#i'm not giving in to the whole “he wanted to kill him on emotions” stuff. nu-uh

[the-superstardaycare]

It's like fate that I'm in front the moment this question is posted /half joke

Let me introduce you to Sano Manjiro, aka Mikey from Tokyo Revengers.

WARNING: I briefly talk about gangs, murder and death in this so if that's not your thing, just remember him as plural without reasoning. Also this obviously will include spoilers because I can't shut up about this show once I start.

ALSO this is a very long post because I'm so autistic about this, so sorry.

He is, I should clarify, not canonically plural. In all fairness, in source, probably not a single thing would speak for him being plural. But I started headcanoning him as plural about a year ago now.

Part of the reason is absolutely me coping with our own plurality. During times of self-doubt, it gives me a sense of comfort to think about one of my favorites also being plural.

Other part of it is that I (sourced from Tokyo Revengers) had a feeling that in my canon Manjiro was plural. My boyfriend (also sourced from Tokyo Revengers) also said it absolutely could somehow be possible.

So let me go into Manjiro and into my headcanons real quick (real quick is a lie, I am info dumping).

Tokyo Revengers, just for quick clarification, is manga that focuses on gang fights in the early 2000s japan. Its main theme also includes time travel, which leads to many different future versions of characters.

I believe that one of the last future version we get to see of Manjiro, specifically the one in the "close to perfect because everyone is okay but him" timeline, is probably the most plural coded as he can get.

He is, in my eyes, BPDgenic, traumagenic and possibly an accidentally created System for coping purposes. Probably considered a Mixed System.

The guy has witnessed quite a few events over his life that can (and should be) considered traumatic. I could go into the events and why that is, but I can't spoil the whole story, even if I really want to.

I think the one thing I should mention is that he lost pretty much everyone dear to him. His parents died when he was still pretty small; his big brother was (somewhat accidentally) killed by someone he deemed a friend, his sister was (absolutely on purpose) killed by someone he knew and his step brother ended up dying in a gang fight. Most of his friends and acquaintances left him because he started going into directions they did not want to take with him (in relation to the gang).

He also carries some type of curse with him that I won't be going into much details. It essentially makes him unreasonably violent and kinda loose sense of his self.

SO. Who's in the System?

Manjiro obviously. He's the host and one of the two alters who actually fronts. The usage of "core" or whatever is debated in the community, but it's probably the closest thing I know on how to describe it. He uses he / him, is a bi cis man and fronts during less stressful times with one of his triggers being the protgonist of the story (since they're "best friends" in lore, but manjiro is kinda in love if you ask me).

Mikey, who is the other fronting alter. He is, I'd say, the protector and a prosecutor. He uses he/him pronouns and is aroace (repulsed on all sides). He is essentially the "manifestation" of that curse.

Shinichiro is one of the multiple non-fronting alters in the System. He is a factive of Manjiros older brother. He/Him, Bi or Hetero probably and has an unknown comforter role.

This is my love Emma (she's so pretty, i love her). She's Manjiros sister. She uses she/her, is hetero and an emotion holder probably. She's, in Manjiros eyes, the manifestation of happiness and safety. She's also a factive!

Izana is a factive of Manjiros step brother. They didn't know each other for long, due to a hard relationship in the past and stuff that I won't go into because it's not important for Manjiros plurality. Anyways, Izana goes by he/him, he's unlabeled queer and has no specific role other than being a reminder of what could've been (ow.)

I think Shinichiro, Emma and Izana are entirely non-fronting. They can be co-conscious when Manjiro is in front, but that's about all. They're not made to front. They're created to serve as a reminder to Manjiro what he lost.

Things I should also probably mention:

Manjiro was cursed back when he was still a child, but I think that Mikey split off of him way later in life. So I wouldn't deem his younger versions to be plural for this reason. The "curse" only started manifesting when he was older, and therefore his plurality also only appeared later in life.

Being plural is, not entirely, a negative experience for Manjiro. In his defense, his entire life has been a negative experience at some point which is the reason why he became plural to begin with. But I wouldn't say "having factives of his loved ones makes him happy and a better person". If anything, it makes him miserable, because it's almost like a constant reminder that they're the closest thing he'll get to seeing them again.

Sure, its comforting to have them by his side, and to have Mikey who holds onto the dark impulses (the canon name for the "curse"), but it's not the same to him.

I think Manjiros plurality ended up saving him from a worse future (if that's even possible), but it didn't make his life better or anything. All it did was stop it from getting even worse.

Also, he's my favourite because 1) coping, 2) I feel so bad for him in the entire story and 3) part of me in source was dating him so it's only fair to think about him. 😔

Ah uhm, yea I don't know where else to go with this because I don't think many will read all of this anyways. But I got to info dump about this, which is nice. And shoutout to whoever read till the end :) you're so cool.

question 71: do you have a favourite plural character? is that canonical or a headcanon of yours? why are they your favourite?

[tackykachowch]

Hey guys, you think Silco wanted to tell Vander that they need to change how they run things if they ever want to make independent Zaun a reality and like Victor he thought "Vander will understand", only for Vander to later try to drown him in the river?

[xylo-art]

Regarding the tags left on my previous post ↓

YES this is something I really wanted to explore actually :3 so I hope you don't mind me rambling

Transcript and rambling beneath the cut

[Swap AU Hollow]

- closed off at the start, cares a lot, wants to know what happened post-abyss

- much more timid and wary

- over time gets braver

- fights until the other party is weakened, dislikes having to kill but will if they must

- extends to lesser bugs

- Not really resentful towards Ghost, more so sad and confused

- post-game/recovery period is similar to normal Ghost

[Normal Ghost]

- closed off at the start, almost apathetic but not quite?

- over time they start to care more and more

- adventurous

- fights until the other party backs down (or dies)

- extends to lesser bugs

- some resentment towards Hollow early on that fades as they progress

- post-game/recovery period they start learning to express more and are given more opportunities to be a kid

[Swap AU Ghost]

- fatigued post-game but more curious and adventurous now that they're free

- struggles to express emotion

- takes up drawing post-game as an outlet

- quiet but more investigative, more social

- complicated feelings towards WL, leans towards some bitterness

- Radi(?) fed into said bitterness to break them

- LOTS of guilt about leaving Hollow

[Normal Hollow]

- mostly tired post-game, lots of guilt/self-hateed

- hesitant to express emotion

- takes up cooking post-game as an outlet

- timid and shy, prefers to fade into the background (very difficult)

- complicated feelings towards PK, still loves him while understanding he wasn't. the greatest

- radi fed into their love to break them

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

OKAY WOW, long transcript

I'm thinking a LOT about this AU now even though I mostly drew it as a joke when I first came up with it.

This gives me an opportunity to ramble about how I characterize the vessels! Even in my base-version of how I interpret them, I imagine when they were still in the abyss, Ghost was.. Generally the one who lead the two of them. Hollow usually just stuck by their side, being the more anxious of the two.

I imagine this is still the case in the Swap AU - So when Ghost is the one who makes it to the top, Hollow feels.. Betrayed, and confused. Why wouldn't their sibling, who they've depended on before now, help them?

Both I imagine are led on by their care for the other - Hearing them cry out in pain in the beginning cutscene. However, whereas normal Ghost at first treats the whole thing with a layer of resentment, Swap Hollow treats it more with.. Wanting to know why.

Meanwhile with the older siblings, I imagine Swap Ghost keeps some of those feelings of resentment - However, instead of at Hollow, it's more towards WL and themself for what she's done to their siblings, and they to Hollow. Post-game in the recovery period, they try to express more emotion, but struggle with it. They want to explore more once they're free! Both explore Hallownest, and explore the life they never got to live, whereas I imagine normal Hollow takes their recovery a lot slower and with more hesitance.

I'm still figuring this au out but, it's really fun exploring this stuff :D

[callofdudes]

ive been in the mood for some angst, some good ol' hurt/comfort or even hurt/no comfort. how would the 141 react to finding out their s/o has been kidnapped? their reactions to finding the ransom note, and how they would get their beloved back?

I wrote headcanons for this.... And then I wasn't happy with it, but I liked the headcanons enough to not want to get rid of them so I apologize if it's a mess. It's been a really emotional and draining couple days for me. But I wanted to get something out even if this was all I could produce.

Price 🥃

Don't mess with him. You mess with him or his family and he'll rock your shit. He is brutal and I know we all like to pretend he's the loving father figure he is 100% of the time but truth is this man is ruthless.

It doesn't matter who he has to kill to get you back he will. Whatever or whoever stands in his way between him and you is gonna get got.

This is pretty much true for all of the guys. But Price is that, I've been married for like 11 years don't fuck with my family.

When Price finds the note he's rightfully furious, he's scared, but overall he's furious that they would dare to put their hands on you. To take you away and then threaten him with your demise, of worse.

Giving Price exactly 48 hours to hand over the money whatever organization wanted it wasn't a smart option. In fact, none of this was smart. The note mentioned what would become of you if the instructions were not followed.

He tucked the note in his pocket and without hesitation he dialed the phone number that was on the paper. He remained calm, as he did with any enemy.

"If you think of hurting them, I will not hesitate to kill you." Said in a low voice. The kind that remains calm but you can tell he means every word coming out of his mouth.

"We won't have to hurt them if you give us what we want." The soldier on the other line sneered.

John was absolutely terrified inside. He knew how to handle this situation with civilians and his own teammates but this was you. You. What If they killed him or he didn't get there in time??

He didn't hesitate before doing a deep dive on the organization as far as the eye could see. The idiot stupid enough to leave his phone number got their 20 second call tracked and he didn't need to have the location before he was up and out.

He'd either bring a team or go alone but knowing Price he'd probably go alone. Brutal killing. Brutal killing.

I mean all the normal military stuff but with some extra aggression. Affectionate dad mode has turned into 'Slaughter everything that ever moved with extra violence husband mode.'

He searches every room and he doesn't stop until he knows their dead. He'd leave a few lost soldiers in favor of getting to you. While he would kill them all his main priority is finding you and making sure you're ok.

Lots of kisses and reassurance when he finds you alive and ok. If you're unharmed he probably untie you from your holding place and pull you in tightly, kissing you and hugging you, telling you he's here. He's here and it's ok. Nothing, nothing will ever hurt you. Not on his watch.

"I've got you love, I've got you." He kisses your forehead, then your lips. "I'm here darling, you're ok, you're safe."

You fall into his arms, crying and grabbing onto him tightly. "I thought they were going to killed me- John!"

Price holds you tightly, kissing the side of your head. "Oh love I'd never let that happen, I would never let that happen you hear me??" You still cry, grabbing onto him even as he picks you up, holding you in his arms as if he would protect you from the whole world. And he would. Nothing would ever hurt you.

If you are injured then all those dead men out there?? Oh yeah, he's going to shoot all of them again just for good measure. If you are hurt any leniency he had for soldiers still hiding around the place is gone. Will blow up the facility. To pieces. Fucking bye!

