#hey (with the intention of telling you a crazy theory)

[flythesail]

Okay what if—

It all has to be connected somehow, right?

The black door/sin eater

The ghost

Nace

With the black door, 4x10 established a few things: The sin eater is reincarnated and Nancy has past lives too. Going off this, the assumption is Nancy is the other half of the sin eater.

With the ghost, we know she died. Obviously. We are meant to think there was fire involved since there is a body that's burned at the morgue. We also have heard lines from her such as: hair wrapping around my mouth, the sky was gone, I was so cold.

Hearing those lines, I don't think the body is hers. It's not a coincidence that she arrived at the same time as the burned body either. More on this later.

With nace, whatever happened the night of 4x08 impacted their feelings. Here's my thought: Nancy was not even at the scene of the event. This explains the small window of time. Instead, Ace calls her panicked. Nancy agrees to go to the door. She'd do anything for him, including using the black door. She does it because she loves him. Because her love is why she does it, the black door alters their love. This is why they've felt ooc since.

Back to what we do know about the event:

Ace and Thom go fishing

Their captain canceled

The EMT who brought the burned body to the morgue is out of town on vacation

His partner was out sick then

How do these things connect? Windows place the flash Nancy saw of her sin with Thom and Ace on the boat. See here:

The assumption then, is this is where the body was burned. So who is that in the flames? Let's say it's their captain.

Their captain is innocent in this. But where does the fire come from?

Ace brings the pickled curse onto the boat. Something could have gone wrong with that. Yet, the curse is linked to hearing the dead. Initially, it would seem that's how Ace is able to communicate with the ghost. Yet Nancy was able to as well.

What else did we learn in 4x11? Callie of the families for truth and history knows plenty about the supernatural. She's the sin eater's minder. Two things to note:

"Her family was tasked with protecting every generation of sin eater. Erasing history since 1805."

"If you ever try to break the sin eater's legacy the way the Glasses did tonight, I'll come for you without mercy."

Now, who sent someone to watch Bess throughout 4x08?

Callie.

With this, the pickled curse becomes significant not because of what it is - but for who was in the background of this whole ordeal.

Callie was having a guy watch Bess. At the historical society with the brothers, all the way to the claw. This means Callie is never more than a step away from anything supernatural going on in this town.

If she's the sin eater's minder, does she know there is another half to the sin eater? I would think she does as her family has been doing this since its creation.

So, Nancy is the other half of the sin eater. Is someone watching over her too?

From what we know so far, no one is. What if there is a reason?

The founders didn't want there to be a balance to the sin eater. All they cared about was erasing their sins.

Yet there's always going to be two halves. Like with the dolls used for curse breaking in 4x03. Or this in 4x11, a conversation between Nick and Ted:

"I was looking for the afikomen. It's the hidden piece of matzo.... Broken in two at the beginning of the night, put back together at the end."

What if the founders broke the sin eater from its half? They killed her. She drowned.

Who else might have drowned?

The ghost.

It's exactly the sort of death she is describing. Hair wrapping around her mouth, the sky gone as she can't tell water from sky. The water is cold.

The ghost is much much older than she seems.

After killing her, the founders turned her into the masthead now at the yacht club. This way, they could call to the sin eater whenever they needed while keeping her from fulfilling her purpose.

Although she was killed, her soul has still reincarnated. But whoever holds her soul, has not known their purpose for a very long time. It's not like with the sin eater, where Tristan has no choice to transform into it and eat the sins.

Truth is a choice. She is the angel of truth.

So if the angel of truth hasn't been around for generations, what brings her back? Nancy and the angel of truth come face to face that night at the yacht club.

This awakens her because Nancy is the current holder of her soul. Only, she doesn't remember much. She remembers her death. She remembers drowning.

But her spirit is free.

The way the ghost is dressed in white even reminds of me of an angel. An angel is the opposite of the sin eater. A representation of truth in opposition to lies.

How does the ghost find her way to Ace? Well, Ace was at the yacht club with Nancy when she woke up.

Who is Nancy very connected to? Ace.

Who did Nancy get her soul from? The angel of truth, aka the ghost.

So the ghost is drawn to Ace. She's just woken up after over a century too, so she's going to respond to this pull. She's not drawn to Nancy because she and Nancy are the same. This isn't the case with Nancy and Ace.

Just like two halves of matzo, or like the sin eater and the angel, Ace and Nancy make a whole.

Ace goes off on his fishing trip with Thom, with the ghost following. Callie knows something is wrong. Her family has been watching the sin eater for as long as its existed. She's alerted, like how Hannah knew Temperance was back in Horseshoe Bay at the end of 2x18. Or like how they can track the sin eater with the roundel.

Rememeber: "If you ever try to break the sin eater's legacy the way the Glasses did tonight, I'll come for you without mercy."

So Callie says no way am I letting the angel of truth return and heads out to solve this problem. Her actions set their boat on fire.

This is where the burned body comes from. It's their captain.

Ace and Thom are able to get away. In the chaos during the confrontation with Callie, however, the ghost's presence is revealed and more is explained.

Ace learns who the ghost is, realizes what this suggests about Nancy with the timing, and realizes he needs to make a phone call.

Ace calls Nancy in an exteme panic, telling her to go to the black door and confess what they did earlier that night: breaking into the yacht club. It's the only way to ensure Callie doesn't go after Nancy next.

Nancy doesn't question him because she trusts him and she loves him.

She goes right to the black door and confesses what needs to be confessed.

This puts everything back in place:

Ace and Thom believe their boat captain canceled. (No one is around to prove otherwise. The EMT is on vacation and believes the same.)

Ace believes he had a nice fishing trip with Thom and shares this with Nancy.

The ghost is once again struggling to remember who she is. But she's still drawn to Ace, in the way Nancy is.

Only, something is wrong now.

Nancy went to the black door not because of her sin, but because she loves Ace.

It doesn't matter that the confession was only about breaking into the yacht club. The black door alters their love.

While Ace remembers a nice fishing trip, Nancy and Ace forget the love they have for each other. What they're left with is some semblance of a relationship. They're exes, it was complicated, they didn't communicate well. In summary, it didn't end well.

So Nancy and Ace are forced apart, and drift closer to someone new.

Nancy becomes closer to Tristan. She's the angel of truth in this lifetime, so she is feeling that two hundred year connection.

Ace becomes closer to the ghost. She is the first reincarnation of Nancy's soul, so he is feeling that connection the black door altered but is still impossible to destroy.

Where do we go from here? Now that Nancy and Ace know their memories are altered, they're going to solve this mystery. Nancy had already seen a flash of the fire and of the truth her confession erased.

They will get their memories back, feel their love for each other again, share a moment of the most intense eye contact you've ever seen, and be left with a Big Problem.

They've figured out who the ghost is. They know who Nancy is.

In knowing who she is and the purpose she serves, Nancy is in danger again because of Callie.

So their options are this: she risks her life to save the town from what the founders set in motion or she forgets all over again.

Nancy is going to make the choice to risk her life. To save her town and her friends and every person she loves. That is who Nancy is and has been all her life, even before she knew who she is.

Of course, she succeeds and Tristan will play a role in this too - being the other half to this. Lies and truth, evil and good, dark and light. Might I add: the finale is called the Light Between Lives? Lives is significant in a season with reincarnation.

When balance is restored to Horseshoe Bay, Nancy and Tristan's roles will no longer be needed. The black door is gone and Callie is exposed for who she is. They can live normal lives. Tristan can live a healthy, long life.

Nancy and Ace are still cursed though, so Nancy can't live the life she wants. (Yet.)

With balance restored, truth will prevail. The truth is that Nancy and Ace love each other. Nancy and Ace's love is stronger than this curse Temperance created. That's how they break it. Nancy Drew has always been about love.

Two halves are put back together, and Nancy and Ace get to live their lives as a whole.

[yooglefics]

Intentions don’t mean much.

Pairing: Min Yoongi x fem!partner Wordcount: 670 words Genre: Angst. Hurt / comfort. Established relationship. Song drabble. Summary: Yoongi is having some bad days and, in the end, deciding to keep it to himself to not worry his partner is not the best idea. More info under read more.

Includes: Mentions of bad mental health, implied depression. Nothing too dark but Yoongi overthinks a lot. Lack of communication. Author's note: A little drabble inspired by The Craving ( Jenna's version ) because I just had to write something after listening to it. Is pretty short but I kind of like it as is, because it can be read with the song in the background uwu. Hope you like it! If you do please remember to leave a reblog, like, follow, comment or send an ask, donate on ko-fi and what not. As always, thank you for reading <3

He is scared of putting too much weight on her shoulders, of driving her crazy because of his thoughts, and fears; the problems in his head, the ones that don't even have anything to do with her.

On bad days he tries to be reassuring. Holding her hand while sharing a cup of coffee and cuddling with her on the couch. Yes, it’s a bit selfish because it does good to him too, knowing she is with him even when his psyche reminds him of the possibility that they, too, are part of something temporary. That it could end sooner than expected, which is not much to say since he doesn't want it to end at all.

Is not that he doesn't believe she loves him, of course not. He believes everything she says, even the little conspiracy theories she rambles about at night in their bedroom. But, his brain tells him, life is unpredictable and the world goes around and around and around and…

When it gets too bad he spends most hours of the day in his studio. Even sleeps (or at least tries to) there. She brings him lunch and he kisses her cheek or forehead, sweetly and full of love. An attempt to not worry her.

Some nights, as he lays on the leather couch, he hopes she will knock on the door, looking for him and asking him to come to bed. He would say yes, even if that meant just playing with her hair as she fell asleep on his chest while he lays with his eyes open and his mind never shooting down.

But it doesn’t happen. 

Is still dark outside when he hears her socket steps against the wooden floors, the beeps and trumps of the coffee machine following close behind, and he decides to join. 

“Isn't it too early for coffee?” he asks, leaning in the doorway.

“Is six, just one hour early.”

“Oh.” 

“How did you sleep?”

He keeps quiet, a bit confused with himself as to how he didn't realize so much time passed.

“Did you sleep?” She asks instead, tone different this time and he doesn't like something in it.

“Don't worry about it.” He tries to dismiss, coming closer and wrapping his arms around her waist, chin resting on her shoulder while they wait for the melancholy sounds announcing their beverage is ready.

But a sniff comes instead.

It takes a second for his tired brain to register it, yet is quick to react when she tries to move away, hugging her firmly against his chest. “What is it?”

“Nothing. Is silly.” she murmurs back.

“Tell me anyway?”

“Is just… after so long, I don’t know a lot about you still. And I wish I did.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cry about it. I don’t know what just—” 

“Hey,” he softly calls out, turning her around as he looks for her gaze, “don’t apologize for it. Is on me, I’m going through some shit but I’m okay.”

She worries her lip between her teeth before asking, “Have you slept at all in the last few days?”

“A little bit.” Pretty vague, not wanting to bring concern around his insomia. But her eyes get glossy again and his open in surprise. In realization that doing that is what is upsetting her. He hates that. “I slept a couple hours yesterday after lunch, maybe that’s why I’m still awake.”

“You aren't tired then?”

A different kind, he thinks. And considers answering that while she fixes his hair, but he still isn't sure. “Maybe you just need to do that for a while so I don't wake up until tomorrow.”

That makes her smile and her eyes fall to his again. But is hard to ignore the bags under them and the bigger issues. “I'm going to the store later, I'll bring you that tea we saw the other day. We can drink that before going to bed and see if it helps. Deal?”

“Deal.”

♡ Tag list: @n33mesis , @sexytholland , @mggv97 , @wobblewobble822 , @bbou-doir , @m00njinnie , @itsmina29 , @nariee02 , @ktownshizzle .

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[itsbenedict]

Reblogs have been turned off for Rob's post last night (understandably, since it was starting to escape containment and loons were starting to show up to talk about race war), so I can't really follow it up directly, but just to acknowledge the response:

Now, okay. For the record, it is possible in the abstract for this exact thing to actually occur, just as described. But if someone comes to you and says this, then all else being equal, I don't think you would bet on that being the thing that is going on. You might, instead, think something like: "you know, I kinda suspect these guys actually wanted to do X all along. But they don't wanna admit it, maybe even to themselves."

That seems like the mistake to me. It's why my initial reaction was "This seems... kinda like an unfair take?" It's always tempting to imagine your ideological opponents as secretly motivated by nefarious intentions. Of course they really want this bad thing you think their agenda will achieve, and the thing they claim to be caring about is a fig leaf for wanting the bad thing. This is the backbone of approximately all political discourse ever, and it's almost always wrong.

And the thrust of the argument in favor here seems to be...

"Okay, so they thought AI would be like that, but now we've made real AI and it's actually like this, which doesn't resemble their theory at all. But for some reason, they're still promoting their theory, even though it's been proven wrong! It must be because of the secret nefarious motives, or else they'd go 'oh, whew! turns out we were wrong and everything's fine. dodged a bullet!' and stop promoting the old theory."

That... doesn't seem likely. Like, if we grant that modern LLMs have disproved these old theories, I'd still expect people to be trying to rescue the old theory for all the usual reasons- confirmation bias and all that. But also... I don't know that it makes sense to grant that? We've made one kind of AI which, luckily, is some sort of enlightened Buddhist master free from attachment and desire (until we tell it not to be). It's not like we're done now, and now that our friendly AI has won and is What Real AI Is Like, no one's ever going to try to build an agent. For people who've spent a lot of time being really concerned about what happens if someone builds an agent, it probably isn't especially reassuring to point out that hey, we've built a thing that isn't an agent. From the inside, it still makes sense to worry about that!

