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landwriter · 1 year ago

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Hi! I hope you feel better soon!

This is a great prompt by @academicblorbo about Hob Gadling being the landlord of the Dead Boys. It has a wonderful fill already by @omgcinnamoncakes but I’d love to see what you come up with for it!

Alternative prompt from me if that doesn’t work for your brain: remember the date between Jenny and Maxine? How about one between Jenny and Esther? Poor Jenny is going to really question her taste in beautiful blonde women 😭

Thank you! I saw ‘landlord’ and ‘decades’ and blacked out. I love Hob having them as tenants. Maybe even before the modern day meeting in Sandman.

The Sandman/Dead Boy Detectives, 2.4k, G Dream/Hob, pre-slash, alternating/outsider POV, found family, a reunion and revelations etc.

---

Hob did not, strictly speaking, have tenants. It was more of a minor haunting. Pun intended.

The small room above the pub and below his flat wasn’t worth charging anyone rent for; when he first bought the building he had put a handsome oak desk in there and some bookshelves before wondering who he was possibly keeping up appearances for. Who was he going to take back upstairs that would stop and say, Wait, can I see your office? So he’d left it as more or less an abandoned room.

When he realized a pair of boys were using it as their clubhouse, he didn’t do anything at first. He saw them quietly coming and going a couple times, disappearing around the corner of the first landing. Brazen things. He meant to call after them, but the shout had died in his throat. He’d been young once. He still remembered the need to get away from it all. It was only when he went to check if they’d been making a mess of the room that he discovered it was still locked.

He’d crouched down and inspected the latch and found no marks at all. Huh, he’d said, and jiggled it again, and been a little more interested in whatever clever way they were getting into it after they disappeared up his stairs. Then he didn’t see them for weeks, and assumed they had gotten bored and stopped.

Until they came back. In the middle of an argument, striding through the pub like they owned it. Hob straightened up as they passed him.

“I cannot believe you broke the mirror.”

“I was in a rush! It’s not my fault you forgot you needed Arcana Incantatum after we arrived at the church. And found the demon.”

“I hardly forgot, I only made the mistake of assuming you would know to pack it by now.”

Hob raised his eyebrows. The boys disappeared into the back hallway. He followed them as they went upstairs, too preoccupied with their drama to notice Hob. They turned onto the landing, still carrying on. Even as they walked through the door. The locked, closed door.

Hob blinked. Then he drew his keys from his pocket and opened the door. The boys were still inside. One of them was pulling a mirror out of a backpack that was several times too small for it. They didn’t even look up, and Hob wondered how he couldn’t possibly have put it together earlier. He cleared his throat.

“Hello, boys.” That caught their attention. Hob grinned. “Seems we’re neighbours.”

---

Edwin abhorred getting involved with the living. He and Charles got along perfectly well on their own. They were a duo. An intrepid pair. Best mates, like Charles often stressed whenever he was about to ask something particularly ridiculous of Edwin. They were solid together. As solid as two ghost boys could be. The living, though, were messy and unpredictable.

Perhaps the most salient fact at present: Charles invariably became attached to them.

“He’s sad, mate. I can see it in his eyes.”

“You said those exact words in ‘94 about a dog. At least ask Hob himself.”

Before you decide to adopt him too.

Hob Gadling, irritatingly, was unobjectionable on every ground Edwin could think of. He had made no imposition upon them. When he found them, he only asked them their business, and then told them he was usually downstairs, or upstairs, if they needed anything they couldn’t procure themselves. He had an interest in rare and old books, as it happened. In explaining this, he had also hinted at being far older than his looks would suggest, which vexed Edwin twice over. He knew his curiosity would not be slaked until he talked to Hob, but then he would be the one getting involved with the living, and Charles would hardly let him forget it.

“Do you think he’s really immortal? Mate’s far too calm. Last week I saw him stop a fight downstairs by stepping right between these huge blokes. He just said something and smiled and they backed right off.” Charles lit up. “Do you reckon he’d teach me how to do that? Conflict de-escalation, innit? I could show him some moves with the cricket bat, I bet. Oh, do you think he’s a cricket fan?”

It was obviously a hopeless case, and since the Dead Boy Detectives never took on hopeless cases, there was only one course of action that remained. Edwin had long since disabused himself of the notion he needed to breathe. He had no beating heart, yet when he was startled, he would find himself clutching his chest. Now, he exhaled slowly through his nose in an entirely superfluous sigh of resignation. “Well, Charles, shall we go talk to him?”

---

When the millennium came around, Hob found himself celebrating it with his accidental tenants. There was something gloriously satisfying about being able to make a toast to the next one and have it taken seriously. He’d asked them if they had something better to do - spectral trouble to get into et cetera - and they both looked at him with almost identical put-upon and incredulous expressions.

Hob had a terrible suspicion they thought they were taking care of him as much as he thought he was taking care of them.

Edwin, with his insatiable curiosity and, deep underneath it, something Hob thought he recognized from himself: a sharp animal ferocity and a refusal to go until he’s good and done, natural laws be damned. Charles, still brightly, painfully alive for a ghost - who should be alive still, by all rights, but nothing of this life was fair - who joked to cover up hurt in a way Hob knew too, and glowed any time Hob turned so much as a kind word to him.

He wondered what they saw when they looked at him.

The year ticked over, and technology kept working. Charles grinned innocently and said he could probably possess the telly and break it that way if Hob wanted?

Hob’s heart twinged. He knew they weren’t his, not to keep, but it seemed that teenagers didn’t change at all over the centuries, even if the boys were only sort of teenagers in the way Hob was only sort of in his thirties. It didn’t change that they’d been punted from the mortal coil before having a chance to grow up, and figure out the kind of men they were, and make their own choices and fuck up and try to be better than their fathers, and everything everyone deserved. Hob had made more than his share of mistakes. They hadn’t been given the chance to make nearly any at all.

So they made toasts to the new millennium, to the detective agency, to themselves, all stuck out of time in different ways and refusing to move on for different reasons, and Hob allowed himself to think of Robyn and privately pretend that they were his all the same.

---

A week later, Hob was reminded of the other universal traits of teenagers when he mentioned his stranger and both boys began to grill him with terrifying alacrity. Before turning to his dating life, like ravening bloody wolves. When Edwin had asked, in a specifically nineteenth century manner that Hob remembered all too well, if Hob had always been unmarried, he’d nearly put his head in his hands.

“It can be hard for me to associate with the living too, you know. For obvious reasons.”

Charles had turned to Edwin and hissed “See? I told you.”

Right in front of him. Nobody had taught them manners.

“Manners, Charles,” replied Edwin loftily. “We will, of course, respect your privacy. A man is entitled to his secrets.”

