#i have one thing i’ve been meaning to draw but that’s more the IMPLICATION of gore

[aliengoose]

I need to make more art incorporating anatomical studies right this fucking second but i don’t know WHAT to draw

[gojonanami]

❝ 𝐒𝐔𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐋𝐘, 𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄 ! ❞

❝ HONESTLY, I CAN'T BELIEVE I GET TO CALL YOU MINE !! ❞

✧ pairing: professor! suguru geto x reader

✧ summary: it's your first valentine's day as a couple with suguru, but he's away for a conference in another city -- and you understand you do, but you can't help but miss him -- so what happens when he ends up surprising you?

✧ warnings: so fluffy!!, suggestive, mentions of nsfw, implications of smut, reader has graduated from her program, set after the events of the main series (including every part), these two idiots are so in love its ridiculous, lingerie mention, wearing his glasses and button down

✧ wc: 1,206

��I’m sorry I have to be away,” you smile at Suguru through the screen, knowing that you’d kiss his furrowed brow away if he was here, before finding his lips with yours. “This conference was last minute, I wish I didn’t have to go, but Yaga left me little choice but to go,” 

You shake your head, “We can celebrate when you come back, it’s not a big deal anyway. Just means you have more to make up for on White Day,” you tease, and he laughs, a smile on his lips for the first time the entire call, “don’t worry ok? I’m really not upset,” 

“I know, it’s just our first Valentines together and I know you had planned something for us. I really wanted it to be special,” his lips purse, arms crossed as he looks almost utterly hopeless (far too cute) and you can’t help but chuckle, “what?” 

“Never thought my hardass professor could be such a romantic,” you smirk, as his cheeks are tinted with a lovely red, “should I be giving you a poor grade for your tardiness?” 

He rolls his eyes, as his lips curl again in a smile that can’t seem to escape your presence, “Well, while I’ll definitely be making it up with some extra credit, I’d appreciate my favorite student to cut me a little slack,” 

“I recall you cutting me very little slack that first day,” 

“On the contrary, I think I was very kind, especially considering you were late to the very first class—“ 

“And what is this weekend?” You say in mock thought, “our first Valentine’s Day?” He huffs, and you smile in victory, “is this the first headache I’ve given you?” 

“Today? Yes,” and you gape at him, and it’s his turn to smirk, “I love you,” 

And your gaze grows soft, “I love you too, call me after the conference is done for today?” 

“You know I will,” and you both share your goodbyes and you’re left by yourself, as you lay back on your bed, a pout on your lips. Suguru had offered to let you stay at his place, but you know it would have only made you miss him more — being surrounded by his things, his scent, his clothes. You sighed as you buried your face in your pillow, glancing at the picture the two of you had taken in Kyoto at one of the local shrines, almost taunting you. 

He’d be back soon enough — right? 

Sorry I haven’t been able to call again. It’s been a lot of late nights — too many networking dinners. I’ll call you tonight. 

It has been two nights now, and it was Valentine’s Day tomorrow. You had barely gotten a minute to speak to Suguru since your call with him on Friday. You sighed, sending him a picture of you in his button up you stole, along with his spare glasses he had left at your place, can we have a networking meeting? I’ll send an invite to your calendar. 

I’ll clear my schedule. You smile. 

Another message, as soon as I get back. 

You pout, you expected as much — you shouldn’t have dated such an indemand academic. The horrors of academia. 

You laid back, forearm over your forehead as you stare back at your blank ceiling. It was fine, you really understood that he was busy, but you just — turning on your side to stare at his smiling face in the framed image on your bedside table before your eyes flutter shut — missed him. 

You stir awake to lips pressed at your neck, soft kisses that draw you from the heavy arms of sleep, as your eyes flutter open to see Suguru, at your side. 

“Sugu?” And his fingers trace your jaw, as your brow furrows in confusion, “but isn’t it—“ 

“Happy Valentine’s Day, sweetheart,” he pulls a bouquet of flowers from behind him — an arrangement of your favorites, as you blink, brain seemingly struggling to keep up, “you okay?” 

Your fingers find his cheek, “is this a dream?” And he chuckles, as he leans down to plant a sweet kiss on your lips, before his fingers lightly pinch your cheek. And you’re sitting up only to jump into his arms, a gasp on his lips, as he chuckles, arms curling around you, raking his fingers through your hair. The bouquet lays forgotten on the side because truly the best gift was in your arms. 

“I missed you too,” he chuckles, as you bury your face in his chest, breathing in his scent, as if he’d disappear any second. 

You lean back to look up at him, “What are you doing back early?” 

“Made a deal with Yaga that I’d go to all the networking events he wanted, if he let me leave last night,” he kisses your forehead, “surprised?” 

“I am, the best surprise,” you find his lips in another kiss, “I was fine with you being busy, but I just missed you so much. It reminded me of all the time we had to spend apart — and I just know I can’t spend another minute without you,” you bite your lip, “I was going to wait until the end of the night, but,” you bite your lip, “I know we discussed moving in before — and I think I’m ready to,” 

He blinks, before a smile breaks out on his lips, “Are you sure?” And you wrap your arms around his neck and kiss him, lips sliding against his, as your hands slide back to cup his cheeks. 

You part, barely a breath apart, as you press your forehead against his, “Never been more sure of anything in my life — it’s definitely owed to us now, don’t you think?” 

He snorts, his eyes shining, as he presses another gentle kiss to your forehead, “Should we start looking for a place now?” And you grin, as you climb into his lap, a tilt of your head. 

“Don’t you want your Valentine’s Day gift?” You ghost kisses along his jawline, drawing a gasp from his lips, your hands guiding his own under his shirt you had stolen, “I had worn it last night just to try it on, but now,” you undo a few buttons of his shirt, a hint of red lace peeking through the undone collar. 

His clothed cock twitches through his slacks, as his fingers pull yours away, to undo the last remaining buttons to show a red and pink lingerie set — red lace hugged the outline of body with red hearts dotting along the design, sheer blush fabric left barely anything of your breasts and cunt to the imagination — not that he needed to imagine — he had practically memorized every curve and corner of your body. 

“Well?” And his fingers pull his shirt off of your body, as he’s gotten you pinned to the bed, as you giggle, lips parted, “I also baked you some sweet treats, baby,” 

His lips curl, as he leans down to meet your lips, as his breath warms your lips and his words warm your heart, “There’s only one sweet thing I want, right now.” 

The two of you never did get around to looking for a place together — not until the next day. 

✧ a/n: this was supposed to come out earlier, but i fell asleep because i slept badly last night and ended up reading a manhwa when i got tired of trying to sleep. wrote this fic listening to laufey's valentine :) i also didn't tag everyone since this was kind of a last minute thing - sorry guys <;3

✧ taglist: @spider-fan72, @grunge-mo0n, @ameri-blog, @kentocalls, @peachyminx, @forest-fruits-jam, @hanxyy, @flyingtranscatofeffed, @sunflowmaryam, @regrettinglifechoices, @sugurus-fave-monkey, @atomicbxtch, @shinylightsalad

[legally-allowed-to-slime]

been receiving asks in various degrees of seriousness (you guys are very nice) so i might as well elaborate on galaxy duo before any actual toxicity leaks in

first of all. i could care less if you love galaxy duo and think they’re fluffy and cute. there’s only so much objective interpretation you can draw from literal cubes, so at a certain point it’s just your biases forming your opinions, same way you can’t build a house with two bricks. personally, i found them interesting, my interest dipped slightly in the latter half of WL, but who knows? their dynamic could change if/when there’s a new season.

a disclaimer in advance: if it wasn’t already apparent by the asks (anyway the only people who will see this are people who were following me already but this is jic), i am a pearl main. i don’t watch scott because i don’t like the editing. therefore my takes are exceedingly biased but so is pearl, so there’s that.

let’s talk about their dynamic pre-WL. for LL, i’ll accept that they were a cute wholesome duo. i didn’t watch LL so i can’t really say anything, but from what i’ve heard they were your regular alliance. and then in DL. well. the Horrors. i’ve said a lot about DL already so we’re going to settle and say, pearl absolutely deserved to be mad at scott. abandoning her and not even considering a polycule was not very open minded of him

anyway throughout LiL and SL she’s still angry at him and wants to kill him, which again, i find fair because of the tilly death do us part sacrifice (i invite you to rethink the implications of that line paired with what he did next. essentially saying “we break up when one of us dies” and then killing yourself. ?).

and then add in the element of gem in SL. trust me she’s relevant. gem and pearl have a thing going on, scott doesn’t like it because he sees it as gem nearly leaving their alliance for his ex, but still, because gem is Gem, he holds back on giving her the jimmy/pearl/joel treatment and still tries to be nice to her.

WL begins. it’s a lot. gem doesn’t like pearl because she viewed it as a betrayal and also she finds it funny to play around with her like that. scott doesn’t like pearl. pearl doesn’t like scott.

this is where it starts to get contentious, but also a hill that i will die on: the Gs were absolutely toxic, at least for the first four episodes. i don’t really feel like pointing out all the clips of the pointed comments, the veiled insults, the DIRECT QUOTE of “we’re a family whether you like it or not”, so i’ll use two examples, one for scott, one for pearl.

pearl borderline sold her alliance out. mumbo and skizz came up to pearl, explicitly told her that they were trying to kill her allies, and she not only agreed but engaged in friendly conversation with them for the entirety of their hiding. when the rest of the Gs came back (even joel commented on how pearl was alone at the base), mumbo even helped pearl cover up.

this is not normal alliance behaviour, and definitely not normal pearl behaviour. if pearl was happy in the alliance she wouldn’t have practically invited two would-be murderers to kill her allies. neither is she unjustified with how scott and cleo dismissed her feelings from DL. look, pearl is one of the most loyal lifers, to the point she faced a messy breakup with gem. even to mumbo she was reluctant to trash talk scott or cleo, but still, she let them make the hole, because plain and simple, the alliance was toxic.

as for scott; scott was more friendly to gem than pearl. see, i told you she was relevant. this is less black-and-white than the mumbo and skizz trap, but in social terms it means a lot. it’s like your bestie siding with your ex instead of you, which if you think about it was exactly what was happening. scott spouts a lot about loyalty, but he thinks about it very plainly: loyalty is killing yourself for your ally. but in fact what he did was push the “antagoniser” narrative onto pearl and reinforce and encourage it. gem said an inch, he said a mile.

not to say gem wasn’t the one who created it in the first place, but as pearl’s ally, scott’s first reaction shouldn’t have been to side with gem (he admits to pearl that he doesn’t know what she did, but that based off gem’s reaction he just assumes that pearl did something wrong, despite KNOWING that gem has beef with pearl from SL and is thus an unreliable narrator). as pearl’s (and impulse’s, but to a lesser extent because impulse kind of deserved it for going on about the cows) ally, he shouldn’t have brought it up at the start of every session and result in pearl defending herself furiously before he dragged pearl and impulse to apologise to gem.

this is not up for debate. wl!pearl did nothing to gem, or to anyone. scott tried to convince her to apologise to gem, for nothing. again, even gem points this out to pearl, and because pearl is loyal to a fault, she says that scott’s her ally.

anyway. the Gs were toxic for at least the first four episodes, full stop.

