#i think she's sort of still annoyed but by the end of the night they're making out again or smth idk

[melonyfelonyfellonme]

Imagine somehow Sutherland runs into Lavellan during Veilguard, and he's like, "Oh you won't believe this, there was a demon in the rotunda in Skyhold"

And she's like, "Oh I knew that" [not over it]

But he continues, "Not one I've ever seen before; it was a Regret demon."

And she turns and looks at Solas and she kinda laughs gently and goes, "Yep. Knew that too."

[galactic-rhea]

Here's an unprompted bunch of Anidala headcanons because I had an awful, awful night/day and I need to ignore life somehow ✨

CW for Fluff(? Overload...probably?

- Whenever he gets the chance, Anakin doesn't take Padmé's hand rather her wrist to check her pulse. Yeaaaaah. i know.

-Padmé has shot Anakin several times (not that he didn't dodge them) because he tends to show up unnanounced through a window or a vent and because Padme gets assasination attempts like twice per week. The handmaidens ALSO have shot him several times, same reasons.

-Padmé is the one that gets "cute agression', aka: Bites, squeezes, headbutts, tackles, punches and pulls of Anakin's hair. In an Vaderdala AU, however...........I think she still bites, lol. She never gets to show emotions at all, of course she spills them all with Anakin, even if the results are weird.

-They're actually very old fashioned (tm). Like, even for the SW standards, common people would think they're weird because they probably recite poems in the equivalent of Space Latín. Probably because Padmé is an ex-queen and neither of them had a normal childhood, neither of them actually know how to act socially outside of formality. They're in their 20s but act like in their 50s idk.

-I don't think Padmé is very religious, but you bet that Anakin decided to study whatever nubian religioin he married into and all the customs. He considers himself more of a nubian than anything else.

-Here's a hilarious one: For some odd will of the universe, the gods, the force or whatever, Jar Jar usually manages to Tag along and third-wheel their dates. And is even more funny because they barely care, So the annoyed one ends being fricking Jar Jar of all people. They're there reciting their wedding vows for the fith time that day and Jar Jar is right there like "Meesa getting fed up of this", but he STILLS tags along.

-At first it startled her, but it kinda became sort of a "normal sunday when Anakin isn't on the battle front"; Anakin literally dragging himself after escaping from the medbay just to drop half-conscious on Padmé's floor like "Honey, I'm Home". And he still has a piece of shattered glass somewhere. Cue to Padme shaking her head and calling for her handmaidens to bring a medkit or to call Kix.Again.

-Padmé lowkey stole several of Anakin's jedi cloaks. Also a poncho.

[missyandthemisfits]

The Black Bulls x Chubby!Reader

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

How would they react to developing a crush on a chubby magic knight??? Heck if I know but I got some ideas-

Asta 

- If there's one person on this list of suitors who just straight up does not care about size, it's this one right here

- You're strong, you're a great cook, and he has fun with you- that's all this one cares about, really

- Unfortunately, he's not the brightest bulb and he doesn't exactly get it when he's being approached romantically, so they're gonna have to spell it out in some way shape or form 

- It is only after you two are together that he realizes 'You know what? I think I've had a crush on you for a while now'

- Such a cute dork

Magna 

- Not gonna lie, he's gonna want someone whom he can lift so he can fLEX on everyone-

- That said if you're cute and sassy enough, man is hitting the workout sessions HARD, just to be able to carry all that gorgeous around town- basically the ultimate flex

- He obviously is the first to confess albeit extremely flustered and surprisingly full of self doubt 

- He's actually kind of insecure, especially about his looks - go easy on him 

Luck 

- Honestly? Very into someone on the plusher side and for completely selfish reasons at that - huge, HUGE cuddler once you get him down long enough (plz wrestle him he wants it so bad)

- Is ever so slight the tease, doesn't help that he's incredibly subtle about it either 

- Makes a point to be around you damn near 24/7 so that way when he's not around, you definitely notice (calculated) the lack of lighthearted teasing

- Believe it or not, 100% makes sure he's got a fighting chance before confessing - he can't afford to be rejected by someone who means this much to him (can't handle that)

-Also be wary, randomly grabs you just... all the time, consciously and unconsciously. You've become his single yet constant source of comfort 

Vanessa

- Forgive her she means well, but may or may not unintentionally offend by offering up diets and routines and walks around town together - I SWEAR she's only trying to be kind

- If you're honest about your feelings on it though, she feels just AWFUL and apologetic and buys you many, many gifts to try and make up for it

- Truthfully, you guys just kinda ended up becoming an item one day - rumors of a drunken kiss still floating around town, unconfirmed 

- Doesn't mind it too much all in all, especially if you spoil her

Finral

- He's a little apprehensive about it at first, his mind barreling back into the teasing of how scrawny and weak he is and he's not entirely confident in his ability to shall we say satisfy -

- Buuuut quickly says 'Screw it' when he realizes how amazing you are, on and off the battlefield 

- When I say this man cannot WAIT for the end of every night just to hold you??? I MEAN IT

-  Very soft for his soft s/o, would give them the moon

Charmy

- You already know she doesn't care like come on

- And honestly, she may try to pressure you into many, many impromptu snacking sessions. Food is cooked by her 97% of the time, always. 

- However if you have any personal health or fitness goals, Charmy is more than capable of curtailing menus to be healthy AND tasty so that's a plus for sure - but you will have to drag her along if you want her to walk with you

- Again, the relationship just sort of happened - even you two aren't quite sure when

Gauche

- Sorry lovelies but this man's first ever comment may be about your weight, granted he was already upset about Asta and Marie earlier but STILL - no bueno

- It's only after he starts getting to know you that he realizes what complete ASS he was during that first meeting. Will eventually apologize for that, it's said very softly and he sounds kind of annoyed but he's more annoyed with himself than anything 

- It's gonna take quite some time to worm much of anything that isn't full of sarcasm out of him, let alone a confession, unless you decide to take that first step

- Hope you're ready for the slowest of burns -

Gordon

- If you think this awkward bean would EVER judge you on your weight, or anything for that matter, think again!

- Absolutely adores you for you; all your dimples and folds, all your past trauma, every facet of you is something he wants to learn more of and explore - absolutely all of it

- He develops a crush pretty early on but good luck getting that confession out of him 

- Absolutely will nOT confess until you do because he needs to be 1000% sure he's not gonna scare you off like he did the others...

- Hand holding is must, it comforts him so 

- Truthfully anything more than light sweet touches will send him to the moon, so be wary of feinting if you go in for a smooch

Grey 

- So very, very shy this one is

- Doesn't actually care about your size, only about how you treat others and most importantly yourself - won't stand for negative talk and bombards you with "T-that's not true at all...!" followed closely by an entire assortment of things that make you so great in her eyes

- Just... so damn sweet 

- You'll definitely be the one initiating anything and everything romantic, to include a confession so uh yea 

- Just LOVES holding onto your arm once she's comfortable enough, both for support and as something of physical affection 

Zora

- Yeeeea dubs you something akin to 'Chubs' upon meeting you, there's like...no way around that. He's mostly harmless tho...mostly

- Truthfully tho he's actually really attracted to curves - not that he's ever gonna tell you that (not without a teasing smirk and remark, anyway) 

- He's gonna be dropping the most subtle hints that he's interested in you and the harmless flirting is eventually gonna turn into legitimately pining on both sides so you just flat out tell him one day "If we're gonna keep going like this, we should at least be official..."

- He was content with a situationship of sorts, but a relationship certainly has it perks - ones he could get behind given time 

Henry

- This sweetheart is just ecstatic he's found someone with such a plethora of mana (or no mana at all, your choice), someone he can actually be around for more than a few seconds - he does NOT care  

- Helps if you're nice, but won't shun you away if you have a mean streak- he's not that type of guy

- Believe it or not, he's actually the first to cave and confess his undying love - and no that is not an exaggeration he genuinely falls very hard and very fast 

- His biggest dream is to be able to hold you in his admittedly frail arms, caress your hair, and whisper sweet nothings to you as you drift to sleep

- He'll keep that dream close to his heart until he can make it a reality

Secre 

- Not one for judgment, but also not one for romance so this one might be tough

- She's a sucker for people who are upbeat and positive though so if you've got that going for you, you stand a really good chance of at least grabbing her attention 

- Slowest of slow burns here, folks 

- You'll be the one administering the confession , as well as many complements, to a very adorably flustered Secre and boy is that priceless 

- She very much enjoys pockets, will constantly have her hands in yours for comfort - a little weird but very cute 

Noelle

- Yes absolutely she has a preference and it's definitely not chubby- no offense (please do not take offense I for one think you're amazing)

- It's gonna take someone with a strong backbone to handle the condescending frowns and holier-than-thou attitude that comes along with crushing on this one, you've been warned 

- It'll take a while of chipping away at her steely exterior before she's ready to give way to the fact that yea, you're pretty darn cute 

- You confess several different times before she gives it a real go - hang in there 

Nacht

- May come as a surprise, but he doesn't really care about size - just about the character of your person 

- So yes he's all for someone on the curvy side, actually one of the few that compliments you outright upon meeting you

- Probably puts you through a serious of subtle tests to see how suitable you really are and how compatible you may be with him (cause let's face it, he plays for keeps) but he's very honest about the fact that he's interested in pursuing you romantically 

- Touches are feather light in public, but he very much likes to have his hand at the small of your back or gingerly around your waist 

- A man who knows what he wants and is not afraid to pursue it? Hell.Yes.