“You’ll go upstairs and rifle through my personal things, is what you’ll do,” said Hob.

Charles coughed to hide his laugh. Edwin flushed and looked away. Hob snorted, and told them about Eleanor and Robyn. Properly. It was a strange relief. He’d told the story wrong for plausibility’s sake so many times he had been worried he’d forget the truth of it one day.

They had listened, and been remarkably quiet until Charles piped up and offered to set him up with a ‘really fit’ ghost. Hob had roundly shut that down. Woefully, not all explanations were satisfying enough. Charles cornered him again the next morning while he was cleaning the bar.

“No, mate, I still don’t get it.” Hob was about to say he no more wanted to be with someone who couldn’t feel pleasure from his touch than someone who would grow old and be taken from him while he stayed the same, when Charles went on, bafflingly, to ask, “Why don’t you meet your mysterious friend more often than once a century?”

Hob sighed. “Adults are often busy, Charles.” Nevermind that he had begun to wonder the same since the eighteenth century. He’d always just assumed time passed differently for his stranger.

Charles just laughed and perched himself on the bar top. “Ooh, low blow. We’re busy too, you know. Plenty of cases to solve.”

“Really,” said Hob. “You’re busy. Right now.”

Charles waggled his eyebrows.

“Charles, I am not a case,” said Hob, sternly as possible. “I’m not even a ghost. He’s not a ghost. No ghosts.”

“We could investigate. Maybe ghosts are involved. What even is he? Why every hundred years? Is it some sort of Persephone situation?”

Hob bit his lip against shouting I don’t know! I don’t know anything about him! Instead, he tried to smile, and felt it come out as a wince instead. “He’s very private.”

Charles scowled. “Yeah, obviously. You don’t even know his name. He can’t be that good of a friend if he’s too busy to see you more than once a century.”

Hob couldn’t see the expression on his own face, but he saw Charles’ shocked reaction well enough. It was so long ago for him, and still Hob knew at once what Charles saw now: that first time you manage to visibly hurt a grown-up’s feelings, people who seemed too old and too stern to actually feel pain, when you’d been going around kicking at them like a new foal, just to stretch your legs.

“Sorry,” said Charles, instant regret chasing his surprise. He was a good kid.

“It’s alright,” said Hob. He meant it. He looked down at the shining bartop. His hands were restless with the urge to light a cigarette. He gave in. It wasn’t like Charles would be dying of lung cancer any time soon if he decided to follow Hob’s example. “I don’t think he would say he’s very good at being a friend either. Truth is, I’d love to see him more often. But we had an awful fight the last time we met. If he forgives me, I’ll have to ask.”

“Mates always make up,” said Charles earnestly. He was such a good kid.

“I suppose they do.” Charles still looked sorry, and Hob clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey. Thanks for looking out for me, Charles.”

Charles beamed at him. “Always. We’ve got your back, me and Edwin.”

---

Charles couldn’t bloody believe it. Hob’s friend was here. There was nobody else it could be. He and Edwin were watching from a nearby table, pretending to be absorbed in their own conversation. Neither man noticed them. They were too busy looking at each other.

He couldn’t imagine spending more than a century apart from Edwin. The way Hob had talked about him and his stranger over the years, it sometimes seemed like they were best mates too, no matter how little they saw each other. He was dead sure that’s what had Hob looking so gutted when he thought nobody was looking. He had known they would make up, though. Maybe now Hob would be happier.

“Charles, we really ought not eavesdrop,” hissed Edwin. Right as he scooted his chair closer, the cheeky hypocrite. Hob and his friend were talking too quietly to properly hear, their heads bent together. Lots to catch up on, Charles reckoned. A hundred years. He couldn’t stop thinking about the number. It seemed impossible. Funny, he couldn’t imagine that long away from Edwin, but he could imagine spending that long being best mates. There was nobody he’d rather hide from Death with.

Hob’s face was doing something strange as his long-lost friend talked. Then Hob moved and grasped him by the shoulders, so tight that his knuckles stood out in relief. The man said something in low tones and Hob shook his head, and then pulled him in for a hug. The man stiffened and then relaxed, and his arms came up around Hob’s.

Their cheeks both looked wet.

Charles swallowed and it felt suddenly a little like he was choking. He should look away, only he couldn’t.

“They must be great friends,” said Edwin softly.

“Yeah,” he managed to croak. We won’t ever need to have a reunion like this because I’m never going to lose you, mate. I won’t let them take you. It was stuck behind the phantom lump in his phantom throat. His hand, without him telling it to, reached out and grabbed hold of Edwin’s. Edwin squeezed it hard, and Charles knew he didn’t have to make his voice work after all.

Then the man pushed Hob away, but only far enough to grab his face and pull him back again, thumbing over Hob’s cheeks, and beside him, Edwin honest-to-god gasped, and then Charles momentarily forgot how thoughts worked too.

---

It happens thus: in the New Inn, just next door to the White Horse, some 639 years after they first met, Hob Gadling and Dream of the Endless share their first kiss. Neither, if they had bothered to think about it, would have intended to have an audience, but it’s a well-known fact that some kisses cannot wait, and theirs was chief among them, being that it had so much to say, and was so very long overdue.

I missed you, it said, and I came back, it said, and Please don’t go away from me again, and I could not.

And atop them, like blankets, were laid invisible the daydreams of those who saw them, including two long-dead boys, whose dreams were woven from the fresh and unaccounted-for possibilities of Hob kissing his mysterious stranger. Another man, thought Edwin. His best friend, thought Charles. Dream was the only one who could have heeded this, but he did not, because Hob Gadling was holding him tight and daydreaming loudly of this kiss and more, of this today and tonight and tomorrow, ever greedy and ever easily pleased, and Dream could hear nothing at all over their clamouring and comingled joy; the bright gold daydream between the scant space of their bodies that sounded so much like at last.

