#i wanted granpa to be nice SO BAD

[millylotus]

So I reblogged a lot of your stuff as you probably saw. I love how everyone acts in your idea of the rise verse but I always wondered this. Since it’s the same voice in both the scroll and shredder. I think saki was feeding information on how to defeat him to his family hoping someone would free him and now his ghost hangs around as benevolent grandfatherly ghost.

Imagine if he and karai could inhabit suits of armor maybe donnie and Draxum made together and Inter at with everyone. Like someone announces grandpa is coming to visit and it’s a soft looking shredder coming to gift toys and snacks to CJ and Sheldon while 2012’s jaws are on the floor.

Yes I did notice the reblogs and kudos, thank you so much for them!!! :D

I can't say that everyone works in my version of canon, I just tend to have pretty general headcanons, flattered that you think so though :)

Anyway back to your absolutely wonderful headcanon!

The idea of Oroku Saki fighting back against the Krang's corruption to help his daughter and remaining family. Just for the slim chance for the world to survive his impending Krangification. A tragic sort of last recorded message that Karai had to have gotten, having to listen to this fragment of her father try to guide her to kill the rest of him. It's heartbreaking really.

But also the idea of Saki and Karai going all fmab and staying by their descendants and protecting them. Karai getting the chance to have her dad back, uncorrupted and happy. And for Saki to fully become a father and his own person outside of the Shredder, doting on his grandchildren like he always wanted to, when things where normal.

Now they walk the world again possessing suits of armour to be there for their family. Maybe even Atsuko[Splinter's mom] and Sho[Splinter's granpa] show up every now and then in little toy armours made to be taken over every now and then.

The fam can learn about the Hamato family history and stuff.

Angsty moments between Raph and Saki as they bond over both being Krangified.

Karai and Leo getting through their very suicidal self sacrificial tendencies together.

Things like that would be nice.

-🐢-

Course all that is like a lot to explain to the 2012 gang and all they really see is a supposedly smaller and less dangerous Shredder who never took off his armour.

Or even the 2003 gang, cause their Shredder was Krang so not completely filled suits of armour as like really bad for them. And 2003 Karai betrayed them a few times if I remember correctly.

-🐢-

But also like soft and oblivious Rise gang not noticing the others discomfort right away.

Splinter talking happily with Saki, Saki pats him on the back and 2012 immediately tense.

Everytime Mikey goes to hug Granpop Saki, the others would pause and watch waiting for something to go wrong.

CJ and Shelldon hanging out with Granpop alone and 2012 is confused and concerned with the Rise gang just letting their youngests members be alone with him.

-🐢-

Just Gosh all the subtle discomfort of the other turts about the Rise fam. Ya just love to see it.

[laststandx3]

This post contains spoilers for ep 6 of daryl dixon

so finally watched ep 6 (the last one of the series) and let me tell you: it's bad. AdNag was wonderful, his hair were perfect, his face so kissable. 100% the highlight of the episode.

Anyway quinn dies (we knew it. let's not pretend we didn't) he get bitten by a zombie during the arena fight and in his last conversation as human he asks daryl to tell isabel he helped them an all. jesus christ, you're dying can you be less of a simp?

so let's talk about this episode for a minute. first half is them escaping the zombies in the arena (which daryl dixon has barely any difficulty in doing. he even lift one with a pole. really.) then the militia guys (was enough to fire one shot at random and they run away) and then our heroes were back on the road just to have the most nonsensical 5 minutes in the history of plots: does anyone remember the militia guy that wanted to avenge his brother so bad that in looking for dixon he got at least 40 people killed? the same guy that was cheering for a zombie to eat off dixon's face 3 minutes ago? that guy that was shown as the right hand of the boss? well after 5 episodes of murder after finally having dixon at the end of his gun he decided he wasn't going to kill him. bc he didn't want to kill laurent apparently, but the 20+ dead nuns is fine? the other innocents from the club? the paris commune? they can die. it's fine if he doesn't want to kill the kid but daryl dixon was right there, why not kill him?

second half of the episode they reach the nest and it's maybe the nicest sequence in the show so far. not enough that i can forgive everyone being dressed like background characters from a 40's movie or a group of french people picking the token american aboard student as their leader or everyone still speaking english for daryl or these people needing daryl to teach them how to use a rifle. but okay at least the sequence was nice. i don't believe that nuns taught laurent about aristotele but okay. i still have some suspension of disbelief left. at this point the people from the nest found daryl a lift home (kinda) and there's a ship waiting for him on the coast of Normandy. You know what we just found out? that dd's granpa died on the coast of normandy during ww2 and daryl sniffs on his grave even tho he never met the man and had a bad relationship with his dad. it feels like the american writers of this show had a list of things americans and french had in common and ww2 was the only thing left. anyway laurent then shows up from a dune and waves at daryl and idk it's implied daryl will take him to america? this kid only has bad ideas.

at the end of this season i can say this was the first draft for the show. not one single character has an arc. characters were underdeveloped, they had no solid background for their personalities. bad guys were bad until the plot needed them not to be. and those who were bad were bad just because. Genet she was a night guard at the museum and now she's leading a militia, i'm not saying it's impossible, i'm saying that without seeing even a glimpse of her character evolution she feels hollow. the guy wanting to avenge his brother does a 180 in a minute, killing 4 of his men. what is the journey there? he could've been a great character development, if he got developed in any way. Quinn, went form british living abroad (job still unknown) to nightclub owner that simped for Isabelle for 12 years but never ever in all this time looked for her once. and now that he died nobody cared, they made the big reveal that he was laurent's father and he was the ONLY person laurent showed no sympathy to?? Isabelle, laurent and the other nun, they saw everyone they lived with die and were okay, no faltering in faith, no grief. no lets go on with the plot. the other nun cared so little that she left them when they needed help the most and joined back when the risk was over. like?? girl what? I want to talk about laurent, he never questions he's god on earth, everyone told him he's special and in all his journey he never doubted for a second that he wasn't even if so far more people died than how many he helped. he saw murder, violence, hunger, pain, living dead and he didn't care at all. and now daryl dixon, i started the series knowing nothing about him and now the only thing i know is that he's the typical grunts not speak no friends type. zero connection with his character. he went throughout another tuesday of killing zombie and people and what bothered him the most was that everyone was speaking french.

this series gets a 4/10

[bloomyforest]

Ranking the tma entities based on how well I could deal with them (in a fight)

(this will be the begining of my personal TMA entity lists)

The Dark : It's just darkness!? What's it gonna do, blind me to death? I'm already almost blind. It's boring as hell, and yeah yeah monsters that lurck in the shadows ooo~ but nah they can't get me! I've mastered the art of threatening, and or flirting with, the shadowy figures in the dark. I may not be physically that competent in a fight, but I have fait in my weird fight flight fawn reaction!

Short answer: I would go full Shaniac mode and bully the hecc out of it.

2. The Lonely: Once again, I do not fear it at all, but it would be boring after a while- I am generally the type of person that doesn't need people to survive, but enjoy the company of people when they are there. I don't think I'm a good target for this entity, and I could definitely beat the Lukas family in a fist fight! Or I could just start infodumping on them, that should also make them uncomfy enough to retreat.

Short answer: I can take em'

3. The Vast: The one entity that's just perks no negatives, in my opinion. This is the point of the list where I am unsure if joining would be a win or a loss... I may be able to break some of Vast Granpa's crusty bones, but if I'm yeeted into the sky, I will just enjoy it. So basically, I love every part of the vast's deal, but is joining forces with the combattant concidered a loss, win or draw???

Short answer: mrgg I want to be in skyy, but must fight ittt.

4. The Buried: Once again, I would probably have a hard time not just becoming a part of it. I sometimes want to just be buried in the ground, and if possible, not breathing. I think this may just let me go after I start dozing off in the coffin instead of screaming in terror, I think I could bore this entity to submission. If I have to fight an avatar, I may be screwed, they are probably STRONK, grave digging, cave crawling, those are physically challenging stuff- I will admit that this battle could end either way, so I'll make it a draw.

Short answer: A nice place to rest, but probably stronk avatars.

5/6. The End & The Extinction: (I'm putting these two together because it would have similar results) They are both inevitable, so I doubt there is much point fighting them. I don't fear death, but I don't want to die right now, it's more like an inconvenience. So, do I believe I can fight The End? Not really, but I think I can handle it well so that's why it's so high up. Can I fight The Extinction? More plausible- probably not but what's the harm in trying, if I fail it's just the end of the world and after that there's nothing, that's not that bad :D

Short answer: In the end, it doesn't even matter ~ (I'll still try tho)

7. The Stranger: I wondered if I should put this higher or lower because I don't fear it, and I am actually pretty endeared by this one. But I realised that even though the actions of being a part of the stranger sounds alright, being a victim would be a bit of a pain- I don't think it could get to me, nor do I believe I am their targeted audience (so to speak) but if they did want to feed on me, it would probably be a bother. I do think I could win this, but I would also be tempted to go full avatar- and with the stranger, I don't think that's a win.

Short answer: A pain in the butt, but can probably win?

8. The Eye: At first I thought it would be an easy fight, but then I realised that I might actually be an easy victim. I have no fear of being stalked or watched, but I am terrified of not knowing all I should know (school anxiety, but even in non academic subjects). So, if the eye uses strategies, it could probably atleast put me in a stand off, but all these scenarios, I know I'm supposed to fight them and I tend to do a lot better when I want to win. I imagine it could end with an eternal staring contest (I have had staring contests with the sun, I could probably do an eldritch manifistation of a fear too >:]) I do know I can fight Jonah Magnus in one on one combat and win tho!

Short answer: Play our cards well and I will pipe murder the pipe murderer himself >:3 Play it badly and I will have a panic attack.

9. The Spiral: (unsure if it should be before or after hunt tbh) It doesn't scare me per say, it's more that I know I am a prime example of someone the spiral would feed off- (✨mentally ill✨) I already have troubles trusting my own mind and I'm unsure if it'd kill me or if I'd become one with the chaos of the spiral. I find comfort knowing that the chaos is just there and a part of existing, so being avatar-ed would be nice, but being a victim could probably be really bad for me. The Dr. David episode is a good example, as it's one of the few episodes that actually affected me. If I was his victim, I would be a sobbing mess, or just completely shut off nontheless not well.

Short answer: Could I win? heh probably not! But it's not the worst fate for me, I guess.

10. The Hunt: I'll just get this out of the way, no I could not win over the concept of being the hunter and the prey. But I could definitely try to run and hide.. Shit mildly scares me, not so much the pack mentality and violence/killing part, more just the use of wild animals. I don't want to be hunted by animals, they are freaky- I would sprint away and hide, so maybe I could hide until they get bored of me and move on?

Short answer: No. but I can try to hide

11. The Slaughter: Short answer; Fuck no, there is a reason for the saying "there is no winner in war". I would like to not engage in a one way ticket to being brutally murdered, thank you very much.

12. The Desolation: I have some trauma about human skin melting, so concidering that I flich every time someone turns on a lighter, I could not win this one. The desolation also focuses on making you painfully loose everyone/thing you care about, and I have a bit of a protectors complex, so that would also sting. But hey! Atleast they're hot ;3

Short answer: They would beat me to a burnt pulp. (I'll die as I lived, a gay mess)

13. The Flesh: First off, I would be a victim off the whole "feeding off personal body hatred and shit" thingy they have going on. I hate having a mortal flesh body so so much, it has genuinely made me cry before. Also I dislike gore, I just think it's gross and that's really all there is to it- I am also afraid of raw meat, but the reasoning behind said fear would feed the corruption and not the flesh, I think? The entities do work together, so I could be feeding both.

Conclusion: Flesh 1, Me 0

14. The Corruption: This is just a term for all my biggest fears :D As I hinted to, I don't fear raw meat because "eww blood, death aaa-" no, I fear it because of the germs. I have cried over the sight of mold, I used to hold my breath around wild fungi, and I refused to enter buildings that existed during the plague in fear that it could still be infected. Just the thought of being near anything from the Corruption would make me a sobbing mess on the floor, and it has done so before. 10 year old me once said "I'd rather kill myself than letting [insert horrifying disease I was talking about] kill me", I don't fully agree with this anymore but it's a good example of how irrational this phobia is. I don't mind insects though, as long as they don't crawl or goes inside me-

Short answer: It wouldn't even be a fight, I would just die.

