#he was the ''true personality'' all along and implying that being a system is a barrier to a super happy ending

[npdiyozane]

I don't like BSD I'm sorry if I'm putting myself through the little sister bullshit I'm doing it for a VN that does something interesting not for a basic shounen anime with a mafia aesthetic and some questionable literary references.

[boomerangguy]

Flameo Hottake

After browsing some insightful analyses (A, B, C) on Ashes of the Academy, I’m starting to wonder if the ATLA writers — from Bryke to Hicks — are incapable of executing a transformative character arc (i.e. turning a Good Guy into a Bad Guy or a Bad Guy into a Good Guy with minimal reliance on off-screen explanations).

Sure, Zuko got a “redemption” when he switched sides at the end of the series…but in terms of behavior/traits, he acts the same way in Book 3 as he does in Book 1 — just fighting as a Good Guy. He’s still short-tempered, rude, and resorts to violence as a matter of impulse. If you watch Sozin’s Comet and then restart the series with The Boy in the Iceberg, you won’t say, “Wow! Zuko sure came a long way! He’s completely unrecognizable!” Because other than the ponytail, he’s very much recognizable. Same guy, really.

Anyway, back to Ashes of the Academy. Ursa’s dialogue at the start of the comic frames the (ostensible) conflict: the Academy changed Azula for the worse, and it could very well do the same to Kiyi. Except…we aren’t shown any of that. There is no flashback corruption arc for young Azula, and Kiyi doesn’t start to slide in that direction either. Apparently, Azula is a Bad Guy — always has been. And Kiyi is a Good Guy — always will be. It’s like they’ve been…flattened.

That’s a problem which other franchises might be able to tolerate better, but given Avatar’s thematic emphasis on the ability of anyone to change, the writers seem awfully determined to cram every major character into either a Good Guy Bucket or a Bad Guy Bucket then ignore established canon and previous characterization to justify why they always belonged in that bucket.

The handling of Mai’s past, especially her friendship with Azula, may be the best example of this. In ATLA Book 2, Mai is an antagonistic villain. She’s not nice. She does not have noble motives. She is clearly a Bad Guy, albeit a cool one. So writing her in AotA as if she was truly a Good Guy all along, just pretending to be friends with Azula to please her father — an explanation which makes no sense in broader narrative context or given that Azula is an insightful ‘people person’ who would’ve sniffed that out sooner or later — is utterly incoherent. (Oh, and Mai was never into the Fire Nation imperialism thing either, making her about one in a million lmao.) She belongs in the Good Guy Bucket now…so she was always a Good Guy? She never aligned herself with the Bad Guys because she, too, was once a Bad Guy? That seems to be how they’re operating.

The same is true for Azula, just inversed. How did the Academy make her worse? ‘Worse’ implies that she was better before she attended, so are we shown that moral regression anywhere in the comic? Or was she always an irrationally cruel psychopath, a la The Bad Seed? At this point, we’ve seen too much of her humanity and vulnerability for them to sell us on that — even as recently as the Spirit Temple comic — but AotA pushes her in The Bad Seed direction again, contradicting itself (Ursa’s dialogue) and, more egregiously, Azula’s characterization in the original series. I’m starting to hear Oprah’s voice in my head: “You get a retcon! And you get a retcon! And you get a retcon!”

Who’s next? Well…I think we can guess…

As the ATLA story creeps and bounds (first in the comics, soon with the Adult Gaang Movie) towards the LOK timeline, they’re going to have to confront a bigger problem: How did Zuko, the teenage usurper of his father/sister’s widely popular regime, manage to completely reorient the ideologically imperialistic Fire Nation? That’s kind of a big deal. It’s the major overall conflict throughout many of the comics, and he’s (understandably) not seeming to make much progress. But just from a writing perspective, if they can’t show a couple of small children being twisted by a bad school system, how could they possibly pull off the moral redemption of an entire nation?

All this to say…

…prepare yourself for the whole Fire Nation to get retconned into the Good Guy Bucket. They were always good people! They didn’t want imperialism! They weren’t warlike! It was all Ozai and Sozin! Azulon? Who’s Azulon?

Seriously, though, it’s coming — unless they manage to get some competent writers who know how to effectively move a character from A to B.

[raisedbythetv89]

So I finally have time to watch JJK in Japanese w/ English subtitles instead of the dubbed version and I’ve only watched one and a half episodes so far but oh my god????????????????

Megumi asking Gojo to save Yuji WHY DID THEY CHANGE IT SO MUCH IN THE DUB I WASN’T PREPARED

So in the English dubbed version it’s:

Megumi: “I don’t want him to die”

Gojo: “Personal?”

Megumi: “I suppose. So can you save him?”

like obviously still vaguely implying megumi already has formed a serious attachment to yuji in a short amount of time but still VAGUE & with the “I suppose” it sounds like megumi is reluctant to admit it but gojo who has played these games before knows what’s up regardless (I know what you are megumi fushiguro 😏)

BUT In the original w/ subtitles???

Megumi: “I don’t want to let him die”

Gojo: “Your personal feelings?”

Megumi: “Yes. Please do something about this”

HELLO????????????????? MEGUMI SAYING PLEASE GOJO DO SOMETHING????????? IM SICK 😭

and the LET him die is so crucial?????? Already he feels it’s his responsibility to protect yuji because he’s only in this situation now because yuji was determined to help megumi that honestly just is not as clear in the dub. The sub just makes it so much clearer how immediately an inexplicably yuji and megumi are tied together by their shared belief systems that while even though they don’t see eye to eye on how they should utilize their energy saving people when they want to save someone they behave identically risking everything in an attempt to save who they set out to save and they both equally hold the burdens for the other for saving them “don’t tell itadori” “don’t you dare tell fushiguro” truly everything is just clicking in a new way just how fated yuji and megumi are

Like how yuji is always one step ahead of megumi- finding the finger megumi himself was sent to retrieve, being a vessel for sukuna, risking death to save megumi, being saved by sukuna from death, the pace at which he is advancing after the exchange event, sukuna using his body to take lives+losing family both blood and found fathers/mentors leading to him wanting to give up completely - yuji has already walked megumi’s path!!!!! Which is why he is able to save him at the end!!!!!!!!!! Because yuji already knew exactly what megumi was going through!!!!!! And on the flip side megumi was DETERMINED to never let yuji go too far ahead on their shared path to where he couldn’t follow always one step behind him to make sure yuji doesn’t isolate himself “i’ll be so lonely without you fushiguro” megumi the protective shadow to yuji and yuji the guiding and inspiring light to megumi (megumi lost demon dog white and yuji in the same episode (ep 4) further showing how yuji represents megumi’s light) AND THE SINGULAR FISH!!!!!!!!!! In the opening credits in s1 Yuji on the train half filled with water with ONE black and white stripped fish like yuji has already arrived and set up the aquarium and now he rests waiting for megumi to catch up as it cuts to megumi UNDER the rail tracks on the street level in a tunnel where there is only shallow puddles of water like yuji was just there and he just missed him but is hot on his trail as he’s squatting down studying the water like they’re animal tracks (which by the way re: the water - yuji is literally a pisces - the fish of the zodiac while megumi is a Capricorn - a SEA goat - which can obviously take the same path as the fish but will not be able to move along said path as quickly and needs half air half water like the train yuji is on??????? - gege is SO into astrology I have a half finished post in my drafts about all the astrology of jjk and it’s literally too perfect not to be intentional) in contrast to geto’s all black and gojo’s all white beta fishes that literally CANNOT be in the same tank together without killing each other. Showing the while geto and gojo were true opposites that worked well together for a while but eventually their paths sharply diverged both wanting to build a better world but the methodology behind it being the polar opposite geto’s being completely ego driven and gojo’s ironically being completely selfless with the goal of his students surpassing him rather than it being about a world he personally can enjoy geto and gojo were like two opposing forces who collided and that collision caused them both to ricochet in completely opposite directions - megumi and yuji are two sides of the same coin on the same path going the same direction just one tailing behind the other - yuji and megumi both have a mix of gojo and geto’s strengths and weaknesses dispersed between the two of them in a way that allows them to survive TOGETHER as represented by the one fish with black and white stripes

It’s unfortunate but honestly no wonder gege burned out under a time constraint the level of detail he put into his characters, their design, and all these hidden things in the anime it’s actually mind boggling

It’s also hysterical when ppl try and tell itafushi shippers “megumi and yuji are just best friends” it’s like BRO they are genuinely literally fated soulmates bound together by destiny and all the tragedies that came before them you don’t have to view them as romantic if you don’t want to (but I will and nothing will stop me!!) but like even just calling them best friends is an INSULT to what they truly are lol

[manesthia]

Thoughts on Halsin as an "atypical druid"

I've seen a number of excellent metas lately about Halsin's atypical druidism (the fact that he does not abhor the undead, does not have complete control over his wildshape, etc.). While I agree completely with those points, I've also noticed a tendency to sometimes frame this as Halsin being a "bad" druid or never really belonging with the druids in the first place. And I strongly disagree with that. I feel that Halsin's druidism is a core aspect of his character and implying that he is somehow "bad at it" robs him of something essential. The fact that he is a unique, complex character with far more depth than just "typical DnD druid" doesn't mean that he is not still a druid at heart - and a pretty formidable one, at that.

I see him as a character who has something in common with the nature deities and magician-priests of ancient myth and legend: Merlin (a mentor whose teachings are rooted in the natural world; who guides kings rather than wishing to rule himself; who mediates between the kingdom of men and animals; and who changes into an animal) and Dionysus (who celebrates multiplicity, fluidity, nature-based wisdom, carnal pleasure, the subversion of unnatural restraints - and who also shapeshifts, by the way). Druidism informs Halsin's entire belief system, ranging from his view on relationships (Halsin never uses the word 'polyamory'; instead, he speaks of "doing as nature does" and explains all of his preferences with nature metaphors - "the bear partners as its instinct dictates", etc.) to the importance he places on community. Halsin is unhappy as Archdruid not because he is just an incompetent leader or can't get along with other druids, but because he is so in tune with nature that he only thrives in communities with a structure more like the branching network of roots or mycelia - like our group of "weirdos" or his rebuilt community in Reithwin. He does know how to guide, counsel, and mediate - all of which are essential leadership abilities. But he needs to be part of an interconnected organism that grows and learns together, not the sole leader of it. To me, this is connected to his shapeshifting abilities and druidism: Halsin is connected to all other beings by literally becoming them (even if he is most attuned to his bear-shape).

Halsin speaks very highly of the grove as a place of worship (let's not forget how deeply religious Halsin is, too), but he also says that life in the grove made him feel cut off from nature. It's ironic that a druid grove runs on politics and power hierarchies (aspects of civilisation that most druids should despise), but it does. This is also a theme in a sidequest in BG2, if anyone recalls. In my opinion, the fact that Halsin feels out of place in a grove that has grown corrupted with politics and power plays actually makes him more true to core druidic beliefs, not less so.

I think the idea that Halsin doesn't get along with other druids gets taken a little too far at times, too. Members of his grove have issues with him primarily because they have been radicalised by Shadow Druids, not because Halsin is just too good-aligned for other druids in general. Note that every single druid in the grove who expresses strong anti-refugee sentiment also supports Kagha and the Rite of Thorns. Halsin welcomes outcasts into the grove because he is compassionate and empathetic as a person, yes, but also because it is part of his druidic belief in harmony, unity, and the value of life. Compare with Olodan's line:

This is not to say that I think Halsin's would never clash with other druids at all, or that I think his relationship with the grove is without friction. Obviously, part of the blame for the infiltration of the Shadow Druids falls on him. Obviously, there would be more neutral-aligned druids who would disagree with him on principle. But the fact that the previous Archdruid chose Halsin as his successor (we must assume that he did, since Halsin obviously didn't sign up for it) strongly indicates to me that the deceased, much wiser elders of the grove valued him greatly. Jaheira also repeatedly refers to him with the deepest respect.

I think it's also worth noting that there is room for nuance in druidic beliefs in the BG series. Faldorn in BG1, Cernd in BG2 and Jaheira in all three games are all very different. In many ways, Jaheira is more Harper than druid, which I think was indicated by her being a multiclassed fighter/druid in the earlier games. It also comes out in her conversation with Halsin about the Shadow Curse:

And if you tell her (speaking as Halsin) that she doesn't have to explain herself to him:

Of course, Halsin has a personal investment in lifting the Shadow Curse that Jaheira doesn't share, namely Thaniel. Only Halsin has a special connection with the very spirit of the land. This is also why he is completely unable to heal and move on until the Shadow Curse is lifted, unlike Jaheira. If the spirit of the land is wounded, then so is his own spirit. Jaheira, as a Fighter-Druid-Harper, is very much a protector of the realms as a whole (nature and civilisation), while Halsin is referred to over and over again by various NPCs as Nature's Steward, Keeper of Groves, Guardian of the Land, etc.

My argument here is not that Halsin is a more "typical" druid than Jaheira or that one is a "better" druid than the other (I love them both deeply). I'm just saying that all of this demonstrates to me how deeply intertwined Halsin's druidism is with the rest of his character. And I really, really appreciate him as a druid along with everything else he is.

