.Â
You frowned.Â
âWhere are you?â
He turned the camera back around.
âPicking up pizza,â he said. âIâll grab an extra cheese bread, come over.âÂ
âIâve been drinkingâŚâÂ
âWeâll pick you up,â he said. âCome over.âÂ
âPlease?â Sarah jumped to try to get in the frame and Joel laughed, tilting the camera so she was visible. âItâll be fun! OH! Spend the night! Come sleep over again, please?âÂ
Joel tilted the camera so he was back in the frame.Â
âYou really wanna disappoint my kid?â He asked. âCâmon.âÂ
âYeah!â Sarah said, bouncing just out of frame again, just a bit of her bun appearing in the bottom corner as she jumped. âDonât let down the kid, thatâs just shitty.âÂ
âHey,â Joel said but you could tell he was trying not to smile. She stopped bouncing. âLanguage.âÂ
âSorry.âÂ
He turned his attention back to you.Â
âBe there in 10,â he said. âCanât let you just sit and wallow. Need pizza for that.âÂ
He and Sarah picked you up and Sarah insisted on cranking Taylor Swift in the car, signing Look What You Made Me Do into her water bottle in the back seat while you balanced warm pizza boxes on your lap, trying not to laugh when you and Joel exchanged glances at red lights.Â
At dinner, you pulled a pepperoni off your slice of pizza and stuck it on the end of your nose and held very serious eye contact with Joel and Sarah as they spoke, nodding along carefully so as to not disturb the topping dangling from your face. Sarah tried very hard not to laugh and did a pretty good job of it until you made a face at her from across the table when Joelâs back was turned and she cackled, laughing so hard she almost knocked over her soda can.
âYou beinâ a bad influence on my kid?â He asked when he handed you the paper towel youâd requested.
âJoel,â you said, deathly serious, pepperoni slice still on the tip of your nose. âIâve never been a bad influence a day in my life.âÂ
 After dinner, as Joel did the dishes, you sat on the couch with Sarah and listened as she told you about one of her friends at school who hadnât been as kind lately. You nodded along until Sarah seemed to run out of steam, slumping down against the cushion with a slightly tired look on her face.Â
âWell,â you said. âHave you told her that youâve been feeling hurt by how sheâs been treating you lately?âÂ
She scrunched her face a little.Â
âNo,â she said. âBut I thought thatâd be pretty obviousâŚâÂ
You shrugged.Â
âSometimes itâs not. She may not even know sheâs doing it. If I were you, Iâd tell her that youâve been feeling hurt and ask if sheâs doing OK because it sounds like this is a change for her. If sheâs hurting you that might be because her feelings are getting hurt somewhere else.âÂ
âI hadnât thought of that,â she nodded a little. âThatâs a good idea.â
âI do have those occasionally,â you said and she smiled a little at you.Â
The three of you watched part of a movie before Sarah went to get ready for bed and you eavesdropped from the living room as Joel read to her in her room, the door opened just enough to hear when his voice changed with the characters.Â
âPeeta sighs,â Joel said like Joel before his voice shifted to something that sounded more boyish but still strong and deep, almost what you remembered from when you first met him. You smiled. â'Well, there is this one girl. Iâve had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But Iâm pretty sure she didnât know I was alive until the reapingâŚââ
Joel flopped next to you on the couch when he was done and you held out your glass of wine. He took it, taking a big sip before handing it back.Â
âYou look tired,â you said, holding the glass.Â
He shrugged.Â
âNo days off from this whole dad thing. Donât really want a day off but still⌠get tired after a bit.â He looked over at you and smiled a little. âThanks for talking with her. Think she needs someone like you around.âÂ
âOh, someone who managed to tank her relationship and got stuck starting over in her 30s?â You asked. âThat kind of someone?âÂ
He rolled his eyes.Â
âA womanâŚâÂ
âOh, is that all?â
He glared at you.Â
âA woman,â he said again. âBut one whoâs lived some life, knows how to navigate the hard shit. One whoâs willing to listen to her problems. Sheâs got me and Tommy for that but canât help but feel like Iâve let her down by not giving her some kind of⌠I donât fuckinâ know, feminine influence.âÂ
âAhh yes, the mysterious feminine,â you nodded sagely. Joel picked up a pillow and smacked you in the stomach with it, making you laugh as you caught it and held it to yourself. âJoel, youâre doing great with her.âÂ
âYeah?â He asked, serious now.Â
âYeah,â you said, serious, too. âYou really are. Sheâs so lucky to have you, Joel. You have no idea.âÂ
âIâm lucky to have her,â he said, looking toward Sarahâs room for a moment before turning back to you. âSo, you have the kind of bad day that you want to talk about it or the kind of bad day that you want to get fucked up about it?âÂ
âThe latter.âÂ
âThen chug that wine,â he said, shoving himself off the couch. âAnd maybe change into your pajamas, Iâm getting the tequila.âÂ
You swapped numbers with Sarah at breakfast the next day. You and Joel were both hung over and trying to pretend like you hadnât been up until 2:30 on a work night getting hammered until you passed out in a heap on his couch only to be roused by a groggy Sarah at 7 in the morning.Â
Sheâd taken to texting you then, sometimes just silly selfies, sometimes memes you didnât really get, sometimes with questions about friends at school. You were pretty sure your heart melted the first time she called you Aunt Goldie, a sense of belonging wrapping around you that youâd never really known before.Â
âWe still on for tomorrow?â Joel asked, eyes following the slow, lazy path your float was making across his pool. âMake a night out of this whole project, kick things off right.âÂ
âHell yeah,â you said, drifting back to Joel. He didnât shove you back out to the water this time. âDid I tell you Iâm seeing Anna for lunch? I cannot just go into that blind, Iâll need an outâŚâÂ
âSheâs doinâ that well, huh?â Joel asked.Â
âI donât know,â you sighed. âSheâs supposedly sticking with her program but⌠I feel like I should be a better sister and try to check in more but then it just feels like babysitting and that doesnât seem right, either.âÂ
âAt a certain point, sheâs gotta do it on her own,â Joel said. âYouâre her sister, not her mom.âÂ
âI know,â you nodded. âBut I feel like I should have checked in on her more after our mom died. She was a teenager and I just left her aloneâŚâÂ
âYou were 20 years old,â Joel said gently. âNot like you were equipped for that shit.âÂ
You shrugged and took another drink.Â
âHey,â he said, nudging your float gently, just enough to make you look up at him. âDonât be hard on yourself for that. You were handed a shit situation and you did what you could with it. Trust me, I know.âÂ
âYeah?âÂ
âYeah,â he nodded. âEnded up in a similar boat with Tommy. Spent years - literal years - bailing his ass out of jail and begging him to get his shit together. Eventually he did a stint in the army and got it figured out. At least a bit. Sheâll get there. But itâs not your job to get her there.âÂ
âYeah,â you sighed. âYouâre probably right.âÂ
âWho, me?â He asked, mocking. âRight? Never thought Iâd see the dayâŚâÂ
âShove it,â you splashed at him, the water dripping down his face and soaking his t-shirt. You snorted as you watched him fight the urge to laugh.Â
âGonna pay for that,â he said, setting his beer down on the side of the pool and grabbing your float as you tried to paddle away.Â
âNo!â You shrieked and laughed, shoving your seltzer into the cupholder as more of you ended up in the cold pool water than you really wanted in your rush to escape.Â
âYou started it!â Joel was leaning precariously over the water now, trying to splash you again while keeping you from retreating. âShoulda just kept those little hands to yourselfâŚâÂ
âTheyâre not little!âÂ
He yanked your float back toward the side of the pool and nodded down at one of your hands.