You whimpered, looking up at him, blood trickling down your forehead into your eye and matted in your hair. "John...." Price cut your bindings and pulled you into his arms.

"They hurt you... Which one of them hurt you!?"

You grabbed onto him, shaking and crying as he wraps his arms around you. "I'll kill them all. I'll kill them for what they've done. They won't lay another hand on you." He growls, holding you close.

He gets you home and doesn't leave your side, but you don't mind the cuddles and how he stays up later than usual that night keeping his eye on you that he falls asleep next to you on the couch.

If you come back injured he tends to your wounds, lays you down in bed and stays awake with your head on his chest, stroking his hand through your hair and over your scalp, feeling your warmth and comfort in knowing you came out ok.

"How are you feeling?"

"Still shaken up." You whisper, nuzzled up against his chest, laying under his chin. "You?"

"Just glad you're alive. So so glad you're alive." He hugs you tightly, kissing your head. "I love you." You snuggle up, tears rolling down your cheeks. "I know you'll always be to my rescue John."

"Always, I won't ever let someone hurt you like that. Never."

Gaz 🧢

Gaz can do ok with confrontation. Even though he doesn't like it, he usually lets his gun do all his talking for him. The barrel to their face and they usually shut up pretty quickly.

Gaz definitely leaves the intimidation up to his weapons. But when you're kidnapped and taken hostage? Fuck that. Fuck all of that. You are feeling the full force fury of one Kyle Garrick and you don't want that.

The fuck around and find out type.

A little better at regulating his emotions when he finds the note. When he reads it his face is full of rage if you look into his eyes. The scowl forming is palpable to his rage. Crumpling the note up in his hand before dropping it to the ground.

He doesn't hesitate to grab his gun, his hat and his car keys. Someone is gonna get their ass beat.

It's on the way that he gets a call from the people who have kidnapped you, giving him a verbal warning of the damage you would suffer in the next 48 hours if the deal wasn't closed.

"You have 48 hours to get me that money do you understand?? Or your love is bye-bye."

Kyle remains silent on the phone, glaring down the drive, his foot pressing into the pedal. "Every finger you put on their skin, I'll cut it off." He hisses before ending the call.

Their first mistake was giving Kyle their location to meet. Gaz is wicked with technology when he gets his hands on it.

When they tell him where to meet and drop the money he does a quick search, surveying the area and finding all possible exits, entry roads. Buildings, abandoned or not. All while still in the car.

When he finds an old abandoned warehouse with some built in security perimeters he figures it's his good first bet.

Again, his gun does the talking. And his gun has one nasty bite. By the time he's tromped through the enemy troops he's dripping I'm blood because once he shoots he just keeps trucking. Dropping the entrance and eventually when he finds some men in the room with you it's all fists.

He wants a good fight and they don't even get a chance before Kyle has them on the ground giving them the beating of their life.

If he finds you uninjured he'll rush to you and make sure you know you're safe, then untie you and hold you in his arms, kissing you until he runs out of air.

"I'm here baby, I'm here. Come here, come on, let's get you home." Kissing your temple as he picks you up and carries you out. "Shh, I'm here now, I'm so glad you're ok." He kneels in front of you, untying you and pulling you into his arms.

"Kyle-" you look back at the men, bloodied and dead. You cling onto Kyle with tears in your eyes, shaking in his arms. "They were going to kill me...."

"I'd never let that happen. And their damn fools if they think they would get away with this." He looks into your eyes. "I'm right here ok? You're ok."

If you are injured he'll gently pick you up in his arms and carry you back, treating your wounds and then holding you close to him.

"Shh," He pushes a strand of your hair back, settling you in his lap, his bloodied hand running through the blood that runs down your nose and your lip. "They can't lay another hand on you." He shakes a little, tear rolling down his cheek as he kisses your forehead, relieved to feel your warm body in his hands. "I love you so much. I love you so much." He whispers.

Arms wrapped under your, cupping your back to keep you close to him throughout the entire night. Reassured whatever state you're in, you're home. You're back home with him and nothing will ever hurt you.

You comb your fingers over his scalp, glad to be wrapped in his strong embrace. "I love you Kyle." You whisper. Kyle nods, pulling you as close as he possibly can. "I love you even more."

Ghost 💀

You'd think this would be easy, but it's actually not. Simon's reaction would be similar but could go one of two ways. He'd either be blood thirsty, angry. Carnage, teeth ripping, flesh tearing, head snapping psycho angry. Or he'd be worrying about your safety, pacing back and forth looking for any way, any how he could get you back. Both emotions are present in both cases but one would be more dominant.

So let's say he's both. He finds the note and he's furious. He's absolutely blood red visioned. But he knows if he does anything rash it could cost you your life.

Again, he'd either be the type to go on his own or call his team. But he'd only call his team if he seriously, seriously thought maybe he wouldn't be able to save you and not himself.

The note was easy, finding finger prints on the thing was like second nature to scan. Identifying those fingerprints with help from a friend, also pretty easy.

With his 48 hour slot to either complete the deal or sacrifice your life he set off to find you. Armed to the teeth. Quite literally.

And once he got to the base you know what happens. Ghost do what Ghost does. Carnage. Blood and limbs torn. His gun being his main weapons but like Gaz was not afraid to get his hands soaked in that moment.

He wanted to go rage on the whole base but his objective was you. Snuck in, took out anyone in his way and found you.

If you're uninjured he'll rush to you and make sure you're awake. He'll immediately cut your bindings and pull you up into his arms. He can embrace you and kiss you when you're safe. But rest assured now that you're in his arms he won't let you go. He gets the car far enough away and pulls you into his arms, kissing you until he can't breathe.

He pulls you from the corner of the room into his arms. "I'm here, I'm here love don't worry." He holds you close, hiding you in his embrace as he brings you back out of the base and to the car. When he gets to safely away you start to cry.

"Simon," you cling onto him, shaking and relieved.

"I got you baby, I've got you." He whispers, pulling up his mask and kissing you. Kissing you until he was sure you wouldn't disappear into thin air. "I'm right here, I'm going to get you home." He runs his thumb over your cheek, relieved your alive.

He's lost family members like this before, he'd never want to lose you to that. And he almost did. He almost lost the most important person in his life.

If you are injured fuck stealth. All those men?? He'll slaughter and bludgeon all of them so badly their families won't know who their burying. That's that happens when you mess with people he loves. He gave them a chance to possibly get out alive if they hadn't hurt you, but they had. And that was the wrong decision.

"Where are you injured??" Simon cups your cheek, looking down to see the blood dripping onto your shirt and soaking your collar. He was furious, but he pulled you into his arms and held you close. "It's ok, they won't lay one more fucking hand on you. I promise. I'll kill them for touching you, I promise I will baby not one will be left."

He brought you to the car and kissed your nose. Once he'd gotten you secure and ok, he cocked his gun and finished off the last of that base.

When he returned again you cried into his chest while he held you, kissing the top of your head. "I'm sorry love. it's over. It's over, I won't ever, ever let anyone hurt you like that again.

He brought you home and held you in his arms, refusing to let you go. He would never let anything hurt you. He promised. He would never let the evil of the world hurt people he loved again.

His grip was tight, running his hand up and down your back. He looked into your eyes, seeing your face for a long while before leaning his forehead against yours, tears finally swelling up in his eyes. "I'm so glad you're ok." He whispers, pulling you close again. He'd never let go.

Soap 🧼

John cries. When he comes home from his long leave, expecting a warm hug and a good meal. But when he comes back, the house quiet and empty. The lights off, the love of his life not there to greet him.

And when he finds the note that you've been dragged out of your home and taken hostage for money and information. He was scared, seeing the email at the bottom of the note.

You were one of the most important people in his life and he couldn't fathom the thought of losing you.

He's in tears and shaking when he sends a message to the email, waiting for an agonizing hour before he got an email back. A taunting message acting for the money with a photo of you, a knife to your throat. "Give us the money or your little lover gets it."

Now he was angry. He was sad and scared for you but he was also angry. He contacted Ghost and once he got information on the email and pinned where it was sent from he didn't hesitate.

He was strapped to boot with anything he would need. Hell he threw his favorite bazooka in the back and was off by sunset.

When he gets there he easily takes out the sentinels and gets inside, finding you tied up. He takes out the soldiers guarding you and rushes to your side, holding you gently. "Look at me love, I'm going to bring you home." He kisses your temple and hauls you into his arms.

"We're going home." He assures you again as he brings you outside into the cool air. He walks you out past the perimeter and flicks the button in his hand, the base going up into a flurry of smoke and fire. "No one will lay a hand on you, I promise."

If you aren't injured he's going to set up a bomb and blow the place sky high, sending flames into the night from the inside out.

If you are injured he's still blowing it up.

"Love, love can you hear me??" He tilts your head up, seeing the black eye and your bloody nose. He frowns, immediately undoing your bonds and cradling you in his arms. "I'm not going to let them hurt you anymore. Not one damn second more."

"Johnny.... It hurts." You whispered, clinging onto him for his warmth, his protection.

"I promise you love no one will ever lay a hand on you like this again. I swear to it never again."

He picks you up and brings you out of the base, once he's in the safety perimeter he blows the place sky high. Good riddance.

He won't let anyone hurt you. He loves you, and he vows to protect you with all the resources he has. He would never let you get hurt. He holds you close, maybe even gives you a nice welcome home to get your mind off what you went through.

"Are you really ok love??" He asked, watching you sip the hot chocolate he'd made you. You nod, cuddling closer to him in your PJs. "I know you'll always be there for me."

He wraps his arms around you, pulling you close, lips feathering a kiss to your temple. "Always love, I will always do what I can to keep you safe."

[flippinpancakes64]

Would you pls write about reader having a nightmare and how the Cullens would react?

The Cullens when their S/O is having a nightmare

Thank you for requesting and I hope you like this!

