#he's either gonna keep going on the exact same path he's on now or he's going to die

[hydrachea]

Ask game: 2, 3, 23 for our precious ginger. And any other question of your choice if you want to (it's always a delight to read your comments in tags!)

character ask game

2. When I think I truly started to like them

I enjoyed him from the start, but oh boy, did his story quest do me in. Love me a story that gives a completely different perspective of a character (a quality his story quest shares with Kokomi's) and a hype cutscene.

... Well, it was a mix of that and of seeing some of his lines, especially the ones where he calls the Traveler "comrade". Look, it just felt so much like Mihoyo rushed to google "what's the most stereotypically Russian thing you can call someone" and slapped the first result onto his lines. It felt so silly it looped right back to being endearing, and I swear that's one of the first things that did it for me.

3. A song that reminds me of them

Oh are you ready for a completely out of left field answer? Yeah you are. This is the song that reminds me of him the most - and it's not even the whole song. It's specifically this part:

Ahh, they say, "Every wish you make will be heard!"

but through the years, I lost my faith in the words.

I can't remember how or when or why I stopped believin'

There must've been a reason...

Gives me feelings about young Ajax running off to look for dreams of becoming a hero, only to fall into the abyss and come out a completely different person.

23. Future headcanon

Future headcanon? This boy will not make it past thirty if he keeps going the way he does now. Planning to fight gods and using a life-draining transformation as a trump card generally isn't a good way to live long.

I'm not even the biggest fan of angst! I really dislike character death in 90% of cases! But I genuinely have trouble coming up with anything for him unless someone else gets heavily involved in his life. Fighting is his everything, chaos is his middle name and he's very satisfied with that. His whole life is on the battlefield, he's not leaving it unless someone drags or kicks him out or until he dies there.

(And since I've been given a wild card I'll use it for:)

14. Best storyline they had

Labyrinth Warriors was really good! Sure wish I could have played it instead of having to search for it on Youtube because none of the old events are accessible to new players despite how much lore and good characterization they hold! Isn't that right Mihoyo!

[sapphicantics]

Two Sides of the Same Coin | Chapter One

Pairing: Regina George x fem!reader

Summary: After a nobody destroys the Jocks and insults the Queen Bee without a care or an apology, you get catapulted to the top of the social food chain next to aforementioned Queen Bee, Regina George, who now has to learn to share the spotlight with North Shore’s new bad girl. | Or alternatively, your ‘don’t give a fuck’ attitude sucks you and Regina into each other’s worlds sending you down a path you never expected.

Chapter word count: 1.7k

Contents: vaping, underage drinking, mentions of weed, threats of violence, mentions of broken bones, shitty comebacks - I think that’s it, lemme know if I missed any

Note: Alright, I’m finally here with the first official chapter of Same Coin. Now I don’t know how often updates are gonna be for this fic but they will be coming, I’ve got so many ideas for it.

Intro - Chapter 2

— — — —

Menace is a bit of a crazy term to use to describe someone who sticks up for themself, but this is high school and everyone loves to exaggerate, especially boys with fragile egos who can’t stand the school knowing they got their asses kicked by a girl.

And when the girl is you — a girl who keeps to herself and minds her own fucking business like people should do any-fucking-way — oh, there’s bound to be countless descriptors thrown onto you to help rebuild their fragile masculinity.

Volatile, temperamental, crazy, psycho just to name a few.

You’re not sure how those are supposed to rebuild their masculinity, especially when you can just kick their asses and knock it right back down again. Despite those seemingly negative connotations that come with your new title, it does, admittedly, have a rather nice ring to it.

Anyways, nice ring or not, negative connotations or not, title or not, you’ve got far more important things to focus on instead.

Like why the fuck Charlie Hudson is in front of you right now.

It’s lunch and you’re under the bleachers with a strawberry flavored vape pen in hand. You take a hit and blow a cloud of smoke past your lips, raising a brow at him.

He doesn’t speak for a while probably assuming you’ll do so first, but you just take more hits from your vape and continue to stare at him. He approached you, he came over here to you, he’s interrupting your time so he must want something from you and he either tells you on his own or he doesn’t tell you at all. It makes no difference to you, but you’re definitely not gonna ask what he wants.

It’s only when you check your watch does he remember he’s on a time crunch and finally opens his mouth to speak. “I’m having a party tonight. I was thinking you could swing by for a bit.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Well, it’s gonna be a whole thing, you know?” No you don’t know, and that really doesn’t answer the question on why he’s inviting you or why he thinks you’d even want to go, but thankfully he continues. “Real big, real fun, real cool…” he reaches into his pocket, pulling his hand out and passing some cash over to you. “…really need someone to bring the Mary Jane.”

You tilt your head at him, looking between him and the cash before sliding your vape into your jacket pocket. You pluck the cash from his hands and flick through the stack. There’s a couple thousand dollars here — broken up into smaller bills because why not — a little over a thousand by your count, sixteen hundred to be exact, which is far more than you usually charge to supply a party, but if the rich boy wants to give you all his money then you’re not gonna stop him.

Perhaps, this might make you a thief to some, but really, what’s one more negative connotation added to your name?

You slip the cash in your pocket and nod. “I’ll be there at ten.”

He flashes you a smile as you walk past him and brush your shoulder against his. There’s no force behind it — okay there’s a little force behind it, not a lot though — but still he flinches at the pressure and you don’t miss the way he reaches up to rub at his shoulder out of your peripherals.

That reminds you that you need to make a few things clear. Well, one thing, specifically.

“Oh, and Charles?” He hates that name, thinks it makes him seem like an old man and what better way to ensure he knows you’re serious than calling him by his government. He seems to understand this as his eyes snap to yours and he tenses. “If North Shore wants a chance at making it to state this year, it’d be in your best interest to ensure your brother is on his best behavior tonight. Unless, of course, Lucas wants more broken bones. You got me?”

The bell rings behind you then, a seemingly ominous warning to the boy whose face is now alight with fear. You don’t bother waiting on a response, you know he’ll obey your wishes. You smirk and turn on your heels, disappearing into the school.

— — — —

You show up at 9:45.

Fifteen minutes before the agreed upon time, a rather gracious compromise in your opinion.

One you’re already starting to regret as you walk into the house.

The music is blasting so loud you can barely hear yourself think. The house stinks of sweat from the hundreds of people crowded around each other, dancing, singing, laughing, and making out.

Everyone is drunk — some way more wasted than others — but somehow they all seem to sense your presence and part for you like the Red Sea. Some of them even turn their heads to see if it’s really you before quickly looking away and whispering to their friends.

You roll your eyes at that and Charlie takes this moment to finally make his appearance, trudging his way out of the kitchen. He makes a detour once he spots you and after a quick greeting, he leads you out to the backyard. “You got the stuff?”

“What a stupid question,” you scoff. “You think I’d take your money and then show up to this party empty handed with this duffle just for fun?”

You shrug the bag off and place it on the ground between the two of you, unzipping it as you do so. Inside is a bunch of pre-rolled joints and plenty of bags of weed for those who prefer to use a bong. There’s some rolling papers in there so people can roll their own joints, but you’re pretty sure if anyone does rolls their own joints tonight they are not using the weed you bought — because they don’t trust you so they won’t trust the weed you bought, and also no one goes to a party without their own weed. On the off chance that they do use yours, however, the necessary supplies are there.

Charlie whistles at the haul, eyes wide, clearly not having expected this much from you, but that’s not really surprising.

“Damn, I knew you were a pothead but that’s pathetic even for you.”

It is surprising, however, that Charlie took time out of his day to summon an actual demon from hell to this party.

You say this out loud. On purpose. Because it’s your mouth and you’ll say whatever you want.

“What the fuck did you just say?”

You turn your head to see none other than the devil herself, Regina George, glaring at you.

“You fucking heard me, Regina. You’re a demon and you should go crawl back into whatever fiery pit of hell you came out of.”

“Yikes, someone’s feeling dramatic today. But if I left, who would teach you how to dress?”

You chuckle and shove your hands into your pants pockets. “Rather presumptuous of you to assume I would want fashion advice from someone who looks like a copy and paste Barbie doll.”

“Oh, sweetie, it’s adorable that you think your opinion matters-,”

You hold your hand up to stop any further comments and start talking over Regina, effectively cutting her off and shutting her up. “I’m so glad you said that because your opinion does not matter at all, not to me especially when I didn’t even ask, and acting like it does is only going to do you a disservice so I’m gonna go ahead and let you know - I don’t care and you can keep the rest of your shitty opinions to yourself.”

Regina scowls and steps into your personal space, pointing her finger at you, inches away from jabbing into your skin. She’s towering over you slightly and now that she’s so close, you have to tilt your head up to hold eye contact with her. “Listen here you little bitch-,”

For the second time in less than a minute, you cut Regina off, smirking at the little vein that bulges on her forehead. “No, I don’t think I will, actually.”

Regina is about to blow. You can see it in her eyes, in the way her shoulders are so tense, and if you can see it so can anyone else in the vicinity. You lean closer, lowering your voice to a whisper so only she can hear. “Be honest, are you just mad this shirt got to come out of the closet, and you didn’t?”

Regina’s hands are fast.

SMACK!

But so are yours.

You catch her wrist in your hand before her open palm can collide with your cheek, the sound echoing like a gunshot in the backyard. A hush falls around those outside and you feel dozens of eyes lock on the two of you.

Regina tries to pull her hand away and you tighten your grip in response - not enough to leave marks or to cause pain, just enough so she’s forced to stay where she is.

She glares at you, her eyes alight with fury and jaw tense. The air crackles with the intensity of her anger, and you can feel the heat of her rage radiating towards you. But there’s no backing down now.

“Enough, Regina!” you snap, your voice firm and unyielding. “This isn’t the time or place for this!”

Her eyes narrow, and for a moment, it seems like she might explode again. But you hold your ground, your own anger flaring to match hers.

“We’re not doing this,” you continue, your tone brooking no argument. “Not here, not now.”

She looks ready to argue, but you cut her off, stepping forward with a fierce determination. “Back off, Regina. We’ll settle this later.”

The tension hangs thick in the air, but she finally takes a step back and you release her, her jaw still clenched. Without waiting for her to respond, you turn on your heel and stride away, your heart pounding with the adrenaline of the confrontation.

You venture inside and slip into the kitchen, grabbing a beer. You down it in one go and grab another one for the road before leaving out the front door.

It’s gonna be a hell of a day tomorrow.

[wishful-thinking64]

One Hell of an Unpopular Opinion #03

Characters like Barbie Wire, Chaz, Crimson, Octavia, and Stella only exist as plot devices to garner sympathy for other characters. _______ I knew fully well that Chaz and Crimson were going to merely be plot devices for Moxxie the more I watched Exes & Oohs. And sure enough, Chaz was killed at the end of that very episode and Crimson is yet another wacky cartoon villain that the narrative expects for you to take seriously. Both of these characters existed so that the audience could gain sympathy (or at least pity) for Moxxie being raised in a Mafia family and having been abused as a child along with being betrayed by his ex-boyfriend (who also happened to be Millie's ex-boyfriend for some reason.) Other than Moxxie's Mafia family upbringing making zero sense the more you think about it, Viv has basically done this exact backstory before in the form of Angel Dust (with the whole mobster backstory who was also abused by his father.) However, the Exes & Oohs episode and title actually stems from one of the HH mockup episodes that was originally about Charlie and Vaggie coming across Charlie's ex, Seviathan (yes, that's what Viv named him), and his sister, Helsa, while they were at a dinner party.

Now, do I think Chaz and Crimson could've had the potential to be good characters? In all honesty, no. Especially not Chaz. The guy is a harmful stereotype of pansexual people and how, "They'll sleep with anyone," which no, they won't. I'm not pansexual myself but that thought process is as gross as it is fucking stupid. The only person who I've seen even re-writing Chaz has been Loves Art23 (I mainly know her for YouTube videos being critical on Hazbin Hotel + Helluva Boss along with other shows like the disaster known as High Guardian Spice) and I think she's done a fairly good job so kudos to her for making him work. Personally, though I'm scrapping him as that gives me one less character to worry about when re-writing HB. Crimson would have to be heavily and I mean HEAVILY reworked/re-written in order for him to make any actual sense. That and I'm tired of every character having some variation of the same daddy issues in the Hellaverse. Which means he's also gonna get axed from me. Moving onto the ladies I mentioned, let's start off with Barbie Wire.