âFreakishly smallâŚâÂ
âYours are just freakishly big you mutant!â You grabbed a fistful of his shirt and watched as he realized a second too late what was about to happen.Â
âOh shit,â his eyes went wide and you laughed in victory before you pulled him all the way into the pool, jeans and all. He brought you down as he went, the float capsizing and sending you and your mostly empty drink can into the cold water with a sharp yelp.Â
You went under, the chlorine stinging your eyes as you twisted and tried to right yourself below the water. You and Joel surfaced at the same time, not even a foot apart and gasping for breath, laughing as you tried to brush your soaked hair back from your face.Â
âItâs so cold!â You shivered and splashed at him before crossing your arms tightly over yourself.Â
âWhy are you complaininâ to me?â He shivered back. âYouâre the one who wanted to be in the damn poolâŚâÂ
âIn the floatie!â You said. âI was mostly dry until you got involved!âÂ
âGot justice you mean,â he said, reaching for your can and pulling it out of the water, dumping it out before setting it on the side of the pool. âYouâre the one who put us in hereâŚâÂ
âYouâre the one who was being mean,â you said, reaching out for him and pressing your cold fingers to his chest, the heat of him still apparent even in the water. You sighed contentedly. âThatâs betterâŚâÂ
âJesus, what are you, ice?â He griped, tugging you against him with a little yelp. âGonna fuckinâ freeze to death if youâre not careful⌠ridiculousâŚâÂ
You giggled once but pressed yourself closer to him, soaking up his heat and pressing your cold fingers to his exposed skin.Â
âOK, you could be less mean about it,â he said, pulling back from you just enough to scowl down at you. âFrozen fuckinâ handsâŚâÂ
You laughed and realized, very suddenly, how close you were to him. You werenât sure the last time youâd been quite this close to him, the last time you could feel every line of him through his clothes, the last time his mouth had been that close to your own. Your heart sped up. His eyes searched yours and you could feel his breath on your skin and suddenly, you werenât close enough to him. Not close enough at all.Â
âDad?â Sarahâs groggy voice called from the sliding glass door, making you jump, both of your heads turning toward her. Her face was scrunched and a curl had broken free of its braid, sticking straight out from the side of her head. âIs everything OK?âÂ
âCourse it is, baby girl,â Joel frowned. âWhy wouldnât it be? What are you doinâ out of bed?â Â
âYouâre being loud,â she groaned. âYouâre never loud.â Â
âMâsorry kiddo,â Joel said, separating from you and working his way to the edge of the pool, pulling himself out of the water and dripping on the stone edge. âGimme just a second to get Goldie out of the water before she freezes to death and dry her off, Iâll come tuck you in again in just a minuteâŚâÂ
âCan I get another chapter?â She said it fast, the words all strung together, her eyes big. âPlease? They just got into the arena andâŚâÂ
âWeâll see,â he said. âBut only because itâs Friday and youâre sleeping over at Emmaâs tomorrow so you wonât get one then. Inside, go on.âÂ
He watched her go and then went to the lounge chair at the side of the pool, getting the only towel heâd brought outside and holding it away from his body, spread open wide.Â
âHurry up, before I change my mind,â he said.Â
âSuch a gentleman,â you said, trying not to let your teeth chatter and trying to shove the ache that was still growing all hollow and wanting inside you down deep. You got out of the water and he wrapped you tightly in the towel, his arms going tightly around you.Â
âNot really,â he said, pulling you back against his broad chest and squeezing you so the water from him soaked into the towel before he shook his shaggy curls over you so drops of water got all over your face as you laughed. âThere, cured you of THAT notionâŚâÂ
âThanks so much,â you said wryly as he released you. You turned to face him as he ran his fingers through his soaked hair and his shirt pulled up just enough that you caught a glimpse of the smooth flesh around his hips and you found yourself drifting closer to him again before you stopped yourself. Joel put his arms down and seemed to notice exactly where you were, just looking at you for a moment before he cleared his throat awkwardly.Â
âI should go tuck Sarah back in,â he said. âGet into something dry so I donât get her all soakedâŚâÂ
âRight,â you said, stepping back from him. âSorry we woke your kid up because you just couldnât leave well enough aloneâŚâÂ
âI will throw your ass back in that pool,â he said, going to open the door for you. âDonât try me.âÂ
âOh donât worry Miller,â you teased. âI know just what youâre capable of.âÂ
He started toward the stairs, a little trail of water in his wake as he went, and you watched the pull of the wet fabric of his shirt over his shoulders. You swallowed, hard.
