#i just don't love how he's written

[sapphic-agent]

Let's Talk About Izuku Midoriya

As most of you know, Izuku is my favorite character in the show. But dismissing my bias for a second, there are a lot of issues with his character. Mainly, how it's handled within the story and the negative affect it tends to have on the overall plot.

What I think really dampens Izuku's character is a lack of depth. Fellow Izu fans hold your fire... let me finish.

The lack of depth wasn't always a problem. In season 1, he tends to have a lot of lines that indicate complex emotions. When he's walking home after Bakugou's suicide-baiting, he shows at least a little contempt for what was said even if he tries not to take it to heart. Hell, even during the suicide baiting itself, he reacts with anger and intends to stand up to Bakugou even if he is forced into silence by fear. During the bus ride to the USJ, Kaminari and Asui are (rightfully) observing that Bakugou is a dick and Izuku is surprised at the swap in their roles. In the Battle Trials, he's guilty when Bakugou accuses him of purposely hiding his quirk, but also confronts and outsmarts him, knowing that beating Bakugou (standing up to him) is the only way he can even start to become a hero.

(This is evidence that at some point Izuku was aware that Bakugou's actions weren't alright and wanted to condemn them, he just didn't have the strength or confidence to go through with it. This entirely disappears later in the series with no reconciliation of those feelings)

We don't get many scenes like this later on. Izuku takes Bakugou's insults and attacks with no reaction or just a nervous one. And we never, ever see him attempt to stand up for himself against him.

And no, I don't count Deku vs Kacchan Part 2. Izuku was practically forced to defend himself as Bakugou would have attacked him either way, and his entire role in the fight is going on and on about his admiration for Bakugou. Izuku isn't standing up to Bakugou, he's being placed in a situation where he's forced to help develop him. The entire episode is solely for Bakugou's benefit while shoving Izuku into a corner.

But even taking a step away from Bakugou for a minute, Izuku also becomes more one dimensional in regards to Uraraka.

I've said this before answering an ask, but in the beginning of the show Izuku was the one who was attracted to Uraraka. He was flustered by her kindness and reacted bashfully to her hero suit. And for some reason this... goes away. The last time he gets even slightly embarrassed around her is the licensing exam when she appears jealous of Camie (Toga). Not only that, it feels like all of that transferred to Uraraka. She was the one who ended up becoming bashful and flushed and embarrassed, which would make sense if Izuku's feelings didn't almost entire disappear. It does both their characters a disservice; Uraraka is reduced to a more one-dimensional love interest (don't @ me for this, she has her moments and I love her) and Izuku loses another aspect of his character.

I would even say this is present with Todoroki on some level. Izuku was supposed to be his first real friend and they barely interact. Which is even worse considering they're both part of the "main trio." It would have been so easy to play them off of one another since they're supposedly best friends and should be the closest two in that trio. Their friendship was one of the starting points of the entire series and their connection is an integral part of both their characters. Yet they both interact more with Bakugou than one another.

(For comparison, look at Bakugou and Kirishima. They're in a multitude of scenes together and we see how their relationship develops over time. We see their companionship and how Bakugou comes to trust and rely on him. We don't get anywhere close to that with Izuku and Todoroki.)

Over the seasons/volumes (whichever you consume), Horikoshi has dumbed Izuku's character down to crying, defending others, and being self-sacrificing. And these aren't inherently bad traits for a main character, but they weren't all he had in the beginning. He had more personality and he had stronger feelings. Taking that away from him cheapened his character.

Another failing of Izuku's character is how him being quirkless is blatantly ignored by the series.

This was an integral part of his character. It's what separated him from the vast majority of people in the show. It destroyed the only dream he ever had. He was discriminated against for it. It defined his entire existence for the first fourteen years of his life.

And it's never talked about.

Okay, I shouldn't say that. It is used to draw parallels between him and Shinsou (and Aoyama later on). But other than that, Izuku really doesn't acknowledge it. For someone who would grapple with not being good enough for OFA, him not really dwelling on being quirkless is odd.