I'm not really sure that I understand Tumblr etiquette regarding discussion (what is the polite way to interact with each other here? Commenting? Reblogs with hashtags? I'm too old for this site lol), but I would love to talk about this more. Please don't hesitate to comment, even if you disagree.

[pikahlua]

I mean at least with ochako, deku and shouto the author had them fight with the intention to try to save or understand himiko, tomura and touya. These characters were constructed under this little idea. But at the end none of them managed to do it and all the villains died as villains anyway and the ones that lived didn't change and afterwards the author decided to show a random kid being helped by an old lady as the proof of hero society changing or something. It felt cheap to me i guess.

"fight with the intention to try to save or understand himiko, tomura and touya" "But at the end none of them managed to do it"

...Do...do you really think they didn't manage to understand Himiko, Tomura, and Touya? Why? Why do you think that? I don't know how it could have been any clearer that understanding was achieved??

And I'm very concerned about this notion that "saving" these villains means they don't die and after surviving they completely change. Like, I'm sorry, but this confuses me the most about people who claim to be fans of the villains when they imply things like this. Think about what this would mean. Somehow these villains' grievances with society should have all been immediately and completely resolved and they change their tune like "Oops, guess I was wrong about everything ever! I love society now! Everything that happened to me was justified and I should never have complained! The heroes were right all along and I was just being silly! I will take steps for improving myself and rejoining this society that I used to hate because I mistakenly thought it wronged me!" Maybe that's not how you truly expected it to play out, but if Izuku, Ochako, and Shouto managed to talk-no-jutsu their villains in one go out of being villains, it would absolutely have come across that way. It would have been the message behind the culmination in Izuku and everyone "becoming the greatest heroes." It would have said yes, the status quo is good and correct, and people should just open up to the right people before they become villains and then they wouldn't be a problem for everybody.

What we get instead is the heroes coming to an understanding of what their villains' grievances are (again, why do you think this didn't happen?) and showing those villains that yes, there is at least one person in the world who understands them and wants to give them hope, that wants to make their lives easier. Tomura and Himiko both die with hope in their hearts. A piece of darkness inside each of the three of them is resolved by their respective heroes. Touya is granted his last wish to talk things out with his family before he dies. Himiko is faced with the question of incarceration or death, and she chooses death as a means of staying true to herself (i.e. her desire to never be caught, to live and die as she wants to). She also is able to live this new form of "love" in giving her blood to Ochako as she goes out. In destroying himself, Tomura also destroys the man who used him and was responsible for the existence of "that house" that represented all his trauma. Tomura also left a legacy for Spinner to continue in his absence and a question for Izuku to observe of society in the aftermath (which is why we see that moment with the old lady, who represented the legitimate grievance Tomura had with the society that failed to save him from AFO). All the villains maintain their LEGITIMATE grievances with society and refuse to bend to society's wishes, and thus their points, their ideals, their legacies live on. They endure within the hearts of others who are aggrieved by society, and they leave a stark impact on the heroes who couldn't change them. That's how we get Ochako dedicating her life to children's welfare. That's how we get Izuku telling all children they can be heroes whether or not they become pro heroes in the law enforcement system. That's how we get Shouto living a life where he can be and discover himself separate from the tainted legacy of his father. The lessons they take from their villains stay in their hearts forever because they are failures. Their failure was the point. They aren't perfect, they can't save everyone by themselves, they have to dedicate their lives to being the change society needs if they want to save more people, and their failures guide them in the directions where they can make that sort of impact.

Believe it or not, Crimson Riot says it best...

Yeah, that's right, the message has been prevalent in the story for a long time. It didn't come out of no where.

If the message feels cheap to you, I implore you (and EVERYONE) to engage in a thought exercise. Genuinely, try to imagine that someone in the world other than you finds the message of this story as not cheap but as earnest and meaningful and robust. Now imagine why this person would think that. What evidence is there in the manga that they would use to support it? What meaning would they derive from this ending? Try to understand the opposite point of view. Try to honestly engage with the text in this way. Horikoshi devoted a decade of his life to telling this story. Sure, some of it probably suffered from bad editing and weird changes due to elongating the story at times. It was a big story with a giant cast, and that can be a lot for any one person to manage perfectly over the course of 10 years. Maybe there are parts of the story that aren't as tight or clean as they could be. But, in good faith, please try to imagine WHY Horikoshi felt this story needed to be told. Try to imagine what message Horikoshi wanted to convey that matters to him. Don't just dismiss the ending out of hand because it doesn't immediately click for you. I think it's great you asked me about it, and I hope my answer gives you more to think about.

[darkonekrisrewrite]

Emily from Hazbin Hotel would be infinitely better at Deku's job (narratively and literally) than he is. For the simple fact that when she finds out about Heaven's dark secret, the exterminations, she is horrified and goes this is not okay, it's not okay that this is happening, I am not going to be quiet about this. If we are judging people off of one moment and are refusing to look at the context, or improvement, while allowing our people to get away with this, than this entire system is a lie. We get this in one episode, fuck it, a song

Deku meanwhile in 400+ chapters finds out horrifying truth after horrifying truth about hero society, and doesn't care, half the time it doesn't even occur that this is fucked up, and should not be happening. He is bullied for years based on his quirk status, especially by Bakugou 'well he's going to be a hero so this shouldn't be taken seriously' He learns that the number 2 hero bought his wife, neglected his not perfect quirk babies and abused all of them, and was already an ass before that, 'theres no need to bring this up to All Might, or the principal, or do anything about that, I just need to get this victim to be cool with his quirk' (this also goes for Bakugou the easedropper). His upperclassman stops him from saving a six year old in blatant danger, and both that top upperclassman, their boss, and his past mentor outwardly state/ agree with it would be bad publicity if they didn't arrest all the Yakuza at once, and that they barely care about that child after learning see was the ingredient to the weapon they were making, 'well were saving her now'. Lady Nagant was and Hawks is the personal assassin for the commission against whoever they want without trial or due process, 'Hawks is going to make a great new president of the commission'. Rody Soul was forced to support his younger siblings as a child, was assaulted by adults, was forced to turn to crime, while heroes did nothing, 'well I'm helping now (because it goes along with a larger case) so it's all good'

After all this Deku is a fucking bootlicker who is mentally so fucking lazy he has never questioned this shit ass system after all this, his values are empty because he only cares to look at the titles and not reality, he has gotten worse, not better, at this over the course of the series. Meanwhile Emily wasn't tolerating this shit day one of finding out, and she was working within this system too

Yeah pretty much true.

People say that hazbin hotel rushes things because of it's short episode count/runtime but at least it always gets to the point without going in circles for years, dragging out the characters finally understanding the message.

When something obviously wrong and counter to everything they believe in, is shoved in a character's face, there should be a reaction equal to the importance of the 'idea/theme' in verse.

In theory, it doesn't matter if their reaction is good or bad/for better or worse, because either way it should be an understood event that causes a blow to their way of thinking, based on the importance of the revelation.

Deku did that all of 1 time.

And that's putting it generously, in him mildly calling out Endeavor at the sports festival, way back at the beginning of the series.

This never happened again, not towards anything related to heroes or hero society.

It should have been a very big deal for Deku to realize that the number 2 hero was able to buy another human being as part of a eugenics goal to make a more powerful hero.

He at least should have considered telling an authority figure (All-might or Nedzu) about it, just in case there was anything else that may have been going on with Endeavor.

It should have been a very big revelation for Deku that his upperclassmen was willing to let a very clearly injured (wearing bandages) and terrified little girl go back with the guy who was obviously implied to be responsible for doing it to her.

Mirio could have beaten or at least stalled overhaul until backup arrived while Deku took Eri and ran.

(He definitely could have too, as he was able to fight against overhaul in a confined space while quirkless, for a fair amount of time.)

But until everyone knew exactly what was going on with Eri, Mirio was fine with putting the mission above a little girl's life, letting her go with someone who they knew was a dangerous Yakuza.

Gigantic red flag regarding what the heroes prioritize when the situation isn't ideal.

It ties back into hero society abandoning those who are inconvenient perfectly, leaving them to suffer and eventually become villains or die.

Looking back Deku should have realized that but because he got the approval of the system to go back and save the girl as part of the mission, everything's cool...

And this does show that he has gotten worse as the series goes on, as he's not even willing to bark back at the hero system.

Deku has called out villains all the time (Dabi, Flecturn, toga and Shigaraki), he knows how to talk back, so it's not that he CAN'T.

But whenever it's something that's got to do with hero's flaws, nothing.

It's that he WON'T talk back to heroes.

And if he really is just a kid who can't even talk back to his bosses or peers, or the "innocent" people who are responsible for (at least) half of the villains in bnha -

With the idea that they are responsible for the villain's current lives, showing how their callousness and cruelty drove the villains to that point.

-Then what the hell have we been following him all this time for?

Izuku has only temporarily saved their society, like Mirio said: "Setting things at Zero".

Is that it? The best to hope for?

Setting things back to Zero with no idea of improvement? Because it's "Impossible"??

[localguy2]

General analysis of DR Zane, S1 and S2 included (spoilers):

Man... Is this one a doozy...

Okay okay so, what I wanna touch on first and foremost is Zane's humanity, or his perception of his own humanity, because uhhh...

Folks the implications are NOT GOOD in the SLIGHTEST in regards to his Mental State and thinking process.

Something we've seen repeatedly throughout DR is that the merged realms and it's people in general don't view Zane as human, they don't see him as a person but more so a machine, or equipment.

We saw this first in S1E13 'Wyldly Inappropriate' we get introduced to "Zane Day", a day dedicated entirely to Celebrating Zane and who he is, and it sounds really sweet and it is- but...

It's celebrated in the worst possible way ever.

Zane is treated like a robot, like striaght up robot, when people speaks its all in an attempt to mimic a robotic voice, and sometimes people end up saying stuff that's really offensive to him (Zane look alike contest).

Heck, even other Nindroids are in on it.

This sorta paints a sad picture in regards to Zane, because it implies that the city (or maybe entirety of the Merged Realms) see Zane as just a robot ninja with cool powers, nothing more, nothing less.

And we see this a second time in S2E7 'Fugitives from Madness' and S2E8 'Secrets of the Wyldness', in which Zane and Cole fight off The Administration, and yet again we see how Zane's Humanity is absolutely disregard, heck it's even violated in this scenario, they don't even acknowledge him as a person, The Administration straight up calls him "Equipment".

Equipment that's to be destroyed when taken, and that's despite Zane proving himself to be an actual being multiple times to the agents.

So, what am I getting at here?

Well, in simple terms, The World of Ninjago Post-Merge doesn't really acknowledge Zane's humanity or his personhood, of course, the average everyday civilian to a lot less extent then say, an entire organisation, but the wholehearted confidence the Agents of the Administration say that Zane is an object calls into question whether it's their actual personal beliefs, or protocols set by the Administratior.

And... You know what's the absolute worst part?

Zane doesn't even TRY to defend himself.

Striaght up, he neither tries to explain what Nindroids are to people during Zane day, and just goes along with the flow.

And when fighting The Administration, he even OFFERS himself to them in exchange to let Cole and Bonzel get away, granted you could say it was part of his plan to buy him and the others more time, but his continued insistence on trying to find a compromise with The Agents sorta hammers home his whole hearted belief that he's:

A) Expendable.

B) Not a person, but a machine/"equipment".

Now, this might be over analysis on my end, but I would also like to point out the scene where he plugs himself into The Administration mech and tries to decode/hack their netrowk and systems.

In that scene, his mech gets stabbed in the back with a massive sword from one of The Agents, and instead of immediately getting the fuck out, he stays Plugged in and KEEPS trying to hack their stuff, all in the hope that he can finish it in time before he gets fried alive.

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen, his circuits get fried completely and he passes out.

But, it again (directly or indirectly) hammers in points A and B, Expendable, and Nothing more then a machine.

(I would like to add as well, his this parallels nicely with PIXAL in S11 during 'Kiaju Protocol', their stubbornness, and something I've neglected to mention about Zane which EVERYONE knows, is his Self-Sacrificial and Nobel tendencies).

And you don't even have to make that many assumptions for all of this to be considered true, just look at what he says...

In S2E5 'The Spell at the Waterfall', Zane finds a plush made for him by Frohickey, of Frohickey himself.

When Zane asks why Frohickey made him this plush, Frohickey says that he made it so if Zane had any issue to take up with him, he could talk to the Plush instead (reminiscent of his PIXAL-Brush coping mechanism in S1).

And Zane... Well he striaght up lies, he says and I quote:

"I do not expiernce heightened emotions."

Which, yeah, okay buddy, sure...

Just ignore the time you shut off your emotions... Sure

But anyway, this is really really unusual for Zane to say, he might not be good at emotions, but he'd never ever deny the fact that he feels all of them.

Well... Unless he fully believes he's just a machine.

See what I'm getting at here?