âIâm just going to head out,â you said and he stopped, turning to frown at you.Â
âYou sure?âÂ
âYeah,â you said. âReally should go wash this chlorine out of my hair. But see you tomorrow?âÂ
âWith the list?â Joel asked.Â
âWith the list,â you answered.Â
âLookinâ forward to it,â he said, turning to go up the stairs again before looking back over his shoulder. âDrive safe, Goldie.âÂ
He didnât wait for a response, just heading for his room.Â
Your heart was still racing.Â
You left the towel draped over the banister and just pulled on the oversized t-shirt youâd put in your bag before going to your car.Â
You tried not to think about Joel as you drove home.Â
It didnât do you any good to think about him that way. It was Joel. He didnât see you that way, drifting in that direction was what had ruined things so many years before. Youâd just gotten him back, things were so good again, you felt like you belonged again, you couldnât fuck that up, not because youâd never been able to move past a school girl crush.Â
But you wanted to kiss him. Fuck, you wanted to kiss him.Â
You tried not to think about kissing him. You tried not to think about what happened after the last time youâd kissed him. How quickly everything had dissolved, how youâd gone from picturing a future with Joel - a different one than youâd held in your mind outside of fantasy before - to running as far and as fast as you could in a matter of hours.Â
Itâs Goldie, heâd said then. Itâs the worst thing that could happen, I wish it was anybody elseâŚ
You flinched at the memory, shoving it away. No, you didnât think about that, not when you could help it. Just like you didnât think about the way Joelâs lips felt against your skin, how his fingers - warm and think - had traced over you, how he made you feel so clearly seen and adored in a way that no one else had before, in a way your husband had never really seemed to. How he still made you feel that way.Â
âFuck,â you muttered to yourself as you parked, dropping your head to your steering wheel with a groan before you went in your house, closing your car door with a little too much force.Â
You showered and forced yourself to keep your hands away from your aching slit. You were not going to fuck yourself in your bathroom to the idea of sleeping with your best friend. You werenât. You werenât a teenager anymore and you werenât going to act like one. You were better than this.
Your hair was still damp when you gave up on getting any writing or grading done and went to bed, an almost frustrating, throbbing ache between your thighs. You stared at the ceiling in the dark for a while before you all but threw the covers off and rifled through your nightstand for the discreet little pink vibrator youâd bought years ago when youâd first figured out that, while your husband had many talents, making you come wasnât one of them.Â
You went to your usual fallback for porn but didnât find anything that was really working for you, the ache of longing just getting worse as you gently toyed with your clit under the covers in the dark. Your cunt was slick, your wetness seeping down to your nightie and coating your fingers. It felt like forever that youâd been touching yourself and getting nowhere when the batteries on your vibrator died and you whimpered, kicking your legs down into your mattress in frustration.Â
âGoddammit,â you moaned into your pillow, tossing your phone and vibrator aside, the ache in you worse than youâd ever really remembered it being before. There was no way you were going to be able to sleep like this, your whole body drawn tight and needy. You fumbled in your drawer for the charging cable and plugged the vibrator in before sighing and staring up at the ceiling again.Â
Your thoughts drifted to Joel again. You couldnât help it, heâd felt so good against you in the pool. He knew you so well, even after all this time. He kept your favorite snacks at his house and draped a blanket over you when you started getting cold when watching a movie. He was so funny and so handsome it hurt to look at him and heâd felt so fucking good.
Your fingers slipped between your legs again without really thinking about it, brushing against your swollen, sensitive clit. You resisted it for a moment, the idea of falling into the fantasy of you with Joel, but the need drawing everything inside you all tight and molten won.Â
It swallowed you quickly once you gave in.Â
The memory of him was there at the fore so fast, the way his lips had felt on you so many years ago. How you thought theyâd feel against you now. His hands ranged over you, around your waist, down to your hips, his fingers twisting and knotting in the fabric there as he bunched it up to hold you firmer, reach you better. You moaned and rocked into your hand, sliding lower, your palm pressed against your sensitive nub as you slipped a finger inside yourself with a moan. You worked yourself open slowly, your slick making easy work of it, as you imagined it was his hand between your legs, his fingers sinking into you. How heâd take your swimsuit off and line his cock up with your entrance and push inside of you as he moaned your name. How his fingers would grip your flesh, prying at you as though he was trying to take you apart to keep pieces of you for himself. How heâd work himself so deep into you that you were certain no one else had ever come quite so close to climbing into another personâs skin before. Â
You rocked your hips against your hand to the thought of him, not sure where memory ended and fantasy began, the fingers not plunging needily into your hole finding their way to your breast, grasping at the soft swell there, your own hand so unsatisfyingly small compared to his. You remembered the way his voice trembled as he breathed your name - his mouth against the tender skin at the base of your ear - as his cock filled you, the whole of him buried inside like he belonged there as he came.Â
âJoel!â You gasped as your own orgasm hit, tight channel throbbing around the three fingers youâd managed to fit inside yourself, slick pooling in your palm and your tit filling your other hand.Â
You came harder than you had in years, let alone from only using your hand and not your toy. It took you a few minutes to come down from the high of it, indulging in the fantasy of him in a way you hadnât done since your freshman year of college. He last time you gave into it was back when youâd first started dating Gale but youâd felt so desperately alone, like no one had ever bothered to learn you at all. So youâd let yourself pretend that your best friend was still your best friend, that he loved you the way you loved him and that fucking you hadnât been some mistake heâd made on prom night. It had seemed the most supreme extravagance, pretending that Joel would have wanted you to come like that with him. It still did.Â
You put a stop to all that when Gale proposed, solidifying your relationship in an entirely new way. You tucked the memory of Joel and his body on and within yours away then. Youâd never intended to think about him that way again. But then, youâd never intended to get divorced, either.Â
âFuck,â you sighed, shoving yourself out of bed to pee and clean up the mess youâd made of yourself. Before you lay back down, you opened the golden notebook on your bedside table and found the page with the list. You went to the bottom and tried to add another line but the pen in the elastic loop wouldnât write. You groaned before fishing out the red pen youâd left in your nightstand from a night you were editing in bed from the top drawer. You added two words to the bottom of your list - trying to ignore the way the diamond of your engagement ring caught the light from your lamp, casting little rainbows on the paper - and circled them, pressing the pen into the paper harder than you really needed to.Â
âThere,â you said, capping the pen and dropping it on the notebook you hadnât bothered to close. The pen rolled until it came to a stop, the red cap almost pointing to the newly added words as though they needed any more attention.Â
That, you thought, was the solution. If you could just figure out how to accomplish that, you could put Joel back in that little box and keep this stupid crush from blowing up your whole life a second time, as long as you werenât an idiot about it.Â
You switched off the lamp and pulled your blankets tightly around yourself, trying to ignore the feeling that the words were glaring at you from their perch on your night stand. They blinked at you like neon behind your eyelids and you tried not to see them in the same way you tried not to think about Joelâs body on yours in the pool as you drifted off to sleep.