(have fun psychoanalyzing this if ya want ^^)

[bjorkncaddel]

𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐀 𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐒 𝐀𝐓 her dorky husband when he agreed to her words. It does not matter what the doctors say, the blonde still believes that she can and will go to Sweden. She reckons all these symptoms are just a stupid flu, as much as the stubborn she is, the doctor isn't helping her either, which adds so much stress. She likes the nurses who come and check up on her and check on their little ones. Maybe, she is still in denial phase upon the news, as if she hadn't digested it. Part of her wants to stay in denial ( although she doesn't know how serious is her situation, like the depth of it ) . The Swedish blonde thinks all the positivity that she will back to her normal life soon will help her through this process. It is funny because she is a pessimist than an optimist kind of person. She almost said 'I love you' to Ryan when he left. At the least, she was in the room with Cordelia. She loves the older woman, and she is more mother to her than her own mother. Linnéa never was a mother material, even with her favorite boys, or rather boy the eldest one, she wasn't that much of a talent for that. Truth be told, it wasn't just about their culture which is different and may seem 'cold' to some people that does not know about their culture at all.

The other woman's next words were starting to calm her nervousness, and the tears slowly stopped falling on her delicate features. ❛ I do not like my current doctor Delia. I don't know how Ry felt about her. If I can schedule my birth painlessly, I want to try if I can of course do it naturally. I didn't know there was this possibility. ❜ She refers to having an epidural in a normal birth. ❛ My doctor said I would most likely go to C-Section, but I refuse to do it. Unless it is really necessary. ❜ So far, everything points out that she will most likely need a C-Section if she doesn't get any improvement. Besides, it is normal for twins to come in C-Section and premature. Naturally, the more she can handle to keep them to having the full development, the better. ❛ I didn't. But I should start to look for some. I was so busy looking for the hospitals in Sweden. I had two of my favorites over there in Stockholm. I'm not sure which hospital to go here. ❜ On the bright side, all her friends will be able to visit her when they are born. ❛ Are the rooms nice? ❜ It wasn't like they are talking about hotels, but… She inquired curiously. ⎯ Upon the little trivia about babies, Neva finally looked at her own baby bump and touched it. ❛ Wakey! Wakey you fuckers! You let me have a terrible night of sleep. ❜ She says kind of lovingly at her own babies, despite the hard words. They weren't moving at all, but they might be asleep… Normally they get hectics more at night.

❛ I will text for him to bring a mattress and go camping here. This armchair is not fair to him. Did you guys give him fertilizer when he was growing up or what? ❜ She picked up her phone and she texted Ry bringing a portable mattress so he could sleep better with her in the room. Too bad her bed wasn't that big, otherwise she would give him space to sleep hugging her. She misses sleeping and snuggling at him, without the uncomfortable IVs and machines connecting to her just to check everything is under control. Neva put her phone aside, and tried to turn in a better position for face Delia, and put her colder hand upon hers that was on her leg. ❛ That sounds like the grandson of yours. ❜ She says in an amused tone, saying that he would kill Delia if she left her alone. ❛ I am in the mood for all the gossip, I can't wait to hear from my friend Percy too. He went to a party… Oh my God, the Ryan part… I will not. Don't worry. ❜ She looked at her with an amused smile. ❛ Is he one of the guys from Monaco? I think Ry hates Monaco, because we escaped there, and you were flirting and I was there chilling, I do wonder if he thinks I was flirting too to make him angry. What about fake granpa, Jonathan? ❜

—he had simply nodded at her request; that had been the intention, in the beginning, to ask if she wanted to talk to him, but Baldur didn’t want to wait and he didn’t mind him being rude to him, but he wouldn’t tolerate the way he spoke about her. like Neva is such a property of theirs, not their daughter, for fuck’s shake. and he didn’t care whether the older man liked him or not, he’d still demand that he respect his wife or else he could get lost ( which, he did with some assistance in the end ). she called him by his middle name and he looked at her, laughing a little. “yes, ma’am!” he did not want to upset her further; not when she sounded so sure about. certain that their plans would pan out exactly as they were supposed to. they would do nothing that could put her, even the slightest bit, at risk, no matter how much he wanted her to have this, to do whatever was needed to have this wish of hers fulfilled —even if there was the faintest possibility of something happening to her during the flight, after the doctors’ would have allowed it, they were not going anywhere. and he hoped, deep down, despite her arguments and stubbornness, she knew this already; that he’d be utterly unwilling to compromise her well-being, her life, for any plan. nothing matters more than she does.

Ryan would be on his way home, first, to shower and get some more stuff for Neva and her extended stay at the hospital ( even if they didn’t know exactly how long she would stay there yet ). and perhaps they could see if she wanted to be transferred to a private clinic, instead —where she could be monitored by their chosen obgyn instead. and he could do that with a peace of mind, knowing Cordelia wouldn’t leave her alone and if anything happened she would call him right away. and for now, the older woman was trying to figure out how to ease the younger blonde’s worries and concerns. ‘maybe you can speak to your doctor about scheduling an appointment to have them delivered. can be natural birth with an epidural, and you won’t feel the pain.’ she said reassuringly, then scrunched up her face as she said ‘Karen had her baby with full anesthesia, from the neck down, and a c-section because she didn’t want any of the struggle.’ which, of course, had also been a scheduled birth. ‘I am sure they are resting, too,’ she smiled softly. ‘they do take the same medication you are, after all…’ hence probably why she had to be monitored all the time, being given different medication and IV treatments, the doctors needed to be certain that all was well with the pregnancy still; both mother and children. she continued caressing her leg, a maternal touch, as she looked at her grandson’s wife with utmost love and care. ‘have you thought about transferring to a clinic?’ it wasn’t home, but for people like them going to a public hospital was equal parts bad as flying a commercial flight ( at least for Cordelia, who had so many doctors she was seeing at a private clinic —she is not getting any younger, she needs to be careful ). a statement she was certain her grandson wouldn’t agree with, but he wasn’t here to judge her.

Cordelia laughed a little, shaking her head. ‘darling, he probably can’t last two hours not being next to you here.’ a matter-of-fact tone. she knows him very well, how much he loves her; and by what he had told her in regards of Neva’s health, he was worried about any complications even if he did not let anything on and didn’t want to elevate his wife’s stress levels. ‘he rests here with you, trust me. don’t worry your pretty head about it.’ and then she perked up, nodding and smiling softly. ‘you know Ryan will kill me if I leave before he comes back, right?’ she laughed. of course, it was true, but she wouldn’t; she wanted to be here. ‘and listen, are you in the mood for some gossip? but you won’t tell Ryan yet.’ she said in a more mischievous tone, coyly. ‘I am seeing someone new…I think this time you both might like him…’ she began with a smile.

[hachikohs]

okay so i caught up to sage’s route and I CANNOT BELIEVE that they were actually like “okay let’s make sage all suspicious about grandpa over there but make all the readers go haha, but he’s just a silly little magic grandpa, what could go wrong :) and then WHAM” like what.... 

[grey-tones]

I had such a nice and wholesome dream about coming out to my grandpa who I never get to see anymore

[somefink790]

beloved mutual!!! hope hyoure hav. okay for some reason tumblr wont let me backspace. or delete what th okay hm. i wont w dont want to have to resend tothis fuck this so im just gonna go with it ignore the typos. hope youre having a good day <3333 i saw u in my notifds fuck notifs and thought id say hi <3

hi!!! <3 i love the typos that's so funny:) i am not having a good day yet, i went shopping for shoes with my granpa and it was a fucking nightmare. im so bad at picking out shoes and he was rushing me :(((( i wish he'd just let me wear my old worn out shoes with paint stains i love them. so i went here to reblog posts from my beloved mutuals to makee me feel better, i think the rest of my days gonna be nice we're gonna have a tasty lunch:D hope you're doing good too <3333

[bilolli]

It doesn’t work.

And umh, little vent under the cut

So, let's ignore my graphic tablet not working right now after I went to a specific shop to avoid the same error from popping up.

This is a real bad week for me.

I had to leave my new job after a month and a half because of things (mostly because it was a toxic environment. I thought they were teaching me the ropes at first but after talking about it with my family and friends turns out it's just them being not so nice and I'm just too naive) and free work (yeah because you had to came 30 min. earlier but bot sign in until 5 minutes prior you turn and you weren't able to EVER leave at the designated time. I practically worked 1h plus every day without getting paid for it).

I can't ask for financial help (something called naspi in italy) like I did before because I was the one leaving the job and not them sending me away.

My granpa was recovered yesterday after we called an ambulance because he had a really bad headache just to find out he has internal bleeding in his HEAD and that for the doctors he should have been already dead. This morning my grandpa had to be operated but they didn't do that and also didn't tell us they transferred him to another hospital, one that is hours away.

I tried telling my family I want to stop searching for jobs easy to find but that I don't like for some time and dedicate myself on creating a portfolio for the job I would like to do but I just got yelled at because "that's too easy for you to say, thake some responsibility" and shit like that.

And uhh I'm a little tired and out of cash?

But don't worry, if I figure out how kofi works, prepare matirials for conventions and other stuff maybe I can find a way to survive this hell of a time and still be somewhat happy.

So....uhhmm...my drawing tablet is not working.

[numberonephantompizza1]

Poppy Fanfic: “Ask Her”

For context: This is a fanfic I wrote in order to join the Poppy Milk dev team and show off my writing skills. Since the callout at the time said we’d need to write a lot of sidequests, I wanted to ask the question of what a Poppy-centered side-quest would be like. I got the idea that it would be from an Asker’s perspective, and everything sort of came naturally after that. Even though I’m on the dev team right now, it’s not canon to Omega Timeline: Poppy’s Story and even has some inaccuracies that contradict canon. With that said, please feel free to read the story below the cut.

---

You noticed something very different inside your room when you woke up. The lights were off and the sun hadn’t yet risen, but there was a certain… aura, coming from your door. You were filled with a certain trepidation, but… you approached it. It was hard to see in the light, but it looked… grey. 

Swallowing the lump in your throat, you stepped through...

...and found about the last person you would’ve expected. The spitting image of Frisk - CORE!Frisk, that was, looking up at you, in the middle of a white void.

“Wh- You’re real?!” you asked, dumbfounded.

“Of course I’m real. Have you been taking all this multiverse stuff for granted? Everything is real somewhere,” Core answered, simply. 

“I… I don’t… and you, me…” you panted, starting to feel a small panic attack coming on.

“Focus,” Core snapped their fingers, grounding you back in reality. Okay, this was happening now.

“Let’s get down to business. Simply: you don’t like me. And I don’t like you. But we BOTH like Poppy. Poppy, my dear, sweet angel… has unfortunately recently come to the realization that Askers ALSO exist in the multiverse. And now she wants to do a ‘meet n’ greet’ with one of her fans. Trust me, I TRIED to talk her out of it, but she can be darn persuasive when she wants to be. And as you’re now realizing, that’s where you come in. 

“I wanna make you a deal. You play along with whatever Poppy wants until she gets bored of this. If you’re on your best behavior - and that means, don’t give her anything bad, don’t tell her anything you KNOW she shouldn’t know, don’t use any magic, and be a general good influence - if you play nice, in exchange, I will allow you to hang out with ANY resident of the Omega Timeline. 

“Want to spend a day full of wacky hijinks with a Papyrus, or even an Underswap Sans? Consider it done. Want to know how Deltarune Chapter 2 plays out ahead of time? I know a Susie with your name on it. Whatever you want, so long as you play by the rules, and don’t ask for anyone obviously ridiculous. So… do we have ourselves a deal?”

You contemplated that offer, and everything that was happening, trying to suppress your inner urge to geek out for just a few moments. The Omega Timeline, Poppy, and all the AU’s you could think of and more were real. And you just got an invitation to visit them.

“Yeah, of course!” you nodded excitedly, though your enthusiasm only seemed to make Core more anxious.

“Don’t make me regret this…” Core sighed, as the whiteness seemed to melt away into a cozy-looking house with wooden floors and lime walls, where you were standing directly outside of a white door. Core seemed to have disappeared.

Technically, there was nothing stopping you from exploring. So you did just that. You walked up to a shelf with some family photos. One was a photo of Poppy, Core, Dusted and Rust all together, in some meadow, looking happy. At least, you assumed Dusted and Rust were happy, they didn’t show up well on camera. There was another photo of Poppy alone, looking somewhat younger than she did on the blog, seated on a chair in a photo that looked far more staged. She held an actual poppy flower in her hand and smiled brightly.

You opened the cabinet doors, curious of what knick-knacks you might find in there. Some crayons, a few random glass cups, some art by 3-year-old Poppy that was so poorly done its meaning was hard to decipher, and a locked box. You reached for the box--

“Getting a bit sidetracked, aren’t we?”