In a series about the corruption of society, it's strange that the discrimination the main character faced from that society isn't talked about. In fact, outside of Melissa (she's legit the only character who was born quirkless and stayed quirkless, everyone else who's listed quirkless had their quirks taken away or received a quirk later), the series doesn't really introduce quirkless people at all even though they make up 20% of the population (and that isn't a small number by any means, that would be 1.6 billion people in 2023).

Yet this issue that was very present in the beginning of the show is just... swept under the rug. Like everything Izuku went through because of it just doesn't matter. A four year old came to the realization that he was beneath his peers by society's standards, but Izuku just doesn't talk or think about it ever again.

It not only ignores the very real trauma and struggle the main character went through, it also shuns a very important piece of world building. Having Izuku born quirkless was the perfect way to introduce this problem with society. But no, other than his dream being ruined and Bakugou's bullying, Izuku doesn't struggle with this in any other way. We only have vague implications of what he went through growing up quirkless so we can't imagine what it's like for the other 1.6 billion people.

This ties into his lack of depth, but a lot of the time it feels like Izuku's only relevance is to be a prop for other characters. Bakugou is obviously the main one and I went over this in the apology analysis. But Izuku doesn't respond to his apology in any way, we never get to see his thinking or how he was affected, and then he faints at the end. Izuku is a puppet in place to further Bakugou's development. This is also present in Deku vs Kacchan Part 2; all his thoughts are centered around admitting Bakugou and propping him up.

As much as I hate it, it somewhat makes sense for Bakugou. But it's utter insanity that this is extended to Endeavor as well.

Back during the Sports Festival, Izuku displayed disdain for Endeavor. He was aware of what an awful person he was and how he hurt Todoroki. Yet for some reason he then tells Todoroki that he thinks he's ready to forgive him.

This is completely out of character for Izuku. For one, he never inserts himself into others' business unless it's to defend them. And up until that point he hadn't said a word about Endeavor; not to comfort Todoroki and not to abhor his actions. So why in the world would the first thing out of his mouth about him be that Todoroki seems ready to forgive him?

It's almost like he's acting as a mouthpiece for Horikoshi, indirectly telling the audience that Todoroki no longer holds any resentment for Endeavor. Izuku's relevance in this scene as Todoroki's best friend should not have been to assume that he's ready to forgive his abuser.

He also verbally defends Endeavor against Dabi. Even though he knows how abusive and neglectful Endeavor was to his children. Condoning Endeavor while disparaging Dabi makes no sense for Izuku's character. He was defending Shoto too which makes sense, but there was no reason to add Endeavor into that. Just because Endeavor was his mentor (for like three weeks if that) doesn't erase what he's done.

To make Izuku ignorant of this was a slap to the face of his entire character.

Even in his own major arc, Izuku gets the shaft. Dark Deku was a major let down because there was hardly a deeper dive into his character. He was on his own with the past OFA holders for weeks and we barely see him talk to them. Him cutting contact with Toshinori when we didn't even get to see them interact much made no sense (Toshi didn't even try to find him afterwards which was so out of character). The top 3 heroes allowed him- a fifteen year old student- to run on his own without even trying to talk him out of it.

And what's supposed to be an honest attempt to get him to come back and trust him turned into 1A a) physically attacking and ganging up on him and b) allowing Bakugou to goad and insult him. And he wasn't even close with all of 1A for nineteen of them to do this. This should have been restricted to Iida, Todoroki, and Uraraka (and maybe Tsu and Aoyama). He has issues with showing vulnerability in front of people, why om Earth would it make sense to blindside him with his entire class?

(The only part of Dark Deku I truly enjoyed was Uraraka sticking up for him at UA and Kota and that woman he saved earlier running to comfort him and show their gratitude. Although Eri not being there is very weird.)

Like I said above, I love Izuku. But I absolutely hate the way he's been handled by his author. He deserved an actual well thought out character arc and a lot more focus and attention. He deserved to have more intricate, complex relationships with other characters that weren't his childhood bully. He deserved to be treated well in his own story.