Get laid.
Next Chapter
A/N: I just adore these two. Honestly, they keep getting away from me, their conversations are so fun to write and explore that I get lost in what I'm trying to accomplish with a chapter. But that's OK! The ride is the point of this whole fic thing, right?
Thank you for being patient with this chapter! I got a bit sidetracked with another project but I think I'm in a good place to get back to my once a week updates here for a while. I hope it was at least somewhat worth the wait!
Thank you for being here! Love you!!
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I know you will probably ignore this but can you try doing Yan farmer x hero reader? (I guess an iskei trip or whatever idk I just wanna know if you could try and build with this idea)
I would never ignore a request, if I couldn't do it I'd let you know! But thank you so much for your request it was very fun to do! I hope that you enjoy~ ËĘâĄÉËHBËĘâĄÉË
Yan!Farmer X Isekai'd Reader
!Warning! This post contains yandere themes and topics that may be uncomfortable to people who are sensitive to the topic, read at your own discretion.
TW: implied non-con, obsessive personality, controlling behavior, toxic relationships.
!!READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION!! MINORS DNI!!
Itâs been a month since you found yourself in a world very much like the mmorpg game you used to play back when you were on earth. The first week was extremely rough, in the first three days you were in a frenzy trying to get your wearabouts about you. A couple of knights found you and were actually pretty helpful in guiding you to the church where the nuns made sure you were fed and taken care of. On your calmer day you decided you wanted to try something and called out the menu aloud. You almost jumped when the all too familiar screen popped up in front of you, the only thing missing was the option to âquit gameâ. The next chance that you got you asked one of the nuns how you could go about being an adventurer.
Here you were getting the hang of your class, who knew that combat in real life would be harder than it would be in a game. Monsters were actually terrifying and being in the wild sucked but at least you werenât relying on other people to get by now.
You might have been getting too comfortable though because while taking on a quest to get rid of some monsters terrorizing some local fields you all but reached your limit, you were tired and wounded but the request was done and you just needed to report back to the guild now but you passed out.
You woke with a jolt. You thought the knights found you and took you to the church again but after looking at your surroundings that didnât seem to be the case since it looked like a quaint cabin. You also noticed you were bandaged up really well. The door creaked open and in came a person you never saw before. âOh youâre awake! Thatâs good.â âIâm sorry I didnât mean to intrude,â you told them. He shook his head, âItâs the least I can do after you helped clear our fields of monsters.â âAh, I need to report back to the adventurerâs guild.â âYouâre not in any condition to move! You need rest.â âIâm okay, I need to collect my money after all.â âThen, let me come with you.â Seeing no harm in that you allowed him to come with you. âIâm Mikha by the way!â The two of you exchange greetings and names. âWow so youâve only been an adventurer for a month? What made you want to be one?â âChange of pace I guess.â
After finishing the business at the adventurer's guild you were about to say your goodbyes with Mikha but he invited you to dinner and you couldnât pass up free food. Back at his home you helped however you could in the kitchen but since everything was so primitive compared to your original world you were slow in learning. Over dinner you two talked about life, his parents died when he was young and he had to learn to take care of the farm from a young age in order to survive. He talked about how nice it was to have dinner with someone after being alone for so long. âHave you never thought about finding a spouse?â You asked. âI have, itâs just so hard when you have to tend the farm all the time.â The night ended with Mikha insisting that you spend the night there, which you agreed to since itâs better than camping out or spending money at an inn again.
A couple more months went by and you basically made yourself at home with Mikha. Even though he insisted that you paid with your company you still gave him money for his hospitality. All seemed to be going well until you informed Mikha that you were leaving this part of the continent to broaden your horizons of the world. âMikha, are you okay? You dropped your food.â âI- Iâm fine, when are you leaving?â âItâs going to take me a month to prepare so Iâm not going any time soon.â âIâm going to miss youâŚâ âIâll miss you too! Iâll definitely try to write to you when I can.â Mikha lost his appetite, he thought everything was going good between the two of you, he thought he could convince you to stop adventuring someday and the two of you would settle down and start a family together. Was this really how it was going to end? No, he wonât allow it.
Your preparations were coming along and you were getting more and more excited about your journey. You couldnât help but notice that Mikha seemed to have gotten quieter and just overall seemed to be more on edge. When you asked him what was wrong heâd vehemently tell you nothing was wrong.
Finally, the night before your journey arrived and Mihka had prepared more food than usual as a celebratory feast. You two ate and drank to your heart's content and Mihka even seemed like he was back to his cheerful self. After cleaning up, you went to go get a good night's rest but in the middle of the night you felt something burning in your core. You were extremely turned on and it was to a point where it was near uncomfortable. You squeezed your legs together, you tried to breathe it out and you even tried to relieve yourself but nothing was working. You didnât even notice the knocking on your door until Mikha walked in to ask what was wrong. âStay away from me!â You warned him, âIâm not in my right mind!â Mikha didnât listen and because of that you jumped him and used him to your heart's content.
The next morning you were ashamed of yourself, you saw the marks and bruises you gave him from the night before. You were on your knees, crying and sobbing for forgiveness. He seemed like an angel when he pulled you in for a hug and told you everything is going to be okay but youâd need to take responsibility. You kissed your future dreams goodbye and eventually the two of you married and took care of the farm together. Mikha was just glad that you agreed to take responsibility so easily, but in case you ever tried to leave him, he would tell you about the succubus mark that was implanted on the two of you that night meant that no matter who else you decided to be with your lust wouldnât have been satisfied by anyone except him.
#lovesick#yandere#yandere male#obsessive yandere#obsessive love#obsession#male yandere#male yandere x reader#gender neautral reader#gn reader#yandere writing#tw yandere#yandere blog#yandere boy#yandere x you#yandere x reader#yandere x y/n#x y/n#y/n#isekai#tw noncon#yandere writer#yandere core
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IS VI THE SHERIFF?!?
I would normally say I'm late to the party but I've been researching for far too long and realized barely ANYONE has noticed this!!
So looking at the season 2 trailer for Arcane, everyone seemed to focus on the fact Vi has become an enforcer. But look at this badge that the camera focuses on...
Call me mad, but that isn't just an enforcer badge, that's the SHERIFF'S BADGE!!!!
