#im also blaming her for the hat

[hoboblaidd]

There is a lot of aesthetics from canon that I'll follow, but as long as I draw breath I will not allow Solas to wear that stupid ugly clipping fucking hat to the Winter Palace.

[ganeshpnf]

"Athena doesn't love Annabeth"

Meanwhile:

Annabeth openly states how her mother guided her when she was 7

She gave her an invisibility hat that saved her multiple times

She broke the rules and helped Percy on their quest so they can save her daughter

She openly said she doesn't approve Percy's and Annabeth's friendship because she thought Percy is dangerous for Annabeth bcs of his fatal flaw. "And now my daughter."

She openly said how much she is proud of her daughter to the council twice

She gifted her daughter with her biggest wish, made her the architecture of Olympus

She approved Percy's wish first because she WANTED to do better and thought ignoring kids is unwise

Arachne literally wanted to kill Annabeth so much because she was her favourite and most gifted child, she SAID it would cause her so much pain

She accepted Percy and helped his quest in the Chalice of the gods for Annabeth's sake, because she didnt want her to be upset and wanted her happiness

Athena openly praising Annabeth and saying she is so thankful to have her:

Now, I want to make clear that Athena is NOT the best parent, she is not. She is just like other gods, she made mistakes. Some parts she was better, like she claimed all her kids as babies, never left an unclaimed. Some parts, she was guilty for being too prideful, which is a fatal flaw passed to her kids.

For Minerva, people love to blame Athena but we forget how different they are, they are not the same goddess. They are different, just like Ares and Mars. Minerva gave her the mark, she said how much she was a dissapointment, Minerva did, she didn't even know who Annabeth was, she was literally losing her mind in there. Annabeth didnt understand what was going on in that time, she was confused as well. Still, I believe Athena needs to talk to Annabeth, apologize, even in Minerva's behalf, Im sure they made up but I wish we could have seen it. Its Rick's bad writing :(

BUT-She is not the worst parent as fans ramble about, she LOVES Annabeth, she LOVES her kids. That is also very clear in the books.

Justice for Athena 🥲

[purpledemonlillyposting]

Can't blame anyone for making alts or being on anon. I've sent a few asks your way but there's no way I'm ever showing up in the notes for any posts around this mess. I want to attend the circus, but I don't want any of the clowns following me home. And Sai has kind of made an environment where she encourages her clowns to do just that. (and they also conspire that every single detractor is the same 3 people in a trench coat when it's in all likelihood just... random bystanders throwing their hats in)

I'm willing to bet there's quite a few people hovering around and not interacting on all sides, since there's just. So many people showing up in everyone's inboxes to fling shit. I'm tempted to say people are encouraging that behavior. Really can't blame anyone who sees that and doesn't want that themselves. And I imagine it's quite easy to get swept up in it too, mob mentality and all that.

It is a little funny whenever someone tries to pull a gatcha and say whatever blog owner is sending self asks/gets no notes/whatever because it feels like they just... Ran out of arguments? And if they try to bait out any particular anon, well. There's no reason for the anon to respond. To use my circus analogy again, if one of the clowns starts yelling for me to show myself but they don't know who I am I'm going to keep my mouth shut, they may as well be yelling at ghosts.

Anyways, away from that topic, I do appreciate that for things I send your way you tend to break character for them. I get that it's an easy way to strike nerves (and boy do people show off that it got to them in some way by responding. To anyone who types a "who cares" kind of thing in a comment section you just showed that you do. You cared enough to comment. Now everyone knows you got mad) But I almost wish you did the more thoughtful ones more instead of the in character ones since a lot of people probably blocked your account on grounds of it being a troll (heck, I almost did at first too when you first cropped up) But... Well I get the feeling most those people probably wouldn't have been swayed if you did, anyways.

I will say, for other anons, please provide a source for any claims you make! Evidence is very important, especially so people can see it for themselves and make their own opinions instead of taking word of mouth. Seeing where something came from is also important for keeping the story of what happened clear, and so people don't repeat any half remembered or bad faith and reworded accounts. Full context is also important, though for the other side, sometimes the full context is still not enough to excuse weirdo behavior.

100%. Stay out of the notes and reblogs and keep anon on, don't invite any unhinged crazies from any side over to you. That's the smart thing to do, is keep some personal distance from all the wacko clown show.

and she SURE DOES all you gotta do is breathe her name and her die-hard simps are breathing down your neck while you just get the fire-hose to spray at them down

lmao oh yeah they been tossing out like only two or three names about me and like fucking dumbasses there are more than that who find you all the most piss-shit annoying and stupid hypocritical fucks grow some originality 😂😂😂

it's 100% encouraged, beta-sigh herself has gone on record on stream AND in her simp discord encouraging the witch hunts. they're literally all desperate for drama and mobbing others

tbh whether im in character or not depends. and idrc that people blocked me first, they were never gonna listen to any sort of reason anyways. they're too lost in the sauce. and thats just the thing, aint no one here actually wants to change their mind. nothing anyone says on a shitty blog will actually make them read and self-reflect. sometimes all you can to is honk a horn directly into their clownish faces. 🤣🤣