[becca-e-barnes]

Bucky pinning you down so you can’t squirm and he’s just sitting inside you while he tortures your clit feeling you clench around him. He makes you cum over and over until he finally cums.

Overstimulation + super soldier stamina = …

- 🍯

Dear God, I know I just don't have it in me to behave during cock-warming. When it comes down to it, I genuinely have no patience at all 😵‍💫

"You..." Bucky begins, pressing you down onto the bed before gripping your ankles and forcing you to flip over onto your front. "Have a problem with control."

With your face turned away from him, you can't help but smile to yourself. No one has ever said it out loud but you know he's right.

Being in control is where you're most comfortable. No hands are safer than your own. Except maybe his. You know he won't fuck this up.

"And you..." He continues, gathering your wrists behind your back, holding them tightly with one hand. "Need to learn how it feels to have control taken from you. Do you understand?"

As soon as you begin to nod your head, you feel him start to tape around your wrists, holding them together behind your back. Once he's content they're secure, he sits on the edge of the bed, facing the mirror before he pulls you onto his lap.

"Legs spread over the top of mine." He orders and you do as you're told, not because you have to but because you want to.

You notice the way your cunt is already glistening in the mirror and you're almost embarrassed because he hasn't even touched you yet.

"Fuck, you're made for this." He groans, lining his cock up to your slick entrance and you wonder if he's holding his breath too while he slides into you, as deep as your bodies will allow.

You're obsessed with the sight in front of you; your own naked body, with your legs spread so far apart you can see how your cunt is stuffed full of him.

Being shorter though, your feet can't touch the ground like this. There's no way you'll get enough leverage to fuck yourself on him but as soon as you start to tell him that, he silences you with two thick fingers between your lips.

"I'm not letting you fuck me." His free hand roams over your body, squeezing your breasts, pinching your nipples and then settling between your spread thighs.

"I'm going to play with you. I'm going to see how much you can take. I'm going to work out exactly how you like your clit stroked and I'm going to do that until your legs are shaking and your body won't let you cum any more. Maybe then I'll fuck you but sweetheart, that will be hours from now." His breath is hot against the side of your face, his fingers slipping from your mouth to your waist while he starts to flick gently against your clit.

"I'm going to start slowly. I'm going to do everything I can to drag this out as long as possible. I can feel every clench and flutter of this pretty little cunt and I'm going to enjoy it until you're dripping over my balls." At this rate, it won't be long until you're dripping onto the carpet, never mind over him. You dreamed he'd want to take control like this but you never imagined the way your body would respond.

"And then, when you've cum more times than you can handle, I'm going to tell you that I love you while I fuck you like I don't."

Update: Part 2

[gayofthefae]

Girl, I'm so sorry, but if you he really was gonna tell her he loved her before Argyle interrupted them, I would not want somebody to say to me

"I guess, I just, I don't know, I guess I just wanted to say that I love you."

You guess you love me? What, you don't know? Be sure then come back to me.

[hestzhyen]

Sunken Ships and SoRiku

Hi internet void. I went feral and maybe you'll read the result.

KH has made a lot of choices around SoRiku from a narrative perspective that, in isolation, wouldn't amount to much. A heart-to-heart here, a questionable line there, and so on. The usual things that one would do to court a queer shipping audience in an otherwise het or unromantic work. And SoRiku circles have painstakingly documented every instance to show something that looks more like a consistent and intentional effort rather than a few dollops here and there to keep shippers engaged. There's... a lot. But one stupid, insignificant thing really shook me up and made me a believer in SoRiku Endgame, Actually.

Silly as it is, it's Nomura's reaction to people shipping RikuNami that gets me the most.