Yami

- Excuse me but this guy dreams of having some short, curvy so and so on his arm - someone he can really grab onto

- He's got this glint in his eyes that almost creeps you out at first but is quickly squelched by the invitation to drinks

- It only takes 2 more trips to one bar or another for him to know he wants to start talking to you on a more personal level 

- Will grab ass anywhere, anytime so just... keep that in mind

- Less of a solid confession, more of a drunken offer, something along the lines of "Hey, we should totally make this a thing. This us thing or whatever it is-,"

- He's slurring and you're positive he won't remember a damn thing but he remembers everything, all the way down to how gorgeous you looked that evening 

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

A/N - I want you all to remember that no matter WHAT size you are; you deserve love, happiness, and to feel good in that beautiful skin you're in! <3

[thenighthekate]

Am I the one you want ( t.k. )

This little thing, once proud in love and lust, now hides its face and soon it will be dust.

Her hair was wild, flying around in the wind. Her eyes closed, her back arched, the window rolled down as they sped on the highway. It was late at night, the moon already shining for hours, casting a silver glow above the streets. Stars twinkled in the dark sky, the small light specks reflecting in his eyes.

She turned to look at him, a small smile pulled her lips, a childish look on her face. Her hand reached out to touch his thigh, his gaze suddenly turning from the road to look at her. Tom matched her expression, his own fingers travelling to her head, gently taking a strand of hair and putting it behind her ear.

" Watch where you're going." Her soft voice sounded over the roaring of the car and the radio wich was playing a random tune.

" Don't worry about it." He said with a light laugh, his eyes shifting ahead of him for just a second. She let out a hum, turning back to look out the open window.

Hills and mountains flashed by them, his car speeding further up. It felt like they were getting closer to the sky, the cold night air hitting them in their faces, for a moment it felt like they would reach the clouds.

They came to a stop not far from the drop of the hill, plants littering the area. She opened the door and got out, rocks and sand turning underneath her feet as she walked closer to the edge, her arms folding and holding herself around her waist. She felt calm, the sort of calmness you would feel at the world's end, no backing out.

Tom walked closer to her frame, his chest hitting her back, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder. She could feel his breath meet her neck, his nose inching closer only to be nuzzled in her hair. Light kisses were left on her skin, their bodies swaying left to right.

" When are you going to be all mine?" It came out as a whisper, so quiet and pure he almost didn't catch it. He thought they were done with this conversation, he thought he had answered all the life questions that were clouding her mind.

With a slightly annoyed sigh he stepped back from her warmth, his feet carrying him back to the car, his body leaning against the shiny exterior as he shuffled around his pockets. She turned to look at him, frown upon her face, her eyebrows scrunched and sad eyes staring up at him. " It's not as simple as you think." A cigarette sat comfortably between his lips, a hand cupping the end while he sparked a flame to light it. " Even if I bring up divorce now it's not gonna be another year till I'm single." His tone shifted, now becoming a full dad voice.

The voice was the one he used often, whenever she didn't get something his whole demeanor would switch. Honestly it made her feel small, stupid in the worst scenarios.

" You could give peace a chance for once." She watched as smoke swirled around his head, through the gray clouds his piercing eyes still throwing daggers in hers.

" You're young, have the world in your hands. You should live."

" You're calling me delusional for wanting you?" With every word that left her mouth she stepped closer, poison flowing freely from her lips.

Yet another sigh sounded out from the man in front of her, his forehead creasing, trying to see the girl's mind. " It's not easy for me either, but if I do it now it's gonna create a lot of drama." The cigarette was long forgotten, only the ashy bud was laying on the ground beneath them. " You know I love you, right?" She was at an arm reach, his words thick like honey pulling her closer and sticking her common sense into a bundle. With his arms around her waist, they're noses were almost touching, sharing the same air in between them.

Her lashes fluttered for a second before she nodded, big eyes staring up into the face of her lover.

She knew this cycle would continue, she knew his heart was split between her and the woman who could actually show him off. The woman who got to sleep next to him every night, the woman whose arms he'll always run back to. It was toxic, she knew it. She knew that the older man infront of her would only bring pain, love for a night and an aching heart for the rest of the week. She was stupid, naive, far too young to be expecting to be his first choice.

Part two Part three

[starrystevie]

based on this post because i couldn't read it and not picture it as anything but steddie

the house is quiet. it's steve's favorite time of the day when everything feels still, comfortable and warm, like a cozy cocoon that his family has built around themselves. daisy is curled up at his side like a personal heater, her head resting peacefully on steve's stomach as they snuggle in bed. he knows eddie will come in after finishing up the kids' bedtime story and yell at him for letting the dog on the bed, but steve knows he'll get away with it once they both turn puppy dog eyes on him. he always does.

steve's just about to put his bookmark in between the pages of his book and turn off the bedside light for the night when there is what can only be explained as a commotion on the other side of the house. it startles both steve and daisy, her big head perking up immediately, cocked to the side as she tries to place the sound before jumping off onto to the floor. steve follows quickly and is standing fast enough that his vision goes a bit blurry.

he hasn't had this fear in a long time. he hasn't felt the need to reach for the bat under his bed in years. his heart starts to beat a tick faster, but then he hears it.

they're laughing.

both he and daisy make their way down the hallway to the kids room where streams of multicolored light spills out over the hardwood from the mini disco ball josephine just had to have. he doesn't even make it halfway to their room when he hears just what they're all laughing about.

"dad, do the voices! you always do the voices!"

by the time steve is leaning against the open doorway, he sees it: his home. it's his kids, josephine and winnie, sitting up excitedly in their beds. winnie's damn near falling out of her bed as she tries to sneak peeks at the pages of their bedtime story. and it's eddie, salt and pepper hair piled on top of his head with glasses almost falling off his nose as he reaches his hands up to imitate some sort of soldier or king or something steve can't figure out.

eddie's yelling some speech with a big boisterous voice, the girls are shrieking with smiles wide enough to split their faces, and steve can't do anything other than take it all in. daisy pushes past him and goes to jump on joey's bed, kissing her into another laughing fit.

"my king!" eddie says once he's spotted steve, bending to one knee with a closed fist over his heart. josephine pulls herself up to her knees on her bed to copy her dad and winnie, who will do anything her big sister does, follows suit. "to what do we owe this most wonderful pleasure?"

eddie's smiling this mischievous grin, his eyes twinkling like the stars the girls stuck to the walls, and steve feels that familiar tug in his heart that always seems to come around when he thinks about how damn lucky he is. he playfully rolls his eyes in opposition of how much love he feels and hurries across the room to press a quick kiss to the top of his head.

"at ease," steve murmurs, his voice a little flat. he's not as good at the fantasy voices as eddie is. "just had to come see what all the ruckus was about."

eddie scrunches his nose, standing back up and pressing a kiss of his own to steve's cheek. he can hear the girls behind them faking a gag, winnie's tiny elongated 'ewwwww' barely audible over how loud joey's acting is. when he gets a good look at them, josephine has found a way to lay across her bed to play dead and it forces a giggle out of winnie.

"why do you guys have to be so gross all the time?" josephine says, picking her head up only to drop it back down, eyes closed and tongue sticking out.

"to annoy you, obviously." steve's response it dry enough to have eddie chuckling at his side. "how much longer do you have?"

steve nods to the book and eddie looks down at where his finger is holding place. he scans over the pages, eyes growing larger when he realizes just how far away the end of the chapter is. he pulls the hand painted bookmark off of the girls' bedside table and sets the book down despite the groans it gets him in return.

"looks like we're done for the night, fair maidens."

"do we really have to be done, dad?" winnie's trying her hardest to get eddie to pick the book back up. her lip is pouted and her big brown eyes are wide enough that even steve almost caves to the 4 year old, but eddie's shaking his head and tucking her in instead.