here’s where it starts to derail slightly (for me, at least): the sacrifice. but, you know, let’s examine the circumstances a little closer. as background information, pearl was the only yellow/red whose allies didn’t try to get them a kill. like, the Gs’ approach to gaining lives is not to kill others but to spend one session doing nothing before the guy with the most lives offers to kill himself. strange. lots of issues, these two.

anyway, scott offers the sacrifice, and pearl’s initial reaction is to refuse. the alliance talks it through, and decides it would take the target off scott’s back and give pearl a life. pearl and scott have pretty similar playstyles, in that while they do engage in more rp than say, grian or jimmy, they are also, in a way, sweats. the sacrifice was discussed logically, practically, and it turned out to be a logical decision because without it pearl would’ve permadied a few sessions too early.

here’s where i was a little thrown off, by the presenting that this would be somehow cathartic (iirc, scott uses this exact word) because pearl finally gets to kill scott. it’s funny because pearl does admit while they’re going back to base that she would’ve preferred a 1v1, but i don’t think her deal was ever over that she wanted scott to die. sure, she wanted scott dead, but it was because she didn’t have agency in the dl finale. in the same way, the WL sacrifice isn’t exactly because she really wanted the life (she refused it at first), or because she wanted to kill scott so badly (she said she wanted a 1v1), but mainly because both parties recognised that it was the most sensible decision to do in the circumstances that they were in (scott was dark green, pearl needed a life). to me, it didn’t address pearl’s lack of control over the season that she won, or scott’s distrust of pearl.

but whatever. they act friendly for the rest of the season, because technically their story’s been resolved, so there’s no aggression to be acted out. nothing galaxy duo there.

the ONLY OTHER thing of note is the?? matching hoodie?? not on my bingo card at all. i’ve spoken about it in some ask before but it’s just so random to me? like it never went anywhere, and i don’t see why scott wanted to match red hoodies with her anyway. like why her, specifically? pearl hadn’t killed anyone besides martyn, and that was to avenge her allies. they never address this so i suppose this lack of logic is what spurs on the majormoon truthers; that scott loves pearl so much that he wants to match with her so they can be like a #dynamicduo or something.

uhhhhhhhh. i dunno. it’s just so random and again, because it’s never brought up besides pearl’s cursory “oh, we’re matching” (which we now know was planned because scott asked for permission when getting the skin), it doesn’t have any narrative significance to me. maybe scott explains it in his video. idk

anyway, my problem was how a duo with so much bad blood (>3 seasons), to the point that they were at each other’s throats while in the same alliance, was just kinda. rushed? look, i know the life series isn’t scripted, and the players just have to make do with whatever improv they can do, and i do think scott and pearl did the best with what they had, but personally i was hoping that they wouldn’t go the “pearl finally forgives scott! yay scott for sacrificing!” route because it’s pushed under the rug so suddenly in the hopes of achieving any sort of closure.

again, ccs are fine, i think they were great, i wasn’t a big fan of how the story was handled. that’s it

[tangerinecherrygal]

Finally I can articulate one of my main issues with acotar atm. This point has probably been made before and in a much better way than I could, but my main issue with sjm is the murkiness of her stances on certain subjects.

Authors don’t have a responsibility to their audience to spell out their intentions. Media literacy is such a buzzword at the moment, but it really does apply to every piece of media we consume. Mainly the news and what we see on social media. In literature and tv/movies it becomes a bit more complicated.

People come at texts with different perspectives, but if an author is skilled enough, their stances will come across in some way or another. Though sometimes people that have certain ideologies go out of their way to apply it to whatever they are consuming. The Joker, LOTR, American Psycho, Breaking Bad, Succession and on and on. But I’d like to think that most of us don’t have such extreme ideologies that it affects how we view media that much.

Author seems to operate in a weird area where her messages conflict with each other, and not in a way that has purpose. I just read HOEAB and what stuck out to me was her idea of oppression. To me it seemed like the oppressed only deserved their equality if they fit a certain profile. This is true to life, but the writing doesn’t unpack this in any meaningful way.

Why is Lehabah treated with sympathy, and Philip Briggs not? It’s because his rebellion is loud and violent, but Lehabah’s most radical act is still in service of those that oppress her, even if the oppression is unintentional. There is a clear link to real life class and race relations, but it’s shallow exploration means that this commentary on oppression can never be fully fleshed out.

Now for the part that has been tread and retread: the court of nightmares and it’s real life implications. The CoN is full of ‘evil’ people that must be kept from the land of Dreamers. What is she saying with this besides the obvious real life zionist/colonialist parallels? There is no interrogation of this belief, it’s just accepted.

The wing clipping is shown to be a problem, but what would be required for the true liberation of Illyrian women is not something that our dear author is willing to explore meaningfully. Instead her approach reiterates the idea that other people and races within the night court are backwards, savage and unwilling to change. Again, you can’t not draw real life parallels to this. If we view wing clipping as an allegory for practices like FGM, then it paints it as a serious issue. But this is never adequately addressed. This reiterates the message that ‘this is just the way this culture is’ and further vilifies all of the Illyrians. It never gives a true voice to the many women affected by their cultural practices, and because of this, there can never be any true reform in the text.

These little things that I’ve noticed make me question what her intention was while writing. These aren’t once off things, they are recurring in her work. My takeaway is: Liberation is good, but only if it looks a certain way?

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

What I don’t understand in shuggy is why oda added that brothers line. The in universe explanation of marines didn’t knew works, but we as readers? Why he decided to add that? I heard people talking that Japan is very specific about sworn brothers and shuggy are not but why even write that line? I don’t get this decision. Unless he wanted us to think they were like that or idk Did you ever talked about it from the author pov? Like everything author puts in his work he does on purpose. That line has to have a purpose. And what do you think it was? I’m not attacking, just finding good writer who likes shuggy so can answer that in smart way

well, first off i have to disagree with you: oda isn’t doing everything on purpose.

i mean that both in the sense that we know not everything about one piece has been planned all along, and in the sense that we know he’s added elements to his story and world unthinkingly. sometimes he forgets to draw things! sometimes he makes a joke and didn’t think through the implications! you should look through the SBS catalog sometime, it’s fun to see him come up with explanations for some of this stuff after the fact.

now, is the sworn brothers line one of those unthinkingly added elements? probably not. it feels like something written with intention to me.

what intention? as far as i can tell, just the textual one: to show how limited the marines’ understanding is.

the marines looking at buggy’s history with shanks and calling them sworn brothers shows how, even with all the facts in front of them—like viewing the complete impel down prison footage and deciding that luffy and buggy had the breakout planned from the start—the marines will consistently come to wildly incorrect conclusions about who buggy is, and why he does what he does.

(this has become a common theme with buggy & the marines in the years since marineford—just look at cross guild!)

i’m not even saying this as someone who views that relationship as romantic. shipper goggles off, i’m saying i simply do not believe buggy considers shanks a brother.

we’ve seen a sworn brothers’ bond before: the one between ace and luffy. we know how buggy thinks of shanks. the two relationships could not be more different. thus, by having the marines misidentify the buggy & shanks relationship as 兄弟分, as kyoudaibun, as sworn brothers, oda shows that the marines don’t understand buggy at all.

i really don’t think it’s any deeper than that.

oh, what, you wanted to see what else i had to say? okay, then. but this bit gets kinda mean.

listen.

i am certain that oda does not intend for a queer reading of shanks and buggy. i’ve said it before: oda is a remarkably queer-friendly shonen author as far as gender is concerned—though not so queer-friendly that one of the main characters of the series isn’t deeply transmisogynistic—but queer sexuality is just not present in the text.

now, that doesn’t do anything to stop me from having a queer reading of shanks and buggy. that doesn’t stop any of us from having all kinds of queer readings of one piece!

but it does mean that when you ask me, “i understand your point about the marines being wrong in-universe, but why did oda use the phrase sworn brothers?” a big part of me wants to say, “i don’t know, and i don’t care.”

i’m not a mind reader! i can’t tell you what oda was thinking! and frankly, it doesn’t matter to me what he was thinking! death of the author, you know? our interpretation as readers is equally, if not more, important than any theoretical authorial intent.

and even if oda does someday condescend to answer an SBS question about a five hundred chapter-old turn of phrase, and it turns out i’m totally wrong about everything… so what?

you’re not gonna “prove me wrong” about shuggy. i am under no delusions that i am “right.”

[daughterofcain-67]

𝒞𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝒟𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 (𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓁)

(Dean Winchester x Artist/Bartender! Female Reader)

(𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓉 1) (𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓉 2)

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: An argument leads Dean into finally confessing the truth of his career but before you can make the choice on whether or not you believe Dean you find out some disturbing news which awakens you to a harsh reality.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: character death (oc) i think that’s it

Things were about as tense as you thought they would be,. You had never felt this uncomfortable in your own home until this very moment as you stood here with Dean. But you supposed for the sake of your own sanity, you knew you would have to break the ice somehow.

“Make yourself at home I guess, agent.” You spoke and motioned for him to have a seat on the couch.

Dean walked further into your home and he straightened up the jacket from his suit, uncertain if he should bother with taking it off or not. But then something caught his eye. Dean started walking towards wine of your bookshelves, the one that had several sketchbooks you had from over the years.

“You mind if I have a look at one of these?” Dean asked.

You glanced over and saw he was looked it through your bookshelves. “Sure, have at it.”

Then you sat down on your windowsill and picked up your current sketchbook once more so you could get back to work on the cover art you were asked to do. Meanwhile, Dean pulled out a random book and he was slowly going through the pages.

As Dean looked at your work, he was amazed at the detail you put into it. You’ve definitely improved your skills over the years, though back in the day he didn’t know how you could have possibly gotten better. Obviously he was wrong.He continued to look through different sketchbooks but then there was one that he hadn’t expected to find.

This one had a photograph of the two of you glued to the first page. Then as Dean flipped through the pages he realized you had drawn pictures of him, each of them were dated and from what he could tell you often wondered what he would look like over the years or even what he did for a living, judging from the different uniforms you drew him in.

“I didn’t think you’re talents could get any better. You were already really good back then.” Dean finally spoke, but you ignored him.

Dean looked up at you and saw you were focused on your artwork. He closed the book he had in his palm before he put it back on the bookshelf and he walked over.

“What are you working on now?” He asked and started looking over your shoulder. He watched as you were drawing some sort of steampunk looking piece, as if it were some sort of Cinderella alternate reality.

“Cover ideas.” Your shortness didn’t surprise him but it still stung nonetheless. He let out a sigh before he tried to speak again.

“Look, at the bar I didn’t mean for you to misunderstand anything. I was really happy to see you there.”

“Dean, what was there to misunderstand? You’re an agent here to do a job and walk right out of my life all over again, leaving me with no clue as to where you’re going or if you even care to see me ever again. Danielle was right. And I should have forgotten about you decades ago.”

“It’s not as heartless as it sounds. I can’t afford to just catch up with anyone i want to, I can’t afford any kind of closeness with anybody. You have no idea how many enemies I’ve made with this job, how many innocent lives have been ruined, how many people have gotten hurt or worse just because they knew me.” Dean tried to explain but you scoffed and tossed your sketchbook to the side.

“That’s a coward’s answer. Lots of FBI agents have families. That means they’re brave enough to take the risk. But I get it, a simple conversation that isn’t work related isn’t worth the risk. I’m not worth the risk, I get it.”