Having been foreshadowed since the pilot of I.M.P. (as seen when Tilla was still Barb's and Blitzo's older sister rather than their mother) Barbie Wire was an anticipated character by fans for years! And then her actual appearance finally happened in Unhappy Campers, an episode hated by practically everyone who saw it, and no one really cared about her showing up, other than the fact that the writers thought that having her seduce a BARELY legal adult would make for a good joke, when in reality, it only made everybody uncomfortable and several people dislike Barbie because of it. Sure, near the end of the episode she had that "emotional" scene with Blitzo that wants the viewers to feel bad for him and Barbie before she left but in the long run it didn't matter as fans barely even talk about it because of how uneventful it truly was. So, with that out of the way, would I keep Barbie Wire around for a rewrite of HB? To that I say, yes! There are several paths Barbie Wire's overall character could go in. If you're mainly sticking to canon, then what you have to work with is a former circus performer who lost her mother in a fire caused by her twin brother that left his own best friend to rot and be disabled for the rest of his life. It's very likely that this very fire, caused her to be out of a job and probably even homeless for a bit which could explain why she ended up becoming both a drug attic and a drug dealer. Homelessness is one of the few things that nobody wants to experience. It causes people to be filled with a sense of overwhelming loneliness and desperation as many of them either believe that there's nothing they can do or they do anything and everything that they can to get out of it even if that means resorting to crime. If you wanted to have her be loosely based on canon instead, you could make it to where she never learned about who started the fire and actually stuck with Blitzo well into adulthood. Have her become one of the members of I.M.P. and later down the line have her learn through someone like Fizz or maybe Cash (her and Blitzo's father) what actually went down that day. Have her be rightfully pissed off at Blitzo for screwing over multiple people along with being the one responsible for killing their mom. Anyway, let's proceed onto Stella and her daughter Octavia.

As much as the narrative wants me to hate Stella with a burning passion cause she hurts Stolas, I can't do it for multiple reasons but I'll list my top three. #01.) Stella's just as (if not even more so) stuck in this arranged loveless marriage as Stolas is. #02.) If the man I had no choice in marrying not only cheated on me with a man from one of the lowest classes in all of Hell but IN OUR OWN HOME & SHARED BEDROOM NO LESS? OH, FUCK NO!

#03.) This woman had to spend 9 months having to nourish and care for a baby inside her stomach that she had with a man that didn't even want to sleep with her. On top of that, she had to have become pregnant with Octavia when she was a young adult since current day Stolas and Stella are only in their mid 30s. I need you to let that information sink in.

In short, I can't hate Stella for loathing Viv's pathetic self insert bird twink with every fiber of her being.

Having said that, would I have Stella in my HB rewrite? Well, considering that I plan on keeping the war that happened in the bible that caused Lucifer and several angels to fall from grace, one of which being Stolas. Kind of. Allow me to elaborate, I would keep Stella as Octavia's mother but I wouldn't have her marry Stolas. I'd have her be a surrogate mother that way Stolas still gets an heir and Octavia could still exist. Speaking of Octavia...

We all know that she exists to make Stolas look like a better person as several stans of this show love to say how much of a good dad Stolas is when he isn't. He neglects Octavia frequently in favor of Blitzo and only pays attention to her when she's gone although EVEN THAT doesn't last long as shown in Seeing Stars where HE KNEW Octavia was missing on Earth but rather than ACTIVELY look for his daughter, what does he do? HE SITS THROUGH A STUPID LIVE COMEDY SHOW CAUSE BLITZO IS PERFORMING! HE COMPLETELY SIDELINES HIS OWN DAUGHTER IN FAVOR OF A LIVE COMEDY SHOW!

God, Octavia deserves so much better than to have a dad like him. I'm keeping Octavia for my HB rewrite so that this poor girl not only realizes how much of a bastard her dad is but eventually gets the found family she deserves. I don't plan for it to be through I.M.P. though. In closing, the characters of this show deserve to be better developed but especially the women in them.

_______

That was a long one to get through cause it's been on my mind for a while. Thank you all for reading through it and bye for now everybody!

[artymcartist]

ALRIGHT because someone did want em My post s2 drabbles for the group au we're doin

I'll paste most of em here, but here's an AO3 link to the rest of the stuff!!

LUKAS SCRIVENS

- Takes up mentoring Radar in F!Jesse's absence

- He writes to her and Petra often about how things are going in town

- The new Ocelots don't disband, but with so many members, Lukas starts running it like a guild.

- He builds a little guild hall in town for people to submit requests to and for members to take them. Probably helps take a load off of Radar's shoulders as the current Hero in Resident

- Either stays with Radar or Jack and Nurm during long stays, his house out of town still stands. He's home less often. Eventually he'll possibly make a little apartment either on top of or behind the guild hall. Maybe.

- Helps in managing Beacon Town

- Surprisingly takes leading the Ocelots and helping with Beacon Town pretty well, despite his independent nature.

- The Ocelots guild gains some notoriety outside of town, and they begin getting long distance requests via traders dropping them off at the Guild Hall. Possible adventure?

---

- He's not sure how to feel about Jesse's brother at first. It's kind of weird having a near carbon copy of one of your best friends with the exact same name.

- Observes the little man for quite a while. He slowly becomes more comfortable with him. Its like Jesse and Lukas got reversed from S1

- Allows him to live in his house on one of his couches. Dewey doesn't like him for QUITE a while.

- Enjoys having another parental force for Radar. Single parenting the hyperactive young adult could be a nightmare on his own some days.

- Having Jesse around allows him to write a bit more often.

- Totally diaries about the man and his eventual acceptance of him into his life.... and eventual feelings. Because you know it's gonna happen eventually. LMAO

-----------------------------------------------

JESSE DOS MINECRAFT

- Was living out in a little village far from Beacon Town on the world's edge before his sister called him to town.

- He's never been in Beacon Town before, and is slightly overwhelmed by it at first. He quickly learns to settle in however.

- Bro is covered in scars, some you'd wonder how he even got.

- A little more blunt and reckless than his sister, but to be fair, he hasn't really seen anything she has other than the Wither Storm.

- Speaking of, he's spooked by dreams of the Wither Storm. He only ever saw the beast when it was split in three.

- After the Wither Storm was defeated a second time, he attempted to return home. It was entirely destroyed. Not a single thing was left. So he set off to find somewhere else.

- A small town, practically just the size of a village, to the far east is where he finally settles down. He helps out with basically everything in an attempt to earn his keep.

- He's initially skeptical about returning to the resting grounds of the beast, but immediately forgets upon arriving (mostly due to being entirely overwhelmed by the two towns now residing there LMAO)

- He IS amazing by how they were able to bring life back to the entirely barren wasteland the monster left in it's path. Proud of his sister's great job assisting in building the place back up.

---

- A little put off by Radar's immense energy at first, but comes to enjoy the lil fella.

- Lukas... man. He's got no words. Insanely curious about the blonde.

- Enjoys the stroll from Lukas' house to Beacon Town. He'd probably go insane living in the town itself. He occasionally stays with him and Radar when needed.

- Starts stealing Lukas' bed at night after they've gotten comfortable with each other. Though, admittedly, he got comfortable quicker knowing this man was a friend of his sister.

---

- Occasionally also writes to his sister

"DUDE you didn't tell me you knew a sick ass blonde, he's pretty cool. Not getting over the leather jacket anytime soon."

"Sad I didn't get to see Reuben again before he died. Lukas and Radar tell me he died a hero. The memorial you built for him is nice. P.S. gonna beat up whoever this 'Romeo' guy is for destroying it"

"They're telling me about this portal network you guys explored. Sounds pretty cool. Lukas doesn't like to talk about the robot thingy though. Does this 'Ivor' fella still have that atlas? I'd love to go exploring sometime."

"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME JACK LIVED HERE TOO. I'm so going to beat you up next time you visit."

- He's not nearly as big of a fan as Petra is, but word goes around. Even to his itty bitty village on the world's edge

[it-happened-one-fic]

Play the Fool - Dottore (Part 2)

Author's Notes: And so the fic continues to progress far beyond what was planned. At this point I really don't know how many parts this fic will end up having, at least 4.... I do hope everyone can keep enjoying it though. Just like the previous part I listened to "Black Sea" by Natasha Blume while writing this. Reader is gender-neutral. I hope you enjoy!

Type: Mer-Dottore/ Merman AU/ gender-neutral reader/ I'm not gonna label this as fluff since that doesn't feel quite right, but know that it's NOT angst, yandere, or anything like that

Word Count: 1775

Trigger Warning: Discussion of past crimes including murder (Dottore), Fatui are generally shady

{Part 1}, {Part 2: You're Here!}, {Part 3}, {Part 4}, {Part 5}

EDIT: Entire series now available on AO3! (link deleted due to glitches)

Out. Out. Out. The word had rung through my mind in the most unforgiving fashion as Dottore’s red-eyed stare had held my own gaze.

A frown had creased my brows as I’d looked down at him, “Out. You want to get out of this tank or out of this building?”

“Both.” He’d been utterly confident that he could succeed. I could hear it in his voice and see it in his eyes. And that was what had told me something very simple, and that had determined the actions that had led me to this present moment. Musing about my very first interaction with the merman that currently swam through the tank.

“You have a plan,” I’d paused before continuing, crossing my arms in a small show of refusal to be totally overwhelmed by him. “One that involves me.” 

When I’d finished, a purely villainous smile had curved across his face. He’d known his plan would work, which meant he’d known even then that I would agree to take part in it.

That thought was enough to have me frowning yet again in the present. Especially when I recalled the shudder-inducing reply that had rolled off his tongue like the richest of honeys, “Precisely.”

If I’d ever doubted that Dottore was a dangerous man, I certainly didn’t now. Despite all my caution, I’d done exactly what he wanted, and he’d prepared for exactly that. Pointing out that it was a matter of time before the Fatui’s scientists came back to finish the job and kill him off. And where would that leave me?

Jobless, untrained, and knowing far too much about the Fatui’s inner workings to simply be released.

It was either help Dottore or wait until he and I both got killed. One path led to certain doom, and the other could be just as deadly if I didn’t watch my steps very carefully. Dottore was risky, but despite how much I hated it, he was my only chance just as much as I was his.

And so I waited for him to hatch his plot.

It was a simple plan, and I had a simple part to play. But everything hinged on Fatui being foolhardy enough to not catch on to what Dottore was doing.

But thus far, no one had noticed the merman carefully growing algae under the guise of conducting underwater experiments. But I watched. 

Watched as that sickly green slowly began to spread across the tank’s walls with unimpeded growth despite all of the scientists’ best efforts to engineer something to remove it.

It was almost impressive that Dottore was willing to create something that could so destroy his environment and potentially kill him if all didn’t go well, all in the name of getting ‘out.’

I stood as the head scientist, one of the ones who’d originally betrayed the finned harbinger, approached. A deep frown was on the man’s face as he eyed the now disgusting tank that was filled with brackish water and one scheming merman who was already growing sick from his environment.

“Sir, I’m going to have to physically clean the tank or he will die,” I bowed as I spoke. Keeping up the pretense that I knew the exact same amount of information as I’d been giving the day I’d been hired. 

Nothing.

Cold eyes darted to where I stood as the man seemed to register my presence for the first time. But the scientists never had noticed me unless I was intervening to keep another drowning from happening. And I hadn’t done that in quite some time. Not since I'd accepted the deal offered by the finned demon behind me.

“That would require removing him and draining the entire tank, and that is very risky,” There was a sneer to his words as he looked down his nose at me. Obviously not even considering my words, despite the fact he had no other options.

“At this point, it is our only option. Otherwise, we will simply have to leave him be and let Her Majesty, the Tsaritsa’s pet perish without even trying to save him or whatever it is that he may have to offer to the Fatui.” 

It was a leap of faith, but I’d long pondered why they’d kept Dottore around for so long. If they just wanted him dead, they could have killed him long before I’d been hired. The only excuse was if he had or knew something they needed, and that would also explain why so many scientists had so foolishly placed themselves at risk of drowning.

Maybe, just maybe, the merman held the key to something that these scientists and the Fatui as a whole needed.

Incensed by my assertion, the man’s nostrils flared. He was fixing to snap at me. I could see that from a mile away and braced myself for his tempestuous rage. But he didn’t get to say or do anything since someone else joined the conversation.

“Indeed, that wouldn’t do. What would you recommend, caretaker?” Faux politeness dripped from the ninth harbinger’s voice. 

This was the man who hired me in the first place. Regrator was his codename, but he was also called Pantalone. I hadn’t seen him since he’d brought me in and left me here after informing the group of scientists that I would be taking care of Dottore in their stead. To see him now was… Concerning. 

The first time I’d spoken without having been addressed and had asserted a view all my own, a harbinger had appeared. It added new weight to Dottore’s assertion that I would be killed the very moment that I wasn’t of any use. 

“If it pleases you, the tank can be drained so that I can clean it. During that time, a smaller tank that can be moved with more ease could be used to hold the merman.” I spoke carefully, clearly enough to be heard but not so loud that I’d seem outspoken. I needed to appear humble and unassuming if this plot would ever succeed.

“Why a tank that can be moved with ease?” The head scientist jumped on my words in a second, and I fought the urge to cast a glance back towards the mastermind, who’d left the difficult matter of convincing everyone entirely up to me.

“It is my understanding that all of the smaller tanks have easily removable lids…. I fear that having him in such a tank in the same area with so many people nearby could prove disastrous,” I lowered my head, making myself appear unsure even as I attempted to convince them of the plot without giving away anything.

“You fear he will kill some of the staff here?” Pantalone spoke up once more, clarifying my statement with a musing tone, and I looked up to see him gazing at me with a me thoughtful expression.

“Yes, my lord. I fear such a thing could occur should he be given the opportunity.” He nodded at my quiet confirmation, and I prayed he’d buy it. 

It was an airtight excuse, though. Dottore did not have the best record of sparing individuals who left themselves open to attack. In fact, so far as I knew, I was the only person who’d put themselves in such a risky position without ending up dead or being saved by me.