"just for tonight, nugget," he whispers against the side of her head as he presses a kiss to her temple.

"but daaaaad-" josephine starts, fighting against steve as he tries to pull the blanket up to her chin.

"nope, no buts, joey girl. it's a school night anyway. you guys can read more tomorrow night."

with the girls grumbling, the two dads trade off kissing them each good night and steve flicks off the bedside lamp to leave only the disco ball flickering rainbow colors over the room. daisy curls up next to josephine who promptly picks up her covers to settle over them both.

when the door clicks shut, eddie lets an arm loop around steve's waist, bringing him in for a soft kiss. they pull away with a smile, crow-footed eyes crinkling in the low hallway light.

"sorry that we got too loud." eddie looks sheepish in that endearing way that he knows will get him of the hook, but steve just shakes his head before reaching his hand up to pick the reading glasses off his husband's face.

"no need to be sorry. you know i love seeing them that happy."

when they turn off the light for the night, tangled around each other before flopping onto their sides of the bed, steve breathes in deep. he gives his husband a kiss goodnight and doesn't think about the bat under his bed. instead, he thinks about his family, winnie's big brown eyes and josephine's toothy grin and eddie's hand forever in his own, comfortable and warm in the home they built around each other.

[y-rhywbeth2]

Been thinking on the afterlives of the party:

I mean Shadowheart is faithful, so Gates of the Moon or Palace of Night (unless Shar is feeling stupid and short-sighted again and wants to lessen her own power by abandoning a powerful faithful soul).

Halsin is faithful and an elf, most likely to go to Arvandor but could get claimed by Silvanus.

Mystra is willing to claim Gale, if he's still mortal, so it's up to him.

Karlach's been praying to gods such as Lathander and Selune as she approaches death, and the gods do take deathbed conversions from compatible mortals, so she could potentially end up with Shadowheart. Cleric characters can also pray with her, so she could go with a Tav.

Wyll's so incredibly lapsed/areligious that you wouldn't call him faithful, but he acts in accordance with the teachings of the Triad, so I'm pretty sure that gives them a potential 'in' if he takes it.

Lae'zel is faithless (Vlaakith is not a god). She can easily dodge that by just not dying on Toril though.

Minthara: false false false false

Astarion is not only faithless but pointedly so. As an elf he theoretically has a foot in the door to Arvandor, but considering his relationship with the Seldarine is probably terrible...

Durge is either Bhaal's faithful or false, and as a Bhaalspawn should go to Gehenna regardless, though Jergal apparently has called dibs and they could seek another faith if we ignore that second bit. There are lots of gods you can pray to in this game. Most of them evil! Shar, Loviatar, Bane... most of them are Bhaal's co-workers, so you can sort of end up in the afterlife where your estranged and pissy dad usually lives and works.

Anyone who undergoes ceremorphosis might have 'property of Ilsensine' stamped on them...?

The Wall of the Faithless has been struck from SCAG errata, apparently, so I guess anybody who doesn't have a place in the afterlife (statistically; Minthara, likely Astarion, maybe Durge and Wyll) is going to be getting a job in one of the most boring cities on the planes, False or Faithless. At least there are occasional invasions from the Abyss, weird politicking with devils, and Jergal sometimes secretly sends souls out into the planes as undead on missions, so it could get interesting sometimes...

(All of this assuming that Jergal doesn't flat out claim any or all of them and fudge the reports the way he casually omits usage of undead from them when he hands them in to Kelemvor. Still comes out to the same result though.)

(There is the question of whether the personality is going to stay intact once they're dead, and what position you get; Myrkul's petitioners sometimes got to be 'princes' of sections of the City, while others were just faceless, identity-less wraiths wandering aimlessly. Cyric turned his into weird monsters who also didn't really remember who they were... The gods get to decide whether you keep your personality or not.)

Speaking of; Myrkul's domain is presumably still within the City of Judgement, so Ketheric is probably there! Dunno about your Tavs or Durge but mine is going to have a beautiful reunion if the idiot ever dies and ends up on the Fugue and Ketheric still has his memories and personality. Eternal punishment: spending eternity continuing the hell that was having this brat/this annoying old fuck as a co-worker.

More fun: maybe Myrkul still has an avatar there! That's not going to be awkward At All. Repeatable boss battles!

[nonbinarypirat]

A fellow enjoyer of mairuma who likes reading others headcanons/interpretations here! just thought I'd share my own headcanons

1.) I think the misfits lack parental validation from one or more parental figures so they seek that validation from someone else, like Kalego. He, as their homeroom teacher, knows full well what they're capable of and actively gives them harder challenges to further bring out their potential. So I think the misfits would seek near impossible tasks not just for the fun of it, but to receive validation from someone they look up to.

2.) I believe that Kalego shows his love in pride. And when I say love, I mean all love; familial, romantic, platonic, and the kind that you know is there but don't have a name for. I guess a good example would be Balam, his closest friend and well-respected researcher. Balam would have achieved great things in his field of research and Kalego would be very proud of him for it, though I doubt he would explicitly show it. The same would go for his students. A mix-match group of kids who have, more than once, taken the impossible and made it reality while proving him wrong every chance they get.

(also a small group of demon plus one human children have better cooperation skills than most adult demons. yes demons are self-centered but i do think its really funny.)

well, these are my headcanons sorry if its really wordy. what are your thoughts on them and what are your mairuma headcanons?

thx for reading and have a good day/night :D

I have been fully focused into my classes and college recently since I’m in my third year (we’re so close to the finishing line yall) but YES I love this!! One, I appreciate you sending me this since I haven’t done a post for a while! I promise im still here and I’m keeping up with the recent chapters 🫡. But yeah, I just love Kalego as a character. Like, he really is my favorite because I love a rude and snide character who you can tell cares a lot. Even if he won’t tell you that.

Kalego cares deeply for his students. Like sure, they annoy him and are goofballs. But at the end of the day, he is also protective of them. He knows they can accomplish great things and that’s why he’s hard on them, it’s not due to a lack of love. His pride is his way of showing affection. He will do his damnest to make sure you succeed and through his little actions, the characters can tell that he’s proud of them too. It’s the little moments with Kalego that make them know he does deeply care for them.

And yes, I also have a head cannon that for many of the misfits, they are lacking in some sort of parental or familiar love. Obviously we can’t say this for certain for all the characters, but it just feels like that’s why, no matter how much they complain about him, he also means a lot to them too.

As for my other head cannons… One head cannon I have (with the little info we have so far) is that Elizabetta grew up similarly to that little girl from Ouran Host Club, ya know the sister of the black magic club president? That is to say, I think she’s loaded but was primarily raised by her maids who gave her a lot of the romance books to keep her entertained. I think her parents were never really around. Or if they were, they don’t have her a ton of attention. I guess this is more of a head cannon slash theory? But when we see the house visits, we don’t even see her parents. A lot of them you saw the parents, a back shot or their torso. Something. We even saw Kalego call some of the parents. But her parents just wasn’t in the frame and she just kept showing him the things in her room which gives me the feeling she had a lot of material goods they bought her, but maybe not their affection. We also don’t see any adult when we learn about her ambition. Which is why I think she’s so attached to love, she is reaching for a connection she may not feel she has with her parents. And maybe in a way, she’s wants to build a family that will actually appreciate her the way she wants. Which to me makes the relationship to the misfits even more special because she finally has the love and pride of her found family. Idk, just a silly head cannon I have based on current knowledge!

[theamityelf]

Thinking about the mini senpais and how that affects the order of deaths (a little like in the mini THH au). Chapter 1 with Sayaka will probably be the same as canon and as you described. My main big first difference I think will be a change in Mondo and Taka’s relationship.

Like Taka is learning to be gentle with Mikan, and is also protective of her in general. And Mikan will probably find Mondo to be scary as well. On Mondo’s side, while Fuyuhiko and Mondo will buttheads, the yakuza is gonna be on Mondo’s side when it comes to anything Taka says, so their initial rivalries will probably be way worse influenced by their senpais.

There’s also Chihiro deciding to train himself. I think he would talk to Kazuichi about it, and the latter is like “There’s no way you can train with Mondo!! He’s a super scary guy and has got that Yakuza whispering in his ear!” I think Kazuichi convinces Chihiro to talk to Taka instead, mostly so that they can get help from Nekomaru (who has since been adopted by Taka) but I think Kazuichi would argue that the “moral compass” would never murder even if he can be annoying.