“Y/N, that’s not what I’m saying!”

“Isn’t it though? It may not be your exact words but that’s the implication.” You got up from your spot and started walking to the kitchen.

Dean’s jaw tightened and his brows narrowed before he started to follow you into the kitchen.

“Alright, you want the truth?! This job sucks and I’ve gotten attached to people like you and the moment I let my guard down, ninety percent of the time those people die. Knowing me is a death sentence. My brother and I have lost too many people because of it. I can’t let you die like that because some monster takes it upon itself to break in and gut you up just because you know me.”

You, under the impression Dean was using the word ‘monster’ as some term for a serial killer or some sick sort of human being, scoffed. “Please, I’m plenty capable of protecting myself against some killer. You make it sound like the Boogyman’s after you.”

“The thing that killed your friend could easily kill you too and you can’t protect yourself from any of them, Y/N! You don’t know the kind of shit that’s out there. I didn’t expect you to be a part of this job and trust me if you weren’t involved I wouldn’t even be here.”

“Thanks, Dean. That makes me feel a thousand times better. And what kind of thing do you think will come after me, huh? Nothing could be that bad. Bad people do eventually get caught.” You said and you opened the refrigerator door to grab something to drink.

Dean rubbed a hand over the lower half of his face, wondering if he really needed to risk telling you the truth after all. You were being so difficult but you didn’t even understand the shit he’s ever seen.

“The think that’s killing your coworkers and your boss’ wife isn’t just any bad guy. You have no idea what we’re going up against.” Dean’s voice was a little calmer, yet still deadly serious. You turned around to see if he’d elaborate or if he’d keep you in the dark just as he always has.

“The business that I told you I was in with my brother and my dad… it’s sort of um.. a traveling extermination business. Sam isn’t my partner in the FBI. Neither of us are agents. He’s my brother, and we hunt monsters. Vampires, werewolves, demons, doppelgängers… every ugly ass creature you can think of, we’ve probably killed before.” Dean finally confessed.

Your brows arched upward with shock. This was the excuse Dean decided to give you? This was why he avoided you all these years and he really expected you to believe he was hunting monsters like Van Helsing? Yeah right.

“Monsters? Really? Dean if you aren’t going to tell me the truth I think you should just leave. I don’t want to see you around here anymore.” You said, growing angrier the more you saw him, hurting even more knowing he would lie to your face like this.

“Y/N, name someone in this town that would gut innocent people and steal their hearts. That’s something a werewolf has been known to do in my field and they are stronger than you can handle.” He was still insisting you believe these lies?!

“Dean, I’m serious. I’m not buying this story of yours, okay? Why don’t you just go with Sam to make sure Danielle and her boyfriend are alright.” You said and when you went to brush past him, you felt his strong grip on your upper arm and you looked up at him.

“This isn’t just a story, Y/N. It’s the ugly reality.” He told you and you searched his eyes.

What the hell had Dean seen over the years that made him so sincere about this? You swore he had to be crazy if he expected you to believe this whole monster thing like he believed it. But before you could ask any questions about it, Dean’s phone started ringing.

Dean sighed a little before he let go of your arm just to answer the phone, figuring it must’ve been Sam.

“Sam? What’s happening?”

“Dean, it was Danielle’s boyfriend. He was one of them. Danielle and I were safe and I took care of Chris but maybe one of his guys broke in and knocked me out or something. I can’t find Danielle anywhere. They took her belongings too. I don’t know where they could have taken her.” Sam said on the other line.

You must’ve heard bits and pieces of what Sam was saying because when Dean looked at you, he saw the stunned expression on your face and he watched as you started looking around to find your shoes to put on.

“Are you sure they took her? What if she had something to do with it? Did you do the test on her?” Dean asked.

“Test? What test? Dean what the hell is going on?!” You asked, wanting to know if your friend was alright. What test could they have possibly been talking about? None of this made any sense.

“I’ll explain in a second just hang on, alright? Sam, how fast can you get here?” Dan asked, turning his attention back to his brother.

“I couldn’t tell you. You and I may have to meet somewhere on foot. They took the car.” Sam said and Dean’s eyes went wide.

“You let them take the car?! What happened to you being the responsible brother, huh?” Dean asked and he ran a hand through his hair.

“Wait wait.. I found something. Dean it’s a notebook with all the workers’ addresses on them. Y/N’s name is circled. She’s bound to be next and I don’t see Danielle’s name anywhere on this list.” Sam explained and that was when Dean heard the familiar roar of the impala from outside.

“I think she’s here. Sam, You need to find Nelson and find out what the hell happened on that hunt.” Dean said sternly and your brows narrowed with confusion.

“Nelson? How can he be a part of this? What hunt are you talking about? He’s not a hunting kind of guy.” You said, thinking Dean meant hunting wildlife and you still refused to believe this whole monster killing story.

Dean hung up the phone before he looked over at you while shoving the phone in his pocket, “You need to go in your room. Lock the door and don’t you dare come out until I tell you it’s safe.”

“Not until you tell me what the fuck is going on, Winchester! What happened to my friend?”

Dean shook his head, “She stopped being your friend a long time ago. I need you to just trust me and stay out of the way until I tell you it’s safe. I promise I’ll explain everything when this is over.”

As much as you desperately wanted to argue with Dean, you could tell from the look on his face that he wasn’t going to argue because this was no longer up for any debate, let alone discussion. You bit your tongue to keep from saying anything else and you walked towards your bedroom and shut the door behind you. But you didn’t lock the door as Dean advised. If what Dean was saying was really true, then you had to see it for yourself.

Dean took the gun he had from behind his back and he made sure there was plenty of ammunition. Once he found he had plenty of silver bullets on him, he made sure to keep it on him so he’d be prepared for when Danielle would come in. No wonder she seemed hesitant to leave with Sam. She had a job to do and he was willing to bet she was the one that killed Callie. Some actress.

Before Dean could even think about anything else, the door was suddenly kicked down and not only was it Danielle that walked through the door but there were two guys that were about Sam’s height dressed in leather like they were a couple of bikers from the bar or something. Sort of matched the charisma, or lack of, that Callie’s former boyfriend was talking about.

“Well well… You were just gonna spend the night with your friend and when she least expected it, you’d kill her like you killed Callie, huh?” Dean said as he lifted the gun to aim at their direction.

“Oh what would you know. Nelson deserves what he’s got coming. But it serves him right to watch everything he worked for fall apart, just like he did with my father’s pack.” Danielle seethed.

You could faintly hear the conversation from behind your bedroom door and your heart sank. Danielle was going to kill you? That was why she asked if she could spend the night? Why would she do that? She was one of your good friends, or at least that’s what you hoped. Clearly you were wrong, but what was this talk about a pack?

You reached up and carefully turned the knob, doing your best to keep quiet and you slowly started to open the door so you could hear things a little bit better. You simply cracked it open, not wanting to give your location away completely.

“Come on, you know Y/N better than anyone and you knew Callie better than anyone. You know damned well neither of them deserve what you’re doing to them. They’re good people and you know it.” You could hear Dean say but Danielle scoffed.

“My father was a good man before your kind took it upon yourselves to massacre my family! We never hunted anyone, strictly animals because my father wanted to be civilized. Live under the radar and stay clear of hunters. But Nelson… Nelson decided all of us are the same ugly things that keep you up at night. When he killed my family there was anarchy. I took the lead and said to Hell with it, we’re going after Nelson in the most.. traditional.. way possible. Show him the monsters he wanted us to be.” You could hear Danielle say, but your heart sank down to your feet.

Dean was right, she must’ve never been your friend if this was her plan all along. You felt so naive, gullible and stupid.

“Come on, Danielle, don’t make me pull this trigger on you and your friends. You think this is what your family would have wanted you to become?” Dean retorted.

“Who cares how I avenge them. This is how I’m getting my payback against Nelson and I’m not letting you, Sam, or any other hunter stand in my way.” Danielle said and from what you heard a fight broke out after that.

You heard furniture get moved around, you flinched at the sound of a vase shattering to the floor. Slowly, you moved to where you could look through the crack in the door. You finally saw the truth of what was out there. Your friend and her two companions had fangs, their fingernails turned to claws, their eyes changed color. You couldn’t believe what you saw, and you didn’t think werewolves could possibly be real. All of it felt so unbelievable.

Your eyes widened when you saw Dean get knocked to the ground. You didn’t know what to do but you could tell that Dean was starting to lose the fight. Everything in your was screaming to help him but you didn’t know how to fight these things. What if you did something wrong and Dean died because of you?

Still, as Dean was wrestling with one of the werewolves on the floor you saw him drop the gun and the weapon slid on the ground towards your door. This was your chance to do something. You just hoped that things wouldn’t go wrong.

You took in a deep breath before you opened the door wider and stepped out of the room.

Dean heard the door creaking open and he saw you standing there. Were you nuts?! What the hell were you doing?!

“Y/N! Get back inside!” He called out but he watched as you ignored him and rushed to get to the gun and you picked it up.

You could feel your heart beating fast and before you could think, you realized one of the wolves was coming after you and you aired the gun and you closed your eyes before you took a shot. When you opened one of your eyes, you saw that the werewolf was on the ground with a gunshot wound to the chest.

The werewolf above Dean was distracted by the gunshot and when the creature looked over at you, Dean took the opportunity take a shot and kick the werewolf off of him. Then, Dean rushed over to you while you were stunned about what you’ve done.

“It’s okay, Y/N. You did what you needed to, now go back to the room and I’ll finish up.” Dean said and you hesitantly nodded as you backed away and stayed in your room but you couldn’t help but to keep watching everything unfold in front of you.

You watched as Dean was fighting both Danielle and the other man she came with and Dean managed to shoot the man Danielle was with and she knocked out your former friend. The next thing you knew, Dean stood over the unconscious creature and shot her in the heart so she’d never wake up again.

You didn’t know what you should be feeling in that moment. Should you be angry that Danielle was never your friend, but a monster? Should you be angry that Dean had knocked out the person you thought was your ally?

When you slowly walked out of your bedroom again you walked over to your friend. You saw the claws on her fingers and her fangs still showed. You wondered if this was just some sort of never-ending nightmare. You didn’t know what you were supposed to do and it felt like you had been blind to so many things your entire life. Your world was turning upside down.

Dean saw the look on your face as you looked down at the corpse. He could tell you were questioning so many things right now and he never wanted things to be this way. He never wanted you to get wrapped up in this horrific bullshit of a hunting life and he never wanted you to know what was out there.

“Do you believe me now?” He asked softly, but you gave him no response.

“Y/N… I never wanted you to find out about any of this. That’s why I never told you much about my family or what we did.” He said in a gentler tone and you ran your fingers though your hair.

“Well now I know, Dean. I can’t just unsee everything that just happened.” You said softly and you felt a soft hand on your shoulder. You looked up and saw Dean looking up at you.

“Is it at least over now?” You asked.

“I’m not sure. It should be over if Danielle was the leader of this new pack, but I have to check with Sam if there were any indications of any other members of the pack and if he got in contact with Nelson again.” Dean replied and you looked back down at the body.

“She was the sweet one out of the three of us. She seemed so concerned about Callie when we hadn’t heard from her for several days… I never would’ve seen the attack coming.”