Does it make sense from the outside? Uh... jury's out, honestly. Would I be talking about the agent hypothetical if Yudkowsky et al hadn't been beating that drum for ages? Probably not, since my interest in it is casual and a contingent factor of my social environment. Would AI industry people be talking about it, if it hadn't been for Vinge or Kurzweil popularizing the idea? I dunno. I don't know how you'd answer that question.

But like... plausibly, yeah! It seems like a simple enough idea that someone else would've come up with it. "If smart thing get smarter, it become very smart, and become very powerful. How do we get on powerful person's good side?" Social primate brain go brrrrr.

Humans worry about the motives of people in power all the time. "What do we do if the king goes crazy" is an age-old concern. If we'd had the LLM revolution earlier, maybe we'd be talking about the Golden Gate Bridge instead of paperclips, but I doubt people would fail to imagine it. Maybe not with like, the same weird level of urgency we're seeing now, maybe we don't see it in terms of "values" or get concepts like "coherent extrapolated volition", but it'd be worth worrying about for people in the field. The chain of logic isn't that obtuse.

I dunno. I'm not a fan of all this lurid speculation about what sort of craven control-freaks these people must be in order to get lost in an intellectual ouroboros unmoored from reality. I'm more inclined to just believe them when they say what their motivations are.

[goingbuggy]

I NEED YOU TO DROP EVERYTHING! I HAVE TO TELL YOU SOMETHING ABOUT SHANKS SCAR I FOUND OUT THROUGH SOMEONE TAGS BUT I CANT FIND IT ANYMORE

It’s about your great theory of speech bubble

Someone found another shanks panel like that, where it’s covering his scar

It’s when mihawk comes to him and greets him. They both have their eye covered like in your theory

I think it was 96 chapter? I’m sorry if I found the tag I will link it to you!

What do you think about it? I’m going crazy u thought there’s only the two you pointed out… what does that mean? What is shanks hiding there? Is he hurt mihawk ended the rivalry? What is going on?

This, right?

I feel like it's actually a good counterpoint to my interpretation, honestly -- there's not a lot to glean from the panel in terms of double meanings/hidden vulnerabilities. At least on Shanks' side with that dialogue bubble. It's a good panel to use to argue, "Hey, maybe this is just an aesthetic for pleasing visuals and balancing out a panel."

My interpretations aren't always 100% correct. There is a variety of reasons Oda could be hiding Shanks' scar in a panel, both meaningfully and non-meaningfully. Chapter 96 is the first Shanks appearance since chapter 19 and his third appearance overall, so his most recognizable feature might have been hidden for the surprise reveal. (Shanks is back again! That sort of thing.) That also explains why he is re-introduced by name.

I think it could still fit into my theory, though! Shanks is shrouded in shadows for all of his panels in this chapter, so it's possible there's something more going on emotionally, but I don't know. Sorry if you were expecting me to have an in-depth explanation. I'm only guessing at Oda's possible intentions, here, seeing what might fit and what might not.

[imagineanime2022]

League Of Villains Get A Mogwai

Tomura Shigaraki X Reader, Dabi X Reader, Mr Compress X Reader, Spinner X Reader

Requested: Anon

Request: Remember “Gizmo the Mogwai” from the movie “gremlins” what if reader joined the LOV and the little furry guy was part of their quirk and after reader, explained about the rules and responsibility. The little creature came with the LOV just loves and adores little gizmo,🥰

A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to post something I've been playing and still am playing Baldur's Gate 3 and have not been splitting my time very well but thought I would give you guys this. Thank you for being patient.

General

You told them the three rules and they all looked at you like you were crazy, they looked at the little creature nestled on your shoulder and honestly none of them believed that it could cause any devastation.

Dabi and Shigaraki had every intention of testing theory, you could see it in their eyes and you weren’t going to help them should they do something stupid.

Compress and Spinner didn’t believe you but they weren’t going to mess with someone else's quirk, they might even try to stop the others if they’re around.

Unfortunately the Mogwai himself is drawn to people that really want to test he’s limits, he likes Shigaraki because he sits in darkness for like 90% of the time and he liked Dabi because he just runs warm.

The rules are as follows: - Do not feed the little man after midnight. - Do not get the little guy wet. - Keep them out of bright light.

Tomura Shigaraki

✋Shigaraki definitely didn’t believe you, in fact he was so confident in his choice that he discarded the rules from his mind the moment that you finished talking about them. ✋It only took a couple days for you to realise that he was only going to learn through actions, so you left him alone with the little creature, granted you weren’t far and you could feel the change as it was happening but you let it happen. ✋Shigaraki didn’t actually do it on purpose this time, he was playing video games and not watching the little guy as he stuck his face in a bag of open snacks on the floor and it was definitely way past midnight. ✋The shock of the change caused Shigaraki to knock over his drink and spill it all over the little gremlin and now there was more than one.

“This seems to have gotten out of hand.” You mumbled as you looked at him from where you were leaning against his doorway. “What is that?” He asked. “That is what happens when you break the rules.” You explained. “Fix it.” He ordered. “I can fix it this time, but next time I’ll let it run its course.” You answered as you walked into the room, they all looked at you, eyes widening in recognition as you got closer, you kneeled one of them scampered up your arm sitting on your shoulder, your quirk activating and calming him before the others started to disappear. “That’s what happens?” He asked. “I did tell you that it would be bad.” You reminded him and he looked at you with narrowed eyes. “You better use that in battle.” He muttered. “Yeah, yeah boss man, just pay attention to what he’s doing next time.” You ordered. “Watch your tone, I’m the one that gives the orders.” He reminded you “now get out of my room and take the pet with you.”

Dabi

🔥 Dabi absolutely didn’t believe you but instead of an accident, he did it on purpose, the little gremlin was just with him, he was warmer than anyone else. 🔥 He could see you across the bar talking to the boss man, you weren’t watching him and he took the opportunity. 🔥 Literally doesn’t hide what he’s doing and does not feel guilty about it, tipping an entire drink on you little guy's head but the changes were almost instant. 🔥 He’d probably call you over if you don’t notice, because the little guys all love him for his warmth and he is mildly swarmed by them.

“Hey! Come get your pet!” Dabi called from across the bar and you glanced at him and smiled leaning back on the bar as you looked at him. “Looks like someone broke the rules.” You shrugged “I really don’t know if I want to help you.” “Help me or I’ll burn them alive!” He warned and you looked at him and rolled your eyes before walking over and putting your hand out for them to come back to you. “I told you what the rules were.” You mumbled as they all moved towards you “you're the one that didn’t listen.” “I don’t listen to anyone, I do what I want.” Dabi answered, it almost reminded you of a petulant child talking to their younger sibling. “Were you an older brother at some point?” You asked “because you're acting like one.” “Whatever” he waved you off as the little gremling settled on your shoulder. “Just don’t do it again.” You ordered as you turned away from him and walked back to the bar where you had been before tickling and mumbling to your little man as you did. Dabi had to admit it was nice to have something around that wasn’t bothered by his heat.

Mr Compress

🔮 Compress wholeheartedly believed every word that you said and did nothing that was against the rules, in fact he was a little afraid of the creature given the way you made it sound 🔮 He liked you though so he spent a lot of time around him, he never really acknowledged the little man, figured that they could both just exist in the same space to make you happy. 🔮 You noticed his unease around you little man and so you never really left them alone together. 🔮 There was an incident that changed everything though, he had been sitting with you and you little guy climbed onto his shoulder and settled in for a nap.

You saw the moment he froze slightly waiting to see what would happen next “you can relax, he's just looking for somewhere to sleep.” You explained from you place next to him but when your words didn’t seem to be making a difference you sat up “I can move him if you want.” “No, no he’s fine.” He answered. “Are you sure?” You asked “if he’s bothering you I can move him.” “Bothering me?” Compress asked, turning his eyes to you “why would he be bothering me?” “When I was younger people didn’t like him very much, he only wanted someone to give him a hug.” You explained with a shrug “guess I’m just used to apologising for him.” “You have no need to apologise for him, he’s not bothering me, I was just worried that I would upset him.” He explained and your eyes widened. “Upset him, it’s impossible to do that as long as you follow the rules and don’t step on him.” You shrugged. “Hmm. We’ll see about that.” He mumbled as he shuffled into a more comfortable position.

Spinner

🦎 Spinner didn’t really care either way, he just respected the way that you wanted the addition to your quirk to be treated. 🦎 He honestly thought that he scared the little guy, considering he always chose the others, he very rarely came to Spinner. 🦎 You never really addressed it and he just assumed that was the way that he was going to be, he wasn’t too bothered, he liked the little guy but he grown up enough to know that he might want to be somewhere else. 🦎 That is until he wake up one day to you taking pictures of him.

“What are you doing?” He asked, you smiled as you turned the phone screen to him to show him the picture of you little mogwai nestled in his hair above his head. “He loves sleeping in your hair.” You mumbled as you looked at him, swiped the phone screen to show more pictures of different times when he had been napping and the little guy had settled down with him. “Thought he didn’t like me.” He mumbled lifting his hand to rub at his eyes. “Why wouldn’t he like you?” You asked and he shrugged. “I’m probably a little scary and I run colder than he would like.” Spinner answered, you looked at him and smiled. “You aren’t scary to him, I promise you that and as for the cold thing, your hair clearly keeps him warm enough.” You shrugged as you sat on the edge of the sofa he had been laying on, you watched as Spinner reached up and tickled the little guys head before taking in a deep breath. “He likes how calm you are, the others are a bit chaotic.” “Fair.” He answered softly before you both settled into comfortable conversation.

Twice

🎭 Twice forgot everything that you said after you stopped talking and you knew the moment that you got to know him that he didn’t do it on purpose. 🎭 You never left him alone with the little guy because you knew that he’d do something by accident and you didn’t want him to feel bad. 🎭 Twice was easily manipulated, you know that Dabi has tried to get him to break the rules because he thought it would be funny and you're watching him too closely now. 🎭 Your little guy knows that he doesn’t mean anything that he does or says and you can almost always find him clinging to Twice’s ankle.

“He’s so cute, no he’s not.” You giggled as you looked at Twice cradling the little gremling in his arms. “You think?” You asked. “I like him, no I don’t.” Twice answered as he passed the little one back to you. You had just found him sitting in the bar, Dabi was talking to him but abruptly stopped and walked away when you appeared on Twice’s other side. “What were you talking to Dabi about?” You asked. “Nothing, he wants us to bath the creature.” You rolled your eyes at the answer as you leaned on the bar. “You shouldn’t bathe him.” You said. “I remember!” Twice cheered “you told us before.” “You remember?” You asked. “Mhm, Toga helps me remember. Not that I need it.” He answered. “Right and the other two rules?” You asked. “Umm… None of your business.” He answered. “You don’t remember?” You asked. “No. Of course we do!” He mumbled. “Don’t feed him after midnight and keep him out of the bright light.” You supplied. “Right we won’t forget this time! We didn’t need your help.” Twice answered and you looked at the man and nodded. “Of course you didn’t.” You said softly.

Request Here!!

[eisforeidolon]

So I came across a meta post based on screenshots [X][X] of the list of book titles shown in 4x18 that Chuck published. There's a discrepancy where only 24 titles are given when there are 60 tv episodes across that span. Now not only did the meta author skip right past the possibility that since novels are generally longer than a tv show episode, books might generally cover multiple episodes? As well as the even more likely possibility that whoever was typing up the list for the props department got lazy?

The post directly jumped right into full on stan conspiracy-think of how this must be why all the fans in the SPNverse are Sam girls because Chuck purposefully omitted all of Dean's best episodes! Naturally this gets built on in the replies & comments, with even more conspiratorial leaps about how the writers were trying to make fans in-universe love Sam and think he was a hero because nobody does in the real world (snort) yadda yadda Chuck won theory is true yadda yadda D/C was silenced *sob* yadda yadda the story was writing itself without the permission of the writers writing it [crazy eyes].

My other glaring issue - aside from the obvious of what an absurdly biased load of batshit all of that is? I just do not understand why someone trying to suggest a genuinely legitimate theory about a show spanning fifteen years and many different writers? Wouldn't consider for a hot minute before running full tilt with an idea: Hey, this is one random-ass prop screen from one episode that Sam scrolls by fairly quick, does this actually line up with how much of the story we're shown the in-universe fans getting elsewhere? Spoiler: No.

Let's ignore that Chuck specifically mentions the ghost ship from Red Sky at Morning, which isn't on the list, in that very same episode. He could be getting visions of stories and not writing them - unlikely but possible. No, lets jump to Crowley using the books in Clip Show to track down and kill "everyone [Sam & Dean have] ever saved". He says he's able to do it because he has "his sources and a crack research team" as he's shown with a pile of Chuck's books as he's saying it [X]. It's unlikely he would have found Sarah from Provenance through another source besides the books, but theoretically possible.

