#i really just like. all of them so much. They're all such good kids.

[mortal-ethos]

I got my degree in psych and soc, and specifically focused on women and gender studies, so I can offer a bit of insight here. As kids start pubescent development, during the teenage years a couple different things happen. And then without intervention they progress into adulthood.

Number one, the search for identity is super strong. This one should be pretty obvious. It's when they start to feel more independence, more autonomy, this leads to the typical teenage rebellion for a lot of us. We're testing the limits, we're learning more about the world around us and what society expects of us, we're learning if we like it. This includes gender and sexuality obviously, so we've got young queers realizing they're, well, young queers.

Number two, is group alignment. They're aligning themselves with the queer community, or not. We see a lot more ingroup/outgroup dynamics start to form, cliques and all. Along with identity comes this group alignment, and this goes with societal norms. Either you align with the societal norms, or you don't. This is also where we start to see "we're not like those queers" because being a member of an outgroup isn't just that. It's also social isolation, it's loss of opportunities and experiences, it's bullying and mental health issues, you get it. We all know it. We also want to be seen as a person of social value, which is why we will often try to become a part of a perceived socially valuable group, i.e. performing as "one of the good ones" for cis het peers.

Now this circles back to identity formation. Humans love to categorize things, especially in the initial stages of learning about a topic or concept. We often like to categorize ourselves, we like to be part of a group, we like to have a label, we like to identify ourselves and have our identity be validated and accepted, or at the least we don't want to be disrespected and bullied for it. Because our identity, is us. And us don't want to be seen as gross or weird or bad. Our search for identity will lead us to categorize ourselves, which will lead us to align with a group, and we will want to align with the group that will cause us the least perceived harm, or the most social capital. This will cause young queers to not put themselves in a position of further unsafety, and they will fawn and perform.

Now this leads to resentment for the members of the outgroup, especially the members of a similar identity to themselves (queer). Because they place so much value on being part of the ingroup, that the member of the outgroup being ok with being themselves and not searching to please the ingroup is infuriating to them. Anger often comes from holding our own values over someone else's. Basically a whole, "if I had to perform as the good queer and hide more of myself, then you have to as well." And because queers are often raised to believe that we are the problem, that we need to assimilate rather than that the wider society needs to get over it and accept us, when a young queer seeking assimilation sees another queer that isn't seeking assimilation, the blame for the lack of overall cultural acceptance gets pushed onto them. It's a whole lot of suppression of the self and internalized transphobia/homophobia/exorsexism/etc.

I am sure I could go in deeper in some points, but overall I hope it gave some deeper understanding into why this happens. Most of all, please treat everyone with kindness! The best way to get someone to hear your perspective is by being compassionate and listening to them speak about why they believe the way they do. If you can offer young queers that are struggling with this a listening ear and a kind word, it will take patience but, you can absolutely guide them towards growth and becoming kinder to their queer siblings. We are a family and we really need to start acting like one.

the baby gays are trying to dictate identities again and I am Tired. why does it matter? why does anyone having contradictory identities matter to you? you're happily pushing a transphobic rewrite of history in order to dictate how people are allowed to identify now and I am so tired.

let me be the one to break it to you: it does not matter how other people identify. the people in power who want to erase us are not working from a checklist of "good" vs "bad" queers. we are all filthy degenerates in their eyes. it does not matter if you have a label that "makes sense" - if you're not cishet, you've got a target on your back too. it won't save you to tape an extra one to the backs of your community. you will still be punished for deviating from the norm. so stop helping your oppressor. stop doing their work for them.

and for the love of all things good and queer in this world: educate yourselves. read up on your history. speak to queer elders. log the fuck off social media and go and immerse yourself in queer spaces if you're safe to do so. you need to be educated. this political climate relies on you being uneducated and easily manipulated. do not give them the satisfaction.

stand with your community, not against us. we want you to survive.

[aingeal98]

Cass and Damian had so much potential like at just a glance she could teach him how to be more "normal" generally speaking because a. she is the other kid the in batfamily raised by assassins who was forced to kill but actually doesn't like it and has grown since then and b. it could be a parallel to her growing and learning how to be more "normal" and her teaching him like how she was taught i mean literally he already looked up to her for being a big figure in the LOA

For me Cass and Damian ideal dynamic is like... An oasis. An understanding that the rules of this new society exist and there are ways to be "normal" but if you're not then that's fine too. You don't have to pretend all the rules make total sense and none of them are stupid, not with me. I've been there, I've struggled with it for years. No one else really gets it but believe me, I do. There's nothing wrong with you just because you're struggling to fit in. I see you. I see the parts you're trying to hide because you know the others won't understand. They're not something you need to be ashamed of, not with me. I won't get offended or tell you you're not behaving like a normal kid. They have good intentions and they do have useful advice but sometimes "normal" is worse and they won't get it and it'll make you want to cry with frustration. Come find me when that happens. I've been there, it sucks, it's not your fault. You're doing fine. It'll be OK. I'm right here as living proof of that.

It's big sister little brother solidarity between two Asian immigrants living in America with a predominantly white family, and it's also big sister little brother autistic solidarity. And also the martial arts raised as your father's/grandfather's specialist little fighter solidarity. That too.

[kyouka-supremacy]

I think for me, the problem with sskk's dynamic is that... Atsushi is kinda way too preachy? Like, there is some sort of an emotional gap between them, and Atsushi claims some sort of moral superiority over Akutagawa, and I don't really like that tbh.

That's partly why I always found dazai and chuuya to be better as a dynamic, because it's not like dazai can claim superior morality over chuuya lmao. They were both in the mafia when they were kids, and even though dazai is in the agency now, it's not like he acts all mighty and like a good guy. he knows he cannot claim moral superiority and cannot act preachy toward chuuya.

Idk, sskk just never grew on me because Atsushi was never able to see Akutagawa as human even after 80 chapters and Akutagawa had to die for Atsushi to even wonder if Akutagawa's death meant something different (other than Akutagawa's seeking approval from dazai). It just looked like Atsushi was never able to understand Akutagawa even after they've literally fought side by side many times prior to this arc.

Hi Anon, I adore you! Atsushi is way too preachy! The emotional gap totally is there! Atsushi does claim moral superiority over Akutagawa! I really love this unbalance in their relationship. I think this sheer toxicity is endlessly compelling. I love how Atsushi's journey to get off his moral pedestal with Akutagawa is long and torturous, and I love Akutagawa's misery for loving someone who struggles so much to see a human in him, it's very tragic and touching. Maybe I even love how in a lot of ways they're the perfect people meeting at the worst time.

How beautiful is the world for giving both sskk enjoyers and skk enjoyers something to love!

[persoj]

Been a while - Steph's turn.

That poor girl. We see her openly friends with Max - imagine, you make friends with this nerdy guy - this guy who your other friends hates, like, literally wants him dead - and the next thing you know, you're friends with all of his nerd friends too. And suddenly, suddenly- you're in the Waylon Place. Because you're pulling a prank, you're sticking up for your new friends against their bully - and something goes wrong - and now your friend, the guy who was just about to protect you from some ghosts is DEAD, that's a fence poking through his CHEST-

(I apologise for my overuse of hyphens but they're my favourite punctuation mark.)

Then imagine you've finally relaxed. The guilt has been haunting you, sure - but life's pretty calm now. People are actually happy, and maybe- maybe you did a good thing? Maybe it's okay? And then one of your new friends dies. Your football team loses the game because YOU assisted in your FRIEND'S DEATH. Can you imagine the guilt she felt? And she couldn't talk to Solomon about it, how could she? He already thought she was crazy over her phone, can you imagine how crazy he'd think she is if she said that some nerd died and she actually cared? He'd probably say she's just trying to use it as an excuse for bad grades! And then your other friend dies! This little weirdo who said she was in love with you just because you were kind to her once - you know that that girl never had the chance to experience a proper relationship. One where she was cared for, and valued. And you know that she saw that in you. And oh god, she saw that in you. And you treat her like shit. And now she's dead. Oh god.