You jolted up, and faced Core behind you. Even though they were child-sized, they crossed their arms with the poise and authority of a stern parent. You laughed anxiously. “Ahahaha… ahaha… ha……..”

“...Strike one.” Core said, and vanished. The meaning of that was all-too clear. Deciding not to dilly dally any longer, you went to the room you suspected to be Poppy’s, and knocked. 

“Just a sec!” Poppy said, and opened the door. She looked up at you, and gasped. “Wow, Granpa really did come through…!” She twirled excitedly. “You must be my adoring fan, aren’t you?” she asked.

You stared down at the girl in stunned silence.

“To be honest, I kinda figured you’d be some gray guy with sunglasses, but that’s kinda silly in hindsight. How you doin’?” She asked that last line in a mock accent as you continued to stare.

“Baby,” you said.

“What?”

“Nothing,” you quickly tried to change the subject. “Yeah, it’s… y’know, it’s great to be here…” You clasped your hands together, biting your lip. You were in an Undertale AU, faced with the AU granddaughter of another AU character. You still weren’t entirely over that. Was this fever dream? Fandom heaven, or fandom hell?

“I know! Once I heard you guys weren’t from the Omega Timeline, I realized I hadn’t met even ONE of my fans… even if you guys are super annoying some of the time.” 

“Uhhh, yeah…” you wondered if you should apologize on behalf of the askers who put Poppy in the hospital that one time. Then again, it seemed kind of awkward, and it might have been best not to bring that up while Core was watching, which was always. Looking down at the cutesy girl, it was almost tempting to pull her into a hug, but you managed to keep your composure. 

“I wanted to do something a little more special than just some sorta interview, though, because you ask me questions all the time anyways,” Poppy said. “Granpa said you’ve never been to the Omega Timeline before, so I wanna give you the big tour!” Poppy went to the door. “I’m gonna be outside when you’re ready!” She left the room.

Seeing the empty room in front of you, you were tempted to snoop again, but you’d learned your lesson after last time. You headed straight out after Poppy.

You couldn’t help but gasp in awe of the serenity of the great outdoors as you were beckoned to it. You’d been outside before, obviously, but everything just looked so… nice. The blue sky, the grassy grounds, the ornate buildings… you’ve seen this place in pixel art and a couple drawings before, but seeing it with your own eyes was another story. And the next thing for you to nearly faint at was seeing the Undertale characters running around, Sanses, Undynes, Frisks, even goat moms. 

Poppy smiled. “...It’s nice, isn’t it? I KNEW taking you on a tour was a good idea.” She smirked. “Now remember, just because this is a meet-up doesn’t mean it’s free, and there WILL be a fee at the end of our ride.”

“...Uh… I left my wallet at home,” you said, patting your pockets, “And I don’t have any, uh... ‘G,’ I think. Unless the G stands for ‘Gratitude,’ amiright?” you did finger guns.

“G stands for Gold,” Poppy corrected you bluntly, unamused. She returned to her chipper attitude just as quickly, though. “Now, let me show you around!” She led you down the street. 

Walking with her, seeing so many versions of your favorite characters in the flesh, walking around… well, the temptation to talk to SOME of them was irresistible, Core be damned. You did resolve not to go too far off-track, but you shared some words with the folks you passed by, Poppy thankfully stopping each time you did. You met two Frisks - one boy, one ambiguous - an Underswap Undyne, a human version of Toriel, and surprisingly, a version of Princess Peach.

You and Poppy approached an elegant fountain, stood upon proudly by a statue of a mustachio’d CORE!Frisk. “This is the Timeline Plaza! It’s sort of the local park, where people meet up to do... stuff. Just hang out. Make a picnic. Play ball. All that good park-y stuff, y’know? And there’s stores in all directions, so it’s pretty good.” She proudly showed off her home to you, with a smile.

You talked to more on the way to the next place. An Inverted Fate Papyrus. A weird Ralsei who said his name was “Noyno.” An Asgore wearing a hoodie, who you assumed was swapped with Sans. (Poppy did scold you a little bit for this, telling you that just because someone has a hoodie you shouldn’t assume they’re swapped. You apologized.)

“This is Grillby’s! One of them, anyways. The nearest one to my house. It’s pretty good if you want an OK burger. Sanses love the place, though. It’s… kind of unhealthy. And a little gross.” Poppy said. “Especially when they just drink… raw… ketchup.”

“Can’t handle a little ketchup?” you smiled mischievously. “We drink it by the gallon back in my universe,” you lied.

“...I really hope you’re joking,” Poppy said, alarmed.

“Am I?” you smiled brighter.

“...W-well, we’re not going in there, so you can FORGET about drinking that much ketchup!” Poppy said, afraid of the sheer power of your ketchup-drinking.

You and Poppy moved onto the next spot. You met an Underswap Alphys who seemed to be trapped in a red-and-gold palette. You met a robot dressed as a circus ringmaster, who claimed to be a Chara. You met a Dummy dressed in a Frisk shirt. (You didn’t assume it was swapped with Frisk this time, which turned out to be a mistake, because it was.) Poppy stared at you awkwardly now, wondering why you were talking to all these random strangers. Finally, you and Poppy reached your next destination.

“The theater! Where we show off all the greatest hits! Including MY movie, which, not to brag, but it’s--”

Except, you’d been distracted by a hyperdeath Asriel, and were ignoring Poppy for the moment.

“...” Poppy spoke up. “That’s what I don’t get about you.”

“Huh?” that seemed to wake you up, and you looked at her. 

“Everytime it’s always, ‘have you met Underswap Sans,’ or ‘have you met JangoTale Frisk,’ or some other weird thing. You always ask that. But… they’re just people. Why do you always assume I know some random Sans or Frisk or someone?”

“I…” you were a bit taken aback. “...I don’t… we don’t assume you know them, they’re just… they’re just important.” 

“Important?” She asked. “...I-I mean, yeah, EVERYONE’s important, but, I don’t really get what you mean…”

“They’re all--” You paused, trying to collect your thoughts, think of everything you knew from the blog, and tried to actually talk to her. “...They’re like friends to me. Kinda.”

“...You guys are friends with them? I thought you were stuck in your world…” she frowned.

“No, it’s like-- I’m not ‘friends’ with Underswap Frisk, or-- or Storyshift Frisk, or Shifty or whatever, I’m just friends with… Frisk.”

...Poppy stared at you like you just said the ground was turning to jelly, or something equally bafflingly inane. “...I… think you’re confused. Look, sometimes newcomers struggle with this. Your Frisk isn’t the only Frisk--”

“I know! It’s… You don’t get it. This world, these worlds are so special and creative, and they mean a lot to me. I know we can be really edgy, and I know we ask weird questions about Dusted and Rust, but that’s all because… because...” you paused.

Poppy looked, seeming upset about hearing her siblings mentioned in the context of ‘edgy’ questions, not seeing what you were seeing. Core, standing behind her, holding up a hand signal.

The number two.

You were getting carried away. You overstepped.

“...Um… I’m sorry.” You pulled her into a hug as Core vanished. “There’s really no reason for us to ask those questions. We can just be dumb sometimes.”

“...” She hugged back. “Yeah, it’s okay. I knew you guys were super weird and dumb before I convinced Granpa to let you in here, so I guess I should’ve seen this coming,” Poppy smiled, regaining her confidence as you did your best to not be offended at being called weird and dumb.

“Okay! I think I have just one last stop in mind to cap this tour off on a high note! Literally, hehehe…” She giggled mischievously. This time, you didn’t stop to talk to others, following her directly as you approached a peak overlooking the town. For yet another time, and probably the last, you couldn’t help but ogle at the town’s beauty. “Pretty good, right?” She sat down.

“Ha… with all the climbing, I was worried we’d fall down a mountain,” you joked. Poppy seemed to roll her eyes, as you sat beside her. “...I guess I get how you can call this place home. I mean, once I stop nerding out, anyways. You don’t see stuff like this in my… reality.”

“Just gallons and gallons of ketchup, huh?” she commented. You couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Yeah.”

And you two just stared into the distance for a while. ...She wasn’t just a character. She was a human being.

...Or, technically just a ‘being,’ scratch the human part. Still, you felt a bit desensitized to all this. And so did she. You related in that way.

“I can’t say you exactly passed with flying colors, but you fulfilled your end of the agreement well enough.”

Without any warning, you were back in a white void with CORE!Frisk, just like before. You almost forgot about the deal you made, what with all the time you spent with Poppy. You stood.

“Uh… yeah. So, my reward…” you drifted off, remembering the offer Core gave you. The chance to meet just about any AU character of your imagining… or at least, any that would be peaceful enough to be in the Omega Timeline. Which still left a WIDE variety of options…

Who did you want to see? What mattered most to you?

...

Thinking deeply… you told Core their name.

“...Oh. Really? Well, I guess it makes sense for you that you’d want to see them,” Core remarked. “I can’t guarantee they’ll give you what you’re looking for, but a deal’s a deal. Let’s head off.”

You and Core went somewhere else.

---

And that’s all she wrote! If you read this far, thank you. Working on the game since then has been fun, and I think you’ll like what we have in store. Until then, ciao.

[futurewriter2000]

More than Family - pt. 3

A/N: It was such a long time since I had written a fic but I am so glad I did because wow. This was so fun to write and I hope you like it. Also I messed with the timeline a bit, so fuck it. I can write whatever I want. Woo, let’s go.

XX

Sirius was pacing in front of you, rubbing his chin and running his hands through his dense hair. He stopped, clasped his hands together and pressed his fingers on his chin. He stared at you, then zoomed out into his thoughts and then back at you. 

“I-” he started but the racket out on the hall caused his attention to avert from you. He looked at his watch and cursed under his breath. “Shit! They’re early.” he ran to the hall than back at you, grabbed you under his arm and poofed you away. 

You felt sick to your stomach as you had appeared in an unfamiliar room, bending over as anxiety came over you.

“Sorry, kid. They can’t know you’re here.” he led you to the bed and sat you down. “It’s an ugly side affect, you get used to it.”

“Ugh.” you let out a groan. “I don’t like magic.” you said as he let out a laugh. 

“It can be a bugger sometimes, yes.” he knelt down to you and looked at you a bit sadly. “I will be right back, kid. We’ll figure this out but for now, nobody can’t know about this.”

“COUSIN!” both of you heard a shout from the hallway. 

“Don’t cause any racket and just... wait... please...” he tilted his head. “For me.” he started to plead you with his eyes as you rolled your own. 

“Fine.”

----

Sirius did not trust you enough to leave the doors unlocked or to leave you without the silencing charm on your room but you were there, in his room, snooping. 

For the first few days you were kept in, you tried to avoid any kind of snooping, seeing as it was respectful to not touch his private things but it has gotten more dull as the day passed slowly and you had nothing to do than see him by the end of the day. 

He apparated in your room and found you lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. You didn’t jump, nor look at him but he knew you were furious at him. 

“I brought you a book.” he lifted the object in his hand and started walking towards you. 

You replied with silence. 

“I know this is an odd situation between you and me but we will talk, I pr-”

“Promise?” you finished instead of him. “Like you had promised four days ago?” you snapped, still not bothering to look at him. 

“It’s not easy, kid.” 

“I know it’s not easy.” you finally shot your head at him, glaring under your furrowed eyebrows. You jumped to your feet and started pacing. “You think you’re confused?! Imagine me being a kid and not knowing about half the things that happened in my childhood?! Imagine finding out that my mum is not my mum and my dad is not my dad and thinking that your dad was my dad because he was so fatherly-”

“That was not my father.” he snapped as well. He had no tolerance about his family. “My father was  cruel, evil and a pain in the arse.”

“He was the closest thing I had to a family.” your eyebrows started to tremble, as well as your lips. Sirius closed his mouth to argue. “He gave me the photo of you and James. He told me about my mother. He told me about you- everything about you! He said you were a good man! A fair man, honest, brave, daring and then I meet you and it’s like... like you’re nothing of that!! I’m here! Trapped like a prisoner and all I want is to talk!”

Sirius stood up and faced you his back. “No.” he mumbled under his breath, shutting his eyes with force and gritting his teeth. “You’re lying. That was not my father.” he growled. “He could never say any of those things you had just said.” 

“He spoke of you plenty.”

“How would you know? You said he only watched you from afar!”

“But he didn’t!” you shouted. “I knew there was more because I keep getting glimpses in my dreams about him and I playing chess and this boy- this boy that looks so much like you and he has such a nice smile- and...and... I have memories of him too! I just wish I could remember them because all I get is glimpses and as soon as they come they disappear! That’s why I need you!”