“A valid concern. Very well. We will proceed with the draining, and you will clean tonight, when there are fewer people here to lessen the risk. We will also put him in a smaller tank that you can wheel outside this room.” 

I could hardly believe my ears as Pantalone gave his orders. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation for a daring prison break if I’d been picking and choosing as I liked.

In fact, it almost seemed too good. But I couldn’t afford to be picky, not when I was dealing with the situation I was handling at the moment.

So I would play the fool once more and go along with yet another harbinger’s scheme, even though I knew of the potential risks. 

The head scientist himself seemed less than pleased with Pantalone’s words, but he didn’t protest as the harbinger strolled out. Leaving people to begin scurrying about to move the much-feared merman into a far smaller tank that was strangely ready for everything that was occurring. Almost like it had already been prepared.

I looked into the tank to see Dottore swimming about, his tail flicking in a sluggish manner that showed exactly how much his algae was already affecting him. 

He paused only briefly to look towards me before turning to swirl around in another area of brackish water as machinery descended from above to catch him in the net that would move him.

A hand landed on my shoulder, and I was roughly turned to face the head scientist, who was looking down at me with glaring eyes, “If something goes wrong, it will be on your head. And not even a harbinger can protect you if you displease the Tsaritsa.”

With only those words, a poorly concealed threat, he shoved me away from him and towards the tank that Dottore had just been dropped into. Almost like he was hoping the merman would drag me into the water and kill me for him.

A spray of water was sent into the air as water splashed out of the far smaller tank, and Dottore turned to press himself against the glass. Something akin to a hiss leaving his mouth as he looked towards the head scientist.

It was almost satisfying to see the man back away at the sound that came from the merman behind me. Dottore was certainly doing a good job of keeping up his act as a wild merman who could not be trusted and would kill the scientists the instant he was given the chance to. 

No one drew any closer as ever more machinery placed the lid on Dottore’s new, smaller tank and clicked the locks down in place.

People parted around Dottore’s tank, giving both me and the merman a wide berth as I pushed him out of the room to wait.

As soon as we were alone, my fingers tapped lightly on the thick glass, and his hand pressed against where I’d touched. “I’ll be back in a bit after I finish cleaning that tank of yours,” My voice was low as I spoke, and I briefly glanced down to see him looking at me. 

He didn’t nod his head, nor did his facial expression change. Instead, all he did was pull his hand away from where my fingers rested, in silent agreement.

[deeptrashwitch]

A Haunting Past (pt.2)

Tw: Allusion and mention to human trafficking, allusion and mention to kidnapping, allusion and mention to pedophilia, allusion and mention to torture

Days later, Alicia was behind her desk in silence just absently playing with the old dog tags, that once again came back to her hands. She knew it would have been better to throw it away, but the curiosity and morbidity won and now she was staring at the remains of her greatest failure. Every nick and scratch was seared into her head as much as it was in the dog tags, and only stare at them made her have goosebumps.

The part that looked cleared by fire made her neck scratch, while the name scraped brought horrible sleepless nights back. For a second her mind abandoned that day and time to go back to the past, just to be back when the sound of her phone startled her. She sighed as she ignored her shaking hands, leaving aside the dog tags before answering the call, putting it on speaker.

"Captain Marchant, are you free?" Price asked from the other side of the line

"Captain Price, I'm surprised to hear from you, but I'm not busy right now" she said, keeping her voice steady as the best she could "how did you get this number? And how can I help you?"

"Laswell gave it to me, I'm not even gonna ask how she got it"

"That's fair, I don't ask Wraith about all the shit she does either. Anyway, why the sudden call?"

"We heard that you and your team have a soon to come mission in Brasil? In two days exactly if I'm correct"

"Quite specific information. But whatever, so what?"

"I'm sure you heard about Makarov's escape, considering what you gave to Laswell. But the thing is that we also found something about a reunion inside a camp, there were no names, and no exact coordinates, but they left traces"

"And it brought you to my path, didn't it?"

"Exactly, apparently they decided to help the Konni group to get something, somewhere"

"...There's a camp inside the Amazonas, is used by a web leader called Green Chameleon as headquarters" she explained with a sigh "I can't reveale you the name, but it's one of the biggest on the world. If Makarov had a reunion with that bastard, then I can imagine what they talked about"

"How come?"

"As far as we know, they manage a system of 'animal trafficking', but even with all the exotic animals inside the rain forest area and all its value...they have much more money that they should"

"I see, so you're saying..."

"Remember how the messenger call my Lieutenant in Las Almas?"

"A dog, an untrained mutt. I wanted to blew his teeth off because of it, what a fucker"

"That's how Green Chameleon sees the people. Or you are an obidient pet to them, or you're a nuisance who needs training"

"So it's animal trafficking operation isn't about animals, but humans"

"Exactly, and if Makarov went to that place to talk...then he's looking for an scapegoat for something"

"And that worries me, he's crazy enough to do any shit he needs. Why would he need an outside scapegoat?"

"I don't know, you're the one who has lead with him"

"...Let me go to that mission"

Alicia raised an eyebrow, surprised by how direct Price could be, but remained silent. The call stayed in silence for a couple of minutes, then the british sighed and put something down on the other side of the line.

"There's no need to make it official, I can go there and simply join after your team arrives. But I need to learn that intel first hand"

"You don't trust I'll give it to you complete"

"Kind of" he admitted without shame "you would think the same about me"

"True, but I just have a question"

"Shoot"

"The friend who'll take you there, doesn't happen to have a hangar where I can...interrogate Green Chameleon after captured?"

"Maybe"

"I need a real answer, Price. Yes or no?"

"I'll ask and give you an answer"

"When you do, I'll give you the coordinates"

And the next day Price gave her the answer, once they finish in the rain forest a hangar would be ready for them. She sent him the coordinates before going to prepare the teams, inside the conference room there were the two main officers and non-commisioned officers. In a second, the screen showed two locations, a satelital image of the camp inside the rain forest and the image of a mansion surrounded of guards.

"Alright gentelmen, this is the operation when we finally screw with Six Aces, so I want you prepared for everything" she said with a stone face "we have two locations that must be raided at the same time if we wanna cut the escape routes. The first is the camp inside the forest, Lieutenant Michaelis and I will be on charge of a small team. Corporal Wilson, Private Christensen and Private Scott will come with us as recon, also we'll look for any survivor"

"The medical teams are prepared to treat any problem in the site, and we informed some bases to get ready for emergency surgeries" Jackson said, looking at the camp image "I don't think there'll be anyone unharmed there, Captain"

"Let's hope you're wrong. Well, the second location is a mansion inside Florianópolis. Keep it discret and I want no civilians involved, but capture everyone inside that mansion" she continued with a sigh "Blackwell, you're on charge. Take Corporal García, Private Lombardi and Private Stevens with you, I talked with Wraith and she assured me that the BOPE will help you on the raid"

"Yes Captain"

"Jackson, I want three pilots in the air. Two assigned to the rain forest and one to Florianópolis, be ready for the hostages evac and possibly taking flight from a beach"

"Yes Captain, I have a pilot especialized on this rescue missions" Edward muttered while looking at the flight route "I'll send him as the main pilot for the forest with an old one who agreed to help us, and I'll go with Blackwell's squad"

"Good, the mission will start at the 01:00 hours. Nobody needs to know we're there, try to be as silent as possible and that our pilots use the quieter helos we have"

The reunion extended for some time more, then the infantry went to prepare everything for the mission, so Alicia and Luke went to the armory to get everything. Michaelis looked at Alicia in silence while he gave her an ammo magazine, then sighed when the dog tags poked from her uniform. In a second, he took them knowing she only would look at him, then stared at the nickname.

"You kept this, I thought you would ask Jackson or someone else to burn them" he said while he looked at the number "mostly beacuse of how disgusted you look everytime you mentioned Guardian"

"...It isn't disgust" she commented quietly, almost in a whisper "it's fear, I feel fear of seeing Guardian again. Now it's here"

"Then why keep it?"

"Gives me hope"

"Of what?"

"That I can get some justice" she said before start walking away "let's go"

Luke looked at her, but nodded before following, and they went to the helicopter that waited for them. Once they hop on, the red-haired looked at how many people they were, five of the main team and almost ten more from the second infantry squad. 'We are lucky it isn't a big camp' he thought, but then sighed when he remembered how good defended was that same camp, it was really dangerous either way.

Soon she told them about Price's presence in the mission, which all of them accepted, even if Luke was worried of what would that mean. And once they arrive to the place, all of them used the cables and harnesses to go down to the rain forest, all of them prepared to move. Meters away Price emerged from the rain forest, nodding towards Alicia and Luke, and joined them while Elijah, Alexander and Francis went as reconnaissance.

For some time they walked in silence, with the rifles up while Elijah informed them through the radio, until they heard the report about the guards and patrol. They got separated to surround the entrances of the camp, but everyone felt a chill down their spines when they saw how that place was. Hundreds, if not thousands, of cages filled with people of all ages, some asleep, others crying, and some even...dying as they prayed in so many languages.

When Alicia walked towards one of the cages, she froze when she recognized many faces, they have been around the news for months now. Men abducted after work, women taken from her offices and homes, kids taken away from their parents, all of them were there and who knows how many more were already shipped somewhere else. And in the moment she noticed how a person, who was staring at her with fear, was about to scream, she shook her head, throwing her hand to shut her.

"Por favor, no nos haga daño" the person plead over the glove, hugging tightly an slept kid as they covered another person with their body (Please don't do anything to us)

"...No lo haré. Mis hombres y yo estamos aquí para llevarlos de vuelta a casa" she explained quietly, squating outside the cage, leaving free the person's mouth "¿sabes cuántas personas hay aquí?" (I won't. My men and I are here to take you back home. Do you know how many people are here?)

"Creo que hay unos miles, tal vez más. Y-ya llevaron a algunos a la siguiente etapa" (Maybe a few thousands, maybe more. T-they already took some to the next stage)

"Por 'siguiente etapa', ¿quieres decir transportarlos?" (By 'next stage', you mean ship them away?)

"Sí, n-nos dijeron que seríamos los siguientes para salir lo más pronto posible" (Yes, they t-told us taht we would be the next ones so they can go as soon as possible)

"...Comprendo, necesito que te quedes en absoluto silencio y que acalles a cualquiera que trate de gritar, eso mientras nosotros lidiamos con los que les hicieron esto" (I see, listen, I need you to stay quiet and that you keep quiet anyone who tries to scream while we take care of who did this to you)

The person nodded and Alicia stood up, pulling up her mask again, then looking at her soldiers who were as disgusted as her. With a sign she sent them to do one thing, raid the tents, kill any men inside and if anyone finds the leader...keep him alive. All of them nodded and grabbed the rifles to start everything, while she also let her rifle out, walking towards the main tent with rage flowing through her veins.

She didn't care who was behind her, she just walked into the tent, looking the desk filled of papers, the person asleep in the bed and, what disgusted her, the photo of two kids...with a note in the frame. In silence she took the photo, pressing the glass with enough strenght to crack it, then read the note and something cracked in the back of her head. This person called those kids things that undoubtly made them look like anything but innocent, this bastard was a pedophile as well.

In a movement she put the rifle back in her back, walking towards the figure asleep, who woke up in a second. The man tried to reach a knife and defend himself, but Alicia grabbed his wrist and punched him in the face with all her strenght, hearing a bone crack. The man sreamed in pain, but she just punched him in the stomach to shut him up, then grabbed him by the hair and dragged him outside.

She threw him without any care, letting him crash against one of the empty cages, and making a loud sound in the middle of the night.

"We finally met, Green Chamaleon" she said, looking at him as all the soldiers went back outside

"Who the hell-?!" he tried to ask until he was pointed by a rifle

"Shut up, this isn't your place to talk. Not yet at least"

"Captain, all the hitmem were eliminated. Orders?" Luke said, walking towards her and stopping before looking at Green Chameleon with hate

"...To all units! Break the locks of the cages and scort all survivors to the evac point!" she ordered with sharp voice, turning to watch the second squad soldiers, who back a step when they saw the rage in her eyes "and poor of you, idiots, if I find out you did something to them! Now get out of here!"

"You'll come back to the base, Captain?" Elijah asks, quietly, also also walking towards her

"Soon, but until then, the Lieutenant and you are in charge" she answered, suddenly emotionless "if any of those ten tries to surpass themselves, then you have my permission to do whatever is needed to stop them until we can take them to court"

"Yes Captain" they said in unison

When they all left, Alicia looked at Price, who just made sign towards another path of the rain forest as he took the trafficant. They walked in silence, but the woman stopped when she looked at the desk once again, and a known face stared back at her and froze her blood. Those faces were...Keyra Lombardi, James Wilson, Elizabeth Michaelis and Camila, all of them were objectives.

And when she read about the plans Six Aces had for them, her hands shook before ripping the photos and archives, then looking outside in silence. She walked towards Price to go and interrogate Green Chameleon, at the same time he introduced her to his friend, Nikolai, a Russian "weapon enthusiast". They looked at each other and nodded, then they loaded the trafficant inside the helo.

Soon the three of them were in the hangar, and while Nikolai and Price disscussed what method they should use to make him talk, Alicia walked towards the trafficant. While she stared at the bloddy nose, she frowned, then grabbed his hand and pressed a point with a lot of strenght. Green Chameleon screamed and that called the other two attention, while Alicia just stood there, looking at him emotionless.