And then- then she finds out her dad is working with literal Gods. Gods who rule over Hatchetfield. And she gets ZERO time to process that before her dad DIES. His assistant DIES. She sees Miss Tessburger's HEAD. Can you imagine how gory that must have been in real life? And, considering Solomon was the mayor of Hatchetfield, can you imagine how many cameras were being shoved into her face from every angle? How many questions she was being asked with no one there to guide her through them anymore? And sure, Solomon was a dick, but he was still her dad - she probably still cared about him. And Miss Tessburger, as much as she was annoying, seemed like she was a constant presence. So it's safe to assume Steph notices that she's gone too.

Can you imagine how quiet her house must have been? How she would've gone from a loud, constantly yelling environment to sudden silence? How quiet it must've been for all of them? Grace would've isolated herself at church after seeing the demon she became, she'd never talk to anyone there again. Pete's used to being ranted at about Evangelion and Star Wars in the hallways, and now- now it's just quiet. No fear, because he doesn't have to run from Max - but he misses it weirdly, because at least it wasn't quiet when Max bullied him. Steph's used to Solomon constantly yelling, Miss Tessburger constantly making snide remarks - so the house is quiet for the first time in years, and it's weird. Really weird. The silence is almost deafening.

And then she's in her new relationship with Pete. And it's great, Pete's a great guy, a helpful guy - but their relationship relies purely on their pain. If all of that hadn't happened with Max, if Solomon hadn't gotten mad about the phone, if Richie and Ruth hadn't pushed Pete - their whole relationship is a reminder of the trauma they've been through. They either grow extremely close and co-dependent or their relationship ends in the most explosive way possible. No in between. I love them, but they're so doomed. Poor kids.

People who talk about the nerdy prudes not mourning Richie and Ruth annoy me sm. Like yes, their friends died, but also - they were going through an EXTREMELY traumatic time. They'd just MURDERED someone for God's sake. They can't process trauma properly. Yes, it's not healthy, but it's more than likely that they were all suppressing it because they physically didn't have time to process it. They had to worry about Max, about Grace, about the fact that their friends were being murdered- they couldn't mourn because they had to constantly be vigilant and worry about 'am I next, am I next, am I next' and whether they were going to get arrested or not. People fail to realise that they were literally on the run. And they were seeing shit that was barely within their comprehension - Steph, Pete and Grace all met FIVE GODS! And if Ted's religious (Presbyterian or whatever he says) then it's likely Pete is too, so it's entirely justified to think that Pete and Grace have both just had their entire sense of faith crushed before their eyes. And if Tinky already had Ted in the Bastard's Box, then Pete's also just been forced to see his (missing/assumed dead) brother. Steph's just found out that her dad is involved with five Gods who created Hatchetfield and who want her to KILL the guy she loves - there are lots of big emotions happening and NONE of them are going to be able to process their grief or ANYTHING properly because their lives are actively falling apart around them. I personally think the reason Grace goes over to the LiB so easily is because she needs something to put her faith in again. She can't cope without the concept of God ("DO SOMETHING YOU SON OF A BITCH" - A line I will never understand why people laugh at) and she needs to find something to fall back on.

I just. Idk. Grief is a big thing and trauma is a big thing and trauma and grief are a terrible mix that means you process neither thing properly.

People also aren't tapping into the ability to make a hurt/comfort fic with all this. Like - imagine Grace, Pete and Steph just having a sleepover and talking about all of it. Getting out all their big emotions. Supporting each other. It'd be so nice 🥺.

But yeah. Don't get me started on people using it as justification to go 'LOOK THEY WEREN'T FRIENDS BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T MOURN'. They couldn't!!

[ninjago-toad-modern-au]

What all the ninja's normal jobs?

Ohh I love this part I had sooo much fun making this !

(Under the cut 'cause it's quite long)

Lloyd is an employee at Doomsday Comix (the comics book shop in s2 where he uses tomorrow's tea). It was actually quite hard to find a job since he's literally Lord Garmadon's son, the grandson of the equivalent of God and his oni/dragon traits are hard to hide, but Rufas (the comics shop owner) knows Lloyd since he's a kid, knows his background and his history so he knows Lloyd just wants a peaceful job. Plus it allows Lloyd to read all the comics before anyone else and usually, people hanging out at Doomsday Comix are chill about his oni traits, most of them think it's a cosplay or just dgaf.

Kai is a firefighter. I think it fits very well with his character bc 1) the fire part and 2) the rescue part. Of course, Kai has a natural affinity with fire. He will not be the kind of firefighter who will set off the fire but the kind who will enter the house to save everybody inside when his colleagues set off the fire. Plus, firefighters do not only work with fire, they're also called in emergency situations like an accident, etc, so critical situations, and we all know Kai is a natural protector and caretaker, so it would definitely fit (plus he definitely has a savior complex). And it's a job that requires very good physical aptitudes, and he's good at that.

Nya, to nobody's surprise, is a mechanic in a garage, her own garage. She usually fixes cars and bikes, but she can also fix literally whatever you bring her, from your tv remote to a whole ass truck. Whatever you bring, she fixes it, and she can even give it some ameliorations. She also has a driver's license for every type of vehicle. If she had the proper education, she could have been a brilliant engineer, but she couldn't study very long so she works on her things by herself, with the help of Jay and Pixal.

Jay doesn't really care about his job. He can do whatever doesn't need too much investment and effort and leaves him the time to live outside. After the Merge, he worked a moment in administrative services, but it took too much time, then he worked in a theater, and another job, etc. Right now he works at Lobbo's Totally Rad Arcade. He mainly does maintenance work, even if sometimes he's given the administrative work 'cause he's good at it and he can use his powers whenever he needs too and people won't question it. It's mainly a chill job and sometimes he can play videogames too. Plus, it gives him the time to have life, to work with Nya and to be a ninja.

Cole is a teacher in kindergarten. I mean, do I have to explain ? He's so good with kids, ofc he would work with them. He's every kid's favorite teacher because he's so nice and his presence is reassuring (he's very impressive at first sight with his build, but also very nice, kids feel safe with him). The downside is the kid's parents, sometimes they can be a little too much, but usually he understands, being a father of 3. He has a lot of fun in his job and on the other side his life is stable, so Cole is fine 👍 (unlike some)

Zane is a vet. He works in a zoo, especially with birds. I think it fits. He always understood animals better than humans (autism icon), and he's literally built to protect others. Nevertheless, since the Merge, his job does not limit to the zoo, he learned to heal dragons and other new creatures too. Btw, he cooks the animal's meal himself and the animals have never been so healthy. (In parallel, Zane also has Echo's custody)

Pixal is a cop, but not any cop. She understands why there are rules, but she won't follow them if she thinks they're unfair. She's the kind of cop in shows who gets their license taken away at some point because they can't follow orders. But unlike them, Pixal always does it for a good reason and she always makes sure nobody is hurt in the process. She also has the highest solved cases of the whole Ninjago City police, and she's also Samurai X, which is a semi-public identity (it's not explicitly said she's Samurai X but it's not hidden at all), one of the two inheritors of Borg Enterprises, along with her twin brother Cryptor and she sometimes helps Jay and Nya on their projects.

Hope this helps and thank you for the ask !

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

…. could you talk more about the document leak in pez? if you can’t talk about it in the fic, because of how unrelated it is to the main plot, would you be cool with talking about it on tumblr a la battle of yokohama? your world building is so fantastic, i always want to know more, even if it’s not technically necessary

I’m fine talking about it here because it truly will have little to no function in pez itself. The most it does in the actual fic is add to the reasons why the entirety of Japan is so unreasonably fixated on Izuku. It will barely have any mention in the fic itself.