“Reg...” he mumbled under his breath, finally turning back to you and watching you with sorrowful, regretful eyes. “He-”

“Where in the  bloody hell are you cousin!” the two of you heard a shout from the hallway, both glancing at the door.

“No.” you said as you saw him apologise with his eyes. “No, you can’t just leave-” you started to run to him but he was already gone. “UGH!” you screamed and ran to his bed, screaming into the pillow. 

You were trying to remember the man from your dreams, the boy. You tried to focus on him, find out more about him but nothing came to light. 

But then you remembered. You were in his room. His room. 

You sat up and looked at his dark brown desk, which started to fall apart throughout the years. You walked to it, sitting on the creaking chairs and running your fingertips on the surface of the desk. You felt cuts, splinters that wanted to dig into your skin. At the very edge of the desk you saw initials- his initials. 

S. O. B. 

Except that the O and B were crossed over multiple times. You quickly averted your attention from there and looked at the wall in front of you. It was connected to the desk, with four small drawers on each side but in the middle it was an empty space, filled with polaroids, photos and writings. You saw quill and ink on the side, snorting a bit. “Who still uses a quill, old man?” you took the large feather in your hand and observed it. It was extremely light but what you did not know was what the feather hid. 

The Marauders - was what it was carved in wood, under the polaroid of three young boys. 

‘ Something pulled you away- something strong and powerful, letting you land on your 3rd grade classroom, listening about triangles. It was you and you were such a child back then. 

“(y/n)?” you heard your teacher call you from the door and you looked up. “Your uncle is here to pick you up.” she smiled and you could see yourself radiate with joy. 

And you couldn’t remember that day. You couldn’t remember anything about this specific memory that seemed to be hidden somewhere in your brain. 

Your little self ran out of the class with her backpack larger than her body and you saw the boy beaming at you. 

“Here’s my Princess!” he laughed as you ran into his arms and he lifted you up, spinning you around. You giggled joyfully as he placed you back down and took your backpack off your shoulders. “Let’s take this heavy thing off.” 

“Where are we going!? Where are we going?” you jumped over-excitedly. 

“It’s a surprise.” he winked at you, putting your backpack onto his shoulder and taking your small hand into his. “I asked the teacher about your progress. She said you had improved quite lovely.” he looked down on you.

“I listened to you. I did my homework every day after school and I didn’t leave the desk until I had finished it.”

“And you did it all by yourself?” 

“No. Dad had to help me with geography.” you started to get a bit upset and he seemed to notice it.

“Geography is a bugger sometimes.” he smiled. “There’s nothing wrong with getting some help. And mathmatics?”

“I’m top of my class.”

“That’s wonderful!” he laughed. “I’m proud of you.” 

“I just wish you’d come more often, Uncle.” you started to get upset again. “Granpa is fun and all but he keeps beating me at chess and-”

The man by your side let out a laugh. “Granpa was never keen on losing, kid. He did the same to me and my brother.” 

You stopped in your tracks and so did he. He had realised what he had said and shut his eyes regretfully. “You mean my real dad?” you looked up at him, looking up at him with watery eyes. 

The man knelt down to you and cupped your chin. 

“Why isn’t he here?”

“He- uhm.” he stopped, trying to find the right words. “He’s busy.”

“I want to meet him. I want to know who he is.” 

“No, you don’t kid. He’s extremely busy.” he started to get a bit frustrated and bitter. 

“Busy with what?”

“With Marauders.” he rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth in anger. “With him and Marauders- as they call themselves- they come before family.” he continued to speak bitterly and saw how awfully that affected you, so he fixed his thin-lipped smile into a beam and cupped your cheeks. “But we don’t do this here. Me and granpa won’t do this to you. Family comes first, (y/n). We’re not like your father. We choose family.” he kissed your forehead and pulled you into a hug. ‘ 

You woke up from the memory, emotionally exhausted. You felt relieved and calm but so sad. You had no clue who the man was but how he made you feel was as close to family as you could get. 

You pushed yourself from the chair and started to dig around the drawers. 

Whoever this man was, he was right. Sirius didn’t care about family, he showed you that perfectly clear just about now, when he kept you in this room for four days and not telling you a single thing. He didn’t want to let you go but he didn’t want to tell you what is going on either. The fact is, you didn’t care about him anymore. You wanted to know more about your uncle. You wanted to know about his brother because he was there, you just can’t remember. 

There must be a reason he stopped visiting you- your uncle but you had to find him. You need to know but you couldn’t find a single thing about him except a photo of him and Sirius, somewhere far in the drawer. No name, no information. 

You ran to the bed and started to look for anything that could tell you something about him. You dropped on your knees and looked under the bed.

Nothing. 

“Ugh!” you let out a desperate groan and slammed your face on the rug. 

He forgot to lock the door.- you heard something in your ear and you quickly turned around to see who it was. 

There was nobody but you and the voice. You looked around and around with your heart thriving on adrenalin. 

Follow me. - it said from the door.

“Probably a bad idea.” you told yourself, staring at the door with wide eyes. “But at least it’s some idea.” you stood up and continued to stare at it. 

Trust me. - it continued and it was as if somebody took a hold of your hand, something so familiar and safe that brought the man back into your head; his piercing eyes and his wonderful smile.

And you could. You could walk to the door without feeling afraid anymore... with feeling him by your side. 

You put your hand on the handle and prayed to whoever was with you that the door was unlocked. With a twist you found out that Sirius left the door unlocked. 

You peeked on the hallway, hearing voices from a room far away. You looked both ways and before you could decide, something inside of you said right and so you did. 

You tiptoed down the hall and just stopped. 

Here. Look to your right. - it said and so you did. 

You put your hand on the door handle but it didn’t budge. “It’s locked.”

Try again.

“Why would I try again if it’s-” the door just opened and you felt a shiver run down your spine. “Oh... yeah no. I’m not doing this ghost thing. I watched way too many horror movies to know where this is going.” you started to back away but it was as if somebody caught you and whispered. 

“Don’t you want to know about me?”

You turned around with a snap and started back away, staring at the empty space where that voice came from and before you had realised it, you were in the room.

It was similar to Sirius’. The bed, the desk, the cupboards, wardrobes, window... everything was placed on the same location as Sirius’ room. The only difference was that everything was covered in white sheets. 

You looked at the empty hallway then back at the room. “Fuck it.” you mumbled and closed the door in case somebody passes by. You did it as quietly as you could but even you couldn’t avoid the smallest creaks the old wood had caused. 

You pulled the sheets off everything. His bed, his desk, his wardrobe- everything. You even opened the window to get some light in the room before you decided to search through it. His name wasn’t hard to find in his own room. 

Regulus Arcturus Black. 

‘ “This is her?” he said as he walked behind your grandfather. His eyes were still, observing every inch of you. 

“This is her.” your grandfather smiled as he moved another piece of chess down the board. “(y/n).” he looked at you as you looked at him. “This is your uncle, my son, Regulus Arcturus Black.” he moved another piece as you looked up at the man. “He’s going to take care of you when I’m gone.” ‘

The memory left as soon as it came and a tear had fallen down your cheek. 

“Regulus.” you smiled to yourself and started to look through his things. 

His room was much more neater and organised than Sirius’. Everything was much more well kept, which you could see on his desk that had no scratch, nor carvings in it. It was smooth and tidy, much more darker than Sirius’. 

You started to open the drawers but there was nothing there except some letters, school papers and books. Until something in your gut feeling told you to turn around and walk to his night stand. 

Without a doubt you did so. Running to it and opening the smallest of the drawers. There was a box, quite larger than the drawer and for a moment there it confused you because how could a drawer so small hold a box this big. 

You opened it and found many letters, many photos of you as a child. 

You sat down on the bed and started going through it. 

‘Dear Uncle, 

I had finally finished it. I hope you come home soon! I can’t wait to see you again!

(y/n) ‘

You read with a photo of you holding your elementary school certificate. You looked at the date and saw that that was only 3 years ago. 

“I’ve known you three years ago.” you told yourself. “Where are you?” you dug through it, trying to find any evidence of him. 

You found another photo instead, a moving one. You were 16 years old- that was a year ago- when the two of you were filming him eating ice cream and when you appeared on the photo frame. 

You felt shocked to the bone. 

‘ “Hey, Reg!” you laughed, holding camera in your hand. “Say cheese!” 

“Cheese!” he smiled brightly. “Let me see!” he said as soon as he heard the camera click. “Why on Earth hadn’t you told me I have ice cream on my face?” 

“Now where would the fun be in that, Uncle?” you smiled.

“Have some respect for the elderly!” he gasped over-dramatically.

“What are you? 60?” 

“Oh, dear God no.” he laughed, wrapping his arm around you and walking along side you. 

“Though I see some grey hair making appearance.” 

“Oi, kid. Don’t make me throw you in the water.” 

“I’d like to see you try.”

“Are we going to have to duel?”

“You did learn me a few tricks, haven’t you?” you smiled, showing him a glimpse of your wand from the hem of your pants. “When pupil outteaches the master.”

“Dream on, kid.” ‘

You opened your eyes wide. “I knew magic.” you blurted out. “He thought me magic!” 

[lsgingasblog]

Yh is a travesty, but here are a few things I still liked enough/ find amusing/somewhat curious about:

1. Moroha is a lil shit and a ball of sunshine. Must Protecc.

2. Sesshomaru's mom- her savagery is great

3. Touga's pretty cool

4. The 2nd opening song of YH slaps

5. While not compelling as og Inuyasha I do enjoy the dynamics enough when sunrise actually cares to remember they marketed this a main trio kind of story. That said I don't get as much a feeling of family as the og Inuyasha group. Which is ironic considering they're actually cousins.

6. Was nice seeing Souta and funny to see him use same excuse grampa higurashi used to explain kagome's absence back then and towa's now xD.

7. Towa's character design is ite, wish she wasn't so frustrating though.

8. Setsuna when she actualy shows emotion is nice.

9. Kohaku is kinda hot. No, that's all really.

10. Miroku's daughter teasing miroku for a hot minute was amusing.

11. Riku is confusing, but I'm curious enough to see how his story ends. Although I'm indifferent about him and towa in a romantic capacity.

12. Kaede and granpa higurashi are in the immortal human club and you can't tell me otherwise.

13. Please let inuyasha and kagome out.

14. I feel bad for Rin being in stasis for years, also her being the mother is uncomfortable to me.

That said with kagura dead when I heard of sequel info I was filled with dread, because unless they brought kagura back, which on one hand yay my ship, but it would lessen the impact of her death. And her death is still one of the saddest death in anime for me. She just wanted to be free like the wind ;-;

It is feudal era however and while it doesn't make it any less uncomfortable for me, putting a modern lens at an era that was 500 years ago in the past is sort of a moot point to some extent.

It's frustrating for me though because I feel like I've been usagi drop-ped all over again. An anime about a salaryman somehow deciding to take in the kid of an elder relative that passed away.

If people tell you there's a manga they're filthy liars who would just as readily recommend boco no pico when you ask for anime recommendations.

To be fair I did like Rin in the og Inuyasha but feel weird because I thought that it was mostly just a caretaker bond and secondly feels Rin was just reduced to baby making and then stuck in a tree for years. She has shit luck, poor Rin.

In any case here's hoping they don't drag out another season, but unsure what it will be. I know I'm out after this season tho regardless if it does get a 2nd one.

[feminaexlux]

Branded

It’s the @lukanette-exchange fic! After a long while it’s here!! @kingsglaivian I hope you enjoy! Also thanks to LBSC and @quickspinner in particular for finding the cool soulmark prompt lol

I am super, super excited to share this with you!

Original prompts: “childhood friends AU, soulmate AU, and an AU of the exchangee's choice.”

∴

It’d been just a few minutes after they first met when she first wrote her name on him.

She had come closer and stared over his shoulder when she saw he’d been drawing something. Was it a drawing? It looked like he had been drawing circles on a bunch of lines. Oh, Maman had showed her how music was written, it was music! “Hi! Are you drawing music?” She had asked cheerfully.

The boy had startled, apparently not having seen Marinette earlier. His pencil had marked across the entire page. “Aah!”

“Oh no!” Marinette whined. “You messed up!”

“Y-you made me do that,” he frowned. “You scared me.”

“Are you drawing music?” Marinette continued asking.

“Oh, yeah, yeah I am,” he said, turning the pencil around and erasing the errant mark. “I think about music all the time.”