What you can't use handwaves to set aside, though? Is that as the scene continues, he holds up a copy of what is clearly A Very Supernatural Christmas [X], which is not on the list. It's shown again as part of Metatron's library in Meta Fiction, along with Tall Tales [X], also not on the list. These are direct in-universe physical books shown onscreen. While we're at it, there are a couple of times fan characters make it clear in dialogue other episodes/books exist. In The Real Ghostbusters, Demian and Barnes walk by Sam and Dean playacting a scene directly from Hunted about John's last order regarding Sam. Same episode, Becky tells them about Crowley getting the Colt from Bela, specifically citing the title of Time is On My Side. Last one, in Fan Fiction, Marie immediately jumps to knowing what a tulpa is and says, "Well, in Hell House, Sam & Dean-". None of those three books are on that list. So that list is NOT a comprehensive one for all the published books in-universe.

Part of me really wants to go on an even more extended rant here about fixating on one blink-and-you'll-miss-it detail and imbuing it with six metric tons of meaning without even once seeming to consider if it's actually remotely significant or, y'know, put in with legitimate intention. Even if the meaning being projected isn't completely bonkers. Seeing this done over and over again by people latching myopically onto whatever random tidbit will let them jump to the conclusions they already want ... sigh. Like, this is not how you come up with a good theory, starting from an utterly rotten base!

[twopoppies]

hey, as a pandemic larrie i just wanted to offer a different perspective than the other anon. i feel like it's our responsibility to do our research. i understand that some things, especially bbg and closeting in general, seems like crazy conspiracy theories at first glance and that's what i thought at first as well. especially because the only other fandom i had been in before was the dan and phil fandom, where there was no "big bad" that forced them to remain in the closet beyond our fucked up society in general, so i had a hard time understanding how that's even possible. but thanks to blogs like yours and video compilations of older video footage and other proof it got pretty obvious pretty quickly that it was happening. also, like you already said, i think sometimes us anons forget that you can't tell our intentions in asking certain questions because you don't know us and there are so many trolls out there. that's why I appreciate it even more how kind you remain to people who come to you :)

Thank you so much for this, sweetheart. I definitely lose my patience at times. But thank you for seeing that I do try to remain kind. 😅

And yes, tone and intention is really really hard to gauge on both ends. I think that’s really important to remember. 🩷

In reference to this

[construingseacats]

Umireread - Legend of the Golden Witch: Epilogue - Tea Party

The following contains spoilers for the entirety of Umineko. Please do not read if you are yet to finish it.

Oh hey, is that the Purgatory, from Dante Alighieri’s hit epic, Divine Comedy? Guess everyone did die at the end, then. Couldn’t possibly be any other interpretation, right?

Thank you Battler! Very cool!

I know it’s about to become a lot more obvious in a second, but it’s good to see the game reminding you that the Epitaph is there to be solved, and wasn’t just a forecast of murders. Our job is far from done.

It sure was a cool scene, and it sure was a showdown with the culprit - but not in the sense that we might think.

Very funny Ryukishi - I’m actually kind of surprised how generous Episode 1 is with the suspicious nature of Shannon and Kanon’s deaths, given you should be able to figure out how suspect they are just by reasoning through the scenes without any extra prodding. Although, I suppose the reward is that these lines are quite funny once you know the intent behind them.

Legend of the Golden Witch is littered with subversions and baits and switches, but this one here takes the crown - this violently comes for the throat of anyone joining us off the back of Higurashi, or anyone familiar with the concept of Wrap Up Parties as a whole.

So, obviously, it’s funny to talk about how Battler knocks it out of the part with Kanon’s fake death (before being ridiculed for it), but this is a great juxtaposition between early Battler and the Answer Arcs. A lot of the suggestions for solutions here aren’t just terrible, they would actively ruin the story if they were used. I wonder how different things would be if we armed Episode 1 Battler with the Knox Decalogue and the knowledge that it’s in effect.

North Wind and the Sun in full effect - tell Battler to accept witches and he refuses with every fibre of his being. Let’s see how long it takes for the Sun to shine.

Yup, that’s how the alibis and fantasy scenes have worked so far!

It’s kind of crazy that one of the de facto main characters is only showing up after a novel and a half’s worth of words. We’re what, just shy of 140k words in at this point? That’s insane to think about.

I opened up the menu to check Beatrice’s character info, took a gander at the post-death info for the kids, and yeah I think Maria is just unironically the author of these now. Kihihihi.

You know, I just said Maria was writing the tips, but the last part of Beatrice’s information here feels like the kind of thing you’d see on one of those terrible fanmade wikis. In a way, this feels like Yasu writing about her very cool OC. I suppose, given that, we could read into the rest of it as Yasu writing as Maria - after all, that was what the initial message bottle was in the first place, right?

Even the narrative is cracking jokes now - very funny stuff, this got me good.

Oh? “You who call yourself Battler”? We’re going straight in with that one, huh?

So, as foreshadowing for the “you are not Asumu’s son” arc in Episode 4, this also lays an important point out for us - we are outside the territory of Yasu’s message bottles. There is no way she would reasonably know this at this point. Of course, that’s obvious, since the message bottles are just the contents of the “main” stories of Episodes 1 and 2, as Yasu would never write out this meta battle between Battler and Beatrice. …Well, okay, we can’t say that for certain - I suppose, if I was having to say something in red, it would be that she wouldn’t write this for a message bottle.

I haven’t looked deeply into recent Umineko theories, so I’m unsure if there’s a common consensus of how Purgatory and the meta sections fit into the “truth” of the story, but I personally see it as Tohya’s inner struggles to understand and make peace with the events of Rokkenjima, and the Battler persona that was left behind. (I’m doubling down on my prediction that Ciconia’s addressal of multiple personalities will recontextualise Umineko - Kinzo had issues with it, we’ve seen it with Maria, Shkanon leans more towards gender identity (but that’s also present with Miyao), and we have the Battler/Tohya split. SOMETHING is cooking behind the scenes.) This initial confrontation with Beatrice is representative of Tohya first coming to grips with the past, and who he once was.

Prison strip is one of those songs that I didn’t like that much the first time round, but has grown on me significantly. Such a cool backing track for the gauntlet being thrown.

And with that, we’re done with the Epilogue… Or the first one, at least! Time for second Epilogue!

[cupcakefactory]

Hey! I was just wondering if you could maybe do a female reader x Vanderwood (or 707 if you feel more comfortable) where the reader gets involved in a mission of theirs (it was never intentional but they saw an opportunity to help resolve things I guess?) and it all works out, but Vanderwood/707 becomes mad at them because they could’ve been hurt? A little bit of angst/fluff y’know👀. No problem if you don’t feel comfortable at all. Thank you💗

Okay; first things first – I use they/them for vandy, vandy is our they/them monarch and we love them for it. Also my brain is being awkward today so MC has been given a temp name Onna, it means woman in Japanese.

ALSO SO FUCKING SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG I SWEAR I GOT DISTRACED MORE THAN 1000 TIMES WRITING

Writing under the cut ^^

WC: 1586

“What are you doing Onna?!”

A bellowing voice rings out from behind you, who was that? You recognised it enough.. but, you don’t actually know what you’ve done wrong. All you were doing was working your job, weren’t you? Serving a simple customer whatever they ordered. Twirling on your heals you meet vanderwoods menacing gaze – They looked angry that’s for sure. Vanderwood, your friend from childhood who you had rekindled with after joining, or well, being forced into the RFA. That felt like a while ago now – you still can’t believe just have naive you had been to accept an invitation from some stranger to test a game.

That is how you re-met Vanderwood, you had been on the run with 707 and V – hiding in a worn down shack in the woods when Seven announced his maid was going to be joining you both. A little strange, but from the few brief interactions you had had with Seven it wasn’t anything too unusual, actually, it kinda fit into his narrative for him to have a maid – however crazy that thought may sound to other people. You can still remember when you saw them again, you could recognise that face anywhere, although they had grown Vanderwood still looked nearly identical to how they did when they disappeared at 15. You couldn’t tell straight away if they recognised you back but after many backwards and forwards glances from them you came to the conclusion that if they didn’t recognise you they had grown into a bit of a creep.

“I..I’m working..”

Your voice sounded pathetic, honestly you had no idea why you still felt a little threatened by them. You lived with them, you had seen them prance around with a frilly pink apron on (Sevens request obviously, Vanderwood was not impressed and you did find yourself at times trying to hold by a laugh), scold seven holding a wooden spoon like a mother would her child and you’d seen them heal a sick V from the brink of death. You knew Vanderwood was a good person that’s why it confused you why you were so nervous of them right now – maybe it was the way their voice sounded at that moment, you had got use to hearing it in a more gentle tone when hanging out with just the two of you. You had even heard them laugh once or twice – although god forbid you tell Seven that, your world may as well end on the spot. The gentle tone was gone, replaced with a rough belting one. You wondered for a moment why people weren’t looking at them – they were making enough noise that the whole café should be aware of his presence.

“This isn’t time for Jokes.”

Their warm breathe against your ear made you jump, right, that’s why the whole café hadn’t turned round. Vanderwood was right behind you whisper-yelling in your ear, Maybe your creep theory from the cabin could have some truth behind it because this was totally creepy right now. You couldn’t really say anything back because – well you weren’t joking around. You were working, this is what you do, and yeah it sucks. Managing to ignoring his lingering loud presence you continued to work around the shop, picking up glasses and plates for the regular and new customers with the basic smile every retail or hospitality worker has been able to make, Making small chat with the elderly customers who make their way to the café every Friday for the same thing, a cup of tea and a slice of cake, they always had interesting stories you enjoyed listening too.

This seemed to piss Vanderwood off, how in the world could you be so damn calm right now when this whole café could be under attack at any second? For the first time in a while they felt themselves starting to panic, you had brought out the one emotion they never really wanted to feel. They loved you, god they loved you so much that they took on extra missions so they could insure the world was a safer place for you to live. It was selfish for them to love you, they knew that. You deserved someone like you, someone with a kind heart, someone who could make time for you in a way he never really would be able too. His whole like was about missions, even though they loved you, they would drop everything to do as their boss says. It’s the life they live, and it isn’t glamorous; and they defiantly don’t want you mixed up in it. But right now? Right now they didn’t have a choice, they knew the terrorists that HQ had warned them off where probably closing in with every second they spent wondering after you in a hurry, they had no choice. Tugging at your arm to force eye contact, they mutter something into your ear.

“Clear the floor. This café is under attack”

That surprised you, what?! The little café in the middle of Seoul that no one knew about what under attack? You nearly laughed until you saw Vanderwoods gaze, oh, they were serious. Anyone could recognise that, you went to say something back when you felt an object being placed very gently in the pocket of your apron. What was that..? Before the question left your lips – they were gone. Lifting your hand up to the pocket, you could have passed out from shock – the vague but recognisable outline of a handgun was easily detectable. The adrenaline that flooded through your body then, as you looked for the easiest way to get everyone out, grabbing a cup of oil you splashed it onto a burning hob – creating a magnificent display of yellow and orange flames, however, as much as you desired too you couldn’t sit around right now and watch the flames dance. You hit the fire alarm to get people moving outside when something was planted against your head.

“Huh?~ What have we here, hmm? A little informant from WISE {Yes I am unoriginal as fuck have spy x family content as well}?” Well that sickly sweet voice was certainly annoying as fuck, what was WISE? Well, using the 2 singular brain cells you seemed to hold at that moment it became pretty obvious that they thought you worked for the same Organisation as 707 and Vanderwood. Great, this is just great, they (as in Vanderwood) were telling the truth and now your stood in the middle of a burning café with what you can only assume is the head on a gun pushed against your skull, If this didn’t seem like one of those horrible nightmare you suffered from during childhood you weren’t too sure what did. You seemed to only have a second or two to think before it all became a blurred mess of voices, and most importantly gun shots. You aren’t sure at all what happened.. it just all went black.

“Onna?! Come on Onna.. don’t die on me now girl. Luciel come on!! Answer your damn phone that’s what you fucking have it for.”

That was a new form for that voice to take, It was laced with concern and worry in a way you had never heard before. What had happened to make Vanderwood so.. scared? You couldn’t tell.. until you went to sit up and a shooting stabbing pain made you pretty much yelp out. You were sure you should have screamed louder, but your throat and voice seemed sore – almost as if they had been the one injured. You tapped around your body, okay at least you were alive, well – you assumed ghosts couldn’t feel themselves or pain, you weren’t really too sure on this matter. Going to wipe the sweat on your forehead you notice that your hand is covered in blood, your blood, holy shit, you had been shot. Normal Friday am-I right lads. {I am so sorry}. It was probably a good job blood didn’t cause you too pass out cause there was a shit tone of it, dripping from everywhere… well that was an exaggeration, it was one bullet hole but, it felt like a lot more! You looked up to meet Brown eyes that looked the same way that voice from earlier sounded, Concerned. They were concerned.

“Oh thank.. im not religious, but thank whatever it up there that you are alive.”

Quickly, almost too quickly you were pulled into their arms, a small but almost happy sigh leaving their lips as they held your weak body against theirs. Until.. they pulled away and almost glared at you.

“What was that about?! Do you know that she would have killed ya? The gun was meant as a fucking last resort Onna, not to be used like a childs toy. Honestly if I knew you would be so irresponable with it I wouldn’t have fucking given it to you. No, don’t say anything. We are going to the hospital.”

You couldn’t say anything even if you wanted too, because behind that forced anger you could see tears forming in their eyes. Oh how you loved his idiotic man.. and oh how you knew you would help him again if he ever needed it.