Dean frowned a little when you spoke, knowing all of this had to be a lot to take in for you.

“Let me call Sam and see if he’s got everything squared away on his end, if he was able to talk to Nelson and everything.” He said and you nodded as you walked away from the bodies and went to your bedroom again.

Dean watched you walking away, knowing your life was forever altered at this point. He pulled out his phone again and he dialed up Sam’s number. Luckily he didn’t need to wait long for an answer.

“Dean? Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah… turns out Danielle wasn’t as innocent as she lead on. She and two other wolves are dead.”

“How did Y/N take all of it? She alright?”

“Honestly I don’t know, Sammy… It might take her a little time with Danielle specifically. You get in contact with Nelson?”

“Well… yes and no.” Sam replied and Dean lifted a brow.

“What do you mean?”

“Well when I tried calling him there was no answer. So I took a taxi to his house and when I walked in, it looked like another attack. I guess someone caught word that you were facing the new leader and they wanted to make sure the main goal was accomplished so it looks like they killed Nelson before I had the chance to talk to him.”

“Shit… so what does that mean? Do you think they’ll still go after people working in the bar?” Dean asked.

“I’m not so sure… I think we may need to stay a few days and lie low to see what happens. It’s better to be safe than sorry.” Sam insisted and Dean looked over at your bedroom and saw you sitting on the corner of your bed, disassociating because of everything that transpired.

“Yeah… That might the best option. You think you can swing by to help me take care of these bodies and get Y/N somewhere safe? You said the werewolves had addresses in that notebook right? I think she may need to stay with us for a few days just incase anyone tries to go after her again.” Dean insisted.

“Yeah, just give me about fifteen minutes and I’ll be there.”

When Sam and Dean hung up, Dean walked over to the bedroom and towards you. He knelt in front of you and saw you were just spacing out and thinking of so many different things, he could practically see it on your face how lost you were.

“Hey, you’re gonna be okay. I promise.” He said and he placed a hand on one of your knees, which broke your trance and you looked down at his hand then back at him.

“Dean… I’ve never even shot a gun at a person before… I just killed someone.” You said in such a timid little tone.

“Y/N, you’ve got to realize that wasn’t a person. None of them were. Not anymore. They would have killed you, your coworkers, and who knows who else they would have killed if you hadn’t helped stop them.”

“Danielle… was a person to me. I can’t believe she lied to me like that. Then again what the hell do I know about anything anymore. You must think I’m so stupid for not listening to you before.” You scoffed and your eyes started welling up with tears, one slipping from your face and you swiftly wiped it away.

“It’s natural to have doubts. I know what I was telling you is hard for a lot of people to believe. I wasn’t expecting you to believe me instantly. Stuff like this isn’t easy to take in.” he continued and you looked back at Dean again.

“What am I supposed to do now? Where do I go from here? Am I going to get in trouble with the police? Surely my neighbors heard the gunshots.” You started to ramble.

“The cops are bound to show, but they still think Sammy and I are FBI agents. We claim self defense which unfortunately ended in fatalities.” Dean answered.

“You make it sound so simple.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo, Sweetheart.” Dean said before he moved his hand from your knee and he held one of your hands.

“But as far as beyond the police are concerned… We don’t know if there are more werewolves. So after Sam and I handle the police when they come, I think it would be better if you stayed with me and Sam. Just for a few days until we know there won’t be anymore attacks against you or any of your other coworkers. They have your address so we don’t think you’ll be safe here right now.” He continued.

You bit down on your bottom lip before you nodded a little, deciding to go with Dean after all. You didn’t exactly want to be alone after tonight, but maybe you’d be alright after a few days.

“Okay… Let me pack some clothes before I go with you.”

A few days went by and things seemed to settle down. You had found out Nelson passed away and the cops connected Danielle to the murders so they believed Dean’s claim of self defense. Not that you were really surprised. Dean seemed to be a pretty good liar when it came to the cops.

There weren’t anymore threats against you at least that you knew of, and now that it’s been a week of silence, Dean said it was safe for you to go back home and now you were riding with him in the impala.

The car ride was quiet, as if the both of you knew this week long journey was coming to a close and you weren’t sure if you would ever see him again. You wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t see him again, knowing he’d more than likely say the same things as he did in the argument before the attack. It was disheartening to know that Dean didn’t want to take a chance.

When the two of you made it to your apartment, it was like nothing had ever happened. Only because Sam and Dean went out of their way to clean up the bodies. Naturally some things did need some replacing like the vase, or the living room couch that had been splattered with blood, but you would get those things on your own since you had been looking into buying a new couch anyway. But it was sweet that Sam and Dean took it upon themselves to help as much as they could.

“Well… I guess this is the part where I take off.” Dean said and you looked over at him.

“Why don’t you stay for dinner? I’m a crummy cook but I can order something. My treat. It’s really the least I can do after you saved me and helped clean the place up after everything.” You insisted.

Lucky for you, Dean didn’t really put up much of a fight so he followed you into your home. Dean sat at one of the love seats since you no longer had a couch at the moment and you sat down on the recliner as you pulled out your laptop to see what you should order.

“Chinese sound alright to you?” You asked and Dean smiled a little.

“Whatever you want to order’s fine.” He replied and you pouted a little.

“Dean, this is supposed to be for you as a thank you. I need a little help here since I’m not exactly a mind reader.” You said and Dean let out a little chuckle before he tried to think.

“What about a burger and some fries?” He said then it was your turn to smirk.

“Diner food again? Sure.” You snickered, “Want anything else with that?”

“Maybe some pie.” Dean said and somehow you knew that was a must, considering he just went through a whole pie in three days during the week you stayed with them.

“Sure thing.” You insisted and you started placing the order online for delivery and a couple of minutes later, the order was completed.

“It should be here in thirty minutes or so.” You said, shutting your computer and you set it down on the coffee table.

“You know you didn’t have to order anything.” Dean replied and you smiled.

“Again, it’s the least I could do.” You insisted

You and Dean were watching a show just to think of how to kill some time but the two of you settled on some sort of cartoon. You and Dean couldn’t find anything decent so the Boomerang channel seemed to be a better option at least for the time being.

“Dean?”

“Hmm?”

“You don’t… have to hit the road after today, do you?” You asked and Dean looked at you.

“Well… I mean that’s what I normally do with cases. I never really stay in the same place for a long time. There’s a lot more than just werewolves to worry about and… and well it’s better if Sam and I kept on moving.” He said, looking away from you even though he could still feel your gaze on him.

“Don’t you ever just slow down? Catch a break? Surely there are other hunters out there that can handle the stuff you do.” You said and Dean shook his head.

“Not really… the stuff Sam and I see… they’re pretty much apocalyptic and we can’t put that on anyone else. It’s our responsibility, our burden to bare and it’s a death sentence to bring anyone else into it.” He said and you scoffed a little, causing him to look at you again.

“What?”

“You and your liking for the coward’s way out.” You said, recalling the argument again when he gave a shitty excuse as to why he didn’t get close to people.

“It’s not a coward’s way, Y/N. It’s reality. You saw yourself what’s out there. And I’m risking a lot just being here right now.” He said and you rolled your eyes before you got up and went to your room.

Dean lifted a brow before he got up and followed you. When he did he noticed you were looking for something and he couldn’t help but tilt his head as he leaned against the doorframe.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Looking for something.”

“I can see that.” He said and watched you pull out a box. He didn’t see a whole lot inside until you pushed it towards the end of the bed. That’s when he saw a few shirts and cassettes, mementos of that summer.

“You don’t realize how many lives you affect when you travel, Dean. I know I can’t possibly be the only girl you’ve come across just to leave behind. And from what I can tell, I’m not the only one that could have died but survived. But when you just leave people behind you take a piece of them with you and it’s like you don’t even realize it. You’re too blind with the whole idea of keeping your distance that you don’t realize the people you hurt along the way by not giving them a chance.”You began and Dean lifted a brow.

“Y/N, I’ve gave people chances and they still lose their lives. You’re right, you aren’t the only woman I’ve come across. But once I get too close they get killed. The last one got hurt severely so I had a friend erase her memory to forget everything about me. It’s to keep her safe and I can’t lose anyone else.” He told you.

“Do you realize how you’re making yourself sound, Dean?”

“What do you mean?”

“As far as hunting, you’re bound to be one of the strongest men that I know. Not that I know many- obviously. But what makes you a coward and what makes you selfish is the fact that you can’t allow yourself to be close to someone long enough to know if they’re willing to stay with you even if this life is tough. Hunting is scary shit, I know that now. But you don’t deserve to go through it alone. It’s unfair to you.” You said.

“I don’t deserve that sort of fairness. If you knew half the things I’ve done-“

“Do you think any of that matters to me, Dean?” You set the box down on the floor again before you walked towards him.

“I don’t know much of what you’ve done all these years, and I don’t know the pain you’ve gone through. But I know that no one should ever have to be alone like that. I can tell just by looking at you that you’ve been through a lot. You deserve to have someone by your side to at least give you some sort of relief from this life every once in a while, give you a break from your ‘apocalyptic’ stressors.” You said and took a bold move by taking one of his hands.

Dean looked down at your hand with his before lifting his gaze to meet your own.

“But what happens if you get hurt, or worse? I can’t stand that risk, not with someone like you.” He said gently and you sighed a little before you gave his hand a little squeeze.

“Didn’t you ever think about me accepting that risk? You can teach me a lot and I’m willing to learn. Obviously I won’t have as much experience as you and I never will, but you can teach me enough to defend myself so you won’t have to worry about me so much.” You were trying so hard to compromise and Dean could tell.

What seemed to surprise Dean the most was that you were actually willing to learn how to hunt. You were actually willing to be a part of this much shittier side of life. It was amazing that out of the choices you had, this was the one you were willing to make.

“What about your art? Or the bar?” He asked and you shrugged.

“I can still work on art. The bar was just to keep my lights on. And now that both my friends are dead… I don’t really have anything keeping me bartending.” You explained.

“But what if-“

“Stop with the what ifs and the hypotheticals. Please?” You said, practically begging him to stop trying to make excuses for you to not join him. You didn’t have anything left going for you here.

Dean looked down at the floor between both of you as he tried to think of his best options. So many things swirling through his head about how things could go wrong. How would be able to protect you? How quickly would you be able to learn everything he’d have to teach you? If anything they could always use the help with research while he and Sam were on the field. But what happens if you were researching while he and Sam were out on the field working and something happened to you while he wasn’t there?

You could practically see the gears turning in his mind with how so many things could go wrong and you reached up, touching his face gently.

“This is the kind of thing I’m talking about. You’re thinking about so much already. You have so much on your shoulders, I can see it.” You said softly and he started looking at you, gaze softening as he started to relax against your touch.

“You don’t deserve to carry that stress…” You whispered and leaned up and placed a kiss on his cheek, close to his mouth.

“Let me be at least some sort of distraction.” He listened to your voice barely above a whisper and he could barely feel your lips against his cheek.

Dean carefully moved his head and your faces were so close to each other. One small movement and he’d have his lips over yours if either of you simply leaned forward.

“Do you think you could handle everything you’d distract me from?” He asked, his mind slowly starting to open up to the idea of you coming along even if he still had an overwhelming reluctance within himself. Still, he felt your thumb lightly graze his cheekbone.