“So what does that mean?” she asked, poking at his paper.

“That’s uh… that's…” he thought a bit. “I think that’s D and the next one is F and another D but this one’s higher. It’s a song from a video game.”

“You play video games?! Papa and I play games too!”

They talked back and forth about a bunch of different little things and he completely forgot what he’d been doing. Then it got to the point where Marinette had pulled out one of her markers and started writing her name on his arm. “– and if stays tomorrow it means you found your true love!” Marinette smiled up at the boy she’d been talking to. He looked like he was a few years older. Maybe he was even 10? Maybe he was younger, he looked really kinda small to be 10.

She was at the playground next to her family’s bakery. She’d been running around and playing with a few other kids there, but she saw this one boy sitting by a tree in the shade. He looked like he was alone and Marinette wondered if he’d been bullied. She knew what that was like, even at the tender age of 5. But it was easy to talk to this boy, he was much less Crazy Mean Boy than Kim was. He was more like Nino! And Nino was nice.

“Is that your name?” the boy asked, staring at her neatly written letters. “Marinette?”

“Yeah!”

“So if it stays tomorrow you’re my true love?” He asked, confused. “Mom told me that writing names on other people is bad… But why?”

“Maman and Papa have their names on each other’s arms,” Marinette said. “It’s not bad! Oh but you have to draw over it ‘cause it’s important that you do it,” Marinette added.

“Why?”

“It’s important,” she clarified. It looked like he was going to keep asking why until his mom called out.

“Ay laddie, it’s time to go,” a lady with a long braid said in their general direction. She had a girl on her hip and was walking over to the boy. “Why hello there lass, are ye makin’ friends with me boy?”

“I’m Marinette,” she said up to the lady. She wasn’t Lass, she wanted to say.

Marinette saw the boy quickly pull down his sleeves from his hoodie to hide her name. “Itwasnicetomeetyoubye,” he said quickly, before Marinette could whine about him hiding her name. He ran away to hold onto his mom’s hand. “Let’s go mom,” he continued, pulling his mom away in a slightly embarrassed fashion.

“Don’t ye want to say farewell? We won’t be ashore fer a while son.” Well, she didn’t know at the time he had wanted to run away and hide so the nice new girl wouldn’t be weirded out by his mom like most people were.

“See you tomorrow!” Marinette yelled after him.

She didn’t.

∴

It’d been just a few days after they first met.

Luka scrubbed and scrubbed at the M on his wrist but it wasn’t coming out. He’d scrubbed himself raw at the sink, his flesh feeling tender and his skin close to bleeding. He’d written over the girl’s marker with a pen a few days ago, idly curious if the mark would stay. At least he’d written over just the M, thinking about the nice girl who’d been curious about him.

“Luka?” He heard his mom call out. No, no, no. It wasn’t coming out and his mom would see it and she’d freak out and he’d have to make an excuse or find some of her makeup or something. He’d been told to take off his hoodie by… that man and so he ran back to the bathroom to try to do something about the M on his wrist.

Anarka opened the door. “Luka, my boy what are ye–” Oh no oh no she saw the mark. He put his hands back in the sink and kept scrubbing, starting to cry. “Luka what…” His mom started, initially alarmed and then… and then she came over to hug him.

“Mom what do I do?” He cried. “It’s not coming out!”

“Who'd… no, it doesn’t matter. Luka stop doing that, it’s not going to come out. It doesn’t, lad.” His mom took his hands from the sink and started to dry them. “It stays no matter how hard ye try to get rid o’ it.” She spoke to him with the rare moment of solemnity. “Ye'e been Branded, and there’s nothin we can do about it.”

“I don’t wanna be Branded!” he wailed.

In a quiet, heated hiss Anarka whispered “This is why I told ye to never write names on yerself!” She looked at her son crying and sighed, shaking her head. Luka would realize later she’d been more disappointed in herself that she’d let him get Branded like he did. She thought she warned him, but how could she blame him for something no one ever thought would happen at 7 years old?

Who finds their soulmate at 7?

But it’d be a shackle for the rest of his life. Luka would grow up wondering if this M would ever be part of his life again, whether M would even want to be his partner. If he did find someone else to be his partner, they’d wonder if they’d ever be loved like whoever this M was. “Here,” Anarka sighed. “Ye can’t get rid of that Luka. But ye can cover it. Forget about it now, lad,” she said gently, taking off the wide leather cuff she had on that had covered her own Brand. “This 'ere’s yers now. I’ll get ye all freshened up. Granpa’s waitin for us,” Anarka said, pasting on a fake smile.

Luka hated that man. He was angry and hateful and mean, but Anarka had wanted to see her own Ma again, to have her Ma help guide Anarka in the raising of two children Anarka never originally planned to have. Granma was nice. But Granpa? No. Luka swore to himself he’d never be like Granpa.

His mom put the cuff around Luka’s Brand, looping twice to fit the small wrist better. “All covered up now. Is that fitting, Luka?” He nodded, staring at the “S” on his mom’s wrist.

“Was… that dad?” Luka asked, pointing at the Brand.

Anarka laughed. “It stands for Scotland,” she said lightly. “It stands for the Sea. It’s not yer da, no,” Anarka lied.

∴

It’d been a few weeks since Marinette met Adrien Agreste.

She’d been convinced Adrien was her True Love, and was continually disappointed every morning when his name disappeared off of her arm. “Tikki, it disappeared again,” Marinette sighed.

Tikki shrugged. “Maybe he’s not ready?” The Kwami had seen this before. The Brands were a form of magic that humans had that linked two souls together, signaling that they’d found their soul’s mate. A person would have to write another’s True Name on themselves somewhere, and it would disappear at sunrise if it wasn’t meant to be. Sometimes, though, it depended on if the other person was even capable of loving back. A Brand that had disappeared earlier might “take” later, when the soulmate was ready.

Tikki wasn’t sure if it was a good thing for Marinette that Adrien wasn’t capable of loving Marinette back yet. Maybe Adrien had a different name? The kwami wasn’t going to put forth the suggestion that it might not be Adrien at all. Marinette seemed convinced, and Tikki knew better than to doubt her bearers.

Marinette’s parents proudly wore the names they had on their arms, a very simple “Tom” on Sabine’s wrist and a beautifully formed script of “Sabine” scrawled across Tom’s massive forearm. Of course it simply encouraged Marinette into writing several names on her own arms throughout the years, even if most people found writing names on themselves taboo.

Recently, though, it’d just been Adrien’s.

None of the attempts ever stuck.

“It’ll happen one day!” Tikki said cheerfully. “I believe that you’ll find your soulmate one day. But right now you should get ready for school!”

∴

It’d been a few months after Juleka showed him that the picture curse was broken that he met the girl that’d been able to break it.

“I’m Ma-ma-ma-Marinette!”

He’d laughed a little and it hurt her feelings. Good job, Luka, that was a great first impression. Luckily he was able to apologize and smooth it over.

It tickled him, just a little bit, that he’d met another “M” in his life that he actually ended up liking. He ended up liking her a whole lot, which… ultimately kinda sucked because she’d been interested in someone else. Well, that was alright. He’d been used to the idea that he’d never find “the one” since he technically already had and lost them so many years ago.

But this one? This “M”? She was pretty cool and he found himself more interested than he’d ever been in anyone before.

There’d been one other “M” in his life a couple of years ago before his mom decided to move them all back to France, and Paris in particular. Her name had been Meryl and she was a pretty awesome girl, but she’d been several years older and already in University. She’d still given Luka some attention though, apparently finding it cute that she had a boy doting on her like he did. She was nice and she said he’d look good with some blue in his hair, and it’d been the last thing she said to him before she found herself her own soulmate. It hadn’t been Luka, of course.

He’d gotten into a fight with Granpa over his hair after Luka had dyed it. Juleka joined him by dying her hair purple. Anarka had finally had enough of her and her kids being put down and said she was going to go back “home”. It’d been a hard conversation with Granpa, but after Granma had passed Anarka and her kids had little reason to stick around in their Scottish family house. Anarka’s little wildlings were less little, and Juleka and Luka were both in their tweens to teens, largely old enough to handle themselves now.

Anarka had found some nearly-derelict fishing barge and spent a few weeks with her kids fixing up the ship, making it their new house, and they left Scotland as soon as they could. She sailed the newly christened Liberty back into Parisian waters, claiming the Seine as her new home. She gave a little wink to Luka, a nod to the new “S” in Anarka’s life that her Brand now represented.

It’d been good to see his mom coming back into her old self, the wild, chaotic, free spirit that she’d always been. He was no longer embarrassed of her like he’d been so many years ago. And he had to be honest to himself, the boat wasn’t the first choice he’d make in having a place to come home to, but something about Paris just felt right.

Juleka had been feeling better too. The younger Couffaines had been under their Granpa’s oppressive shadow for too long. And now they were slowly discovering more of themselves over time.

Rose was one of the first friends Juleka had made after coming back to Paris a few years ago, and they were “best friends” since. Today, Juleka showed him a neatly written “Rose” in a flourishing script on the back of her right hand. Juleka apparently hadn’t minded getting the Brand at all. “Marinette did this too,” Juleka smiled. “She’s been drawing names for people who ask. It’s so cool,” Juleka mumbled.

“She’s amazing,” Luka said out loud. Jules gave him a look and even he couldn’t figure out what it meant. “What?”

“She’s got eyes on Adrien, you know.”

“I’ve heard your schemes, I know.”

“I’m on team Adrienette.”

“Alright.”

“She deserves to be happy.”

“Sounds good.”

“It’d be weird if you two dated, anyway.”

“But we’re not dating. She doesn’t seem to notice me.”

Jules frowned at that and grumbled something that sounded to Luka like “she notices and it’s weird.”

He thought to himself, Not where it matters.

∴

It’d been a year since Adrien lost his mother, and Marinette finally said the words “I love you” to him.

Yes, it was a video recording and yes, Felix had apparently gone through and deleted it before Adrien ever got to see it, but she’d done it! She’d done the thing! She could do it again! It had to be easier the second time, right? The second… time.

She couldn’t bring herself to do it. It’d been nearly a full year of her attempting Adrien’s name on her arm, and nothing changed. She’d stayed up and watched it fade out when the sunlight hit it during a few fitful mornings. She wrote his name so often it stopped looking like a word and more like a familiar pattern. Just shapes and no meaning.

Marinette had tried out a few different names over the year as well, just so she’d be certain… in a slightly unsettling way. She kept it discreet, writing on her ankle or in another place easy to cover up in case it was… taking. She’d written “Nathaniel”, once. It disappeared. She’d written “Chat Noir” and nearly sighed in relief (and maybe deep down in slight surprise) when it disappeared. Not that it was his real name anyway.

She’d secretly tried “Nino” once, even though he and Alya had gotten together. It hadn’t stuck. Nino and Alya hadn’t asked for Marinette to write each other’s names down, and maybe… maybe that was actually healthy? Like they didn’t need any external validation in order to really enjoy time spent with each other.

There might have been a lesson in that.

She tried “Kim” and “Wayhem” and “Theo”, even though the last one kinda creeped her out a bit. She tried “Kagami.” Nothing stuck.

There was still one name she hadn’t tried but… but she’d been absolutely terrified of it. Luka had more or less admitted to the world at large that he loved her after he’d gotten akumatized. There’d been genuine affection that was unfiltered, unbiased, uninfluenced by whatever the magic was that made names stay on people. He didn’t seem to mind that she was so, so into Adrien. Even if she wasn’t his soulmate, he’d love her.

S-So she’d be able to do that for Adrien! Yes, that made sense. Yes, that soulmate stuff was all kid fantasy anyway. Even if it was demonstratively real.

But if Adrien found his soulmate and it wasn’t Marinette… what was she supposed to do? Just step out of the way?

∴

It’d been a decade since Marinette and Luka first met except neither remembered that first time when they were young children, even if they’d been in the same place: the park nearby the bakery.

He’d held onto her as she broke down crying about the heartbreak and how tired she was. Luka told her he’d listen and be there and hadn’t lied about any of it. It was why she chose to sit next to him after letting her infatuation go and stepping out of the way for Kagami, watching Adrien and Kagami have their Sweetheart’s ice cream together like it was always meant to be Adrien and Kagami instead of Adrien and Marinette.

Marinette chose to sit next to Luka instead of going home.

She went to bed that night deciding that the whole names and soulmates and True Love thing was just a big huge distraction from what she really needed to focus on, which was getting through school, defeating Hawkmoth, and getting her name out there as an up and coming Fashion Designer!