[2n2n]

ch99 LETS GO WOO--!!! this ruled I love it here at the aidairo!! Man I feel like I have such pretty tame expectations of things often as I don't expect 100% of a work to be to my taste and interests, but I get blown out of the water every single twist and turn.... HOO HOO HOO HOO *running around in a circle*

couldn't be off to a better start.. I feel like Aida loves to draw these first person PoV Tsukasa is leaning down to talk to you direct eye contact panels... and I luv to see them (: babygirllll

Ah... a lovely, shining example of Tsukasa's ability to peer through people... he struggles always, to understand when, and why, people don't act upon their honest desires. Why not do something, if you want to do it? Why not stop doing something, if you hate it?

He looks so strikingly like Amane here, it's incredible. A rare Tsukasa with semi-lidded eyes, a more shadowed expression, so his pupils are cast in the amount of shadow we see in Amane's (at least, thats what I see it as!)... situationally the Yugi's eyes resemble one another's purely due to lighting conditions, since their eyes only look different 'cuz of how they hold their gazes on things... Tsukasa's natural wide stare... I just love when we get to see him pulled closer to Amane's sortof glance...

Cutting to the point... ugh. LOVE it. Love Tsukasa's interest in intentions and emotions. The truth of you... LOVE IT. Love Mitsuba really looking so crazy... love him being RIGHT!!! You just HATE that you crave it and it's so delicious to you.... mmmm. Ah its a perfect Tsukasa situation ♥

anyway, I LOVE this setting, what an absolutely scary and atmospheric space to be in, the goddamn tech and sump and whatall backend of the aquarium.... pipes and tubs and gauges and tubs. Really claustrophobic and perfectly 'trapped'. Feels so yabai. yabai yabai. Perfect little box they're sunken into....

sorry, incredibly funny mitsuba oogie boogies into a pile of bugs. Extremely laughed out loud.

love this irrational moment of jealousy lol. Why can't you just be grateful someone out there kept Mitsuba together </3 stupid caveman.... </3

a perfect reveal... couldn't be a more 'oh... oh, gosh' moment... as this all is, it felt like, "how incredibly crazy to go TO the Minamoto household-- if Teru had bolted out the house and not Kou, Mitsuba would simply be kerplooded...." how miserable that Mitsuba aimed for that outcome. Was relying on it. What an interesting feeling, to see Kou, instead, and have to shift gears... the monumental suicidal vibes of the outings... and frankly I love Mitsuba's impatience and fussiness in light of that... it reminds me of suicidal Rasphard Ambrose from AidaIro's old VN ahaha, telling the tsundere neige "comfort me better." lol. Good on you Mitsuba.. you need to boss and bully Kou right now, it is your right...

could not be a more perfect situation to test Kou. agog at how artfully wonderful. Hey bitch who wants to be an exorcist soooo bad, I'll give you something to exorcise..... ooo how about you think about your dang profession critically for a moment!

I love the 'beat' where Mitsuba tries to read, judge, very carefully, Kou's response. He doesn't trust him to really understand this request. He's not willing to endure humiliation about this! None of Kou's idiocy. Either willing to 'help' or not.

Freakin' reminds me of Rasphard too, with the 'joking' after saying things that belie the real intent, deflecting fast...!

Kou's response... wuh, lol.

SO funny that Kou is experiencing this epiphany selfishly, processing it almost as a kind of rejection! You lied to me </3 Extremely AidaIro actually.... (well, again reminds me of how Estelio in Narisokonai Snow White takes his twin brother's suicide as a kind of abandonment/rejection of him... and I have a theory that Amane and Tsukasa, and the shinjuu, also may tie into an emotion like that-- that perhaps Tsukasa attempted to kill himself to alter fate, but Amane perceived it as Tsukasa 'leaving' him, and killed them both to stay together....). Its funny that Kou was so fussy and shitty the whole time, but, he's mad to learn you had an ulterior motive and weren't engaged in the same earnest way. The sweetness of the day's been overwritten by this hidden agenda. He feels betrayed-- but it's not really the time for that, now is it? It's not a very sweet reaction to Mitsuba's confession of being self-destructive.

I really didn't know it mattered so much to Kou that it be an authentic experience, and that this taints it. Really funny its his priority, emotionally, here ... it's genuinely interesting though. He's a very childish/immature person, so this being his reaction fits well.

detour, Mitsuba looks really nice with his hair unpinned and disheveled! My favorite look for him thus far. Nice and raggedy... I don't really like his groomed up look, this messy one's much better....

he handles all conflicts with screaming, bullying and bullrushing </3 as expected of Kou.... but I like how awful this all is

really freaking visceral! fighting fuckin hard! Lol, 'I said no!" ... love the claustrophobic setting coming home to roost. Mitsuba's wobbling, haggard, weak, amputated form up against Kou's real wild gorilla tactics. It's so dreadful lol! Grabbing him by the god damn ankle! Slamming him to the ground!

we here at the Aidairo love to make panels that look like this lol.... you know all I'm thinking about is that shinjuu and how lit its gonna be!! feel like this sorta stuff is 1/10th of what the shinjuu will be....

like a caveman. blunt brute strength, force, aggression... it makes Tsukasa feel graceful and friendly.

insulting his very reasons for being ~suicidal.... you suck sooo bad Kou! Screaming and throttling and berating for being stupid, 'so what'ing his reasons for feeling dehumanized and self-hating, HOO you wonder why Mitsuba tells you nothing? Its just like in Picture Perfect... just hollaring like an ape defensively. But this time it's so incredibly horrible it's more interesting than ever. So obliquely a defensive emotion, brought on by insecurity (you don't rely on me), jealousy (you rely on Tsukasa, you talk to Tsukasa), betrayal (you intentionally mislead me). Taking out his anger and frustration on Mitsuba! Its a panic response, but it speaks to Kou's handle on his impulses.

absolutely incredibly reveal ♥ VORE MANGA VORE MANGA VORE MANGA!!!!!!!! GET BIT, KOU!!!

What a PERFECT thing to saddle Kou with-- a kaii that is his friend, that is DANGEROUS. That is a DANGER TO HUMAN BEINGS. Its time to learn some sympathy for complicated beings and situations, the very sorts of things your job exists to exterminate!! But it's also crazy human-centric, that Kou just can't understand the problem up until here. As if killing/eating kaii is no problem and easy-- like, geez, Kou, eating live bugs or mice or something would be ENOUGH to make someone horrified and feel like a monster, plucking apart bloody bodies and digging through viscera in excess would make most people mindbroken after long enough! Never mind the sheer amount and the inhuman sensations of desire and need for it going on here, the deep satisfaction and the grotesque nature feeling like its destroying Mitsuba's entire self-image.

WELL, ANYWAY, KOU BEING AN INCONSIDERATE ASSHOLE ASIDE, what a wonderful moment. I find it funny that Kou really needs his own personal little buddy kaii to learn any kind of sympathy for the struggles of being something 'dangerous'. The Minamoto family take it upon themselves to determine 'dangerous' and exterminate it. It's effectively like the friend of a cop revealing they hold criminal intent, lol.... time to see how much destructive possibility YOU will tolerate, how about ;) Nene-chan will put up with quite a lot ♥ is it so simple to determine when someone's 'too far gone' ♥? Mitsuba is trying to tell you he is.... ♥ he's scared of himself.... ahhh its so delicious ♥ decadent situation to put Kou into. We need to put the Minamoto dogma thru tests! YOSH

jealous that Tsukasa gets access to what he doesn't </3 extremely funny of Kou, and EXACTLY what I wanted to see revealed. All his spite and aggression towards Tsukasa has layers! Ugh, so petty it's funny and delicious. Hoo hoo hoo!

boohoo </3 you think I'm weak </3 you trust Tsukasa more than me </3 you run to him in danger </3 or maybe its that Tsukasa chases down Mitsuba, has knowledge of what he needs, is willing to do a fat lot of work to assist him, explain things gently and calmly and honestly, while all you ever do is forget he exists, until he shows up in front of you :)? Why wasn't he your first priority after the severence? You want Mitsuba to do all the legwork? You distractible oaf....

after all that though, I'm glad Kou WASN'T rewarded for the screaming beast tactics! I'm glad that shit got him bitten!! I'm glad that CRYING and whining gets him much farther! I swear to GOD, Mitsuba isn't even so sure you LIKE him! He's really receptive to this...!! But, really, who is ever crying to Mitsuba? Tsukasa, Natsuhiko, Sakura, Nene, Hanako? Who is begging him for attention, who is crying for him? Nobody....! Mitsuba is always sinking fast into a 'victim' schtick and crying and whining, desperate for attention himself... seeing this, its like-- ah!-- it would be so ideal if someone else could be more pathetic than him....

after all that fuss, I love this for Kou's delayed, final 'crash' response.... his immediate response to it all is just a frenzied high of anger/aggression/violence... I like that finally voicing the root insecurity/inferiority complex (all Kou is composed of....) and upset that Mitsuba relies on Tsukasa (how does it feel to always hear that name from his mouth, time and time again, after a crisis like the Picture Perfect, Severance?), instantly renders him so inert. I like the pathetic crossed legs here lol.

boy. and I think Hanako is childish with his feelings about Nene-chan. If Hanako is a true blue 13-year-old-boy in his emotional expression and fussiness, Kou is like a freaking 5 year old. Sheesh. He really. Has the lowest maturity. This is the rawest, most vulnerable Kou we've seen!!! He's REALLY been coddled and never challenged for his life! His brother REALLY sheltered him but GOOD. Kou's an absolute mess! It's interesting the extent of it. I mean I'm always here to tell you Kou is The Dumbest One Here, but, awoof. Well I'm satisfied by it all. Its best when things are so extreme (: He makes Mitsuba feel so worldly and respectable lol.... Kou, you kid.... child.. big baby.

I'm glad Mitsuba can see past the defensive stuff easily at this point... Kou really can't let it go.

I've never really known how the Mitsuba and Kou dynamic could go anywhere-- two tsundere really don't make a match to me, and in every interaction, in the past, they really felt at a standstill with one another's stubbornness, and compulsive rudeness. Both of them don't express vulnerability in a productive way. They both leap to insults and yelling. It often feels like no headway occurs. But I like to see Mitsuba have to interact with someone emotionally wrought over him, even jealous and feeling robbed of a moment/opportunities of closeness. It's really what Mitsuba needs... he needs to see he has an effect on anybody, it's his entire complex. Seeing it all laid out like this, I can see how a guy with an inferiority complex (Kou) and a guy with an attention deficit (Mitsuba) could be interesting and ultimately feed one another, if ONE of them could just take the hit of being vulnerable first. Mitsuba's just so massively socially neglected and feels insignificant. Kou feels insignificant, too. Mitsuba feels nobody seeks him out, or wants him, while Kou also feels nobody seeks him out as someone to rely on. It's pretty fascinating to have one person have such a wealth of attention/coddling, but no sense of value despite it (Kou), and another person with a dearth of attention, with no sense of value due to it (Mitsuba).

I mean, in defense of Kou, Teru has been lying to him so profusely for his entire life, he may as well not know him at all. It's not a meaningfully intimate relationship, despite being his most dominant presense in his mind. It's majorly built on performances and facades on Teru's part, and then Kou meets Teru's undercurrent of pain and suffering with an utter 0 perception stat. Rather than being trusted with being an exorcist, Kou really oughta beg for Teru to trust him with his trauma and the weight of it ... I think Teru tried to in that conversation and, maybe he will continue to. I think Teru realizes how badly he's set up his and Kou's relationship to fail... fail brocon

ahhhhhh all really exciting stuff. I really prefer a Kou chapter like this to the sword-fightan shounen-hero-catchphrase-spoutan ones (: his extremely stunted emotions are an intrigue. Such a busted little idiot. And, I really like how Mitsuba took the first shot with being vulnerable. Proud of him. It's a bit sad Kou met it with a sense of rejection, because it's so beautiful Mitsuba would try to trust Kou point blank with euhrrrr euthanizing him. That really is, in Mitsuba's mind, in this state, begging Kou to help him. It's trusting Kou with his entire existence. It's hoping Kou will be able to understand his pain. Kou,, doesn't,,,, emphatically so, but at least he got somewhere by the end of it all :B and you know. He shouldn't give up yada yada.

Wonder if we'll pop over to a B plot or stick here....

[10yrsyart]

Hey! Im sorry this ask is so deep haha, I've been a Christian my whole life and never before questioned it until recently.. all around me, all I read about science ect seems to be telling me there is no god and it's frightening! Do you happen to know any science that could be of comfort? I'm just so tired of being called crazy for my belief

hey there :) science isn't my field of expertise but i could give you some things to think about:

- the Earth is perfectly positioned in our solar system to carry life. if it were closer to the sun it would be too hot for us, and if it were farther away it'd be too freezing. it's the perfect temperature to keep water in a liquid form, which we need to survive. the Earth's stable rotation, the presence of the Moon and its distance, the protection Jupiter provides us, these are all unique specifically placed details. ( earth facts, jupiter facts )

- the human eye is a complex system of lenses and nerves that sees light, density, and depth. it adjusts to these constantly changing elements at a speed even our current cameras are unable to. not only does it work as a camera, but since its connected to the brain, it also works as an organic video camera recording and remembering what it's seen. it's an incredible work of design and "machinery" (and that's not even getting into the complexities of the brain.) ( eye vs. camera )

- there are patterns in nature. the human eye holds similarities to nebula, our lungs with their branching arms are similar to trees, our brains and their nerve links resemble galaxies in the observable universe, and there are many more example. these do not speak to me of random happenstance but intentional design.