“I wouldn’t be asking to go with you if I wasn’t willing to try. I could never fathom everything. You’ve been through, but I can try to make it easier even if it’s for a moment.”

Dean tucked his bottom lip between his teeth as if he were still thinking about it before he lifted a hand and brought it to the back of your neck. He felt the way you seemed to melt into him but all he could think of was how he let Jo and Lisa down.

“Please… just give me a chance.” Your voice broke him from his thoughts, or at least a strand of them. Only to start a new strand.

Dean started to think of the two weeks he spent with you. Those two weeks he had never felt so normal, even happy because of you. It was like the hunting world hadn’t even existed for that amount of time when he was with you even if he was supposed to be working on a job. Seeing you happy and realizing he could make the world safe, make sure you were safe, that’s what gave him the reason to hunt that summer. He thought back to the drawing you had given him, knowing he had never forgotten you over the years and knew he never could. He remembered the way you made him feel and a part of him now was screaming not to let you go like that again. John wasn’t in the picture anymore to lecture him like a child about who he told about hunting. He was a grown man and you were a grown woman, and you were begging him to take you along. He knew you were capable after watching you kill one of the werewolves when you were attacked. So why shouldn’t you come along?

He remembered just how Jo passed, how so many others have passed and who he’s lost and his jaw tightened for a moment.

“You have to promise me that you’ll listen to everything I tell you on a hunt, swear that you’ll listen to every precaution Sam and I tell you. When there is a plan, you stick to the plan so you don’t get hurt.” He said, tone stern with a certain gentleness about it.

You softened, realizing that he’d likely be so cautious with you and you wondered just how many people he’s lost with this life. But you knew that’s something you might never know. You could tell it was taking a lot for him to even think about you coming along.

“Promise.” You swore.

Dean then leaned down and he was so close to pressing his lips on yours. Your noses barely brushed against each other with how close he was and eat somehow he was already at ease. He didn’t know exactly what made it so easy, but it had felt like ages since he was able to feel this calm, decades since his mind finally slowed down just because of a small action like this.

The abrupt sound of someone knocking on the door interrupted the moment and the both of you pulled away before you had the chance to kiss. The voice on the other side of the door alerted you that it was just the delivery guy. He heard the way you sighed with a little irritation and he cracked a small smile at the reaction.

He let go of you so you could tend to the guy at the door. After you paid the guy you set the food on the coffee table just as he was walking out of your bedroom. You were in the process of pulling everything out of the plastic bags but Dean kept his gaze on you.

“I’m not kidding, though.” Dean said, his mind going back to the roller coaster it always was, but you gazed up at him.

“I know you’re serious. I’m not a child, Dean. I’ll be careful, but you and Sam will still need to teach me a few things. Plans have to change sometimes and we have to adapt. Nothing in life is cut and dry so you’ll have to trust me to take care of myself too.” You said, and that was the part Dean may have the issue with at least for a while.

“That… may take me a little time to do.” He warned and you walked over and handed him the bag with his burger in it.

“Naturally.” You replied and he was surprised you were taking this so well.

“I’m not expecting things to be smooth right away and for you to be so nonchalant with me on a hunt. So long as you’ll eventually be able to trust me on these things, then it’ll be fine. I’m a bit of a fast learner so we’ll get there eventually.” You promised before you sat down.

Dean listened and smiled slightly. He knew you’d need that determination. It’d be a good thing to have especially when he and Sam were both so close to having enough when it came to facing demons and angels. But trust.. he knew that would be the biggest thing he’d need to work on.

Dean knew he could trust you with certain things. He could trust your willingness to learn, trust your ability to adapt to a changed plan quickly, but he didn’t trust other factors of a case and when things would inevitably go wrong. Maybe the more you’d be around, the more he’d get better at that.

Either way… it would be nice to have you around, at least to let him forget about his own personal hell once in a while.

“You gonna join me or am I going to have to eat and watch Scooby Doo by myself?” You asked, breaking Dean away again. He smiled before he walked over to join you in the living room where you moved the seats closer to the coffee table.

One day it will be easier to let his worries go, easier to let the weight on his shoulders get a little lighter, and Dean hoped that maybe, just maybe, you’d be the one that could help him along that journey.

Tag List:

@deans-spinster-witch @roseblue373 @nancymcl @jackles010378 @hobby27 @chriszgirl92 @lyarr24 @wirdbeimaufhebengebunden @blackcherrywhiskey @prettyinplaid94 @globetrotter28 @suckitands33 @leigh70 @nk1023

[pinkeoni]

The “Will Has Powers” Basics Post

I’ve realized recently that whenever I talk about Will having powers, I kind of just expect everyone to be on the same page as me, without really explaining much of what lead me to believe he has powers in the first place. I don't really have a good foundation to point to.

So that's what I want this post to be, not really too detailed but more of an introductory post. I'll explain the basics of my Will has powers theories, why I believe he has powers, and what kinds of powers I think he has. I'll be using evidence I've used in a lot of other posts while also keeping it simplistic and not trying to add anything too speculative or theoretical.

Evidence & Powers #1) Nancy's Dialogue and Time and Light Powers

I think one of the easiest pieces of evidence and my usual go-to is Nancy's dialogue in 4x07 when the teens are in the Upside Down. Nancy remarks that the Upside Down is stuck on the day that Will went missing, and then brings Will up again in regards to the lights. Both of her pieces of dialogue here implicates Will as the one who froze time and got the lights to work the way they do.

"The last entry is November 6, 1983. The day Will went missing. The day the gate opened."

"Will found a way. Will. He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights."

(So I used to think it was "The day the gate opened. The day Will went missing." and not "The day Will went missing. The day the gate opened." but after rewatching the scene it is actually the former. My bad.)

Now obviously Nancy wouldn't know that Will is responsible nor do I think she has some kind of psychic intuition, but the writers would know and are writing her dialogue in a specific way that points toward Will in both instances. Bringing him up by name not one, not two but three times places emphasis on him specifically. I think that El opening the gate had a part in this, but if it was her solely then I think Nancy's dialogue would read as "The last entry is November 6, 1983. The day El opened the gate." rather than trying to tie Will into it in the first place. Moreover, the gates that Vecna is opening with El's powers don't seem to be updating the Upside Down to modern times, Will is an important piece of the puzzle.

The light thing is something that I do think is solely Will, given that gate opening isn't brought up and Nancy brings Will up by name twice in the same line of dialogue.

The word "found" here is also interesting because it could have two meanings.

A) Will stumbled upon the lights ability

B) Will created the ability to communicate with lights

Had Nancy said "Will stumbled upon a way to talk to Joyce through the lights" it would suggest that the lights is a rule from the UD that has always been there. Nancy saying that Will created the ability to talk through lights wouldn't make sense for her to say because Nancy wouldn't have access to that information. "Found" is the perfect balance between the two— it makes sense given Nancy's access to information while allowing enough room to imply that Will had something to do with it.

Evidence & Powers #2) Will as an Artist and Creation Powers

If you created a tv character who had magic powers, but you couldn't reveal it until the final season, how do you pull it off without it feeling out of nowhere? How do you build up the reveal without completely giving it away.

Well, I would do it by attributing his powers with aspects of the character that has already been built up and that the audience has become familiar with.

It's established that Will is an artist from season one, and his art continues to be important to the plot it nearly every season.

In season one, Joyce is able to correctly identify that El is not because Will's drawings are much more advanced than El's stick figures.

In season two, Will uses drawings in order to help visualize his now memories and creates a map of the tunnels.

Not much in season three, but Will does use charcoal in one scene to demonstrate visually how the shadow particles work.

In season four, Will creates a painting for Mike that becomes an important moment in the season and sets in motion important events for the future (aka byler endgame)

I will admit that this piece of evidence by itself is not enough to convince an audience that Will has a supernatural link. Will is an artist -> Will has powers is a pretty far stretch. But I think that this combined with some of my other evidence could support what kind of powers I think he has, which I think is some from of creation ability. Will has powers because of xyz -> Will is also an artist -> Will has powers of creation is a better argument and what I'm trying to get at.

Without getting into all of the chunky theoretics here, I believe it's possible that Will may have the ability to create whole lifeforms and vast worlds, such as the Upside Down itself and the creatures inside.

Evidence & Powers #3) Will the Wise, Fire Powers & Prophetic Abilities

This goes along similarly with what I said about using Will's artistry to foreshadow his powers, or using another facet of Will's character to hint at powers without giving it away altogether. Although, I would say that this piece of evidence is probably a lot more obvious than the previous bullet.

"Will the Wise" is Will's Dungeon's & Dragons name, which comes up pretty frequently in the show. Will the Wise is confusingly labeled as both a wizard and a cleric, although both classes are magic-users within DnD.

Each member of the party has a DnD class and character, although Will's is the one that get's brought up the most. The name Will the Wise is referenced—

Episode one when Will is playing DnD

In a flashback later in season one

The episode title "Will the Wise" from season two

And in season three when we have our most obvious piece of powers foreshadowing, when Will dresses up in a Wizard costume

During this same scene, Will says that he has "seen into the future" which is why I suggest that he may have prophetic abilities. Vecna displays a similar ability when he shows Nancy the future in her vision.

It's also possible that Will may have some kind of fire abilities, based on one of Will the Wise's attacks being "fireball." (@reikunrei made a really great post recently proposing that Will's fire powers might extend to some of his other abilities rather than being purely a fire attack, but alas I cannot find it ((I am so sorry Wilbur)))

Evidence #4) Continued Connection With Vecna

Another reason why I suspect that Will may have powers comes from a series of questions:

Why is Will the first one taken to the Upside Down?

Why choose Will as the host of the Mind Flayer?

Why continue to have a connection with Will?

I think I could write-off the first two as incidental if the show didn't make it a point to continue this connection through seasons three and four, that along with Nancy's dialogue in season 4 discussed earlier. Could Will's disappearance have been a coincidence? Sure. Could Vecna have just needed Will to be a spy, and is completely disposable to him? It's possible. But if so, what is the narrative reasoning for maintaining this connection? Is it to just for the convenience of having Will as a beast sensor?

Something else that tips me off about Will's disappearance is the why it happens as well, which we aren't really told. We are told with Barb that the demogorgon is attracted to blood. Nancy and Jonathan later use this tactic to lure it to the house.

And yet with Will, we don't see any blood. In fact, they make a point to emphasize this when Hopper tells Joyce that there was no blood on his bike.

Evidence #5) Will's focus in season 5

Despite Will always being my favorite character and loving him so dearly, I didn't start seriously theorizing until I saw this tweet by Discussing Film, which came out shortly after vol. 2 was released.

I know that outside cast and crew comment shouldn’t be taken as gospel, as they have lied before for the sake of spoilers. Which is why I put this at the end, and why it’s not my only piece of evidence.

But still, it’s not like every comment is a lie, and even then, wouldn’t this be a wierd thing to lie about? And kinda cruel? Imagine saying “Oh, this gay character who hasn’t gotten a lot of screentime is going to be a focus.” only to say “Haha just kidding, he’s actually unimportant!” So I’m inclined to believe that they’re telling the truth.

So if this statement is true, then how could Will not have powers? How would you make a character the center of a show about the supernatural, if he has no tie to the supernatural at all?