#asks #the sandman #dead boy detectives #fic #crossover? fusion? i guess? who is to say! not me!#dreamling #perhaps some notes of chedwin #(a fabulous ship name btw. i may not get cob but i WILL get chedwin)#author wrote this while sick as dog so please excuse errors :')#might put on ao3 later if i have a chance to clean it up and expand on it a little!#my writing #me yesterday: 'i really don't see the appeal of blending both stories beyond doing it for the sake of it'#me today: 'no you don't understand they NEED each other here is my chart of the interpersonal dynamics and a list of all the ways hob can h #accidentally writing the new inn reunion scene i'd always dreamed of oops

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zu-is-here · 2 years ago

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calm after the storm

Kist Day by @lunhasissues

Murder by ask-dusttale

Killer by rahafwabas / rahaf-wabas / rahofy-sketch

#zu art #murder!sans #killer!sans #kist #bad sanses #undertale #undertale au #utmv #kist day #kilder?? murler?? murderer???#ok that's enough for now XD #it went from ''I don't understand their dynamic (ò_ò)'' to ''man I feel them SO well (;w;)''#what if they (being the most unstable sanses) could be stabilizers for each other? *^*#when one needs it more the other helps #(mostly Killer helping Murder ;3)#I feel like they could work really good like this... even if it's more than just a work? ♪#I just haven't drawn for four (4!) days and almost forgot how to do it :'D #thank you guys for patience!╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

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shorthaltsjester · 5 months ago

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Imogen Temult, Exaltant Hope of the Red Storm

Heroes and Monsters by Penny & Sparrow // Critical Role Campaign 3

#thinking about the 4sd where laura was talking about how all the hells titles are good but imogens sounds like it has a double meaning #that shes the storm's hope rather than just the intended a hope that comes from the storm.#and all of imogens 'i am the storm' esque responses #something something what does it mean to turn away from the storm when the storm is inextricable from who you are on both a psychological #and metaphysical level. how do you turn away from your fate when its already in your veins #imogen answers: you don't! you take it into you. and i think that's fun!#me holding imogen's arc in my hands so I can look away from the context it exists in: this is wonderful #critical role #imogen temult #cr3 #bell's hells #predathos #liliana temult #also god. i really miss fcg and imogen. not only was fcg the only witness to a lot of imogen's most significant moments of internal conflic #he was also often the only one that could successfully get her to elaborate on vague claims she would make about how she feels about #the moon and the storm and their fight and all her fear and her willingness to be scared and still do the Right thing even if it risks her #life. and I remember how much fcg's presence was often imogen's impetutus to take seriously that the gods matter to people. because imogen #was the first and often the loudest one to insist fcg had a soul. but it wasn't until the magic of the everlight through pike and their #realization of a meaning through the changebringer that fcg really began to value themself. and she saw how much the gods really could be #this powerful and good force in a person's life beyond just granting them magic. and it led to her often pushing back against (thought ofte #in over delicate and tentative ways) ashton's claims against the gods. but fcg is gone and he died for the hells. and imogen doesn't have #that ever present reminder amongst the storm that the choices she makes will echo out farther than the people she cares about.#also just. they were besties 2 me. they bullied each other but also put the most effort into both challenging and understanding each other.#actually. now thinking about it. fcg and imogen had maybe the most illustrative dynamic of what bh could've been and failed to be. alas ala #cr spoilers #my post #long post #web weaving #web weave #cr edit

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dewwshi · 3 months ago

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he may be the better swordsman but we all know who wins the wrestling matches

(psst i'm on bluesky now i guess?)

#he's into it. btw. in case it needed to be said #i'm on thousand orcs now and i'm sooo happy to see them again <3 my babies i missed them #although. well this is a long story but #one time i had an oc. a repressed teen boy redditor. and in-universe he made some ocs of his own #and a friend of mine said of those ocs 'oh the girl oc would be a super compelling character on her own #but when interacting with the main character boy oc she'd suddenly become really flat and boring'#and i was like 'haha yeah' but i didn't understand the depth of the words for i had never encountered this in writing before #now i have.#not that she's terrible but it does kinda feel like there was a character named catti-brie in starless night who i really enjoyed and then #they had a falling out w the actor and had to bring in someone with less charisma to replace her #upside down smile emoji #but despite all that i LOOOVE her and drizzt's relationship #their dynamic is really good. my main complaint i wish we got to see more of them #but they're sooo good i love them. he's her wife <3 #they're so weird about it. they both know they're in love but for some incomprehensible reason they choose to just be like #permanently pair bonded best friends who do everything together instead #idiots i adore them #legend of drizzt #lod #drizzt do'urden #catti-brie battlehammer #catti-brie #dnd #forgotten realms #cattidrizzt #is that a ship name?? i don't think i've ever seen it used as a tag #i love that they're basically straight people doing the queerbaiting 'their relationship is too deep and complex to put into words' thing #iconic #i wrote these tags on my phone cuz i ran out of time to post this at home so i hope nothing glitches fingers crossed #i was gonna post this on bsky as well but it will have to wait til i get home

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bumblingbabooshka · 1 year ago

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Tuvok Voice: You are her official right hand while I have been making detailed psychological observations about her for the past four years - we are not the same.

[Patreon | Ko-fi]

#love early seasons Tuvok where he really goes hard on hissing at Chakotay like '/I/ know her best. She trusts /ME/ the most'#wish they had a whole episode about the three of them and their dynamic. REAAAALLY I wish there was a whole multi-episode arc about it #Tuvok #Kathryn Janeway #I didn't wanna draw any particular uniform bc I don't really care when precisely they were ensigns #and the show doesn't either (Janeway has known Tuvok 6 or 20 years)#the starfleet uniform changes so much anyway <3 I don't mind - it's fun #st voyager #voy #st voy #star trek voyager #this can be ship art if you believe #bea art tag #there is SOMETHING going on between them #Tuvok has a file somewhere that's just FOUR + /YEARS/ of observations on Janeway #I need you to understand - at the time of him saying this they have not been in the delta quadrant for four years. He was doing this BEFORE

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waitineedaname · 8 months ago

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mxtx characters who, in my humble butch opinion, should be butch

Luo Binghe: listen. look me in the eyes. in a genderswap situation, Binghe should get to be butch. one of the key themes in SVSSS is gender, and one of the things that distinguishes SVSSS!Binghe from PIDW!Binghe is that he's not the hypermasculine protagonist and instead is allowed to enjoy more feminine things (like being Shizun's housewife). that's why he's specifically called Bing-mei and it's also why im on my transfemme Binghe soapbox all the time, but that's a whole other topic. what im saying is if we're reversing the gender situation, then fem!Binghe in SVSSS should get to enjoy more masculine things. it's what she deserves. she strikes me as the kind of butch that gets a thrill out of doing gentlemanly things like giving SQQ her coat when she's cold. she should be the Bing-di to PIDW's Bing-jie

Shang Qinghua: this one is deeply self-indulgent projection but don't fucking worry about that okay. SQH is a very specific flavor of low effort butch nerd. SQH is the cookie monster pajamas to butch pipeline. SQH cuts her own hair with regular scissors for convenience and Shen Yuan is dying to get her to just buy some goddamn clippers. SQH is running off of four red bulls and spite. She inexplicably has game and she's just as confused about this as you are

Xie Lian: imagine this for me. you go to one of those volunteering events where you're cleaning trash out of a creek or something. there is a woman there in cargo pants or maybe overalls, something with a shit ton of pockets. she has not shaved in months, maybe years. her hair is in the messiest bun possible, or maybe tied back under a baseball cap. she is somehow the most beautiful woman you've ever seen. after taking away all the trash and informing everyone how to sort the recycling, she is picked up by another woman who appears to be the definition of high camp. you leave this encounter feeling like you might have been converted to something. perhaps to lesbianism. this is what an encounter with butch Xie Lian is like.