"There's something I learned after many years as Special Forces, our body is interconnected for everything...and the hand has three pain points if you press them right" she said as she let go his hand, then putting her finger over another point of the hand "a 2, a 3 and a 4, while we can endure 10 points before dying. That was the 2, while...the 4 will make you shit your pants"

"W-what?"

"And I know how to reach the 10 without killing you" she said before smiling with some madness "what if you start talking, huh? Start about your plans with the people on the documents"

"No, R-red Dragon will..."

"You should worry more about me now, I'll make you see hell"

When she said that, she pressured the other point and the scream that came out of the man left Price and Nikolai frozen, and soon the interrogatory continued.

They arrived to the base where the Specters were staying after six in the morning, and Wraith was already waiting for them, looking at the helo with a dead pan stare. As soon as the door opened, Alicia practically threw Green Chameleon down and then she descended as well, while Price just nodded towards the agent and stayed inside. Then Wraith looked at the trafficant, who was shaking and barely breathing, but without any visible marks.

"What did you do to him?" she asked, lookimg at the Captain

"Get the information we needed" Alicia answered with her hands inside her pockets "do whatever you want with him, I don't care"

"Anything I should know?"

"White Tiger is suppling Makarov and the Konni Group with all kind of weapons, they had a lot to do with the escape of that son of a bitch. Also they'll help him with something in Urzikistan, not sure what is it, nor is our thing"

"Huh, good to get intel, aren't you? Why didn't you became part of the CIA?"

"You seriously don't want me as an agent, and less a me not leashed by international laws"

"Right"

"We need to start our back up plans, they will use them as tokens" she muttered before start walking, exclaming without looking at Price "a pleasure to work with you, Bravo! Talk to me when you have more information about Six Aces! And good luck with Makarov!"

When she passed by Green Chameleon side, he flinched and tried to squirm away, but didn't manage to do anything. Alicia walked towards the office she was using for now, and once the door was closed, she let her knees loose strenght. As she almost fell down, she felt sick looking at her hands, but swallowed that hate.

They had different things to worry about now, Sic Aces wanted to use their families as tokens to negociate if they get near enough. And not only that nor the White Tiger thing, also she learned another part of what they knew about that time. She felt a cold sweat when she heard how Green Chameleon told her how they learnt about how the ambush happened, not even her superiors in the Marine Corps had all the details...but they did.

The memory made her start breathing heavily right there, it brought back that time and it was a toture to remember. For a second she stayed there, thinking and watching again in her mind that day, the screams, the shooting and the pain. Only when she heard Luke enter to the office, she came back and looked at him with surprise, while the red-haired sighed and sat down beside her.

"How do you feel?" he asked, worried

"...I've been worst" she muttered as she looked away

"I see, did everything go well during the interrogation?"

"If you're asking me if someone will acusse us of something, then no. I made sure of it"

"Good to know" Luke said before sighing again "you seem worried, can I know? Or is it above my paycheck?"

"You won't like it and you'll be furious"

"Throw it at me"

"...Six Aces will use our families as tokens to negociate if get to near of Red Dragon. They already had four objectives to start, first was capture, second was interrogate and third was eliminate" she said before putting a hand over her face "they would get Marcus' wife, Elijah's brother, my sister and...your wife"

"E-eli?"

"Yes, they want to take her and use her against you and Noah"

Luke stayed silent for a second, but his eyes filled of anger while he clenched his fists, and even then he just nodded. Then Alicia told him part of what Green Chameleon confessed, how White Tiger and their help to Makarov just confirmed their worries, they were allies. The red-haired sighed tired and frustrated, but then doubted for a second, and while she looked at him confused...he took out a photo.

"Alicia, you know I trust you in basically everything" he said quietly "so I don't wanna jump into conclusions, but Jackson and his squad found this in Florianópolis. Can you explain me what they meant and why it was there?"

He gave her the photo, and Alicia recognized it in a second, it was the Team picture she had with the 267. The eyes of everyone were covered with red shile hers were covered with black, while behind it a text in english awaited. It basically said: 'they re-forged the stone statue it seems, but the cracks will always make it crack again. How much this new stone can handle? See you soon, my friend' and had a group of coordinates, which she knew were it pointed without looking for them.

"Why someone like that bastard is calling you a friend? And those coordinates...did you talk with all these people when you told me you were interrogating him?"

"...No" she said as she left the picture aside "I didn't talk with them and I never will do it unless is to kill them. And about the friend thing...this isn't from Green Chameleon"

"What?"

"This is from someone who knows what happend during my time MIA, they'll try to do that again" she said with darkened eyes "those coordinates were a prision site used by Anwar Carabalí years ago"

"Wait, how do you-?"

"Captain!" Nicholas opened the door, breathing heavily and with fear across all his face

"Private Fowlett?"

"A call...we got a call" he explained as he composed himself "a team of the 10th reconnaissance detachment, they called for help through an old channel. They said they only have some days before someone else find them, a-and they give me some coordinates"

And when Nicholas told them the coordinates, Alicia looked at the photo and the text, feeling a chill down her spine. She got pale when she noticed that they coincided perfectly, and in a second she had an idea of who would find the team after some days.

"Elías..." she whispered while her heart smashed agaist her ribcage

"Alicia" Luke called her, now worried by how sick she looked suddenly

"That's what they meant with 'see you soon', huh?" she muttered with boiling anger, slaming the photo into the table as she stood up "I'll go, you can stay if you want to"

"Wait! Alicia!"

"If you need to know, the 'friend' bullshit is a fucking mockery" she snarled before walk down the hall

As she walked towards the entrance, she called with Xiao Chen about a favor. At the same time, Alicia was aware that it will cost her something big, but she really didn't care. She just need a way to save Elías, the cost doesn't matter.

[thousand-winters]

Oh, that's genuinely so brilliant. The dialogues are perfect too lmao.

It always strikes me how in some ways Darius and Eberwolf are the opposite of what they seem to be.

Not to say Darius isn't a neat person but he IS also the Head of the one Coven that seems to use either mud or worse alternatives as what they control, and not only that, but Darius straight up experimented with himself in order to make his body composition merge with it so. And Eberwolf is always so ironic as the Head Beastkeeper since he seems some sort of Beast demon himself, but yes! Working with beasts and animals makes it so you have to be mindful about a certain level of hygiene and cleanliness.

The same could be said about their temperament, Darius might seem like a collected kind of person but he's more prone to just... lose it, he has far more unstable emotions, while Eber, despite his chaoticness, seems to be able to keep a clear head better or at least not try and jump to act like Darius does sometimes.

I think that makes it so interesting too how they would approach each other's magic paths. Given that Amity started improving faster too when she started not being so "by the book", I feel like Abominations magic has a certain messiness to it that Eber ironically might not be used to working with. You have to be careful when working with a frightened animal, for example, and abominations are... not really that sentient or perceptive as an animal so there'll be an adjustment in both how they'd have to conjure the magic itself and how to deal with these creatures.

Because abominations are more like servants! In a lot of ways they're disposable. And Eberwolf, who works with beasts, does the exact opposite of treating his beasts as disposable, which is good, of course, but it's going to be kinda weird for him, I feel like. Because by all means abominations seem alive but it's... complicated (we're ignoring that one abom that seems sapient in one episode, shhh)

As for Darius, I feel like the challenge might be that he's so well attuned to abominations that everything else is going to be a little weird. Of course, he's got the basic spells that aren't locked by coven, like being able to conjure up his scroll or such, but the actual big spells he has are all abomination for obvious reasons. And the thing with Darius is that he's very unique in being an Abomination Witch who's practically fused with his magic. Every movement there must feel second nature, everything he does almost part of his own body and limbs.

Now ask him to make spells that are focused on the outside. Spells to calm and tame beasts, spells to enhance your external understanding. It's not that Darius isn't a sensible, perceptive person, but it's not his realm of expertise when it comes to magic, I think he's gonna be a bit clumsy in that aspect because he's used to just feeling his magic as an extension of himself, not as something that's happening externally.

It's going to be SO fascinating.

I was thinking, once the sigils are removed everyone that had one can start practicing other types of magic, so picture this: Darius and Eberwolf teaching each other their craft. Like it makes sense, seems like a logical first step, but most important is very cute.

[vixthefantheorist]

Was Anti formed from the Stone Slab?

Not quite a theory but a thought to chew on a bit.

You guys recall Arin talking about a stone slab to Chase in order to try to gain his trust, in Anomaly Found - Chase Brody? From that, Arin speaks of the effects the stone slab had on the residents of a small town the tablet was found in. Nose bleeds, headaches, hearing voices... and damages it can do if exposed to it for too long. People dying from it, those who were unresponsive (either mentally checked out or their brains kind of broke to the point of being a vegetable state); and those... who turned to a darker path. He doesn't quite clarify on what he means by that since 'darker path' could mean a variety of things. But it made me start thinking for a bit...

What if Anti was formed by that? Like he was just a normal resident of that town and was exposed to the influence of that stone slab like everyone else living there. While everyone else was rejecting the voices and going mad, or just dropping like flies because the power was too great... what if he was able to endure it? And in enduring it while having no one else to talk to, began to trust those voices... and embraced them? And in accepting them... he was given power from that tablet. Which is how he became the way he is? Now there's a lot of holes in this. One, kind of seems overdone and doesn't seem to fit Anti's persona in this universe. Second, we don't know if that's how the Stone Slab works... since IRIS doesn't know what voices could be saying or anything or if that's how the exposure works. And other things that could be named but eh. Hmm... wow I guess this really is gonna be a theory huh? lol I could present the exact same thought but Anti not living in the town but was of the IRIS team that went to go get the damn rock. And was exposed that way to it. And the reason I say that (for fun really, not seriously) is how well Anti seems to navigate that IRIS facility. Like he's been there before. And in the beginning of the stream of The IRIS Project that there's a terminal we're hacking through that has the password of iamhere. WHY is that the password? Could it be Anti's old terminal we're using when he worked there? Possibly. (Honestly, I doubt it that's deep... more likely than anything its just a fun a little easter egg to show that 'Ayo, Anti's here guys!' Rather than anything deeper than that. Again this version is more of a fun 'what if' than serious mode theory.) BUT still... there's a connection there (maybe)... I mean WHY would Arin bother to tell him about a funky rock when it has 'nothing' (haha I don't buy that it's nothing) to do with ALTR 114209 Arin keeps harassing Chase about? Could it be that Anti may in fact be from that tablet? Like a being that was trapped in it or formed after consuming the braincells of the residents there? (Like is he Hexxus from FernGully: The Last Rainforest? Some tar like thing/tulpa that crawled out of there?) Maybe the stone tablet was meant to be a prison that The Magic Circle (and AIMC) used to trap Anti in? But the spell holding him in there wore off and he escaped? The actual manifestation of the funky magic rock? Is there actually a connection between them? Or just a connection because both are ALTRs? (Fuck if I know, but its still a fun little thing to chew on for fun) Or could the Stone slab be a sort of gateway? Then again, if it was, you'd think Anti would focus on getting the rock rather hunt down Chase. And even if Anti and the stone pokeball were connected... what does that have anything to do with local sad dad, Chase Brody? (Probably nothing here either but hey, we don't know what Sean's got cooking up in his noggin.)

Wow. It did turn into a theory... or several theories? Sorry, I rambled there. But uh... what do you guys think on them? I'm curious to read your thoughts on the Stone Slab Arin talked about.

[lineralangohr]

Dorene and Celine

Since Mark has given us permission to share the stuff he said about Dorene on the mixer, I’m gonna subject you to my own theory that has been stewing in my mind since I saw it and keeping me awake. And this one is kind of weird, so it’s either going to blow your mind or make me lose all of my credibility.

But first, here is a just slightly abridged transcript of some of the things he said about her concept (I tried to stay as close to the original as possible to avoid another game of telephone).

Dorene was a special case. Because I wrote in something, because it was story important, to showcase that you should not be awake during the initiation of the wormhole. It's bad. And clearly it's bad: you, the captain, were awake and everything is caused by that. Dorene is another person on the ship who was awake at the exact same time that you were. Everything that you can do, all the choices, the infinite choices that have been made, will be made or are made and are all simultaneously occurring, that happened to you – also happened to Dorene. At the exact same time. That's why Dorene, when you first meet Dorene, is kinda like “Oh, of course I'll help” even though things are glitchy and broken, that's why Dorene during the second time gets weirder and weirder, that's why Dorene the third time is already wise to everything that's happening. There are different points in time that Dorene has been experiencing in all of this chaos, but it has been happening at the same time it's happening to you. [...] Dorene is a colonist on the ship. But just like everything on this ship, and in this universe, and in this story, things can echo and get distorted as they go backwards and forwards in time. What Space is, it's a justification for everything to occur, that has occurred. The ripping open of this wormhole, the interweaving of these multiverses, the overlapping of concepts, the area outside the universe – you know, “the void”. All these things can exist simultaneously.

There is a lot to unpack here, but what stuck with me is the concept of her being able to make choices like we do and thus practically doing her own playthrough while we struggled to save the ship.