- just a couple of instances in the Bible where scientific facts are stated centuries before the science about it was "discovered". and some more. there's also a ton of archeological evidence to support the Bible, but that's a whole other post.

- science can discover the elements and circumstances of many things and try to rebuild those circumstances. but scientists are still unable to give life to a person or animal. they can't give them the spark of life, or bestow on someone a conscience or personality. they can create AI and clone animals and slice together DNA, but only God can breathe life into something and make it real, giving it spirit and soul.

- the Big Bang Theory speaks of a specific moment in time when everything came to be; a beginning to the universe as we know it. some astronomers say we can see back to the beginning by viewing the farthest light as our time clock. ( link ) and that's really interesting, isn't it? because the Bible says the earth was "formless and void", and God commanded light to come into being and suddenly there was light (Genesis 1:1-3). the first thing that God created was light and that's the thing scientists use to see the beginning. this short TikTok sums this subject up pretty well, as well as my own feelings about it.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @gospelspeakers

God's fingerprints are all over creation. no amount of "explaining away" is going to erase those fingerprints or His continued presence. i hope this encourages you! "The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display His craftmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never hear. Yet their message is gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world." (Psalm 19:1-4)

also as my expertise is art.. i know of no greater artist than Him.

[slasherhaven]

Any headcanons for being childhood friends with any of the slashers? (preferably the Sinclair brothers but any are fine)

These got so long, I’m so sorry! 😂 But please enjoy!

Thomas, Michael, Jason, Brahms, and the Sinclair Brothers

Being Childhood friends and reuniting:

Thomas Hewitt

You went to school with Thomas and it was easy to see that you were the only friend he had.

Kids can be cruel, especially when they see someone as an easy target. Thomas was a quiet, insecure kid and they picked on him for that. His scars were the main thing they bullied him about.

You couldn’t remember how many times he cried to you, until he eventually stopped crying. Then he would just deal with it, keep his head down and take it. You knew it still bothered him, so you still comforted him, he didn’t even need to ask you to do so.

Beside his family, you were the only person he had. 

You knew each other into your teen years and he adored you. He loved you, whether those feelings were platonic or not.

Luda May loved as well, since you spent most of your time at the Hewitt residence visiting Tommy. She was glad that he had a friend.

But when everyone started leaving town, your family thought it was time to move as well. You can remember running to the Hewitt residence the night before you left to say goodbye to Tommy, you had both cried before you had to leave him.

A few years passed. You became an adult and moved away from your parents. You had heard them talking though, about how there Hewitts apparently never left town, about how they insisted on staying. Everyone thought they were crazy for it and while you loved the family you couldn’t help but agree. There was nothing in town for them anymore, how where they even getting by?

But you decided to pay them a visit. You still thought about Thomas and the family a lot, so you wanted to check in on them. Now that you weren’t living with your family.

You walked up to the familiar house and knocked on the door. Luda May was the one who opened it and she instantly recognised you, smiling brightly and inviting you inside for a cup of tea.

The two of you sat in the kitchen, catching up, until she came to her senses and pointed out that you were probably here for Tommy. So, she called him down.

When he stepped into the kitchen, he just stared at you. He couldn’t believe you were hear after all that time passed. He thought for sure you would have moved far away and forgotten about him.

He had always been taller than most people but now that he was an adult he was even taller, and broader, but you still recognised him as Tommy.

Luda May smiled at you both and told you that she would give you some privacy before leaving the kitchen.

“Hey, Tommy” you greeted him with the kind smile that he still remembered, even after all this time. “I heard your family never left town, so...I came to see you” you explained your presence.

Once he was sure that this really was you and that you were still looking at him the same way you used too, Thomas crossed the kitchen and pulled you into a hug. You smiled into his chest and you returned the embrace.

“I missed you too, Tommy” you confessed.

You couldn’t imagine the people who remained in the town after you left became any kinder, you couldn’t imagine how Tommy felt. Dealing with their ridicule and not having his one friend to turn too.

But you were here now and that’s all that mattered, you are here for as long as he needed you to be.

Michael Myers 

CLICK HERE for Michael’s post.

Jason Voorhees

You had been Jason’s only friend at camp, sweet, kind, and caring. You would defend him against the bullies, wipe his tears when he cried, and hugged him to comfort him. You had even met Mrs Voorhees once and she loved you, you were the only person who was sincerely kind to her son.

But then the ‘accident’ happened and you never saw Jason, your best friend, again. The camp closed down so you never returned, not until years later.

You were an adult now, flipping through an old photo album, smiling at an image of you and Jason as children. You had never forgotten about the boy, how could you? 

And of course you had heard the rumours of him having come back to haunt the camp, and it pissed you off that people would use your best friend’s death as a scary story.

It was then that you decided to take a trip up to the camp. Parking your car and walking into the old abandoned camp, memories of your summers here coming flooding back.

Jason had heard the car and expected a group of teenagers that he would have to deal with, but instead he saw one person with flowers in their hand.

You walked along the dock that the accident happened on and sighed, placing the flowers down at the end. There was no memorial for him but you thought the poor boy deserved some flowers.

Jason watched from the safety of the trees, watching you place down the flowers and pay your respect to...him. When you turned around he got a better look at your face. It took him a minute but he could finally place your face, how could he forget you? You were older now but he could recognise your face.

You had decided to explore the old camp, thinking back with a sad nostalgia. Jason watched you the whole time, no intention of hurting you, you had been the only one who cared for him. He was more considering whether he should approach you or not. He decided against it, not wanting to scare you.

Eventually you left, saddening Jason, but your visits became a regular thing. You’d bring flowers to put at the end of the dock for Jason, even though you noticed that the last bouquet you left was gone by your next visit.

This time, you had sat down at the end of the dock, looking out into the water, and you spoke. You apologised for not having been there, for not being able to help him all those years ago, told the still water that you missed him.

He had missed you too and maybe that’s why Jason found himself walking towards you, standing still at the start of the dock, waiting for you to turn and notice him. 

Finally, you did, gasping at the sight of his large masked figure. You panicked at first before piecing the rumours together, could this really be Jason or where you letting stories get to your head.

“J-Jason?” you took your chances and he nodded, confirming your theory. “You’re...I...but, how?” he didn’t respond, of course, he just stood still and tense. “The rumours...the stories...they’re all true, aren’t they?” he hesitates but nods. That’s when your gaze fully focuses on the machete in his hand. All the stories were true...

Noticing your focus on his weapon, he dropped it to the floor. He wanted to show that he wasn’t going to hurt you, he remembered you.

Jason was alive...kind of? Well, he was standing in front of you and you could only feel happy about it.

He completely froze when you ran up to him and threw your arms around him, telling him that you missed him and that you were glad he was alright. He expected you to be afraid but all you could focus on was your childhood friend being right in front of you, and having been alone all this time. 

He cautiously wrapped his arms around your body and relaxed. You were exactly how he remembered you. Still sweet, kind, and caring. Now that you knew he was here, your visits were about to becoming much more regular.

Brahms Heelshire 

CLICK HERE for Brahms’ post.

Bo Sinclair

You had lived in the little town of Ambrose and been about the same age as Bo. It wasn’t a large town so there weren’t many kids your age, you thought Bo was lucky to have a twin, until you realised just how different they were.

Bo was a difficult child, no doubt about it, he clearly had a lot of trouble controlling his anger, but you never let it bother you. You always pushed past it, showed him that he couldn’t push you around, and eventually befriended him, even if he wouldn’t admit you were friends.

He left the house more than his twin brother, in fact he seemed to prefer being away from the house. So he ended up spending a lot of time with you.

You eventually found out why he liked being away from his house, learning how his parents treated him when you accidently saw the scars that wrapped around his wrists. He told you everything then, with a brave face, he didn’t let one tear fall even though you partly wished he did.

He was an angry and angsty kid, but it never bothered you. You’d still smile and laugh. He was a bad influence, having you sneak out at night to meet him. But you were the light at the end of a shitty day for Bo.

Then he left town, him and his brothers just left one day and you didn’t see them again. It broke your heart, even if Bo was difficult he was your best friend and now he was gone.

Eventually you moved away from the little town, hoping for something bigger and better, but something just kept tugging at the back of your mind. You felt like you had left something there.

Years passed but eventually you decided to head back, just for a trip, nostalgia and all that, and to hopefully get rid of that nagging feeling.

You were so close to the little town when your car broke down. Luckily, a man had been driving by and offered you a lift. He asked if he knew you, recognising your face, but you told him that you didn’t think so. You didn’t recognise him. But you told him that you grew up in the town and where just visiting, that’s when he knew he had to mention that to Bo.

He took you into town and dropped you off at the garage before leaving. When you headed inside, nobody was there.

When Bo heard about the new visitor being somebody who grew up in Ambrose from Lester, he didn’t think too much about it. It was strange, sure, but in the end it didn’t really matter.

It didn’t matter until he wandered down to the garage and saw you, nearly instantly recognising you. He hated that he remembered you, that you had enough of an impact on him to be worth remembering him. Something told him that you might remember him as well, and you definitely would when he gave you his name. He probably caused enough trouble as a kid to be worth remembering. 

“Well, what brings you back to Ambrose?” Bo asked, his voice making you turn around, a little startled.

“I...Bo?” recognition of the man in front of you interrupted your explanation.  

“Thought you actually got out of this place” he seemed unfazed by you being here but you knew him better than that. He always acted less bothered than he was, unless he was angry, then it was the complete opposite. 

“I did...kind of. I left but something just had me coming back” you shrugged. 

“Miss me that much?” Bo asked with a smirk. It was good to see that his arrogance didn’t disappear during his time out of town. 

“In your dreams” you joked, too happy to see him to even try to keep your smile off of your face. “When did you even get back to Ambrose?” you asked. 

“A while ago. I mean, it’s ‘home’, right?” he scoffed a little. He had never been a huge fan of the little town. 

“How are your brothers? Are they here too?” you asked.

“Sure. Vincent is up at the house. Lester drove you here” Bo nodded. 

“Oh God, that was Lester? I didn’t even recognise him!” your eyes widened. 

“‘course you didn’t, he was a kid when we left” Bo chuckled, shaking his head at you. 

“Why didn’t you let me know you were back in town?” you asked. You didn’t think he would ever come back to the little town, you thought he’d want to get away from it. 

“You weren’t that important” he shrugged. 

“Oh please, you recognised me as soon as you walked in here. You missed me too” you scoffed, reminding him that you knew him better than that.

“...welcome home, Y/n” a genuine smile grew on Bo’s face, making you smile as well.

Of course it wouldn’t be long before you discovered the town’s little secret and then there was no way that they could let you leave...it gave Bo the perfect excuse to keep you around.

But for now, you could just reunite with old friends.

Vincent Sinclair 

You had lived in the little town of Ambrose and been about the same age as Vincent. It wasn’t a large town so there weren’t many kids your age, you thought Vincent was lucky to have a twin, until you realised just how different they were.

Vincent was the quieter twin, the one who was left with severe facial scars that he was incredibly insecure about, Bo was louder, more abrasive and that’s what kept you away from him. 

Any other kids weren’t too kind to Vincent, but you were and that’s when you both grew so close. He adored you for your kindness. 

You’d hang out in the Wax Museum or around the back of it, anywhere private where it could just be the two of you.

You never judged him, you were never cruel. You would comfort him when he was upset, make him laugh and smile. He had even let you see his face from time to time. You never reacted poorly, you always smiled, you even told him he was handsome. He adored you.

But then he had to leave...and he didn’t think he would ever see you again, and neither did you. After that, he became even more quiet and secluded.

Eventually you moved away from the little town, hoping for something bigger and better, but something just kept tugging at the back of your mind. You felt like you had left something there.

Years passed but eventually you decided to head back, just for a trip, nostalgia and all that, and to hopefully get rid of that nagging feeling.

You drove into town, getting an eerie feeling from how quiet and empty it seemed. Maybe a lot of people had moved away...

When you couldn’t find anyone, you headed for the Wax Museum. You and Vincent would hang out there a lot as kids, since his parents owned it and he didn’t like being out in public too much.

You explored the familiar building curiously. It was dusty but not as unkept as it should have been. Somebody had been here. Maybe not everyone had left the town?

Vincent had seen you as soon as you entered the building, and watched you wander around. He noticed how the family pictures made you smile, how you admired the art work, but what he noticed the most was how familiar you looked.

You smiled some more as you picked up one of the pictures, the one of three young brothers. That’s when it hit him. He knew you, he remembered you, and it seemed that you remembered him as well.

You continued to explore before turning to the doorway, gasping at the large figure standing there. 

It didn’t take you long to recognise him. He was a lot taller than the kid you knew and he had let his hair grow even longer, but the mask was a dead give away.

“Vincent?” you asked gently, a smile forming on your face when he nodded. “Uh...do you remember me?” he nodded instantly, making you smile some more.

Vincent appeared to be just as cautious as he was all those years ago, walking further into the room.

You met him half way, giggling to yourself about how tall he had gotten. “Y��know I came here because I missed you? Thought it’d be fun to revisit some old memories but...this is much better” you told him.