If you compare the regular enforcer uniform (which ngl is annoying to do cus there seem to be SO many different versions!) they do all have 1 thing in common, the lack of this badge. Some do have a symbol on their belts but it's different from this one, a lot simpler and seems to be a belt decoration/buckle more than an official badge.
But guess which uniforms we DO see with this badge, Grayson and Marcus, both only wearing it while holding the title of Sheriff!
Seriously, compare Grayson and Marcus's badge to the other enforcers!
I'll concede, you could argue that since this is the symbol for Piltover as a whole that it is just to represent the Enforcers in general. But then my question is, why are Grayson and Marcus the only ones wearing this symbol if that is the case?
The only other time we see an enforcer with this specific badge design is when Caitlyn is crossing the bridge back into Piltover and gets stopped by the barricade. But notice this badge is silver, whereas Grayson, Marcus, and Vi, all have gold badges. Looks an indication of status. Regular enforcers carry silver badges while the higher ups have gold ones on display 24/7.
Honestly, the way these badges are presented on each character can also line up with the individual person. If this is true it's a really cool snippet of storytelling through character design.
Looking at Grayson, her badge is big, front and center, she's showing it off. Grayson is proud of what she does and of her status, she earned her title through her own hard work and desire to protect the city.
Marcus's badge is slightly smaller and a bit more off to the side. He is the Sheriff and wants that to be known so, he will use that to his advantage so he doesn't hide his badge. But he is ashamed of how he got the title and is ashamed of himself. He's got what he wanted but has dug a hole for himself so deep that he can't crawl out of it, the only thing he has to show for his efforts is a badge won through blood shed and lies.
Vi's is WAY smaller than both and nearly unnoticeable on her belt to the left side. She has hated the Enforcers and topside her whole life, and now shes found herself becoming one. Oh the misery!! (Sorry!) She doesn't want to be here but feels she has too due to everything that is going on; Jinx, Zaun, Caitlyn, etc. She ended up with this position out of necessity rather than ambition or desire. Her hiding the badge away, the evidence of her 'betrayal' to the Under City, shows how reluctant she is to be doing this. She is only wearing that badge out of needing to comply with the rules that come with being Sheriff. And probably as soon as the job is done she'll toss the thing aside (which also works with the cannon cus that'll probs be how Caitlyn ends up being Sheriff like she is in game).
This entire concept is just SO fascinating to me, all the signs are there but the trailer made us so focused on Vi becoming an enforcer AT ALL that we all missed the other clues. It's a perfect example of misdirection and hiding the truth right under your nose. In the trailer we hear Caitlyn planning a strike team, sounding very in charge. When she is standing by Vi and their team she holds herself high, looking very much like a leader compared to Vi's resigned look and slightly deflated stance. Easily making us think she is the new Sheriff already - notice as well in this picture that neither Cair nor the rest of this team have any badges at all on display with their uniforms (would include a pic but I've reached the limit for this post!!!).
A good chunk of people already know that in game Vi is an enforcer and partner to Sheriff Caitlyn, the show makers know this is the assumption people will be making for season 2 and so went to imply this in the trailer without specifically stating it. Only leaving a few breadcrumbs suggesting we're all looking the wrong way.
I could be stretching here and be completely wrong, but if so PLEASE explain to me why only these 3 people are seen with this damn badge!!!!!
If this is true it's a pretty damn cool way to misdirect and subverse expectations to start off season 2.
#arcane#arcane vi#violet#cait#caitlyn#caitlyn kirraman#arcane caitlyn#caitvi#arcane caitvi#arcane league of legends#arcane lol#league of legends#theory#fan theory#vi and jinx#jinx arcane#jinx#jinx league of legends#vi league of legends#vi lol#video games#netflix#HOLY WTF?!?#I could be stretching but am I?!?
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Rating labyrinths: Gertrud!
Okay! Let's go with the labyrinth ratings wheeee!!!
What I'm going to do is rank separate parts of labyrinths (eg. anthony's labyrinth from ep 1 is separate to gertrud's from ep 2) but I'll also give an average at the end.
I will (most likely) only be doing labyrinths that are in colour (so maybe not manga witches)
Anthony's labyrinth from episode 1
I think this is a really good one, especially as the first shown (not including walpy's). It really shows of the cut-out style of the labyrinths and the deep blue-hued colours are perfectly moody. The use of runes in the background is also really fun for secret messages. I feel the only downside is that it doesn't really scream Gertrud to me. Like, if you didn't know the series well and was shown this, I doubt you'd think it belonged to her. HOWEVER... I think this does work for Gertrud since all her precious roses are in her room with her. It makes sense that she'd keep them close.
You could say that it's weird that this labyrinth doesn't share colours with the main one but I think it works because it's a familiar's labyrinth. The photorealistic buildings also match the main labyrinth. I wonder if the butterfly and anthony traffic signs are meant to be a subtle warning to madoka and sayaka hmmm
I really like this one. A 5/5 for me
Gertrud's labyrinth from episode 2
There's a lot to it so it's kinda hard to summarise in images lol. But it's another great one. Great imagery, lovely colours and has themes brought over from Anthony's labyrinth. I think the orange tones, although relaxing, also give off this sepia feel that makes it a little unnerving too. Like looking through a tinted view makes things seem unreal.
One of my favourite parts are the doorways that lead to black nothingness. Really helps with the labyrinthine feel. Small touches like the portraits with slight things changed in them to make them scary. It's the kind of thing you don't notice unless you pause. I also like how it seems the labyrinth becomes more luscious as you get deeper. The trees start bare, then with black leaves, then Gertrud's room is fully in bloom.
I wasn't sure whether to rank the boss room separately, maybe I will... I think the ceiling that doesn't quite make sense works well to make it feel disorientating and it's a fun contrast to the kinda pretty garden around Gertrud. It's messy but in a good way. I also think having the boss room have a different theme to the rest works. Just as before I mentioned that roses are only in her boss room, I think it would make sense that her special place may be better taken care of or just look overall nicer. It's very good but I'd say, not my favourite segment. Maybe just because it's only one room?? That makes it a little unfair to compare to the rest...
I'll give the labyrinth a 5/5. Boss room is a 4.5/5
Gertrud's labyrinth from Magireco episode 11
Yeah... this one isn't it, chief... like, it has the things of her labyrinth but it's just not... uhhh I dunno it feels more like a set piece than a proper area...