Toko tells Byakuya about Genocider Syo like canon, but also to ask him if he can look after Gundham if something happens to her. I’m not sure how Gundham would feel but I’m sure he would be concerned for Toko’s wellbeing. And Sonia would be so excited to meet THE Genocider Syo (sort of).

I’m not sure who would kill in chapter 2. Mondo could still have his break down and accidentally kill someone again, it just might be a different target. (Shit what if it’s Fuyuhiko?! He accidentally gets squashed!!)

This could all be different if Nagito gets the idea to share the secrets and tells Makoto to suggest it. But it’s Nagito so rather than to prevent deaths it’s more to see if the ultimates can overcome the despair of their secrets. So everyone gets to find out that Makoto wet the bed until 5th grade. Nagito’s reaction to that might be funny. Though sadly I don’t think it gets anyone else to fess up cuz everyone else’s are all a lot worse.

Anyway thanks to reading my gasbagging.

This is all golden, yes!

As much as I love Ishimondo (both as a platonic pair and a romantic one), I gotta agree that they probably wouldn't fall together as easily during this.

Although! I just imagined a version of the sauna scene where, in addition to asking Makoto to witness, they also have him hold their senpais for them (so, Nagito's on one shoulder, Fuyuhiko's on the other, Mikan's standing in the palm of his hand, and he's holding Taka's basket with Ibuki, Peko, and Nekomaru in the crook of his arm), and I find it really funny to imagine. Some of them are really invested in the endurance contest (Nekomaru asks for a higher vantage point, and Makoto only has so much shoulder space, so he's placed on top of Makoto's head.), and Ibuki is really affectionate toward Makoto because she feels bad about what happened with Sayaka.

And either Taka and Mondo end the contest early because Makoto has to go to bed so they have to take their senpais back, because the senpais are their responsibility, or, when Makoto says it's nighttime and he wants to go back to his room, Nekomaru shouts "SLEEPOVER!" and Makoto cares for six miniature people that night.

Either way, I agree with you that Taka and Mondo wouldn't get as close, at least not as quickly, as they do in canon. (I just had to include the sauna thing because the idea was fun for me, lol.) They're on more of a gradual enemies to friends or enemies to lovers track, which may or may not have time to reach its destination, because killing game.

Mikan doesn't like to be around Mondo, but Peko wants to be near Fuyuhiko and so advocates that they spend more time with Mondo, and Taka cares about everyone getting a voice, so when it's Peko's turn to choose, he offers to let Mikan hide in his pocket or back in the terrarium in his room. But she wants to stay with him.

Just to set some stuff up, in the social landscape of Chapter 2, Hifumi has been making little outfits because Celeste is now coping by living vicariously through Chiaki. So, she has Chiaki playing dress-up for her, styling after her, etc. Chiaki insists on continuing to wear her cat hoodie with the gothic lolita dresses, but other than that she's a pretty good sport about everything.

(Hifumi was given Celeste's sewing kit to do this, and he gave her his tool kit in trade. There was probably some joke about him being dominated, or giving away his manhood, or something like that, because I can't imagine Danganronpa would pass that up without comment.)

Aoi also asks Hifumi to make some tiny clothes, because she's worried that Akane's clothes don't fit her right. (When she asks Akane about it, Akane agrees that they don't really fit but basically says that they've always been like that so she's used to it.)

And since Hifumi interacts with both of them really respectfully and works really diligently, Mahiru is praising him for being reliable, and basically Hifumi has been swimming in female attention this chapter and does not know what to do with himself.

When Mondo accidentally upsets Chihiro, and Taka mentions that Mikan is scared of Mondo, Hifumi probably makes a joke about how some guys just don't know how to act around women.

(And there's no "ironic coming from you" response, because Hifumi is genuinely doing pretty great about that.)

Mondo blushes, but he's also like, "Hey, shut up! F you!" and stuff.

Byakuya is isolating himself from the group because he doesn't trust them, but Sonia is so bored with this. She is way too social to just be going straight from his room to the library and back every single day. As a result, Byakuya is more lenient with letting other people talk to him, for her sake.

This is mostly Makoto. He talks with Makoto, and Sonia with Nagito. Nagito talks with Sonia about the killing game, and how there's tons of historical precedent for royalty enjoying blood sport, and how the group is reaching their potential. She knows there's something off about him, but she's starved for social interaction and also this talk of royals and blood sport does appeal to her, in a perverse way.

It's an interesting vibe, because Makoto is bringing Byakuya slightly down to earth, and Sonia is slightly softening Byakuya's edge, but Nagito is making Sonia slightly less down to earth, and Byakuya is sharpening her edge. They're reaching a weird middle ground where Byakuya is less of a jerk and Sonia is less kind.

As a result of this, Byakuya orders Makoto to come sit with him every day. Sonia needs conversation, and also Byakuya has decided that he wants Makoto to make it out of here with him (to be his servant, of course), so he wants to keep Makoto close. Makoto still takes meals with the group, still mediates the sauna thing for Taka and Mondo, but he spends a lot of time in the library with Byakuya, this chapter.

He's still barred from the archive room, or whatever that room was called.

Then we do get the motive about revealing secrets.

Yes, Chihiro trains with Taka. Wholesome workouts for them!

Toko does tell Byakuya about Syo. Obviously, she waits for a time when Makoto isn't around, but Nagito finds out because Sonia is buzzing next time he talks to her, and while she of course doesn't tell him Toko's secret, her explanation for why she's excited gives him all the pieces to figure it out. He might sprinkle her with pepper, like I mentioned last time, which might cause a killing, if he gets a chance to explain to her that her secret will be revealed otherwise.

I think Mondo would seriously be considering killing someone to protect his secret. Like, I imagine him pacing in his room, not wanting to kill anyone but thinking about what would happen to the Crazy Diamond if it got out.

Fuyuhiko puts aside his prickly demeanor and fully becomes both the older student and the professional criminal. "Okay, so you want to kill someone. Are you ready to seriously follow through? You think you can cover up a murder, if it means everyone in your class dies? If you fail, and you die, what happens to your gang then?"

Mondo decides he definitely shouldn't kill someone. Whatever happens when the secret is revealed, he'll face it like a man. Because he's strong. He's a man, and he's strong. (He's hanging by a thread, but his commitment to specifically not killing someone is strengthened by his talk with Fuyuhiko.)

Optional zag, which isn't entirely in character but just the outline of a murder that can happen:

Little does he know! During the senpais' sleepover with Makoto, Nagito planted some seeds by bringing up Fuyuhiko's sister, the "mysterious" circumstances of her death, and just generally musing that the senpais aren't really a part of the killing game in the same way the others are. Fuyuhiko's trying to be there for his kouhai, but lowkey he is also pretty riled up.

So maybe he suggests that Mondo let out his frustration by (non-lethally) punching that guy who insulted him in front of everybody. After all, Hifumi "looks like he can take a hit", and it's been a long time coming. (Fuyuhiko might have said something like "You gonna let him say that sh!t to you?" when it happened.) If Mondo is keyed up about the motive, then just punching someone who deserves it should make him feel better, and then he can move on.

(Fuyuhiko isn't really aiming to kill Mahiru, at least not consciously, but if Hifumi does fall over and crush Mahiru to death by accident, then that's not a murder in terms of the killing game; Hifumi broke the rule about losing his senpai, but Mondo and Fuyuhiko aren't guilty of anything.)

In this situation, I'm imagining Hifumi brings Mahiru to Taka, hoping Mikan can do something to help her, and Hifumi leaves Mahiru with them and gets killed while he's away. So, Taka shows up to breakfast the next morning with Hifumi's senpai, not knowing that Hifumi is dead. The killer could be Sakura or Toko. Technically, it could also be Hiro. It doesn't feel in character for it to be Hiro, but I also don't have anything else for him to do.

(If Toko is the Chapter 2 killer, then Byakuya takes Gundham once she's executed; Sonia wanted him under their protection.)

But hey, the headline is, Chihiro and Mondo probably survive Chapter 2! And maybe Mikan can help Mahiru. But everything I said after "optional zag" isn't set in stone, lol.

[demigodsanswer]

Prompt idea: all the other dancers gossiping about Percy and Annabeth being together over the duration of Sleeping Beauty and when they realize they aren’t together and when they find out they actually are

((This is just the first part of the prompt because I had an idea, and wanted to run with it! Some of the second part (people finding out they aren't together yet) will be in part two of Variation!))

~

Clarisse was glad to see that Annabeth's rehabilitation in Virginia had been successful. When she told the PT team at City Ballet that she'd be handling her recovery privately, far away from New York, all they could do was ask her to check in on occasion.