This post wont be up for about two days as of the time I'm writing this, but I am turning off my requests! After this one here, I'll still have 15 left to do :'(

I'm so appreciative of everyone who chose to request because it means that I'm at least doing something right lol I just need a sec to catch up

Edward:

He can hear your nightmares as they play out

But Carlisle once told him that you're not supposed to wake people up during nightmares

So he doesn't

It's killing him tho

The moment you wake up he is right there

Shushing you, drying your tears, and letting you explain

If you want to talk about it, that's fine

If not, that's fine too

If you don't want to go back to sleep, he's a little upset but he'll help you stay awake

You need sleep

But he understands

Whatever it was about, he will try his best to soothe you and reassure you that it won't actually happen

Especially if it's something about him leaving you

Like you couldn't get rid of this man even if you wanted to

Alice:

I don't think her gift would work for predicting that someone's going to have a nightmare

So the only way she would be tipped off is if she heard you

But as soon as she does she's rushing to your side

Mostly because it sounds like there's danger

But after she sees you're having a nightmare, she wakes you up

She lightly caresses your face and whispers until you finally open your eyes

And then she's there for you

Again, she'll let you talk about whatever you need or want to

And every time you bring up that you think this thing might happen, she stares off into space for a second and then says it won't

Whether she's actually looking into the future or just trying to trick you, you don't know

Jasper:

I have a feeling he wouldn't leave your side while you sleep

So the moment you start kicking around or when he senses your anxiety, he's ready

He sends soothing emotions your way, trying to get you to calm down and go back to sleep

But if that doesn't work, then he wakes you up

Again, he uses his gift to soothe you

He lets you talk out whatever you need to

He is at your disposal, just put him wherever you need him

And if you need him to stand guard at the door for the whole night to make sure that no monsters get in, he'll do it no questions asked

And once more, he will use his gift to help you go back to sleep

Rosalie:

You told her about how you have such bad nightmares at night

So instead of leaving the room to let you sleep, she decided to stick around

When she notices you start to kick and stir, she tries to soothe you back to sleep

Whispering things like how you're safe, she's there, it's not real, and stuff like that

And if that doesn't work, then she wakes you up

She lets you talk it out, but doesn't fight you if you say you don't want to go back to sleep

She'll let you hang out with her in the garage while she works on one of her cars until she notices you nodding off

Emmett:

If you don't mind the TV being on while you sleep, then he has it on and is watching something while you sleep

And if you do mind then he's still never too far away, just in the living room

Either way, he has the TV low enough to not bother you

That means he can hear when you start to shift

He grew up with little sisters though

And he knows that you're supposed to wait out nightmares

So he waits it out until you either stop or wake up on your own

He doesn't press for details if you don't want to give them

He just turns the TV to a channel you like and lets you sleep on his shoulder

Esme:

I feel like she'd enjoy reading in bed while you sleep

So she's quick to notice when something's wrong

She doesn't hesitate to wake you up

Asks what's wrong and what you were dreaming about

She's very reassuring no matter what it is

She tells her own stories after you to make you feel better and to get your mind off of it

"When I was younger, I used to have nightmares about this guy who was made of butterflies coming to town and stealing all of the butterflies! It always made me so upset."

Carlisle:

He tends to be working most of the time

But luckily his office is connected to your bedroom

So he can hear when something happens

If you have a nightmare he lets it take its course

If you go back to sleep, then he goes back to work

But if you wake up, he takes you to his office with him and lets you sit next to him or on his lap while he works

;)

Not actually in a suggestive way

I just really wanna sit in his lap

Anyways

He doesn't pressure you into talking about it if you don't want to

But he has an explanation for everything if you do

Vampire! Bella:

Wasn't it a whole plotline in the movies where Bella had really bad nightmares?

And the books too

So she understands

She wakes you up whenever she hears you

She always asks what it's about

But she doesn't linger on it either

And she won't force you to go back to bed if you don't want to

"Okay enough talk about nightmares, you wanna go get ice cream?"

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

I’m always curious about Kankri being redeemed in any way (maybe because he can become the sufferer). Obviously to do so would be simply punting him to reality and force him to live it, no help from his shoddily-made support structure. But I’m curious how you would go about doing it

Given their role thematically in the story, I'm actually usually not on the train of "fully redeem the dancestors", but I do like giving them some catharsis and reckoning, a place in the fight against LE. One last chance to do something good with their lives/afterlives before the end, and a(n implied) new start as wigglers born into the new universe.

So to that end, in my head, the "turnaround point" for Kankri - the inciting incident that makes him have a mental breakdown that results in him finally taking some accountability for his shitty actions - is having a conversation with Eridan.

In my head, the Dancestor reckoning happens gradually, alongside a series of retcons where the dead trolls are brought back one or two at a time, and deal with their emotional issues a little more with every cast member added back into the party.

The TL;DR series of events is: Terezi asks to bring back Vriska, Vriska asks John to punch out Tavros before she can kill him, Tavros's influence makes Gamzee ask for Equius and Nepeta to be brought back, Equius asks for a redux of Aradiabot, Aradiabot grabs John by the arm and gets him to undo her death and Sollux's fall into depression, Sollux asks for Feferi to be brought back, and then Karkat asks for Eridan.

We know from (Vriska) that the Game Over/Alpha Timeline characters still exist post-Retcon, so those characters would also be continuing their character arcs, just in the afterlife prepping for the LE fight. For example, I think Meenah's reckoning should be delivered by (Karkat) - after having had so long to reflect on his own failures as a leader, he would be perfectly poised to scream at her for hers, which would also serve to make this confrontation a final thesis for Karkat as a whole - what leadership means (caring about your team) - and a conclusion to the Meenah/Karkat dynamic.

So when I say that Kankri needs to talk to Eridan, I mean Eridan and not (Eridan). Full character development, all his teammates are alive, taken full accountability and responsibility for his actions, team good guy Eridan. And as I noted in this essay, Eridan with full character development is actually more annoying than regular Eridan, because he's also the "Devastating: Worst Guy You Know Made An Excellent Point" guy. In bulleted form:

He's still an advocate for murder. Murder is literally what kept his friends alive long enough to play the game, and playing the game itself involves genocide, so he would be the Token Evil Teammate who reminds the team that, hey, murder is an option - and enemies will be considering it. Even at his very best, he's going to struggle with empathy and have an extremely blase view of violence and murder - those were literally just facts of his life through his most formative years.

This also makes him a TOTAL downer, as he's the tempering voice that reminds them that decisions have consequences, and utopia requires sacrifices, and nothing is ever worth fighting for that won't eventually need to be fought for. Like I said, worst guy you know, excellent points. In fact, he's out here volunteering to do the murdering when the situation calls, if nobody else wants to get their fins dirty. He's really good at it.

He's still an idiot who doesn't listen to people. He's perfectly fine at taking orders, but having a conversation with him is still really difficult. I feel like if you make Eridan too smart, mentally flexible, and socially aware, you lose a lot of his Eridan-ness, and I think these characters, fully realized, are more of themselves, not less. I also don't know how you could reasonably expect to fix these traits. He's just Like That.

He drops his fake pro-Empire stuff, because that was basically all just empty posturing in the first place, but...

Now he's a pretentious-ass hipster who judges you for liking Trollor Swift and Troll Marvel. Given that Jake's indiscriminate taste is actually linked to his deficit of Hope (he has little conviction, he's wishy-washy), Eridan coming into full Prince of Hope regalia involves getting even more annoying about his taste in media (shittons of conviction, refusal to budge).

He is also a wizard. He will not shut up about this.

And finally, I think he'd still be out here using slurs. First of all, because it'd be really funny, because he's literally not casteist, but second, because there's two types of "it's equality" - the kind where nobody ever says anything offensive, and the kind where "offensive" stops being a relevant concept because true equality has been achieved. Think of the discourse surrounding the reclamation of slurs IRL, or how the "it's equality" meme gets used - this idea that words can be stripped of power by changing the context of who's saying them, or that objectification/discrimination stop being problems if they're applied evenly across the board, instead of limited to specific groups. I think that this is the exact type of nuanced idea that Homestuck would tackle and its fandom would get incensed about, which is why I think it should stay.

Eridan's role, thus, becomes a sort of "unpleasant truths" kind of character. Violence, both physical and verbal, is unpleasant as hell, and the natural instinct is to avoid it. The problem is, in any true discussion of what society should look like, they're topics that can't be avoided, and are even sometimes necessary not just to recognize, but to utilize (no revolution is bloodless, etc.). Eridan - an extreme personality - is going to represent the uncomfortable extreme of the debate. And by that I mean he's going to be saying slurs and talking about murders and is still going to be unquestionably a force for good.

The reason I'm going so in-depth into this is because Kankri very much represents the opposite: using "polite" language and couching it in the language of courtesy, activism, and liberal ideology, Kankri hides - and worse, spreads - his classist, ableist, misogynistic, puritan beliefs. He enforces the class divide and actively works against his teammates' best interests.

He whines that the lower blood castes should stop complaining about oppression, because others have it worse. He tells the team feminist that misogyny isn't real, then slut shames her. He tells the guy with brain damage that he's making other neurodivergent/TBI people look bad, exacerbates Latula's shame around her inability to smell, and actively guilt trips Cronus into ignoring his epiphany and self-reflection. Kankri is only an activist in that he actively makes everybody worse.

But why does he act like this? Well, it's due to the fact that he was probably culled, and on-sight at that, like Karkat would've been if anyone found out about his mutant blood. Kankri doesn't seem to have a symbol or lusus, either, two thinks Karkat only had because the Signless's followers prepped them for him, so the chances are very high that Kankri was culled since he was hatched. Given the way he discusses culling with Latula, and viciously despises being mothered by Porrim, it's clear he has some really complicated feelings regarding having his agency dismissed. Thus, his work to hamper his team - at least some of which is wilful on his part, as he'll outright cast aspersions on Horuss or Cronus's beliefs for being "imaginary" even as he encourages them to commit to them - is motivated by something quite simple: power, attention, entitlement, and control.

When he goes on his grand lectures, he frequently slips and reveals that he sees himself as a great, unquestionable spiritual leader, often trying to place other characters in subordinate positions to himself - Karkat is his "pupil," and his monologues, I mean, sermons, I mean, diatribes, are spoken as if from a position of authority. He outright tells Meenah that this is what he believes himself to be.

It's a very Seer sort of problem - both that of hubris and that of willful blindness. If you chart out the actual "end goal" of his beliefs, it appears to be a world in which Kankri himself is both the biggest victim and most important voice in the room. He regularly disparages those with actual disadvantages (Damara, Porrim, Mituna) while playing up the false problems of those who don't actually have them (Horuss, Cronus). Those with disadvantages should have their voices amplified - except lowbloods should stop whining and misogyny isn't real. And those with real power should check their privilege - but won't somebody think of the poor highbloods who have ~emotional problems~? Kankri will, and all the highbloods need to do is bend the knee and treat Kankri as their specialest boy.

In short, he's using his intellect, rhetoric, and forceful personality for selfish, emotionally-driven pursuits. The actual substance of his arguments is ephemeral and contradictory because that's the trick - the point is NOT to further equality, but to verbally browbeat his conversation partner into submission. In other words, you can't beat Kankri in a regular debate, because the moment you start trying to actually engage in a debate with him, he wins. The moment you start lunging at his arguments, he's got you in his red-texted labyrinth. The moment you start treating his points like they merit genuine discussion, you're in the pews of Kankri's church, and he's up at the pulpit.

And Eridan is the destroyer of faith. He's also an idiot who doesn't listen to people.

I don't really know exactly how it would play out, but I know in my heart. In the pit of my soul. That Eridan would call Kankri several slurs, (correctly) point out that Kankri's celibacy is stupid because it's clear he has feelings for Cronus and Latula, (correctly) point out that his pro-equality stuff is stupid because he calls violets "Royal-V"s, (incorrectly) accuse Kankri of hitting on him, (correctly) point out that the entire point of a slur is that it hurts and insults the person it's used on, (correctly) call Kankri several more slurs, (correctly) point out that Kankri just wants attention, especially from highbloods, (???) go on an unhinged rant (maybe more) about being a wizard, being a murderer, and being a murderer wizard, (???) insult Kankri's taste in music, and finish it up by (correctly) revealing that Eridan and Karkat are moirails who make out sometimes.