If he doesn't believe he's more then machine, then he sure as hell will make wrong assumptions and judgements on his own personhood and emotions, and... Why shouldn't he?

Everything and Everyone in the merged realms sees as him as nothing more than that, regardless of previous experiences and events that have impacted him personally.

It's wrong, really REALLY wrong, but in his mind, probably not so much.

So, what do I think they writers are doing this?

I think personally, this is all subtle and slow build up to give Zane an eventual arc, perhaps in Part 2 of Season 2, or in Season 3 even.

Because, even Doc himself recognised that Zane's character has become very stale and boring during the last few seasons, and given how pretty much EVERY CHARACTER in the show has gotten something to do that involves their character, it'd be particularly odd to leave Zane out (well unless they don't know how to write him).

And it's why they're deliberately making Zane go and say these things, it's subtle, but when it's time to give him his own time to shine, it'll make a lot more sense.

This could also related to the egg/pod thing he woke up in under Imperium, because Doc also said that it's a matter for later seasons.

But it remains to be seen if the future planned Zane arc/story is connected to the egg he was in, we'll just have to wait and see really...

[newpathwrites]

Series Masterlist Main Masterlist

Chapter 14 - Liberation

How far you had come together.

So many evolutions of your relationship had led to this moment - where sensual desires, emotional comfort, and your working partnership were all so perfectly aligned.

Summary : Din lets go of a boundary.

Note: This is an extremely weird chapter, but I feel that’s true of the entire story! We’re turning conventional relationships and intimacy right around on their heads, anyway, right?😂

A running theme regarding Din and intimacy in this story has been that he has a lot of limits when it comes to nudity or generally being unclothed. He does have a comfort level with Cyar’ika that allows for necessity like handling injuries or being incapacitated, for example, but otherwise this has been a pretty hard boundary for him. It is one, however, that he would like to let go of with her. Every limit he’s softened over the years has only ever led to positive shifts in their relationship, after all.

An opportunity will arise that allows him to comfortably let go of this one.

Also, new queer rep coming up!

For those unfamiliar with the story, these characters have a committed, physically intimate but non-sexual marriage. Both are aroace spectrum. Their story together picks up after season 2.

Warnings: Non-sexual nudity, mildly graphic descriptions of injury, frank discussions of sex and penile physiology😁, allusions to sexual assault (very mild, implied only), language. Cyar’ika has hair - you can imagine any length or texture, and there is description of bruising that is visible to some degree on her skin.

Read on AO3

—-------------------------------------

It was a waiting game.

You and Din were stationed outside a crumbling stone building on the surface of an obscure moon in the Mandalorian system, listening intently for the signal from Bo-Katan over the comm to move in.  Koska and Axe would join you from the other side.  And together, you’d take out these imperial squatters in no more than a few minutes.

But the timing had to be perfect, and so you waited, for the precise moment when their single guard stepped away from his station - and the button that would call immediately for backup.  

Unfortunately, the man in the flimsy white armor seemed intent to stay right where he was for the long haul.

You didn’t mind, really.  Din was by your side, and for once in these past few dangerously eventful years, you’d been truly in sync - slowing down a bit, spending more time at home in Nevarro or visiting Grogu, and being exceedingly picky about jobs.  Money wasn’t tight these days, and as you aged, safer work was looking more and more attractive to you both.  

Secretly, though, you wished Din could see the advantages of stepping away from this kind of work altogether.  But the warrior at the core of his being was not ready to admit that it was time.

Regardless, making peace with your Mandalorian allies had been a good start.  After Din nearly lost his life after that joint mission gone bad, Bo-Katan had gone to great lengths to repair her relationship with him.  The two now got along surprisingly well given their history of strained negotiations over the dark saber and a duel that very well could have resulted in the death of either party.

And now, instead of chasing dangerous and unpredictable bounties across the galaxy, you were more often taking part in well-planned, military-style missions organized by the most talented group of fighters you knew - ones that served your husband’s people.  Not only was it safer but a lot more personally satisfying.

So you were content to wait as long as it took.

—-------------------------------------

Ultimately, the transition of the guards took place so seamlessly that there was no room to move in after all of that waiting, and Bo called a temporary break in surveillance to rest before the next attempt and perhaps rethink their plan of attack.

You and Din were sitting back against the crumbling wall you’d been using for cover, taking an opportunity to quickly down some ration bars and chat before Bo-Katan set you back to work.

“Hey,” you addressed him quietly, knocking his shoulder as he slipped another piece of the dehydrated bar under the visor.  “I’m really sorry about this morning…”

He shrugged.  “It was an accident.  The door must not have latched.”  

You and Din had a simple agreement regarding your shared space.  Though there weren’t a lot of boundaries between you at this point, there were simply times that you needed and desired privacy.  A locked fresher door meant that such times were upon you.  

Din locked the door much more often than you did, still hung up quite a bit on his own nudity.

You, on the other hand, were quite comfortable with him coming in to brush his teeth or trim his beard, for example, while you were showering or dressing.  The door was only locked for you when you were engaged in private intimacy or using the vac.

That system had failed this morning.

A very naked Din greeted you when you broached the unlocked fresher door.

You didn’t really see anything, turning yourself away quickly as you blurted a surprised apology while he grabbed a towel with lighting speed to cover himself.  

It felt a little silly, given that this certainly wasn’t the first time you’d seen his private areas after dealing with so many of his injuries and subsequent recoveries over the years.  But if this was his boundary, you would respect it even if you didn’t understand it.

“Can I ask why you’re so protective of this one particular area of your body?”  You unthinkingly gestured to his pelvic area as you spoke, making you cringe at yourself.  “I’m sorry… don’t answer that…”

To your surprise, though, he did.  Maybe this was something he’d been wanting to tell you.

“This is going to sound weird,” he started.  “But before I ended up in the hospital last year wearing nothing but a transparent sheet… you were literally the only person who had ever laid eyes on all that in my entire adult life…”

Your surprise at that was difficult to hide.

“How is that possible?” you asked disbelievingly, though you knew he wouldn’t lie about such a thing.  “How in the galaxy did you manage to have sexual encounters without anyone ever seeing it?”

“I don’t know,” he responded lightly.  “It was always rushed, fully clothed… And they were usually in front of me… or behind me -”

He stopped himself abruptly, falling silent and going very still, realizing what he’d just revealed.

You looked over at him.  If Din had been with men in the past, he’d never told you about it before now.

And it seemed that he hadn’t really meant to let it slip in this moment, either, given his frozen state. 

“So nobody ever saw it…” you moved on completely, skipping right over his unintentional insinuation.  “And you developed a bit of a complex about it?”

His shoulders dropped in relief - either you didn’t catch it, or you’d decided not to pry.  Either worked for him.

“Yeah, I guess.  So much time went by, and eventually it just felt unnatural to imagine anyone seeing it.”  The visor tilted back in your direction, finally allowing eye contact after his fumble.  “I told you it was weird…”

“No,” you shook your head.  “It’s not weird at all.  I’m curious, though… If I’ve already seen it, quite a few times… why does it still matter?”

He sighed almost like he was frustrated with himself.  “You’ve always made a point not to really look in all of those situations.  But a scenario where I’m inviting you to look, no injury, no necessity… no accidental intrusion in the fresher - that just feels very different…”

“It’s not just about me seeing things, though, is it?”  You could sense there was maybe a little more to this that he wasn’t telling you.

He hesitated a long while, and you figured he wasn’t going to answer that one.  He stumbled over his words when he finally did.

“It’s just…” he started.  “Sometimes things happen… and I can’t always control it…”

You only looked at him blankly, eyebrows raised, the most mortifying reaction he could imagine.

“You know…” he added and made a lewd gesture with his gloved hand, demonstrating his concern.

That got an eye roll from you.  Did he really think you were that clueless?

“I know how penises work, Din,” you replied flatly.

Another sigh echoed from the vocoder.  “I know you do, but…”

“For Maker’s sake,” you interrupted, shaking your head in exasperation.  “It’s pressed into my back every single morning.”

The visor whipped to face you so quickly then it was a wonder he didn’t injure his neck.

“WHAT?!”  

“It’s fine, Din.  I’m just saying that I’m well aware of how your anatomy functions.”

“No, cyar’ika.  It is not fine,” he responded, helmet shaking side to side wildly and voice sounding slightly panicked.  “Why have you never told me?”

“Tell you that your normal bodily functions are in fact functioning normally?  Figured you knew…”

He huffed loudly and looked down in agitation.

“It honestly doesn’t bother me, Din.  Truly.”

The visor turned to face you again.  “It doesn’t bother you?  It’s practically assault!”

“Assault?!”

Now you were incredulous.

“Din,” you addressed him seriously, grasping the side of his helmet so that he wouldn’t look away.  “You and your… physiology… don’t scare me.  Not even a little bit.”

The helmet was turning side to side again, as if he just couldn’t believe that you could possibly be content with this situation.

You dropped your hand to the center of his chest plate, a gesture that had become intimately familiar over the years, and you smiled, hoping to ease his agitation with humor.

“Did you really think I couldn’t feel it, riduur?”  You added, cocking your head comedically, “It’s not exactly a small thing.”

He huffed, this time a bit humorously, and looked away in embarrassment.  “Oh, gods…”

“I mean… it’s not like you’re humping me every morning…”

That got a real laugh, against his will almost, and you inwardly expressed your gratitude to the Maker.

“Please…” he chuckled.  “Don’t ever say those words again.”

“Okay,” you replied with a grin.  “But promise me you won’t start shying away from me in the mornings.  Waking up in your arms is the best part of my day, and I’d much rather be poked in the back by your erection than give that up.”

“Yeah, never say that again, either,” he responded pointedly before softening his stance.  “But… I won’t.  It’s the best part of my day, too.”

“Are we good?” you asked gently, smiling up at him.

“This entire conversation will haunt me for the rest of my life, but yeah,” he agreed, placing his hand over yours on his chest plate.  “We’re good.”

—-------------------------------------

A few hours later, you were no longer good.

The new plan - an all-out ambush - mostly went off without a hitch.

But what none of the group had realized was the incredible amount of explosives held within the stone building, likely detonated remotely as you moved in to ensure the space had been cleared.

Your Mandalorian colleagues were stunned for a moment, nearly losing their grasp on victory over the now-fumbling stormtroopers.  They’d assigned you the task they deemed safest without beskar protection.  If you were still in that building when it exploded, they would never forgive themselves - assuming Din Djarin even left them with their lives.

—-------------------------------------

Din, for his part, was frozen, hyperventilating.  He couldn’t think straight.  Time had stopped.

But the world came rushing back as Axe Woves clapped him hard on the shoulder.

“Djarin!  Snap out of it!”

Oh, Maker.  Yes, he needed to find you!

“Come on.  Bo and Koska will handle the rest.  Let’s get her out of there, huh?”

—-------------------------------------

You weren’t exactly sure what happened.

One moment, you were scanning the interior of the small building with your blaster raised…

And the next, you were faced with a roaring boom and a wall of pure fire.

Without much rational thought, you’d held your hands out in front of you to shield yourself from the flames which licked at your hands, burning your flesh as you watched in horror.

Maybe at the same time (you weren’t even sure anymore how much time had passed), your body was thrown backward and onto the floor where you landed with a thud.  

And then the last thing you remembered was falling rock and a suffocating pressure on your chest before you lost consciousness.

—-------------------------------------

You awoke groggily to a voice.  No, two voices.  Male.

One frantically called out your given name.  Axe, you realized as reality began to settle back into your consciousness.

“Talk to us!” he called out your name again.  “Help us find you!”

Another more desperate voice called out your Mando’a endearment.  “Cyar’ika!  Please!”

Your mouth felt like cotton, but you managed to weakly yell out for your husband.

“Din!  I’m here!  I can’t move!”

—-------------------------------------

“Thank the Manda!” Axe exclaimed.  “Keep talking to us!”

You tried to explain where you were and what condition you were in, pinned against the floor with a stone slab resting heavy on your chest.  But it was getting harder and harder to breath or to speak as it continued to compress your ribcage.

The two men could tell you were fading as they frantically pulled large pieces of the fallen stone walls away, grunting with excessive effort.

Finally, they reached you, pulling the last stone slab that was resting directly on your body.

Din released a small sob as you took a deep breath.  You were injured, but you were alive.  You would be ok.

He was at your head in an instant, pressing his helmet to your forehead, trying desperately to hold himself together.

Axe, though, was still in rescue mode, essentially feeling you up with his gloveless hands, evaluating your limbs, your pelvis, your ribcage, and your spine.  He had to ensure you were in a reasonable condition to carry you out of here.  Otherwise, they’d have to clear more rock away to bring in a stretcher.

“Well, it’s a miracle, burc’ya.  You appear to be intact.”

Neither you or Din was paying much attention, wrapped up in quiet, mutual comfort.

Axe stood to his full height, hands on his hips.  He looked like a teacher about to scold his students.

“I get it.  You two are so in love.  Whatever.  It’s disgusting.  But we need to get out of here.”  He gestured to Din.  “Alright?”

Din stood, clearing his throat in some embarrassment at having been caught in such an un-Mandalorian-like state.