The Sleeping Beauty had Annabeth making daily visits to the PT room to check on her newly-healed foot. But her alignment looked great, and the strength was back. The goal now was to prevent future injuries to the already delicate bones in her feet.

A healthy foot didn't seem to be the only thing that had changed since last spring.

As she gathered her things to go back to rehearsal, Clarisse caught Annabeth smiling and giggling (giggling for fucks sake) at her phone.

"Anything good?" Clarisse asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "No, just Percy being Percy," she said, before grabbing her bag and typing her response on her way out.

As she left, Chris entered. Clarisse had healed him from a nearly career-ending neck injury, a process that took over a year. Since his return to the stage six months ago, he also made frequent visits to the PT room. Chris's neck wasn't in pain anymore.

Still, he sat down on the bench as she examined him.

"She seems happy," Clarisse mused.

Chris nodded. "Rumor has it ..."

"Oh?"

He lowered his voice. "Rumor has it she and Percy Jackson have been sleeping together since she came back."

"Isn't it a bit soon?" Clarisse asked. Chris had been Luke's friend once, she knew, but Luke had done something to rupture that. Chris's neck injury and extended absence from the ballet only kept them apart more. Clarisse wasn't sure she'd heard Chris say a nice thing about his ex-friend in two years.

"I say, good for her," Chris said.

She thought Jackson was annoying personally, but he had to be better than Luke.

~

"Alright so, they're sleeping together for sure," Jason proclaimed as he and Piper left for the day.

"Gotta be," Piper agreed. The way the two of them looked at each other, flirted shamelessly ... if Percy wasn't getting it in, she'd almost have to laugh at him. Annabeth stared at him like she was ready to eat him alive. Piper knew Percy had zero self confidence, but he had to be able to see that at least.

A week later, Piper triumphantly texted Jason: Percy slept over Annabeth's last night! She told me herself

Jason responded: Do you think that was the first time?

Now that was a good question.

~

Katie had been firmly on the "they're not going out" side of the company-wide debate. She knew Percy. He didn't do casual hook ups, and when he was with a woman he wasn't very good at keeping it a secret. Sure, he'd given Annabeth flowers opening night, and then they were seen leaving together after Annabeth violently rejected her ex. But that ...

So maybe they were together. "But newly," she said to Drew, her dressing room mate, "no way has it been going on longer than a few days."

"How can you be so sure?" Drew asked.

"Percy loves a public display of affection. Hand holding, kisses goodbye, that sort of thing."

"It's been like five years since you went out. Maybe he's not into that anymore," Drew said, "maybe she's not into it."

"Maybe ... but I still feel like they wouldn't keep it a secret if they were together," Katie said.

"I don't know. The timeline is a little suspicious. Maybe they're trying to hold off for a little while," Drew suggested.

"What do you mean the time line is suspicious?" Katie asked.

"She was dancing with Percy when she called off her wedding. And she and Percy had serious chemistry during Jewels," Drew said.

"You think she cheated?" Katie asked. That was certainly not Percy's style. And it didn't seem like Annabeth's either.

"Who knows. All I'm saying is it's not totally unbelievable."

~

Ethan wasn't exactly sure what had happened between Annabeth and Luke. All he knew was that things ended suddenly and badly. He'd been called into Chiron's office and asked if he knew anything about their relationship. He'd kept his mouth shut about the pictures; Luke had promised him Annabeth knew. He wasn't into them, personally. Annabeth was hot, but not his type. Still, whatever she'd told Chiron about their relationship had been a good enough lie to get Luke to "retire."

"I think she was sleeping with Jackson," Luke told him after his move back west.

"What?" Ethan asked.

There was an unfortunate logic to Luke's claim, though. Sure, Annabeth had been so in love with Luke the entire time he Ethan had known her. But in the months leading up to the wedding ... she seemed so sad. She fiddled with the ring constantly, leaned away from most of Luke's touches, and rarely expressed excitement about the wedding. Ethan thought it was cold feet or just the stress of wedding planning. Or maybe she'd just been depressed. But maybe ...

"You saw the way they hung around each other during Jewels," Luke said.

Ethan still had a hard time believing Annabeth was cruel enough to cheat on him and get him fired.

But then she just about jumped into Percy's arms at the end of The Sleeping Beauty, kissing him behind the curtain as if they'd done that a thousand times. Neither hesitated to hold onto the other; there was no surprise in their body language. Just pure comfort.

Okay, Ethan conceded, they were definitely together.

[dullgecko]

I was painting my nails and was thinking about how the Bad Kids would like their nails painted.

I think Gorgug might not like it, as if it chips; it might get into his artificer work.

Fig loves to paint her nails and is always looking for new nail polish

Riz has tried it once or twice, but doesn't like you have to keep your hands still

Kristen wasn't allowed to have nail polish while living with her parents so pretty much went hog wild the moment she could - she has mellowed out a bit, but has started painting her nails a fiery orange and sparkly purple for her Goddesses

Fabian didn't start trying it until after Sophomore Year but he really likes it.

Adaine is really into nail art, but can't do it herself so she usually keeps to solid colours for herself - Fig and Fabian are always willing to lend their nails as her canvas though

Gorgug thinks it looks nice but will only keep it on for a day or so before removing it as it starts chipping. He mostly goes for black polish but Fig will sometimes stick little silver stars on it so they sparkle. He keeps his nails trimmed incredibly short and blunt even though if he let them grow he could have claws almost as sharp as Riz. Being half human makes maintaining claws a bit of a pain though so he prefers not to.

Fig paints her nails a different colour every couple days, they're chipping constantly though from playing her bass so they only ever look immaculate for an hour or two after she does them. Every single nail is always a different funky colour.

Fig painted Riz's claws once when the goblin was a little drunk and also half-asleep at a house party. He allowed it because his friend looked like she was having fun but he was pretty annoyed the next day when he woke up because it blunted them completely. He purposely let the paint chip off around the tips almost immediatly (he went and sharpened his claws on a rock to knock some of the paint off), and was it completely gone by the end of the day because he uses his claws constantly for climbing around. She tried again once when he was sober and the paint smudged everywhere because he couldnt sit still long enough for it to dry.

Kristens nails, once she settles on the colours she wants, are the same for months at a time. If the paint chips she simply redoes that nail the first chance she gets. Fig got her a fancy sparly top-coat to go over the top of the coloured polish and she wears it almost exclusivly over the purple to make it look like a night sky.

Fabians nails, effortlessly flawless. Even after a fight he has never been spotted with a chip or smudge in the paint and his friends are convinced its some sort of witchcraft. He gifts Adaine and Fig a lot of really expensive and fancy nail polish which they both love.

Adaine has a meticulously organised craft box with a thousand different little decorations and beads and different kinds of glitter to make nail art with. Fig loves getting her to do her nails but it will inevitbly be ruined in a couple days and need to be done again. Fabian, however, will let her do his nails and will keep it nearly flawless until there's a sizeable gap at the base of his nail because its grown since he got it done.

[hoverboards-and-dragons]

I know this is really random but I was just curious, do the Archangel's need sleep? And if so what are their sleep schedules?

I don't think this was directed to the archangels themselves so I'm gonna answer it normally.

No, they don't need it in the same way we do.

But they are capable of it (while God isn't) and it considered healthy for them.

It gives them an internal sense of routine, helps them keep track of time and recover from hurt or exhaustion quicker. Occasional mental rearranging and room to breath is nice.

This is their relationship to most physical 'needs' like food and water, their only real reliance is Grace and worship (which the deprivation is actually quite similar is symptoms to lack of sleep)

Individual sleep schedules!

Raphael has strong feelings about keeping a consistent schedule, have a whole bed time and wake up and nap routine. They have gotten in the habit of oversleeping the last few centuries because they are, insanely burnt out. They've been doing personal care work for such a long time with no real noticeably progress in The Plan, the compassion fatigue is real. A lot of the naps is born of them dragging their siblings into the nest, the small circle that their care still extends too.

Gabriel sleeps intermittently whenever, where ever, 1-3 hours at a time. They try to get back to their own nest at least once a day. Otherwise they spend a probably embarrassing amount falling off of ledges after being startled awake.

Uriel sleeps through dawn and dust, managing the archives throughout the night, for the least amount of interaction with others, dating records, sorting accounts, making timelines and retreating into the distant cosmos during the day to track and organize the constellations etc. I imagine them a lucid dream. And getting very annoyed at their sleep being interrupted or happening outside the hours they're used to.

Jophiel gets 4-5 hours at most consistently, she sleeps at night to be awake at the same time as her winners but is driven by artist's brain so ends up going to bed late pursuing ideas and inspiration, waking up at random times after being haunted by unfinished pieces. Queen of resting her eyes a few minutes during random tasks. She can wake up and go to bed so quickly you have no idea.