Dabi in the background of pez is fumbling his way through a redemption arc. he and the league are bitter fucking divorcees who still blame the other's in law for the break up. its messy and complicated between them right now okay. everyone's crying and refusing to admit that they're crying. societal collapse is being delayed because shigaraki won't stop crashing out over his ex with the piercings and the scars. dabi refuses to fucking admit he misses them (he fucking misses them)

Effectively, one day, Dabi donned his shitty fucking Matrix coat and went out to get a strawberry danish and listened to some lady sobbing to her mother on the phone about how she was scared to let the kids go to school and scared to go outside now because of how bad it was getting, about how she knew three people who had been attacked by villains in the last month when she used to not know any, and how afraid she was every single day that she'd be the next one. Money was tight, they'd lose everything if she ended up hospitalized or worse, the baby was sick and she couldn't get her to a doctor because the entire street got shut down for another goddamn villain attack, and she's scared every day.

And he didn't feel good about it. He didn't feel good about it at all.

In fact, it reminded him a lot of being five years old and being afraid to wake up every morning because he didn't know what his dad would do to him that day. It reminded him a lot of hiding in his closet with his hand clamped over his own mouth, listening to the creaks in the house to try and figure out if his father was angry.

Anyway, it was an intolerable amount of self reflection. couldn't recommend it less.

It ended up making him go back to the league and being like "okay are we really being true to stain's message" to see if maybe they should do a bit of a rebrand.

Except they all have the communication skills of a half-deaf wolverine with a hormonal imbalance, so it quickly devolved into a lot of "fuck you and your daddy complex" on both sides and "you just wish stain fucked you huh" weirdly also on both sides and spinner ended up crying in the back room because it reminded him of his parents divorcing. shigaraki's been listening to a weird amount of taylor swift since and all for one just isn't sure what to do with. that.

Now Dabi Is Rebranding And He's Going To Be Like The Cooler Stain Stain 2.0 The Stain That Kills His Fucking Dad. No He Doesn't Just Wish Stain Fucked Him Shut The Fuck Up Shigaraki.

He has admittedly suffered some setbacks. His own sister kidnapping him was not ideal. The fact that he can't go a week without getting in a public and embarrassing screaming match with the rest of the league that usually involves at least one person crying is also not ideal. That one time he accidentally got caught up in some mission involving Quirkless Tin Tin and his baby brother's pet psychopath and now they keep insisting that he's their CI now and he keeps telling them to fuck off before he kills them because he's not going to be their fucking CI and he made the mistake of complaining about it to fuyumi and now she won't stop crying tears of joy because he's bonding with the boyfriend shouto hasn't figured out he has yet?

So not fucking ideal.

But after much trial, much error, he managed to get this fucking rebrand on the rails. He found a computer nerd for the HPSC who had the right kind of dirt on him to make blackmail a dream and threw in a "i'm going to set you on fire if you don't do what i say" for good measure and He Fucking Did It He Got It Stuff To Strike At The Heart of This Society's Corruption Fuck You Shigaraki He Is Not A Washed Up Wannabe With Daddy Issues Shigaraki's The Washed Up Wannabe With Daddy Issues He Doesn't Miss Them Every Day Fuck Off.

He was hoping for shit on his dad but the computer nerd mostly got him all the shit about the HPSC buying boy slaves or whatever which was ultimately disappointing so he made a bunch of copies of the data at a shitty gamer cafe that he did not run into shigaraki at absolutely not no one cried at all and then mailed a flash drive to every single major and minor news network and called it a fucking day.

he uh.

the package.

he forgot to sign it.

so the credit. he didn't. get it. exactly.

And he could make an announcement that it was totally him but 1) like 97 different villains and criminal organizations and vague dissidents living in their moms' basements who didn't put in the fucking work immediately took credit and 2) how the fuck does he like. take credit for things. does he make a twitter account. does he tweet it. there are 17 fake twitter accounts pretending to be him how does he even authenticate this shit.

he immediately started lying to himself about how he was planning to do this anonymously from the start and called it a fucking day. great job, dabi, 100% according to plan, he's killing this anti-hero thing.

Hawks woke up one morning and oh, look at that, his entire life was ruined. It was already on the rocks and now it's at the bottom of the sea. Funny how he missed that bit.

The computer nerd had grabbed a fuck ton of HPSC's worst and most corrupt things that they'd ever done and, haha, a lot of them were done to him. So. So fun. That.

As it turns out, the press has Multiple Field Days when they get their hands on the invoice for the actual government buying you. That time they hired a therapist to literally gaslight him because he started to question his training? Haha, there. All those times he was hospitalized while being raised as their boy slave?

Haha. There.

He knows this is his situationship's fault he fucking knows it dabi you son of a bitch--

It's not all about him. There's a bunch of scattered bullshit bad things the HPSC had done. But, weirdly enough, the other guy that featured prominently in this data dump was All Might.

The HPSC had apparently set a standard of backing the fuck off of anything All Might so much as looked at. There's a weird number of memos over the years hurriedly canceling whatever shady project they were involved in and making sure every single thing was above board if All Might so much as sneezed in the direction of something. The HPSC had set a policy of ducking for fucking cover every single time All Might became more than passively aware of their existence.

Because All Might was the kind of guy who could go up against the system and win.

The HPSC had only grown as powerful as it was because of All Might, in a way. They rode his fucking coattails the entire path up to relevance. All Might's career revolutionized modern heroics, and well. If you have a revitalized heroics system, then you need to give more power to the agency watching it, right?

The HPSC was disturbingly aware of the fact that All Might had, in a way, brought them into the world and could take them out of it again. They were afraid of him in a way they were not afraid of any other hero alive.

Because they had nothing on him.

The man was a fucking ghost. He was legally required to give them his real information and that still gave them fucking nothing to work with. They could find no scandals attached to his name. They could dig up absolutely no personal ties or links. Yagi Toshinori had no family, no social media, and had barely any paper records associated with him outside of his schooling. He was as squeaky clean as he appeared, maybe, or maybe he was just good at hiding dirt. The HPSC found out that he was injured at the same time as everyone else, and that fucking terrified them. They had nothing to keep him in line with, and they couldn't figure out if it didn't exist or if he was just better at the game than they were.

So they watched themselves if All Might took more than a passing glance their way.

They got scared.

Hawks learned, for the first time, that he was a little bit of an answer to All Might. Which was a weird revelation this late in the game. He thought he'd managed to dig up most of what the HPSC had on him, but apparently not. He wasn't exactly designed to replace All Might or beat all might. He was meant to do what All Might did, just for the HPSC.

They made him to be a young, popular, attractive hero. They could have raised him to operate from the shadows and have more freedom and less scrutiny, but they pushed him into the spotlight early, and they did it to try and replicate the threat that All Might posed to them.

All Might was so dangerous because the public loved him. The public trusted him. The public would tear down the government if he gave the word. So if they were able to manufacture a hero that the public loved, then maybe the public would protect the HPSC at that hero's word.

Hawks found out some things about himself from that data dump right at the same time as the rest of the world. He wasn't thrilled by it.

Anyway he woke up after a sixteen hour shift to 732 emails and the police at his front door.

The Japanese government freaked out, see, because press had been sort of shit since All Might retired, and society had sort of been on the verge of chaos for a while, and quite literally the biggest thing standing between them and the total collapse of the yen for the past year and change has been the fact that the entire world developed a parasocial relationship with twenty random fucking japanese teenagers. And those twenty teenagers were borderline inaccessible because their teacher threatened to bomb government buildings if anyone so much as suggested allowing a camera to exist in their vicinity. And they can't fucking push their luck with it either. One of the kids is all might's secret son. All Might will look at them.

So instead, the Japanese Government said, "WE ARE TAKING THE BOY SLAVE ALLEGATIONS VERY SERIOUSLY. WE THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT ARE AGAINST BOY SLAVES AND DO NOT HAVE ANY. HERE IS A GOVERNMENT WATCHDOG PANEL WE ARE ASSEMBLING TO INVESTIGATE THE BOY SLAVE CLAIMS."