[a-gnosis]

I've been reading The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and Archaic Greece by Kirk Ormand. The Catalogue of Women is a poem attributed to Hesiod that survive only in fragments and deals with women who gave birth to heroes. All the heroic genealogies culminate in the story of the marriage of Helen, which leads to the end of the Age of Heroes. Here's one little thing that I found interesting:

Ormand says that throughout most of the Catalogue, there are a limited number of formulas that are used to indicate that a man wishes to marry a particularly desirable woman. "He made her his blooming bride", "[he led her] to his house to be called his beloved bride". In all of these instances, the man is the active subject, and the woman is both the grammatical object and the object of masculine desire. When it comes to the suitors of Helen, however, a new formula appears: "For greatly he wished in his heart to be the husband of fair-haired Helen".

"The obvious implications of this shift in the way that the suitors' desires are portrayed is that the suitors have become less active as subjects. Rather than wishing to make Helen his wife, each suitor wishes to become her husband, a subtle indication that in the marriage, Helen might be the more important partner." Ormand draws a parallell to the Iliad where Paris is described six times as "Alexandros, husband of fair-haired Helen", and then points out that:

"The only other male figure from the Iliad who is repeatedly identified as the husband of his famous wife is, interestingly, Zeus, several times with the formula ἐρίγδουπος πόσις Ἥρης ("high-thundering husband of Hera"). Zeus is described as Hera's husband, and Hera receives Helen's epithet of fair-haired: at Iliad 10.5, he is πόσις Ἥρης ἠϋκόμοιο ("Husband of lovely-haired Hera")."

Ormand agrees with Clader who argues: "The parallell is striking, particularly when one considers the relative importance of the πόσις and his lady; Helen is certainly the stronger figure in her context, and grammatically Zeus, too, loses out to Hera (after all, he is being identified by means of her). The expression would seem to be rooted in a period when Hera was still the earth goddess and Zeus was her consort, or was taking the place of her consort."

[inksandpensblog]

"I think I was getting too bored of the victim and needed a challenge." - Alan on his character naming The Chosen One (in the latest AvG video)

the implications?? multiple victims? the character Alan being even more of a sadist than the fanon interpretation? what?

(I haven’t seen it yet, or the video they’re reacting to actually XD I know what it is though, and I can somewhat fill in the blanks with context clues.)

Oh was this not the popular fandom take for why Chosen was so named? I thought we’d all always assumed Alan did it for a bigger challenge XD

Though the “multiple victims” thing is a more recent idea, from what I’ve seen. However if these were Alan’s exact words then I do notice that he says “the victim,” singular. Though that could mean that he somehow draws the same victim multiple times, I suppose. (No idea how that would work in a worldbuilding sense and it isn’t where I’d expect Alan to go with the story but it’s actually not the first time I’ve considered a singular Victim being deleted and redrawn multiple times.)

Also you’re gonna have to point me to where in the fandom Alan has been interpreted as a sadist, I must’ve missed it.

[redpenship]

cosmic wip

an: this fic is taking me FOREVER to write and i like this convo quite a bit so I am posting it on tumblr!!

---

This was a huge claim. Starline blinked in surprise. “You . . . stabilized an energy circuit? Without a surge protector?”

Ivo gave him another paper from the folder. Starline stared at it blankly. On the paper was a schematic for a capsule; in the main section was a drawing of a small bird, and attached to the bottom was a battery. The title read: animal-powered battery. 

“This must be some kind of joke,” Starline mumbled incredulously. In what world could animals power a facility like this on their own? He couldn’t even begin to imagine how they would stabilize his energy electrical circuit. That was a feat physicists had been trying to achieve for decades. And here, Ivo was claiming to have done it own his own. Without training. 

“It’s not a joke! I’ve been using those batteries as my main source of power for many years, now.” Appearing excited, Ivo leaned forward and tapped the schematic with a finger. “They work because I adapted our laws to the conditions of this world. You are a biologist first, so I will explain this simply: Chaos Emeralds respond to the needs of living creatures. Without their interference, the animals inside the capsule would die during the energy extraction process. The emeralds protect the animals by supplying the electrical circuit with enough energy to function without killing them.” 

Starline blinked. Ivo was right—he was a biologist, not a physicist. He hadn’t looked at energy physics in a very long time. But despite his inexperience, he understood just how big this stable energy capsule could be. Ivo had made a breakthrough in Earth’s sciences. Unstable energy had suppressed the planet’s sciences for millions of years. If Ivo’s invention really worked . . .

“Given your silence, I can only assume that you’ve come to understand the grander implications of this capsule,” Ivo said. He took the schematic and put it back into the folder. “Don’t get too excited. I have no intentions of sharing this with anyone else for the time being.” 

He was keeping it for himself? “Why?” Starline demanded. “You could help science everywhere!” 

Ivo shook his head. “This will not help science. It is a temporary fix to a much larger problem. To help science, I will need to present a complete solution to the energy crisis.” 

“This is a good first step!” Starline argued. “Other physicists could use this to find the solution!”

As Starline spoke, Ivo’s face fell. He said his next words sternly. “If human science was capable of solving the crisis, we would have done it by now. I accomplished what I did by abandoning our methods completely. No other scientists would have been willing to do such a thing.”

They were right back to Ivo’s initial argument: humans, and by extension their science, are idiots. “What makes you think so?”

“Anyone who is allowed to practice science in a lab has completed the circuit of higher education. To survive such a circuit, students must depersonalize themselves and accept rigorous training. They are traumatized into accepting academic dogma even if it seems unnatural to them. Upon graduation from such a system, how many of them will be willing to abandon everything they’ve learned to perform ‘unscientific’ experiments?”

Starline immediately disagreed. “They’re rigorously trained to meet scientific standards.” 

“On a non-standard planet! Everything they’re learning is useless until we can solve the energy crisis.” 

The logic didn’t add up. “Then the crisis is unsolvable. Unless you mean to say that you’re the only one who can do it?”

Ivo crossed his ams with a huff. “I’ve hit a road block in my research. Now that I have the capsules, I am finding it more and more difficult to pretend that I don’t have expectations for my experiments. Staying away from university could only bring me so far. No matter what I do, I will always make assumptions about the future and my experiments. It is an unconscious way of thinking that I cannot overcome; my brain simply cannot accept the uncertainty created by Chaos Energy.” 

Unconscious ways of thinking. It all clicked at once. Starline looked to the cognitive tests on the table in front of him and realized exactly what conclusion Ivo had drawn from them.

“You think only someone with a traditional Mobian worldview can solve the energy crisis,” he said. Ivo nodded his agreement and Starline kept going. “It has to be someone comfortable with uncertainty . . . someone with an intuitive understanding of Chaos Energy.” 

“Precisely! The energy crisis will only be solved by someone whose first reaction to learning the law of conservation of energy is to refute its existence.”

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #25 – The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

The fact that I put in a hold for this is basically a triumph of marketing. I saw Jackson Bennett doing an AMA to promote it, which reminded me that a) he existed and b) I liked the one book of his I’d read. So 20 people in the hold queue ahead of me latter, I finally got a chance to give it a try. Shockingly, this actually worked out incredibly – this was easily one of the most enjoyable reads I’ve had all year.

The book follows Din, a recently promoted Assistant Investigator mainly notable for the incredible invasive grafts and suffusion that left him with grey skin, dyslexia, and a literally edetic memory. The last bit is the most relevant, as his incredibly eccentric Investigator uses him as combination Watson and CSI, running around collecting all the evidence and conducting most of the interviews so she can make her grand deductions in peace.

The case in question is the murder of an esteemed and well-regarded commander through the unconventional method of a tree sprouting in his chest cavity and growing several feet over the course of as many seconds. As things are wont to, the investigation quickly spirals out of control, dragging the investigators to a logistical hub days from the Seawall protecting the empire from leviathan attacks and implicating true imperial grandees.

So, this is a murder mystery. An extremely high concept one, full of leviathan-blood enhancements and supernatural contagion and a whole society structured and organized around the constant struggle to stave off apocalypse, but ultimately still very much an intentionally tropey murder mystery. Every clue is mentioned as Din notices it, always before it’s relevance to the plot is revealed. There’s an extended reveal where the Investigator just lays out the whole mystery as she’s’ deduced it and baits the villain into doing something stupid. One of the supporting cast is revealed to have been one of the killers all along. The entire thing occurs with a ticking clock meaning the investigation has only days to find an answer. It’s all there.

To be clear, this is not at all a complaint. Maybe it would be if I read more mysteries, but as it is the whole set of tropes is a very rare treat for me, and it’s all executed very well. And I adore a well-done drawing-room reveal scene. Not that I did, but I appreciate that I could have tried to outguess the plot and figure out the whole mystery ahead of time from the clues given (instead of just noticing most of them and having a vague sense of where people were headed – though I def thought the governor’s second paying a weird amount of attention to Din was a threat and not the love interest). The whole thing was just a joy to read, even if the characters were all a bit exaggerated and archtypal, and the ending was a bit too neat and tidy for my tastes.

The setting isn’t exactly novel – creepy quasi-horror rich biopunk settings and horrible kaiju whose corpses warp the world around them being harvested and processed for raw materials became fairly well trod ground at some point – but it’s hardly generic or the expected standard either. It’s very well-executed, and the murder mystery conceit basically requires each new relevant addition to the story being clearly explained as we meet it, which was handled with surprising grace/without devolving into multipages reams of exposition too often.

It was very amusingly obvious (and then confirmed in the acknowledgements!) that the entire subplot about ‘preservation boards’ (bodies to ensure there’s no unintended side effects of growing/processing weird biopunk reagents in a given region) being abused to obstruct and delay vital progress to – literally – raise property values for the landed gentry, was directly inspired by Jackson Bennett having read a lot of articles about malicious abuse of environmental protection legislation in the US.

Politics-wise – I mean it’s a conceit of the whole story that the empire is essentially, if not benevolent, then at least necessary and well-intentioned. Riven with corruption and patronage networks, warped for the interests of the landed elite, full of negligence and despair – but at it’s core a good thing to work for, and receiving awards and mandates from on high is a good thing. The issue is the boyars and not the tsar, all that sort of thing. Which works for the story, but I’ve at this point read enough SF/F that really digs into the whole empire thing that the lack of subversion there took me almost by surprise.

Not that the empire’s all nice – the grafted specialists with superhuman strength or eidetic memory or perfect reasoning skills all die after a decade or two of service, and that’s just the price of keeping things running. A major subplot of the whole book is Din trying to hide the fact that his enhancements misfired slightly to make him functionally dyslexic (an issue, when your main value to be a perfect living archive). Not entirely sure if the series is really going anywhere with the whole disability theme beyond the very basic ‘the empire will only survive if it makes it possible for EVERYONE to contribute what they can’ beat it hit in this book – regardless, the fact that Din spend the entire book wondering what had been done to her boss’s brain that e.g. she spent most conversations blindfolded to help her focus, and while doing so can identify most forms of text on a page by touch, only to find out that no she’s just autistic was very funny to me.

[sortyourlifeoutmate]

(Something I knocked out in a minute or three, so probably doesn't hold together all that well.)