Michael; I know what you're all here for; doesn't generally. But on top of his tendency to run himself ragged and his siblings', specifically Raph's insistence he has to take it every now and then. He can't sleep alone, any attempt is a fitful painful waste of time and effort - he hasn't touched his own nest in who knows how long. Luckily his brothers' alternating schedules means there is always at least one place for him to collapse when he needs it; they are very used to him stumbling in, falling on top of them and latching on like hes afraid they're dying. Nightmares are still an issue but... manageable. He will sleep for days if he lets himself, he will not let himself.

Zadkiel is just, so in inconsistent. 10 hours here, 3 all nighters in a row there, during the day, at night. Wakes at 8am and sleeps at 12am every day for 4 weeks before suddenly staying up till 4am and never going back. Always goes back to their nest, either on earth or in heaven, to sleep and has a before bed and wake up routine. They just follow whenever the urge hits and then sleeps until it goes away.

[arliedraws]

Why Sirius ran away at sixteen...

Still avoiding responsibilities so I'm back with more headcanons (trust me, this account will go quiet in a few days when I'm back in the swing of school).

I'm entertaining the idea that Sirius didn't run away during the summer holidays before sixth year. Instead, it was during the winter holidays of his fifth year.

Personally, I think the Blacks would have been annoyed that Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor but I don't think they would consider him tainted at this point. "He's young, he's rebellious, but maybe it's just a phase. We hate the Potters but at least he's associating with a pureblood." Remember, he isn't blasted off the family tree when he's eleven; it takes until he's estranged himself for his mother to do it. Don't get me wrong -- they're not kind to him, and he's just as aggressive back. Yet I think the final straw for him comes that Christmas after he's turned sixteen.

So I imagine he's dragged to the extended Black family Christmas as usual, but now the family includes Bellatrix's husband's family and the Malfoys.

While the older adults at the family Christmas party are together and talking or starting to wind down, Bellatrix invites Sirius to hang with the young adults like Roldolphus, Rabastan, Narcissa, and Lucius (and Regulus can't come) in a private room or something. Everyone is at least five years older than Sirius so this should be a great honor for a sixteen-year-old. They invite him to drink, and they treat him like an adult. I think he'd be suspicious about it all, but they would include him in conversations that reeeeeally haven't veered towards blood supremacy yet, so he gets comfortable and even finds himself enjoying his time. Part of him is wary, but it's actually nice to be amongst intellectual equals.

When Sirius is comfortable, Bellatrix mentions she's bored, and they should have a dueling tournament. This is all fun and games at first. Sirius beats his opponent--maybe Rodolphus--while Bellatrix helps him by giving him pointers as he goes. When Sirius wins, Bellatrix and the others praise him. And all of this feels so good even though he doesn't want it to. He sinks into the feeling of acceptance from his family--something he's denied even to himself that he's wanted since he was sorted into Gryffindor.

Then, he duels Bellatrix. She is still giving him pointers as they duel, and Sirius, in the end, wins (did she let him win?). Bellatrix, proud, tells him to use the Cruciatus Curse on her. He refuses, and Bellatrix is, at first, kind and encouraging. "You're the strong one, Sirius. You can do this." When Sirius still refuses, she tries another tactic and starts to goad him, and she's taunting him with all of the things he hates about her, about the family, how his mother thinks he's a bloodtraitor, etc. This gets him, and he caves into his anger, the hurt he's felt for years, the rejection. He puts the Cruciatus on her, and he finds that it's satisfying, that her screams echo in the hole in his heart. He holds the curse for too long, and the others have to force him to stop.

Then Bellatrix laughs and says he's still a Black--he's just like her. Or maybe she says something (mirroring the dialogue in OotP) that suggests the Cruciatus only works if you mean it, if you want to cause pain. Anyway, she helps him understand that at his core, he is able to hurt people.

Terrified at his own capacity for extreme cruelty, Sirius runs away that night. He could be just like her; he can be as cruel as Bellatrix. This horrible truth disgusts and scares him. So he flees to the one person who can keep him from becoming the worst version of himself.

Anyway, if this has been pulled from a fic that I read years ago, I apologize. If not, someone who is better writing at trauma than I am should take a stab at this :)

[ybyag-lil]

I just... LOVE Sunshrine as a ship and have my delusions and HC's about it and I needed to put these thoughts out on WHY I like them so much somewhere other than in my fics or else I'm literally going to explode, so—

Annoyed x Annoyance. Need I say more?

I will.

If we're talking purely potential ship dynamics, we have:

Flirty x oblivious, Denial/Dense, Sunshine x Sunshine protector, stoic vs pain in the ass, optimist vs pessimist, "why me?" "why not you?", Insecure vs showers them in love.

Sun and Moon/Day and Night yadda yadda y'know the drill

Complementary colors (orange/blue) that you can correlate with their difference in personality.

But I hate reducing them to basic opposites attract and other dynamics bec they're NOT completely opposite - they actually have a lot in common!

"Two sides of the same coin" is how I'd actually describe them.

They're both trying to find their own way in life, and the paths they're taking are so fundamentally different than what has come before them.

Their voice-lines about it. Love to read into those

("I'll walk a different path this time." "I'll find my own path." "The path shapes you." "That's the path you've found?")

Potential for shared isolation issues and fear of abandonment!!!!

I feel like Kiriko's life suddenly shifting one day when Sojiro was killed and her proceeding to lose a bunch of people she held near and dear (not even counting Kanezaka itself facing major power and societal shifts) is not talked about enough. The only real personal connections she knows she has left are:

Her mom, who is forced into inaction and can't move to help liberate Kanezaka or save-

Her dad, who is currently Hashimoto's leverage/hostage and she doesn't even know for sure is still alive rn bc she hasn't seen him.

and Hanzo, which, there's a load of angst there HC and actually in-game wise for her connection with both him and Genji that would be a while 'nother conversation. I don't know if Kiriko even knows Genji's still alive, actually? More issues!

Illari's pretty self explanatory with that isolation/abandonment point. That girl's riding the, "I don't need anyone else (because I'll only end up hurting them)" train so hard. So much so that she doesn't even really feel comfortable showing any positive emotions to people around her (cheer/hello/chuckle animations anyone?).

Kiriko/Illari are both "chosen".

That one's kinda out there tbh, but my logic behind it is that Illari is already notably special. She's prodigy that was quickly predicted to be the GREATEST fucking Inti warrior of her time, whose power was so great that she turned every single other Inti warrior to ashes unintentionally.

(which, by the way, is insane if we assume the augmentations have to give you some sort of resistance to solar power to be able to wield it in the first place?)

Kiriko is where I start playing fast and loose. I'd argue her having the power of the Kitsune (which is not fucking science idc what lore comes in the future, magic exists in this fucking universe!) to such an extent makes her chosen in her own way. Like I'm assuming the teleporting around, the self healing like, and everything else is not a standard affair but no-one talks about the Shimada FAMILY being able to summon dragons so. Maybe that's just the standard in Japan.

On that note — they also both have a responsibility to their people which sort of parallel each other.

Kiriko has happily taken up the mantle of a vigilante to protect the people of Kanezaka, and, as far as we know, she has no qualms about doing it. Her way of doing things is different to how her family served/protected for generations in the past, but she still upholds the duty like it's second nature.

Pure conjecture, but I don't think Kiriko's ever felt forced to do it either. There was never a, "you must protect the town!" talk or anything like that from her grandmother/mom, she's doing it because it feels right to do.

Illari, conversely was always told she had a responsibility to her people. If you read between the lines of her lore blurb on her OW2 page and listen to what she says in her origin video, you get the sense that it was a sort of... burden? Heavy is the head that wears the crown and all that.

I compare it to the "gifted-kid burnout" precisely because of this. Illari has always been molded to follow one path, a rigorous one she didn't really have a choice BUT to follow. You're told at a young age that you are special, that there's no-one else like you, that you will grow to become a legend. How could you even begin to refuse that?

You don't. And when it all starts to fall apart, you start to wonder what's wrong with yourself. Illari has lived a life dedicated to serving, and now there's no-one left but her.

She def has some self worth/esteem issues stemming from having to be this prodigal kid essentially groomed (not that way) her whole childhood to be strong and nothing else. Couple that with an overwhelming feeling of regret for failing to uphold her duty as a protector and you have someone who is just completely lost - direction AND sense of self wise.