“Right.  Let’s go.”

—-------------------------------------

Koska set the scanner on you the moment you made it back to Bo’s ship, ensuring nothing was broken or internally bleeding before she would allow you to sit up on your own.

“I’m so sorry about this.  All I have is bacta spray and pain killers.  It will hold you over until we get to Mandalore, and then we can put you in the tank.”

“No,” you stated, exhausted and frustrated.  “I just want to go home.  Nevarro’s not even that far.  Just bring us back to my ship, and Din will take care of me from there.”

“Are you sure?” Bo interrupted, glancing sideways in Din’s direction.  “Koska and I are happy to help you get cleaned up at least and in a new change of clothes.”

“I appreciate it, Bo,” you sighed tiredly.  “But I really just want to use my own shower and sleep in my own bed.”

Bo-Katan moved closer, whispering out of earshot of the men as she glanced again in Din’s direction.  “You’re going to need help.  Are you sure it’s ok?”

Even Koska was looking at her funny now as she applied the spray to the severe burns on your hands.  Why wouldn’t you be sure about going home with your own husband?

“I’m sure, really.  Din can handle it.”

—-------------------------------------

The trip home was absolutely excruciating.  Din talked about anything and everything that came to mind as he piloted the ship to try to keep your mind off the pain.

It didn’t work.  You looked miserable, tears sliding down your bruised and battered face that you couldn’t wipe away with your hands in this state.

He called ahead to Greef, ensuring a lift would be available to take you directly home upon landing, and he could see the anxiety lifted from your shoulders the moment he guided you through the door.

“All I want is a shower, Din.  And then I want to sleep… preferably forever…”

“Of course, riduur.  But treating your wounds comes first, ok?”

You nodded.  Tomorrow would be a much better day if you just allowed him to take care of your injuries tonight.

—-------------------------------------

Din divested himself of the armor in record time before guiding you into the fresher.  

He imagined you’d need some help but would manage most of this on your own.  Now he was realizing that was not the case at all.

He looked at you - and then at the shower - and back at you again before suddenly pulling off his shirt and pants as you watched him quizzically.

“There’s no way you can do this by yourself,” he explained, standing before you now in just his boxer shorts.  “I’ll help you.”

Well, he was right, actually.  Your fingers were still so raw that you couldn’t even begin to imagine dealing with the buttons and clasps on your clothing, nor managing to clean the grime off your entire wounded body.

And now Bo-Katan’s insistence on wanting to help you get cleaned up and dressed before you left made a lot more sense.  In her mind, knowing that your relationship was not of the traditional variety, she would assume that Din removing your clothing and helping you bathe might be exceedingly uncomfortable, that you would likely prefer a woman involved.  How was she to know that you slept completely naked next to this man on a fairly regular basis?

“Yeah,” you nodded.  “I really can’t, can I?… You sure you don’t mind?”

His hands were already working on the fastenings of your tunic.

It was in times like these that Din’s love for you was on full display.  He removed each piece of fabric with incredible care so as to avoid pulling at any of your wounds and causing you more pain, even opting in the end to cut some of the blood-matted portions off with a pair of shears.  There was no salvaging these garments, anyway.

And then he helped you step carefully into the shower after ensuring the water was a comfortable temperature for your injured state.

The warm water pouring over your sore body felt heavenly, the first real relief you’d felt since that building fell on your head, so much better than a sponge bath and sonic in Bo-Katan’s ship would have been.

You weren’t entirely sure what Din’s plan of action was here.  Perhaps he’d stand to the side of the tub - or maybe he’d get right in with you in his boxers - probably why he’d stripped off his other clothing.

And it was then you realized that he appeared frozen in indecision just outside of the curtain, hands on his hips as he looked pensively down at the floor.

“Din, sweetheart,” you addressed him.  “If you’re not comfortable with this, it’s okay.  I’ll just stand here and let the water rinse me off if you could just help me get dressed again after.  Maybe stay close by, though…”

His slightly pained expression turned to one of determination at your words, and then, without warning, his thumbs were sliding into the waistband of his boxers and pulling them down and off in one swift motion.

You yelped in surprise and quickly turned your eyes to the ceiling.

“What are you doing?!”

“Inviting you to look.”

Huh.  Unexpected development.

“So…” you started hesitantly, dropping your eyes to his face.  “You want me to look?  Like… directly at your genitals?  Just want to be completely clear on what’s happening right now.”

“Yup,” he replied with a bit of anxiety in his voice as he stepped into the shower.  “Every step of the way, from the helmet to everything else, I’ve always been fine once we broke the ice.  So please just look… before anything weird happens…”

You shrugged, wincing slightly in pain, “Alright, if that’s what you want…”

“It is.”

“Okay.  I’m looking,” you warned him resolutely, allowing your gaze to shift downward and linger for just a moment before moving back up to his very apprehensive face.

Din stared at you for several beats before clearing his throat and finally mumbling, “Thank you…”

He shook off the awkwardness quickly, though, just as he’d predicted, and got to work.

Din handled you incredibly gently, not that you’d expected any less, as he cautiously wiped the grime away from your face and body and carefully cleaned out your still open wounds.

When he finished, he didn’t move to turn off the spray right away, instead bringing his forehead to yours and closing his eyes for a moment as the warm water ran over your backs.

“I’m so sorry, cyar’ika,” he whispered, a deep sorrow in his voice.  “I shouldn’t have let this happen to you.”

“Hey, no,” you admonished him lightly, tears pricking at the corners of your eyes.  “Don’t blame yourself. I chose this life long before I met you, and it was my choice to go on this mission.”

Din didn’t respond to that, but you could see a subtle shift in his expression as he internalized your words.  You were equal partners, always had been, and you wouldn’t have it any other way.  You didn’t want or need him to protect you from the danger of the life you’d both chosen.

When he finally spoke, it was with a kind of resignation, finally giving in to the truth that he’d been avoiding since his own encounter with near fatal injury not too long ago.

“I think it’s time for us to retire from this kind of work,” he said softly.  “I know I’ve been resistant, but… it’s not worth either of us getting killed or seriously injured.  Working for Greef would be safer - and ensure that we’re both here for Grogu as long as possible.”

You nodded, eyes filling with tears as the full weight of your pain and exhaustion suddenly hit you.  You knew you couldn’t do this anymore.

“I agree,” you rushed out, followed by a sob.  This sometimes violent chapter of your life and partnership was coming to an end, one that was surprisingly bittersweet.

There wasn’t any uninjured place to embrace you, so Din just let you lean into him and cry until the warm water ran out.  This was unusually emotional for you, but he recognized you were running on fumes at this point, exhausted beyond reason.  

Well, it wasn’t his job to protect you, per se, but it was certainly his job to care for you.  And that was what he was going to do.

—-------------------------------------

Din had reached his personal limit for nudity rather quickly, and so his first order of business upon helping you out of the shower and patting you dry was to quickly redress in his night clothes.

You, on the other hand, had upwards of twenty different injuries that needed bacta and/or bandaging, and so you found yourself sitting still naked on the edge of the bed with a soft blanket around your shoulders for warmth while he wrapped your hands and began applying bacta to the wounds and bruises that littered your body.

As he worked, your emotional state began to fade, and you suddenly found yourself wanting to address your conversation from earlier in the day, when Din had accidentally implied that he’d had experiences with men.  Without bacta in your system, you’d probably have thought better of it, but oh, well… your inhibitions were thoroughly shot at the moment.

“Din… about our conversation back at the base…”

His fingers paused momentarily where they gently rubbed bacta into the bruises blooming across your chest before resuming as he murmured a slightly hesitant, “Go ahead…”

“I just want you to know that you don’t owe me any information about your past.  We are both allowed our secrets…”

Though Din continued to work as you spoke, you could see the growing apprehension in his eyes.  He figured quickly exactly to what ‘secrets’ you were referring.

“But you should know that you can tell me,” you continued, yawning.  “That’s all I wanted to say.”

An awkward silence settled between you after that, and just as Din finally felt compelled to speak on it, you suddenly began talking again.

“I had a relationship with a woman.”

Of all the things you could say right now, this was probably the last one Din had expected.  You had never mentioned this to him before, though you’d spoken at length about your long ago, ill-fated engagement to a man, the only adult relationship you’d claimed to have before meeting Din himself almost two decades later.

“I suppose it was more like friends-with-benefits,” you continued.  “It was right after I’d broken things off with that kriffing mudscuffer ex of mine.”

Clearly this was a story you wanted to tell, so Din stayed quiet and let you.

“Anyway, after everything that happened with him, I didn’t think I could ever enjoy intimacy again, and I just needed someone to talk to about it.  She’d been a close friend since childhood.”

You let out a small chuckle then, remembering your former lover fondly.  “She suggested pretty quickly that maybe I’d just been trying with the wrong gender… and promptly propositioned me.”

Din didn’t even pretend to be working on your wounds anymore and rest a hand on your knee.  He smiled as you huffed again, joyful remembrance clear in your expression.

“Those few months…” you started, meeting his eyes.  “They were incredible, Din.  Being with a woman was freeing in a way.  I was comfortable.  I felt safe enough to let go a little and allow myself to actually feel pleasure.  And gods, did she really know what she was doing in that department.”

“Why did it end?” Din finally spoke.  It sounded like you’d had something good.  He mused, though, that its ending was necessary for him to have ever even met you.

“It always had an expiration date,” you responded matter-of-factly.  “We were just… having fun.  She felt stifled by our conservative village, and it gave her an opportunity to experience something she wanted.  For me, I realized very quickly that I didn’t actually need another person to have pleasure in my life.  It became pretty clear, too, that I just wasn’t meant for romantic commitment, and sex still wasn’t a priority for me like it was for her… and apparently everyone else.  

“It helped me accept that I’m different, though… and the bonus was that I left knowing better what I like.  The situation served its purpose for us both.”

You let out a tired sigh, adjusting your position to take some pressure off your sore behind.

“The safety that I felt with her… I feel that with you, too.  The difference is that now I know that what I really want in a relationship isn’t romance and… carnal activities…”

You looked at him directly then and gestured between you, at the contradictory image of him, fully clothed, kneeling on the floor before you in your very vulnerable and yet entirely trusting state.

“It’s this.”

Din didn’t even know what to say.  Why you shared this secret with him right now, he didn’t know.  But he wholeheartedly agreed with your ultimate conclusion.  

While he wracked his brain for a worthy response, you broke the silence yet again.  

“Din… I think I might be high…”

“Yeah?” he finally spoke, huffing out a small laugh.  “We’ve used a lot of bacta.  It does make you a little extra wordy, doesn’t it?”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he replied firmly as he rose to his feet and leaned down to press a kiss to the top of your head.  “Let’s find you something soft to wear.”

Honestly, the idea of anything touching your skin sounded excruciating, and you briefly pondered sleeping naked while suspended in the air - too bad you weren’t gifted with the force.  

In the end, though, Din remembered the outrageously expensive silk pajamas Karga had gifted him when you’d moved into your place in Nevarro.  The garments were a bit large on you, but they did the trick.

And no sooner did your head hit the pillow were you fast asleep.

Rest wouldn’t come as swiftly for your dumbfounded husband, though.  Maybe it was time he finally let go of a secret, too.  Letting go seemed to be a theme today.

What in the galaxy did he do right in this life to deserve you?

—-------------------------------------

You woke in the morning a whole lot less sore and a lot more comfortable, Din as always at your back.

The bandages on your hands had slipped free during the night, and your burns were nearly completely healed, so you spent a few moments clasping and unclasping your fingers, getting them working again.

Din must have been stirring, too, because there it was as usual - something firm pressing into your lower back.

“Kriff…” his voice grumbled behind you.  “I honestly didn’t know you could feel that…”

“Please don’t move,” you begged, reaching back to grasp his hip briefly.  “I’m so comfortable right now.”

“I won’t,” he sighed.  “But now I can’t stop thinking about the fact that you’ve been intimately familiar with my morning wood for years…”

“Three minutes.”

“What?”

“That’s roughly how long it takes to fade,” you answered.  “Yes, I’ve timed it.”

“Maker…” he whispered as he buried his face in your neck.

As expected, it did in fact fade within minutes, and you continued to rest comfortably together in silence as you carefully stretched your newly healed fingers.

“My story isn’t like yours…”

The words tumbled from his mouth without warning as morning sun began to pour in through the gaps in the window shades.

You stiffly tangled your fingers with his where they had come to rest across your stomach and squeezed once in reassurance.  His tone was serious but anxious, and you had a feeling you knew where this was going.

“I never had any sort of relationship before you - just meaningless sex with whoever propositioned me between jobs, back when I was a very green bounty hunter…  Usually it was women.  Sometimes it was men.  It made no difference to me - the mechanics were the same…”

He went on to explain that, regardless of who and how, he never really enjoyed it very much.  Physical release could only get him so far when he hardly knew and didn’t fully trust the other party.  He could accomplish the same goal alone in the safety of his ship without putting his life or his creed in any danger.  