Interrogator Loghain was bored. Yesterday she’d been terrified and quite often hunkering down behind something heavy as bullets chewed up the other side, but today she was bored. All of that excitement had been dealt with, and before the blood was even dry a triumph was being planned. 

She supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised. Important to quickly demonstrate that a full-blown rebellion hadn’t actually been as bad as all that and had been crushed anyway, so back to work everyone. All is as it should be, everything is in its right place.

What did surprise her was that she was still here. Normally there’d be no time to rest at all before she and her Lord was zipping off elsewhere to put out some other heretical fire, and yet here they were, quietly sitting at a table the far end of which was infested with functionaries and servants and nobles all clamouring as they planned what was going to be, by all accounts, a very fancy triumph indeed.

“As much as I enjoy sitting in on discussions on logistics and crowd control, is there a particular reason we’re here? And I do mean still on this planet. The cult is broken, its leader is profoundly dead, and what stragglers remain are being mopped up even now. What is there here for us to do at this point? Or do we like parties?” She asked.

Lord Inquisitor Vauxhall-Maine swirled his drink around his glass (drink and glass both absurdly expensive, courtesy of the governor of whom the Inquisitor Lord was presently an honoured guest) a moment and took a sip before he replied. This way he let Loghain know that she was in for a conversation. She braced herself.

“Did you know, Loghain, that two out of every three triumphs that’s held ends in disaster?”

Loghain leaned back in her seat (which creaked) and folded her arms.

“That a fact?” She asked. Vauxhall-Maine nodded, setting his glass down and lacing the fingers of both hands together in his lap. His lap was, as it had been since she’d first met him, metal, because his legs were metal too.

“It’s a broad trend, or at least one I’ve observed. I had a suspicion after the last three I was invited to attend turned into bloodbaths and so I collated data from about a dozen or so sectors, just to see. There is variance, of course, but statistically speaking…”

He let the rest of his sentence hang as grim implication. Loghain wasn’t buying it, at least not completely. Her boss was not given to making things up completely, but he wasn’t above saying something just to see her reaction sometimes. He said it was an important part of her personal growth.

“I can’t tell if you’re joking or not,” she said.

“This isn’t something I would joke about.”

“So this is serious?”

He’d picked up his glass again.

“There’s not a not-insignificant chance it may be serious. The possibility exists that our victory was genuine and this particular threat has been dealt with, in which case things will proceed without issue. Pomp and circumstance for everyone, hurrah. The possibility also exist - and is, frankly, rather more likely - that what appeared to be defeat was, in fact, simply the first step in a grander design.”

“So dying was simply part of the heretics’ plan?”

To her this seemed a poor opening gambit. They’d had to put the leaders body back together again to have something they could properly parade before the people, and they hadn’t been able to find all the pieces, either. Vauxhall-Maine shrugged.

“You would be amazed how often dying fails to put a significant dent in plans in this galaxy, Loghain…” he said, lightly, sipping some more and glancing off at nothing. Loghain rolled her eyes.

“Alright. And so allowing this to go ahead and allowing ourselves to be part of it is a way of drawing out whatever threat may remain?” She asked.

“More or less. Quite often, the concentration of so many people of importance - and so overt a display of the Imperium’s supposed ‘hubris’ - is irresistible to the enemy’s of Man. They just can’t help themselves. There is very little they like more than appearing to triumph over a triumph.”

“Times like this I can’t help feel we’re all trying to out-ridiculous one another.”

“That as maybe, the point remains. They may be drawn out, and if they are we are going to be ready for them, and we shall further learn the truer shape of what it is they hope to achieve, the better to ruthlessly thwart it. This is why I am telling you. Consider this another learning experience.”

“Being bait does sound very instructive.”

“It is part of the job, Loghain. Sometimes.”

“Thought the point of being an Inquisitor was getting other people to do those sorts of jobs…”

[cadmium-free]

Day 13 of 26 with @neopetsdotcom

CELLAR DWELLER (1988)

Lauren's Review

This year, for our October movie marathon, Awl and I very carefully picked movies that were 90 minutes or under (watching a movie every day is harder than you’d think!) and this is the first one that I’ve been truly so disappointed at the fact it wasn't longer

It’s literally SUCH a unique concept and plot and setting and the ensemble cast is a lot of fun. It sets up so many interesting possibilities, but an hour and 10 minutes is Not nearly long enough for the story it starts telling or to deal with the fallout or implications of any of what it introduces

It starts off soo strong but at about the halfway mark it’s like the movie realizes it’s bit off more than it can chew and starts rushing to resolve the plot as sloppily and hastily as an essay written the night before it’s due. It’s such a shame. I could have watched so much more of this and there is so much potential for it to be great

It was still an enjoyable watch! there’s a lot of nice gooey gore scenes and the creature design is exquisite. I’ll just never stop mourning for the movie it might have been

Awl's Review

hit new artist residency where you voluntarily make art in the house from Evil Dead for a month

i'm very charmed at how mean spirited this is to artists (if you want a really deep cut, its scathing attitude about artists reminds me of artist Alex Bag's film piece Untitled Fall '95, which is the origin of that famous clip of Bjork explaining a television). 

the one hot guy for everyone to love, the vicious vent art, the finger painting and bad performance art, the lowbrow art haters, the nasty gossip, and the plagiarism! it's got all of the worst of art institutions. it's very funny. somehow slots itself into my very tiny canon of things that get art school correct (Untitled Fall '95, Blue Period, and now Cellar Dweller)

as an actual movie, i don't think it's great. it's got a really compelling concept: Jeffery Combs makes demons real by drawing what looks to be horror erotica. he dies for his horny art and then 30 years later a woman is like, wow, you ever heard of that horror artist who murdered a woman and burned his studio down? he's my idol! and she too draws demons to life with the power of comics.

tragically it doesn't use the monster very well, but i do like its low budget solution of using comic panel illustrations to show the kills. it rushes through its plot once it sets itself up, so there isn't much tension, and then it doesn't seem to know where to go. it's the kind of movie that would be fun to rent and watch half paying attention and goofing off with your friends. or to makeout to, in honour of the very mild horror erotica comic.

[stray-tickles]

Thank You

a.n. MORE wolf 359. Bc I am inspired.

Read on AO3

--

Eiffel had to admit, he was grateful for the R&R. It wasn’t like he could do much when he could barely see, but part of him thought that he’d be expected to do… well, something. More surprises from Commander Minkowski.

He groaned, laying back on his bed. “Hera, is there a traditional gift that says, ‘thanks for saving my dumb life’?”

“Umm, not that I’m aware of.”

“Come on, work with me, there’s gotta be something.”

Hera paused. “Flowers?”

“Oh, very funny.”

“I’ve heard chocolates are a good gift.”

“Something we have, come on!”

Hera sighed. “Have you considered simply saying thank you?”

“I did that already! It’s not- obviously that’s not gonna be enough.” He lay back on his bed, running his hands over his face. “Look no one’s… No one’s ever done something like that for me. So… I’ve gotta figure something out.”

Hera was silent, but he knew she was there. She was always there.

“Maybe a candle?” He snorted. “Oh my god she’d hate that. Objectively a terrible gift even if we weren’t in space.”

“What about a letter?” Hera suggested.

“Hmmm, nah. Hey, we got any ingredients for a cake? I can write ‘thanks for saving my ass’ in icing.”

“Sorry, no cake.”

“Damn. Eh, I can’t bake anyway. Balloons?”

“Somehow I don’t think Commander Minkowski would like balloons floating around the station.”

Eiffel laughed. “We don’t need to put helium in them!”

He could tell Hera was amused. “That’s only marginally less dangerous. Really though, consider just saying thank you. I’m sure Commander Minkowski wouldn’t mind you saying it a second time, and you can think about what you really want to say.”

He buried his face in a pillow at the thought. “Hera.” Eiffel said, muffled, “I cannot do that.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know! I just can’t! I mean, come on, she’s terrifying!”

“She’s not that bad.”

“No! Not like, bad terrifying, just… I dunno, strong? And I’m a pain in the ass, I can’t do that.” Eiffel sighed. “Maybe that’s it. I could make a voucher book of ‘Eiffel Free Days’. Cash ‘em in and enjoy the blessed silence.”

“Eh, personally I’d prefer the cake.”

“Commander!” Eiffel sat up so quickly he bumped his head, the implications hitting him slowly. “You… have been standing there. This entire time.” He groaned, pulling the pillow over his face and laying back down.

Minkowski grinned widely, stepping into his room. “No please, tell me more about this parade you’re planning.”

He groaned again, drawing it out in an attempt to erase her presence.

“I mean, balloons, cake, flowers, sounds like a good time.”

“Hera how could you do this to meeeee?” He whined into the pillow. She had to know she was there. She’d known the whole time.

Hera giggled. “I don’t know, I guess it slipped my mind.”

“You’re the worst.”

“I think fireworks would work, don’t you?”

Eiffel hurled a pillow in her direction, but it flew wide. It was probably a bit harder to aim when he couldn’t see. Minkowski retrieved the pillow and approached his mortified form. It was nice to hear him say those things. She hadn’t thought that Eiffel had much respect for her, but maybe that assessment was incomplete. She hit him over the back of the head with the pillow.

The impact drew a yelp, and Eiffel peeked out from his pillow. This close, he could just about make out the outline of someone standing there. He narrowed his eyes. “What happened to Commander Hardass?”

She snorted. “Sorry, she’s on her break, you’re stuck with me.”

The next pillow impacted on her shoulder. Eiffel glared playfully. “Careful, I’ve got plenty of ammunition here, even if I can’t see.”

“Mm-hm.” She smacked him across the face, drawing out a spluttering laugh.

“What is happening?” He said, throwing another pillow in her direction. “Are we friends now? Is that what this is?”

Minkowski rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”

Eiffel smiled. He hadn’t heard a ‘no’. In which case…

Two pillows hit Minkowski in the face in quick succession, earning a yelp and a playful growl. “You’re really gonna assault a superior officer?”

He blinked innocently. “I thought she was on break? AAH-” Within moments, Eiffel found himself pinned down, being repeatedly beaten over the head with a pillow by a snickering Minkowski.

He couldn’t have kept from laughing if he’d wanted to. “Help!” He shouted, trying in vain to shove her off. “Officer down! Officer down!”

“Um, is everything okay?” Hera asked, confused.

Minkowski laughed. “Everything is fine, Hera, nothing to worry about.”

“Call the cops!”

“Shhh.” She held the pillow just over his face, leaving enough room for him to breathe. “Stop fighting. Let it go dark.”

Eiffel shook with laughter, doing his best to mime suffocation. Where had this side of Minkowski come from? He was almost mad to find that she did know how to have fun after all. Almost.

He kicked out his legs, surprised that it actually threw her off balance. Unfortunately, the next thing he knew a hand was grabbing at his ribcage seeking purchase, and he had no chance of not squealing.

Eiffel couldn’t make out more than her rough outline, but the smug smirk was something he could feel in the air. “Oh?”

“No!” He yelped, managing to wriggle off the bed and onto the floor, “No ‘oh’, nothing! Nothing to report here!” He didn’t even get to his feet before two hands struck like lightning, lobster clawing up his ribs and drawing out immediate, shrieking laughter.

Minkowski laughed too. This was good information to have, but more importantly, it was fun. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had fun. “Sure there’s nothing to report?”