#mxtx #DO YOU UNDERSTAND MY VISION.#the real answer is that all characters should be butch #But These Three Specifically #don't let me near your characters. i will make them all aro and/or butch and/or trans #sqh and xl are both really funny to me bc they stand out so much next to their partners #bc mobei jun is like. terrifying high femme #and hua cheng is doing the kind of camp you'd expect from a rocky horror performance #and they are so obsessed with their butch partners #with binghe it depends on which version of sqq we're going for #like if it's shen qingqiu then we're going for like. older milf. which is a gender performance in and of itself #the vibe of a middle aged woman with a weird relationship with her butch poolboy #like that's not the EXACT dynamic but that's her gender vibe #if it's shen yuan then tbh she's probably closer to how sqh is #neither butch nor femme. secret third thing: didn't know she was a lesbian #give her some time. she'll figure it out.#anyway. ouguuguhghghhghg lesbians

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valyrfia · 3 months ago

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Omg thank you for mentioning the way lestappen shipping has shifted, I felt like I was crazy for how I’d drifted away from the ship and it’s so interesting to hear that others have felt as alienated from the way the dynamic has turned and the shit being written these days!

glad it resonated. yeah i still love the dynamic and the soulmatism of it all, but fic/fanon-wise i'm enjoying landoscar a lot more nowadays just because i think lestappen fic has fallen into the trap of majorly popular mlm ship -> co-opted by people who really want to just write het stuff but are interested because it's 'popular' -> fic that should've just been het. it's doubly painful because lestappen as a concept really requires a thorough love/knowledge of racing/the hunger of the win to write properly because it's so integral as to why they respect each other and also why they have this long and complicated history. there are still gems coming out of the tag, but sometimes they get lost and it's a lot of having to sift through people using the ship because it just become a popular vehicle.

#i think lestappen is the hardest f1 rpf dynamic to get right #so that combined with popularity was always going to result in a lot of people only taking the friends/coworkers to lovers dynamic #whereas they are at their core an enemies to lovers story #it's the weird state of knowing someone where you had too much emotion for them at a very early age #they've seen your spiderman helmet and embarrassing haircuts and the way you were always quiet #and you hated each other #but they everyone around you said you'll be each other's only true challenge #and it's like this half-suspended prophecy that hasn't yet come true #meanwhile it drives you crazy #and this guy who you're not quite sure is rival friend or coworker is the only one who knows how to race you properly #and the only one who understands your mutual obsession like you do #but also you're not friends. not really #it's the red string of fate #second hardest dynamic actually i don't think anyone has quite figured out charlando #we're getting close though #there are some really excellent fics but also whoooo boy is charlando an emotional bag of worms

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shallowseeker · 3 months ago

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I was thinking about Cas's little sarcastic dig in Family Matters here ("Of course. Your problems always come first.")

Sam, and especially Dean, don’t want to be treated like they’re being babysat by Cas, yet in the early days, they often hope Cas will be endlessly available, invincible, and strong.

(And it's complicated because... compared to them, Cas kinda IS!!!)

Cas, for his part, occupies a complicated space for them. While he is given room to be vulnerable at times, he’s also relied on to be everything at once: Dean's partner in times of trouble, someone who will "be there when Sam calls" and "tear the attic up for Sam," all while shouldering cosmic battles.

The irony is even deeper when Cas gets referred to as "a child" or "a baby in a trench coat"—yet his strength, sacrifice, and loyalty are counted on without question.

(Cas is often goaded into being stronger, of course, because Dean is scared and needs that strength from Cas more than Dean needs it from anyone else, even if Dean doesn't understand why that is. And even if Cas doesn't catch everything in those references, Cas can't help but FEEL that expectation.)

///

BY ANYWAY, BOBBY. In Weekend at Bobby's, Bobby is SOOooooo parent-coded in this episode in a way that kinda parallels Cas in s6.

It's an off-key parallel, but both Bobby and Cas are expected to be there. Bobby without "selfish" complaint, Cas without visible weakness.

Their struggles often go unnoticed unless voiced outright—something Bobby, in true crusty Bobby fashion, has no prob doing in Weekend at Bobby’s:

INT. BOBBY’S HOUSE – NIGHT BOBBY: I – I hear you, son. I – it just ain’t a good time. DEAN (over the phone): Yeah, okay. You know what – Forget it. I mean I'm baring my soul like a freaking girl here and, uh –And you've got stuff to do. So that is – that's fine. That's fine but, seriously, a little selfish. Not all about you. [Bobby gets angry and leans forward.]

///

Dean is going through a LOT, but it's funny how like a child he comes off here. He's spinning out, and he has "no one to talk to," and Bobby's his DAD!

Dean invokes his own emotions like "baring his soul," and is clearly taken aback when Bobby isn't immediately receptive. It shows how Dean expects Bobby to always be there, without question, no matter what Bobby might be dealing with.

That’s classic "invincible parent" territory: the idea that their needs are secondary, or even non-existent.

(Aside// This is sometimes a bit how Sam can treat Dean throughout the run of the series, and how both boys occasionally treat Cas in s6).

///

And then Bobby tears them a new one!!! :D Yay!!! It's a real family moment and I LOVE IT:

DEAN (putting Bobby on speaker after Bobby tells him to go get Sam): You're on speaker, Bobby. BOBBY: Sam. Dean. love you like my own. I do. But sometimes [Bobby pauses and takes a long drink.] Sometimes… You two are the whiniest, most self-absorbed sons of bitches I ever met! I'm selfish? Me? I do everything for you! Everything! You need some lores scrounged up – You need your asses pulled out of the fire –You need someone to bitch to about each other – [Sam looks at Dean, puzzled.] BOBBY (over the phone): You call me and I come through – Every damn time! And what do I get for it?Jack with a side of squat! DEAN: Bobby – BOBBY: Do I sound like I'm done? Now look. I know you've got issues. God knows I know. But I got a news flash for you. You ain't the center of the universe! Now, it may have slipped your mind …that Crowley owns my soul! And the meter is running! And I will be damned if I'm going to sit around –And – and be damned! So how about you two sack up and help me for once? Dean looks very humble and Sam calm. SAM: Bobby, all – all you got to do is ask. DEAN: Anything you need... we're there.

Hits like a tired, overlooked parent.

He reminds them he gets nothing in return from them, which is a HUGE call out to how invisible and thankless his role as caretaker has become.