I think Kankri would start crying.

[rzyraffek]

Slashers with y/n that just gets along with everything

Like slasher could litteraly kill somone near y/n and she would be like alr alr whats really important is that you are happy🤠😎. Im sorry that first 2character had super long headcanons while last ones have way less :( I had no ideas Request open!

Billy Lenz

He always expects some sort of negative response when he calls people and when he heard new voice on the Phone he got even more exited cuz new person new reaction! He totally didnt expect her to just go "yeah yeah sure buddy, anyways... how is your day man? Cuz im so so tired...*starts normal converstation*

He probably tries to stay in character but he is so caught of Guard he doesnt know how to react really (hehe the table has turn)

Now he kinda hopes that she will pick up cuz shes very intresting😈 billy likey

"Ew its this creep again! He is asking for you y/n? Of please dont tell me you befriended him??" "So what? He said hes favourite fruit is strawberry he cant be that bad!" *billy saying slurs on the phone*

You need to constantly tell him that, no Billy no harrasing women isnt sexy, you arent quirky, you are mentally ill

"Y/n i killed that bitch that was gossiping about you 🧍 " "👍good for you billy im glad you found healthy way to cope with that negative emotion😇" "on god"

His whole moral compass is created around the simple question 'does it hurt y/n?' .1:no it doesnt so feel free to do it .2 do not do it, she will ban Billy from sweets (bad ending)

The man from hush

This guy. This dude. This Little gremlin. He is upset that he gets no reaction! Like please oh please act all angy when he 'acidently' shot tire in her car! But oh no ofc no, she had to be like "oh its okay honey i have backup in garage🥰" hes like HHUH SINCE WHEN WE HAVE GARAGE

Like tbh thats how i imagine how they met: he saw her, he wanted to hunt her, she was so chill that she didnt even leave her household while the power was off and he went inside and just saw her having lil nap on couch. 🧍🤨erm exuse me gurl im trying to roleplay epic hunter here tf

He probably kidnaped her cuz she was too weird to just kill her but he didnt want to risk her calling police. He probably tied her up and yeeted her on backseats. And then she begun judging music on the radio"yo big guy can i get some good music taste?" "What? Whats wrong with Taylor Swift?"

He will overshare everything to kinda check where is her limit if it comes to being chill "yeah so i killed this old lady.." "im sure you had good reason🥰" "🤨... anyways... yeah so i was drinking some redbull when some guy said i look ugly so i shoot his head off and-" "HEY HEY hold up geez you CANT drink Energy drinks?? Bestie you know it is unhealthy?? Also you like hunt for sport it will ruin your condition!? How you gonna shoot people with shakey hands?? You crazy or something?" "Damn😔"

Micheal myers

I tried to put him here but i realised he will be as chill as her.

Like he can give her gifts covered in blood and she' just going to clean it and wear it like nothing happened or completley ignore it

He cares about this stuff as much as y/n so like not at all. I mean tbh theres is a bit of difrence: shes at least positive about it! Like "yeah micheal go for it, love🥰😇 i know its hard to cope with trauma take it all out alr?" Shes trying to be a good supporting gf not her fault she never had serial killer bf!

Brahms Heelshire

He lives for attention! What do you mean the war crime he commited this lunch break is okay!?!? Baby pleasee

But this negativity disapears the moment he realised he can get a lot of positive attention when he will do some nice stuff! "Oh honey I didnt kill any rats today" "oh that's amazing brahms I'm sure you and the rats inside walls will get along well soon🥰" (rats in walls bully brahms)

Please complement him or he will get a tantrum and destroy something

Brahms and rats have very hard past i might do seperate hc about that

Ghostface

"Look babe! My newest victim *shows photo*" "ugh baby...😰 you NEED to buy new camera or watch some youtube tutorials about how to take good photos" "aw man whats wrong with my pictures 😔"

Otherwise y/n supports his hobbies! People need to grow😇 (and he needs to grow up)

If theres 2ghostfaces(like in most movies) they will bet money on how long you gonna keep this 'do whatever as long as youre happy' act. Well they didnt know that this wasnt an act but her personality

Also they will probably try to use this chillnes aginst her like "oooh y/n something terrible happened! I crushed my car oh what will i do!" "Alr bestie i will drive you over there😇" "😈omg you are so nice i totally didnt expect that(heheh i dont need to pay for gas today (hes very evil))

[hittmeandtellmeyouremine]

ᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ 1 | ʙᴇᴀᴜᴛɪꜰᴜʟ ʙᴏʏ ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ

pairing: bsfs older brother!rafe x reader

summary: you had hidden your crush on rafe as much as you could for years. sarah would kill you if you ever did anything, it would break her heart. you were her best friend and she was yours. so why did you find your eyes constantly wandering over to her brother? why were you with her brother at a party instead of her? why were you with her brother at midsummers instead of her?

warnings: swearing, mention of family issues, mentions of drug use, and suggestive content.

word count: 3.3k+ words

a/n: this is technically the first chapter to my beautiful boy series which uses characters and events from the netflix show "outer banks". it is based off the song "beautiful boy" by esha tewari. give her a listen, she's amazing. please reblog, comment, and share! i hope you guys love it! ♥

oh, beautiful boy, you are a sight to be seen.

you had tried your best to stay away from rafe cameron. the whole town often described him as a short tempered, rich, entitled, prick, and that was just scratching the surface. you never heard anything good about him, even from his own sister.

sarah cameron had been your best friend since middle school. you two used to be in a trio with kiara, freshman year, but that fizzled out and it was back to just you and sarah up until now.

"y/n!" sarah snapped, pulling you out of your daze.

"hm?" you hummed.

"you're not even listening to me, what are you looking at?" she questioned, her eyes following your gaze. sarah groaned when her eyes landed on her brother.

you were at sarah's house. she had invited you over, telling you that topper had pissed her off (again) and she needed girl time. you were both sitting poolside, feet in the water. you were supposed to be outside watching the sun set. key words: supposed to be. your eyes had wandered the minute you stepped outside.

rafe was messing with around with his dirt bike, attempting to fix something. he looked focused, lip between his teeth as his eyes focused on a gear he was messing with. the grip he had on it made the veins in arms flex. you were too far away to get a good look at them, but you knew. you knew they were straining in his arm as they usually did. he pushed his hair back and huffed, obviously frustrated with the bike.

she wasn't oblivious. she noticed your eyes wandering towards rafe whenever he was near. you had been friends for too long for her to not pick up on it, the signs were there. not that you would ever admit it though.

"y/n" she groaned.

"what?" you protested.

"stop eyeing my brother, please. i want better for you" she pleaded, taking your hand.

"i was not eyeing your brother sarah. god, as if. rafe wouldn't touch me with a ten foot pole" you reminded.

"that doesn't make me feel any better" she frowned.

"well it should, it's never gonna happen. i was just zoned out" you reassured.

"he spent the money dad gave him to buy stuff for the house on the thing" she said, nodding over to the bike.

"come on, lets go inside. i'm getting hot"

with that you grabbed her hand, leading her back inside tannyhill before she could question you any further.

rafe's eyes followed you into the house as you lead his sister inside. he sucked his teeth, watching you go.

-

oh, beautiful boy, you hate your mother.

sarah had dragged you to some party, saying she was gonna meet topper and she needed you to come with her for emotional support. being the good friend you were, you obliged and came to be there for her.

unfortunately for you, she ditched you the minute she found topper. she whispered some half promise of finding you in a "little while" which you both knew was a lie. you wandered around the party feeling out of place. the only person you really knew there was sarah and she was somewhere probably making out with topper.

you initially planned on trying to find some water, but a few minutes into it you gave up and made your way outside of the house. as you were trying to get away you heard your name being called.

"y/n!"

you turned and were met with none other than rafe cameron on his dirt bike. he looked flushed, probably drunk or high. maybe both.

"you leaving already?" he questioned, sniffling and wiping his nose.

"yea, sarah went off with topper and i don't really know anyone else here" you shrugged.

"that's a lie" he said, sliding his helmet off and setting it on the handle of his bike.

you cocked your head at him.

"i'm here now, lets go" he said, nodding his head toward the house as he dismounted the bike.

"i'm okay, i think i'm gonna head home" you said, backing away from him a bit.

"see i wasn't really asking you, i was telling you" he said, "i'm not letting you walk home alone in the dark so you can either wait for my sister or i'll take you home when i'm ready"

"i don't get how that's your decision to make" you scoffed.

"you don't need to, let's go" he said, reaching out for you but not touching you.

for whatever reason you followed, walking back inside with him guiding you through the house full of people. the good thing about rafe having a bad reputation was that people made way for him, scared of him losing his temper and lashing out. he pulled you into the kitchen, getting you a cup of water and handing it to you. you took it, looking inside and back up at him.

"you put something in here?" you questioned, mainly teasing.

he sucked his teeth.

"no, y/n. i didn't. if i wanted to fuck you, i would ask" he said bluntly.

you nodded, prying your thoughts away from that fantasy and drinking the water. his gaze lingered on you and he glanced around before looking back at you.

"are you gonna go find sarah?" he asked.

you shook your head.

"i really don't wanna third wheel her and topper"

"well i don't want you by yourself. stay by me, alright?" he asked.

your eyes searched his for answers in confusion. where was this coming from? you had been friends with sarah for a while, having a secret crush on rafe for a majority of it. he didn't speak to you unless he absolutely had to. why is he suddenly keeping you around?

"rafe, i'll be fine" you reassured.

"once again, i wasn't really asking" he said, eyes serious.

"i don't get where is this is coming from" you said as you looked at him.

"what are you talking about?"

"why do you care about my whereabouts all of the sudden?"

"you snuck out of our house y/n. i know you and my sister are here. if something happens to you and my dad finds out i knew, which he would, he would kill me"

you tried to hide the disappointment in your face when he revealed that this was all just an act to cover his ass.

"i wouldn't rat on you, if that's what you're saying"

"you wouldn't, sarah would" he stated.

"come on, just come sit. i have shit to deal with anyway" he said before grabbing your hand and pulling you over to the couch. you tried to ignore the way your heart fluttered when his fingers wrapped around yours. you sat beside him, watching girls flock around him as he pulled a small white bag out of his pocket.

he mumbled something to kelce who disappeared and returned with more people. he collected cash from just about everyone, offering lines to all the girls nearby. all the girls, except for you.

"you want some y/n? tastes like bananas" kelce offered as he noticed you just sitting there watching everyone.

"no, she's good" rafe answered, shooting kelce daggers.

your stomach turned as you watched rafe hold one nostril and sniff the powder with the other. his pupils dilated and he wiped his nose of the excess. you felt the pedal stool you had secretly put him on begin to lower and your stomach begin to knot with anxiety. you lost track of how many lines he had truly done.