And the HPSC said, "WE ARE FULLY COOPERATING WITH THE BOY SLAVE INVESTIGATION. WE DO NOT HAVE ANY BOY SLAVES. THAT IS CRAZY TALK. THESE ARE OBVIOUSLY FABRICATED FILES. WHY WOULD WE HAVE 2398 TOP SECRET MEMOS TALKING ABOUT HOW AFRAID WE ARE OF ALL MIGHT SEEING WHAT WE'RE DOING. WE LOVE ALL MIGHT. HUGE FAN OF HIM AND HIS SECRET SON. LOOK THE PERSON WHO DID THIS DIDN'T EVEN SIGN IT. OBVIOUSLY FAKE NEWS."

And then they went to Hawks, their boy slave, and they said, "you better fucking tell that government watchdog that you aren't our boy slave"

And Hawks stared at the ceiling for an extraordinarily long time.

When he was done, Hawks said to the government watchdog, "I'm not their boy slave," But He Was.

And the government watchdog said, "We have 827 pages of reports that are just the team of psychiatrists they hired trying to figure out the best way to make sure you would say that if anyone ever asked and frankly some of the methods they were using violate the Geneva convention so we low key can't believe you"

And Hawks, who knew that happened, because it happened to him, said, "That never happened."

And the government watchdog said, "We can't believe you about that either."

And Hawks said "that's fair" and went home to scream into his pillow.

And the government watch dog had told the HPSC, "please do not talk to hawks for the duration of this investigation" and the HPSC said to them "of course we would NEVER" and then they immediately texted Hawks 73 times about how he better fucking make this government watchdog investigation go the fuck away.

Hawks doesn't actually believe this is going to save him. He's not going to inspect whether or not that belief is the product of the years and years of careful manipulation and abuse that were apparently religiously documented and are now archived on the fucking new york times website.

The thing is that He Had A Plan To Stop Being A Boy Slave. It Had 923 Steps. He Was Going To Fucking Do It Okay. He Was Going To Get Out And Go Be A Fisherman Or Herd Sheep Or Whatever The Fuck Former Government Boy Slaves Did After Attaining Freedom. It involved an extraordinary amount of blackmail and political maneuvering and he was going to fucking manage it, okay? And--and this is fucking key--it did not involve his tragic backstory becoming publicly available information.

He is in hell right now. The HPSC won't stop blowing up his phone. The government watchdog people won't stop asking him if the HPSC is blowing up his phone, which they told them not to do. they keep trying to send him a government therapist to try and unpack what, if anything, happened to him, and he has a profound distrust for therapists and particularly government therapists for No Particular Reason. Teenage girls won't stop making sad edits of him on tiktok. Podcasts are now dedicated to him. Not that he's a topic covered by the podcast in an episode or even a season--entire podcasts are dedicated to going through and unpacking government records discussing how they should better torture and condition him, their boy slave, to do exactly as they say. Too many people have his medical documents about all those times the real life government gaslit him in childhood to think it was normal to have the real life government beat you. Fucking Buzzfeed wrote some article about him and some American government heroics training program fuck up and it was still the number one trending article 24 hours after Midoriya Izuku's cosmically bad luck kicked in and landed him on the globally trending page of twitter. All Might's secret son trended twice and separately in like a thirteen minute span and it was still not enough to dethrone that fucking article.

Anyway this has been going on for like a month and a half, two months in pez and Hawks is fucking miserable. Izuku and Tokoyami actually have little to no idea what is in the HPSC document dump out of respect for Hawks, because they both have violently confronted their own fame on multiple occasions and determined that they hated it. They were not going to read another man's medical records, especially not one that they knew.

This came out when they and Miruko ended up at Hawks' apartment in the immediate aftermath, eating takeout and listening to Tokoyami's halloween ambiance playlist, because Hawks has no other friends. Following a profoundly uncomfortable three hours and Mr. Aizawa texting them multiple times to confirm if they were actually engaging in approved activities under the UA internship guidelines (he refused to believed that Izuku was able to exist outside as long as he had without causing massive property damage or ending up on the news and also was under the correct impression that Hawks was on leave to deal with the fallout so what the fuck was tokoyami interning for), Izuku and Tokoyami confirmed for Hawks that they had no goddamn clue what happened because they had decided to avoid it unless Hawks told them otherwise. They set up filters on their social media accounts wherever they could and just didn't click on any goddamn links. This made Hawks cry and once again confirm that Izuku and Tokoyami were some of his best (only) friends.

The weird side effect of all of this has been an added focus on Izuku, strangely enough.

Because society doesn't want to deal with the mess that is reforming the HPSC. They want a return to normal. They want All Might back. All Might apparently had the HPSC diving for fucking cover with a glance, and so surely, Deku can manage the same.

He's the next All Might, after all.

[fionas-chicken]

fiona frauenfeld headcannons because i love her so much

i mentioned this before BUT: THE BIGGEST BROWN EYES EVER. im so adamant about this hc

they speak for her! she might not be able to communicate verbally, but one look into her eyes and they hold all the answers to what she's thinking or feeling

the others, especially hugh, would often compare her to a doe because of this ♡

after hugh discovered the song "brown eyed girl" by van morrison he would NOT shut up about it in regards to her

i imagine she has an off-putting vibe to people who meet her for the first time because she's very quiet, and that coupled with her abnormally large eyes tends to make others avoid her

but when you get to know her, she is the biggest sweetheart in the universe

there's no denying that everyone in the loop simply adores her. like in all the decades she's lived in carinholme, she never had a single enemy

even enoch who is much more critical towards his friends only had nice things to say about fiona. he even called her a “sweet, wonderful girl” in one of the books. that's very telling imo :)

her love language is gifts! she gives her friends veggies, fruits, and flowers. i like to imagine she picks flowers out depending on her friend's personalities, aesthetics, or needs, and she's always so thoughtful about it.

like for example, she knows horace has trouble sleeping, so she offered him lavender once

HUGE animal lover

there's her chickens, of course (who are basically her children). but i imagine there is no animal fiona doesn't adore

when everybody else in the loop is screaming about a giant spider, fiona will just calmly pick it up with her hands and set it free outside

dislikes reading, unless it's nonfiction

in the modern day, she replaces her dresses with pants or overalls because they're much more efficient for gardening

LONGEST HAIR EVER

i imagine it goes past her waist

miss peregrine tried convincing fiona to let her cut it and she refused

another modern day fiona hc: she'd def be a hippie

incense and crystals EVERYWHERE

i think that style matches her free spirit!!

would also ADORE psychedelic rock / 60s or 70s music. jimi hendrix, the beatles, pink floyd etc

very good with kids!!! loves taking care of the little ones

dreams of starting a family with hugh someday

she also grew up in a huge victorian family, and was the oldest amongst her siblings so she knows how to care for them

super random, like i have no explanation for this, but she can not swim

while the others are out on a beach day, she'll often sit in the sand with horace who actually CAN swim but hates getting wet (it will mess up his hair)

or she'll go in shallow water

one time she tried going in deep and nearly drowned. bronwyn had to hurl her out of the water and poor hugh was a WRECK the rest of the day

she's a very good artist!!

at first, she only picked up art so she could sketch replicas of the flowers/plants she grows and create a botany manual/guide of sorts. but eventually it turned into an actual passion

she draws her friends a lot :)

and she also gives those to them as little gifts! but gets so anxious

once she went to emma all nervous and held out a portrait of her .. and emma gave her the BIGGEST HUG like: “oh my goodness this is the best thing anyone has ever given me”

speaking of, those two are bffs okay

i wrote a fic based on emma and fiona’s relationship but i just LOVE the idea of them being friends!! like their dynamic is so cute to me

fiddles with her hair when she’s anxious

i know she doesn’t really talk, but sometimes you’ll catch her murmuring/mouthing nothings to her plants and chickens.

like she has full, fleshed out conversations with them

lovesss taking naps. especially out in the sun

[bogkeep]

good old-fashioned whining

i am gonna Try not to like. constantly complain about oslo girl on my blog. i am accepting that i have developed Bitch Eating Crackers syndrome about her and everything she says and does is gonna rub me the wrong way and i will vent my petty grudges to friends frequently. i think it's just that we're from fully opposite spheres - she's a straight party girl from the capital and i'm a queer bog creature who treasures solitude. it's not that these spheres cannot ever be bridged, but she and i are socially incompatible. i will do my best to be a mature adult about the fact that we have to share housing (and kitchen........ ahhhhhhhhhhggggg).