Maybe she went down a whole different path with universes that we didn’t even encounter there, but might have seen at a different time. And maybe even experienced another story or two from a different perspective than we did. She could even have gone through some older Markiplier projects since there is no clear timeline any more.

Now I might be going a little too far, but, you know how many of us made our own heistsonas or spacesonas or just any other kind of self insert OC? And even if we never drew them, we probably had at least a vague concept in our minds.

Guys. WHAT IF. She “played” through Who Killed Markiplier and DAMIEN as Celine.

Celine

is

her

OC

[crplpunkklavier]

it's been talked about before, and i knew through other's anecdotes, but the farther i come in my own path of healing, the more i fully understand how recovery is not the absence of hurt.

almost exactly eight years ago, the only family member who ever treated me with a modicum of human decency was hit by a car. this was one gutpunch in a long series of gutpunches, and not the last of the series either, but it's the one with the clearest date, and it's one that was easy to conceptualize. dad was hit by a car. of course you're sad every november.

and i am sad this november. i was sad the last few weeks of october too. i miss him. i think about him often, and i wish he could see all i've been doing for the past eight years. i don't know if there will ever be an end to the grief, but i've learned that that's not the important part. because recovery isn't the absence of that grief, it's the shape of it.

for years, every time the second half of october rolled around (right after my birthday usually), i would just become fully dysfunctional. i couldn't do anything. here in germany, the winter semester starts on october 1, so every year i would start one semester with a huge disadvantage, because i'd be dissociating through 4 of the first 6 weeks. i'd miss deadlines, i'd miss class, i'd miss meals, sleep. the sadness was all there was to me. there was only grief and me, no room for anything else, and i barely held on.

but when i say that i am sad this november, and i was sad the last two weeks, i don't mean that. this vortex of grief, this insurmountable sadness, that doesn't happen to me anymore. i have been sad! i have also been, at the exact same time, incredibly happy. the past year has been one of the best of my life, and that didn't stop being true around the anniversary of my father's accident. i miss him dearly while also being so happy that it overwhelms me, some days.

so recovery isn't the absence of that grief, recovery is me having reshaped it, whittled it down, worked it into something that i will maybe carry around in my pocket with me forever, who knows, but it leaves so much space for other things. i love my friends, i love my partner, i've found a job i like, i can keep up with class. i know what to do when my body hurts, i've changed my name, i'm growing a beard. i can cook all my favorite meals and they get better every time, and i can figure out how to keep enough money on the side for emergency takeout. my dog listens to me and i listen to my dog, and i wish my dad could meet him, but even if he can't then i still have this wonderful life with my wonderful dog, and even if the empty space where my dad could have been will never be filled again, every other part of my life is so full that it doesn't hurt as much as it used to.

maybe you'll always have a bit of hurt in you, but eventually you too will have so much joy in you as well that sometimes, on the best of days, it'll fully overshadow that hurt. look, i'm 31 now. i learned some of this through hard conscious effort, and some of it i just picked up along the way. you keep on going, you'll get here. maybe recovery won't look like you thought it would, and maybe that is only the first of all the sweet little surprises life has in store for you.

the future's so bright. you're gonna wanna see it.

[haleigh-sloth]

i know deku wants to save ppl bc it is natural for him to do that but do you think its possible for him to somehow connect emotionally with shiggy? like in a genuine way and not just 'we both like/liked heros' way

Yes, definitely.

In fact, I really don't think the "we both wanted to be heroes" origin is going to be what connects them at all. The purpose of Shigaraki saying that exact same line was specifically for you to connect the two in your head. But their origin stories are vastly different and take off in similar, yet very different directions. They parallel AND foil each other.

Midoriya and Shigaraki have similar origins in terms of aspirations and personalities (protective of friends, sweet kids who wanted to help others), but later on their lives took completely opposite directions. Opposite directions, but also somehow the same. Both inherited powers they thought they wanted, only to end up in a war that was never theirs to fight. But they’re stuck having to anyway.

It started off with the notion that they just both wanted to be heroes, but it ended up going much deeper and personal than that.

Everything past this point is my personal prediction, but I'm basing it off of recent developments in the story and things we've known for a while.

What I think is actually gonna connect them is the fact that they’re each other’s missing piece. Midoriya can’t be the hero he wants to be if he can’t save everyone. He can’t be the hero he wants to be if he can’t succeed where All Might failed. All Might failed Tenko, who was technically always OFA’s responsibility because of Nana Shimura (All Might’s initial reaction of guilt over this proves that). Midoriya can’t be the hero he wants to be without Shigaraki, and I think at this point in the story Midoriya is probably wondering how the hell he’s gonna save this dude. All I know is that it's gonna be more about words and actions than fighting. We don't know the details of how it'll go down, but we know he’s going to reach and save him.

And then Shigaraki can’t be saved without Midoriya. Midoriya sees someone who needs to be stopped AND saved. Not somebody who needs to be killed, and not someone who needs to be encouraged to continue on the destructive path he's on (which the LOV are doing, as a result of their own anger too). Midoriya clearly sees the faults in Shigaraki’s methods, but he’s also starting to see where he may have fallen short as a hero.

Also the biggest thing about Midoriya and Shigaraki is that they both need to come to an understanding. Because Midoriya said something in the beginning to Shigaraki that stuck with him throughout the entire story.

And Midoriya has been reflecting lately too.

There's more on Shigaraki's part in this too. If you look back in the early EARLY chapters, Shigaraki clearly noticed Midoriya a long time ago. At the time it came across as "checking out and keeping an eye on your enemy", but after we saw Tenko asking for Midoriya specifically, to save him, I don't think we're supposed to think that anymore. Literally every notable save Midoriya has made throughout the story, Shigaraki was there to witness it, either up close or from the sidelines. But he saw it. He also saw Stain save Midoriya. Stain, who had literally just got done lecturing Shigaraki about "fake heroes" and only killing with a purpose. He saw the HERO KILLER STAIN save Midoriya, an aspiring hero.

So basically, my prediction for how this is gonna go is, I think we’re gonna find out in the coming chapters that Shigaraki, deep, deep, DEEP down (and not acknowledging it) believed in Midoriya’s ability to be a hero, regardless of his quirk. Which is something Midoriya also needed from the beginning. Because Shigaraki didn't know about OFA! He had no idea. But Midoriya irritated him from the get go because he reminded Shigaraki of All Might.

And well, I think it's obvious by now that Shigaraki's hatred of All Might is because of the praise he gets for saving "everyone", everyone except for Tenko.

So like....my take on the mall scene, which was an important scene to both of their arcs, is that Shigaraki had already decided in his head that Midoriya was actually heroic. And that bothered him. The kid bothered him before he even knew anything about him.

I mean for fucks sake look at what he was doing literally right before he went to the mall lol

So I don't think the answer to their connection is "oh you liked heroes as a kid too???" I think it's going to be Midoriya realizing what it takes to really be a true hero, and Shigaraki realizing that hope is NOT lost, he is still worth saving, and there is someone who will do it. And a bonus for him, learning that his gut feeling was right and he took notice of the right person after all.

[technowoah]

In a rich man's world

I wrote this in a day be proud yall :)

A C!Schlatt b̶l̶u̶r̶b̶ imagine (platonic)

+ C!Wilbur x reader (established)

⚠︎ swearing, manipulation (?), drinking, smoking, mentions of weapons. I didn't proofread

"STAY THERE. Dont come for me until I say that its safe. I know Schlatt will follow you so dont come-"

"GET EM OUT OF HERE!"

"Stay my love!"

This wasnt what you expected when Wilbur said to stay. You didnt think that staying in Manberg would insue that Tubbo would be considered Schlatt's vice president and you becoming his "First Lady".

He said in his own words, "Im interested in you. To be honest I don't know how someone like Wilbur can get a woman like you."

You took that to heart instantly. You and Wilbur were together for a reason. You loved him and he loved you. You and Wilbur built L'Manburg, you followed his dream and right now you are watching his dream, firsthand, be destroyed. You had watched him loose the election by 1 percent to Quackity and Schlatt and immediately after that get run out of his own country by the man he now despises. The man that's now your president.

Late at night you remember the faces of Tommy and Wilbur who were standing in the middle of a crowd of archers, their arrows pointed towards them as you tried to push your way through to get to Wilbur. He finally grabbed your arm and took off running, dragging you along with him.

The three of you finally came to a stop by a river when he said those words to you. Wilbur had told you to stay with Tubbo until things blew over and the two of you could see eachother again. Tommy continued to yell in the background that they should continue to run, Wilbur tried to give you one last hug when he was ripped away by Tommy.

You stood there breathless as arrow whipped past you and nearing your feet. You heard footsteps behind you. Thinking it was either one of the archers behind you, you didn't move until a hand was placed upon your shoulder. Discomfort flew through your body as your mind caught up to the idea that Schlatt was behind you.

"Dont watse your time. You heard the man." Schlatt said as he ended up walking away leaving you stunned.

He was an asshole and he knew it too. You could probably tell he was smirking as he walked away. That bastard just came all the way here just to taunt you and then leave. You ended up going back to the podium where you met with everyone else who didn't chase after Wilbur and Tommy.

Your mind was filled with hatred for Schlatt and uncertainty for the future. With Wilbur you had a future already made in L'Manburg, you two were going to get married, have children, reign in L'Manburg, but now what?

Schlatt ended up asking both you and Tubbo to come up onto the stage during his second presidential speech. You both stood, one on each side, of Schlatt uneasy. You were figeting while you awaited the reason why he brung both Tubbo and you up there. Tubbo looked anxious, he was flinching everytime Schlatt motioned towards him. You wish you both could find some comfort in this situation, but you couldn't grasp onto anything.

Schlatt then announced Tubbo as his vice president and you as his first lady. And that's where you are now, in a huge room with a round table sat in the middle. George, Quackity, Tubbo and you were sat around it the 5 of you barely taking up the huge meeting table.

That place is where he said those words to you, that he found you interesting and belittled your and Wilbur's relationship. That's where you realized he was doing this on purpose. Everything had begun to clear up in your mind as the days went on.

Time was passing and you haven't seen Wilbur in days. It was tiring and both Tubbo and Schlatt saw this.

Tubbo and you began to take nightly walks after working for the ram-man to blow off steam and complain. You always found yourselves following the path the Tommy and Wilbur took before stopping and wondering which way they went. Soon those walks became more informative because Wilbur gave Tubbo the green light, and gave him the coordinates to their hideout. He had told you that Wilbur knows that Schlatt is keeping an eye on you and it's safer until Schlatt lets his gaurd down.

Tubbo told you one night that Wilbur had teamed up with Technoblade, and made the underground city Pogtopia. He said it looked beautiful down there and that you'll love it. He also told Wilbur that you were Schlatt's first lady and he freaked out. After realizing that Tubbo kept telling you what was happening, you decided to make Tubbo your messenger boy until you could see Wilbur and Tommy again. It was sad that this was the way you two had to communicate, but whatever it takes for everyone to be together.

Schlatt on the other hand. He noticed you moping around in meeting rooms and while writing decrees. Schlatt wasn't good with words, we all know that, but he was good with material things. As days passed by and letters were written you began to find jewelry on your nightstand, gleaming in the moonlight without a note. More things began to show up in your bedroom, that Schlatt had given you. You said you were uncomfortable with sleeping in the same room and after a little bit of back and forth he obliged.

Bracelets hung on your doorknob, rings on your bed, enchanted weapons, basically anything that shined was in your hands.

Schlatt had even invited you to have a one on one meeting with him about a new decree he was working on. He sat at the head of the table while you sat on the side of him.

Schlatt slid the papers over to you, a cigarette lazily hanging from his mouth. You had gotton used to the smell of alcohol and cigarettes while being around Schlatt because that's what he smelled like 24/7.

"So what do ya think?" Schlatt ssid while blowing out smoke.

"It's sucks!" You said in disbelief.

"I want you to rewrite it then." He leaned back inhaling more smoke.

"What?!"

"You heard me broad! Write my decrees from now on." Schlatt said getting up from his chair.

He had put a table against a wall that was placed there for types of alcohol he wanted during a meeting. He grabbed a huge wine glass and a full bottle of red wine. He opened the bottle and drank a little from it before pouring a full glass apparently for you. He offered you the glass, slightly sitting on the table infront of you.

"I dont wanna do this shit anymore. It's boring so you'll do it for me. You know, I was gonna have Quackity do it, but. No. Just no." Schlatt shook his head as drank straight out of the bottle.

You smirked as you drank from your glass as well. You knew he was lying. You just didnt know the exact reason why. At this point you didn't care, you had the power you and Wilbur wanted in the first place, everything seemed to be coming full circle for you.

The decree was sitting right in front of you next to the cigarette Schlatt placed there, not caring if his cigarette was put out or not. You remembered the jewelry and weapons he had brought you to cheer you up and the fancy red wine and the glass that held it that shined like diamonds.

Schlatt finished his bottle of red wine and slammed his bottle onto the table. He rolled his head around and groaned. Schlatt turned his head to look at you from his seat on the table.

"So whaddya think?"

Maybe you could stay for a little longer.