Generally speaking a writer doesn't want to interact with fandom shipping unless it's to urgently course correct. As in it would be catastrophic to the narrative if the fandom had the wrong idea. Otherwise it's best to just take note of how people are interpreting things and adjust the next installment accordingly, or live and let live. Keep distant and don't risk accusations of retconning/bad writing/queerbaiting in bad faith. So the normal reaction from Nomura seeing people get excited over RikuNami would have been to just do nothing. But instead, the scene was patched to downplay the smile, and Nomura went on the record to clarify that it's not a setup for a romantic relationship between Riku and Namine.

That's insane.

Why is it so important that Riku remain romantically uninterested in a girl he'd have a natural connection to, huh? What about accidentally implying RikuNami was so detrimental to the story that it was changed and explicitly addressed like that? Even if it wasn't meant to be, surely letting it play out like AkuRoku did would be enough. Just gently clarify and move on with the story (which pretty much sunk the ship on it's own anyway). You don't wade into fandom shipping and launch nuclear warheads like Nomura did against RikuNami unless you want to leave no room for doubt.

Torpedoing RikuNami also doesn't help them keep up appearances in terms of straightness at this point. Leaving it intact would only help the case of Riku and Sora being bffs with the strongest bond 5ever- a huge boon for the writing team if they wanted to avoid things looking too gay. Nomura et. al. are absolutely aware of the impressions and jokes about how gay KH is. And KH definitely would not be the first series to play in to queer ship teasing for the lols until it's time to pair everyone up at the end.

But they did the one thing you're not supposed to do if you're just aiming to queerbait: undermining the plausible straight ship. You don't eliminate the only straight option for your character like that for the sake of "he so gay" jokes! Having a straight option available is vital to make the bait; they don't have to be compelling or important to the story, they just have to exist. Yet at this point, Riku's only option is Sora. They went out of their way to ensure we wouldn't think anything else makes sense for him.

Holy. Shit.

[factsilike]

My first impression of LWJ: "Oh god, not another one of those broody, cold asshole CEO-type of Male Leads, is it??

Me after reading the novel several times: "I'M SO NORMAL ABOUT THIS GUY. HE'S SO SO GOOOD!!!! GHFGGFHDSETYGFDGG BEST PARTNER, BROTHER, FATHER, BEST EVERYTHING-"

Seriously, the way he struggles with his perception of wrong and right and what he's been told all his life is the right thing versus what he's been shown the right thing is, the way he loves and yearns so deeply but is just as determined to not trouble his love interest with his desires, lest he feels obligated to reciprocate out of (God forbid) gratitude or a sense of debt, the way he grows and learns from his mistakes and becomes a better man in a way that few characters in the novel, or in general fiction, do and is so, so righteous. (Growing up is not easy! And he had a lot of that to do before he could become a partner to WWX, because he didn't exactly treat him as an equal. But he does, and I love that so much!)

[aimedis]

cutie (and geordi ig) hcs

the day that geordi left, cutie literally cried so hard they threw up multiple times and passed out (geordi has no idea). all they did for days was lay in bed and cry (they almost refused to use their powers for work too) 

geordi's sister wanted geordi to leave cutie. and for a while, geordi wanted to as well

cutie was internally scared and hesitant to get back together (they technically didn’t break up) with geordi. geordi wanted to fix their relationship but cutie was ready to give up on having a relationship with him. they think they don't deserve happiness with anyone, much less geordi

cutie wanted geordi to forget them and at times, geordi wanted to forget them too

cutie pinches themselves hard enough to leave little scars whenever they get the urge to use their powers

after geordi was comfortable enough to be around cutie again, they apologized over every little thing (from accidentally bumping into him to using their powers around him even if they weren't using them on him)

it took geordi a couple months to decide if he still wanted to be in a relationship with cutie

cutie doesn't really have any other relationships outside of geordi except a couple work friends (*cough* sweetheart) so they spent the entire break mostly alone and talking themselves down from the edge

geordi doesn't think their relationship can ever go back to the way it was before. cutie doesn't either

what if geordi officially breaks up with cutie then and gets into another relationship? another partner that would never go against his boundaries like cutie did. another partner that loves him and brings him true happiness. someone better than cutie.

geordi as please please please in his new relationship lol

what if cutie finds out when they bump into geordi and his new partner? what if they force a smile and fake a conversation of congratulations before they go home and break down? what if cutie stops going to therapy and just

gives up?

what if geordi heals and cutie doesn't?