but there is one thing that is like... just bad etiquette and feankly baffling behavior, which is that she is talking shit about her boyfriend, Constantly, While He Is Present (sometimes in english, which he understands, sometimes in norwegian, which he does not. unsure which is worse). allegedgly her bf complains about her too, but i have not heard him speak NEARLY as much as oslo girl does. at first i worried this was a racism thing since he's Black, but the more this goes on I'm starting to think this is first and foremost The Heterosexuality Tar Pit. like, girl, if you are constantly talking about how worried you are about him being alone with other women... you can just break up? she's talking about the possibility of infidelity like it's something everyone in relationships worry about constantly and that's just the cost of dating. then she's constantly making fully unnecessary comments about everything he does like ommmggg he's so weird.... for singing while cooking. or omg he's so useless when he asked me about where to find a kitchen tool. GIRL DO YOU EVEN LIKE HIM OR IS THE STRAIGHT DATING SCENE IN OSLO JUST THAT FUCKING MISERABLE. actually it really might be from what i hear.

she was telling the czech couple about how Difficult and Challenging it is for a couple to work here together and how important it is for them to keep communicating... but czech couple has been really super chill and have clearly done stuff like this together before. there are several couples working at this place, some for several years in a row!! and they're ALL chill! even the gay couple that worked here last year came by to say hello and they're evidently: Still Together. one of my coworkers is here on her own while her bf is working in finland and there's no issues there either!! (people get so weird about even temporary long distance relationships so i am very thankful for coworker not making a big deal out of it.) i suspect oslo girl is just struggling to fathom the concept that not all of her experiences are universal.

i was hanging out with the czech couple this evening as we were doing a jigsaw puzzle together, which was an absolutely lovely, quiet time until of course, oslo girl sat down and conversed at us... i mentioned my uncle having children from his previous marriage, and she was like "that's just like [boyfriend].... would you ever date someone who already has kids????" and then she had to specify "having kids with random women" and not like, previous long term relationships... and just as i was about to say something like yeah sure if a guy is being irresponsible that's not a great sign she added "it's so uncomfortable to think about him having a child carried by ANOTHER WOMAN... he should have children ONLY WITH ME...." nevermind you lost me again. if this is such a dealbreaker to you juat break up. please

anyway we made great progress on the puzzle. unsure if it was worth all the oslo girl exposure to my psyche but it's difficult to walk away when you're in the Zone

editing to add ANOTHER THING SHE SAID TODAY - apparently she will never say anything about someone she's unwilling to say to their face, which explains the Talking Shit About Her BF While He's Literally Right There, maybe. i think it's a good skill to be able to confront people but. i don't think this trait is as virtuous as she thinks? like of course i am saying that while writing a venty blog post about how much i dislike her, but i think it's perfectly fine to save some commentary for different company, you know? i need to talk shit to people who are never gonna interact with her so i don't explode, but nothing good will come out of her potentially hearing all this. i will answer honestly if she ever takes me aside to ask if i've got a problem with her, but i won't be listing every silly thing she said that annoyed me. i think culturally it is seen as a Terribly Cruel Thing to talk about someone behind their back, and i do agree that it can be all that, but also like. i do NOT want to hear what my haters say about me. i think it's fine for my haters to complain about me in their private little group chats. i trust my friends to actually talk to me if there's any legitimate concerns! my friends are not my haters!

anyway ok now im done

[thesoulbound]

I have so many thoughts and opinions on Ian McKinley from Final Destination 3 that I have to put them somewhere! So here is a long, messy I-wouldn't-even-call-it-an-essay-because-wtf-is-this, but something along those lines!

I shall put it under a cut because yeaaaah, it's a rant .... lool

He's a character I feel like everyone either gets wrong or misremember from watching the movie years ago. There's nothing wrong with not liking the character; opinions are a thing, after all. But I do feel like defending him.

He's very clearly a character you either love or hate, and if you hate him, I've seen so many wonder how anyone can like him. Like, why is that even a question? Have you seen all the villains out there and the love they get and they do things so many times worse than Ian!

Okay, so like, first off. Liking a character doesn't mean you think they're flawless and perfect or excuse everything they do. No, it means finding the character interesting, the actor does a great job, and there are so many "what ifs" and "why did they do that?" They might even be the type of characters that if they were real, you wouldn't necessarily like them, but since it's fiction and entertainment—give it to me! Just the type of character I end up thinking about once the movie is done. The type of character you remember. The type of character that, if the movie had allowed it, could have been so much deeper.

Do you have to be reminded what a perfect character is? A Mary Sue. Perfection is boring, okay? No one is perfect. There's a middle ground, of course. There has to be something redeemable about a character usually for me to like them.

Nothing annoys me more in this franchise than when people call him a villain. He's even listed as a villain on certain pages. Like, wtf, man? This is the reason why I feel like people remember the character wrong from seeing the movie a long, long time ago or simply do not get the character at all. Hell, even I thought he was creepy as a kid, you know? But perception and time change things!

Like, up until him killing the pigeon, he's not even that bad? He looks like he (and Erin) genuinely tries to comfort Wendy with statistics before the rollercoaster because he's not laughing or mocking when they move on. He doesn't seem to understand what's wrong with what he says. For other people, me included, however, it's like, Yeah... statistics isn't going to help now, bro.

Same thing at the Ashes' funeral. He speaks out of place, but rather than being rude and disrespectful of the popular girls, he's actually speaking kindly of them.

"Equal... in death's eyes? All of us? How can you say that? Dude, think it through: Charlie Manson, made it to 70, Osama, still kicking. Pimps, vice presidents, walking around, all the atrocities they've committed, they're alive and well. These two girls, never done shit to anybody, they don't get to make it to 18. Where's the fucking equality in that?"

I love the little moments of breaking stereotypes in this movie, even if they're just tiny moments. Like the popular, usual mean girls, the Ashes aren't even mean. They're sweet and even try to include Wendy despite her not being in their friend group. Ian, the goth and outsider—the opposite end of the popularity ranking—doesn't talk shit about them. He says they didn't deserve to die so young because they never hurt anybody. That's not what most would have expected him to say when he opened his mouth. His voice even breaks when he says, "...they don't get to make it to 18." Yet haters tend to point out he's so mean for disrupting a funeral!

Which, yeah, don't do that. But to me it again shows when it comes to social etiquette, he's not very good at it. I've seen people suggest he might be on the spectrum or something, but I'm not going to go into that. I do not have enough knowledge to do that, and some do even try to use that as an excuse for things he does later.

Now, the scene most people hate, and I don't really blame people for disliking him after this, I just think it's sad. Ian killing a pigeon at work at the request of his boss. That in itself is not the red flag you might think it is. That has happened at my job too. A bird got into the store, and we had to get it out because of pests and shit, and we were a store that sold food. I didn't do anything, but my boss ended up having to kill it. The difference was that my boss didn't enjoy doing it. It was something he had to do. Ian does show enjoyment in killing the bird, and THAT is literally serial killer 101 dude. That's a massive red flag! I've seen people excuse this, but no. I don't care. This is such a red flag! I'm awkward af too, and I can smile like a crazy person when i'm on the verge of losing my mind because i'm stressed out. But I would NEVER laugh at killing an animal. If I saw that, I'd tell him to get some damn help, man.

I hate that moment too. It feels like they reached the end of the movie and went, "Oh, wait. It feels like Ian just lost his mind out of nowhere! We need to show him being a little cray-cray earlier on!" which, uhm, no, you don't. A young man witnessing his girlfriend die so brutally is plenty enough reason for someone to have a mental breakdown, buddy.

Another thing people tend to hate him for is him "trying to kill Wendy" and "Blaming Wendy." Which, with the first one, no, he didn't. Second one, yes. He is so wrong for blaming Wendy when she was just trying to help you and literally saved your ass when you were being a cocky little butthole. Like I said, while I love the character, he's very flawed. That's what makes him a fun character for me.