“Neither scenario was very satisfying, but at least I could stay in one piece that way.  It’s been at least twenty years now, and I don’t regret it.  I haven’t missed out on anything.”

You pulled your tangled hands to your lips and kissed his knuckles once before interjecting.  “You must have been lonely, though.”

“I was…” he replied lightly.  “But Grogu helped me realize that being close to people wasn’t really as dangerous as I thought.  And meeting you changed everything.  Just being… present… with you is so much more satisfying than any of the encounters I had back then, armor and clothing between us or not.  I never imagined I could have something like this.”

You smiled to yourself.  Din wasn’t big on words, but when he used them, he did it well.

“I have a silly question,” you stated, gingerly turning on your other side to face him.  “Do you think we could have this same relationship had I been a man?”

He looked thoughtful for a moment, pondering the possibilities. The truth was he never saw any of this coming in the first place.

Finally he nodded.  “I can’t see why not.  I don’t think gender really matters very much to me.”

“Same.  It’s amazing that we are still learning things about each other after all this time…”

“Yeah, it is.”  He grinned at you fondly for a moment before leaning in to kiss you, lingering a bit longer than usual before pulling back and regarding you.  “You look like you’re still in pain.”

“I feel much better, Din.  My hands are healed.  Now it’s just my sore behind - I couldn’t bear the extra humiliation of asking you to rub bacta on my naked butt last night.”

“I would have, though,” he chuckled lightly.  “You know that.”

“I know,” you responded affectionately, lifting a hand to his face.  “Yesterday was just a lot.  Thank you for taking care of me.  I know that was uncomfortable for you.”

He shook his head.  “The concept was uncomfortable.  But the reality is always fine when it’s with you.”

You gazed at each other lovingly for a moment before he was suddenly pushing the covers aside and walking around to the other side of the bed.

“Stay right where you are.  I think we’ve got just enough.”

You felt the bed dip behind you as he took a seat on the other side and reached for the bacta tube on the bedside table.

“Din, you really don���t have to…”

His hand rested lightly on your hip.

“I want to… Is it okay?”  Despite the fact that his eyes and hands had explored just about every inch of your body at this point, he would never presume permission to touch you despite constant reassurances that he was allowed to do pretty much whatever he’d like.

Acts of service - that was his love language, wasn’t it?  You wouldn’t refuse it if he wanted to do this for you, though you were certainly in a much better condition this morning to handle it yourself.  You nodded your assent over your shoulder.

“Dank farrick, cyar’ika,” he exclaimed as he slid the silk material down past your buttocks.  “How did you even sit down?”  The bruising on your lower half hadn’t looked half this bad yesterday, and so he’d mostly neglected the area to focus on your gashes and burns.  You must have continued to bleed under your skin during the night.

You shrugged, wincing slightly as he began to gently rub bacta into the worst bruising.  “It did hurt, but I think I was too drugged up to really care.  Ahhh… it’s feeling better already.  Thank you, sweetheart.”

“I wouldn’t do this for anyone else,” he replied affectionately, tossing the now-empty bacta tube back onto the table and pulling the pajama bottoms back up.  “But you’re welcome, riduur.”

Turning your body around on the mattress was a whole lot easier now.

“Would you lay with me a little while longer?  Perhaps I could interest you in a bit of kissing?  We deserve it after the day we had yesterday, don’t you think?” you asked, a playful glint in your eye as you laid on your back gazing up at him.

Din had never once denied that request, and he definitely wasn’t going to start now.  But he had other motives for engaging in intimacy with you at the moment.

It might have looked like the preamble to a love scene in one of those spicy romantic holovids when Din moved to hover over your body and unbutton the silk pajama top you were wearing, but you knew better. 

He was checking that the rest of your injuries were suitably treated, lovingly running his fingers over your nearly entirely healed skin.

“I’m alright, Din,” you stated softly, bringing your fingers to his beard.  “I promise.”

There had been a brief moment yesterday that Din truly believed he had lost you.  The despair he felt in those seconds rivaled that of his losses on Aq Vetina.

He just needed a minute to reassure himself that you were really here and ok.  Your body was solid and warm under his fingers, the evidence of your numerous injuries fading.

It seemed Din had achieved a new level of comfort in the last standard day because his hand on your skin was soon replaced by his mouth, kissing across and down your torso, the area which had sustained the worst injuries, then moving to your arms and hands and then your abdomen, only stopping when he reached the waist of the silk pajama bottoms.

Din looked up at your face sheepishly before moving back up your body, suddenly self-conscious with himself.  “Sorry - had to get that out of my system.”

“You have my tacit permission to do that whenever you’d like, riduur,” you replied lightly, a twinkle in your eye, before pulling his head down and kissing him deeply.

He gave into it without a second thought, allowing his body to rest down on yours as your legs opened up to give him space, still careful not to put all of his weight on your healing form.

Your arms came around his neck while his forearms rested on the mattress beside your head, entirely wrapped up together as lips and tongues met in gentle caresses.

You sighed blissfully as you allowed your body to relax into the mattress.  The silk top was still open, but you didn’t care.  This sensual kind of intimacy with Din was so satisfying, no matter how sexually charged it might look on the outside.  Who else was here to scrutinize it, anyway?

And it was remarkable to recall that a similar, even more innocent experimentation in this position had put you into a mild panic near the beginning of your marriage.  Now it was purely comfort and safety you felt.

How far you had come together.  

So many evolutions of your relationship had led to this moment - where sensual desires, emotional comfort, and your working partnership were all so perfectly aligned.

Din kissed you one last time, pulling your pajama top closed and redoing a few of the buttons before sitting up beside you and holding his hand out in your direction.

“Hungry?” he asked.

You took his hand, smiling, and let him haul you up.

“Maker, yes.  I’m starving.”

—-------------------------------------

You gave yourselves a full day to recover before setting up a meeting with Greef to discuss a new career direction, one served by your collective skillset and desire to give back to this planet that had become your home… one that was less dangerous and easier on your aging bodies…

And Din, the warrior, for once was satisfied with settling down, staying in one place, and doing safer work.

But he wouldn’t do it with anyone but you.

—-------------------------------------

Thank you for reading!  

I feel this chapter was all over the place.  I had a few different things I wanted to accomplish around intimacy, letting go of preconceived notions or fear/shame in the safety of this relationship, etc.  I’m not sure how well it all fit together.

This last scene in bed is meant to highlight how they can do things as independent sensual activities that might look like foreplay or appear sexual in nature to an allosexual person.  She’s half naked, he’s literally on top of her, they’re kissing… and then they’re just done with that and go grab breakfast - not a single thought to the idea that this could have gone further.  This is my own acespec experience. 

Also, cyar’ika not caring at all about Din’s morning erection because there’s nothing inherently sexual about it whatsoever in her eyes.  She has a similar attitude about nudity.   So ace of her, right? 🙂 

[hopefull-mindset]

Oh for the people following me, I would like to let you know that I do not agree with any canon interpretation that implies that Hajime and Izuru are separate people or two minds in one body. Headcanons are fine, that’s harmless and amusing to see played out.

I’m just never on bored with anyone saying that they’d make the most sense as a system or anything along those lines. I know that was popularized in 2021, I was a first hand witness to the growth, but trust when I say that completely contradicts chapter 6.

It’s more than “they’re the same person” if we really want to dissect this more, but also yeah, it’s the same damn person. We refer to them differently because Izuru does not resemble Hajime at all, so it doesn’t make sense to call him Hajime. We also do not know he is Hajime because that’s a spoiler, if you forget that you’re not supposed to know until the last chapter.

However, Hajime is Izuru Kamukura, that’s just not his name. His rebuttal towards Junko is different than the one he does before his confrontation with himself (“Izuru”) because he’s not rejecting himself anymore, he’s rejecting the name that isn’t even his to begin with. He’s rejecting the name that was given to him not as a way to individualize himself, but to tie him to hpa’s cause. There’s no reason for him to identity with that name anymore.

You’re welcome to confront me on this or reply, but genuinely I do not think it is a good idea to keep perpetuating the concept that them not being each other is a valid interpretation. As I said in the beginning, you’re welcome to have your fun but it’s not true. Why on earth would anyone look at Hajime’s arc, take scenes out of context, and then think they’re making anywhere near a valid point?

I don’t want to sound mean, but it does fucking invalidate Hajime’s arc and identity issues that you guys so clearly understand. Right. I’m ecstatic that the conversation around Hajime was reduced to this. It’s insane to me you guys can take Junko and Ryoko being the same person at face value, but not this?? It’s literally the same situation.

(Emphasis on canon interpretation because I’d be happy to review trial 6 to make my point)

[alastoridiot-meta]

I CANNOT let this continue to be the false narrative throughout the fandom so let’s just talk about Alastor and whether he will be redeemed.

The simple answer I have to this is… absolutely. Like what do you think the message of this show IS.

Alastor is a charming and likable character. He’s edgy and soft and rigid in all the right ways for fandom to take and hold onto him. Viv has said before, along with what is shown in the show, that he tends to have a weird and sort of warped morality.

On one hand, he has no problem threatening Husk, torturing overlords, and overall being a nuisance to every powerful male character that he comes in contact with.

But on the other hand, he believes in being able to control YOUR OWN fate, as said in his fight with Adam “you should know more than anyone what a soul can do when they take charge of their own fate”, implying control over one’s personhood, destiny, and general LIFE. In fact, it’s this sentence that just speaks to so many of Alastor’s true ideals in consent and soul contracts. Like yes he owns huskers soul and maybe nifty’s, but husk only furthers my own agenda of “Alastor targets people with power”, for one reason or another, those people are overlords. HE EVEN IMPLIES IN STAYED GONE THAT HIS TRUE INTENTIONS ARE DISTURBING SYSTEMS OF POWER, GOING AGAINST THE STATUS QUO.

And i know it’s wordplay for destroying the Vee’s, but with the combined evidence of: the Vee’s being the main metaphors for exploitation and taking AWAY control over one’s fate, along with heaven and what the hotel stands for, this makes perfect sense as to WHY he joined the hotel in the first place. Because it’s not for entertainment, and I highly doubt it’s any sort of power. This, along with the previous weird obsession with Lucifer and destroying overlords in general, his friendship with an overlord who values the people she employs to such an extent that Charlie still has to WIN THEM OVER… it just goes against everything the fandom would LIKE to say/think about Alastor.

So I guess what I’m getting at here is that the fandom is acting like Alastor is this big bad villain guy with absolutely no redeeming qualities to build off of, people are acting like defying powerful systems is NOT at all a redeeming quality that Charlie can’t build off of or use to make him gain other qualities.

Not only this, but with Mimzy and his entire relationship with her, how he just lets her walk into his life knowing that she brings trouble and he only banishes her when she proves once again that she brings trouble… like, I’m sorry but it just feels like people actively ignore these things because they’re looking for logical morality systems. Even people who know that this is an aspect of his character, tend to lack the capacity to understand that Alastor can and IS very contradictory.

He CAN own husks soul and make deals with people in exchange for goods or favors, while also disliking the idea of a soul not having independence and/or charge of their own fates. It’s contradictory. It’s supposed to be.

And I guess it’s this that always makes me confused when there’s fanart of a redeemed/angelic Alastor that is FILLED with comments like “I’m sorry but Alastor will never be redeemed” “it’s impossible for his redemption” “cool art but it’ll never happen”, GUYS.

WHAT. IS. THE. MESSAGE. OF. THE. SHOW.

It’s FORGIVENESS. It’s CHANGE. The entire fight in heaven is literally the angels spewing the same rhetoric when talking about Angel, but of course the show has to take baby steps to say that yes, everyone deserves redemption. Everyone deserves the right to change. Everyone can change. Everyone WILL CHANGE.

Alastor already believes in redemption, I know that based off of his conversation with Adam ALONE. What makes you think he can’t work towards it? Even if that’s not now, don’t you think a person would try anything to escape a contract? It’s probably the main motivation for Angel at all.

And I just. I guess I don’t understand how people could be watching and believing in a message about change and forgiveness, while simultaneously refusing to see that a character like Alastor could change. Abusers can change. They should change. If not for themselves, then to stop the abuse they instill in the people around them.

[chronologically-challenged]

The Magnus Archives spoilers but I keep thinking about Jon and Martin landing in the ISAT universe when the fears arrive but like. Right after post loops. So it ends up like:

1) They save these two weirdly accented guys (where one of them clearly has been stabbed holy shit) only to possibly be immediately told that they just got a bunch of evil gods in their world (oops)

2) Jon's eyes absolutely have color when Knowing things or using Eye powers in general.

3) The loops 100% count as a statement and Jon is purposely trying not to be alone with Siffrin so he doesn't munch on their trauma

4) Triple ace solidarity ruined by the knowledge their world is doomed to be plagued by fear gods U.U

5) Martin: "Jon did the fears turn this world black and white" Bonnie:"what's black and white?" Martin: "what" Bonnie: "what" Isabeau: "No but seriously what's black and white." Odile: "I think they're implying that colors exist in their world." Jon: "I see. Colors are apparently unnatural to this world." Martin: "Like that one Lovecraft story?" Jon: "what". Martin: "You know colors beyond our comprehension and what not?" Jon: "I- I suppose??" Bonnie: "Hey! Could this Lovecraft guy be from our world?" Mirabelle: "Wait no. These two just arrived here??? Unless time messed up too???" Jon: "Trust me you do not want to claim him."