His hands latched onto her wrists, and she graciously allowed him to pull her away for a few moments. He was grinning, all teeth and ruffled hair. “You really gonna attack a blind guy?”

“Eh, only if he’s a real pain in the ass.” She teased, twisting her hands free and digging her fingers into his stomach, sending Eiffel right back to cackling. He flung one arm over his face, the other flailing around uselessly as he twisted in place, trying to escape. Her fingers massaged deep into the soft flesh of his stomach, and it was torture.

Minkowski snickered. “Wow, not a single ab.” She continued to knead at his stomach like a cat making biscuits. “Forget a six pack, you could at least have a one pack.”

“Um, Commander?” It was hard to tell if Hera was amused or concerned.

“Nothing to worry about, Hera!”

“SAVE MEHEHE!”

“I’m getting some mixed messages here.” Hera said, voice tinged with laughter.

Minkowski couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled this much. “Seems our Communications Officer is a bit ticklish.”

Eiffel cringed, feeling his face burn. He batted weakly at her hands, biting down on giggles. “Nohoho I’m not!”

Hera giggled. “Seems like more than a bit.”

“No!” She was poking now, drawing out squeals and making him curl up more with every jab. Eiffel could feel himself getting lightheaded and giddy from laughing so much. Just as he was considering the suicide mission of fighting for revenge, he felt a telltale itch in his throat. “Wait!” He gasped, making the sign for a time-out. “Waitwaitwait!”

Sure enough, moments later he broke into a coughing fit, shoulders shaking from the intensity. He was taking a few deep, stabilising breaths when a hand found his shoulder, which definitely didn’t make him twitch.

“You okay?”

Eiffel nodded, pushing himself into a sitting position.

Minkowski grimaced. “Sorry.” She muttered. “I shouldn’t have…”

He was still smiling, he knew. He was a bit sore and out of breath, but he felt… good. Better than he had in a while. “No, it’s okay. Fun’s in short supply on this ship. In fact, I thought you’d jettisoned it to make space for… I dunno, more protocol?”

“Careful.” She smirked. “I know how to shut you up now.”

Eiffel shrank back mockingly, holding his hands up. “Oh no, Commander please have mercy!” He whined, grinning when she laughed. He let out a sigh. “Seriously, I… thank you, for saving my life.”

Minkowski shrugged. “That’s my job.”

“No, no, that was above and beyond, and you know it.”

She looked away. “It’s my job to keep my crew safe. You don’t owe me anything, okay?”

Eiffel groaned. “You’re making this really hard, you know that?”

She sighed deeply. “Fine. When we get back to Earth, you can make me a damn cake.”

“I’ll do you one better.” He grinned. “I will buy you a damn cake.”

“Fine.”

“A goddamn cake.”

Silence.

“A motherfucking goddamn cake.”

He wasn’t going to crack her just by swearing about cake. She refused.

“A motherfucking goddamn cocksucking cake.”

Shit. She couldn’t keep from laughing at that, noting his proud little grin as she got herself under control. “I-” She giggled. “I have serious questions about the icing on this cake.”

Eiffel laughed too. “Commander! Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“Fuck off.”

“Language!”

She would never admit it to him, but his dumb jokes were worth flying out into a solar storm to save.

[sinfulequity]

Thinking about how what the implications are if "(Not) A Devil" is Mikoto's third trial song.

Specifically, about these two lines and how they contextualized the song as a whole.

It's preceded by these lines

My radiant halo is closing in around my neck It loosens when I lie, the “Mayday” I can’t call out Let’s cover-up in white paint, get lost in the part and play It gets easier when you lie go on, try it

And as we can see here, their lines are dyed in the others' colours, while brown/gold is them in unison.

(Incidentally, I decided to look up what patrician means, and uh.

That is certainly A Definition, when tied to Mikoto)

This implies that the angel's claim that they're dead and gone is part of the lies interwoven in the song. Isn't this a claim that sounds familiar~?

Mikoto: Please, forgive Boku. If you don’t… I’m sure he won’t be able to deal with this any longer. Es: “A sin committed by another personality isn’t a sin”... you’re telling me that’s how I should judge? Mikoto: Yeah. If you forgive Boku… I’ll disappear. Es: … Mikoto: That’s right. I’ll have to disappear eventually, anyway… Disappear, and take all of it with me. I… was born to protect Boku, after all. Es: You were… born for it… Mikoto: Yeah. If it’s for Boku, I’ll… do anything.

You see, I don't think that he will disappear?? We know that there's still a third trial. I doubt that Mikoto wouldn't be stressed by the prospect of being voted guilty for a second/third time. It would be one thing if it was a longer period of voting, or one vote equating to instant freedom. But the prisoners are fully aware of the fact that it's not one and done (and if they didn't before, I'm sure that Haruka's interrogation would give them that insight). As it stands, there's a very real possibility that the more guilty you get, the less likely you'll be allowed freedom. Furthermore, it's also a possibility that it's a two out of three system. Or, to draw on his relation to baseball, three strikes and you're out.

Mikoto would probably be able to piece that together, and even if he isn't outwardly stressed next trial, I'm sure the idea of that would linger subconsciously. You know, the thing that brought out "John" to begin with. This is regardless of the outcome of this trial.

A tangent, but the lines

this is just a silly joke song

(just kidding~)

(who cares~)

would also feed into the continued insistence that this is all just a dream/bad joke that needs to end. That, and this aspect of Mikoto's character that has been showcased repeatedly

Mikoto: It’s pretty tough, isn’t it? (laughs) Ever since I came here, so much has been happening that I don’t understand… Es: … You really… do laugh when you’re suffering, huh? Mikoto: Huh? Es: You don’t get angry. You don’t scream. You laugh, like it’s a minor inconvenience. Mikoto: Ah… I guess so. I might have that kind of trait. Es: … Mikoto: Usually, if you just laugh and pretend, things work out in the end, right? I’m pretty good at that. Making things work out to the best of my abilities. Es: Is that so… Mikoto: (laughs) …But… it’s not coming to an end. All of this. With things I’ve never even heard before, the whole ti—

His reaction to stress is to diminish it, or treat it as something ephemeral. Something that doesn't truly exist, just ignore it and keep going. Except as we've seen, it's not working in Milgram, and I'm pretty sure it didn't work in the circumstances before his murder too. And I don't think it will work as he wants, even if he's voted innocent this round.

I need to specify that this isn't a thing to sway the vote in any direction, just something I thought was interesting. And honestly, I may be interpreting it all wrong too! I'm not always great at looking at the evidence and drawing the right conclusions- sometimes I can convolute something that's really simple. Or to put it another way, miss the forest for the trees.

[goddessofroyalty]

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII

Verse: Cloud is the Remnant’s carrier

Opened the scribble book to write another thing and found this in there that I kept meaning to type up and forgetting to. It’s also been long enough where I feel like this isn’t in the spoilers territory (which it still kind of isn’t because of how the game actually ended vs this being if Zack’s universe did get merged with the main one)

Tags: mpreg, omegaverse, implications of science fuckery

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

It’s weird returning to Elymira’s house after everything.

Aerith and Cloud aren’t upstairs comatose in their recovery from what happened to them. Instead they are right there in the living room – Aerith leaning on Cloud to whisper something in his ear that makes his eyes go wide and glance up at the stairs and back at Zack.

She seems to know what happened in the alternative timelines before they collapsed in on each other so Zack figures she is just telling Cloud about how Zack looked after them both. He pays it no mind how she puts her finger in front of her mouth in clear indication for Cloud not to say anything before grabbing hold of Tifa’s arm and leading her upstairs. She probably wants to show Tifa something in her room. Five years ago Zack wouldn’t have assumed the two of them would be friends but they seem to almost share thoughts at times with how close they are.

It’s nice to know Aerith isn’t as alone anymore.

“Thank you again for looking after my Marlene,” Barret says to Elmyra, drawing Zack back into the conversation as Cloud leans against one of the walls.

“It’s no bother,” Elmyra says. “She’s a sweet girl. A pleasure to look after. Unlike some other children.”

She looks over at Cloud at the comment and Spike just shrugs his shoulders not even meeting her gaze. Zack feels, far from the first time, like he’s missing out on something important.

“Well what do you expect with where they came from?” Barret jokes. “Ain’t no way they weren’t gonna’ be handfuls.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Elmyra says with the same awkward humor and Zack is about to ask what it is they are talking about when footsteps rush down the stairs.

“Daddy!” Marlene calls, throwing herself into Barret’s arms and the tough guide façade of his immediately melts as he wraps his daughter into a tight hug.

“Oh my baby girl I’ve missed you so much,” Barret practically sobs. And it’s sweet to see just how much he cares about his daughter.

The two eventually separates and Marlene goes over to where Cloud is. Waiting for him to kneel down to her height so she can talk to him at mostly the same leave.

“I made sure they were safe,” she says.” Nobody came after them.”

A flicker of surprise crosses Cloud’s face before it settles on a serious one.

“Thank you.”

Marlene nods at it before returning to her dad. She clings onto his leg before finally noticing Zack.

“Who are you?”

“What do you mean who am I?” Zack asks before remembering this isn’t the Marlene he lived with while waiting for Aerith and Cloud to wake up.

He kneels down in front of her because while she may not be the Marlene he remembers she clearly also likes when people talk to her at her level instead of down at her.

“I’m Zack Fair,” he says holding out his hand. “And, well, I don’t know if you will understand but I come from a world where things happened differently.”

“And you knew me?” Marlene asks, curious but firm.

“Sure did! I was kind of like you’re… uncle Zack.” Or close enough to it. And he kind of likes the idea of being called that.

“Uncle huh?” Cloud says and Zack’s a bit surprise he has any comment on it. “Want to meet your nephews then?”

“My nephews?” Zack doesn’t remember there being any other kids staying with Elmyra and even with all the timeline confusion he’s pretty sure he would.

Aerith and Tifa returning downstairs clarifies some of his confusion. Aerith carrying one crying silver-haired baby and Tifa two, more settled, ones.

“Wha-?”

“They’re mine,” Cloud says as he takes the baby off Aerith so she can relieve Tifa of one of the other two. His tone short in the way he talks when he doesn’t want more questions asked. “Hojo.”

“I-“ Zack doesn’t know if Hojo is a better explanation than the one he had immediately thought of when told that Cloud had three silver-haired babies. “Shit Spike.”

“No swearing around the kids!” Barret snaps like this situation doesn’t deserve much stronger curses than shit.

If Zack could he would revive even piece of shit scientist just to kill them himself. Hell, he might see if Aerith can pull some timeline strings so he can go kill some other version of the fucker to see if it will make him feel slightly better at not being able to prevent the asshole from ever getting his hands on Cloud.

Cloud just shrugs.

Zack supposes that’s the only response to give. What else is there to do with three babies clearly made from Sephiroth’s DNA? Give them back to Shinra for whatever lackeys of Hojo’s that are left alive to poke at and try and turn into the next generation of Shinra Super SOLDIERs?

“Okay.” It’s not like Zack’s gonna’ just leave them for Cloud to deal with alone even if it’s clear the others don’t plan on it either. “I’m not sure what to do with a baby but I’ll be the best uncle around.”

And maybe doing that will relieve him of his guild for everyone he failed.