But NO he IS NOT what's going to kill Wendy in the end! People keep getting this wrong to this day! And I get why, because Wendy was wrong too, and the movie doesn't explain it. But it's so annoying. Wendy's photo shows just her with Jason and her shirt saying McKinley. They're in a town called McKinley. Their school is called Mckinley. The movie points out that Ian's last name is Mckinley! That's why the misunderstanding happens!

To put it simply, Ian is not going to kill Wendy because he's supposed to be dead. Death isn't letting people skip for funsies. Death is skipped because someone intervenes. If Wendy didn't save Ian, he'd die at the warehouse, probably with his girlfriend. Meaning he was never supposed to be at the tricentennial at the end. Wendy's shirt indicates to the cherry picker (even has the same shape as her shirt) that kills Ian because he gets in the way for her. So stop saying buuhuu he was going to kill Wendy. If he was, why is this his reaction to him realizing that's what she thinks?

If he's there to kill her, why is he surprised? He doesn't even have a weapon, and why, yeah, you can kill without weapons, but are you telling me this small fella' gonna kill Wendy with his bare hands with both Julie and Kevin right there with a lot of people around? Nonsense.

He's literally out of his mind with grief. He's had a full-on mental breakdown. He doesn't even know why he's there. He's literally yelling about what they have to do to stop this thing. He thinks he can't die! You can't look at this scene and tell me yaaah that guy's totally stable.

It doesn't excuse him stalking and blaming Wendy at all. No one is excusing that. But people who like him understand why he lost his mind, which haters seem to gloss over.

In regard to him refusing to believe anything Wendy says, sure it's annoying, but that's literally the reaction of 90% of the characters in the Final Destination movies. Ideally, they would believe them. That'd be very helpful. Personally, as someone who is a skeptic by nature, if someone came up to me and said we're gonna die one by one, I'd be skeptical too. I wouldn't be as dismissive and rude as Ian and Erin, but it is what it is. They are far from the only ones who don't believe the main characters. It's practically the pattern in these movies, including the new one.

And you know why?

Because "Seeing is believing."

Ian says so himself at the end. It's too late at this point. He's just sad. He's hurting. Obviously he doesn't move away from the falling cherry picker even though he has time because he doesn't care to. Just because he thinks he's skipped. Just because he thinks he can't die doesn't mean he wants to live. The same way when people ask if you're fine when you feel like shit, yet you tell them yeah. You're good. Or you're overworked and underpaid and feel like you're about to collapse in on yourself, yet all you can do is put a smile on your face.

And that's why I love the character. For a side character in an otherwise rather superficial franchise—that could have had a lot more depth—at least he leaves me thinking about him after the movie is over. Whether you love or hate him, you're still talking about him. You remember him lol.

If there's one thing people always bring up on why they love Final Destination 3, it's because they think the acting is overall better than in other movies in the series. Which is the same for me. I think Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Wendy, Kris Lemche as Ian, and Ryan Merriman as Kevin are wonderful.

How many moments in these movies do the characters either not react much at all or just react with the good ole' "shock gasp scream" when someone dies? Which is fine, but you gotta mix it up a bit. Everyone's just fine and dandy watching all these brutal deaths? Well, nah, there are some moments strewn in here and there where some characters react more realistically, but I do think Erin's death is on its own level. Ian, who's been cocky and cool most of the movie, is crying and screaming and then obviously has a full-on mental breakdown. Even Wendy and Kevin are crying despite not having been close to the couple.

Got a little sidetracked there, but what I'm saying is a great actor can make a stereotypical flat character on paper be a good one. Kris Lemche is an overall extremely underrated and overlooked actor, but also in this series. When people brag about the actors, it's usually only Mary that is pointed out, which is fair, she's the lead and she's great, but so are the rest.

*grumble grumble* he's not a villain!

The end.

[ame-to-ame]

i can't sing a love song really makes me. ugh. i really like Kita!!! I'm just like her fr 😭😭😭

[fukashiin]

ACEYUU WOKE ME FROM THE DEAD

book 7 spoilers <3 very long rant im sorry!!

it was never meant to be this way. when he was such an ass to us in the prologue, when he laid those pesky remarks upon us and immediately assuming that we got into NRC as a janitor because we weren't good enough without any prior knowledge of how we were brought here against our will and having to adapt to such an unfamiliar environment where everything - trends, names, history, and even the currency - were different. he didn't know about the throbbing headache we had while the headmage was explaining the school's curriculum and suddenly bringing up the word "magic" into the conversation like it was foreign language.

he thinks he's above us just because we're a clueless student who couldnt cast any spells and took up the miserable job just for the sake of money and to live. he had this one-way "not my problem!!" mindset about us that he dipped the moment after because he never would have suspected that we would grow to be something more important, something more irreplaceable in his life.

he never meant to test the waters, and he's drowning by mistake.

his concern for you gets more obvious as each book advances (or was it always obvious??). you're just an otherworlder oblivious to the dangers that lurk in twisted wonderland, so it's only casual for him to fret about when you've been taken into scarabia with minimal escape routes, to be the first one to notice that you were missing among the entourage of people that have been kidnapped, to be the only one to point out that you weren't in the best condition AND suggesting to bring you back home in case the party was all too much. he knows how vulnerable you are, and he jumps into action as quick as possible because that's basically his brand. nothing deeper!!! (unknown dangers lurk around you on the daily, but you lurk in his mind so much more than he lets on. you're probably more used to the dangers of magic than he's used to the thought of you occupying his mind 24/7. isnt that ironic)

and he didn't consider the complications of how dangerous it could be for the headmage to send us back to our original world, possibly damaging the very fabrics of time and space and ceasing to exist while transporting - he just instantly goes to the part where the news was positive and that we could travel between Twisted Wonderland and earth in one piece, blocking out his surroundings just to see your smile, as that was possibly the happiest you could have ever been in front of him.

imagine each time he hangs out with someone new, or if someone has gained a romantic interest in him once you've left, he tries to find a part of "you" in them in his peripheral vision. whether they have an ounce of bravery that you had, whether they're as understanding as you are to know that he isn't just a human built of jokes and pranks, whether they won't doubt him like the rest did - as you were the only one who truly believed in his capability to truly lead the rest out of danger.

he could beg for other people to believe in him, to see that his skills could draw out much more if he really wanted to, but he didn't have to do that with you. in a flashing moment of possible failure, he turned to you in a heartbeat, uncharacteristically, desperately calling out for you to save him because he had no idea what was happening. he almost started to lose himself and quickly realises that the power he was wielding so suddenly wasn't some lousy spell, that it could possibly cause someone's life, and you were there to steady him when he needed it the most. a rarity of a scene he entrusted his entire body to you with. you believed in him. you ARE the betterment of him.

you held his hand like a vow, to protect each other and strengthen through every obstacle and turmoil that drives you one step closer to becoming a better version of yourself. your hand, tightly coiled around his, radiated the warmth and comfort he needed in his times of darkness and inner conflict.

it should've been you. you're perfect.

and that's why his dream still has you in it. it doesn't have to be one way or the other, you can simply go back and forth to his world and your own in just a snap! he could never dream of you leaving his sight and grasp, hindering him from ever telling you how much you actually meant. he has all the time in the world.

and that's what he wants, but his heart says otherwise, and that's fine. he just wants you to be safe and see him for who he is. you inspired him to take pride in his name, as an ace can do anything!!

[feroluce]

Belobog was my fave main quest but a lot of it is so. Contradictory. It's like they had multiple groups doing different shit and none of them checked in with each other for consistency. And you see this so much in Gepard's profile.

So in the main quest, they made him unfailingly, unquestionably loyal to Cocolia. Gepard's character arc is him learning to question authority etc etc. And this isn't even a bad thing; that's a story worth telling! It makes good conflict between him and Serval! And I love that we got Gepard as a boss battle and I get to see him all the time in SU!

But then you look at his character stories and it's like. The complete opposite.