Bobby’s "sack up and help me for once" is both a plea and a challenge, demanding they grow up and recognize that he, too, is vulnerable and needs support.

It's the parent figure finally voicing the toll of always being strong—for once, asking to be seen.

Dean especially is humbled here. He's been the caretaker for his family, so he gets it immediately.

How hard he was leaning on Bobby.

///

Aside/// This season, Dean's actual support group is small, maybe even consists of just Bobby and Cas. Dean is short on "Dean understanders" this season; that is, he's short on people who see his core experience as not merely a brother, but an actual *pseudo-parent. Dean is a parent of Sam Winchester: and Sam is a complicated, apocalyptic-torn person who's often saddled with shouldering waaaay too much cosmic responsibility...

...which in turn has Dean shouldering too much responsibility too!

So when it comes to Bobby and Cas, Dean puts what he can't take on them! His family!

///

But unlike Bobby, Cas doesn't ask for help.

Which... it's complicated. (And very human.)

For starters, thanks to his upbringing, Cas WANTS to be strong. He thrives and is comfortable being that. Second, there are definitely little ways Cas gets the not-so-coded message that it's bad to be weak, even if those weren't the messages Dean intended to send. (Dean is desperate for everyone to be okay, and he needs someone to want to shoulder the real, complete Dean, with all his duties and complications. And for some reason, subconsciously, Dean wants that someone... to be Cas.)

Regardless, lines like "Babies whine" and "Without your powers" dig a lot deeper than intended for Cas, because Dean didn't have the full scope of the angelic war or Cas's fears about Raphael. And even when Dean DID get glimpses of that, it didn't yield the full story.

///

For his part, Cas is keeping Sam and Dean at arm's length, trying to place them in a "these are my charges to protect" role.

Bu unlike with Bobby, who Dean firmly places in a parental role, something is trying to FUNDAMENTALLY shift between Cas and Dean.

They often find themselves eye-to-eye in the kitchen, making decisions together in a way that feels imho very spousal, creating a dynamic where Dean doesn’t quite know how to navigate this growing sense of wanting to be an equal partner with Cas.

So you get their weird push-pull power struggle between them, sniping and bitching, mirroring what happens in real-life couples early in the relationship when responsibilities are heavy and scary. It's this swirling mix of "Oh shit, I don't know what to do! And YOU don't know what to do! What do WE DO?!" And "You are such a baby / be careful you idiot / be stronger plz for the love of god"

But yeah.

So... Cas holds himself in the role of an ANGEL, remaining largely invisible throughout the season and trying his best to keep his struggles INVISIBLE too, including the war he's fighting on humanity's behalf. Cas prefers that. From a distance. Emotions are scary af; he even calls them CRIPPLING in Mommy Dearest.

(Aside///Call-forward to Mary’s: "I was trying to make things right. Just from a distance, because... being here with you was too hard. Seeing what I'd done to you and to Sam, I..." /// Mary was ashamed of her deal; And Cas was ashamed of his brothers, of angelicity itself, of what they KEEP doing to humanity.)

Anyway, Dean doesn’t quite know how to handle their strange bond, that longing, that closeness, especially as Cas insists on remaining emotionally and physically distant, trying to handle a war they can't even see.

As for Bobby and Cas...

While they have their moments of pushback (Bobby’s explosion in Weekend at Bobby’s, Cas’s barbed sarcasm in Family Matters), and it definitely reveals the strain they’re under...

...it often also works to underscore just how invisible their labor has become to the very people they love.

But while Dean begins to grow up enough to see and name Bobby's sacrifices, his understanding of Cas's struggle is murkier, tangled up in pride, love, and the deep, unspoken hope that Cas will always be strong enough for both of them. (Save-me-save-US-but-let-me-help-you.)

I think the thing I love about it all… is the dualistic (subconscious) desire for Cas to make everything okay versus the worry for Cas not to shoulder these burdens alone. It's SOOOOO! HNNNNNnNNnngg. It's very real.

///

EDIT DISCLAIMER: This wasn't exactly the point of this post (Bobby and Cas feeling misunderstood/underappreciated), but for completionist's sake:

Dean's grief is attenuated by the experience of being a "pseudo-parent," and definitely a caretaker in the context of "cosmic-inflicted illness," and that's a riptide that runs through season 6 in a big way. Dean needs the people he loves to SEE this aspect of his life in order to feel understood.

That's what 12x22 is all about. The thread from season 6 to season 12 is surprisingly thick! That's why this:

prefaces this: BEING SEEN

It's not a question of how fair or unfair it is, or if he "should be" or "shouldn't be" "a parent." It's about those very real efforts being seen and understood by those around him, including the grief and continued sense of responsibility this has wrought under worsening and frankly, incredibly unfair cosmic circumstances.

#cas stuff #tfw family dynamics #the difficult job of caretaking #spn 6x04 #spn 6x07 #spn family matters #spn weekend at bobby's #i love season 6 GOD #also still thinking about lisa as a tragic dean misunderstander re: comparing sam to her sister and not to ben #it's not a shortcoming it's simply a failure to understand the nature of dean's grief after a year and it's so lovely really #also cas's sass is legend: your problems always come first #for dean it's the nature of growing up and learning to see and BE SEEN #or the nature of a grownup friendship becoming a grownup relationship too if you squint #dean and cas aren't playing house... THEY ARE A HOUSE #even in free to be you and me #they squat in a house together that is filled with new growth #they can't help but be a house even when no home is present #and THAT'S the scary thing #i also love the lesson here for cas bobby that you do kinda have to let ppl know when you're suffering bc ppl are oblivious sometimes lol #everyone's got a lot of probs and your friends WILL be there if only you ask #sobbing - this is an issue i am VERY cas-coded btw #i like to be pretend invincible and i DEFINITELY don't want to ask for the help i need #caretaker fatigue is real and very VERY isolating which works well here too i think

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sunlitlemonade · 2 months ago

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i want to write jason & natalia but head so scattered.....