It lasted all of 3 days until she finally gave into her curiosity and wrote an L in the crook of her left arm before going to bed. She really had meant to write out the rest of his name, but then her phone buzzed and there’d been an akuma alert. She sighed and rolled into action.

Her Lucky Charm gave her a guitar pick. That was a little too on-the-nose, Tikki? Ladybug zipped over to the Liberty, somehow not surprised that Luka was still up and leaning against the Liberty to overlook the Seine, looking cool and thoughtful. Actually, scratch that. He looked a little haggard and worried, and he’d been expecting to see Ladybug. Well, at least it meant she didn’t have to go in and wake him up.

“… you must return the Miraculous after…” Ladybug trailed off, noticing as Luka reached out to take the bracelet that he hadn’t been wearing any of the normal… accessories he chose to wear most of the time, most notably the leather cuff he usually had on. Something bothered her and she caught his hand before he touched the bracelet. She turned his right hand over and looked at the pen mark on his wrist. “Is that an M or an E?”

Luka pulled back his hand immediately, embarrassed. “An… M,” he said reluctantly.

Then Ladybug remembered it’d been incredibly rude of her to ask. “Oh, I’m so sorry I-I shouldn’t have done that.”

“It's… been 10 years since I got that, I don’t even remember much about it,” he shrugged.

Ladybug smiled, biting back a sudden urge to scream, and offered Luka the snake Miraculous again. “If you agree… I’d like your help, Luka.”

Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Viperion were able to save the night and have everyone able to go to bed on time. She picked the Miraculous back up from Viperion, who seemed to be confused the akuma victim wasn’t who he’d expected it to be. “Anything wrong, Luka?”

“No… no, I’m glad I was able to help. I’m okay,” he said, clearly still a bit frazzled. Ladybug furrowed her eyebrows at him and he eventually sighed. “I guess I’m worried about a… friend. She’d been going through a lot so I’d been… I’d been waiting to see if she’d either call me or… or God, I don’t know,” he laughed, a little bit in disbelief. “I almost thought she’d been akumatized tonight. I’m so glad it wasn’t her. But it kinda makes me feel like crap for even thinking that.”

“It’s kind to be worried about your friend. W-Which friend by the way?” Ladybug asked. “I could pay her a visit if you’d like?”

“I don’t know if she’d appreciate that, actually,” he sighed. “She can kill me later if she wants, but yeah it’d be great if you’d check up on her. It’s Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Instead of being worried that Luka was worried over her, she asked “Is she your M?” Ladybug got blindsided by her own question, but she only felt the impact and implication after she asked it. “Oh no, no, I’m so sorry I’ve been so rude.”

He blew out a breath. “I wish,” he mumbled. “I don’t know,” he said, his tiredness making him slightly more obvious about being miserable. “I guess I could know for sure by writing out her name.” That was said like he had been convinced it’d disappear…

“I’m pretty good at writing out names. If you want I could write… the rest of her name out on your arm?” Ladybug offered impulsively.

“… Sure,” he agreed. He watched her as she grabbed a nearby marker and wrote out Marinette on his arm. “Wow, that… looks pretty dead on to her signature.”

“Pfft,” Ladybug laughed. “That’d be the worst identity reveal ever. Marinette’s signed a few things for me too, I’ll have you know.”

“You might have a future in crime with your forging skills if you ever decide to stop being a hero,” Luka chuckled.

“I’ll stick to saving Paris, don’t worry,” Ladybug giggled. “You do have to write over it yourself if you want it to stay. I mean… if she is… you know…”

Luka nodded. “I know. Probably a long shot. Thanks,” he said.

“I’ll check up on her. Thank you for caring, Luka,” Ladybug smiled. “And you know, I’ve got a good feeling about this one,” she said quietly, biting her lip while tapping his arm. “I’ll be off. Have a good night, 'Bug out!”

Ladybug landed in her bed and detransformed. Tikki floated back to her little nesting spot while the kwami watched Marinette pull out her phone.

hey luka just got a visit from LB! thanks for thinking of me

Marinette looked down into the crook of her arm, grabbing a marker and filling out the rest of Luka’s name. She’d recognized that M on his arm.

Had it really been 10 years when she first met him? It was kind of funny that she didn’t remember until now. He hadn’t given his name back then but she remembered the disappointment the next day when her new friend didn’t show.

Had it really been a whole year of writing… the wrong name on herself?

It’d been months since Luka told her she’d been the melody in his head. Months.

And she had spent a week in heartbreak over the wrong boy.

It’d just been a few days since she decided she was going to let Adrien go. And she found her soulmate after that? How lucky was she? Marinette looked up at the sleeping Tikki and squinted suspiciously. Maybe she was Lucky™, except that she had apparently met Luka when she was 5.

Marinette stared at her phone, watching the minutes go by. She wasn’t going to be able to sleep tonight.

The sun rose after an agonizingly boring time of rolling back and forth in her bed, too excited to go to sleep but too tired to do anything productive. She kept checking the name on her arm and it’d still been there all throughout the night, but now at first light… she was… scared. She closed her eyes and covered her head with her pillow, half dreading what she’d see if she looked down at her left arm where she wrote his name.

“It’ll be there,” she said to herself, feeling more certain of that than anything. The warmth of sunlight hit her left arm. She lifted the pillow off of her face but kept her eyes closed. Slowly she opened one eye.

His name was still there. “It’s you,” she whispered, feeling the tears fall from her eyes.

She launched herself out of bed, turning into a little hurricane of activity. She threw her jacket on and ran downstairs, kissing her Maman and Papa on the cheek and telling them she’d be out for a while. They’d been too surprised to see her up at the crack of dawn to complain much, just insisting that she take her phone with her and that she wear proper shoes.

She ran down to the subway entrance and guessed the nearest station where Liberty would be moored, taking the subway train there. She emerged from an entrance about 10 minutes later, ignoring the confused looks the other commuters shot her since she’d been a mess of pigtails and pajamas. She ran toward the Liberty, climbed up and leapt over the railing onto the ship when she saw that the gangplank wasn’t extended.

“Marinette!” she heard Luka’s alarmed shout. She knew he’d be up. She knew it! He ran over to her. “What the heck–” He’d been wearing a different hoodie, a long sleeved one that covered up both his arms. She frowned at him, noticing the dark circles under his eyes.

“You’re up early,” she said.

“S-So are you! And you’re-you’re here? What’s wrong?” His voice had dropped from a high pitched panic to his deeper, concerned tone in the span of two words.

She took off her jacket and extended her left arm. She saw him flush but start pulling up his hoodie from the hem, taking it off and tossing it aside. He turned his right palm up to show her the name written across his forearm.

Their names had stayed. He breathed out. “Did Ladyb–” She cut him off, her hands on either side of his face to pull him down, planting a kiss on his lips. They pulled back a second after, looking at one another in surprise.

“It’s you,” she said, resting her forehead against his shoulder. To be honest she’d been embarrassed that she’d just kissed him in the disheveled state she was in, having left to see him as soon as she got out of bed, but she felt giddy and… right.

He pulled her in, wrapping his arms around her to hug her tight. “And… it’s you.”

[hotvampireadjacent]

I’m the one who has been watching Demonic Battlefront Babylonia. I have a new and deep love for Hassan. He’s now one of my absolute favorites

GRANPA HASSAN I WANT HIM TO COME HOME SO BAD. I LOVE ALL THE HASSANS BUT IN EED GRANDPA HASSAN. i got shuten douji on the gssr banner which. she's nice but shes NOT grandpa

[growingingreenwood]

Hi! Do you have headcanons for baby Leggy and granpa Oropher? I just love all of your headcanons, they are truly great!

I dont really have headcanons bc in my universe , Oropher dies before Legolas is born so they dont really get to see each other or interact. But if they DID

Oropher would he OBSESSED with his grandson. Literally so obsessed.

Always ready and wanting to babysit him even if it's for ten minutes

Carrys him around constantly and takes him to council meeting all the time so he has something interesting and fun to do

Loves helping little baby Legolas explore all the forest friends he can make. (I think that Thranduil was best with Plants and Oropher with the live animals in the forest)

All it took was one glimpse of Legolas' face to make even the most stubborn bad moods to roll off of Orophers soldiers.

So proud that it's almost gross.

Everything Legolas does is like...... the biggest deal in the entire world.

Super super affectionate with him. Live to snuggle and kiss his lil grandson

Melts into a puddle everytime he sees Thranduil and Legolas interact because WOW suddenly his son is just so C U T E and sweet and nice and not sassy or angry and just so nice sjdjrhrueiwqopadifhfuriwoso

Helps Legolas find ways around Thranduils rules when he get a little bit older and only 48% out of revenge on Thranduil.

[bucky-s-girl-n-stuff]

Everything that could happen in a week part.2

summary: you’re invited to the Thrombey’s Halloween party, by your friend Meg. Between old man being too handsy while drunk and the others having heated political arguments borderline racist, you manage to survive for a week thanks to a new acquaintance you make.

pairing: Ransom Drysdale x reader

warning: sexual innuendos, alcohol, swearing, Ransom being Ransom.

-> part.1 

It was my second day at the Manoir. I had slept awfully because of Ransom who had decided to go on a girl hunt last night after I let him on the balcony. He apparently wanted to take revenge because all I could hear till five in the morning was that girl’s scream praising him and how good he was. I slept for one hour before being woken up by the maids cleaning up the house. I decided to go for a jog around the large property to evacuate any bad thoughts I had about last night and to stop considering leaving today to go back home and by doing that, making Meg sad. I put on my workout clothes which consisted of a black sports bra and a black legging. I decided to wear a jacket as it was still cold outside and ran off after putting on my running shoes.

When I got back to the house I was feeling pretty hungry from my workout so I made my way to the kitchen. Harlan was eating his breakfast at the table and of course, Ransom was there too, sipping on his coffee. The minute he saw me, his smirk was back to his face taunting me to say something. “y/n! come sit with us and have breakfast. Here pick whatever you like.” Said Harlan handing me a plate, energetically. Apparently, Ransom sexual intercourse hadn’t bothered anyone else in the house but me. Or maybe they were all too drunk and passed out the second the party ended. I smiled at Harlan and took the plate from his hand with a soft thank you. I sat down next to him and started to fill my plate with two blueberry pancakes and poured myself some coffee. “So, How did you sleep last night y/n ?” asked Ransom, insisting on my name. I squinted my eyes at him and he raised his eyebrows innocently in return. “Just fine. Like a baby actually” I answered giving him and Harlan a smile. Ransom rolled his eyes, displeased by my answer and went upstairs grumbling, coffee in hand. “Well, what have Meg and you planned for today ?” Harlan tried, to ease the awkwardness in the room. I didn’t even know Meg’s program for the week. She wasn’t awake and probably wouldn’t be till late. I shrugged my shoulders as an answer and took a bite of my pancake.

The rest of the day went smoothly. Harlan and I talked about what I was doing now and how his next book was coming together. It wasn’t the first time I had met Harlan. I was still in college, and it was on the occasion of Meg’s birthday party organised by her family. I liked talking to him. He was highly intelligent, and never judged me. He always paid attention to what I was doing. He was pure kindness. He suggested we go on a walk and I agreed. I liked the landscape and wanted to spend as much time as I could outside before going back to New York’s polluted air.

It was maybe five p.m. when Meg finally woke up. After eating her late breakfast as a remedy to her hangover, she decided we should go to a bar tonight assuring me she wouldn’t drink as much as last night. I rolled my eyes and agreed because I wanted to spend some quality time with her even if I knew she would be drunk again. We got ready shortly after she finished eating and caught up on our lives a little as we couldn’t do it last night. I wore a casual outfit: mom jeans and a white tank top with white air force one. To be warm, I put a baby blue sweater on before leaving. We decided to take my car as I was not planning on drinking alcohol. Right as I was crossing the entrance door, I heard Harlan calling my name. I turned around to see him walking down the stairs. Meg got back next to me intrigued by her grandfather’s. “Meg, y/n, would you mind taking Ransom with you tonight? He seemed a little sad today as his friends are not here during this time of the year. I’m sure he doesn’t want to spend a Friday night with an old man like me. Besides, it’s always good to have a young man like him by your side, just in case.” He proceeded to tell us finishing with a wink. Meg expressed her discontent by an exasperated sight. “Granpa I already told you! We don’t need a bodyguard to keep us safe. We are perfectly able to defend ourselves as strong and independent women. right y/n ?” “uhhh…” Meg rolled her eyes at my lack of support and continued on her speech she seemed to have said more than once. “First the pepper spray and now Ransom??” As soon as Meg said his name the devil appeared in the doorway, ready to go. I was starting to think it had something to do with my karma. “Great, it’s just great!” Meg exclaimed herself making her way to my car. As I was walking to the car, I felt Ransom a little bit to close to my back for my liking. I felt him leaning to my ear and I stopped in my tracks. “It’s going to be a fun night, don’t you think, y/n?” he whispered in my ear, emphasizing my name again. I didn’t have time to reply as he took my car keys from my hand and got into the driver seat.