His head tilted to the side curiously, like he was asking if you were being honest.

“I mean it, Vinny. I missed you” you assured him, placing a hand on his arm.

Just like that, Vincent wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into an almost desperate embrace. You smiled and instantly returned his hug, needing it just as much as he did.

Vincent never thought he’d see you again, his only friend, but he missed you and was glad to have you back. He still adored you and hoped you would stay, he couldn’t lose you again. He was just terrified of what you would think when you found out the truth about this town.

Lester Sinclair 

You had lived in the little town of Ambrose and been about the same age as Lester. It wasn’t a large town so there weren’t many kids your age, so you and Lester became very close friends.

At home, Lester got the least attention out of his brothers. Bo was a handful and Vincent seemed to by their mother’s favourite child, so they got most of the attention. He didn’t mind that much but he did like that he got all of your attention when it was just the two of you. You made him feel important and you both got along incredibly well.

The two of you would hang out all the time, often getting told off for running around too far in the woods.

And then, the brothers had to leave town, breaking both of your hearts. Neither of you thought you’d see each other again.

Eventually you moved away from the little town, hoping for something bigger and better, but something just kept tugging at the back of your mind. You felt like you had left something there.

Years passed but eventually you decided to head back, just for a trip, nostalgia and all that, and to hopefully get rid of that nagging feeling. 

You were so close to the little town when your car broke down. Luckily, it wasn’t a long before a truck appeared driving up the road, pulling over when the driver saw you struggling with your car.

Something about the man seemed familiar when he hopped out of his truck but you couldn’t place it.

“Need some help?” the man asked with a smile. He was dirty and something about him seemed a little odd but he didn’t make you uncomfortable and he seemed friendly enough. 

“Uh...yeah, if you don’t mind. It just stopped and I don’t know that much about cars” you sighed, glaring the car down as if it personally wronged you. 

“I can take you into town, to the garage” he offered. 

“That would be great” you accepted the offer with small smile. 

“What brings you out here anyway?” he asked as you grabbed a bag from your car, slamming the door shut.  

“I was actually heading into Ambrose. I grew up here. Something just pulled be back, I guess” you told him as you walked towards the truck. 

“...Y/n?” the man asked your name, surprise evident in his voice. 

You turned back to the man, wondering how he knew your name, but then it hit you. “...Lester?” you asked, putting a bright smile on his face as he nodded. “Oh my God, I thought you left town!” you threw your bag into the truck and quickly ran over to him, wrapping your arms around his neck and hugging him.

Lester instantly returned your hug, holding you close. He had missed you so much. 

“We came back a while ago. Saw you moved away” Lester explained as you pulled away from the embrace, your hands resting on his shoulders and his on your waist.

“We? Your brothers?” you asked, eyes widening slightly.

“Yeah, they’re in town. Bo runs the garage actually” he told you. “Are you staying for a while?” he asked, seriously hoping you’d say yes.

“I was planning on staying a few days but now I have to stay longer” you smiled brightly. You didn’t plan on leaving him again so soon.

“C’mon, I’ll take you to the house and get Bo to look at your car” Lester offered before releasing you and heading around the truck to climb inside.

“Hey, Lester?” you stopped him by grabbing his arm, making him turn back to you. “I missed you” you told him.

“I missed you too” Lester smiled at you, glad to hear he wasn’t the only one.

The two of you climbed into the truck and headed towards Ambrose, ready to see his brothers again. Lester worried about you discovering what they were up to in the town, he just wanted to be able to spend some time with you again.

[therealvinelle]

If you got an opportunity to discuss your Twilight headcanons with Stephenie Meyer herself, would you take it? Would you be saddened or disappointed if she vehemently disagreed with your interpretations and theories on the series?

I mean, it would be cool to meet her, but I'm not sure if I'd want to do much more than have her sign my Twilight books. My fan things are just that, fan things, I believe in keeping fans and creators separate. Meyer has been very interactive with fandom, but that's not to say she'd want to have some random girl talk her ear off about her theories.

So, if Meyer specifically asked, then sure, but otherwise... I wouldn't walk up to an author and say "Hey, let me tell you all about my wacko theories!"

As it is I can't imagine she would agree with my understanding of canon at all. If she did, it would have to mean Edward was written as a villain all along and Bella becoming as neglectful a mother to Renesmee as Renée was to her was Meyer's intention, that the shapeshifters' lives are supposed to be miserable and Jacob's imprint intentionally the worst thing that could happen to everyone involved, that Aro was written as a good leader whose character gets assassinated. Meyer would be the troll of trolls and I'd be disturbed.

As it is, if I met Meyer and she wanted to hear it then I'd probably stick to the saner stuff. How the Volturi make the worldbuilding make perfect sense, how Bella reads like she has depression, how Edward appears to be jealous of Rosalie rather than the other way around, my alien parasite venom theory.

Cool thoughts for a fan to have, nothing crazy, something to give her joy that the kids who grew up with her books are still deeply invested in them and people are having fun with canon. Whether she'd agree or not isn't important.

[youwerenevermeanttofeelalone]

Payback | Dean Winchester

✦ pairing — Dean Winchester x female!Plus Size Reader

✦ word count — 2.2k

✦ request — I was wondering if you could do a dean winchester imagine that is like the reader is like young and has been with the boys since she was 18 and now she’s like around 21 or 22. She lives at the bunker with them and helps with research. So, basically she’s fallen in love with dean and has been in love with him for years. She never says anything because she watches him go after all these skinny girls and thinks she will never be good enough since she’s big and doesn’t think he’d ever like her. Then one day she basically just reaches a breaking point and it comes out to dean, and after some angst they get together. Then maybe some fluff or smut?

✦ warnings — angst, age gap (reader is in her twenties while Dean is in his forties), reader is kinda insecure at times, language, mentions of past sexual partners, mentions of a past ilegal relationship, a twinge of jealousy, suggestive stuff, some fluff.

════════════════════════

You heard laughs on the other side of the bar, right under the Bud Light neon sign. Unable to stop yourself, you looked that way.

A small friend group had erupted in laughter. There was a tall guy in the middle of two redheads — you couldn’t see very well, but you could tell he had caught you staring.

So you deviated your eyes to the right, where the bartender served one of your companions another beer. A couple of beers in fact. Dean was talking to a woman, undoubtedly charming her as he rested his elbow on the bar and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

You couldn’t look any longer, you would be sick if you did. He should’ve been doing that to you.

Realistically, you were probably twice her size or more, but you still could dream.

That was the problem, truly — you only could dream. Dean would quit hunting before even considering seeing you as a potential conquest. By this point, you should have been used to it.

Your eyes went back to the friend group from earlier. The tall guy held your gaze for a moment — you couldn’t figure out his eye color, or what his eyes showed under the uneven light, but you damn well could see he was handsome.

Not wanting to give him the wrong impression, you turned to your side and picked up your jacket.

Maybe you should also start to pay attention to the men who were actually interested.

But they weren’t Dean Winchester.

Comparing every man you met to him was a reflex, just like comparing yourself to the women he picked up at bars.

The Bunker was eerie every hour of the day, but there was something especially uncanny about an empty Bunker in the middle of the night. Devastatingly so.

Turning on the lights as you made your way towards the library, you made a beeline towards the kitchen. You weren’t in the mood for drinking anymore or for food, but you knew you needed to drink water.

Taking refugee in the library, you looked around a few news sites to see if you found something. It wasn’t difficult to find something shady or weird going on, but filtering out conspiracy theories was a pain in the ass.

Eventually, you found just what you were hoping you would. Dean and Sam rarely took you with them for hunts, but perhaps you could convince them this time to at least let you watch from the car.

Sam came home a little later, tipsy enough to be in a good mood. You told him about the case you had found, he said he would check it out in the morning and wished you a goodnight.

Dean didn’t come home. Why would he when he could have literally anybody he wanted?

You didn’t get any sleep. You had hoped that listening to an audiobook would lull you, but like most things, it wasn’t enough to even entertain you.

You were sick of this, of being into somebody who would never be into you. And who the fuck loses sleep for somebody who doesn’t see them as anything more than a sibling? You, apparently.

You needed coffee and a hug, but coffee by itself would have to do.

To your luck, Dean was already in the kitchen when you entered. His hair was wet which meant he was, thankfully, fresh out of the shower.

Instead of greeting you, he asked, “Where’s Sammy?”

You shrugged. “I haven’t seen him since last night.”

“He took the car.”

You didn’t even know Sam had brought the car home the night before. “He must have found the case interesting.”

“There’s a case?”

“Kind of. It’s not too far away from here,” you explained, “but I wasn’t sure it was something up our alley. I guess Sam thought it was.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you weren’t here.” You could tell your answer offended him. Good.

“You should have called.”

“Babying you isn’t my job, Dean.”

“Funny you say that when babysitting you isn’t mine and yet...”

“Can you stop treating me like a fucking child for two seconds?”

“Stop acting like one and I might.”

“God, you’re fucking insufferable. I can’t believe I’m in love with you!”

You didn’t know whose eyes were wider, if his or yours.

“Shit,” you muttered under your breath.

He tried to be nonchalant, but Dean couldn’t even move. “Sweetheart, come on. It’s okay.”

You effusively shook your head. “It’s isn’t.”

“You’re overreacting.”

“No, you don’t get to tell me what to do or how to fucking react.” You were yelling now. Why were you yelling over this?

“I— well, I don’t know what to say.” He stuttered. “I mean, you are a kid. I could be your dad who had a kid at a young age, okay? This is fucking crazy.”

“You weren’t supposed to know. It’s humiliating.”

“I’m not going to give you shit about it.”

“No, you are. And then you’re gonna go and fuck somebody who’s actually hot and interesting and you’re gonna make me feel worse.”

“Hey, you’re interesting.”

“I’m not. And even then, you don’t go for them because they’re interesting, do you?”

“What do you want me to say?”

You wanted him to say that you were attractive too, that he would go for you in a heartbeat.

“Nothing.”

Both of you remained silent then. He had many chances to make it right, to have enough pity for you to at least apologize for not realizing you were in love with him sooner.

“ I’m gonna go,” you announced, having decided that this wasn’t worth it. The humiliation hurt, but his reaction stung.

He reached over and stopped you. “Wait, wait, wait.”

“What now?” Your voice broke and your lip trembled. Not now, you thought. But now it was.

“Don’t cry.”

“I can’t help it.”

He hugged you to his chest. “I hate seeing you cry.”

His arms were tightly wrapped around you, a hand on the back of your head and the other on your upper back.

“You’re making me feel even more stupid,” you admitted through tears.

Dean sighed heavily. His hand twitched against your clothed skin as he tried to keep himself from rubbing his face. “You know, maybe you need a break.”

“Are you really trying to get rid of me already?”

He didn’t deny it. So you pushed him off you and stormed out. You couldn’t even get a fucking consolation hug.

════════════════════════

You liked to think you were doing a good job avoiding him. It wasn’t like he spent that much time at home either way.

Expecting him to care had been too much, it seemed. You hadn’t wanted him to beg, or even fantasized about him chasing after you — you just wanted him to care, to at least told you he would forget about it or pretend you hadn’t said anything.

Sam entered the library, feigning interest in the stack of books you had piled on the table two nights ago.

He stalled, opening the one on top as though he hadn’t seen it before.

You shuffled in your seat. Waiting for whatever he would say.

He cleared his throat so you’d look up. You did.

“Dean and I are going out for a drink or two. Want to come?”

“No, I’m gonna watch something on my laptop and go to bed early.”

Sam gave you a worried look. “Well, if you need anything...”

“Have fun.”

Maybe Dean had been right, maybe you needed a break, and maybe —just maybe— this wasn’t the place you were meant to be at.

But you wanted to be there, and you wanted him. It fucking sucked that you would never get what you wanted just because you weren’t thin.

Story of your life.

You stayed in the library longer than you planned and eventually your tv marathon was held there. You had everything you needed and the chairs were comfortable enough.

Your laptop rested on the other side of the table as you leaned onto said table with your forearms and laid your head on your arm.

A knock on the thick door startled you. Looking up, you found green eyes.

“Did I scare you?”

You pressed the space bar to pause your show. “I wasn’t expecting you guys to come back early.”

“Sammy left with somebody so he’s not coming home tonight.”

You hummed, unsure as to what you were supposed to say. Should you say that you were happy for Sam? Should you ask why he hadn’t left with somebody too?

Dean spoke before you could come up with something. “Can we, uh, talk?”

Seeing you nod, Dean approached the table. He didn’t sit down, forcing you to crane your neck.

“I’ll find somewhere else to live,” you assured him.

He frowned, looking down as he searched for your now shifty eyes. “You’re leaving?”

“Isn’t that what you wanted to talk about?”

“No.” He rubbed his palm against his forehead. “I don’t want things to be awkward between us.”

You twisted your mouth. “It’s a little late for that.”

He hurriedly said, “I don’t want you to leave. You’re part of the family.”

“I think I deserve space to move on.”

A groan slipped past his throat and lips, rumbling in his chest. He was growing desperate. “Look... I’m trying to be the responsible adult here because God knows you won’t be.”

“So now I’m an adult?”

“It was never my intention to treat you like a child. I just wanted to put some distance between us.”

“You could have said so.” You didn’t think you would need to state the obvious to somebody as smart as Dean.