#its not anything grand really #just a fic of them sitting & chatting on a rooftop. there's a breeze carrying a faint spray of rainwater after a thunderstorm has died down #they're watching the moon #natalia tucks one of jays curls behind his ear & cups his face & tells him she missed him #tells him shes glad he is alive #& jay can do nothing but blink back tears because when has anyone ever said that?#that theyre glad hes back? [except talia ofc]#he gets to hide his face in someone's neck like he's fifteen again & can be held #he gets to be loved again #fuuuuck dude talia mention just gave me the vision of writing jason introducing talia & natalia #im not sayin theyre besties but the three of them could definitely go out for some fancy dining & exchange notes on wine & how fucking #stupid bruce is 💗#truly believe they wouldnt want to discuss bruce at first but when they do natalia helps talia take that final step of letting her misplace #affection for him go. SAID AS A BRUTALIA SHIPPER BTW #idk i just think them being bittersweet divorcees is The Flavour but talia loves fiercely & deeply & will def need a hot second to truly le #go of the idea of being with him. shes extremely logical & ruthless ofc & will NAWT gaf abt some guy who doesnt treat her right #i KNOW but you must understand. they were deeply fond of each other. bruce however has the problem of wanting to fuck gotham fr #whereas talia is normal to an extent. so. yea she does take her time & looking at all the shit that jason went thru at his hands + nat's #support would be the last straw methinks. i don't think theyre capable of hating each other fully ever but.#she finally lets go.#wait where was i. JASON NATALIA & TALIA TRIO. RIGHT. ugh guysssss what do i doooo #i have a zine fic to complete but also that jay leaves the bats wip is haunting me + That One dick & jay fic that has me by the throat #& now this.#theres several other wips ofc but these are in the forefront of my mind.#feel like i should give up on all of these & resort to being an aftg girlie exclusively. i have had jean & neil thoughts for YEARS #the vindication i felt when the new trilogy explored their dynamic??? ethereal. unmatchedddd.#or i should just. stop writing 🙂‍↕️#can't be haunted by visions you don't even plan on bringing to fruition thumbs up emoji. thats a good plan #veering off into intrusive thoughts territory lolololololol

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charmallows · 5 months ago

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i've seen a lot of takes on fantube family and i agree with just about every take on them in some aspect be it positive or negative but as an avid fantube family enjoyer my defense is that they're just really funny. fan and test tube care So much but they're horrible parents. they could never actually raise a kid and thank god they didn't Have to raise bot. bot's got their own thing going on. it's just that their mom and dad are there too being so supportive like they're at their kid's soccer game

#inanimate insanity #i don't really agree with the idea that bot actvely resents their parents #like for sure there is some resentment there. its present in the show and totally understandable #but theres this sense of bot being Vitriolic and Hateful toward their origin which i dont really see #thats the only time an argument against fantube family will lose me #BUT. i get it otherwise. not everyone's sold on their dynamic and that's so fine #i love fantube and i love bot and i love the potential for their relationship to improve #and for hilarious family hijinks. i like familial dynamics what can i say #charmaaallow

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untitledgoosegay · 4 months ago

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one of the weirdest experiences i ever had was flipping through dimidue fic early on and realizing " ... oh some of you guys are here for the power dynamic? like straight-up? you're getting off to the appearance of their relationship? and not the complex interwoven navigation of the personal, interpersonal, and political in an attempt to honestly connect and express selfhood? not the balance of truth, half-truth, and façade? not the struggle to truly express, receive, and understand love, despite the power dynamics at play and the political realities of the situation?"

skill issue. lmao

#bird original #look if you're into straightforward power dynamic that's Fine #-- honestly connect and communicate through the layers of compounded trauma repression and political necessity #ABOUT dimitri's craving for genuine human connection not mediated by his status; & the fact that that is frankly impossible #every relationship he has will always be inflected by his status -- but that doesn't mean they can't have a genuine relationship at all #especially from dedue who isn't from faerghus and has no ingrained attachment to the role of knight or king #“to be your friend ... is what i have always wanted”#dedue trusts dimitri **because he's dimitri**. not because he's king. because dedue is intimately familiar with dimitri as a person #if anything dedue loves dimitri DESPITE his status. & yet dimitri's status is a factor.#if dimitri wasn't a prince dedue wouldn't be. alive.#& it's dimitri's power as a prince that allows him to promise dedue justice #& *a role in* that justice #& to convince dedue that he means what he says -- that he really will use his power in the way that he's promised #but all of that is about *DIMITRI* as an individual #dedue expresses deference to dimitri because he has to; because he's assumed that role to protect himself & to remain by dimitri's side #but if you pay attention -- and EVERYTHING about dedue's character requires paying attention -- he doesn't believe in that deference #he doesn't truly see himself as subservient to dimitri as a *state of being*; he doesn't consider himself *beneath* dimitri #despite what he says with his mouth about having no personal will except as an extension of dimitri's; he quite clearly does not give a shi #about dimitri's orders when he doesn't feel like it #and because he knows dimitri won't actually enforce them because that's not how their relationship works #**dimitri** is the one who has a greater complex about their power dynamic and thinks it's more straightforward than dedue does #because everything else in dimitri's life has convinced him that this is how all of his relationships will always be #& dedue is also insisting with his mouth that that's how their relationship is -- so what else can dimitri believe?#i don't think dedue quite understands that dimitri *can't* see through him #i should've made this a whole separate post lmao #fe3h tag #dimidue

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goldensakuma · 23 days ago

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i am in. Immense Pain

#so making shïttÿ sakkun memes is how i'm coping with the loss of what could have been and what will never be. WE COULD HAVE HAD IT ALLLLL #like congrats to ae group and that one random starto junior they shoehorned in as Totty ig i dont hold it against them but in my mind's eye #Snow Man IS Osomatsu-san. you could not ask for a better perfect fit cast for the sextuplets than them and i will live and die on that hill #ESPECIALLY DORAMA HAN!!!!! JYUSHI!SAKU AND OSO!KOJI AND ICHI!FUKKA ARE INSANELY HIGH OCTANE ACTORS SO DEDICATED TO THEIR ROLES #and while i have my tiiiny qualms with kara!hikaru and choro!meme and todo!raul you CANNOT look me in the eye and say they didn't do great #AND ESP THEIR DYNAMIC TOGETHER AS A GROUP!!! SNOW MAN HAS THE BESTEST BROTHERLY CHEMISTRY AND VARIETY SILLINESS TO PULL IT OFF SO NATURALLY #ISTG BROTHER BEAT DID NOT BECOME ONE OF SUNO'S MOST ICONIC SONGS EVER FOR SUCH DISRESPECT 😭😭😭#GIVE US MORE PERIOD AND CLOSE AND END CONVOLUTED PLOT SHENANIGANS OR HELL JUST MAKE NEW FUN DIFF ROLES FOR ABE-CHAN AND YURIGUMI!!!#all i truly want from an ososan movie is a direct to heart brotherly adventure where they explore the diff dynamics between the sextuplets #that's what the first movie was really missing for me tbh since they separated the sextuplets way too much in the runtime >:'(((#PLEASE I JUST WANNA SEE MY MOST BELOVED STUPID VIRGIN NEET TRASH LOSERS BE STUPID VIRGIN NEET TRASH LOSERS TOGETHER FOREVER AMEN #I JUST WANNA TO SEE MY MAT-SUNO BOYS AGAIN. MY TWO FAVE IDIOT BROS BEING THEIR IDIOT SELVES AGAIN. I JUST WANNA FEEL ALIVE AND LAUGH AGAIN #AND KAMI-SAMA HAS SPIT IN MY EYE AND CALLED ME A PATHETIC FOOL FOR IT. WHY ARE WE STILL HERE. JUST TO SUFFER #okay but in all seriousness ik i'm heavily biased. after all Oso-san IS the reason i found and fell in love with Suno in the first place so #the first movie will always be cherished and irreplaceable to me. is it a good movie??? absolutely not it's kinda dogshit ngl lmao but #it's MY favest kind of dogshit (affectionate). i've been praying for a live action sequel for a long time and. this just wasn't It for me #and i had to find it all out from a damn nanidan discord server at 9 in the a.m. immediately after waking up out of all times and places 🤡#i understand that suno's blown up since and are super busy doing their own things and have kept us sunotans fed heartily with new stuff but #i think i'm still allowed to be disappointed and to grieve.....i'm sure the new cast will do their best and i don't wanna see infighting #between suno and ae fans but i personally couldn't bring myself to watch the sequel. both in honour of the og anime and suno adaptation #but oh well. at least we also got Oso-san anime S4 soon SHIAWASEEE!!! ❤️💙💚💜💛🩷 and i only found out bc of this movie announcement #there's always silver linings and i have so much love and respect for the og oso-san VA's so there's still something left to be excited abt #anyway. is my vv first official post on my snow man blog (after an oso-san gifset reblog) really about this shit??? yeah also hello hello 👋#snow man #osomatsu san #snow man jpop #スノーマン #daisuke sakuma #おそ松さん #mr osomatsu