[sk-yay-sk]

I've gotta say I'm not a huge fan of putting Dragonese into the HTTYD movie franchise. The concept of a full-on dragon language they all share, that can just easily be translated into English, just really doesn't fit imo

I imagine they're a lot more like Orcas

There are universal ways to communicate with strangers of different species, like it's pretty easy to signal things like "i want to fight you" "i want you to leave" "it's dangerous here" "i'm in pain" etc. by just body language and vocalizations- but ways to communicate more complex ideas have to be developed and learned as unique dialects by different groups, especially flocks of dragons consisting of different species.

I imagine a terrible terror flock or a group of Speed Stingers have a lot of an easier time communicating with each other than a Thunderdrum and a whispering death do.

Dragons with their own dialects, cultures, and habits depending on location and group is really cool- I just don't think it should be a direct translation of how humans do these things, such as straight up language or mythologies or such.

[bayetea]

I think it's really annoying that leo has completely falsified memories of jason too and this is barely acknowledged in the books

[lordzuuko]

Gojou Satoru taking a photo with his kouhai he so totally do not have a crush on, he swears! Print | Ko-fi

[danishphoner]

one thing that really fascinates me about alex is his devotion to art – and more specifically, how he chooses to get some inspiration from scientific works of what he aims to implement in his art. every time one gets to examine some of his lyrics, or even how he explains these lyrics in an interview, they can be greeted by some bits of actual scientific information. an example is how he named his taquería on the moon with the term “information-action ratio”, coined by the critic neil postman, and referenced it in the song four out of five, something that might also indicate an interesting articulation with postman's concept. the line “cute new places keep on popping up”, for example, can express his well-known sardonic discontent regarding the flood of information being generated and transmitted over and over and, as much as it seems visually appealing and does give the idea of benefiting from advanced technologies, it doesn't really add anything substantial to the receiver's critical thinking – and worse, it distances the information receiver from the sender in a communication channel, according to postman.

what i'm saying with this interpretation is, it's known that alex is enamoured with the idea of gathering a bunch of references and condensing them into a mixture of metaphors in his writing, but it's so thrilling how, at times, we can find some bits of science inside of it – and it's even more exciting, just like playing a puzzle game, to find these references and analyse them by doing a similar research to what he did to create his works.

[cry-ptidd]

I think that Alucard becoming very emotional, bordering on childish when things don't go his way is a great character trait actually

[wikiangela]

tease tidbit tuesday

tagged by @thewolvesof1998 @elvensorceress @diazsdimples @tizniz @bidisasterevankinard @spotsandsocks @jesuisici33 @dangerpronebuddie 💖💖

started another bucktommy wip 🙈 they consumed me, and im not even mad haha

I was just thinking at work and thought about buck telling tommy about the will (this is gonna get there i promise lol and I think the sperm donor thing too bc this is bucktommy endgame fic and buck wants it all out there haha)

ngl im lowkey annoyed bc I had a whole convo in my head and it was so good, but couldn't write it down and forgot half of it, but I think it came back to me more or less haha

___

In Buck's defense, he doesn’t mean to ask this question right then. It just slips out. He's lying in the big, strong arms of his very hot, amazing boyfriend, both sweaty and still breathless. He’s blissed out and fucked out, and so content and still dizzy after a mindblowing orgasm. He doesn’t have a lot of control over his thoughts and words right now. So he surprises even himself when the question flies out of him.

“Do you want to have children?” he asks casually, absentmindedly playing with their intertwined fingers where they're splayed on his chest.

“What?” Tommy asks, surprise and even shock evident in his voice, and only then Buck realizes what he said, and he feels his eyes widen and face starts to burn, and he stares at the ceiling, but feels Tommy’s gaze on the side of his head.