"you don't think that's enough?" you asked him.

"what?" he asked face turning to you and eyes running over your worried expression.

"when did you start doing this?" you asked.

"recently" he nodded, "don't worry, it's not that bad. get off your high horse"'

"can i have some?" you proposed.

"no" he said.

"why not? you just said its not that bad" you said, cocking your head a bit.

he chuckled, shaking his head and taking a sip of his beer as he realized the game you were playing.

"not that bad for me, doesn't mean i want you doing it too" he said.

"you're not my father, that's not your decision to make"

"you don't know your father and it is when the drugs are mine"

you glared at him at that comment. your faces were closer than usual. it wasn't out of the ordinary from where you guys were. there were way too many people on that couch, making every squished together. the need to look at each other when speaking didn't help your case much. he looked away from you, counting the cash that was put into his hand.

"i need to use the bathroom" you said as you got up from the couch.

like a leech, he was right behind you, stuffing the bag of coke into his pocket and mumbling to the group about how he would be back.

hand on your lower back, he lead you upstairs to one of the bedrooms. he closed the door behind you two and waved over to the bathroom in the room. you rolled your eyes, going into the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind you.

"slam it harder next time" he called after you, sitting on the edge of the bed.

when you reemerged from the bathroom a few minutes later his eyes ran over you. he had lost track of just how many times they had done that tonight.

"come here" he said.

"i'm fine" you said, walking towards the door.

"y/n" he said, his tone letting you know that was also not a request.

you paused, rolling your eyes at how just your name out of his mouth had an effect on you. you made your way to the bed, sitting down next to him with a huff.

"can you drop your little attitude?"

"that was fucking mean, rafe" you said.

"i'm sorry, alright?" he said as he looked at you even though you refused to look at him, hand moving to rub your knee innocently.

"you don't mean that"

"i said it, didn't i?" he asked.

"that doesn't mean anything"

"i'm telling you, it does"

you finally looked at him, noticing the hint of sincerity in his eyes. he had a point. rafe barely apologized to anyone yet here he was, apologizing to you. over a comment he made because he's cross faded.

a part of you melted a bit. you don't know why. rafe was an asshole, everyone said it. he was no good. he was into drugs not on top of everything else.

"i didn't mean that. i'm just a little stressed about stuff, i'm getting my shit together though" he said, nodding to himself. "i didn't mean to hurt your feelings princess"

princess.

that wasn't the first time he had called you that and you hoped it wouldn't be the last. it was supposed to be a teasing nickname but your brain registered it as something far from that.

you nodded. it was your only way of trying to shake your brain out of the fuzziness it had gone into the minute he got so close to you.

"you forgive me?" he asked.

you nodded again.

a thick silence filled the room, both of you unsure what to say at this point.

"come on, lets get back out there before sarah starts looking for you" he stated, getting up from the bed and going towards the door. you followed, returning to your seat on the couch and watching him fall back into the same routine as before.

this wasn't really rafe, but no one else knew that. it was like a new person. he had changed a lot over the summer actually. he looked constantly frustrated, constantly stressed. it was obvious the coke was an escape. an unfortunate escape.

"hey, lets keep this between us yeah?" he asked, hand moving to tap your thigh now.

you hesitated to answer. sarah was one of your closest friends and this was her brother. this was her only brother.

he noticed your hesitation.

"come on, we're friends. aren't we?" he asked, hand moving to gently grab you face.

since when were you guys friends? you were friends with sarah. you knew rafe, yes. you liked rafe, yes. but friends? rafe barely said a word to you before today. you had to take what little interaction you could from him.

you could've sworn you saw his eyes flicker from yours to your lips. you felt the energy shift. you didn't know why or what it was but you felt it. you wanted to embrace it.

before you could answer topper came over, looking upset. kelce offered him a line, giving him the same description he gave you. rafe laughed, urging him to do it. you took the chance to slip away from him to go and find sarah.

rafe realized your absence when you were already halfway down the hall, too far for him to stop you. it crushed his high a bit, the loss of you. he wasn't worried about you saying anything to sarah, but he would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the time he got to have you to himself.

you found sarah who was a mess, crying about topper being mad at her for not wanting to sleep with him. you two took it as a sign to head home. and as you walked back home with her head on your shoulder and your arm around her. as you comforted your best friend, your thoughts wandered back to her brother. to his hand on your knee, on your thigh. to his hand on your face. to his worry.

-

that's why you love me

"hey y/n" you heard your name being called as you were handed a slushie.

"hi rafe" you said, a bit confused by his presence.

"what's up, how are you?" he asked, eye finding yours.

"i'm good"

"good good" he nodded.

what the fuck.

"since when do you like movies?" you asked.

"topper dragged me and kelce" he said, making you nod as you paid the concession stand worker and stepped off to the side with him.

"is there a reason you came over...?" you questioned. as much as you were enjoying rafe's company which he seemed to be making a habit, you had your doubts.

"i can't say hi to my favorite girl?" he asked, smirking a little bit.

"you're funny" you laughed, shaking your head.

"thank you, for not telling sarah" he said finally.

there it is.

"tell sarah about what?" you asked, making him chuckle.

"right, right. you here with someone?" he asked.

"my sister"

he nodded, looking like he was searching for someone.

"are you gonna make this a thing now?" you asked.

"what?"

"this" you said, pointing between you two.

"us?" he asked, you nodded.

"hasn't it always been a thing?" he asked, a smirk playing on his lips.

you shook your head, playfully rolling your eyes.

"i like you y/n, we're friends" he said, making you nod.

"see you around rafe" you said as you walked away from him.

"promise?" he called after you, making you smile to yourself.

-

that's why you love me

you turned around as you heard your name being yelped by a familiar voice. sarah was quick to engulf you in a hug.

"there's the kook princess" you teased as you hugged her back. "why'd you look so pouty in your big entrance?"

she rolled her eyes and sighed.

"i don't wanna be here or near topper, at all. he's so suffocating. i'm only here because my dad made me" she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"was that why you were off the grid yesterday?" you asked.

"sorta. thanks for covering for me" she said.

"always"

later on in the night you felt eyes on you, looking up to see rafe staring at you from across the crowd. he nodded over, silently beckoning you over. you excused yourself from sarah, telling lying and saying you were gonna go get a drink.

you slyly made your way through the crowd and around the corner, wondering what rafe wanted this time around. your eyes landed on the boy in his baby blue suit, smiling once he saw you.

"what secret do you need me to keep now?" you asked as you stood across from him.

"nothing in particular" he shrugged. "just wanted to see you"

"rafe, you can't be doing this" you said.

"doing what? talking to my friend?" he asked, closing the distance between you two.

"is that what this is?"

"yeah, it is" he nodded, looking down at you. "why, you think it's something else?"

"isn't it?"

"could be" he nodded.

"it shouldn't be"

"yeah? why's that?" he asked.

you gave him a knowing look.

"sarah won't care. she does't have to know" he said.

"she's my best friend"

"she's my sister, she'll get over it" he said. he was as close as he could be now, face inches from yours and body pressed against yours.

your dress was short and a pastel yellow. it was strapless, making it hug your cleavage enough to show it off but not enough to be considered provocative by the establishment full of prudes. there was a little flower on the left side of the top of your dress. a wavy piece hung from it, matching the pattern of the ruffles at the hem of the dress.

the pale yellow looked nice against your tanned skin. there were small tan lines from where your bikini once was. they did wonders for rafe, especially since he memorized just about every bikini he had seen you in. he had a pretty good idea of which one made those lines.

even in the baby pink heels you had on, rafe still towered over you.

"you look pretty" he said, hands running along the fabric of your dress.

"thank you" you said.

"you looked pretty the other night too" he said.

"which one?"

"both" he hummed, turning you around for himself.

"can you keep another secret?" he asked when he made you face him again.

you nodded.

he leaned in, pressing his lips softly against yours. the kiss started off nice, gentle. that feeling only lasted for so long before greed got the best of you two. before you knew it he was pressing you against the railing and swiping his tongue over your bottom lip. his hands gripped your hips, keeping you pinned between him and the rail.

he pulled back with a smirk, licking his lips as he looked at you. he could practically see the worry seeping into your face as you realized what you had just done.

"hey, what she doesn't know won't hurt her" he said, grabbing your face to recenter your focus on him.

that wasn't enough.

"if not, we don't have to do this again. if you're really worried about it"

"no, no i want to" you protested.

"i know you do baby" he nodded, "but i need you to be sure. you understand?"

you nodded.

"i can't keep hiding it to keep her happy, that's not fair to me is it? sarah can't have it all"

you shook your head. he had reduced you to a few head movements. you silently mourned the loss of his lips and the loss of your friendship with sarah if she ever found out.

you also mourned this feeling, this position you were in. the one that granted you access to soft rafe. you never really knew which rafe you were gonna get these days. you were savoring this one before he retreated back into his hard shell.

"yeah, good" he praised. "you're mine now princess"

"that's not how this works" you shook your head.

"it is now" he said with a shrug. "we'll keep this under wraps until you're ready to tell sarah."

with that he walked away from you. leaving you confused and flustered. rafe cameron had just been your first kiss. your best friend's brother had been your first kiss and she didn't know anything about it.

god, sarah was gonna flip when she found out. hopefully she never did.

-

up next: ᴄʜᴏʀᴜꜱ

a/n: if you would like to be added to the taglist for this series pls comment or put it in my asks! still feeling out exactly where i want this to go because it started out as something different than what it has become. if you have any thoughts or opinions, pls pls pls leave them!

[thefirstknife]

Feeling abnormal about Echoes continues. Apologies for the scrunchy screenshots, it's from a recording. Immediately starts with Saint and Osiris killing me on the spot:

A little bit of comedy to ease on the crying:

Help. Osiris obviously doesn't want to do this because like. He's seen this before and it made him very unwell. Seeing Saint's dead body is very clearly not something he wants to experience again, but Failsafe says that Saint needs him so he goes anyway. Yippee.

Then the answer to my question. Nessus basically holds an archive for the Vex which includes the archives from the Forest, which is where we're going. I expected something that doesn't require lengthy explanations about how we're getting to the Forest. Saint even helpfully asks:

Some more info:

This is a really neat explanation that migth allow us to revisit this some time without having to go through the hoops of complicated shenanigans with what happened to the original Forest (and Mercury). But also it does leave me with the feeling that they may just never give us that answer. This will take me a while to process and come to terms with.

More interactions to kill us:

And then the big room. I'll put it under read more because damn:

From above where you enter:

It's a whole new area. It's absolutely bizarrely filled with a lot of details. There's four gates to the Forest, each designed differently. Spent a long time wandering around trying to figure stuff out and it's quite interesting. Makes me feel like we will use this area for something again because this level of brand new designs only being used one would be very strange.