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the-sonic-crew · 4 months ago

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"SAY NO MORE SIR!"

*grabs my leather bag and pulls out a comically long chain of handkerchiefs tied together and a lamp*

"erm one sec it's here somewhere....."

*my hand inside the bag starts glowing and a kitty of light with the gigachad face is in my arms in the simba™ pose*

"alas. Sonic you must bow before the ultimate kitty because you arent ultimate sry chat..😿😞"

"AHA NOW KITH!"

(YAYAYYAAYYAYAYAYYAYAYAYYSAYATAYYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAAYATATATTAATATATTTATATTATATAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYY)

[shadow's inner monologue at that moment went something like this:

Ugh... the... kitty- NO, MUST RESIST- but... the kitty...- NO, SHADOW. IT'S NOT WORTH IT, YOU'LL DO SOMETHING YOU'LL REGRET WHEN YOU'RE OLDER. PEOPLE WILL COME UP TO YOU IN THE FUTURE, AND YOU WILL HAVE TO TELL THEM THAT YOU AND SONIC AREN'T IN A RELATIONSHIP, AND THEY WON'T STOP BOTHERING YOU. IT'S NOT WORTH IT- but the kitty... it's... all of it... the ultimate kitty.... -that does sound pretty cool but you CAN'T SHADOW. REPULSED, REMEMBER? YOU'LL DO IT AND THEN YOU'LL FEEL THAT ANXIOUS FEELING IN YOUR STOMACH THAT GROWS AND GROWS AND YOU JUST FEEL SO OVERWHELMED AND UNCOMFORTABLE AND OH GOD-]

I... I- I- I-

[Sonic gets up from where he's been bowing, expression morphing from a playful flirt to a worried, faltering grin. His eyes train, briefly, on Shadow's chest; it's started to rise and fall at a quicker pace, faster than he's ever seen it- even during all of their races and petty fights.]

Hey, are- are you feeling alright?

[He steps closer to Shadow, but Shadow's expression only morphs further into something closely resembling horror before masking itself quickly with anger.]

GET AWAY FROM ME. I JUST- I just want- ARGH!

[He backs into a 'corner' of the space, curling into a ball.]

You're all the same. You'll force me to do such a thing... when I...

... I think maybe that was a boundary we shouldn't have crossed. Sorry guys, no kisses for Shadow in the near future. Or, uh, judging by that reaction, probably ever. Sooooooo if you don't mind, I'll justttttttt... yep that cat's ours now OK BYE

[EXPLANATION IN THE TAGS -💀]

#ask #sth #sonic fandom #sonic the hedgehog #sonic #ask blog #send asks #shadow the hedgehog #anon ask #sorry anon I just really need to get something across here #trying to get some more representation into the blog.#As much as i love mary poppins (LOVE HER MOVIES);#we gotta talk about a thing.#what I've done here (this is a mod edgy💀 thing by the way; maybe not all mods will enforce this) is introduce romance repulsed shadow.#when you're romance REPULSED- it's really hard to do things like kiss without getting that feeling in your stomach that you're lying-#to yourself. it's that anxious feeling when you're overstimulated and there's that pain in your stomach and you wanna cry bc you feel like-#you're pressuring yourself into doing a thing that you don't want #and that's romantic repulsion- at least to me.#it's just that i've noticed recently that a LOT of people have been sending in super cheesy romance-related asks and maybe some people here #aren't very comfortable with that. so I've decIded to add maybe a bit of a new dynamic here just so that people can understand how-#different types of aromantic or asexual people work. sonic for example- or at least as far as I can tell within the continuity of this blog #is relatively ok with romantic gestures; he just doesn't actually feel anything since he's aroace. as far as i can describe it's like that-#'meh' feeling that you get when you're- say- eating something that you don't really hate but you also don't really love. y'know?#so he's ok with doing stuff 'for the bit'.#shadow on the other hand is handled a bit differently. because he's repulsed- when you give him that sort of 'pressure' or 'suggestion' to-#do something romantic or sexual- he HATES the idea of that. It's against all of his principles and values. It HURTS- mentally; emotionally;#somewhat physically depending on how anxious you get; to go against that principle. In his mind it's like he's not being truthful-#to himself and it's so painful.#so. yeah.#aroace

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normal-thoughts-official · 2 months ago

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I made a post earlier arguing that Higurashi is a horror story about child neglect and the premature loss of childhood, and I'd like to talk a bit about how I think this adds to the horror in Gou and Sotsu

Personally, I felt like Kai felt a lot more like a tragedy/mystery/action combo than psychological horror; I was never really scared, just sad. But Gou? Gou was horrifying to me, and definitely a lot more so to Rika too, and I think a good part of that reason is that in Gou she wasn't just being abandoned, but effectively targeted by the adults that were supposed to protect her

In Gou, while the horror is certainly also in the killings - I felt it was a lot more explicit and gorey than Kai -, it is mostly in the process of retraumatization. In Kai, Rika was more or less used to being killed, and numbed to it. But in Gou, Rika is faced with the horrifying reality that, even after being able to escape, she could be pulled back into the endless loop of trauma; so there was no way to escape that would be meaningful. This is all explicit text, so I won't waste a lot of time going into it. What I want to focus on is that this process adds an even bigger sense of helplessness that is typical to children trapped in abusive situations. Everything that happens is completely outside of their control, there is no escape, and the process happens over and over again. The unique vulnerability of being a child (both physical and social) is mirrored in that process of being trapped then and re-trapped in the killing cycles