And I think Kiriko could help with that. Say what you want about her, but you can't deny that Kiri is strong. Imagine Illari meeting her and realizing that for herself. That despite how careless and foolish Illari thinks Kiriko is, she somehow still manages to protect her people as her duty.

Imagine her realizing that she's been taught a lie her whole life, that she doesn't have to just be Illari, the strongest Inti warrior, she can also just be Illari - the scared 18yr old trying to find a new purpose in life after that choice was stolen from her.

Like Zen says to her, "true strength comes to those who accept their weaknesses". Illari's gotta learn that she can't just be strong, she has to learn to balance these aspects of herself.

and who has played a balancing act between conflicting ideals before? Who has carved her own path out of what she's known? Kiriko.

Ahem, back to a few more hehe haha shipping things

They're both pretty capable as fighters, and both trained since they were kids. They're both probably very disciplined because of it.

(I was going to say "though Kiriko is reckless despite that" but I refuse to believe Illari isn't equally as reckless.)

They're both very petty, check out those revenge voice lines—

("Forgive and forget? Nah..." and, "Forgiveness? Never heard of it." Are two examples LOL)

They're both smart assess. Kiriko is Kiriko so that one's obvious, and I'm looking at your Hanzo/Soldier/Sombra/Ana start up interactions, AND your sassy ass "I didn't do it for you," ally save voice line, Illari.

THEY'RE LITERALLY SPRING - SUN ILLARI, BREEZE/WHATEVER TF ELSE KIRIKO

And the two most important things....

They're just cute. Like seriously look at these little idiots, I love them both dearly.

And it's kind of a funny ship. I'm a firm believer that you don't need a reason to ship two characters, and Kiriko and Illari liking each other can lead into some hilarious ass dynamics, so why not?

Anyways, finished with my brainrot spew. If you've made it this far, check out my AO3 where I will be brainrotting even further in the future. Might post some dumb shitposts here about these two from time to time.

Illari and Kiriko's voice line pages for the things I quote.

(some of this, particularly parts regarding Kiriko, might be incorrect bec I haven't read a single lore comic and am going of things I can vaguely remember hearing about.)

[rosesradio]

I've been having so many thoughts about Lukethan recently omg.... I don't even know who else to send this ask to because I've never seen anyone else really post about the ship, so I'll send it to you. xD Sorry if it's kinda spam mail.

Anyway, nonsensical headcanon time!

So, Ethan was in the Hermes Cabin for a while, right? Annabeth says at some point that she recognizes him as one of the unclaimed kids there.

I was thinking- because both Luke and Ethan clearly wanted to leave camp- they were probably scheming for a while against the gods before either of them had a concrete plan. I can imagine them sneaking upstairs while most of the other kids in the cabin are asleep and just venting to each other, talking about their issues with camp and with the higher ups and saying that they wished they could do something about it.

Perhaps they even start to become a team of sorts, helping the kids in the Hermes cabin together. Luke as the cabin leader and Ethan as a sort of intermediary whenever there are arguments or disagreements... because he knows what is fair and what is balanced. The kids love them- it feels good to have some sort of structure (even if it is annoying if one is trying to steal one's brother's socks. *ahem* Stoll brothers. *ahem*).

Maybe over time the two get closer and closer from just being two people who don't like the gods, and they start imagining something bigger. Something with substance. Something that would actually accomplish their wishes so they could be free at last. (Because as long as you're a half-blood you're only a plaything of the gods.)

But as the idea forms, Luke starts to get more and more radical. He starts talking about Kronos and getting contact with the titans, and then eventually about the plan for Kronos to take his body. This whole time, though, Ethan has been gradually falling for him. While Luke was imagining destroying the gods once and for all, Ethan was imagining the life after that. The life of peace where they could be together. But if Luke is taken by Kronos, they can't have that.

Still, what is he to do?

Ethan probably helped Luke sneak in the pit scorpion and the other monsters- probably helped along the way to try to confuse Percy and the others on the quest. The whole while, something inside him is saying that this is wrong (something about it is off-balance, but he isn't sure what). Still, Luke's dove head first in so Ethan has no choice to follow him.

When Luke's betrayal is revealed and he has to flee, Ethan finds out too late to follow. He knows where Luke is going next, though, at least in general. He knows about Kronos and about the plan for Luke to sacrifice his body.

He has to follow, too, because he has to protect Luke even if he knows the end goal isn't pretty. And then, in the middle of the night, he slips away. He's the first demigod other than Luke to desert in the Titan War, but no one pays any mind to it. He's just an unclaimed kid, a monster probably got him or something. It doesn't matter.

The Hermes Cabin remembers Luke and Ethan's closeness, though, and they can almost sense the war on the horizon.

Anyway yeah, something like that. Idk. Sorry for the long ask ToT

ughhh i love this so much, you're so eloquent in describing this concept & i'm just sitting here like 🧍 but i love this so much

i see an alternative in that ethan definitely crushed on luke during their camp days, though luke didn't really register ethan as a person (not to get into Age Gap Disk Horse, though i believe ethan's five years younger than luke? richard wouldn't know lol). just for my comfort level, i think luke would only start to see ethan as like a love interest potential once they're older in the TA, which goes along with what you're saying. he's so jaded, he only wants to bring down the gods, nothing more.

but ethan is always balanced. there's the Before, with the gods & their injustice & all the unclaimed kids. then there's the Middle, the war, justice being served. and then there's the After. & thought of the After is the only thing keeping ethan going sometimes, though he can't help but feel drained from luke's lack of interest. when asked, luke would say something along the lines of "let's worry about getting through the war first". he has no time to even envision the world of equality he's striving so hard to create.

i had this idea of ethan being just like every other unclaimed kid in the hermes cabin. he's like 14, no one glances towards him, no one cares that he's there. he's taking up space. and goddamnit, he just wants attention.

he's not sure if that's balanced. he's not sure if he deserves attention.

ethan would sneak out of the overcrowded cabin one night, making his way to the lake. he heard the new kid, percy, only had a talent for rowing a canoe on the lake. that probably meant he was going to take up space in the hermes cabin as Unclaimed Numero Uno Million, though ethan was too jaded to care at this point. he just wanted some space and open air to think.

when the cleaning harpies would inevitably find him, ethan wouldn't care. he would ponder the balance of them killing him for sneaking out. he would ponder the balance of his death in relation to the new kid staying.

then luke would approach, telling the harpies to stand down. luke is the only camper they actually take a moment to listen to. he tells them he's going to take a moment with ethan before getting him back to the cabin (ethan didn't think luke knew his name). he tells them that if they try to attack, luke will send them back to tartarus in moments.

the harpies, surprisingly, listen, though not without their fair share of squaking. they tell them luke has a few minutes, no more.

luke comes to sit down next to ethan. he slides off his sandals and dips his feet in the lake, just the same as ethan.

and he asks ethan what's going on, voice gentle as if he knows ethan. but he doesn't. he knows nothing besides ethan's name. he's just another body in head count before dinner. another duck to keep in line.

shattering the balance of composure, of dignity, ethan breaks down. he becomes putty in luke's hands, a child in need of comfort, forcing luke into that role if he wants it or not.

but luke takes it well. he wrapps his arms around ethan, running his fingers through ethan's hair as he sobs into luke's chest.

ethan's shaking. he wants to explode. he doesn't want to exist anymore. his whole life throws things off the balance for the things he wants.

he tells luke this, all of this and so much more. the things he's saying are treason, though he doesn't care. he rambles on as if decending into madness, grasping luke's arms to an almost painful extent, as if that would get him to understand.

but he does. thank the gods—thank something more honest—he does. he tells ethan that he knows, and he feels the same. but he has to stay in line for everyone. he loves them too much to do anything about it. he loves them so much, he has to let them suffer instead of risk them being killed.

he tells them that they have to keep their views a secret. it was the only way to keep them both safe.

ethan's sense of balance is skewed as the tears dry on his cheeks. everything is in tangled knots, and nothing makes sense. but still, in the name of order, he nods. he thanks luke for comforting him. he wants him to stay and care for him more. the moment is too fleeting before luke comes to a stand. he offers ethan his hand, and the two head back to the hermes cabin.

ethan tries to approach luke again, though nothing comes of it. he's always busy, which may or may not be true. he seems to make time for each and every other individual in his cabin and others.

he's avoiding him.

ethan's pissed about it, of course. the one time he's shown someone gives a shit about him, and they avoid him. perhaps he was too much, flying too close to the sun, to the epiphany.

still, he can't help but think of luke's low, comforting voice. the way his touch felt. he smelled nice, too, and when he looked at him...his gaze was gentle. caring.

ethan wants to punch him for giving him the cold shoulder. he wants to be allowed to expand upon his ideas, because gods-literally-forbid he think his own thoughts.

he wants to kiss luke. he wants to form the future alongside him.

as soon as ethan can even notice this pattern within luke, he's gone.

he left a note in ethan's sleeping bag. ethan didn't know luke even registered where he slept.

come with me if you really want to make a change. tell no one, unless you trust they will be useful to the cause.

he left a few drachmas with the note for iris-messaging. that's probably the eqivalent of a boy giving you his phone number, right?

of course, ethan goes after him, with a little time to enjoy the freedom of the mortal world first (as he doesn't officially join up until botl). he wouldn't want luke to think he was too desperate for his affections, of course.