So this one without the actual blue barrier:

This is the "Nessus" gate. When you gate closer, you can see the new plants from this episode and stuff. It's also used at the end of the mission to leave to the core of Nessus. The other three gates have the barriers and they later open, though we can only enter one of them. The one from behind that's basically the last you can actually see... Is Europa:

The snow? The ice crystals? The blue ice streaks? This is completely new. It looks like a gate leading to Europa. When it opens later, the enemies that come out of here are the normal Vex, which you can also see on Europa. I'm saying that because other gates have Vex associated with what the gate looks like. This is unhinging me. What does this mean. It can't just be a random thing they made to use once. There's no way. Bro...

And then there's this one which is the one we use to get to Saint's tomb; it's a gate leading to the future:

VERY interested in the enemies that come out of there. Obviously Descendants aka future Vex, but that also includes WYVERNS. Which are the first Descendant Wyverns we've ever seen:

And there's this one which I couldn't originally place; it looks too similar to a lot of other stuff, including Nessus itself, but I thought it might be Black Garden or Venus. Turns out? Black Garden. When you fight in the center later, Sol Divisive Vex come out of that gate.

The Europa and Black Garden gates fully open when you start the fight and they let the Vex out; as I said, normal ones from Europa and Sol Divisive from the Garden. Then when they're cleared, the future gate opens too and there come Descendants. The other two gates remain open but you can't access them; there's a firewall. Let me in.

In the future gate, there's the worn down corridor and then directly after it is the tomb.

And then the tomb.

I highly recommend doing this yourself or checking out a playthrough for all the lines because I can't feasibly summarise it all. Osiris and Saint show up and Saint interacts with the body, then experiences its memories and finally realises that every Saint is equally the same Saint. He also gets the information on how to find the Conductor. But before that we're treated to emotional damage about Saint and Osiris. Primarily Osiris' incredible worry and also trauma which more or less sends him crying which is fine and okay (lie). Like it's not actually sobbing on screen, but it's very much implied in how he moves and the way lines are delivered.

Okay I guess! How about we all jump into lava! Just to make it clear, Saint's last thoughts before he died were of Osiris. And in Immolant, when Osiris thought he would die, his last thoughts were of Saint.

But there is one where Osiris finds happiness. He finds a time away from strife. He finds Saint—a dream of warm serenity. The peace to his purpose. With Saint, there is a future that could have been enough.

So we're all jumping into lava, right?

Outside we fight Agioktis, except this time it's "Archived Mind" aka the archive of the Martyr Mind, the Vex that killed Saint originally.

Then we move on into the planetary core which reveals... certainly a sight. Of something that looks like an alien civilisation, with like a garden and also a HUGE pyramid inside of a artificially made Vex crater. And that's inside of Nessus. And now we know what they meant in the showcase when they said we'll be exploring an ancient civilisation.

I am unhinged. We don't even get to see more because the cutscene starts when you move forward and then we get the beautiful cliffhanger that will make me the most normal Destiny fan for the next 3 weeks.

Maya explains that she's here because we all suck apparently and she wants to fix the world by using Vex radiolaria to essentially convert everyone and everything into a "better" form. She's having a normal one.

Radio message is more or less a recap on all Veil Logs for people who didn't listen to them and the lore page, which randomly now isn't on Ishtar yet even though all others were available right away is about... well. Maya and Chioma living together in the Vex network peacefully and lovingly until the page break and we see the Conductor experimenting by doing open surgery on Exo Chioma. Very normal. very fine. But I guess now we know what that Exo thing from the trailers was.

Now we have to wait 3 weeks.

[hello-nichya-here]

Every now and then I just remember how Riley was painted as the victim in his relationship with Buffy and it just makes me so mad. The writers keep telling us that she didn't appreciate him and his way of loving her, but we are SHOWN that it was actually the other way around.

Buffy was not perfect, and it's clear she first got attached to Riley because he was a normal dude and she very much needed something in her life to be normal - but when it turned out he also had a secret life, that he was also the "hero" of his group, she accept it. She continued to like him. She still wanted him around.

Riley meanwhile seemed to resent her for being the slayer, for being stronger than him, for having other stuff going on in her life, for having dated/being the object of affection of guys that were stronger than him.

His insecurity is ridiculous. He was literally willing to die just to be a very strong, but also very dead guy, instead of being a completely healthy dude with the strength of a regular dude. He even acts like him not being able to beat Buffy in a fight, even with the "power up" is what is causing her to be "distant" sometimes, not the fact that, like he said himself, she needs to prevent the end of the world every other week and that's kinda stressful and takes a lot of her free time.

He also complains about her asking him to take care of her younger sister, the most important thing in the world to her, so she doesn't have to worry about that while out killing vampires and demons - and he thinks of that as her "not letting her be useful", and then complains again when she gives him a bullshit role in the whole "stopping the doom of all of humanity", even though he just refused the thing that would make him actually useful. He also conveniently forgets things like Buffy asking HIM specifically to take care of her after she was wounded in a fight. He doesn't see any of that as her truly including him in her life and full on needing him like he wants her to - because it's not in the way that allows him to pretend he is THE hero, not the hero's boyfriend. Being important TO her doesn't actually matter, what he really wants is to feel superior, to be more important than her.

And even outside of the Slayer stuff: this dude really heard that his girlfriend's mother was potentially dying, and instead of thinking of how he can be there for her (something he CLAIMS he wants to do) all he can think about is "Why didn't she immediately call me? Why did she tell Spike first?" (I'm a spuffy fan, but come on, she only told Spike because he just happened to show up at the very second she was ready to open up about it and just needed a shoulder to cry on). Everything, even his girlfriend's struggle with the possibility of her parent dying and her needing to step up as a parent to her sibling, needs to be about HIM, his feelings, his wants and needs.

The fucker even has the nerve to cheat on her during all of this. Compare that to Angel going to Sunnydale to give her emotional support after Joyce died, or Spike comforting her before even knowing WHY she was crying and then sending flowers without a card to honor her mom and offer Buffy some compassion, but without disrespecting her very explicit "stay away from me, Spike." It's very clear which of these three guys never actually cared about her, even a little bit.

Hell, Riley is 100% sure that the only way for Buffy to "prove" her love is to suffer for him. Her sister tells him "I like you much more than her ex, you would never break her heart like he did" - and somehow, he doesn't take that as "Buffy and her family fully trust that I'm a good guy that would never do anything to hurt her" (something Buffy herself says to Angel's face in his show) but rather as a "Nothing I do would ever hurt her because she doesn't actually love me the way she loved Angel."

Not to mention: his assumption that Buffy was only ever attracted to Angel because he was a vampire, and thus any other vampire like Draculla or Spike could easily steal her from him, just shows how much he didn't understand her at all.

Buffy started crushing on Angel thinking he was just a normal human that knew about the supernatural and wanted to fight the good fight. She didn't find out about him being a vampire until he lost control for a second and went vamp-face after their first kiss, and it freaked her out.

She fangirled for a second meeting Dracula, but man, come on, OF COURSE the slayer will be excited to see the most popular vampire ever, and she was more than willing to kill him. The whole reason there were any flirty vibes between them was because the dude had literal mind-control powers.

Spike is the closest Buffy ever got to "dating a vampire because he is a vampire" and that was because she was literally craving death. Even then, she was horrified at her own attraction to him, AND there was a different side to their relationship, with Buffy liking Spike because he was the one person that wasn't disappointed and resenting her for being depressed.

For fuck's sake, she had a thing for PLENTY of normal guys - RILEY VERY MUCH INCLUDED!

He was the one that only cared about "who is stronger" and kept insisting that Buffy was the same even after overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

And for the show to then make HER go after him, make HER all sad when he is dating someone else, make one of her closest friends blame HER for everything that went wrong in their relationship, and then make HER basically claim he was right with bullshit lines like "I wasn't there for him like I was for Angel" is ridiculous - specially when, again, what made Buffy want to be with Riley in the first place was her trying to not fall into another unhealthy relationship like the one she had with Angel. They were codependent and when he left it nearly destroyed her. OF COURSE she's gonna try not being as obsessed with the next boyfriend (or with the one after him) because she knows that shit doesn't end well.

Again, say what will about both Angel and Spike, but at least Angel walked away after realizing their relationship was a dead-end that would never make Buffy truly happy, and Spike put himself through hellish torture to get his soul back and make sure he'd be a better man who would never make Buffy suffer.

RILEY being framed as "the perfect guy Buffy couldn't appreciate and let get away" is just insulting. Of all the guys Buffy has ever been with, he is the one that deserved her the least.

[beanghostprincess]

I feel like the minute Luffy gets a crush on someone he panics and straight up hates it. It's like why am I acting so weird like it's just Zoro/Saji/ usopp!!! Every time they compliment them or smile at them, he has to cover his face with his hat. He starts laughing like an idiot and makes terrible comebacks. All of his confidence and stupidity turns into awkwardness and self-consciousness. He's straight up not having a good time.

Luffy would kill himself on the spot. He instantly just jumps into the fucking sea.

Zoro: Something something, of course, my captain Luffy: I- Haha. My heart is beating funny. Haha. Give me a moment, Zoro! <3 *literally just jumps into the water* Nami: LUFFY WHAT THE HELL??? Luffy: Glupglupglupglup

He knows what a crush is, he's not stupid. He just doesn't fucking want it because he doesn't know what to do with so many overwhelming emotions so he genuinely goes to Chopper to make it go away. Chopper is confused af because he genuinely doesn't know what a crush feels like exactly and he thinks Luffy is going to die of a weird illness so he PANICS. And if this happens casually when Law is around (make it around wci), he can't just take it anymore:

Law: Luffy, for the tenth time, you're not fucking sick. You just have a crush on your cook. Luffy: Torao you're the worst doctor in the world!! You're wrong!! I hate this!! Law: Yeah, well, people normally hate it. Deal with it. Why am I even helping you here- Luffy: MAKE IT GO AWAY!!!! Law: I CAN'T MAKE IT GO AWAY YOU FUCKING MORON THAT'S A YOU PROBLEM. IT'S NOT A MEDICAL CONDITION. Luffy: Then take my heart and just??? Throw it away??? Law: I am going to kill you with my bare hands. Luffy: Please? :( Law: Luffy, I swear to God-

The poor thing is so lost and he gets really overwhelmed by absolutely nothing. Like. Genuinely nothing- And the girls are always there to help him out, but sometimes it's just such a funny sight.

[Luffy sitting with Robin on deck and watching the crew just do their things. Usopp practicing his aim and new inventions in front of them] Usopp: Hey, Luffy! Check this out! *does the stupidest most sexiest thing in the whole world because he just looks hot af when he's shooting at stuff* Luffy, blushing uncontrollably, covering his face with his hat and dying from a heart attack: Jndjkandeuiwbkwendknjdkjs *Incoherent noises* Robin: Are you alright, captain? Luffy: Make it stop, Robin :( Robin: Haha, I'm afraid I can't do that. Usopp: Luffy??? Robin: He says it's really nice!