[el-moscorrofio-y-el-mercachifle]

MORE AU AND CANON DIVERGENCE IDEAS

Alright, no, that’s a lie— it’s just ONE AU that I couldn’t stop thinking about after I rediscovered a draft about it I wrote a while back lol. May I present you with:

Pregnancy CD/AU— yes, it’s an old telenovela cliché but all clichés can work if you make them right. ((After all, isn’t the “good nerdy and ugly girl ends up with the rich handsome womanizer man who changes his whole worldview due to her” story also a cliché???)) Also think about ✨the angst✨ for everyone. So hear me out

Can start either after the First or Second Night, or, even better, after a non-canon Third Night (benefits of this alternative include giving more time to develop Armando’s feelings and their relationship AND crush the reader’s feelings when Betty finds out the truth— but this would also mean eliminating the whole “Betty finds the letter after Calderon goes to Palm Beach” thing and replace it with something else for her to find the truth later on in the story. More complicated, but possibilities are endless!)

Armando finding himself in the exact same situation that made his parents ruin his sister’s life— in love and in the waits of an out-of-marriage offspring with a poor, classless person not approved by Roberto and Margarita.

Add to that the guilt he’d feel over having “ruined her life” ((this is 1990s Latin America, people!)) over a fucking business?? Ruining the most honest, sweet and innocent woman’s life for a disfusting, sick plan to keep a business??? This is totally gonna wreak Armando!

On top of that, the simple fact that he’s going to be a father!! Just that!!! He had always envisioned a clear path in his future— grow up, go to college, inherit Ecomoda’s presidency, marry Marcela, ans have children with her. That’s it. His whole life had always been written in stone, and now THIS on top of EVERYTHING ELSE!!

You can totally use Camila as Armando’s Catalina!!! If there’s ONE PERSON in that qhole show who would have totally slapped Armando back to reality and supported him above everything, that would have been Camila, I can bet my left kidney on it!!!

Oof, think about Marcela, every single day laughing at Betty for being “used and left” by an irresponsible man—- only to end up realizing she had been laughing for months of her own fiancé, the child of her fiancé, and the mistress of her fiancé.

Think of Betty’s desperation and anguish!! Knowing she would totally disappoint her father by not only ending up pregnant out of wedlock, but pregnant by her boss.

Think about don Hermes’s rage. Doña Julia’s anguish. The uncertainty that haunts them because Betty would probably not want to disclose the father’s identity. Doña Julia’s fear of why she doesn’t want to talk.

Think about Nicolás’ support. We know canonically he’s willing to take under his name children that don’t belong to him. Possibilities, possibilities!

Think about Mario’s jokes. Everyone’s jokes. The cruelty and hilarity of the dialogues!!! Oh, Hugo will totally have a hell of a time coming up with names and insults to both Betty and her child.

THINK ABOUT ARMANDO HEARING THE WAY AVERYONE BULLIES NOT ONLY THE WOMAN OF HIS LIFE, BUT ALSO THEIR BABY!!!

Aura María would totally support Betty, because she knows how it feels to be alone and judged by everyone; left by a man whi promised you heaven and earth and that you loved deeply; with the responsibility of a child that you didn’t envision in your life. 10/10 living for that wholesome support. Her and Nicolas would probably be the only thing keeping Betty afloat…

UNTIL CATALINA MY QUEEN APPEARS, OF COURSEEEEE

AND CAMILA MY QUEEN TOO. I want her so bad to appear in a fanfic and to be the stone Armando needs… she would totally not only support Armando, but probably Betty too— but how does Betty react to this supportive, nice ad beautiful woman who seems so sincere and who shares a similar story… but is also the sister of the man who used her and plans to throw her away like trash?

Also! If Betty totally got her claws out when she found out the truth in the original novela, and absolutely wreaked Armando’s poor mental health with her manipulation and gaslighting in vengeance— how would she react HERE in this AU, where it’s not only her the one being used, but also HER CHILD? Imagine her train of thought— “this awful, disgusting man was capable of having A CHILD with me, just so I couldn’t betray him?” She could totally end up thinking the pregnancy wasn’t “an accident from the heat of passion”, but rather a full on part of the Sinister Plan. (Which obviously isn’t, but she could think it!)

If you go for the “got pregnant, found out, some time passed, AND THEN she found the truth about the plan”— that gives time for Camila and Betty to form a friendship and ALSO for Camila to observe the contrasts between Armando/Betty and Armando/Marcela and be like “i love you Armando but you’re such AN IDIOT for being about to marry Marcela when you’re so obviously in love and in a healthier relationship with the mother of your child smh”

How would Betty’s feelings towards the child be?? Especially before knowing the father was just using her vs after knowing the plan? She would obviously have it; the idea of terminating the pregnancy wouldn’t even seriously cross her mind (she’s religious and traditional; she wouldn’t do it… although Calderon would likely try to convince Armando to convince Betty to do it— would Armando accept this advice?)

Imagine THE LETTER!! Assuming the Letter is written and found AFTER knowledge of the pregnancy, imagine the THINGS CALDERON WOULD SAY. In his horrible and machiavellian mind, he could totally find a way to twist this enough to their benefit. Something like “if no one wanted her childless, now with a baby on the way and about to get the size of a balloon, not even 50 million dolars are worth it!” or some other ugly shit like that…

Imagine Betty’s feelings after reading that. Just… imagine.

Bringing Camila to the story is also a great way to further expose the terrible parenting skills of the Mendozas… and further Armando’s fear of them finding out about his paternity.

Imagine all the wholesome friendship with Nico and Aura María 🥺🥺

Imagine all the toxic friendship and awful jokes with Mario 😡😡

Imagine Armando keeping a ecography pic in his wallet and showing it off when he gets drunk, just like he keeps and shows off Betty’s in the show when she leaves to Caratagena🥺🥺 drunkly rambling about his queen and his little princess 🥺🥺🥺 ((they canonically have a girl in the novela, but you can change this of course))

IMAGINE MARCELA FINDING THE ECOGRAPHYYY

Also opportunity to explore why Armando and Betty chose the name Camila for their daughter

Nicolás would totally want to go beat the s out of Armando and would totally fail.

Don Hermes would get the gun out and want to make whatever man got his only daughter pregnant come back and take responsibility.

Would Betty go to Cartagena?? If so, how many montjs into the pregnancy?? How lo g would she stay??

T H E F R E N C H M A N

Everyone would totally try to convince Armando that Betty got pregnant on purpose. “It’s the only way an uggo like her can get a husband!” “And with witchcraft!”

WHEN would Betty reveal to her parents who the father of the baby is???

Imagine Roberto’s and Don Hermes’ convo…

SO MANY THINGS THAT COULD HAPPENNNN

Angst.

so yeah. I think that’s it lol. So, to summarize real quick:

Edit: sorry for the disorganization; hopefully y’all are used to my disorganization by now lol

[hmslusitania]

If I may be so bold as to throw one of these your way, could I suggest:

24. Soulmate AU + 57. Forgotten First Meeting, with Buddie of course

24. Soulmate AU + 57. Forgotten First Meeting

Okay, so, it’s like this:

The first time your soulmate touches you skin to skin, it leaves a mark. And over time (because in a world where there are soulmarks, you know there would be entire scientific branches devoted to studying them) the different colours left behind on your skin have been decoded.

Red, weirdly, is for platonic love, so when eight-year-old Maddie Buckley holds her brand new baby brother for the first time and kisses him right there on his eyebrow, well, it leaves Evan with a splotch on his face and saves Maddie just, like, so much money in lipstick for the rest of her life.

The marks stay connected, too, throughout a person’s lifetime. Touch them together again and it sparkles under your skin like an effervescent tablet in water. And that’s true of all marks, not just romantic or platonic ones.

For a long time, those marks are the only ones either Buckley sibling has.

When Maddie gives him her Jeep and Buck runs, out from under their parents’ thumbs, she gets him to stoop down and kisses him on the eyebrow again, and then they don’t see each other for years.

Buck travels. He crosses the US a few times, back and forth. He goes to Peru, he comes back. He crosses the US again, taking a long drive through the deserts that look like paintings that make up the southwestern corner of the country. He ends up stopping the night in El Paso on his way between places, stocks up on provisions for the rest of his road trip to LA where he thinks he might try his hand at being a firefighter.

He stops a few other places, too, and doesn’t notice until he gets to the beach in LA and strips off his shirt to go for a swim. There’s a livid purple soulmark on his arm.

And he has no idea who it came from.

Soulmarks aren’t really essential for relationships, at least that’s what everyone keeps telling him when, ah, circumstances conspire to mean that Eddie and Shannon need to get married. Due to the whole “lack of soulmarks” thing, neither of them had really meant for their relationship to be serious, but, now, well.

Things are tense, at best.

But Christopher.

Eddie’s still terrified, of course he is, he’s twenty-two and he’s supposed to be a dad? But in the delivery room, he gets talked into trimming the umbilical cord just moments after Chris is born, and that’s terrifying, what if he fucks it up, and Christopher’s little belly is so small and surely he shouldn’t be putting scissors -- even sterilised medical ones -- anywhere near his newborn son -- he has a son, what even is happening right now -- and he doesn’t really mean to but he pats Chris on the shoulder to try and calm him -- being born is just, like, a lot for everyone, parents and children alike, and Eddie kind of wishes he was allowed to scream right then too, but he’ll leave that to the kid (oh god he has a kid).

Bright red blooms across Chris’s shoulder and for a wild second, Eddie thinks that maybe, somehow, his son is allergic to him.

The actual significance sets in a few seconds later when he notes that the pads of his own fingers are the same shade of red.

All three of the grandparents in the room take it in turns to pass Christopher around and see if they, also, have this connection to their grandson. They don’t. And to make things just that much worse, neither does Shannon.

So, y’know, things are tense.

At best.

It’s years later, after Eddie gets back from Afghanistan, after Shannon’s left Chris and given up on Eddie, after she’s sent the divorce papers, that he’s finally deciding he needs to take Chris and get the hell out of Texas. He hasn’t resolved to do this at all, he’s still just thinking about it (his parents haven’t tried to take Chris from him yet), and he’s doing his grocery shopping in the dead of night because he doesn’t really have another time to do it, what with working three jobs and having a six-year-old.

He’s so lost in thought about where they’d go if they left Texas and what he would do to support them that he’s only vaguely aware of someone bumping his arm as they cross paths in the aisles.

He doesn’t think much about it -- doesn’t really notice -- until he’s helping Chris with his cereal the next morning and Chris points out that there’s a big purple mark on his arm.

Chris wants to know what the purple marks mean, because he’s only ever noticed red ones, and Eddie doesn’t really know how to explain that it means Eddie touched the person he’s going to fall in love with and be in love with for the rest of his life, because he...has no idea who it was.

And so, mostly, Eddie tries not to think about it. He goes about his business, eventually his parents try to take Chris and they run for LA. He gets a job at the fire department and gets assigned a station.

There’s another guy on his shift who’s got a bruise-like purple soulmark on his bicep and -- according to Chimney -- a tragic lovestory to go with it. Chimney doesn’t know the tragedy, but offers some gossipy suggestions.

Buck doesn’t really like Eddie at first, but his posturing reminds Eddie just a little of a golden retriever trying to be fierce when you know the only thing going on in a golden’s head is fluff and love.

They pull a grenade out of a guy’s leg, and Buck likes him after that.

Hell, they survive an earthquake together with absolute aplomb, and Buck spends the whole time reassuring Eddie that Chris is gonna be fine. Buck doesn’t even know Chris, but it makes Eddie feel better.

It happens on their fourth shift.

They go to this dumbass call where a woman’s gotten her head stuck in a tailpipe at a cowboy bar -- Eddie wants to be haughty about the bar’s trappings in born-and-raised Texan, but, well, he’s been to pretty much this exact bar back home -- and both Buck and Eddie get hit on by the assembled onlookers. Usually, Eddie’s noticed, the soulmark on his arm deflects random flirting way better than his wedding ring ever had, but these women are drunk and he’s a firefighter so it could very easily be a bruise.

As they walk back towards the engine, Buck starts teasing Eddie about his apparent disinterest in the women. Eddie starts to fire back about Buck living in his invisible girlfriend’s house, but their arms brush together.

And they sparkle like fucking poprocks.

There are Other mashups you can read!

[halstudandruz]

Research Purposes ~ Part 2

*Not my gif*

Pairing: Jay x Reader

Requested: Yes

Prompt: What happens when the only person in the world you didn’t want finding out does?

Warnings: Swearing

A/N: Part one found here (NSFW, 18+)

A/N 2: Also thank you to @enchantedblackrose for the idea 😊

If you are not 18+ and are unable to read part 1 and want to back story just hit me up (:

“We’re so freaking late. There’s no way we’ll have time to stop for my car.” You rushed around Jay’s apartment, pouring coffee for both of you.

“And whose fault is that.” Jay looked at you accusingly.

“I was just trying to help the environment.” You shrugged, handing him his cup after checking the lid.

“You and I both know we wasted more water in there together than we would’ve showering on our own.” He retorted grabbing his badge and gun off the coffee table to secure them to his belt.

“Yeah okay so I wanted shower sex sue me.” You rolled your eyes shrugging your jacket on.

“I wasn’t the one complaining.” He smiled, taking a drink.

“We would’ve had more than enough time if you didn’t insist on cuddling this morning.” You pointed out, remembering how he pulled you back into his chest every time you tried to move out of bed a couple hours prior.