According to his profile, Gepard has already HAD this awakening, long before the Astral Express, and he'd already decided Cocolia sucks. Even outside of his stories, there's a pretty damning readable between him and Pela.

He even disobeyed direct orders right in front of her- he has been disobeying orders for a while now!

So I've decided I'm marrying the two different sides of this into a 1.5k fic-ish thingy, because I think there's some fun potential there with Gepard not trusting Cocolia, but still having to pretend to be a good obedient little soldier.

Anyway. I love to think of it as like. Gepard knows Cocolia has sunk into her apathy. He can see it in her eyes every time he looks at her. She doesn't care. Not about him, not about Pela, not about all his soldiers on the frontlines giving their lives to protect the citizens. And that's... It makes him bristle a bit, but ok. Gepard can deal with this. Even if Cocolia no longer cares, as long as she does her job then it's fine. Having compassion behind an action doesn't matter as much as the action itself. If Cocolia's heart is no longer swayed, then he'll just have to care twice as hard to pick up the slack. He considers it part of his duty as a captain of the guard anyway. It's fine. Gepard can deal with it.

And then, Cocolia starts coming down to the restricted zone. Issuing direct orders.

And Gepard realizes he is in way over his head.

Because Cocolia orders him to stay back and issue commands from the ramparts, away from all his comrades, away from where he can protect them.

Gepard had thought nothing could be as bad as watching a fellow guard die right next to him. But the first time he watches someone struck by a killing blow, so far away, it hurts. Every defensive scar across his arms itches, his fingers curl in want of a weapon, the cold cannot numb his hands enough as they desperately ache for his shield. It hurts.

Gepard tries to find any reason to stay. Because surely... He knows Cocolia has lost her love for her people, but surely... She wouldn't...

One day, Cocolia orders for their gunners to advance 20 yards. There are no survivors. She almost looks like she smiles.

Gepard doesn't sleep that night.

Pela brings him the report at the end of the first month; and then the month after that, and the month after that. A significant uptick in losses, and all of it started on that first day Cocolia started overriding his authority and issuing her own orders. The ends of Gepard's pens have all been nearly chewed off. Pela outright calls Cocolia an idiot, and Gepard corrects her. Cocolia isn't an idiot. Gepard had known her through Serval, knew her through all her college years and then some, and he knows how intelligent she is. It's not that she's stupid, and it's not that she's inexperienced, it's nothing of the sort.

Cocolia knows exactly what she's doing.

She must, there's no way she could make such a horrible mess of things so badly by accident. And Pela, quick as a whip, sharp as a tack, always too smart for her own good, catches onto the meaning behind Gepard's correction without any further prompting. The tent goes deathly quiet, nothing but the wind howling outside.

"...She's trying to kill us," Pela whispers, her voice swiftly suffocated by the silence.

Gepard swallows. He can't bring himself to correct her this time. There is nothing he could say that he would actually mean.

His gaze drops, back down to his desk and the reports on it. The names aren't listed, just the numbers, but Gepard knows them, knew them, and there must be something wrong, something he's missing, because why, why would she-? What could this possibly accomplish-?

“Gepard! Focus!” Something snaps right under his nose, and Gepard startles, eyes instantly honing in on Pela's irritated face as she leans over his desk. She holds his gaze for a moment before she huffs and begins to pace, wedges a knuckle between her teeth and bites like Gepard hasn't seen her do since cadet school.

Pela angrily strides from one end of his tent to the other, words hissed between her grit teeth. “What are we going to do?” In the dim lighting, Gepard can just barely see the damp spot of blood weeping under her gloves. “We need a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Wh- Yes, a plan! Unless you want more people to die!” Pela rounds on him then, all the wrath of a blizzard, winds roaring and snow sharp enough to cut.

“We don't even know-”

“What does it matter?! She killed-!!” Pela cuts off with a garbled noise when Gepard leaps up from his desk, hastily shoves his hand over her mouth. The prosthetic, not the flesh one, because he knows better than to assume Pela won't seize the opportunity to leave teeth marks in his skin.

“You're right. I'm sorry, I'm sorry; you're right. But you need to keep quiet.” Pela quirks an eyebrow at him and Gepard can read the question in her face. “Because we both saw what she did to Serval,” he hisses.

It's amazing the snow plains haven't thawed out yet, the amount of heat Pela can put behind a glare. The mere mention of Serval, and the smoking ruins Cocolia had made of her life and career, have her bristling up like a riled cat. The sudden hot breath she takes fans fog across his metal skin, and Gepard wisely keeps it in place until Pela finally sighs and reaches up, taps her fingertips against the back of his hand.

The second she's free, Pela bats him away and then her knuckle is right back between her teeth again, Gepard leaning back against his desk with his arms crossed to watch her resume her pacing. “If we spread the word, she'll have us discharged and make sure we can't even touch the frontlines,” Pela's voice seethes like an open sore. Gepard nods but keeps his silence. He knows better than to get in her way.

“And if you and I are both out of the picture, Belobog is fucked.” A little harsher than how he would have put it, but there's no denying that they're both important to the city's survival. Pela has the restricted zone running as efficiently as ever, and Gepard had become the youngest captain on record for a reason. “We need to keep this tight under wraps, at least for now… It can't leak to anyone higher up the chain.” Another nod. “Serval might know other discontents…” Another n-

Gepard's head snaps up. “No.”

“No what?”

“No. We're not involving Serval in this.”

Somehow, even the same tone that leaves entire squadrons shaking in their boots has never worked on her. “You're not deciding that for her, Gepard.”

Pela hadn't seen the worst of it, though, back when his sister had just been banned from the Architects. Serval's pride hadn't allowed it. Pela wasn't the one to find her passed out bottle still in hand, hadn't been the one to wash the sick out of her hair or carry her to bed. 

Serval still has trouble thinking clearly when it comes to Cocolia, still can't quite bring herself to be objective. And Gepard maybe doesn't want her to be purely objective- but he would worry a lot less if she thought twice before she acted more often.

“At least let me be the one to bring it up to her.”

“Whatever, fine,” Pela gestures affirmatively at him as she paces past, and Gepard sighs. Good, at least that's one thing he can help.

From there, it's a lot of hemming and hawing and frustration. Cocolia has them under her boot, and Gepard and Pela both know it. Even with the way she's been cracking down on freedoms lately, Cocolia is still, overall, liked by the people. It's unlikely anyone would believe them. They don't even have solid proof, because most people don't know Cocolia as well as they do and won't see the clues in the same light. 

The Fragmentum has been ramping up in recent years, too. Everyone is struggling just to survive as is, they can't afford a fight on two fronts. Gepard is a damn good captain, one of the best for that matter. But they're at a massive disadvantage, his experience is narrowed to fighting a defensive battle against monsters, that's all he's ever done. That's all anyone there has ever done. He has no way of finding first-hand knowledge for taking the offensive against a human opponent, and if he goes at this blind, there's no way he'll get everyone out unscathed. He's going to lose people. He's going to lose a lot of people.

He'd never thought before that Cocolia would have it in her to have someone killed. And with this new knowledge, he has no guarantee she won't go after Serval or Lynx if she decides to retaliate.

Gepard has to remind himself to breathe when he realizes this.

Pela writes down every name the two of them can come up with. Lists and lists of names and groups and anyone they can think of who might be an ally in all of this. They memorize every bit of it, make their plans of who to talk to and when. Gepard watches the sparks reflect off Pela's glasses as they burn the evidence together.

Pela finally leaves, far too late to make it home, but says she wants to stay in the restricted zone anyway to investigate. Gepard watches her make her way in the direction of Dunn's tent, watches her back until she's out of his sight and squashes down the urge to follow and keep an eye on her. His tent feels empty.

In the morning, Gepard is up before the wake up bells. He drags himself out of bed, leads his soldiers through their morning training. The same people gravitate to each other everyday. Friend groups and training partners. There's an ongoing rivalry between a few squadrons that everyone bets on. Some of them have lockets around their necks, keepsakes, mementos. Some of them wear wedding rings.