Let's start with what I like: of course, I love the Gertrud motifs. The butterflies, the cut out images and the hidden text (although it's no different than the original anime iirc). I really like the halo above Gertrud's area. And the hanging loops. It's weird but pretty. Suits Gertrud!
Sadly that's where my positives end. The stark white is NOT Gertrud it's so weird... I guess the stone rose works better but not the rest. I kinda hate in the zoom out where... it just looks like a video game level, like I'm looking at mario 64 or something ToT that is not a labyrinth..! Just the overall layout is meh. I dislike the random fluff pile below it too. Just felt like they didnt know what to fill it with...
It's a dud but has some good things... I'm giving it a 1.5/5. I know there's worse which is why it's not a 1.
So overall Gertrud get's a.... 4/5 wow!!!
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á´
á´á´ ÉŞĘ á´á´Ę á´ĘĘ á´á´ęąá´á´ĘĘÉŞęąá´
Ęá´ęąá´Ęá´ęąęą
âą á´á´ÉŞĘɪɴɢ: Vergil x Reader
âą á´Ąá´Ęɴɪɴɢęą: teeny tiny angst
âą á´Ąá´Ęá´
á´á´á´É´á´: 1807
âą ęąá´á´á´á´ĘĘ: Believing that Vergil was the prim and proper sleeper you thought he was had been a case of poor judgement on your behalf. You were entirely wrong.
âą á´/É´: i feel like if vergil were to live at dmc with dante he'd def sleep on a twin sized mattress. feet hanging off and everything and probably the HEAVIEST sleeper
âą twitter - ao3
In retrospect, you didn't think too long or too hard about it, but bashing your knees on the floor because you had been kicked out of bed was perhaps... the 'eye-opener', if you will. You thought perhaps him sleeping that way in a stark contrast to how he carried himself when he was awake was just another layer to his complexing being, one that you had yet to fully uncover or dig deep into to.Â
Though... the shit he was pulling in his sleep as of that moment compared to what he had been doing was the tip of iceberg. You just didn't know it.Â
Believing that Vergil was the prim and proper sleeper you thought he was had been a case of poor judgement on your behalf. That man was anything but an easy-going bedmate. It wasnât your fault, you genuinely thought that from the way he carried himself he more than likely slept so still, and so light that a feather dropping would awaken him; anyone would think that. Hell, you thought sometimes that he probably didnât even sleep. You were entirely wrong.
If you were being honest, you always conjured up images in your mind of the stoic half-demon sleeping like a vampire; body pin-straight lying on his back with his beloved Yamato clasped between his hands resting along the front of his body. You only thought so before your relationship grew from the trivial back and forth you two often engaged in; after becoming more intimate and eventually moving to share a bed together, you half-heartedly wanted nothing more than to smother him with a pillow. Yet, being able to see Vergil with his hair loose from its usual place and the furrow from his brow gone as he rested made it worth it.
Possibly.
Starting off, your lover was entirely too big for the antics he pulled in his sleep. Vergil was a whopping 6â5 â you didnât even want to guess how much he weighed given whenever he rolled on top of you felt as if your lungs were being crushed â and it was a wonder how his feet didnât hang off the end. The bed wasnât too small, a queen-sized, but the points where you found yourself pushed to the edge had been just the beginning of a new petty war between you two.
You started resting your chilly feet on his lower back in retaliation, partly just to annoy him and also because Vergilâs body temperature ran like a furnace. You had to give it to him there, the harsh winters were comfortable since you could curl yourself around him wallowing in his heat albeit he would complain, but in the heat of summer was the time when your Scrooge decided he wanted to 'cuddle'. Vergil was never one for cuddling, what he did felt more punishing than relaxing when you could barely move in some of his favorite 'positions'.
(He definitely started doing it after the feet incident where you âaccidentallyâ ran your toes up his spine, cackling when he tensed and threw a nasty scowl over his shoulder.)
When you started waking in headlocks and body-locked positions with perspiration stuck to your back and Vergil breathing down your neck, you knew you had to step up your game. You had your fair share of falling asleep on Vergilâs shoulder and slobbering on his coat, and while he complained and would do his loud-ass sighing, you knew it didnât bother him that much, particularly when he never would move you if you were napping. Mouth-breathing became a new tendency when you slept, one Vergil nagged about because apparently you âbreathe too loudâ and âsnore like Danteâ. You disregarded him because you did not snore, and settled with your cheek either pressed against his pectoral or his bicep and rejoiced when you would wake up with dried saliva along your cheeks and lips and encrusted onto his skin. However, that flopped when he seemingly paid it no mind and one morning when you turned to give him a sweet good morning kiss, he caught your face between his hand and pinched your cheeks together eyeing you beneath his lashes.
âYour breath stinks.â
You canât stand him.
Afterwards, it was small things such as hogging the blankets, taking the othersâ pillow, or you being sprawled out in the center of the bed before Vergil came, to which he would promptly pick you up and either move you to your side or, if he was feeling mischievous, lay you on top of him. You supposed it was getting foolish when you both winded down to normal sleep behaviors, though the night you woke up in a panic because you were falling off the bed was the tipping point.
You barely managed a squeak when you felt yourself free-falling for a brief moment landing on your palms to keep from face-planting and smashing your nose. Blinking a couple times to register where you were and clearing your sleep-addled mind, you pushed upwards to sit on your bottom and peered over the mattress at your partner.
Did he kick you out of bedâŚ
What the fuck.
You slowly stood, glaring at his sleeping face suddenly irritated with how lovely he looked sleeping. You could never tell if Vergil was faking sleep or not, his poker face was one in a million and provided the only times he cracked a smile was at the thought of fighting Dante you really couldnât tell when he was being serious or actually teasing. Watching his chest fall in periodic bouts, you decided yes, he was asleep, but not for long.
âVergil.â
Nothing. You leaned closer.
âVergil.â
He didnât even twitch. Squinting you brought your face dangerously close to his to see if you could gander a reaction. His senses were sharp; you were never able to sneak up on him with his hearing â and evidently your smell â and usually trying to give him a sneaky little peck stirred him, grumbling about how he can hear your breathing pick up and pulse increase.
Embarrassing.
Then again, you hoped Vergil didnât wake up and see you hovering over him like some parched freak.