“I- I- I mean, like ever, some day, down the line- not like- I mean, you know, I- I just thought we should talk about it if- if- if it’s going where I hope it’s going- because I- we’ve been together for a while and I hope that- I think I-” he starts rambling and stumbling over his words, panicking just a little bit. Fuck, they’ve been doing so good the past few months, it’s honestly his best relationship he’s been in, probably the longest, too, and now he goes and screws it up by being too much, too soon, too serious-

“Evan.” Tommy’s hand lands on his cheek, and he gently turns Buck’s head towards himself. He meets Tommy’s soft gaze, and relaxes a little instantly. Tommy doesn’t look freaked out, just surprised, but there’s a hint of a smile dancing on his lips.

___

no pressure tags: @thebravebitch @shortsighted-owl @eddiebabygirldiaz @watchyourbuck @eowon

@loserdiaz @evanbegins @ladydorian05 @wildlife4life @diazpatcher

@lover-of-mine @monsterrae1 @weewootruck @loveyouanyway @spagheddiediaz

@rainbow-nerdss @epicbuddieficrecs @pirrusstuff @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove @nmcggg

@rogerzsteven @giddyupbuck @tommykinards @underwaterninja13 @exhuastedpigeon

@911-on-abc @steadfastsaturnsrings @theotherbuckley @buddieswhvre @fortheloveofbuddie

@hoodie-buck @your-catfish-friend @hippolotamus @daffi-990 @honestlydarkprincess

@aroeddiediaz

[feroluce]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And Gepard realizes he is in way over his head.

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

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

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

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

Gepard doesn't sleep that night.

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

Cocolia knows exactly what she's doing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“A plan?”

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

“We don't even know-”

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

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

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

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

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

Gepard's head snaps up. “No.”

“No what?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He only hopes that it's enough.

[hoshizoraorchestra]

idk man just thinking about how damsel3 literally just breaks the narrator. it is worse than the very thing that he will do Anything to prevent. that's how terrible it is to witness and to describe. man. man. i need to lie down.

[goemon-fan]

This was easily one of the best Lupin episodes

[greenerteacups]

thoughts on Ginny and Harry as a couple?

There are a lot of people who find their romance in HBP forced. I don't think it's forced so much as underwritten, and the books don't get the chemistry quite right (though the movies certainly don't, either). There's potential, but they just don't get enough actual scenes of substance (besides Harry thinking she's pretty or feeling jealous of Dean) for a lot of readers to buy that they're not only in love, but deeply enough in love to break up, get back together, and wind up married.

That's not to say I don't see the appeal. There's a very cool scene in Book 5 where Harry's doing a woe-is-me-Chosen-One act, and Ginny effortlessly puts him in his place about it by reminding him that she was possessed by Voldemort at eleven, which is a rare glimpse into her character and also a great synecdoche for their relationship — Ginny is a grounding presence who, like Ron and Hermione, isn't going to be awed by his past adventures because she knew him before they happened. In that respect, Ginny's probably one of the few women Harry could feasibly wind up with, because he only ever seems comfortable around people (let alone girls) who can see past the Chosen-One schtick and treat him like a normo (see: Ron, Hermione, the Weasleys, Luna, Hagrid). True to type, he doesn't get interested in Ginny at all until she's ditched her celebrity crush and ceased to view him as an idol, because in his heart of hearts, Harry wants to be a normal boy, and it's stressed over and over that part of what he likes about his relationship with Ginny is how normal it feels. He kind of has a horribly supercharged version the celebrity dating problem: after the Battle of Hogwarts, anyone he meets is going to know him first as Harry Potter, Chosen One, Boy Who Lived, and Actually Fucking Resurrected Messiah of the Wizarding World, which is... I mean, it's possible that there are witches out there who could get over that, but Harry's not an extroverted guy, and I'm not sure how he'd go about finding them. Ginny's the one who's been there since the beginning, doesn't need anything about him or his past explained to her, and actually likes him for who he is.

When you look at it that way, it's not surprising he married his high school girlfriend. She's one of the few people still alive who doesn't see him as a demigod.