And a little bonus:

[Red Hair pirates and the Strawhats finally meeting and throwing a party together] Luffy: And then Zoro cut that guy in half like it was nothing! It was the coolest thing ever, right, Zoro? Zoro: I would go to hell and back for you, captain, and that's the anecdote you tell him? Luffy: I- It was a really cool fight! Shut up, captain's order! Don't say things like that! Zoro: Mm. Shanks: Oh. *Turns to Beckman* When were you gonna tell me the kid is down bad for his first mate? Benn: Congratulations, you got one out of three. If you guess who are the other two, I'll let you drink more than usual today, captain. Shanks: *Blushes uncontrollably* Chopper: Oh no!! You're sick too??! Shanks: What do you mean, funny reindeer? Chopper: Luffy does that when he's around Sanji a lot!! Shanks: :) The other is Black Leg. Benn: Not fair at all.

[nyarlathotep-thecrawlingchaos]

I have a little bit of an interesting question! I know you stated you like writing horror and NSFW, or at least you do not mind dabbling in them, so I'm curious to your opinion:

(Please, very important onto this, keep in mind that, when I ask about 'Yandere', while yes, I mean this lovesick, obsessed character who goes to kidnapping/harming others/threatening/killing etc extremes to get the object of their affection/obsession, there's many yandere types. I PERSONALLY like only a handful of them because I am very careful with TW (I do not like toxic relationships where the 'darling' is deprived of privacy, is mistreated, forced to do things, has hands laid on them, has their emotional well being messed up by demeaning words, etc, and I do not enjoy abuse depictions of the trope either, so I cherry-pick a lot (due to personal trauma). Yanderes are often portrayed as straight up abusive when they needn't be, there's delusional ones, lucid ones who do not want to feel the way they do, others who rather give themselves to the object of obsession/affection and would rather hurt themselves than ever upset them, others who lean more towards manipulation, etc.). I say this because TW are important and while this is 'just a question in a blog' I want to inform you that there is NO EXPECTATION for you to write abuse, toxicity or anything of the sort. While being WELL AWARE that yandere relationships WILL be unhealthy in nature, it is that kind of 'unhealthy possessive' vibe you can enjoy IN FICTION, and should NEVER allow in real life. Take care of yourselves ❤️)

Obviously, none of the characters are canonically yandere, but do you have any opinions on who could fit the bill? And how/what way/what category they'd fit into?

Please ignore this if it makes you uncomfortable in any way and even if you simply respond without any headcanons/just a little ramble, remember to put TW so people who blacklist yandere stuff or feel trigger by any of it continue having a safe space here! Love your blog and what you do! Keep up the amazing work, and congratulations on such endless artistic talent!!

I haven't done a whole lot with the Yandere trope. I have one unpublished fan fiction for another fandom entirely that involves a yandere character in an antagonistic role. I don't tend to romanticize it because of how problematic it can be.

So needless to say, ⚠️ trigger warnings ⚠️ ahead for this topic, some more than others (lookin' at you, Doffy).

I feel like Sanji could fit the bill of being the lucid, regretful yandere. He knows that his obsession with you could be problematic, but he just can't help it. He gets insecure and jealous easily, and may be inclined to threaten any other men that happen to get to close to his beloved, platonically or romantically. He wants you completely to himself. Would be apologetic about his behavior and feel sincerely guilty for it, but just unable to keep himself from doing so. He also feels his behavior is protecting you in a way from being taken advantage of, and that's the only justification he can make for it—even to himself.

Mihawk, while his confidence and ego mean he's not really the jealous type, would still be a worthy candidate. He wants you aware that you are his in every sense of the word. You, your love, your mind, your body, all belong to him. No one else. He may very well be violent about it, though not toward you—just toward anyone who dares challenge his ownership over you. Toward his lover, he would be particularly doting and gentle, treating you like a fragile and priceless work of art. He would be incredibly disinclined to allow you to go anywhere without him; and if he finds out anyone else is attempting to court your affections or, heaven forbid, hurt you, then their days are going to be numbered.

Next would be Crocodile. Getting more ⚠️triggery⚠️ here. Prime candidate for a possessive yandere. Even if he doesn't have much time for you, you're still his property. He'll expect you to have time for him, to adhere to his schedule and his whims. He'll have a list of rules that you have to follow—no speaking with other men without him present, no going out in public without him or a guard that he has personally assigned to you; this is as much for the sake of keeping you safe as it is to ensure that you don't do anything he would disapprove of. In exchange, he'll shower you with lavish gifts, and treat you like a princess when he is with you...but if you break the rules, there will be consequences.

And lastly, and by far the most triggery, Doflamingo. Congratulations, you've caught the attention of an absolutely sadistic and manipulative yandere! He values total control over all aspects of your life. But he's going to make you think you have some freedom at first. He'll pout a little if you want to go somewhere without him, but he'll allow it...on the surface, at least. Then he'll hire some thug or other criminal deviant to scare you right back into his arms, whether with idle threats or physical force. He'll make you feel like he's your only source of safety and comfort. Make you defend him to your concerned friends and family of your own volition, until you have absolutely no one left but him to turn to. He'll justify it by saying it absolutely is for your own safety, and he sincerely believes that to be true; even if he wasn't hiring people to frighten you, there's still every chance that you could be hurt or enticed to leave if you stray too far from his side, and he can't allow that. Whether he views you as a lover or just a plaything, no one else is allowed to touch you but him.

[alliwantistowearcomfypants]

I'm not gonna lie, I think mandalorian should have ended at season 2. It just buttoned up so well, and the message was incredible. It was touching and sad. And then, like a month later, it didn't matter. Season 3 was so disappointing to me, and I think a big reason for that is because it lacked that simplicity the first 2 seasons had. The show was just about a damaged man finding his humanity and helping various people along the way. I know that not everyone loved the simplicity, but I think it was the best thing the show had going for it. Star Wars often suffers from stuffing so much crap in the story that it forgets to add character arcs.

The first 2 seasons are super character focused. The plot is so intertwined with Dins' character growth that it doesn't focus on the big picture. But in s3, Din barely has any growth as a character. There's stuff happening left and right, but Din doesn't really have any emotional stakes in it. Him trying to get his mandalorian status back feels hallow because we literally just watched 2 whole seasons of him breaking away from it. One of the biggest character moments for him was taking off his helmet for grogu. He's telling grogu that he matters more. That he would give it all up for him. It's so touching and feels like his character's natural progression. And then we're supposed to care when all of a sudden he wants back into the morally questionable pseudo cult he broke away from for his baby? I don't care! That plot point also resolves itself in like 3 episodes with little to no confluct, so now what. He wants to help Bo Katan. Ok. Why. No idea. He's kinda just there, watching things happen around him. There's no inner conflict or tough decisions he needs to make. His character arc is over, and you can tell the writers didn't know what to do with him.

The show is honestly focused more on bo katan than din. Which, no hate to her, but I'm not here for her. She's treated like a wronged princess, not like a deeply flawed terrorist who saw the error of her ways way too late. She literally aided in getting her planet overrun by crime leaders and sith. And the show just brushes past that. They don't even mention Satine, which could have been a great way to humanize Bo. Have her struggle with the fact that she got her sister killed. Have her wanting to restore mandalor for her sister, who died trying to protect it. It would have been so much more impactful if Bo Katan's motivation was out of guilt for getting her sister killed and planet overrun. She could have slowly opened up about her complicated relationship with her sister. She could have had an obi wan kenobi type arc. Learning the only thing she can do is move forward. Try to right her wrongs. Restore Mandalore in the name of her flawed but deeply devoted sister. I do not understand why they didn't at least touch on Bo's personal ties to the planet. She feels so one dimensional, and they could have easily made her more interesting. Or at least motivating.

My biggest problem with the show is that I didn't really care. I didn't care about Bo Katan's goals or Din's. And I think the biggest reason is because the show forgot to add character moments that tied them to the things they want in a personal way. Also, Din's baptism thing was stupid. Just cut that out entirely. No one wanted that.

[idle-compy]

jwct season two review!! spoilers below!!

to start off, I really enjoyed this season! it definitely had some weak spots, but overall wasn't a bad season

the animation is definitely the first thing I want to bring up. it was absolutely beautiful. the colors and lighting were stunning, and the way everything moved made it feel a bit more real. I'd like to give a special shout out to any scene involving water because, one, the water was animated extremely well, and two, the way the characters looked after getting wet was a huge upgrade to jwcc

speaking of the characters, I want to talk about them a bit! this is going to be a bit of a mix between good and bad

darius: unfortunately, darius felt kinda flat this season. before the initial release, the show was advertised around him, and he shone his way thru season one. he had conflicts, he had emotions, he an arc. in season two, he felt kind of like a side character. only watching the season once so far, the only memorable moments I remember are him trying to bond with zayna and that extremely awkward flashback of his confession (which is a whole other thing I will get to). other than that, he didn't really have much going on. there was no actual story; no arc. maybe when I do a rewatch, something else will stand out to me

sammy: unfortunately, sammy's story this season also felt kinda weak. for starters, she didn't get to kick a single ass. I feel like her whole arc was just being attached to zayna. she clearly got very emotional about the mballo family, so I guess I was just hoping they would elaborate a bit more on what's going on with her own. I also definitely do think she saw a bit of herself in zayna, so I was hoping that would go somewhere, too. I was really happy about her being a canon vegetarian, though

yaz: yaz, as always, was an icon. she was THE character this season. she was so good at reading people and noticing they weren't okay, and then she tried to help her friends, no matter how much they refused to communicate. a moment of appreciation for her patience when dealing with kenji and ben, because they were not making it easy for her

also her solo episode!!!!! was insane!!!!!! it was literally never ending tension, and good god nothing was going right for her, and yet she kept going. she kept fighting. that episode was also a really good example of how much she's grown. no matter what was thrown at her, she didn't let herself fall into a state of panic and irrational thoughts

ben: I loved his arc. he was put in such an insanely messy and complicated situation, and mixing that with his anxiety and paranoia, of course he'd struggle with it. they did a good job at making the audience understand his thought process. he had to choose between telling the group their dead friend is actually alive because he saw her in the background of one video, or holding back this info until he got more solid proof. then, said dead friend video calls him and begs him not to say anything. that only made it more difficult for him, because he was 100% sure she was alive then, but was asked to not tell. watching him fall deeper and deeper into a state of panic absolutely crushed me

kenji: oh kenji, kenji, kenji. I don't even know where to begin with him, so I guess I'll start with the overall character. to be completely honest, there were moments (especially in the middle of the season) where he just did not feel like kenji. he was abrasive and just seemed off somehow. I'm not gonna go too much into that, though, because most people aren't the same person at 22 that they were when they 15. he has also been through an insane amount of stuff and was at a point where he was overwhelmed with emotions, but was trying to convince both his friends and himself that he wasn't

now his arc is a different story. I like where they took it (in a way that added complexity to an already complex character, not in a yippee!! kenji wants to kill himself!! way). the arc itself was hard, and absolutely depressing, to watch. the way he kept throwing himself in danger's way as if he had a death wish was absolutely heart wrenching. then when he realized what he had been doing and how it affected others, and when he said "I don't know how much more I can take" I wanted to rip him through the screen and give him a big hug

brooklynn: loved loved LOVED her storyline. I was so happy to see her side of the story and how she ended up where she did. the first scene I want to talk about is when she wanted to see her family and friends, she wanted to reach out, but realizing that it could potentially put them in danger, she solidified her decision to stay "dead." I loved that scene so much because it knocks out all of those "heartless brooklynn" theories. she faked her death for them, not to hurt them