âVergil,â you tried once more, only to end up sighing when he stretched a leg out. The man had the audacity to kick you out of your bed and continue sleeping afterwards in the middle of the bed. How were you supposed sleep with this beast in your bed who slept like he was dead? The moonlight glowing down through the window above the bed wasnât helping your case in being mad at him when it shined right on his bare chest either.
When Dante had told you a relationship with Vergil wouldnât be easy and youâd face hardships, you thought that meant the emotional trauma he had and him settling into the world once more. Not you seething at the side of your bed at three in the morning because your boyfriend was hogging the bed.
You sat down sighing before making a last ditch effort to try and at least move his arm so you could burrow underneath that at least. You really didnât want to sleep on the couch downstairs using a pillow as a cover. Cursing him, you lifted his limp arm to roll underneath â
Only for the arm to snatch your waist and pull you down onto the mattress facing the ceiling. The bounce made you gasp as Vergilâs arm moved and his hand skimmed your upper arm until fingertips ghosted your shoulder and his hand rested at your nape. You purposefully dug your shoulder against his chest deeper as you turned your head to stare at his Adams apple.
âVergil, are you awake orâŚâ
Silence. Then, âNo.â
You exploded.
âWhat do you mean âNoâ?! Were you awake that entire time just to sit and watch me suffer?â
His fingers resting on your nape squeezed slightly before letting off to linger on your skin there, âWhy were you hovering over the bed ogling me?â You never got tired listening to his groggy, sleepy voice, it was enough to tingle your spine so close to your ear. You pushed it away though, opting to grit your teeth and ready to lay it on him.
âI was not âoglingâ you, who even says that. You kicked me out of the bed with your pterodactyl feet because you donât know how to share a bed. I tried waking you up, but you sleep like a log,â you finished your rant jabbing a finger into chest and scratching a nail downwards.
Vergil pulled back a fraction looking somewhat insulted at the comment prior to sighing and lying his chin atop your head, âSo noisy⌠I woke you.â
You frowned. Generally, he was biting back a response which would lead into a humorous insult match, yet he let it go instead pulling you closer and staying quiet. Had you said something wrong? Were his feelings hurt by the pterodactyl comment? Couldnât have been, Vergil never cared when you made unusual jokes like that. Was it the sharing pass you made? You knew from small-talk Dante and Vergil fought constantly as children, over practically anything, but you knew it stimmed down to Vergil always being mad Dante would take his things from him â explaining the poetry book he adored with his initial carved into the front. Yet, that didnât make sense for him to be mad. You thought back; you told him he kicked you out of bed, which was odd alone because he rarely jerked in his sleep unless he was â
Unless he was having a nightmare.
You nearly groaned, how did you forget that? He was more than likely kicking out fighting whatever was haunting his dream. Normally it was just noise and heâd wake himself up rolling away to deal with it himself, not one for sentimental words and reassuring touches. You pushed out a nearly inaudibly sigh, but you know his ears picked it up. He was waiting for you to respond as you turned to shove your face into his neck.
âYeah, well, have many times have I woke you up,â you murmured, fluttering your eyelashes against his throat, bending a leg around his hip. Given, half the times you had woken him were when you had to pee and was trapped under his weightâŚ
âMany.â
ââŚIt was a rhetorical question.â
âYou have woken me numerous times, usually because you want sex.â
â...â
âHmm?â
âYou didnât have to explain why.â
He didnât respond. Suddenly wide awake, you placed a hand on his chest and rose your leg to sit at his waist. Vergil sighed.
âI canât sleep.â
âMm. How interesting.â
ââŚYou wanna ââ
You didnât get to finish when he rolled on top of you immediately giving you an answer with his lips.
#{đŠ¸} nee fics#vergil x reader#vergil devil may cry#vergil dmc#dmc#devil may cry#vergil#vergil x y/n#vergil x you
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We live in a world where Guts can lose a hotness contest to N!Alucard
Kill me
You know what? Fine.
I will never understand why people slobber all over this guy. Game Alucard, I get it, he is angelically pretty and drawn as such. But N!Alucard? Where is the prettiness? He looks like a snotty horseman with spaghetti for hair! What are those body proportions? Why does he want to be ethereal and buff at the same time? What is that face???? Everyone in S4 gained a shovel chin, but he's by far the worst!
"ohhhh the boobas look at dem boobas aren't you so enthralled" shut up you gave him trevor's chest scar for the sole reason of making him expose his chest in the most blatant cheap manipulative fanservice way possible for a man, as if that would make me gloss over how much of an unlikeable piece of shit he is.
(I just noticed that his hair looked different in S1E4 than in the rest of the show. guess it was too hard to animate)
Anyway. If his fans think he's the most gorgeous animated man alive, I bet their eyes would explode at actual, elegant beauty:
Am I petty? Why, yes. Let me be petty for a while after seeing one of my favorite characters of all time being passed over for an asshole with hair worse than a PS2 model >:(
Like, bro, it's like comparing a puddle of piss to the Sistine Chapel.
#anti netflixvania#also nfcv isn't even an anime#it shouldn't be in anime polls#there#i'm also not kidding about the ps2 model#st. germain has better hair physics than the mop on n!alucard's head#(i'm not even counting s4. as mercy)
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A CRESCENT LOVE, AN EPHEMERAL PASSION | joĂŁo fĂŠlix sequeira.
summary: you and joĂŁo spent all the summer together. you even met his friends and brother. could this be the beginning of a crescent love or just an ephemeral passion? his friendship with his ex would ruin everything between the two of you?
author's notes: after the win against luxemburgo, where portugal national team set the record of goals, his ex just posted "mysterious" pics with floki, his dog. joĂŁo was also there, almost hidden, actually. we all know she always does it, never assuming anything maturely, but instigating the frustration of the fans who care about him and to make every gossip website and tv show talk about it, just like a teenager who wants attention would act. basically, this inspired me. i really don't hate anyone, by the way. even thought influencers who don't spread any impactful content and nepobabies with no talent and only standard beauty annoys me, i can't lie.
warnings: bad language (of course it's joĂŁo saying the words), chaotically humorous almost all the time, but also involving sadness and angst. implicit sex reference, i guess? maybe?
what do you feel when you hear my name? shame? embarrassment?
does your brain even bring you any sign or memory involving me?
do you ever think about me?
are your moments with her comparable to ours?
can we talk? can we communicate?
is it my fault? do you miss me?
your head was drunk for the whirlwinds of questions that piled up and get bigger, like waves. they seemed to be drowning you. the glowing light and peace of your woody brown gaze gives you triggers. his smile remains embedded, in your heart, an eternal home. the numbness and wrapping of his lips, every inch of his tanned skin and firm muscles being appreciated and admired by you. his hair was shiny, soft and full by the salty waters of the european beaches: always caressed for you. his laughs at you giving him the most silly and lazy hairstyles, with you pretending to be a professional who was filming your customer to tiktok.