“You like shower sex. I like cuddling.” He teased handing you your purse.

“Maybe we can draft up an alternate schedule.” You joked.

“I do hear compromise is the key to a healthy relationship.” He replied.

“We gotta go if you don’t want to get pulled over for speeding.” You changed the subject reaching for the door knob, before being tugged back by your arm, turning in time for Jay’s lips to meet yours in a sweet, passionate kiss.

“To get us both through the day.” Jay winked reaching around you to open the door and usher you out.

This was the second time that week you and Jay would be showing up to work together. Nobody noticed it the first time, but your anxiety climbed at the thought of someone recognizing and approaching you about it. What would you say? You and Jay were only in it purely for the sex. Right? Regardless of that fact that you had stayed at his house almost every night the past couple weeks even without the promise of sex, or how your stuff was starting to accumulate at his house from the past few months. A few t-shirts mixed in with his, hair straightener resting on his bathroom organizer, makeup scattered about on the dresser. Friends with benefits, that’s all it was. Nothing more and you certainly were not gaining feelings for him. Absolutely not that was against the rules and you were not about to be some stereotypical fuck buddy turned feelings trope, but you were getting sloppy apparently. You agreed to enter through the front while Jay entered through the back. Skipping up the steps you threw a smile at Trudy offering her a good morning, but in return she stared you down, eyebrow raised as she rested against the desk.

“What?” You stopped in your tracks in front of her. But she stayed silent giving you a look, and you just knew she knew. She was Trudy Platt. She knew everything.

“You should tell him.” She whispered to you, and it’s not the first time she had said something of the sort recently.

“Tell who, what?” You continued to fake innocence as you had the times before.

“It’s going to end badly.” She pushed again.

“It already did end badly.” You reminded her before trudging upstairs feeling the heat of her stare still on your back. Everyone except Kim was already there, including Jay who had his feet kicked up on his desk looking through a file. You greeted everyone draping your coat over the back of your chair and falling into it.

The first hour ticked by slowly, and you found your eyes moving across the room to focus on Jay. Opened documents lay across your desk. He looked so relaxed, shoulders loose, breaths slow and even, head resting against his palm as he fought not to fall asleep. You knew he would rather be out chasing suspects, but deep down you were starting to register you were okay with paperwork days. It meant he was safe, and that thought scared you a little. The last time you had those same thoughts you were staring at a different man in the room. A man who sat not too far behind Jay, clicking his pen absentmindedly as he often did when he was bored.

“Ruz, I’ll break the damn pen.” Kevin grumbled, as he had many times before in response to the habit.

“Sorry.” Adam mumbled, setting the utensil onto his desk away from his fidgety hands.

You chuckled at the small exchange, experiencing the exact same one many times in the years you had been detailed in intelligence with the best people you could’ve ever asked to work with. That certainly didn’t mean it wasn’t complicated though, and you were the very obvious example of that. You watched Jay’s head bob catching himself before adjusting in order to keep himself awake. His eyes accidentally met yours, heart rate immediately increasing. He sent you a small smile as his eyes started to roam over your body. Looking for a distraction from the tedious work. You couldn’t scold him. It wasn’t like you hadn’t been doing the same thing the past 10 minutes. Looking at his arms that were tight against his sleeves you wondered if the scratch marks you left on his biceps this morning would still be prevalent, or if the fading hickey from nights prior was still noticeable on his hip bone.

“I need coffee. Anyone else?” You asked trying to divert the obvious eye fucking your were giving each other. Everyone in the room raising their hands. You laughed taking notice of all the tired eyes who so obviously wanted to bash their heads off the desk already bored out of their minds, just waiting for a case to jump off.

“I’ll help.” Jay offered, voice gruff from barely speaking all morning. Together you poured and distributed everyone cups. Sitting back down into your chair when Jay was handing Kev his.

“You gonna shave that thing anytime soon? You usually can’t stand it past a week.” Kevin asked Jay, referring to his beard. They had always teased him whenever he claimed it grew in patchy compared to Adam and Kevin’s and it usually resulted in him having a clean shaven face the next shift. But it had grown in quite nicely this time, and he made sure to keep it presentable by trimming it as needed.

“No, it’s starting to grow on me. I’m keeping it for research anyway. Seems it can enhance far more than just my facial features.” Jay shrugged casually sitting back down atin his chair, and at his words you choked on your coffee spitting it all over your desk. Uncontrollable coughs tickling your throat.

“You good [Y/L/N]?” Hailey asked standing up to help you.

“Yeah..sorry. Just.. went down the wrong pipe. Didn’t expect it to be so.. hot.” You explained between coughs looking across the room to glare at Jay who wore a cocky smirk on his face, flipping through papers not daring to look up at you.

“You forget your ice?” Adam asked, knowing you had put a couple cubes of ice in your coffee every morning cooling it down so you could drink it faster.

“I must’ve. Kinda out of it today.” You shook your head taking napkins out of your drawer to try to clean up the mess you had made on your desk as well as your white shirt.

“I’ll get you some.” He started to walk towards the break room.

“It’s really okay I spit most of it out anyway.” You laughed.

“I’ll just get you a new cup.” He reasoned and you just thanked him not feeling like bickering with him about it. He had been going out of his way to do nice things for you recently. You assumed either so you wouldn’t spill the beans about him and Upton or because he felt bad.

“There’s no way this is coming out..” You grumbled dabbing at the tan stain forming on your shirt, “Do you happen to have a spare?” You asked, turning towards Hailey.

“I’m sorry I don’t. I used my spare the other day after that shooting and haven’t brought another extra.” Hailey apologized. You waved her off thanking her anyway.

“There’s one in my locker.” Jay offered, “You’ll probably just have to tuck it in.” You thought for a moment, it probably wouldn’t look like a big deal. Just a friend helping out a friend.

“Okay. Thanks.” You nodded getting up to head to the locker room where Jay followed. “I know where your locker is.” You rolled your eyes.

“Yes, but you don’t know my combination nor are you very good at opening dial locks. Hence why you have a keypad one on yours.” Jay pointed out, spinning his combination. He was right. You could never open dial locks.

“Do you analyze everything I do?” You crossed your arms annoyed at how well he always seemed to know you.

“You’re an interesting person babe.” He smiled handing you the shirt as he kissed your forehead.

“Watch yourself. You don’t know who’s hiding in here.” You lectured, “this is your fault by the way.”

“I know. Total win-win situation.” Jay laughed, smiling brightly.

“You’re gonna be the death of me Jay Halstead.” You groaned, a small smile on your lips.

“What a way to go though, huh?” He quipped, giving you a quick kiss.

“Get out.” You pushed his chest.

“What? No free peep show? I offered you my shirt and everything.” He acted offended.

“They’re gonna start getting suspicious if we are in here any longer go.” He huffed at your reply giving in and leaving as you turned around to switch shirts. Jay’s scent immediately overwhelmed you as you slipped his shirt on. Causing your body to relax in turn at the familiar fragrance. Jay was right, you had to tuck the shirt into your jeans, otherwise it could’ve been a dress thanks to your large height difference. Turning to walk out of the locker room, you were met with Adam holding a new cup of coffee out to you making you jump at the unexpected body in your path. “Thank you.” You giggled taking it from his hand to take a drink.

“Did you change?” He asked, eyeing the shirt you now wore.

“Oh yeah. I had white on and it was gonna stain so Jay offered me his shirt.” You explained, shifting on your feet at the uncomfortable conversation.

“Well I have one. It might fit you better.” He offered moving to walk towards his locker, but you put a hand to his chest stopping him.

“I’m good this one is perfectly fine.” You reassured him, Adam stared at you, breaking the tense silence with a long sigh, leaning against the side of the lockers.

“Listen we never got to talk about that night you came to my apartment. I just wanted to say I’m really sorry you-“ He began to apologize when Kevin peeked his head in the door.

“Hey, I’m sorry to interrupt..” he looked between the two of you awkwardly, “but we just got a case.” Adam cleared his throat as you nodded,

“We can..finish this later.” You chewed on your lip pushing past him to grab your coat out of Kevin’s hand.

It was nearing 8 o’clock by the time Voight had given you guys permission to go home and get some sleep. Knowing you’d be returning bright and early in the morning to continue to case.

“What do you think about pizza tonight? I’ve been craving some Bartolis.” Jay asked walking down the stairs behind you.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” You stopped turning to face him when you rounded the corner out of sight.

“Well I can just get pizza and I’ll stop for whatever else you want too.” He offered.

“I’m not talking about food, Jay.” You laughed, looking at the ground. Your mind had been racing since showing up with Jay this morning.

“Then..what are you talking about?” He asked, stepping closer towards you.

“I mean I don’t know I’ve been at your place almost every night the last couple weeks.” You whispered, hoping your voice wouldn’t carry to anyone nearby.

“Well we can go to your place. That’s fine.” He reasoned.

“No that’s not..” You sighed not able to find the words.

“Hey, just talk to me. What’s up.” He encouraged hands falling to your hips holding you gently.

“I’m just worried we’re starting to get careless. Showing up to work twice in one week together. One of these days we’re bound to get caught either coming in together or showing up on scene together. We don’t even know what this is. I don’t want to have to talk to Voight about it in the meantime.” You explained.

“We can be more careful. I promise. I just don’t want you to freak out about this.” He assured you tucking your hair behind your ear. “Can we just address how good you look in my shirt. I’m so glad you’re such a klutz..” Jay’s eyes roamed up and down your body.

“I am not a klutz! How did you expect me to react?” You crossed your arms, glaring at him as you did a few hours prior.

“Well is it not the truth? This thing is still on my face purely for your satisfaction.” He reminded you by trailing his lips down your neck, immediately summoning goosebumps from the raggedness tickling in the wake of his lips. He winked knowing his point was proven, moving up to place a soft kiss on your lips. “Sooo pizza?” He asked, pulling back, hopeful look on his face.

“Fine, but I’m not going in to get it.” You rolled your eyes, a bright smile on your face when he wrapped an arm around your shoulders pulling you towards his truck but when you rounded the corner your eyes connected with Adam’s who stood near the door, eyes wide between you two as Jay let his arm fall to his side, your feet rooted to the floor.

“I forgot my wallet in my locker.” Adam explained stammering over his words.

“Well don’t let us keep you. See you tomorrow brother.” Jay remained calm grabbing your arm to pull you out. Patting Adam on the shoulder when you passed.

“Shit!” You cursed when you reached Jay’s truck.

“What?” He questioned and you looked at him dumbfounded.

“You’re fucking kidding me right?” You scoffed.

“He’s not gonna tell Voight. For starters it’s Adam. Plus we know about him and Hailey. He can’t.” He shrugged.

“That’s not what I’m worried about!” You yelled.

“You just said that’s what you were worried about.” Jay reminded you, trying to catch up. “Babe.” He urged when you didn’t answer him.

“You don’t get it Jay!” You shook your head, lump forming in your throat at the anxiety the situation presented.

“No, you’re right I don’t. I’m sorry. Help me understand.” He grabbed a hold of your hand trying to get you to face him.

“Not right now.” You chewed your lip feeling a few tears fall down your cheeks, quickly swiping them away before they were seen, but you knew Jay would know regardless. You were tired, hungry, and now slightly panicking at the thought of having to address the entire situation. His hand squeezed yours tighter before starting his truck putting it in drive.

All Tag List:

@corebore123 @scarletsoldierrr @hehurst23 @beautiful-bunny89 @ingie @halsteadsway @malrunaway @grettiwrites @inlovewith3

Jay Taglist:

@jayxhalsteadx @life-treatments @weepingfestivalmentality @toomuchtv95 @queen-of-arda

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 302: As the Todoroki Turns

Previously on BnHA: 

Today on BnHA: We have a very fun chapter in which (1) Shouto grows up lonely on account of his parents being worried that his siblings will literally try to kill him, (2) Natsu and Fuyu grow up neglected on account of not being special and/or self-destructive enough to attract attention, (3) we get to revisit all of that exciting spousal abuse from chapter 39, and (4) Touya burns to death right on cue, pretty much exactly like we expected it to happen. Thankfully since this is a shounen manga, Horikoshi finds some hope in all this misery as the Todoroki family rallies together, with Shouto getting his long-overdue credit for being a perfect sweet angel who put up with all of this shit for sixteen years and somehow came out of it strong and kind and empathetic and determined. Anyway, so that flashback was a barrel of laughs. But now that it’s over, we can put all of that angst behind us, and move on to... well I guess, probably, more angst. Look, we’re short on variety at the moment. Bear with it.

ouch. we knew this was coming, but still

A+ parenting move there. “ho boy, our eldest just tried to murder our youngest, now what? hmm how about we isolate our youngest from all human contact”

though in their defense, we probably shouldn’t have expected this rabidly strength-obsessed fire man and his wife who was groomed since childhood to obey her family’s whims to have any idea of how to raise stable, well-adjusted offspring

SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS

this is a perfect example of Enji’s tragically self-revolving viewpoint right here. just because being a hero is your entire world doesn’t mean you can just excuse yourself from anything outside of that and act like it’s out of your control. “alas, all I care about is hero stuff and my son can’t be a hero, we are doomed to inhabit two different worlds” no you jackass, it’s called having more than one hobby?? figuring out how to spend some time with your son that doesn’t involve training?? the same exact thing you were telling him to do last week, while ignoring that you’ve never done that yourself in your life??

that said, yet again we have that complexity though because it’s obvious that Enji at least on some level is aware of his own flaws, even though he seems unwilling or unable to confront them. honestly, from what we’ve seen so far, Enji’s obsession with surpassing All Might might be more accurately called an addiction. he literally can’t let go of it even though he’s fully aware of how it’s slowly destroying his life. and so in the same way that a lifelong smoker or alcoholic might tell their child to stay away from cigarettes and booze, Enji tells Touya not to follow down the same path as him, even though he himself doesn’t know how to leave that path. so yes, it’s hypocritical as fuck, but there’s also an element of helplessness there as well because Enji literally doesn’t know how not to be like this

though all the same he sure could stand to put in more than just a token effort. but it is what it is, and we already know how much he’ll come to regret it

and meanwhile Baby Shouto has frozen his sleep bubble with his quirk lmao. so I guess his quirk did come in early. that’s a recipe for chaos right there

once again Shouto is ruining every single dramatic panel in this flashback

this was so dark and intense... and then I spotted the lil bubs in the corner. Horikoshi please control yourself

“some hero you are, running away” and then all of a sudden, “FIVE YEARS LATER” lol what. OKAY THEN

(ETA: love the confirmation that eight-year-old Natsu comes from the Iida school of puberty and is basically a fully grown man, and meanwhile Touya comes from the hobbit school of puberty and has been perpetually eight for the past five years.)