I loved that they had moments of focus where she adapted to her new limb difference, and that she was allowed to grieve her missing arm. it felt real and human. also watching her ability to manipulate others and make her way into those different situations was so extremely fascinating. like she is an amazing investigative journalist

also the final scene, where she went with soyona. as agonizing as it was to watch, I'm actually glad she made that decision. it wouldn't have felt realistic for her to choose her friends, not after everything she had gone through to even get there. she was in too deep, and it was very brooklynn of her to continue the investigation instead of going back to her old life. I feel that giving bumpy's egg to the others was her little sign saying "I'm still in here"

ok moving on!

there's also some good and some bad when it comes to the way they told the story

for the good, I really liked the way they switched back and forth between brooklynn and the others. it was a good way to keep up with the timeline while also filling in gaps (ex: the crate moving into the pen just long enough to get them out only to find out brooklynn was on the controls)

on the other hand, the story in the middle of the season (more specifically eps 4, 5, 6), felt like it was moving a bit slow at times. certain things seemed dragged out and there was a lot of filler time. the first episode and the last four did a really good job at avoiding that. the stakes were high and the scenes were so full of tension and ominousity that I was drawn in just about the entire time

now for random little things

I loved the inclusion of the mballo family. it was so refreshing to get new characters that didn't have bad intentions, and I feel like they were exactly what the five needed in that moment

going off of that, I absolutely adored zayna!! she was such a good inclusion. she was determined and strong-willed while also still being a kid. her sarcastic personality (towards darius specifically) was a good way to bring in some light humor too

geba!!! that's all just geba

also the eyeless leucistic baryonyx. I felt so bad for the poor thing knowing that she was intentionally created to be that way. her interactions with the characters were absolutely terrifying, though, and when she communicated with the acrociraptor???? I didn't think it could get more intense

I was actually losing my mind when the baryonyx and red were hunting the nublar five with all the lights turned off. that was another extremely well done scene

the darius confession flashback was..... something. definitely NOT how I was expecting them to go about that scene. season one made it seem like she had been staying with him for a while and he slowly developed feelings that way and eventually she caught on. but that flashback threw all of that away. like she clearly hadn't been there very long and darius had already fallen HARD, and it just seemed out of character for him to insist kenji didn't love her that much. the whole thing was just ugh

the video call flashback was great tho!! it was nice to see they still continued those calls

ben and kenji!!!!!! no but I was actually obsessed with what they did with their relationship this season. the bickering, the divorced couple vibes, and of course the heart to heart. I've been waiting years for that to happen and it did. just for their relationship to go to shambles the next episode 😭

but on that note I will say the reveal to kenji was set up so extremely well. being able to see and hear ben and brooklynn but they don't know he's there, and then everything he does witness is out of context, so he builds up his own conclusion. him confronting ben was so intense like godddd. I couldn't stand the pain in both of their faces. when kenji cracked the glass??? imagine if he had actually aimed for bens face

on the other hand, the reveal to the rest was kinda meh. I just felt like they could've done more with it, but hey, I guess it's realistic. not everything is going to happen under dramatic circumstances

speckles ❤️ (just call me kenji the way I'm attached to that egg)

I loved to see some behaviors from nublar come back!! like yaz going for casual runs through the forest with dinosaurs and darius creating another field guide. I missed dino nerd darius

also the roar identification competition they were having in the beginning was so funny but also such a them thing to do

wish brooklynn would've kept her grey graphic tee (I think it said kroxic??). I liked it more than the plain navy one (/lh)

speaking of clothes, why did they change for that one episode then immediately change back??? felt like a waste of those models (/lh)

anyway I think that's all!! I might come back and edit if I think of anything else to add

[jedisandspacepirates]

I have things to say about the finale.

Now that I've seen it, now that the emotions are settled down.

Spoilers for 1x08, so under the cut in case somebody's not seen it yet.

So I'm actually pretty happy with the finale. Really happy because it ended with the victorious people being who it always should have been, the kids. Fern, KB, Wim, Neel, working together and their parents too in their way, to save the day.

I absolutely loved the hug at the end, when they all went to find KB and just that exchange of "Did we win?" "Yes!"

We did NOT get a huge expansive backstory for Jod, but neither were we promised that. All Jude hinted at was a bit about his childhood and how or why he's Force-sensitive. Well, Mr. Law, that last part wasn't quite...we just know that Jod is actually able to use the Force, but the how or why hmm. Unless by that he meant that his Jedi master had taught him how to use it, I suppose.

Anyway.

I actually loved the information they chose to give us. The picture of a (presumedly) orphaned Jod (I wonder what happened to his parents...did they abandon him, were they killed?) living in a metaphorical (or maybe he was literal here) hole depending on the next meal and living a damn rough life. Then a Jedi finds him, teaches him a little about the Force, and she MUST have said that thing to him that he says to Wim, the Qui-Gon idea. (Of course that's a Jedi principle, not solely Qui-Gon's words, but where would Jod have picked that up if not from her?) And this is the tragic part, she took him under her wing and taught him their ways, but then he was forced to watch when they killed her.

That scarred him and definitely damaged him in a real deep way. I am not excusing his behavior departing from 1x05 and his descent there. That's not okay and I'm still mad at him for all that, but the past they've given him tracks with that, I suppose, and it makes sense that Jod would develop such a dark outlook on life from his experiences. Seeing the galaxy as a dark rotten place with only a few pinpricks of light etc...

And, here, look it comes. I, who have argued for Jod's redemption until blue in the face, am content with the way they ended it because I admit, if they had made him do another heel turn or come to some sort of decision as I thought he might have, I don't think it would have been done so well. It wouldn't have been convincing or felt very real to me. That sort of thing needs time. But what I absolutely adore almost above everything else is--and I don't know if it was purely just the writing or Jude's own decisions with acting, his expressions, etc--the nuances of his actions in that last episode.

I saw a post somewhere saying that Jod had "messed up" by not killing the kids because if it were Anakin, he'd have had At Attin under his boot in ten seconds or something like that. That just caught my eye, and it's worthy to note that Jod didn't harm them. He could have, but he didn't. Yeah, he was trying to pass himself off as the emissary and all that stuff, whatever. But when it was just Fern and her mom with him? He could have killed them.

This interview sheds a whole lot of light on stuff like this, and I'll have you know, the showrunners--the creators of this blessedly amazing series--the creators, people, were saying "those small gestures, his tiny bit of hesitation when he fires", referring to the moment he shot at Fern. The interview perceived that he had intentionally missed Fern, and that's when the creators comment on it. Seriously, he's him. He could have hit her squarely, but I really don't think he intended to. If anything, I believe he did mean to miss or shoot just shy of her.

Also, again, the creators saying he's in "a morally gray" area, "tortured by his behaviour". Whether that means conflicted because he has 'greed treasure I will be rich forever and happy' on one hand and 'i care even a little bit about these kids and don't actually want to hurt them' on the other and those are two forces warring in his soul, I don't know. But there is conflict there, and in any villain I've known in TV shows, movies, books...if there is conflict of evil and good in them, they aren't 100%, completely and irredeemably gone.

Just all of this complexity put into Jod and pulled off by Jude Law was completely and utterly amazing, and that is something I really enjoyed about the finale.

I'm saying it's not the end of road for Jod, and that's what's fantastic about fanfiction.

[alexanderwales]

Alright, time to complain about Persona 5 Royal again! Spoilers beneath the break, it's mostly Ann Takamaki stuff. Specifically a romance scene I thought was awful.

So I got Ann to Confidant rank 9, and she's a romance option, and I thought "you know what, sure". It comes after you've talked to Ann's friend Shiho, who is up on the rooftop. Shiho, for context, is Ann's friend who attempted suicide and then went through some rehab and transferred schools. This was part of a plotline where a teacher/coach was trying to pressure Ann into sex. They have a little goodbye on the rooftop, and then you're alone with her. She says "guess I'm all alone" and you get a choice of saying "you have the team" or "you have me". They give you a "you should choose your words carefully" to let you know this is serious business.

So I picked the romance option.

Joker goes up and hugs her, and she doesn't hug him back, but she says "I love you" and then he backs away and they talk for a little and she says "wow, didn't mean to say that, but you know what, I stand by it".

And then Joker goes up and kisses her, and this is her reaction:

And then it just says "I am now in a relationship with Ann" and there's a little level up notification. These are her next dialog lines:

I-I guess we're more than just friends now ... ... It's embarrassing.

And then she says "wait!" and you get this:

Then the screen goes black and it says "Ann and I spent some time together after she calmed down".

I hated this.

It felt like I'd failed some Charm check somewhere, or like I'd chosen the wrong option. If some girl I had just kissed for the first time said "Lemme go! Are you trying to kill me!?" I would assume that I had majorly fucked up somewhere, that I had just drastically misread the situation. This is a bad feeling.

And I think it would be a bad feeling even if we hadn't just had a conversation with Shiho, but in that light, it's much worse, isn't it? This is a girl who, yes, says that she's in love with Joker, but there's not much indication that this kiss is something she wanted, and a few indications that it's something she didn't want. "I love you but I don't want to kiss you just yet" is something that I think is perfectly understandable, and it's hard for me to find the different reading.

What I think they were going for was that Ann is just deeply embarrassed about the whole "being in love" thing and worked up about the flood of emotions or something. She does want to be kissed, but it's embarrassing to admit that, or something. I don't know, it's also very possible that something was lost in translation.

There's also something in the blocking of this scene that I don't like, where Joker is facing away from the camera, standing slightly in front of Ann. I think they probably did this to save on animation budget, because making two characters kiss isn't trivial, but it definitely gives the impression that Joker is like ... advancing on her. And maybe this is the same reason she doesn't hug him back. But it makes everything more weird and gross than it needed to be.

And there's also something in the integration of game mechanics that's also kind of horrifying, not the Confidant level up screen, but the way that Joker's thoughts are presented in thought bubble form, like "I am in a relationship with Ann now" is ... true, but robot speak, betraying an utter lack of emotion. Which is sort of how Joker is written, because he's a blank slate protagonist, but here I really felt it, in a highly negative way.

I've heard that the romance options in general don't tie into the game all that much, there's not too much extra dialog and it doesn't alter a lot of the scenes even when people feel like it should. I take people at their word when they say this, at least until I can see it with my own eyes. But this means that in terms of the romance option stuff, this is one of very time times there's a scene for it, and this was what they went with.