6.a) Jon looks at least 10 years if not older than he actually is. He also probably can get along better with Odile anyway. Plus with different universes as backgrounds, the lack of general knowledge around his age wouldn't be obvious. Cue the moment where Jon is asked how old he is and the absolute AWKWARD silence when it's clear that both Jon and Martin are basically Siffrin's age, give or take a few years.

6.b) Bonnie: "Is 30 years old different in your universe? Are you about to die?" Jon: "From embarrassment, perhaps."

7) General discussion/argument/existential dread regarding the Fears and how they interact with this world. Honestly the gang may never forgive Martin and Jon for doing this to them. Even if they do everything they can to help them. They get more sympathy once they find out about the Eyepocalypse and the absolute hell Jon in particular went through. Doesn't mean they have to like it.

8) Siffrin finding out about Jon's knowing powers and asking him if he can Know the name of the island in the North. Jon tries. Then he starts screaming. His eyes are red. Siffrin doesn't ask again.

9.a) The horror and dread knowing that not only is their mission not done. It can't be ever again. And this time, especially if Jon and Martin's story is true... well, the King wasn't easy, but at least he was a person. You can't exactly fight a distorted universe. Their happily ever destroyed forever.

9.b) I could see a physical confrontation happening... if Jon didn't look so absolutely devastated. If he didn't say "do what you will with me, but please leave Martin alone" and Martin yelling at him for being a self-sacrifical idiot. It just sucks so much all around. But it would have been easier if Jon and Martin were bad people. But they're not. Just... broken people doing their best in a broken world. And to do their best to save their own world, the family has to work with them.

9.c) Jon and Siffrin are also idiots with martyr complexes that refuse to talk about their feelings solidarity. Shame that Jon can't help but want to eat Siffrin's trauma cause they probably have a lot to talk about.

10) Funnier note, the slow realization that Jon and Martin in an rpg world. Martin figures it out first and Jon is just. Flabbergasted. Especially when they find out the magic system is rock paper scissors.

11) "rock paper scissors transcends the multi-verse. Neat!" (Later Martin asks Jon if gun is secretly a fourth hand symbol. He does not know and will not Know. He refuses).

12) I think at one point they're gonna have to deal with the fact that statements don't exist in this world. Either Jon gets too close to taking Siffrin's statement or he's going to tell Martin the facts: there is very little way Jon can survive without being a predator. He is an avatar that needs something to fuel his existence. He doesn't want to hurt anyone else ever again. Unless Siffrin wants to write their statement down or someone else does... even then there's no guarantee it's going to be enough.

13) Perhaps wish-craft can save Jon. Maybe. Maybe not. But. The party tells them about wish-craft anyway. It's the one hope they have to fight against this new horror. Maybe it can help Jon too to get out. (Everyone deserves that chance).

I have no fic with this, my fixations are simply crossing over briefly. Hope you enjoyed the ramblings.

[kirbsmakemesmile]

I finally finished my Kirby gijinkaverse lore 😧

Remember, if you ask one question about the lore stuff after reading it all, I will draw one doodle of one character of your choice 😊😊😊

Send the questions through my ask box and your character request through my dms please!!!

Ok! Here we go! 😊😊 (please dont mind any typos)

Slight Tw: some described g0re, and implied plans of sui during one part

Ok let’s do this ok guys

Origins of Nightmare:

Nightmare was the original dark matter, and was always around because of peoples bad dreams. The thing is, they never fueled his growth because the fountain of dreams and the star rod was what kept him from becoming a huge threat. But, as generations had passed, the fountain of dreams became less of an important protective device, and more of a relic or a roadside attraction, to put it bluntly. The people had lost the knowledge of its meaning and didn’t value their peace anymore and they took it for granted, not even really acknowledging how good they had it. Anyway, a long time passed and nightmare is a puny threat to everyone, and he’s tired of it, so with what little power he’s saved up from aaallll that time saving up on bad dreams, he makes his move. He goes to popstar and shatters the star rod completely. And since the people didn’t acknowledge the importance of the star rod anymore, he went by basically unnoticed the whole time, and this began the start of chaos across the universe. Since nightmare grew to such a ginormous threat after the destruction of the star rod, the people figured they needed something big to defeat him too, and they created the GSA (Galaxy Soldier Army) and the star rod finally became a completely forgotten weapon.

Star rod and star people :

Nightmare became very successful in his plan to take over the universe at first, but because the star people (Kirby, Mk, etc.) were directly connected to the star rod (meaning they wish through the star rod, and so genetically they are connected) This is what made them a difficult species for nightmare to defeat because of the sheer power they had. (Unlike other species that would just wish on any shooting star and not the star rod) But the destruction of the star rod also had an effect on that too. The star rod allowed for wishing to be a very safe and reliable process, being able to wish any planet, any location, anytime.But without the star rod, you were not guaranteed this kind of safety, and now the children could be in danger during that process, sometimes even accidentally making wishes Wishing is a force of nature so the wish isn’t granted by a certain being, it just happens, the star rod kept that force in balance so without star rod it’s out of balance now. The wishing system is super screwed up so any large amount of emotion being said out loud could cause a wish. And the only reason why the babies of the star people were still being born with such power was because their parents still contained that star rod gene in them, so it still passed on through the wishing process. So in order for Nightmare to win, he had to destroy this species from the inside out.

Creation of Meta Knight:

Nightmares target became the firstborn child to the heads of the GSA (Sir Arthur and Lydia). So after the wish was made and the star had fallen to the ground, he made his move. He kidnapped the baby and took him to be experimented on. He turned him into a tracking device/ ambush plan, and gave him powerful, unnatural features that no other star person had. Nightmare later returned the baby to his parents, to be raised until the time was right for his plan to begin. He was raised along with three other siblings and was treated as a normal part of the family, so he never felt out of place. This was exactly what nightmare wanted

Nightmare’s plan:

At 25, Meta knight learned his true identity, through a vision from nightmare. He learned that he was a pawn to be used for nightmare’s efforts, and would be the downfall of the GSA. After finding out the truth, meta knight left the base feeling that he would be a disgrace to the GSA, and also out of fear that staying any longer would facilitate nightmare even more. However, this only opened the door. After he left, Nightmare took the opportunity to ambush the head GSA base and completely destroy it, as well as sending more beasts to meta knight after he had left to force him to return again in seek of refuge. Upon returning he saw that the base was completely destroyed and by leaving, he allowed that to happen (nightmare knew that if he didn’t leave, the ambush would be unsuccessful because the experiments he did on him made him a very skilled fighter, and nightmare needed that for his own gain, but against him he would not win). His family was nowhere to be found and neither were the other soldiers. So in this moment, nightmare physically appeared to him and tried to convince meta knight to join him. But after he refused, he took his eyes… (I’m sorry I don’t know how to describe it but he left him like severely injured like he actually ripped through his face and he was like horribly like lacerated on his face it was really bad and he was blinded like permanently).

Meta knight’s recovery:

He was left there for a while and he would’ve died, if he wasn’t found by two warriors (Jecra and Garlude) that came looking for others after surviving the ambush attack. They had their kids (Joe and Sirica) with them and were preparing things to to leave the planet with anyone they found. When they found him, they carried him into the ship and headed to one of the only peaceful planets left in the universe, Popstar. There, they cared for his wounds and helped him heal from actually being horribly ripped up and yeah.

Evil moment before warp saves him:

(Tw: implied plans of suicide in this part) After Meta knight was mostly recovered, he could only really see light, shadows, and vague shapes. His wounds had started the healing process and he was able to move around, so he left to the very edge of the woods, and he stayed there all day waiting until night. He contemplated the many things he had lost, his family was gone, his health and his vision had deteriorated, and the only life he had ever known turned out to be a lie. He went there in a bad mental state and didn’t think things could get better, so he planned to try and you know… yeah. After standing there for so long he broke down and he started like actually losing is like yelling like you are loud dude… basically just pouring out his heart in that moment of like sadness and confusion and wanting something to change the course of his life.

Warp star and star rod:

Now before I get back to the story I need to explain a little about warp. Warp star is a sentient being like galaxia, and she is also dually the star rod. After being broken, she had to be regenerated again because it’s just a law of nature, she exists with the universe no matter what, so she will always come back even if it’s in a different form. In order for her to be reborn though, she had to heal, and this process took years and years of regeneration. And for her to even be born, she had to choose a star person to be born with and to be her guardian for life, Kirby. This meant they both would rely on each other for power in the beginning stages of life (like how some sharks are born with a yolk sac, both rely on each other to an extent the shark needs food and the sac needs blood flow ☝️🤓). Anyways, Kirby and warp would be born together and that made Kirby her guardian, she is his galaxia.

Kirby:

Okay so remember how I said the wishing system was screwed up because warp wasn’t there to keep it in balance YOULL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENS 😧😧 When Meta knight started pouring out his heart, it was read as a wish, and so Kirby was sent down to him, and he accidentally made a wish.😧 Kirby was born with warp star in his hands and they relied on each other as a source of power. So meta knight found the fallen star and realized exactly what had happened.

Post wish stuff:

After hearing him out in the forest, Jecra and Garlude were able to find him and Kirby and took them back home to be taken care of. They helped him raise Kirby in the beginning stages, and helped fashion a visor to be put in his mask that allowed him to see light and shapes in a little higher definition, which helped him navigate better and see Kirby a little more.

First 5 years:

For the first 5 years in cappytown raising Kirby, things go very smoothly. Meta knight starts training with Kirby in order for him to get his agility and skill back, and hoping that Kirby may learn from him as well. He has learned about Kirby’s copy abilities, and has become a fully involved father in Kirby’s life. (He’s so devoted because while it seemed that this was another stumbling block in his life, it was exactly what he wished for in the sense that he wanted something to happen that would completely change the course of his life) Also in cappytown, Dedede has barely become king and is just now learning to handle the throne (this is important for later)

After 5 years:

After a long and peaceful 5 years living with his son in cappytown, Meta knight received a notice from the GSA notifying former soldiers and warriors that their presence was needed urgently for the next attempt to to defeat nightmare. They claimed that the GSA had made changes to its system to ensure a “safer” environment for people with kids and were convinced that this time they would win against nightmare. Feeling obligated, and also a little hopeful of maybe seeing his family again, he left with Kirby to help the cause.

The issue with the GSA:

After the ambush at the head base of the GSA it seemed that Sir Arthur and the rest of meta knights family had perished during the ambush, but it’s actually all the contrary. When the ambush happened they were able to escape using one of the ships, and they left to one of the only other peaceful planets in the universe, Ripplestar. But because meta knight had left before the ambush, they couldn’t find him, and assumed that he died during the attack as well. So why didn’t they come back to help this second time? Arthur’s leadership in the GSA prevented people from serving that had small children, or people that physically could not serve, and he just had a very good handle on the leadership in the GSA, because he knew that yes the cause was good, but soldiers are still people, not machines. He valued everyone and after the ambush he felt he had failed the GSA in the sense that some fault in his leadership allowed for the ambush to happen, so he resigned his position to take care of his family, and removed himself from the GSA entirely. So what’s the deal with the GSA now? This new system that made the GSA a “safer environment” was really all just propaganda to get as many people to fight for freedom in the universe. And while in theory yes it’s good, like let’s get people to fight for the good, they forgot the importance of valuing each soldier as a person, and they really only just needed numbers. So what they did for people with kids was, they created a ship that would send your kid into space for years, until the war was finally over. The kids would be in cryo sleep the entire time until their ship was programmed to land, and when they landed they would be granted the knowledge of what happened to their family/ parents.

2nd war:

When Meta knight arrived to serve in the 2nd war, he realized what would happen and had no other choice but to rely on the GSA’s technology to protect Kirby. The second way started out promising, but turned out to be the most unsuccessful attempt yet. By pushing their soldiers to the limit, they overworked them and it was just bad. That’s why there were so little survivors in the end.

Garlude:

Let me pose to you this situation okay, we have Garlude, and she is the best warrior okay (it literally says that in the anime) and we have another really good warrior, Meta knight, and they’re both gonna get this legendary sword okay. Logically Garlude would not lose, and she would get the sword right? At least that’s what everyone was thinking right. Anyways, when they get there, they start fighting this monster to get the sword and he gets caught and is about to die, but this gives Garlude an opportunity to grab Galaxia to retrieve it successfully, but through trying to get Galaxia, she finds out the sword was not meant for her, she gets shocked and realizes Galaxia was meant for him. Unfortunately she has no other choice but to grab the sword and use it to help meta knight, because he’s losing really bad. So she sacrifices herself by using the sword to free meta knight, and she’s electrocuted. While this didn’t kill her at first, it made her extremely weak, and vulnerable to the monster, ultimately leading to her demise. So when Meta knight, a great warrior but not the best, comes back with Galaxia but no Garlude, don’t you think rumors would start? I think it’s worth thinking about. This is how Sirica, got the wrong idea about meta knight, and how Nightmare continued reminding Meta knight of his purpose and how he would always be used against the GSA and the warriors no matter what. He was the cause of one of his closest friends’ death.