It was surprisingly turning out to be a really good night. Meg and I didn’t stop alternating between dancing and drinking. Ransom decided he would not drink “just in case” he said, repeating the words Harlan had said earlier. He placed himself at the bar to talk with some girls there, but most importantly “to keep an eye on you two”. Sure, Ransom, we all believe you. It felt nice to let go for once and be outside of my comfort zone. The song Meg and I were dancing to, ended and we decided to go for our third round of drinks which was already too much for me. I felt free and didn’t care about being drunk, then hangover the next morning. I didn’t have work tomorrow, I was on vacation for god sakes! As we were about to call the waiter, two drinks were set in front of each of us. Looking up, I saw two men smiling down to us. Meg invited them to join us and they gladly did. They introduced themself and quite frankly I didn’t even bother to remember their names. I wasn’t interested in the guy in front of me who was talking about him, his life and how awesome he was. Meg, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy the company and soon left me to dance with her stranger. Of course, I was asked to dance too but declined kindly. After that, he didn’t have anything much to say and tried on insisting by pulling me jokingly by my arm. I didn’t have anything against him, he seemed to be a good guy but I didn’t want to mingle with someone tonight. As I was going to say no again, the poor guy was torn away from me by none other than Ransom. “She said no you dumbfuck. Are you deaf?” he told him aggressively. I got up not wanting things to go south and placed my hand on Ransom’s arm that was holding the man’s collar. Was he going to the gym? I caught myself thinking, feeling his muscles under my very small hand. “It’s okay Ransom, let him go please,” I said as softly as I could trying to calm him down. It looked like it worked because his entire body relaxed and he let go of him. I released a sigh of relief at his change of demeanour. “Don’t look at her, don’t breath near her, don’t even think about her ever again,” Ransom said as his last warning. As the guy was practically running away from us Ransom faced me, pleased by his unnecessary intervention. I rolled my eyes at him and sat down again sipping on my tequila sunrise. “What?” he scoffed. “ Nothing. I don’t need you to protect me, I was handling it.” “sure” he replied sarcastically. “Why don’t you go protect Meg. She is the one dancing with a stranger.” I said defiantly. “Meg’s a slut” he casually responded. I scoffed at the comment and just felt even more repulsed by the man. “Fuck you Ransom!” I said getting up and going away. He grabbed my wrist before I could go too far. “Where are you going?” he frowned. “I’m going to pee. Or do you want to go with me and hold my dick?” I said fuming and exasperated by the fact he just ruined my night and insulted my best friend. He laughed at my answer and looked at me with the sweetest smile. Goddam those good genes… “I like you even more when your drunk” He stated. I blushed hard at his words and his smirk grew even more from my reaction. He knew I wasn’t indifferent to his compliments or whatever this was. Well, shit.

[fauzhee10069]

The Rock-Women, extinct or exist? (JoJolion)

This post is related to these posts:

JJBA Youthful Moms

The Biology of Rock-Humans

With the rise of youthful looking moms in JJBA, has Araki lost his ability in drawing 'old people'?

Araki’s evolving art-style

First, let's review his art-style and art-revolution in previous parts:

Part 1: Phantom Blood

I don’t really remember any significant old people here, so I’ll give it a pass.

Part 2: Battle Tendency

There was grandma Erina and Speedwagon in their 70s, both really looked their age.

There were also Straizo in his 70s and a 50 years old Lisa Lisa, as hamon users, they appeared younger than their age. Initially, Straizo looked like in his 50s and then in his 20s after he turned into vampire. Lisa Lisa looked like in her 20s, her youthful look had a purpose in-story and also got in-world recognition.

Then, there was also Erina in her 50s when she was holding baby Joseph, she really looked her age.

Part 3: Stardust Crusaders

There was this villainous villain named Enya Geil and she really looked old.

Then, a 69 years old grandpa Joseph really looked a granpa, despite being a hamon user. Readers believe that he rarely practices because he was lazy, but there is also wholesome speculation that he wanted to age together with his wife.

And Joseph’s wife, Suzy Q who is also a grandma looked old according to her age.

There was DIO who should be +100 years old, but just like Lisa Lisa and Straizo, as a vampire, he looked much younger than his actual age. Therefore, his youthful look had a purpose in-story.

Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable

In part 4, there was Josuke’s grandpa, Higashikata Ryohei at 55 years old. He did look like a grandpa.

Then, a 79 years old Joseph who looked very old and frail.

There were also Kira’s parents who were in their old age.

Part 5: Vento Aureo/Golden Wind

Just like in part 1, I don’t recall any significant old people in this story, but there was a Stand named 「The Grateful Dead」 with its terrifying ability to forcefully age people over a large area. Araki had drawn the aging too well.

Part 6: Stone Ocean

I don’t really remember significant old character but I know about the user of 「Dragon’s Dream」, a 78 years old elderly prisoner named Kenzo. He looked bizarrely old like Enya Geil. But I think this part could be the beginning of the aging problem for certain parent characters.

First, Jolyne's mom (whom sadly never named) didn't really look like a middle-aged woman. Although her age was never mentioned, I believe that she should be in her 40s or at least late 30s which should be her youngest estimated age.

Then there was Mrs. Bluemarine, left panel is when her son was still a baby then the right panel is around 15 years later when she confessed her sin. Not only her face remained unchanged (with no apparent aging), the hairstyle and dress are hilariously not changed.

And the meme of Jotaro ages backwards is not without reason.

Part 7: Steel Ball Run

This part also has a similar problem with the previous, the main villain of part 7, Funny Valentine (43/48) in his sexy form (late appearance) didn’t look much older than Johnny (19) and Diego (20), when he should have been more than twice their age, old enough to be their dads. Can you see their age difference on these panels?

But interestingly, Araki was also able to draw the differences in age and facial features of the two females (Lucy and Scarlet), as the former (the 14 years old girl) eventually had to impersonate the later. I also believe that the first lady Scarlet was in late 30s or in her 40s.

Then, there was also Stephen Steel who was around 51-53 years old and he looked his age.

Perhaps in this case, Araki just wanted to tell that Funny Valentine was older than he looked.

And now, we reached JoJolion (part 8) that likely suffers from the ‘youthful moms’ syndrome. So how did this begin?

The Middle-Aged Moms and their looks in JoJolion

Kira Holy Joestar

The first middle-aged woman to be introduced in JJL was Kira Holy Joestar, a 52 years old woman. Interestingly, she really looked her age, a middle-aged woman.

This early Holy also has similar facial feature with Scarlet Valentine

In fact, I think Araki did really well when he drew her as we can see the age difference between Holy (52) and Yasuho (19) clearly, a thing I highly praise because Araki did not rely using the frown lines on the sides of the mouth to illustrate the aging.

Hirose Suzuyo

Another woman that we can consider as a middle-aged woman is Yasuho’s mom, Hirose Suzuyo. Even though she is younger than Holy, being 44 years old can already be considered a middle-aged.

But together with Yasuho on the same panel, she doesn't look much older than her daughter. She basically looks like Yasuho’s older sister than her mom.

And if you prefer '43' to be the correct age of Funny Valentine, then it would make Suzuyo a year older than the president (in their respective timeline).

(Higashikata) Caato

Then this infamous gilf who rocked readers in her early debut and still being hyped by her supporters, (Higashikata) Caato:

Being 52 years old, she is the same age as Kira Holy Joestar, but her appearances and the fact that she already had a grandson makes the readers thought that her youthful look must have ‘a reason’:

Is she secretly a rock woman?

Is she a fusion of two people by Rokakaka fruit that caused her stop aging (an outdated theory from redditors due to her strange eyes)?

Will her attractive look signify that she will be the main villain (like Funny Valentine)?

Besides, during her family reunion, it seemed that Araki no longer bothered to make her distinguishable and significantly belong to different generation from her daughter Hato.

Though I think, there was a moment when Caato kinda look her age just like Holy in her early debut:

What is behind their youthful looks?

I think it is kinda unfair to think that only Caato who purposely looks youthful while disregarding the other moms’ look. Holy's first debut with her middle-aged look was in chapter 14, then Yasuho’s mom, Suzuyo even debuted earlier back in chapter 8 and she already looked attractive and youthful there. Only then did Caato made her debut in chapter 55.

Many readers also don't consider Holy's appearance during the Vitamin C arc, flashback where she met Josefumi and her son Yoshikage. The timeline at the time should be around 2010, because a chapter earlier (50), Yoshikage talked about Iwakiri, a baseball player who was taking a year off since 2009 due to an injury. Then Josefumi and Kira Yoshikage took action to steal Locacaca's branch until afterwards headed to a scene with Holy.

JJL chapter 51: Vitamin C and Killer Queen – part 2

In other words, a year ago (2010), Holy was already in her early 50s! And her face here definitely looks younger than her face when she debuted for the first time. We can argue that perhaps her older look in present time (her debut) was caused by her strange illness, as people who are sick often appear older than usual.

But in Holy's most recent appearance in chapter 92, she looks much younger than her age:

Her wiki page also agrees and has described her appearance that she still having her ‘youthful look’:

Holy Joestar-Kira’s wikia page

So, here is the breakdown:

Hirose Suzuyo (Yasuho’s mom)’s debut in chapter 8, aged 44, she is older than she looks.

Kira Holy Joestar’s debut in chapter 14, aged 52, she looked her age.

Kira Holy Joestar’s appearance in chapter 51, aged 51, she is older than she looks.

(Higashikata) Caato’s debut in chapter 55, aged 52, she is older than she looks.

Kira Holy Joestar’s recent appearance in chapter 92, aged 52, she is older than she looks.

The mystery is why Araki changed Holy's appearance from her initial debut? Why does she become younger than before? Did he do this on purpose or is this purely due to his evolving art?

The Hidden Rock Woman and The Red Herrings

What is ‘female rock-human’ in general?

They are indistinguishable from (carbon-based) female humans.

Their life span is ±240 years (just like the males).

They can be older than they look (just like the males).

They need to hibernate (just like the males).

Their gestation period is 6 months and give birth in the spring and summer.

They rarely (if ever) have affection for or a parental relationship with their children.

Their babies have an average body length of 28 mm and weight of 15 grams.

They can procreate with human males.

As Araki has brought up about the existence of rock-human females in chapter 99, coupled with the possibility of reproduction with (carbon-based) human males, readers have created various theories about them.

(Higashikata) Caato

The most popular theory nowadays is about “Caato as the rock-woman”. Since the beginning, this female character is often hyped as the character who will play a major role, mostly in antagonist side, be it as the main villain and (now) as ‘the rock-woman’.

I think there are a lot of made-up theories and far-fetched reasons created by her supporters, problems regarding the theory of "Caato as the rock-woman" have been mostly explained in my previous post:

Is Caato a Rock-Woman?

Even so, I myself have not dared to confirm that Caato can’t be a rock-woman. However, my post there was more to show how forced, flawed and ridiculous the theories made by her supporters. I am worried that this would be 'the case of bad writing' so I also hope that Araki would not make it happen.

But if Araki is going to make Caato a female rock-human in the future, I hope that he can provide a nice explanation with a story that makes sense and is not forced. Still, I think to make Caato a rock-woman will be the most complicated choice.

We never saw the signs of Caato as a rock-human. In her flashback, she had already behaved very different from the rock-woman, she was shown as a doting mom, she really loves Jobin and took care of him, in contrast to rock-woman who abandoned her newborn baby. She didn’t want Jobin to get hurt, she almost cried (see the beginning scene when he climbed a tree), she was very worried about him. Unlike the rock-women, Caato certainly has affection to her children. 

Then we’ve also seen how her children grew up like any normal human in contrast to the bizarre growth of the rock-humans:

We still don’t know what happens to the baby born from reproduction between human males and rock-women? A human babies, rock-babies or crossbreeds?

Then with the four children of Norisuke IV and Caato, we also have to begin questioning again about what Jobin, Hato, Joshu and Daiya truly are? Are they half rock-humans, fully rock-humans or just regular humans? The problem is: we’ve been following their characters and there is absolutely no hint that these four were somewhat different from regular humans.