âdo that pose! yes, your hand against your face! now, give me that playboy eye. just like that! youâre doing amazing, sweetie!â
when you get carried away in the game âwho am i?â and tried so hard doing the mimes, jumping excitedly and demonstrating your animation in a loud tone, before covering your own mouth and feigning naturalness, just to repeat the same instant acts.
when you made joĂŁo watch your random dances as soon as you won at uno and heâd tell how hilarious you were. when you cooked your regional foods and desserts for fĂŠlix, his brother whoâs hugo, alex â the photographer â diogo from the movemind channel and all of his friends. when he used to hold your face, rest his touch on your waist and thighs. tracing his fingerprints across your scalp, reveling in the ethereal smell of your hair, laying his lips against your entire face and stature, exalting you completely: from your ears, neck, collarbone, belly, legs and even your feet. being a gentleman, joĂŁo opened the car door for you, he intertwined the hands of you both in every single opportunity and helped you eat: having the cutlery for you to open your mouth and giving you support with the napkin. when you did his goal celebration. when the two of you invented a handshake, along with various inside jokes. for example, when joĂŁo posted many videos of him swimming and playing in the ocean.
âhey, flounder! âthe little mermaidâ? i loved it!â
âwhy am i not your ariel, tho?â
âwhy you didnât say youâd prefer to be eric of the real life?â
âgive me some respect, iâm the protagonist of this shit!â
âslay, king!â
you remember singing the songs that played in his car in the most chaotic way, using his hand as a microphone and taking the opportunity to kiss all over it and his fancy bracelets. you offered him affection biting his skin and enjoyed acting like his personal masseuse. you called him âmy prince of portugalâ.
âplease, donât become a stranger.â your last words, face to face. the intensity of the summer weeks of vacation, which were already ending, consuming you.
âyou know iâd never do that. look, youâre such a unique person, and even though weâre gonna go back to our busy routines, i still wanna keep you in my life. i still wanna be that close to you.â joĂŁo declared and they both found comfort in each otherâs arms. his perfume granted the beg leave and penetrated your lungs, giving you life. you felt like you shouldnât let it go, but there was nothing else to accomplish. you were single, so was he. you ask yourself if everything would be different. maybe if you had tried your lips once again: asking him to give a chance to them, to have more. to not leave what you went through, together, in the box of forgotten memories. would that really suffice, though?
"it's obvious that youâd choose the blonde influencer with light eyes, slender body and member of a rich family. the one who was with a formula 1 racer days before she went to meet you. before you just disappear from my life, without saying anything. the one that doesn't show an ounce of authenticity and, of course, affective responsibility. who am i in comparison to her?! right, joĂŁo?" your voice flashed the disparity of fragility and indignation, trembling hands clutching the phone.
ây/n, listen to me. youâd never understand it, okay? youâre not inside this relationship, me and her are. youâre seeing it from the outside, just like everyone else. yeah, she was hanging out and making out with other people. so was i with you. but then, some things changed.â john seemed to be busy. echoes of other people's voices ran through the call.
ânothing has happened between us since the vacation, joĂŁo. what doesnât make sense because i thought you were liking me. i only think about you!â you vented out and received silence. his answers tried to become existent and complete. he stammered, the audible sound of his familiar backwards cap being pulled off and his honey-colored hair being rubbed against his own fingerprints.
âdo you think i donât like you? holy shit, y/n. i even thought we could have so much more. a future together and everything. i think about you and i swear in the name of my family, and i already said that they mean the fucking world to me. the thing is: thereâs something that still keep me going back to her. i donât know if itâs because iâm with her since i was younger, butâŚâ
âjoĂŁo, this is emotional dependence. iâm sorry to tell you this, however, itâs necessary. i care about you. youâre so internally and externally beautiful, precious, successful and talented. you deserve better!â you interrupted him, stepping back and forth.
ây/n, i love her. when i looked at youâŚâ
âsheâs all that you see, right?â
âhm⌠yeahâŚâ fĂŠlix found himself in a bind. paralyzed, he remained without an answer for a while. the coldness of the material of his gold necklace touches his tongue: a way to combat the nervousness that generates the gnawed nails.
âmy toxic behavior wants to help and fix you so badly, but i know i canât get more involved than that. iâm not the one for you.â the words reproduced by yourself reinforced the fragmentation of your heart.
âj, baby⌠are you coming or not? iâm waiting for you, floki is waiting for his dad!â you heard that female voice call to him and realized the way that just this factor made his breathing destabilize.
âi think this is officially the end of whatever we had, joĂŁo. goodbye!â your voice was unstable and he realized it: sharp as deep, transparent and suffocating waters.
âi wish you the best, y/n. i apologize for not being what you expected, what you needed, andâŚâ
âcaralho, joĂŁo! que merda! (holy fuck, joĂŁo! what the hell?). come on, give me your phone!â the girl began to rant. her heels against the floor were exclamatory. she was running out of patience.
the call is over. again, you were superimposed on the ocean of blazing tears. you tried to convince yourself that everything went the way it was supposed to be.
but was it for real?
#joĂŁo fĂŠlix#joao felix#joao felix x reader#joao felix x you#joao felix smut#joao felix fluff#joao felix angst#joĂŁo fĂŠlix x reader#joĂŁo fĂŠlix x you#joĂŁo fĂŠlix smut#joĂŁo fĂŠlix fluff#joĂŁo fĂŠlix angst#joao felix x y/n#joĂŁo fĂŠlix x y/n#joao felix fanfic#joĂŁo fĂŠlix fanfic#joao felix one shot#joao felix drabble#joao felix blurb#joĂŁo fĂŠlix drabble#joĂŁo fĂŠlix blurb#joĂŁo fĂŠlix one shot#joao felix oneshot#football#football x reader#football smut#football one shots#joao felix headcanon#joĂŁo fĂŠlix headcanon#đ§ ŕż alĂŠxia's works!
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