Gepard is suddenly, painfully aware of something acidic clawing at the inside of his throat, of a heavy weight low in his chest that blooms, takes up room until it threatens to spread his ribs. His mouth tastes of bile and blood.

He rearranges the schedules. Puts himself down for every open patrol into the Fragmentum, makes sure he'll be on the frontlines every single time Cocolia visits.

He only hopes that it's enough.

[kalosian-woods]

froakie must've felt so satisfied for achieving success by choosing ash after so many failed attempts with other trainers

the mere fact that he finally found that "love" he always wanted must've already been such a big milestone for him in life.

-🦋

In a way I really did enjoy how they mixed things up with Ash's obligatory 'tough' Starter this time, especially as most of them were abandoned by their Trainers (Charizard, Infernape, Pignite) or just didn't have any contact with people before (Sceptile). But instead Froakie wanted to find a Trainer and has picked them out himself, reversing the way the relationship usually starts out, and being a great foil with the other Starters/Pokemon as well.

The fact that Froakie has been searching for a while before Ash is something that I've always thought about, myself. He's left at least 8 people considering the shadows? And the way that Olympia said that humans taught it that in order to be stronger he needed a bond (but through feelings, not words), the way he wanted a lot from his Trainer, that he was searching for someone that was worth risking everything for, looking for 'love' - to me, it is an all-encompassing feeling that he's been searching for. Love so much that you would do anything for Pokemon like he would do anything for you. Give and take. Froakie did not expect a relationship where he had to carry out everything that the Trainer wanted without question - he wanted a relationship where his opinions and thoughts mattered just as much, to deal with the potential he always felt inside of him. And it is a lot, to balance a relationship in that manner. A lot of new Trainers would not even realise that is an option, and that's what initially threw him off.

Froakie is very persistant, it's true, but he can also be impatient at times. Would he have bothered to stay by Sycamore's lab any longer, considering how he was up and around Lumiose watching Ash? Would he still stick by his resolve to find the perfect Trainer, no matter the failures he had recieved? I don't think he would lower his standard, but at some point, he probably did wonder if there was someone out there who held the love that he wanted. When he first laid eyes on Ash, noticing how Pikachu was and their shared interest in battle, it piqued his interest. But it was the way they faced down Team Rocket despite being overpowered, Ash helping Pikachu even though he couldn't stand up to their might, that's when Froakie saw what he wanted.

To him, I think that feeling of love felt like the static shock he felt when being hit by that Electro Ball being reflected by Wobbuffet. Twice as strong, utterly paralyzing, weakening him completely. But also-- the feeling of two hands around him, and a voice calling out to him, and the wind as he was rushed into care. Love was knowing that someone had your back and will support you, even when the odds were impossible. And considering how much they'll go through, I don't think Greninja regretted a thing.

[sysig]

Dr. “Has to get a good grade in therapy” Doran (Patreon)

[allthecastlesonclouds]

tell me about drawtectives. what is this little show.

oooooh my god oh my god. they are my guys. so.

drawtectives itself is a youtube series created by julia lepetit on Drawfee. it's an rpg mystery show– s1 is a murder mystery, s2 is just a mystery– that doubles as an art challenges show. she draws all of the backgrounds and npcs and most of the assets (the 'cutscenes', you could call them) and then the team gets together, knowing absolutely nothing besides what julia's asked them to prepare, and does some funky improv to create a very funky storyline.

there are 3 players and one dm; the pcs are rosé, york, and grendan/grenda/grandma/gma, and the Big NPCs are Jancy True (s1/s2) and Eugene Finch (s2) and they're, in their own words, a found family, so. beloved. their backup plan if all their jobs fail is to move out east and open a bookstore. jancy and eugene have fully accepted their titles as mom/ancestral ghost and son despite meeting each other likely once before the drawtectives dragged them together. overall though if i had to summarize, it's a bunch of friends getting together, making a bunch of puns, appreciating julia's art, and laughing together. the vibes are 10/10 so loving. in writing the transcripts i've written (Karina laughs) (Nathan laughs) (All laugh) So Many Times it's just fun.

so there's three pcs. first one we meet is gyorik 'york' rogdul, who's a half-orc come to the city to learn about his mother's culture. he is the character we have by far the most lore for– if I compiled all the lore I had about the Northern Tribes and Wild Trains, I think the document would be multiple pages. he's also illiterate, which was an interesting decision for the english major of the group to make (in other words, York Will Not Be Illiterate For Season Three bc Y'all Cannot Read) and morally gray if you think about it too hard (he killed his own brother) but yknow he's hot so it's okay. they're all hot any crimes committed are okay. he's also aroace (confirmed by the player, which is!! vibes!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TELLING ME @axolotllee!)

rosé is the Human Rogue and the youngest of the party; her main trait in s1 was Millennial and she Dealt with that. she, in contrast with York, has so little lore we are scraping the barrel. she was a thief, then left everything about that life behind and changed her name to rosé when she went to work for jancy. she lied on her resumé. she knows how to sew; she's sewn Pockets of Holding on most of her clothing. she bonded with a stray cat that lived outside her last apartment. she's three credits short of graduating college. she's, in addition to being a drawtective, jancy's intern, and cried when jancy got her a cupcake. she won't tell her best friends when her birthday is or where she goes to school or what her last name is. that's all we know about her and i love her and she could probably kill someone as she has multiple knives on her person and does not use them. she's bright and funny and can be pretty dark but really does find the humor in it which is. wonderful.

so grendan highforge starts out as The Snobby Rich Boy which. already love the trope something Always Happens To Them if they're a pc. then through s1 they make an offhand comment about a character (faucon, whose name is pronounced 'falco') and how if her name was pronounced that way it'd be grenda. faucon asks how they feel about it. they are caught very off-guard by that and then ask to be called it for the next hour or so. then the next witness calls him gma, and then grandma, and then. yeah she realizes she's genderfluid. and he uses any pronouns and has a full beard and also wears a romper and loves dogs and the player is the Most Experienced TTRPG-er so through maybe using resources a bittt grandma is the most observant character of all of them. he's also a dog walker and a lightweight and does canonically have druidic magic though that was Not Touched On Much and showed up to their first day on the job slightly stoned (they did stop doing that though.) she carries around a box to make the height difference (york is 7'. grendan is 4'. rosé is 6'. you can see the formatting issue) slightly less difficult. she doesn't know how rhinos reproduce but has had a fascination with them since a police chief said one might've committed a crime. i think they could kill someone by talking too much but they don't actually have the strength or dex to do Jack Shit.

and jancy true is the head pi (a great many of the characters are puns and i love it so much) and is there to make sure things get done and clues don't get missed. she has a cochlear implant and uses a cane and solved s1 just by Reading The Paper and hearsay. she solved about half of s2 before Someone Stopped Her. she says hello children to the drawtectives and it is such a fond thing. eugene is. a guy who i love. julia started the show thinking he would be some mysterious character to join them and then made the wonderful improv decision– avoiding having to do npc-npc conversation– of saying 'yeah eugene is spinning a camera on its stand' and rosé just says so gleefully. 'guys. i think he's stupid.' and he became their son. his character is a lot of The Plot of s2 so i don't want to get into it too much but. jancy and eugene my beloved.

they're just. such a family. to quote nathan (grenda's Player) from the s2 talkback: "That's one of my favorite things about this show, is we came in with these vague ideas for characters, and just playing them with each other, they became friends and became better people as a result of knowing each other and solving mysteries. ... Like, we all kind of independently made our characters people that either were distant from their families or, you know, just had tenuous connections to other stuff, and so these are, like, the realest connections they have in their lives."

and then karina (rosé) about 10 seconds later: "Yeah, we love a found family where they bond over just being the worst."

god. them. they're chaotic and loud and feel very real to me. they have excitement and are pretty bad at social cues but they love each other and want to die together because they would hate too much to be separated. i could articulate this better but it's one in the morning and they mean a great deal to me.

[qcomicsy]

Lately I've only been wishing to grab a comic about my favorite character and just have a genuinely good time reading it.