If the crossbreeds are somewhat different than the normal humans, then Araki will need to further develop not just one, but “four characters!” to show how they slightly differ from normal humans. Then if Jobin is a half rock-human with Mitsuba as regular human female, is it possible for Tsurugi to be born then? This will also be a problem that must be resolved in the story.

As rock-humans need to hibernate, how is he going to show that Caato need it too? Or perhaps she is fighting it off? A Caatofag has theorized that she uses Locacaca to be able to do that, as her son Jobin has access to the fruit, this kinda makes sense. However, there are many plotholes in this theory that need to be explored.

The fact that Caato became a model prisoner and was able to perform the penal hard labor for 15 years should be contradicting the idea of her as a rock-woman, but a Caatofag uses Locacaca as the reason of why she was able to do that, because in chapter 32, Yotsuyu was able to cure the dog Iwasuke of the rock-disease by feeding it a piece of a it. But what about Aishō? The member of Damokan Group did not use Locacaca to fight off his hibernation, he still needed to hibernate and that was the cause of his break up with his (then) girlfriend.

Besides, if Caato fights off her hibernation to hide her status as a rock-woman, she should have done it since her marriage to Norisuke IV, as her (then) husband just found out about the existence of rock-humans after the death of Yotsuyu.

This meant that Caato should have used Locacaca long before she was incarcerated. Then if she already used it during her marriage to Norisuke IV, it should include the flashback in chapter 64 as well, when she cured Jobin of the rock-disease using equivalent exchange on Higashikata’s land. Why did she use her late mother-in-law’s method instead of Locacaca (which allegedly in her possession)? Isn't Locacaca the fruit believed to be able to heal the rock-disease?

Then supposed that the rock-disease that has befallen the Higashikata family is the result of reproduction between human male and rock-woman, Caato as ‘a rock-woman’ can’t be the cause because the disease has already existed since several generations before and had afflicted the daughter of the first generation of Norisuke (I), Higashikata Rina.

We have seen how Caato handled the family curse in the past (chapter 64) and in that scene we did not see any hint of her as ‘a rock-human’ and her relation with the curse. It will be convoluted and redundant to have Caato reappears as a rock-human and involve her in Higashikata’s family curse once again. In short, Araki will need a lot of build-up to make Caato a rock-woman.

Kira Holy Joestar

Then, there is Kira Holy Joestar. If Caato becomes a candidate for secret rock-woman due to her youthful look (and various wild speculations), then Holy also deserved to be a candidate for the same reason.

Unlike Caato, in which her knowledge regarding Locacaca and her connection to the rock-humans are still pure speculations, Holy is already closer to both of these things (Locacaca & rock-humans). She has done scientific analysis on Locacaca and also knows about the rock-humans organization (Head Doctor gang and Damokan Group).

However, making Holy a rock-woman is probably more impossible than Caato because she is a descendant of Joestar family with very clear lineage too.

Johnny is clearly not a rock-human while Rina, she could be a descended from a rock-human (if that is the reason for the existence of the ‘rock-disease’). Holy can’t be a full blooded rock-human, but she can still be a crossbreed or a descendant of a rock-human.

By looking at Joestar family tree, it is still possible to make Johnny's son or grandson to marry a rock-woman. The rock-woman could be Elizabeth or Suzie Q, but I am more inclined to have Elizabeth as ‘the rock-woman’, she could be a little callback from Lisa Lisa in part 2 with her youthful look and how Lisa Lisa was made to abandon baby Joseph in the past. This can also be a nice parallelism to the rock-women's nature in abandoning their newborn baby.

In addition, Holy as a descendant of rock-human/crossbreed can be served as a nice reason of why the Head Doctor gang used Holy as their test subject.

Unfortunately, unlike the rock-woman, Holy also has affection to her children, even to other children whom she did not give birth to. However, if the speculation is only limited to "Holy as a descendant of rock-human", then this is still possible, because her traits might have been mixed with normal human’s traits.

Another problem is that Araki also has to build up Holy’s children, Yoshikage and Kyo, that they also have to descend from rock-human. However, they are still easier to build-up than Caato's children, as Yoshikage is already dead and Kyo rarely shows up.

If Kira Yoshikage is descended from rock-human, then Yoshikage who has turned into Josuke will make Josuke (the main protagonist) a part of rock-human as well. This can be an astonishing parallel if both Josuke and Tooru (as the main villain) are somewhat rock-humans (suppose that Tooru will be the main villain).

The next problem is about the existence of rock-disease that has befallen to the Higashikata family. If the crossbreeding between a human male and rock-woman was the cause of it, why didn't the curse fall on Johnny's descendants? It only ever struck his wife Rina in the past. Johnny's method in 1901 might have succeeded in protecting his descendants from the curse.

Holy's illness which was initially thought to be a part of family curse is apparently the product of illegal experiment. Therefore, will it be possible if Holy is a descendant of rock-human?

Hirose Suzuyo

Lastly, there is also Hirose Suzuyo who is still attractive at 44 years old, despite being several years younger than Holy and Caato, her youthful look should also be a consideration as well.

I think making Suzuyo the secret rock-woman would be the easiest choice compared to Caato and Holy. Out of the three characters, she has the least development and this instead becomes her advantage.

Caato and Norisuke IV have divorced and this is often used as an excuse by supporters that their failed relationship was caused by one of them (Caato) being a rock-human.

Caato is not the only person who has been divorced, Josefumi’s mother Kiyomi and Yasuho’s mom Suzuyo have also been divorced. Therefore, Suzuyo could have the excuse that her divorce from her husband could be the result of an incompatible relationship between a human and a rock-human.

JJL chapter 71: Hairclip of the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 46 told that “95% of rock-humans are Stand users”, Caato and (allegedly) Holy are Stand users, but what about Suzuyo?

Maybe yes maybe no, but the way she dressed when she debuted for the first time in chapter 8 could be a typical Stand user’s style:

Thanks to her limited appearance, it’s not difficult to suddenly turn her into a Stand user.

The only problem is that Araki (again) has to build-up Yasuho, the main female protagonist as a rock-human descent, but is it possible?

There is one particular incident in chapter 94, as Yasuho has snuck into Higashikata's house, Jobin caught her and flushed 「Paisley Park」 down the toilet, breaking both Yasuho and her Stand’s body in the process.

JJL chapter 94: The Wonder of You (Your Miraculous Love) – part 11

Seeing how her body was in the process of breaking apart, some readers pointed out that there is a resemblance to the rock-humans' body while breaking apart.

JJL chapter 32 & JJL chapter 42

Others simply assumed that Yasuho's breaking body is the effect of her breaking Stand as well.

I am also more inclined towards the second opinion, in which her body is breaking apart simply because of her breaking Stand. But the interpretation of this picture is still free, so it would be easy for Araki if he suddenly wants to decide that the reason of Yasuho's breaking body is due to her being a part of rock-human.

It is also fortunate that we have not seen normal humans and their Stands break apart like Yasuho and her 「Paisley Park」.

Perhaps, making Yasuho a part of rock-human could be the reason why Tooru dated her. I've always felt there must be something behind this. Tooru as the person behind HD gang can't possibly date Yasuho without reason.

Even though they had broken up, Tooru is still eager to to rekindle his relationship with Yasuho, but chapter 97 proves that his reason for that was not simply that he still loved her. There must be something that he wants from her and will take advantage of her.

But back to the issue of the origin of the Higashikata’s family curse, if the crossbreeding is the cause, why doesn't it befall to Yasuho too?

Once again, it is fortunate that we got the flashback of Higashikata Rina as the female affected by rock-disease. She became symptomatic as adult, in her late 20s. Yasuho is a female and she is still 19, it is possible if the rock-disease had not yet befallen her (suppose that she is a crossbreed).

The real problem is that Suzuyo has also shown that she cares to her daughter Yasuho, again, the opposite trait with the rock-women.

JJL chapter 24 & JJL chapter 71

Though she is not on Holy's level… or the level of Caato to Jobin, at least she is trying to show her love to Yasuho.

Then how about her job? Being a single mom should have demanded Suzuyo to have a job to support Yasuho and her life. We've never seen what kind of job Suzuyo has, we've only seen in her debut that she brought a man home from a club. Was this part of her job as a hostess or she simply had fun?

In her flashback of chapter 71, we have seen Suzuyo who was currently receiving a call, was the phone related to her job?

Suppose that it was related to her job, “Oh really? Sounds exciting, I’ll write that down”… an idea? Or was it a new job offer? Freelancing?

It is very fortunate that it is still very hard to determine of Suzuyo's actual career, Araki just has to give her a career that is suitable for rock-human if he wants to make her a rock-human.

Crossbreeding and developing affection in rock-women(?)

Apparently, these three women share the same problems, that they have affection for their children, the opposite trait of rock-women in chapter 99. The mother who had more of a similar nature to rock-women is (actually) Kujo Kiyomi, Josefumi’s mother. She almost left a drowning Josefumi, though the guilt overcame her in the end.

JJL chapter 52: Vitamin C and Killer Queen – part 3

Even so, Josefumi still felt that his mother had abandoned him. Could it be that she abandoned him again after the drowning event and that’s why Josefumi had a lot of respect for Holy as his mother figure? Or maybe it was only to that particular moment, but it was so engraved on Josefumi's memory that he hated his own mother?

And also remember that Kujo Kiyomi has been divorced. Too bad we never saw her again in her middle-aged, but I believe that if she will reappear, she will have that 'youthful look' like any others.

Regarding Caato and Suzuyo, suppose that they are rock-women, it is possible that they may develop affection for their children as a result of their copulation with human males.

To be honest, I think that Caato's role is more of a comparison to the other Higashikata mothers, so it would be too much if she is a rock-woman as I explained in my previous post.

However regarding Suzuyo, I think that her efforts to take care and love Yasuho are like a rock-woman learning to be a 'mother'.

JJL chapter 24: Paper Moon Deception – part 2

Perhaps it is just me, but Suzuyo’s response in that scene is a bit weird. She offered Yasuho to cook for her while playing video games, something that pretty normal in family dynamic. But then, Yasuho declined and said she was just going to go out again. Annoyed by her daughter response, she brought up Yasuho’s annoying attitude and likened her to her ex-husband (Yasuho’s father).

When Yasuho remarked that she was in a rush and didn’t have a time to be lectured her, Suzuyo out-of-nowhere brought up whether she wasn't motherly to Yasuho, something that I think was not quite related in a conflict. Because I have also experienced a similar conflict with my mother, but she wouldn't suddenly bring up of her being motherly and just straightly scolded me.

It was as if she said that “I’m trying to be a good mother for you, because I’m not like the other rock-women out there.”

JJL chapter 71: Hairclip of the Qing Dynasty

Her bad-mouthing her ex-husband (Yasuho’s dad) felt like she was trying to keep Yasuho away from her father. Besides, her words also indicate possessiveness towards her daughter.

Rock-humans in general have little to no relationship with their children, unlike (carbon-based) humans. So maybe Suzuyo is trying hard to get close to her daughter Yasuho while trying to keep her away from her father, because (perhaps) in her perspective, a close relationship between fellow humans will always be easier to achieve compared to the rock-humans.

Conclusion

At first I thought that ‘the youthful moms’ in JoJolion is just a deliberate artistic choice on behalf of Araki to make the characters more attractive, but what if it turns out to have a purpose?

Added with the recent chapter (99) which hinted the existence of rock-women, what if Araki wanted to make us wonder, is it true that currently there is a rock-woman among his characters? Which one?

I don't know why but I feel that possibility may lie in some middle-aged mother characters that look younger than their actual age. I also became suspicious, why Araki changed Holy’s appearance in chapter 92, that she significantly looks younger than when she debuted?

Especially with the reemergence of the theory about Caato as a rock-woman which becomes popular once again.

Of course I am more certain that a rock-woman will appear in the form of a flashback which will explain the origin of Higashikata’s family curse. It would also fit into the plausible theory of ‘reproduction’ that has been created by u/Mamezuku on reddit. But what if a rock-woman would appear in the present time as well? Who is she? Will it be Caato?

Of the three candidates I suspect, Caato will be the most difficult choice and requires a lot of build-up (and possibly retconing here and there). Holy highly unlikely will be a full blooded rock-woman, but it’s possible to make her a descendant of a rock-human and the build-up will be slightly easier. Suzuyo (Yasuho’s mom) will be an unexpected choice but she will be the easiest and least complicated to be built-up, the only big challenge is about the build-up of her daughter Yasuho as a crossbreed.