“HEY BIG BRO WANNA COME RECREATE AN ICONIC FLASHBACK SCENE WITH US. WE’VE GOT THE SOCCER BALL RIGHT HERE, BUT HURRY UP OR WE’LL BE TOO LATE FOR SHOUTO TO WALK ON BY AND STOP TO LOOK”

lol and that’s literally the next three panels. but Horikoshi did add this extra bit after Endeavor starts to drag Shouto away

seriously Enji what the hell did you expect was going to happen here. “Touya went nuts and tried to kill his little brother out of jealousy, so let’s make it clearer than ever that Shouto is the important child and all the other children are just rejects. this will definitely not make the problem 100x worse, and will surely lead to Touya giving up and living a happy life, having been emotionally abandoned by the person he admired more than anyone.” good for you pal you figured it all out. no need for that plan b, “we all just go to therapy”

anyway so he’s telling Shouto he can’t play because he needs more endurance training. and meanwhile Touya’s patented Todoroki Drama Genes are going through puberty as well

definitely the face of a happy, emotionally stable child who’s not still plotting to murder his younger brother in his sleep

“WELL ACTUALLY MAKESTE” lol I stand corrected??

apparently during the five year interim Touya actually stopped blaming Shouto and realized Enji was the one at fault. good for him! a bit inconsistent, given what we know happens later, but I assume we’ll get to that in good time

anyway. “yeah man I agree that dad sucks, but it’s the middle of the night and I’m only eight and you’ve been monologuing for the past two hours bro”

LMAO

the manga is making my jokes for me, only better. fine then

looks like someone’s still miffed about that disagreement he had with his baby sister back when she was like four

“Fuyu doesn’t get properly riled up like I want her to so ranting to her is annoying.” okay but having been in Fuyu’s shoes, it really is just a different way of coping, and I can guarantee she’s not as fine with the whole situation as Touya might think. but making your peace with something is often a decision that’s made for emotional self-preservation reasons. and I sure as hell don’t fault her for trying to shut out a situation that she had no control over, and trying to make the best of it, and scrape together as normal a childhood as she could manage

and now in Touya’s defense as well, that is of course easier said than done, and I’m sure if there was a “push this button and instantly get over all of the trauma in your life” switch readily available for Touya then he would have pushed it too. unfortunately it’s not always that simple

so now Rei is pleading with Touya not to go train up on his little emo hill again, but it doesn’t seem like much has changed since he was eight

I don’t think he gives two figs about being a hero; he just wants his father to look at him again with pride. fucking hell, stop doing this to me you damn Todorokis

guh, they keep telling him the same thing over and over again

even if we hadn’t already known he was gonna go melt his jawbone off soon, I wouldn’t have expected a line like that to go over well

yep. fuck

that Todoroki puberty angst, though. nothing else quite like it

“you have a part in this too, Mom” ooooooh man

okay but look, he’s not entirely wrong. like, I’m not saying any of this is Rei’s fault at all! she’s in an impossible situation where she’s afraid to stand up to Enji (who by this point has shown that he’s willing to physically attack her if things get too heated, which is terrifying), and doesn’t really have anywhere to turn for support. her parents aren’t helping much if at all, and Japan in general is just a terrible country to be in when you’re in a domestic abuse situation. everyone’s expected to put on a brave face and deal with their problems all on their own in private. Rei is basically completely isolated at this point, and she doesn’t know what else to do, and so she’s just trying to keep the situation as stable as possible for the kids

but on the other hand, “for the kids” is also where that argument starts to break down a bit, because at this point Shouto is also being physically abused by his father, and the other kids are continuing to be neglected (emotionally if not physically), as they have been for years. so the situation really isn’t stable at all for them. and as a kid, what you end up learning in that type of situation is that you can’t rely on either parent. not the abusive one, certainly, but also not the other one who can’t protect you from any of it. even if they love you and they’re trying, they’re just as helpless as you. Rei is struggling to deal with all of this with one hand tied behind her back, and I get it, and I’m not blaming her at all. but all the same, particularly given that she’s (understandably) putting almost all her focus on Shouto, the end result is that the other kids have basically been left to fend for themselves

so yeah! a shitty situation all around. and one of those cases where it’s not really anyone’s fault (aside from Enji’s), but I can understand the resentment Touya is feeling all the same. and I’m so glad Horikoshi is acknowledging this, because it’s something I probably would have been too uncomfortable to bring up otherwise. as it is it’s still an incredibly heavy subject, and one that I probably have too many personal feelings about

anyway, so once again the whole “we’ll try talking to him and then just shrug our shoulders when it doesn’t work” parenting strategy doesn’t really pan out for the Todoroki fam

sob this boy is Anakin Skywalkering before our very eyes. all that’s missing is AFO to come and start whispering in his ear. any minute now...

“anyway so then he got taller and his fire changed from red to blue”

guess we’re getting pretty close then huh. this is the part of the flashback that I really don’t want to see, but also unfortunately the part that I’m most curious about :/

oh for fuck’s --

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN IGNORING HIM FOR FIVE YEARS DIDN’T ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM” sob. back to the drawing board I guess

I thought he got taller, why is he still only like a third of Enji’s height here

oh fuck me these are armor-piercing feels. this is the heavy artillery right here

ENJI I’M BEGGING YOU PLEASE STOP AND THINK FOR ONE MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE BEFORE DOING SOMETHING YOU’LL REGRET FOR THE REST OF ALL TIME. your child just told you that he still thinks beating All Might is the only thing you care about, and that he believes his existence is a mistake unless he finds some way of doing that for you. please stop for a moment to contemplate that and choose your next words with care and grace and oh who the hell am I kidding

-- OR WE COULD JUST BLAME REI

go on and blame everyone but yourself then!! that’s a great solution!! jesus christ man I know this is Endeavor at his literal worst but still this is fucking hard to watch

POOR BABY SHOUTO IS YELLING AT HIS DAD NOT TO HIT HIS MOMMY THIS LITTLE BRAVE BOY NEEDS SO MANY HUGS OH MY GOD

AND MEANWHILE THE OTHERS ARE HUDDLED IN THE NEXT ROOM TRYING NOT TO CRY AH FUCK

(ETA: Fuyu covering Natsu’s ears cuts RIGHT TO THE CORE OF ME. Horikoshi if you’re really not gonna get these kids some therapy then at least consider giving your readers some. what is this.)

you know it’s bad when you’re starting to think the part where the kid burns to death might actually be a less traumatic thing to cut to right now

holy shit, actual Rei thoughts

“I was the one who ultimately made that choice” well there we go, wonder if that’ll put that whole argument to bed at last. I doubt it, but you never know. actually who am I kidding it’s not gonna settle jack shit lol

oh thank god, they decided it was getting too intense and cut away back to the present to narrate this next (final?) part

get ready to cue up that Alicia Keys. THIS BOY IS ON FIREEEEEEE

yeah I think that’s one thing we can mostly all agree on. neither of them had any clue what the fuck they were doing pretty much at any point. though I will say that the hypocrisy of him being all “WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP HIM” followed by him IMMEDIATELY DOING THE EXACT SAME THING is a bit rich

(ETA: and he still has this problem, doesn’t he? he froze up when Ending snatched Natsuo, and again when Dabi was attacking Shouto. he’s so afraid of doing the wrong thing that he ends up not doing anything, which of course is exactly what led to Touya’s death. damn Enji I guess you’ve still got some additional character development to unlock.)

and of course neither of them could possibly have known how badly it was going to turn out. like, the consequences here were WAY disproportionate even for the shittiest of parenting. no one expects “I didn’t know how to talk to my son” to snowball into “my son burned to death and then somehow came back as a villain and murdered thirty people”

ohhhhhhhh fuck me

LITERALLY INCINERATED THE ENTIRE HILLSIDE. fuck. and I am so not ready for the scene of Enji finding the remains of his jawbone afterwards. at least we were spared anything super-graphic (for now at least)

I feel like the timeline here is off, btw?? wasn’t Touya’s death supposed to happen after Rei got hospitalized? this might be the first actual retcon of the entire flashback. although I think it makes more sense this way tbh

I do appreciate that ten years later Enji is finally reflecting on the fact that if he’d just given up his stupid obsession he could have stopped his family from crumbling apart. that probably sounds sarcastic as fuck, but it’s not. there are countless jerks out there who would have still managed to find a way to blame literally everyone and everything under the sun except for themselves. at least he finally figured out how to take responsibility, even if it came too late to stop his son from dying and being radicalized into a villain terrorist organization

and speaking of, it seems to me we’re missing a third and final part to this little tale of woe, and one which only Touya himself will be able to shed any light on. so we’ll see how that goes

oh man seeing the other kids blaming themselves even though none of it was their fault hits hard af. Rei wasn’t kidding when she said they’d been bearing that burden of guilt far longer than Enji

SHOUTO I SWEAR TO GOD IF THE NEXT PANEL IS YOU APOLOGIZING FOR BEING BORN, I WILL... WELL I’LL BE VERY SAD, I GUESS. SO DON’T DO IT

oh good he’s just being quiet. good. it absolutely is not your fault lil bean. it’s not theirs either, but feeling guilty about things that aren’t your fault is a time-honored shounen tradition

goddammit I braced myself for the angsty Shouto panel a page too early. gotta do it all over again now lol. okay here goes

;_;

well well well would you look at that

imagine that. talking things out with your child before they make a rash decision. looks like the Todorokis’ parenting skills are finally leveling up

OH MY GOD

holy shit. this is the most quintessential moment of father/son Todoroki bonding in the entire series. for me it even tops the “nice scar” scene lol. Enji sobbing at the fact that he still has a chance to set things right. and Shouto offering his hand in what is actually the most mature and selfless gesture I’ve ever seen, and being all “we’ll stop him together” to his dad who he hates, but also doesn’t really entirely hate anymore. and all of that is incredibly moving... BUT ALSO HE STILL REFUSES TO MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH HIM AND HE WOULD LIKE HIM TO STOP BEING SO FUCKING DRAMATIC ALREADY IF YOU DON’T MIND. “WHEN YOU’RE DONE CRYING...” fkjldsk

OH MY FUCKING LORD

(ETA: wouldn’t be a Todoroki drama fest if there wasn’t somebody listening in on the whole thing in secret just around the corner lmao.)

“you think we should have waited somewhere else?” “yeah, probably.” “are you feeling a lot of secondhand embarrassment too?” “god, you have no idea.” STFU HAWKS IT’S NOT EMBARASSING TO BE MOVED TO TEARS BY YOUR FAMILY ALL COMING TOGETHER IN YOUR DARKEST HOUR TO GIVE YOU HOPE THAT YOU PROBABLY DON’T DESERVE BUT ARE NONETHELESS INDESCRIBABLY GRATEFUL FOR

and anyway you chose these guys as your found family, bucko. too late to back out now. next time go get yourself adopted by the Iidas then

AND MEANWHILE NO WORD ON THE WHOLE “HOW DID A THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD SURVIVE A FIRE THAT COVERED HIS BODY WITH HORRIFIC SCARS AND MELTED HIS JAW OFF, AND HOW DID HE SOMEHOW THEN MANAGE TO GO INTO HIDING FOR TEN WHOLE YEARS, AND WHAT HAPPENED IN THAT INTERIM TO CHANGE HIS GOAL FROM ‘SURPASS ALL MIGHT TO IMPRESS MY DAD’ TO ‘KILL ALL HEROES TO MAKE MY DAD SUFFER’.” as if we don’t know the answer to that. but still, would it kill Horikoshi to just confirm AFO’s involvement in all of this already. at this point it’s basically just a formality

so here’s hoping next week we’ll either get that, or more Hawks action, or (DARE I EVEN SUGGEST, I’M AFRAID TO JINX IT) finally cut back to Bakugou and Deku and All Might omg. either way I’m hyped