Jecra:

Jecra’s death was a statement from Nightmare to Meta knight, once again reminding him who he really was. Jecra was kidnapped during an attack by some of nightmares beasts, and he was turned evil by nightmare. Upon returning, meta knight realized exactly what had happened to him and it was like looking in a mirror, he saw what nightmare had planned for him, and desperately tried snapping Jecra out of it, but it didn’t work. Meta knight had no other choice but to go against Jecra in battle. This resulted in him having to kill his only other friend left. Once again making him the cause of his friends’ death. All of because nightmare never wanted him to forget his identity and purpose.

After the second war:

At the end of the second war, most of the warriors in the GSA had died and there were very few survivors, including Meta Knight. He escaped and once again headed to popstar to seek refuge. This is basically where the anime starts

KRBAY:

The show is basically what this time was like from Kirby’s point of view, he sees dedede and a scary tyrannical leader and the one that orders the monsters, and everything is very “kids show” through his eyes, which isn’t necessarily how it happened.

King dedede had been king for about 9 years, but his leadership has been questionable, but he was doing everything in his power to keep the peace the cappytown even if it meant doing things that were wrong. King dedede filtered what could and couldn’t be seen by the cappies, basically making them ignorant to the whole war that’s going on. I guess like all of this just to say that the show is like a very kid like depiction of what actually happened.

Kirby returns to popstar:

About a year after meta knight had returned to popstar after escaping, Kirby’s ship crash landed in cappy town. (during this year that meta knight spent in Cappytown by himself, he became very close with tiff, because she was interested in who he really was as a star warrior. She disagreed with King Dededes method of leading, and she actually wanted to know what was going on, so that’s why him and tiff are very close) The whole plot of the anime continues during this time, and since Meta knight had barely returned from such a traumatic war, he felt that he wasn’t capable of taking care of Kirby anymore and that’s why they’re not very close during the show at all.

Sirica:

Even though the show depicts Sirica coming after knuckle Joe, I do what I want and I say she arrived before Joe did. When she arrived we all know what happens we’ve seen the show, she thinks meta knight killed her mother which isn’t true and the show kind of brushes over it, that’s not what happened. After their conflict, he fully describes the story like he zones out and starts retelling everything like it happened and it’s kind of difficult to hear for everyone, but it gives Sirica the reassurance that her mother died a hero and for the greater good. She does not leave right after this, she stays in cappytown for a while, because I don’t think she would leave I think she wants to hear more about her mom and the only guy that knows a lot about her is Mk so it only makes sense.

Joe:

Similarly to Siricas conflict with meta knight, knuckle Joe comes to cappytown seeking the warrior who killed his father, we know how it goes we’ve seen it. And just like last time after their conflict, he fully retells the story, except this one is particularly more difficult for him to tell, because he actually did kill his father. Since nightmare made him one of his pawns and made him fully evil, meta knight had no other choice but to you know like… yeah. So after zoning out again and telling the story in full detail it’s very difficult for everyone to grasp, knuckle Joe does get the closure he needed, but the people (WHO DIDNT REALLY EVEN KNIW A WAR WAS GOING ON) hear that meta knight actually had a crazy war story and was a crazy fighter, and that’s how this persona of meta knight started being built up even more and people thought of him as like wow so fighter like he’s so noble and so cool. Basically treating him like a fictional character now instead of an actual dude.

Joe and Sirica:

After staying in cappytown for a while, learning about their parents and how they cared for injured soldiers, and were very noble people, they left into space to find survivors from the war, and other star warriors, to help with the final battle against nightmare that would be coming very soon.

KRBAY finale:

As the show nears its end, there’s a bit of foreshadowing that comes from meta knight, where he says Kirby will soon be going up against an even bigger foe, and the next episode starts the finale. That means he knew that Kirby would have to fight nightmare very soon, how did he know that?? Basically nightmare gave him a vision and this was like the worst thing nightmare had in store for him, in that vision he told meta knight that now Kirby would be going up against him whether he liked it or not, and he was going to take what was most important in his life, Kirby. (It’s not like super important to know this but I thought it was cool so i out it in) ANYWAYS, the finale starts and meta knight, sword, blade, Kirby, king dedede, and Tiff (she snuck on board) head into space to fight nightmare. They get there and yeah we all know what happens, and then they get surrounded by a bunch of nightmares ships. And that’s when they notice three of the ships actually helping them out. And then it’s like big reveal, it’s Joe, Sirica, and Sir Arthur and his family WHAAATTTT 😧😧😧 I THOUGHT THEY DIED (that’s his brain)

He kind of disassociates during the rest of this battle just because so much has happened and he knows what going to happen and it’s just a lot, which is why his reaction to seeing his family again is so like 😮 instead of actually freaking out. Ok let’s fast forward to the end okay.

Final battle with nightmare:

Finally we get to this final battle with nightmare, and in the show it depicts tiff being the one that gets taken by nightmare and Kirby goes after her, but I honestly think that it would just be a lot more meaningful if it was meta knight just because this final battle represents his fear of nightmare, controlling his life, and just always being around, so for the sake of this story, I’m changing it to that. Anyways, as Kirby is going after them to save meta knight, this is basically meta knights worst nightmare come true, and his fear is what is fueling nightmare at this very last battle to make him look much bigger and stronger. This is all kind of like a show to make the person fighting him think that they need a huge arsenal to defeat him, when in reality, all they need is the star rod. So at the end when Kirby reveals that he is the guardian of the star rod, that’s how he’s able to defeat nightmare. By using the only thing that could defeat him, he destroyed nightmare forever in an instant. In the show, nightmares defeat is only shown for a very small portion of the entire finale, which I think really drives the point home that nightmare was all show. He played this role of being a huge threat to hide the fact that he had such a big weakness.

Post nightmare’s defeat:

After successfully, defeating nightmare, and nightmare enterprises, everyone returned home safe, and meta knight and Kirby left Cappy town to go and see his family after all these years. They spent about six months visiting and came back to Cappytown after that.

Meta knights revenge:

After returning to Cappy town from visiting his family, he came back to a completely different town. While in many aspects, Cappytown had improved, for example, king dededes leadership, media, and education had improved. Many of the cappies continued to choose to be ingnorant to the efforts of the GSA and basically all the crazy war stuff that had happened. They treated star Warriors as fictional characters to put it bluntly, and didn’t value the freedom that they had even during the wars. One example I can give you of the Cappies ignorance to everything that was going on, is in one of the episodes where they collect little figures of some of the star warriors and soldiers, they collect these figures and don’t even know their actual names. (There was even a collectible of Jecra and like it’s kind of messed up like why are you making a marketable figure of a man that died???) It’s just very representative of how they view star warriors as a whole, just a collectible or a character. So when Meta knight had arrived to Cappy town, the people treated him like he was a celebrity and people fawned over him and made merchandise off of him and it was just really weird. This really irked him, and he kind of lost it, because a couple years ago when he lived there and he was going through things, nobody cared about him except tiff, but now since he’s a “hero” everyone loves him and idolizes him just because he lives in their town. So, his solution? IM GONNA TAKE OVER THIS ENTIRE PLACE AND IM GONNA MAKE THESE PEOPLE STOP BEING SO IGNORANT AND LAZY AND SEE WHAT I AND A BUNCH OF OTHER WARRIORS WENT THROUGH 🐺🐺🐺🐺 (this entire invasion is really just a manic episode, he completely loses it and it’s just all build up from all the crap he’s had to deal with from the cappies) During this time is when we really get to see the true power nightmare gave him though. Similarly to the evil frog thing from that one episode, he goes into this trance like state where all he can do is wreak havoc and he can’t recognize anyone he’s up against. So when Kirby goes to fight him, meta knight doesn’t recognize him, and that’s why he’s so brutal.

After meta knights revenge:

Afterwards, tiff finds him on shore and she is really disappointed. She and him end up talking things over and it’s end up okay but she realizes that he still has very serious issues to deal with. He gets fired from working for dedede, and gets a slap on the wrist but otherwise is fine (dedede didn’t want conflict so he chose this route to keep everyone happy) The people recognize that he’s also a person too, but still idolize him, and honestly this kind of raises his ego. (Until he gets humbled later) After all the games happen up until planet robobot, and that’s when it gets crazy 😧

Susie haltmann:

After being stuck in an alternate dimension since her childhood, Susie finally escapes when a rift is opened, and she finds herself on popstar. (That happens right as Magolor loses and vanishes to that dimension, they like switch spots) With no idea where she is, she steals a star ship from a garage of what seems to be some celebrity or something, idk they had a lot of cars and ships (you’ll never guess who METAKNIGHT OMG yeah) and she heads into space to find her father again. After finding haltmann works, she goes inside to see her father again after all these years, but he doesn’t remember her. Desperately she tries to make him remember, but nothing works. She ends up resorting to being a secretary, hoping maybe one day her father will recognize her again, and plotting to steal the machine that stole her father from her. She’s forced to work in a company she knows is corrupt, just to try to get her dad to remember her.

Planet Robobot:

After getting captured by someone as he entered haltmann works, Meta knight waited in a room for a representative to come talk to him, enter Susie Haltmann. Susie explains a new program called the “Mechanization program”, a new experimental initiative, which gave the person robotic armor that worked with the body to make them more efficient in fighting, and overall just an upgrade to an organic body. Two things to keep in mind though, one, Susie wasn’t really trying to do anything drastic, all she was trying to do was do something big enough in the company to impress her father so that maybe he would remember her, and two, Meta knight had recently (in previous games) been shown to be obsessed with improving his fighting skills, fighting on his own to prove his strength, and proving he’s the greatest warrior ever ( amazing mirror, meta knightmare ultra, etc.) so to him, this program sounded like free plastic surgery to hi so obviously he said yes. Before starting the mechanization process, he had to have a checkup, to make sure his health was up to par, which is how she found out he was blind.

Meta knights’ sight regained:

Before the mechanization started, Susie had to fix his eyes. She replaced them with robotic prosthetics that would help the mecha armor navigate, and after years of being blind, he would finally be able to see again. (His eyes turn yellow permanently after this game so it’s like proof) After surgery, he was extremely overwhelmed, and tried escaping to see Kirby and all his other loved ones, but since he had already signed the contract, she couldn’t let him leave, and the mechanization process continued.

Mechanization:

Technically he wasn’t turned into a cyborg, the mechanization process was more like giving the person mechanization armor that moved for them, meaning the person didn’t have to really even move, and the armor would control the person inside. The person inside acted as more of a skeleton. So the armor wasn’t a part of you (like she didn’t rip him apart and replace his entire body with robot ( except for his eyes but she just freaking made him see again so pllplppt)), it was more of an add on. (In the game the armor is completely off by the next cutscene so yeah no it wasn’t crazy cyborg stuff sorry) When he fought Kirby, he unfortunately couldn’t see him yet, because the program in the mech suit completely took over his vision, so he didn’t see Kirby until the very end.

End of robobot:

After fighting star dream and winning, he saved Kirby and they both land safely on popstar once again. Kirby doesn’t realize at first that Meta knight can see him, and meta knight stays very silent for a while taking it all in, but when Kirby finally realizes, it’s really sweet and they hug and cry and it’s just like GHHHHUHHVHJHHH 😢😢😭😭

From this point on, meta knight slows down a lot and stops trying to be insanely like in gonna be the best and I have to be strong and yeah, he retires from being a warrior like that, and spends time taking in what he hasn’t been able to see for almost 20 years.

Meta knight and Susie:

During his mechanization process, he became very good friends with Susie. Since she had just recently come back from an alternate dimension, he was the first person she could talk to, and they both had very similar traumas that they could bond over (losing their family for an extended time, feeling isolated, being related to a very bad person/ being, etc.) and meta knight felt he had, and always would have, an eternal debt to her for giving him his vision back. So there was never really intense conflict between them, they were just friends, until having to be separated at the very end.

After robobot:

After a much needed break, meta knight became a lot more peaceful and appreciated his family and his life a lot more, he finally felt truly happy and optimistic towards life in general. As for Susie, she did continue her fathers legacy by mechanizing different planets and people, but not in the way it seemed. She helped bring clean energy to different planets that needed help after haltmann works damaging their ecosystems, and she provided prosthetics for people who needed them, and helped many people regain their vision and hearing. (The reason why she was made to look like a bad guy is because since the people of popstar found out that she turned THEIR PRECIOUS META KNIGHT into a cyborg, they immediately assumed the worst and twisted her story around to make her look like she was a horrible person like her dad, which was just not true)

Star allies:

Star allies is really when Meta knight and Susie grew close. Finally being able to work on the same team helped them become even better friends, bond over shared experiences, and eventually lead to their relationship. They found someone they could truly talk about their trauma with, and it was just really great all around and it’s just sweet okay they both get their happy ending.