[not-your-bro]

hi there! idk if u still do hcs, but if u do, can u do some platonic climbing class hcs? thank you!

hiya!! i am always doing hcs! depending on what i've got front of brain and how busy i am, it may take a minute for me to answer, but i am p much always ready & willing to yap 🫡

a lot of these hcs have been mentioned in fics of mine over the years, so apologies if any are familiar, but here's what i've got:

made short horror films together when they were kids. josh was the driving creative force, chris was the cameraman & editor. hannah and beth always featured in them, and so did their other friends from time to time. (jess loved being in them but she's a terrible actress LOL.) in an old fic of mine, i had josh make a dvd collection of these films and give them to chris as a present. josh would also keep a copy in the washingtons' media collection, and he rewatches them more than he'd admit. chris gets too much secondhand embarrassment to revisit them super often.

because absolutely nothing can keep them from yapping, they were nonstop note passers in school. josh was good at getting away with it, but chris wasn't - not as quick with the sleight of hand, and he always just looked like he was doing something he wasn't supposed to. at some point, josh had the bright idea to write their notes with invisible ink pens, so getting caught wasn't a big deal. in middle and high school, when they didn't spend all day in the same classroom together, they left notes in each other's lockers a lot.

always do joint halloween costumes, and they've been doing it for so many years that it's just an unspoken, understood thing that they'll be dressing up together. some costumes i think they'd do: billy and stu from scream; adam and lawrence from saw; wayne and garth from wayne's world; lloyd and harry from dumb and dumber (the ugly suits specifically); ian malcolm and alan grant from jurassic park.

chris was deeply into the lord of the rings movies as a kid, and even though he didn't get far in the books (not a reader), he thought it was cool that tolkien made up an entire language. so...you can guess what he and josh tried to do... it wasn't deep/robust - more individual words/common phrases than a proper language - but they liked being able to communicate with each other in a way only they could understand. sometimes they did it for privacy, other times to be annoying. like it bothered beth to no end, so the boys definitely just made shit up in front of her to get a rise, even though they had no idea what the other was saying.

chris drinks mainly to keep up with josh, even though he doesn't particularly care for alcohol unless it's masked in a mixed drink. but chris likes to smoke weed, and so does josh, so they're always slipping outside together to smoke. when they were younger, they really tried to keep it secret - had a little hideout in the woods and everything. later, they realized that a) it was pretty obvious what they were doing and b) nobody gave a shit. so as they got older josh liked to make up increasingly ridiculous reasons for why they needed to step out.

chris is largely the driver and josh the passenger princess, and if other friends are riding with them, josh has to get shotgun or it's, like, a problem. he's such a baby about it - he just feels it's his seat. when josh drives it's because he had an idea of something they could do together, and he just sort of...showed up at chris's house. leading to lots of text exchanges like this

in this vein, they hang out constantly but they don't often make set plans or decide what they're doing beforehand. it's really just a lot of hanging out, in the purest sense of the word, and they aren't opposed to parallel play - each doing their own thing in the same room, like chris playing a game while josh doodles and half-watches. lots of late nights turn into unplanned sleepovers, to the point that josh bought an extra toothbrush to keep in the bathroom for just such occasions. whenever friends or family are like "what'd you guys do?" they get shrugs and "nothing really." which sounds like a brush-off, but most of the time it is nothing really, and imo that's the best part of their friendship to me. they can do fuck-all for hours and still enjoy themselves together. no stress, no expectation. and i think this is crucial for both of them, for different reasons. chris has social anxiety and josh is always On. for chris, being with josh doesn't trigger that anxiety, and for josh, being around chris doesn't require the same level of performance. it's just comfortable.

[shepherds-of-haven]

apologies if this has already been asked but I couldn’t find it. I was wondering how easy it is to share a bed with all the ROs. like, who’s constantly changing positions, who cuddles, who’s the starfish, and who sleeps like the dead lol.

Blade: I think he's pretty easy to share a bed with depending on what kind of sleeper you are, he tends to be quite still and quiet: however, he is an extremely light sleeper, so he will wake up if you get out of bed for any reason, and he's also extremely strong, so if you happen to fall asleep with his arm bracketing you and he doesn't feel inclined to let you out of bed, you're pretty much stuck there! 😅

Trouble: he doesn't tend to toss much in his sleep, but he SPRAWLS like he's sky-diving/free-falling and he also radiates a very intense heat when he sleeps! So he definitely occupies a large part of the bed and makes it toasty, which could be fine for you or it could be annoying! The nice thing is that he sleeps very heavily (pretty much like the dead, like you could drop something on him and he might not wake up), but he also sleep-mumbles/snores a little bit too!

Tallys: she tends to be a considerate bedmate; she is also a light sleeper and will wake up if you move around too much, but the nice thing is that she doesn't technically need a ton of sleep to begin with, so it's not a huge problem for her! She tends to be extremely cuddly in the beginning of the night until you fall asleep, and then she flips over and occupies her half of the bed quietly and restfully!

Shery: she's very nice to sleep with, very cuddly (she loves being the little spoon) and hardly moves or makes a sound! However, she does tend to read in bed/keep a light on her side rather than going to sleep right away, so that's something to consider with her as well!

Riel: he's a bit of a finicky bedmate in that he gets very easily annoyed if you're 1) tossing around and thrashing in the sheets a lot, 2) touching him and making him overheated and stuffy, 3) snoring or talking in your sleep a lot... He's a light sleeper to begin with and loves his space, so you need an extra king-sized bed for him to find it tolerable and hates being jerked out of sleep by you hogging the sheets or something! But on his end of things, that also means he's an easy partner to sleep with so long as you're as still and quiet as he is! He also tends to stay up REALLY late working in his study, so by the time he gets to bed, chances are you're probably already asleep!

Chase: great bedmate when he deigns to let you sleep in his bed 😅 for hookups, he's always climbing out the window while they're asleep before the dawn rises, so actually getting to fall asleep with him for a full night is something only true lovers get to experience (unless circumstances dictate otherwise, like you're on a mission together and you have to share a single bed for whatever reason). But he's an easy person to sleep with (in both senses of the word...), affectionate but not too clingy, fond of spooning, easy to fall asleep, pretty quiet and not restless, etc.! The only thing is that he is an extremely light sleeper, so chances are that when you stir and wake up, he's already wide awake and staring at you like ( ⓛ ω ⓛ ) "hi"

Red: he's a night owl like Riel so he's not always falling asleep with you, but when he does, it's pretty great! He likes spooning or at least keeping a hand on you while he sleeps; sometimes he sleep-talks or gets up because he can't fall asleep, but if you don't mind that, there shouldn't be any issues! He is very tall though so it can be awkward to cram into a smaller bed with him... his limbs just hang off everywhere

Ayla: she's a bit like Trouble, she sleeps hard and like the dead, and it sort of just depends on where she's at; at home, once she's really comfortable, she sleeps very deeply and heavily and in a tangle of limbs where you look at her passed out like "wow... she's going to wake up so well-rested..." But in places where she's not fully comfortable like on the road, she tends to be a really restless sleeper and can even kick and punch in her sleep, so watch out for that!

Briony: she's a fairly easy sleeper; she curls up like a shrimp on her side, so she doesn't occupy a lot of space, and she LOVES to cuddle or be cuddled! She has a tiny snore or whistle when she breathes in her sleep sometimes, but the most notable thing about sharing a bed with her is that she gets a bit grumpy when woken up too early... the kind where she'll put a pillow over her head and whine if you're up and about, rattling things around the room as you get dressed!

Lavinet: she's definitely a picky sleeper and loves her space, and she owns so many pillows you'll constantly be feeling like you're occupying the same bed as 2 dozen cushions and constantly kicking them to the floor! She enjoys being spooned so long as you're not a twitchy or thrashy sleeper yourself, otherwise she'll have to relegate you to your own side of the bed... and she tends to be a space-hog, so you might find yourself on the very edge of the mattress at times unless you're okay with reasserting your domain a lot!