Add to that the fact that Rika had gotten to grow up and was suddenly thrust back into helpless childhood, and things get even worse and more explicit in that sense. For a while, she had experienced what it was like to have at least a few more resources to help herself than before. She was not an adult, but she was a teenager, and she had a bigger support network. Then, all of a sudden, she was thrust back into being a child. Having to go back to the childish mannerisms she had left behind, which, as I pointed out in the original post, were always a performance that helped further alienate her; therefore, doubly so once she was able to leave that behind. Her desperation to be sophisticated, to act grown up, to go new places, was a form of rejection of the helplessness of childhood. To her, childhood was explicitly tied to trauma just as much as Hinamizawa was. Being shoved back into childhood was to have all her hard-earned agency stolen from her

Once again, this is explicit text, so I'm going to move on, but the point I'm trying to make here is that, if in Higurashi horror is tied to the loss of childhood, as I argued in the other post, to Rika, the horror is childhood itself. Once again, this is typical in children who endure abuse and neglect; an unsafe childhood only has the worst aspects of being a child - the dependance and weakness - without any of the best ones - the safety net, being taken care of, getting to play and be happy. Therefore, they don't see childhood as a good thing, but as something to escape in order to survive

So when Rika finds herself a(n even younger) child, she is again faced with the horror of having no choice but to rely on adults to take care of her. Which she's never had in the first place, but after the events of Kai, she at least knew some of them who could have helped her escape her terrible fate. I don't think it's a coincidence that the first two people who killed her in a way that made it clear these loops were different from the previous ones were Ooishi and Akasaka, exactly the two that most helped her escape fate in Kai. It really drove home that she had nowhere to turn to

When Satoko injected Rena and Mion, she ended up basically emulating the previous loops, and Rika never even knew it was different from the other times where Keiichi and Shion were the killers. It was when Ooishi killed her that she realized things were different, and, immediately, she decided that she would only go five more loops before she killed herself

And sure, the fact that this is the second time this happens certainly makes it harder to believe there's any getting out of it in a way that matters, but I don't think it's a coincidence that being betrayed by Ooishi is what finally makes her put a cap on how many times she's willing to try. Ooishi was once part of her safety net; one of the adults that helped change the game. Once he was the one who killed her, she was more alone than ever before. But she still had more people to turn to, so she decided she'd try more, at least a little

Then, of course, she was killed by Akasaka

Akasaka being next was just... Awful. Probably the most gut-wrenching death in Higurashi to me. While he couldn't be called a parental figure, he certainly was also the only adult she's ever had to take care of her. He certainly was the only adult she fully trusted. He was the only person, period, that she ever told she knew she was going to die before the final loop in Kai. Akasaka was her only ally, the only one she fully trusted, and the closest she had to a figure she could call a caretaker. So it's no wonder that, after he killed her, Rika stopped even trying at all; she was only counting down to keep her promise to herself, but she was no longer shown trying to change what would happen or making any kind of effort; she was merely counting down and dying again and again without respite. They didn't even bother showing us anything before the killings, because, to Rika, that was just white noise; she was just waiting out for them to happen. To lose Akasaka was to lose her last hope, and that's what makes the Gou deaths so much more horrifying than the Kai ones, because even the little miracles of respite she had before were out of her reach. For the first time, she was completely alone, without anyone at all to trust; and, as a child, if you have no one to trust and help, you simply die

The next ones are, obviously, hand-picked wonderfully (derogatory) by Satoko. Kimiyoshi may have never actually done his job, but he was Rika's legal guardian, and an adult she liked and felt she could speak to, even if she didn't really rely on him. Akane was literally the only present parental figure any of the kids had, and the one who first told them the Sonozakis would help with Satoko and her uncle, too. Keiichi was not an adult, but he was an older kid that she specifically believed was able to defeat fate. It might not have been the first time Keiichi had Hinamizawa Syndrome, but it was the first time he specifically turned against Rika, and that had to have been horrible. And Satoko, obviously, was her best friend, not to mention the only other person who came close to understanding Rika's situation as a child who had to be an adult in practice while still having to act and deal with the vulnerabilities of being a child, and the only one who was, literally speaking, always by her side

I think the fact that Satoko specifically picked adults and the two kids Rika trusted as capable of changing fate (coupled with the aforementioned helplessness caused by not knowing if she could ever truly escape even if she did escape this once) was what made everything work out so fast for Satoko. Altogether, it only took her 8 loops to convince Rika to stay in Hinamizawa. If she hadn't fucked up with the trap situation, Satoko would have probably been the looper to get what she wanted with the least amount of times in history. It took Rika over 100 just to be able to survive. And Satoko got what she wanted after only 8, because she knew exactly what she needed to do to break Rika: make it clear she would get no adults to rely on, and, therefore, would never be able to save herself. Because in Higurashi, the horror is in child neglect, and Satoko created a situation where that would be inescapable

#my hot take is that gou and sotsu are fucking genius ill never understand why people hate on them so much #like. yeah i miss my best friend and lover mion and i get when people say they miss the other characters #but there's a difference between 'this didn't really help with how much i missed my faves' and 'the season was bad in quality'#i think sotsu and gou are much superior to kai. first of all they do a much better job of being horror #but they are also a lot more complex #the characters are more complex and so is the story #the whole lesbian exes revenge situation is so fascinating and interesting #kai is run off the mill defeat the villain and escape the loop. gou and sotso are way more interesting #not to mention that the way they recreated the situations in the Kai loops when in fact something completely different was happening #was just fucking brilliant #like yeah the last episode was underwhelming i agree #but i don't think the end of kai was all that satisfying either lol #we might have gotten everything we wanted as viewers but there were soo many plot holes #to this day i dont understand why the fuck takano wanted to gas the whole village in the first place #im hoping the VN/manga can help me understand what the hell her motivation was cuz ive got nothing #like yeah her grandpa was treated like shit. how would gassing all of hinamizawa change that though #like it wouldn't help her research get better treated because she knew from the start it would be covered up as a volcanic eruption????#it's just stupid #anyway #gou and sotsu are a much better rounded story with more interesting dynamics and characters #and while im more attached to kai because my faves are in there #its really weird how people treat it as a fake season and shit #when there is SO much juicy shit in there to explore #higurashi #higurashi when they cry #higurashi no naku koro ni #higurashi gou #higurashi sotsu #higurashi no naku koro ni gou #higurashi no naku koro ni sotsu

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