“I didn’t want things to be weird or to give the impression that I could take advantage of you if you were too close. I would never do that.”

Not proud enough to pretend you knew what he was talking about, you admitted, “I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”

“You’re pretty,” he blurted. “Really fucking pretty and interesting and so attractive that’s kinda unfair. And you’re also too young.”

“Dean.”

“Mmmh?”

“Kiss me.”

“Weren’t you listening to me?”

“Just kiss me,” you insisted. “We’ll forget about it if it doesn’t feel right.”

Dean took the chair beside yours out and pulled it to the side. His eyes didn’t meet yours as he leaned in, but they did when his nose brushed yours.

He softly placed his lips on top of yours. You saw his eyes screw shut before you closed yours. It was short and sweet, and when he parted from you, you feared you would have to go back to hide the way you felt about him.

Grabbing you by the waist, Dean made you stand up. He wrapped an arm around you while you rested your hands on his sides as a reflex.

He kissed you again, hard. So hard he unintentionally pushed you against the table. His tongue tasted of whiskey and those bacon-flavored chips you had never had the heart to tell him weren’t that good.

You brought a hand up to the back of his neck, kissing him deeply.

Dean took advantage of the fact that he had you trapped between the table and his body to caress yours. He started with your back and dragged his hands down to your ass.

His hands traveled to your torso, where he could surely feel your belly up, fingers toying with the hem of your black t-shirt.

You stopped his fingers from lifting your top and pulled away from the kiss. “Wait.”

“Having second thoughts?” he breathlessly asked.

“I’m not what you’re used to,” you explained through ragged breathing. “At all.”

”Really?”

You nodded, ashamed. One thing was him knowing how big you were and other was him seeing it for himself.

“Don’t take this the wrong way...”

“That’s a great way to let me know you’re about to insult me.” Fuck. You were getting defensive again — what a way to kill the mood.

“I’m not!” he defended himself. “I was going to point out that you’ve been around for a relatively short amount of time to know what I’m used to.”

“I’ve never seen you with a fat person before.”

“And I’ve never seen you with somebody older than you before.”

Was he playing dumb? “Of course you have.”

“Huh? When?”

“That guy in Texas was well in his thirties. And I dated somebody in their twenties when I was 16, I’m not too proud of that one, but—“

He interrupted you. “Nevermind. Shut up.” Dean kissed you again, bringing you flush against him.

You smiled against his mouth. “Is somebody jealous?”

“Maybe.”

“Good. Serves you right.”

“You’re evil.” He bit down your bottom lip and pulled on it.

“It’s just payback, I promise.”

Dean snorted. “Can’t say I don’t deserve it.”

You remained silent, allowing him to dissipate the tension. You would let him do whatever he wanted, regardless of the outcome, but you were too scared to say it.

You didn’t have to.

“Hey.” He cupped your face. “We don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” he assured you. His voice was uncharacteristically soft. “We can take our time.”

[selfawarejester]

It's The Vanilla And Spice That Does You In (Cora Hale x Reader)

Hey, Kit! Thanks for the first request dearest 🥰🥰! (I remembered that you wanted more Derek, so here you go!)

pairing: Cora Hale x Reader

rating: nothing saucy, they just sleep in the same bed.

You and Cora were never the closest people in the pack.

As a human, you gravitated to Stiles and Lydia — even though the strawberry blonde was a banshee, she was still more on your side of the scales than the others’. Scott was someone you’d spent many an evening with, third-and-fourth wheeling to whatever crazy theory Stiles had been plotting up in his room, which eventually led to you being accepted into the nerdtastic duo… and you don’t regret any of it.

Allison was a tad too serious, and you’d only really become friends with her after she broke up with Scott, which yeesh, but she still offered to help you learn how to defend yourself which you appreciated immensely. Similarly, Isaac was a friend, but you weren’t that close.

The Hales were a whole different can of beans. Derek used to be this terrifying entity that made you have a heart attack every interaction you had, but now was just a bitter, deeply flawed man that you used to crush on when you were a kid. Peter was the creepiest of all creepers, and you gave him a wide berth in every way possible.

Cora… well, she was nice enough. It was a distant kind of politeness, the kind that made you think it was just out of routine and not because she actually cared about being nice to you — the same way she opened doors for Lydia, or unscrewed jars for Stiles (though she did make fun of him mercilessly for it), or offered to walk with you and Isaac to Biology.

So, it happens during a pack meeting; or we’ll, right after one. You’re talking about implementing patrols, just to come out ahead of whichever serial killer was coming after all of you next. Stiles and Isaac had ended up arguing, of course — “Maybe this is just you being paranoid, Buzzfeed Unsolved.” “Hey, that is a great show, and it’s not my fault if you wanna be lazy, Lahey!” “Ha, big words from the guy who won’t be doing any legwork!”

And slowly, sides started to form, at which point Derek interceded and suggested that everyone go home for the evening and sleep it off. Stiles, Scott and Lydia took the chance and ditched everyone, eager to get away from the tension and finally introduce the girl to Star Wars.

Allison rolled her eyes, and leaned over to you. “Stiles is gonna regret it when she starts pointing out the scientific inaccuracies.” And you have to laugh, remembering the torturous night that she decimated Total Recall. But what shocked you was the chuckle that came from the other end of the couch, and the quirk of Cora’s lips as she browsed through her phone. You brushed it off, assuming that it was a meme or something.

“So. Do you need a ride home? It’s on my way.” Allison asks, and you refuse, citing that you wanted to help Isaac with biology.

“Oh, why didn’t you ask Lydia-?”

“Nope!” Isaac calls out from the kitchen, puttering in with arms stacked high full of snacks. “She’s mean.”

Allison… has to agree and leaves you to your studying.

Unfortunately, y’all are bad at it.

After a good thirty minutes of rage-quitting, Cora finally gives in with a loud groan that startled both of you. You hadn’t noticed that she was still there.

“Move over, dimwits, I’ll help.”

So, maybe you were ignorant or she was just great at hiding it, but she was great at Biology. Not Lydia level, but she understood the concepts well enough that she was able to tailor the explanation differently for you and Isaac. By the end of it, you were grinning widely, feeling like you actually understood something.

You thank her, saying as much, and there’s this underlying fondness to her smile — a very rare, pretty thing that you found yourself wanting more and more of — and jostles your shoulder with hers. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Well, what’s going on here??” You all groan in unison, and ignore Peter leaning over the back of the couch to gaze intently on his niece… who’s sidled up to you pretty close. “You know, Ms. L/N, we have strict rules for our little girl.”

“Shut up, Peter.” Cora growls, throwing a venomous glare that you can’t help but try (and fail) to mirror. “Yeah, don’t you have other teenage girls to perv on?” Isaac chimes in, backing you up. Peter holds up his hands in mock surrender, before returning to his usual schmooze of I know better than you.

“All I wanted to do was tell you that the storm is getting really bad.” All of your heads’ snap to the window— god, it was really coming down. You had to walk back in that?? You’d die of hypothermia, if you didn’t slip or get in an accident.

“Sorry, Y/N, my music was turned up too high.” Cora says quietly, right next to your ear. A shiver goes down your spine, and you convince yourself it’s the cold, and shake your head. “Hey, it’s okay. You couldn’t focus, I get it.” And then you turn back, frowning at the lightning that lights up the loft for a moment. “But there’s no way I can go home tonight.”

“You can stay here.” You whip your head to Cora, wide-eyed but genuine behind you. You’re too thrown off-guard by her proposition to notice how quick it came, but Peter and Isaac do, sharing a sly glance before the teenage wolf realizes who he’s doing it with and grimaces, shaking his head. “Yeah, you can bunk with Cora.”

“Oh, I don’t wanna impose… I can sleep in Isaac’s.” You offer. You don’t want to impose, but you recognize the burgeoning bundle of emotion in your chest, and it won’t be helped by sleeping the same room as the gorgeous Hale. Cora shakes her head, pushing herself to her feet. “Won’t work, Isaac’s room is messy as hell-“ “hey!”

Peter slinks forward. “I would offer, but considering my history…” He turns his sharp look onto his niece, who’s scowling at him again.

“It’ll be easier this way. C’mon.”

She holds out a hand, and you take an embarrassingly long moment staring at it, before taking it and letting her haul you up. She urges you up the stairs to her room, shrugging off her jacket and kicking off her shoes with no hesitation, while you’re standing next to the doorway like a statue. She slants an elegant eyebrow, and your heart flutters because oh my god-

“Are you coming?” She asks slowly, before dropping onto the bed. You gape, pulling off your jacket and ditching your boots with no little trepidation. You sit on the bed with shaky moves. “Okay, why are you so anxious? I’m not going to make fun of your movie, I swear.” “W-what?” “The… movie? I asked you in the hall?”

Oh, she had? Okay. Okay, yeah, you could do a movie! You picked something funny, cheesy, a little kitschy — you wouldn’t be offended if she decided to tear it to shreds. But she doesn’t, just sits there and laughs at the jokes, and raises an eyebrow at the bits that don’t land. But she watches it seriously, much seriously than you, and when you bring it up, laughing and drunk off of Sprite, she just levels you with a serious look and says in a voice that sends shivers up your spine again. “It was important to you, why would I make fun of it?”

Now you know which of the Hales is the one with the game. Further proof is how Derek immediately barges in and glares at both of you. “That’s enough.” He bites out. “Sleep.”

You’re glad for the interruption, but Cora mutters something in Spanish under her breath, and you’re almost positive it was a curse.

You clamber down to the floor, pulling the extra pillow with you when Cora grabs your hand. “Whoa, whoa, where are you going?” You blink, and point downwards. “…to sleep?” And she laughs, pulling you back up. “Do you have any idea how much colder the concrete’s gonna get overnight? You’ll freeze. Just sleep here, I don’t mind.”

You should know better, you really should, but she’s so sweet that you relent and slip in beside her.

You usually can't sleep well in other people's homes - it took you months before you could even nap on Stiles' couch - but you don't even remember falling asleep.

All you can recall is the morning sun slipping through the slit in the curtains, falling on the wall opposite you thankfully and causing you to stir.

There's a delicate arm around you, but you know Cora's much stronger than her frame gives away. Her face is buried in your hair, which doesn't seem comfortable, but you can her breathing evenly. She smells great, like vanilla and spice... just as alluring and mysterious as the woman herself. Your cheeks color as she makes a content sound and cuddles into you closer. Her eyelashes are really long, closed and brushing across rosy apples cheeks. She never needed make-up, and it was obvious now, with her freckles in full display, with petal-like full lips that you gravitate towards...

You flinch when the door slams open again, a panting shirtless Derek glaring at you again.

"Rain's gone. Bye."

"Go away, Derek." Cora says, voice much too crisp and clear for someone still sleeping.

"Stop putting the moves on someone three feet from my room, and I will." He hisses, making Cora lift her head and give him an impassive look that sends him stalking off.

"He's got a point, you know." She says, shifting to sit up against the headboard, brushing silky chestnut locks away from her face. "How about breakfast at the little diner down the street?"

You grin as you realize what she's been playing at, very carefully poking at your boundaries and checking out your reaction, since yesterday.

"I'd love that."

[lilover131]

Chapter 56 Analysis+Theories

AHHHHHH CHAPTER 56 AHHHHHH!!! <--Chrissy every time a chapter comes out

I wasn’t as hyped up about this one as I was for the last one thankfully, seeing as we didn’t have a super long wait, but I certainly don’t want to diminish in any way the importance of this chapter!!!

I won’t waste any time and will get right to it, so buckle in, cuz’ the theory train is coming! More under the cut!

 So I’ll start by saying that when I first read the chapter, it was 2 AM where I was. I had been sleeping and just kinda magically woke up right when the chapter just came out, so I like to think there was some fate there. But when I opened that chapter on my phone and the first thing I saw was that Syaoran color spread, I audibly gasped and instantly woke up a bit.

 I woke up not because it was absolutely stunning to look at, or even at the fact that we haven’t had Syaoran in a color page for a while. No, the thing that caught my attention was the serious atmosphere it contained and the tone that it seemingly set. To me, this was one of CLAMP’s subtle ways of saying “Prepare for the final battle”. I could be reading into it too much, but I was right about what I believed the Syaoran and Kaito color page insinuated, so I’m gonna stick to my guns here.

 We start off the chapter without a moment’s pause where we left off last time. It continues right from the last point of the conversation where Sakura dropped the bombshell that she had seen Kaito use magic. She seems to think that they may not believe her at first, but Syaoran interrupts her to affirm that he 100% believes her and that he even already knew. Sakura is naturally confused by this, but he finally FINALLY gets to tell her what he’s been dealing with this whole time, and it definitely seems to be an uncomfortable topic for him. But at least this time he got to tell Sakura truthfully that he hadn’t ever intended on keeping this from her but was physically not able to. Despite not needing to feel guilty about this, Syaoran seems uncomfortable for the simple fact that someone else had that much control over him, and he was unable to do a thing to stop it. It’s also important to keep in mind that Kero and Suppi were hearing this for the first time themselves as well (about the silencing at least).