Forgotten land:

During forgotten land, meta knight has truly settled down and retired from his life of fighting like crazy and being crazy fighter

( I mean unless in one of the next games he comes out of retirement but we’ll see) and he focused on the slower life, he settled down with Susie, they wished for a kid, and life is really good. He will always continue to train Kirby, and anyone else, but after years of so many traumatic things happening to him, he’s now able to relax and heal from it all. 😊😊

Timeline:

Mk 25- Kirby is born

Mk 30 K 5- Mk called back to the second war

Mk 34- he comes back to popstar after the second war

Mk 35 K 6- Kirby returns to popstar (Kirby only aged one year during cryo sleep, so he should be 10 but he’s physically)

Mk 37 K 8- when the show ends and they fight nightmare

Mk 38 K 9- when meta knights revenge happens

Mk 44 K 13- when robobot happens

Mk 46 K 15- star allies and forgotten land

[marcusrobertobaq]

Why people often confuses Connor's deviancy with Hank's relationship status:

They got similar impacts after a point the story. Usually when the SI goes up are choices that also gonna impact Hank's rep positively. But as u can see they're totally unrelated, not only in the narrative but also the math system.

So, no... Connor doesn't deviate cuz of Hank. That's not true. I believe the devs themselves realized leaving a dialogue implying that would go against what they constructed and also becoming a plot hole when you're outside one specific route (an issue the game got overall).

(deviant Connor about Markus if dude got killed in Crossroads)

According to the narrative there may be 3 main reasons why he can choose deviating:

Amanda AI betrayal, when he also thought he mattered enough for CL to not lie to him (Daniel parallel);

Finding common ground with the deviants story, empathizing with 'em (esp the Tracis);

Realizing he ain't doing "the right thing" by helping the megacorporation to repress androids - he included, as they're using him as just some tool.

As he may have 3 main reasons to choose not deviating:

Believe deviants are extremly dangerous to humans, a threat to the country and to innocent people - and he's the one that can help preventing chaos from happening (CL propaganda);

Believe deviants are no better than "bad" humans he met along the way and that he's the one that can help prevent chaos from happening (CL propaganda + experience);

Fear of failing his mission, his whole purpose and ending up as 100% nothing (not useful) for Amanda - someone he got a level of attachment -, consequently ceasing to exist (dying) in the end (not even destroyed but the existence totally deleted).

In resume Connor's machine vs deviancy clash looks like a mix of doubts/conflicts about the deviancy situation + fear of "death" (ceasing to exist).

According to the narrative Connor's main topic related to Hank, something not impacted about the machine vs deviancy clash, is his worry and empathy towards Hank's trauma: mf's a traffic accident survivor, got a bad relationship with androids "cheating death" due to his own son's death as it's basically an INSULT when all the guy wants is having his kid (kids are quite a relevant topic in Connor's arc btw) back in his arms + the belief an android is responsible for Cole's death in attempt to ease his own sense of guilty.

All dude wants is Hank to overcome this trauma cuz it worsened things like suicidal tendencies and alcoholism - and also his hatred for androids.

Ain't only cuz these personal issues can make his job difficult but also cuz he starts respecting Hank and where mf came from after a point in the game, even if he "hates" the guy's guts.

I'd say Hank's experience alongside Connor in the case witnessing deviants stories confirming his negative opinion on humans made him realize he was being a coward this whole time attacking the wrong people:

and sadly his rep with Connor alone is what decides if the guy finally act upon his bullshit and "uses his suicidal tendencies" to fight for what he think it's right (telling law enforcement to fuck off definitely) or die in cowardice in his own house by his own hand victim of this same issue.

I can't help but say it's again continuation issues as this scene makes no sense when you're outside a very specific route.

A better summary would be: Connor doesn't deviate cuz of Hank, but Hank "deviates" cuz of Connor (due to bad design cuz Connor himself shouldn't be the reason he changes his mind but the whole picture imo).

I believe to fully visualize a character and context in a game like this we need to analyze each variation in the story, not only playing a specific route - the easiest one they call "full best ending", the one the game itself helps u to get - cuz it's easy losing context and also a good part of the character's range of expressions. When u do that u realize the character got a base that won't change doesn't matter how u play.

I'm offering y'all material to work with and go explore yourselves cuz i've been seeing some terrible takes recently and got "where tf is this in the canon bible?". What u gon do with this info ain't my jurisdiction anymore, my mission ends here.

[sincerely-sofie]

I'm struggling to name my own charmander, do you have any tips?

I want the name to sound natural for a pmd environment (aka not a human name)

Smol bits of character I have are:

- likes to fight

- acts first, ask questions later,

- bit of an airhead

- nerd

Oooh, this is a topic I love. Names are such a joy to tinker with when creating characters. I'll start out with a preamble on naming characters in general before getting into specific names I'd recommend for this charmander in particular!

Something to keep in mind about characters when you're naming them is who in the story is doing the naming. What is their relationship with the character? What is their opinion of them? What is their personal background? All of these things will influence the types of names your character might be given. The same is true if your character is naming themself. 

(You can ignore these things if you want to free yourself up as you name your character, of course! I just find it helpful in narrowing down my miles-long lists of names I end up with.)

In the case of Twig, I knew Grovyle was going to name her, and that he was going to come from his grass-type background with most names he had been exposed to. He named her Twig because that's a common name amongst grass-type communities that implies smallness, youth, and on the namer’s end, a devotion and determination to protect the one being named. 

Note that there's no such real-world implications in the English word Twig. It's more often used as a way to call someone scrawny and weak. The beauty of writing a story is that you can do what you want in it, and if you want the pokemon language to have a whole plethora of implications and connotations in their naming system, go for it! Just try and communicate it in the narrative somehow so that readers can enjoy it in full. 

Alright, preamble over. Let's get into the names I've found after searching up “fire related words” and exhausting every online thesaurus known to man. I'm going to assume that your charmander character is named by a fire-type, likely a family member, which will center most of them around literal flames and heat, but I'll throw in some less obvious connections as well

Hearth. This name implies a more cozy, homey setting along with a tame sort of fire. However, it may be fun as a contrasting name for a hot-headed character. 

Ember. A classic fire name, and one with a gentler sound than some of the harsher names below. 

Spark. This might be a good name if your character has moments of brilliance despite their airheadedness— like if their nerdy streak has applications that seem to give them sparks of genius. 

Pepper. An indirectly fire-related name, which may be given by a grass-type or its botanical root or a character who enjoys cooking. 

Illumina. A name describing light— again, something that might be fun for emphasizing a nerdy streak!

Fizz. An onomatopoeia of a campfire hissing and crackling. It might be good for a character that surged up in their temper, but is quick to fizzle out. I think this one is really fun, but that's just me!

Wick. Like a candle wick. I love how this sounds. 

Halo. This name emphasizes light and purity, and might not make much sense with its Christian implications in the PMD world. However, it could be used to refer to halos of light around the sun and similar things, which would negate that issue!

Aurora. I see this as being a name popular among both ice-types and fire-types. 

Sol / Soul. Depending on how you spell it, this name is a reference to either the intensity of the sun or your character’s shining spirit. Or both, if you use some fun worldbuilding shenanigans!

Pine. A bit of a stretch, maybe, but I like the idea of referencing pine cones which release seeds amidst forest fires. 

Mallow. Like the above, a reference to bush mallow and baker's globe mallow, types of plant that thrives in the aftermath of fires. 

And finally, Lychee, at my little sister's recommendation!

[joepelling]

“WHY ARE YOUR TAGS LIKE THAT?” OR: RED GUY DUCK AND YELLOW GUY ARE THE EGO SUPEREGO AND ID TO THE ENLIGHTENED MIND, A MASTERPOST

BASICALLY: the ego, superego, and id are freudian concepts of how the mind works in psychoanalytic theory. i match up the three protagonists of don’t hug me i’m scared with these concepts. here’s my insane person, long-winded explanation as to why.

THE EGO: rational, realistic, practical. the true self, the mediator between the other two. very concerned with self-preservation.

THE SUPEREGO: idealistic, critical, perfectionist. the judge, jury, and executioner.

THE ID: impulsive, childish, emotional. pure desire. associated with sexuality and romance.

the characters have been described by joe pelling as “the middleman” “cynical and fussy” and “optimistic and idiotic” respectively

RED GUY: is CONSTANTLY the mediator between yellow and duck. the only one seen in the “real world,” and the ego is the self presented to the outside world. the “worm in his brain” has to do with outward appearance.

DUCK: famously hostile and judgmental, constantly associated with the military (authority figures), even becomes a dictator in the scrapped pilot. his aggression is often targeted towards yellow, who he deems too emotional and sensitive and deserving of it the most. the “worm in his brain” has to do with morality.

YELLOW GUY: while he is often read as asexual and aromantic (which i agree with!), he has multiple “love interests,” even if none of them are played straight. his brain friends are all very emotional and have nothing resembling a voice of reason, and no way of handling warren (who can be interpreted as an intrusive thought) without enabling him. the “worm in his brain” has to do with relationships.

MISC DYNAMIC THOUGHTS: when yellow claims “grolton is the dog,” red corrects him gently and politely and duck swiftly shuts him down and tells him to shut up (there’s a lot of instances of red gently correcting yellow and duck doing it harshly, but to my memory this is the only time they do it with the exact same thing). during the friendship fight, red implies he’s told duck to stop being so harsh on yellow. duck has to intervene to remove warren (again, here a symbol of intrusive thoughts) as yellow is physically incapable of doing so on his own.

CLOSING THOUGHTS: do i think this theory is the key to understanding what dhmis is about? not at all! i personally believe that dhmis is just made for fun and with no deeper meaning than “becky and joe made something fun to make each other laugh.” do i as a psychology enthusiast think it’s an interesting way to interpret the text? yeah. my theory is flawed, for sure- yellow is concerned with keeping harmony and is usually nonviolent despite the id’s association with aggression, duck is the least likely to go along with the teachers (authority figures, when the superego gets its moral system directly from them), red often doesn’t care about the other two, among other things, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun for me to think about!

if you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading! feel free to ask any questions and i would be very happy to answer them, as i’m very passionate about this theory and love to discuss it. love you!

[clazcy]

the personae & facets of mr. pilots (both of them) (this is solely about their characters) (the author of this post has did & understands it's a medical experience)

i already made my thing on tyler & the 3 of him (sort of about myself too but that's largely system based) but this will have more detail

(also first & foremost if you're in the seizure search for epilepsy block the #not epilepsy tag so my things will stop coming up. so sorry about that)

tyler tyler - host. author of the songs (mostly). the one we see performing, the son of nico.

blurryface - split from being seized by nico & the trauma that caused. author of goner from npi. bears nico's name but is also a 'blurry face' in the sense that he has no identity besides being controlled. therefore, he tries to control tyler/the body to cope. since he holds the dark thoughts of nico, he enacts those onto tyler. he is a persecutor.

clancy - ALSO split from the seizings but also off of blurry. different from tyler in the sense that's he's more violence focused, different from blurry in the sense that his anger is directed at the abusers. son[? or belongs to the district] of keons, in that sense. author of the album clancy & the letters. also a persecutor because he WILL take control to do whatever it takes to get his way (also he has significantly less of a moral compass).

okay josh

josh josh - this is josh <3 host like tyler & he is josh joshua william dun :) also the one who performs. we don't know his bishop.

spooky jim - same seizing split. however, as seen in choker & that one tweet, he also has some sort of power from this (this is not did canon compliant sadly :( ) & how he's using it depends on whether or not he's actively being seized/controlled (weaponized?). when he's not, it's for good, changing things to pink (happy fun colour!!!) etc. when he is, he's, well. he turned his loved ones into objects. i think this stems from insecurity of losing them (choker) vs changing things for the better (tweet, especially since tyler puts so much emphasis on changing hair to change/control self, it implies spooky was helping him regain control). i think this power is at least semi exclusive to spooky because it's blue, & the bishops use that as their :( colour.

torchbearer - re: clancy, but he's not violent. different path, leader of banditos et cetera. not free from anxiety, but significantly better at coping. i uh. headcanon he has the same power as spooky but uses it to light torches. that doesn't mean anything necessarily but i think it's cute.

questions this answers (kind of) & questions i answer

why is josh always blurry in photos?

a. this is tyler (collective) 's writing & i don't think he (in the story, as the character) realizes that josh is also collective. or

b. he does, but he (as clancy) doesn't see torchbearer (his only counterpart) as a person because he isn't violent. i feel like he's not ready to accept him.

c. something something psychosis they are one person all along fight club style. i hate this one (victim of forest fic) so i hope it isn't true.

who was the one in the trench mvs?

tyler i assume. he spent the longest in trench (within the collective) & has the most story with it.

who's the one in the overcompensate mv?

clancy boy

are there any more within the collectives?

probably not, since this is a story. however. the different facets/or outfits they wear/ways they sing you get it etc could also be different ones maybe. i don't think they are & if they are i doubt they matter as much.

i'm outta questions someone send me more so i can elaborate