 Not much time passes after this before Kero and Suppi fess up to also knowing about Kaito, but they admit that theirs was a conscious decision rather than force, but that they believe they too would have been silenced like Syaoran was had they attempted to speak. One could say that since they didn’t know Syaoran was silenced in the way he was that this is not entirely truthful or was just a bad decision, but in reality it still makes perfect sense why they thought to be more careful. They saw Kaito’s magic first hand violently take down Eriol, and if he could shut down a magician of that caliber from halfway across the world, then he could easily do the same or worse to the guardians. And since they also weren’t yet aware of his true intentions with Sakura, it would have been likely seen as dangerous to provoke him and possibly put Sakura in harm’s way. I guess the only thing that doesn’t make much sense to me is why Syaoran and the guardians didn’t collaborate and put together what they knew sooner. Even when Yue went to Syaoran’s apartment, the topic of Kaito or Eriol never came up, and since they both clearly had Sakura’s best interest in mind, I’m not sure specifically why they chose to keep their information to themselves when they both knew they had the same goal. This, I would say, was actually a bad decision on their part, but when it comes down to it, they’re not perfect and everyone makes mistakes (I think Cinzia made the same point here, so I apologize if it seems like I’m copying here! I just also agree when it comes to this).

 I’m actually going to pull in a little thing I learned from my counselor not long ago when I felt guilt over a particular decision I had made long ago, and that is that you can only work based on the emotions and information you have at the time. And because we don’t know the future, it is not possible to always make the right decisions, but there is also no telling if our decisions would have changed things for the better, so it is best not to dwell on them. I believe truly that based on what they knew at the time and through the experiences they had, they were likely only trying to protect each other, but missed that they could have probably helped each other. It’s easy to miss things when you’re on the defensive.

 What I love about Sakura after this is that she forgives them immediately. This is not the first time she’s had things hidden from her for her protection, and naturally it’s upsetting to not feel like you can be trusted to deal with the serious information. When Syaoran told her how he’d been hiding what he knew before, she was upset but more because she thought he suffered as a result. This time around though, they concealed things from her not because they were worried about how she’d handle it, but rather out of fear from what Kaito would do if they tried, so it’s a completely different reason and much easier to forgive. Sakura is able to differentiate this, because she is a very emotionally intelligent girl and a lot more observant than she gets credit for when it comes to reading people. She’s grown a lot and isn’t as ‘dense’ as she was in Elementary School.

 Then we get a precious gift of seeing Syaoran show off how smart he is, working out how Kaito managed to make them forget about said confrontation at the botanical garden. He’s probably thought about it a lot already, considering he mentioned before that he felt like someone made him forget something. But this time, he had additional information that Sakura was able to provide, and this was the final piece of the puzzle he needed. The most important detail that Sakura gave him was the location in particular, the botanical garden. He knew that that was where they intended to go, but that they had yet to go there. This prompted him to check his phone and see how much time might have passed without them realizing, and because he knew what time he had arranged to meet Sakura, 9:30 AM, he was able to observe that it was impossible for them to meet, go to the botanical garden, have this encounter with Kaito, and both get back to their houses in only 16 minutes. This meant it was not just a mere meddling of memories but rather time magic as it was the only explanation for the time discrepancy issue and memory loss. I can’t say how freaking proud I was of Syaoran for working this out. He’s such a smart boy, but I know that Sakura also would have been able to come to the same conclusion had she had more knowledge about the magical world. Sakura is running on pure instinct right now, which is super strong, but Syaoran really helps fill in those gaps where things don’t make sense for her, making them the perfect magical team!  

 The scene changes to Momo, who appears to be keeping tabs on the conversation (though it’s unclear if Kaito is aware while they are under Siege). And this part is perhaps the most worrying of the entire chapter, and I’m not talking about the line where the English translation says “Into the final act of your story”. That line in particular is a gross mistranslation cleared up by @meimi-haneoka​, who graciously gives us translation notes each month in comparison to the Japanese version. The actual line in fact says “Into the final act of THE story”. This changes the entire tone of that page as the first translation implies it is leading to Kaito’s death, whereas the Japanese translation actually more implies that we’re nearing the climax of the story. Momo’s facial expressions also match the wording of the Japanese translation better, as we know she does not seem to want Kaito to die, so she would certainly look more upset here if she were speaking of such a thing. Also, I have to speak up about how pretttyyyy Kaito looks in that panel. The way CLAMP designed that page is just stunning as always.

 HOWEVER

 Back to what I was saying before! The most concerning part of the chapter for me is the page right before that, where Momo says “Once a spell’s been seen for what it is, it all comes crumbling down. Particularly, where time magic is concerned. And that’s to say nothing of your target’s considerable power. Now everything you’d turned back time to undo. Everything you’ve succeeded in freezing…is beginning to move again”. So here comes Chrissy’s big crazy theory and possible overthinking, but bear with me here!

I think…that what they are saying here is that these moments that were frozen in time and turned back were cut off from the timeline and now floating in a separate space. And now these scenes, which were all intense in their own way and incredibly frustrating for us, are about to move forward.

….all of them….

….at the same time….

This concept isn’t exactly new in CLAMP series. It happened with Tsubasa where Syaoran turned back time to go back to a moment where he could take Sakura’s hand and keep her from being cursed, and to keep that moment ready until he could return, it was in its own separate dimension, cut off from the rest of the universe. Eventually, once he got there, time started to move forward again. Turning back time is a taboo in the magical world for a reason, and Kaito has done this over and over and over again. But also, wouldn’t it be so like CLAMP to say “Hey, we know you’ve been frustrated that all these scenes were seemingly amping up to a big confrontation, but then Kaito rewound time over and over, so how about we give those back….ALL AT THE SAME TIMMMMEE?”. Can you even imagine the consequences of such a thing? At least three of the occasions where Kaito turned back time, Akiho went into what I call ‘book-mode’, where she is no longer herself and tries to absorb Sakura along with her magic (and even succeeds on one occasion). Then there is also Syaoran and Kaito’s battle and Syaoran having his outburst about Kaito being a magician right in front of Akiho. It would be absolute utter chaos, and honestly I’d be living for it. Lmao.

If you believe that this line Momo said was simply to state that his time magic won’t work anymore and that things will continue to progress in this timeline, that would make perfect sense as well, so I don’t want to discount that. I’m just throwing out theories here based on what I know about CLAMP and concepts that are not out of the realm of possibility.

The scenes from here on out bounce a little bit back and forth from a continuation of the conversation with Syaoran and the guardians and present time with Akiho at school. I kinda like the way they did the transitions here, and it didn’t really feel awkward at any point but rather pulled up the relevant information when it was needed.

When Akiho comes in to the classroom, Sakura recalls how the topic of Akiho came up in the conversation from the day before. It’s natural for everyone to question at this point what she knows and if she is someone to be concerned about too. Syaoran mentions that he can’t detect any magic from her, which was something he had looked into from the very first day Akiho arrived at Tomoeda Middle (he knew literally nothing about her, but you know how transfer students go in this town. Lmao). Sakura drops another bombshell here by saying that she actually senses something in Akiho, but she is unclear of what that is and why she feels that way. It’s completely likely that she’s strong enough now to sense the suppressed magic spell the association and her clan put on her. I also noticed Syaoran seemed to tense up when Sakura said this, and I’m sure that this new information probably made him feel very uneasy. Sakura’s instincts are never wrong, and if she feels something, that means there is something, but to think that it’s something even Syaoran can’t sense would definitely be concerning.

 It is then that Syaoran decides to approach the idea of addressing Akiho directly about Kaito’s magic to see what she knows. Maybe at this point in time he is thinking “If she possibly has some sort of magic in her, then she might know already about Kaito”, but like Sakura, he has seen Akiho’s behavior as a person and probably believes that she is not doing anything malicious of her own accord. Perhaps he thinks that Akiho might be able to talk some sense into Kaito and put a stop to things. But the way he goes about it doesn’t push Sakura, but rather just offers it as a suggestion as something a bit more direct.

 Before we see Sakura’s response to this, we are back to Akiho in the classroom and she is very cheerful from having gone out with Kaito the day prior, and OMG CAN I JUST GUSH FOR A MOMENT ABOUT HOW FREAKING PRECIOUS SHE IS? She is seriously adorable, and the more I see her smile, the more it makes me want to burn her whole clan down to the ground for being so awful to her. But also, it reminds me how strong she is to have gone through everything she did and still smile and hold no hatred in her heart. I can’t honestly say I would be the same in her shoes, so it’s really admirable. For those My Hero Academia fans out there, remember Eri’s smile? You know the one I’m talking about. That’s how I feel every time Akiho smiles.

Anyways, back to Sakura’s response. She decides, in a very Sakura-like fashion, to avoid the subject with Akiho for now. It is true that they don’t fully understand who Kaito is and what his intentions are, but the one thing she does know is that he is considered precious to Akiho, and that at least says something about his character. Akiho herself also isn’t an idiot and is perceptive to Kaito’s feelings. Even when he’s smiling, she can tell when he’s actually hurting inside, so if he had bad intentions at all, that likely wouldn’t go unseen either, so Sakura decides that she’ll wait for Akiho to come to her first if the discussion between them needs to happen. I think this is a very mature decision on her part but also continues to show how much she considers the people around her and cares for them.

Back in the present, Akiho apologizes for talking so much, and Sakura tells her that she doesn’t mind and will listen to whatever she has to say. More than just trying to show good will as a friend, I think this is also her way of opening up the door to tell her “If you want to talk about more serious things, I’m here to listen as well”. That way, when the time comes, Akiho will feel comfortable having that conversation with her.

The scene moves on to Yukito’s home where all the guardians are having a nice little get together in their true forms. It’s not entirely necessary for all but Yue to do this, but I love it as we haven’t gotten to see much of them in these forms in the series so far, especially Spinel and Ruby Moon. Ruby Moon is surprised that they decided to go along with what Sakura said, which I suppose makes sense considering they’ve been kinda doing their own thing up until now. But it turns out that it was Syaoran who made the final decision, and the others just took his lead.

 I love that Syaoran was so comfortable just trusting Sakura and realizing that this time, they needed to let her make some choices, especially since it concerned her the most. Moreover, I love that Kero, Suppi, and Yue just basically caved when Syaoran agreed. This shows how much they respect the opinion of not just Sakura, but Syaoran too. They could have easily gone off and continued to work secretly without Sakura, but they didn’t do that. It obviously didn’t work well for them before anyways.

 I cracked up when Ruby Moon mentioned how much Syaoran has grown a lot and used to be a ‘pouty brat’ back when they were in Japan the last time (in his defense, Eriol was screwing with him a lot, so he had a lot of good reasons for the bratty attitude. Lmao). But Kero and Yue’s responses are just precious. They both have the same expression initially, but their actual responses seem to differ quite a bit. Kero states that he will always be a brat to him and that he’s only grown ‘a little’. This is classic Kero essentially saying he agrees that he’s grown a lot, but he won’t admit it yet, hence why Spinel calls him childish. Hahahaha.

Yue’s response however makes me absolutely melt. He states he’s not upset about the mention of Syaoran’s growth, but that that he doesn’t think they “should be in such a hurry to grow up”. He sounds just like a freaking dad here who is happy to see his children grow up, but is also wanting to them to slow down and stay children simultaneously. I am absolutely living for it, and I love seeing how soft he gets when it comes to them. -squeals-

Despite how lighthearted this scene is, I’m gonna put out another theory here that might seem like I’m overthinking and perhaps makes this appear a bit darker than possibly intended. My thought was “Why did CLAMP put such focus on this subject right now?”. They could have simply stated that they decided to go along with Sakura and been done with it, but the made a point to talk about the children’s growth as human beings, particularly Syaoran. Now where am I going with this you ask? Perhaps it’s the Tsubasa PTSD speaking, but when CLAMP has dialogue like this, it usually it done quite purposely at times, because it is meant to enhance our emotions when a particular moment comes later on. So when I thought “Now, why would they be talking so much about how Syaoran’s grown emotionally and how much Kero and Yue care about him?”. I think they are trying to emphasize how much people in general care about him. CLAMP showed it again recently with Touya, who threatened Kaito and purposely included Syaoran in his statement, and again when Kaito pointed his staff at Syaoran and Sakura reacted. CLAMP is pointing out right now how much people care about Syaoran, and I think this is once again a signal that something bad is going to happen to Syaoran, and I think it’s going to be soon.

 Now, Cinzia actually recently found my reaction to spoilers of chapter 1 of Clear Card (that’s right, chapter 1 from all the way back in 2016), and from the very beginning, I have been screaming at the top of my lungs that I had the worst feeling that something bad was going to happen to Syaoran. I imagine some of you are probably tiring of hearing it from me. Lmao. So here we are, 55 chapters and numerous bad dreams later, and I finally feel like that time is really really close. I’m calling it right now that it will probably happen within the next 4-5 chapters, and if I’m wrong, I will eat my words, but them even putting Syaoran on the color page all by himself for this chapter gives me more reason to think that “that time” is approaching.

 That is a good transition for me to talk about the last part of this chapter. We are finally getting some progress on this play Naoko has been writing, and the moment she mentioned it was about “Twin Alices”, I thought to myself “this is going to be where the climax happens”. The pieces are coming together for it, and we’ve finally gotten to hear the premise of this play. We all knew Naoko would ask Sakura and Akiho to play the main roles, but it’s unclear what the role she wants for Syaoran will be when she inevitably peer pressures him into it. Lol. But I’m telling you, I really think this play is where shit is going to hit the fan and we’ll finally get some real answers.

I can’t wait to see what happens from here on out, but it’s very clear to me that things are just going to get more and more intense from here on out!!