I dont debate anyone here. there is no point. the pissbaby crying "debate me!" doesnt want a debate. they want a platform to whinge about what they want to believe is right.

so I say fuck 'em, OOGABOOGABOOGA YOUR MOM IS A DEBATE!!!1!!!11! 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

[spinjitsuburst]

I just saw that art u rbed to here from ur main and like while its an amazing peice of art its in own right MY EYES ZOOMED ONTO ONE ARMED LLOYD im so curious where that hc comes from if u wanna ramble abt scar and injury hcs id love to hear genuinelylike. I love scar hcs yeah

I'M SO SORRY THIS ASK TOOK SO LONG BUT OH MY GOD I LOVE TALKING ABOUT DESIGN AND SCAR HEADCANONS SO LIKE GHDFSGHKJFDG

generally i draw the ninja in a pretty vague "around or after crystalized but before DR" timeline so that's what i'm operating under with these headcanons

also i didn't draw zane here cuz android bodies confuse me and i also got. lazy hgkfdsghkjf but i'll do his someday

lloyd's 20~ and the other ninja are mid 20s~

FIRST UP MY FAVS

starting with lloyd i give him a dragon tail and oni horns, as well as pointed ears. he's got a semi-grunge/goth style so i usually draw him with piercings and stuff. he lost his arm during the events of hunted to me but i dont really have a set event in mind for it. his back was SUPER damaged during the sons of garmadon fight and sometimes has to wear a back brace, and his ankle flares up from time to time

jay kept a lot of his scars hidden for a while because they came from skybound (some of his worst injuries lingered from the timeline). not sure whether he's come clean to the ninja yet or not. the marks on his wrist and ankle are from vengestone cuffs on the ship (blame hat because they gave jay vengestone cuffs in bbnb and it broke my brain so my jay has them now). the wound on his side is from skybound as well. ironically his face scar is NOT from skybound, but he was blind in that eye after skybound and hid it from the team. the current scar is from a fight where an enemy sliced a knife up the side of his face, and his lightning reacted badly and struck him while also striking the enemy. he almost died it was NOT a fun day for anybody. also he's a trans man so top scars!!

nya's scars are fun, she obviously has the tiger widow venom scar from skybound (kai finds out about that one after it gets infected cuz she wasn't taking proper care of it after the timeline reset, and he was NOT happy about it) but she also has lichtenberg scars on her hand from a time jay was holding it and accidentally shocked her badly with his powers. he starts wearing gloves after this incident. she also, of course, still has the markings from her time merged with the sea. they glow blue when she uses her powers, and her eyes are more glowy now as well (she kinda looks like a cryptid)

kai's deceptively scrawny. he has basic muscles but he's super skinny, so a lot of people think he isn't as strong as the rest of the ninja. however he's CRAZY strong and has a solid core. He also has a bunch of scars all over his hands from his time as a blacksmith. They're mostly little burns and nicks, but there's one that stretches across his hand from when he accidentally grabbed a hot blade. he also has a lot of body hair

cole is chubby but INSANELY strong, even without super strength. he has a bunch of scars, especially on his arms, from being tanky and blocking blows with his body. most of his scars are ninja related, but he does have one on his leg from a dance accident. nothing major, but the scar stuck around. he also has his ghost scar that goes over his eye somewhat, causing his pupil to be an unnatural green

also a height chart for comparison! one day i'll do zane too but i got lazy. hard to figure out scars for a nindroid, but i imagine that under his plating, the side of his face will ALWAYS have glowing gold scars from the overlord, no matter how many times he makes a new body or tries to fix them

[creatrixanimi]

For Ingo disappears teen au. I just imagine how bad Emmet would feel. Unable to not find his brother and right after a fight to boot. Then potentially finding Chandelure hurt, and blood on the ground being the only sign his twin was there. Just...oof. Then there is Ingo. Hurt, alone, and likely still with no memories of what happened to him. Does the Pearl Clan still take him in? Does he still become a Warden? His clothes would certainly be different without his iconic hat and coat (and those shoes lol). All I can think is 'poor kid' and hope that someone will take him in and care for him. Makes me want to write something about it. Sorry, it really does make my brain go brrr. All the possible changes are kickstarting my imagination for sure

Hi!!! sorry for the late reply to this but i was trying to work on some more stuff for this au while i could. And yes! The whole thing does look really bad from Emmet's side of things. Between the screams, chandelure nearly being destroyed, and the not insignificant amount of blood things do look bleak for he and Elesa. And also Drayden when he hears what happened. Usually in fic where Ingo disappears there is some hope that he was unharmed when he vanished but i wanted to play with a scenario that all leads to darker assumptions right off the bat. I just looooove some good angst so i wanted there to be signs of significant struggle. Im not 100% sure how im going to take things (or if ill ever get there lol) but emmet is going to be feeling a lot of guilt even if it was such an unprecedented event theres no way he could have known someone or something would attack his brother practically the second he left his line of sight. Unfortunately, I think it would also end up isolating him from Elesa and Drayden because of the guilt. Elesa because the fight was about her and even though he doesnt blame her even slightly, seeing her reminds him of what happened. And he also feels guilty spending time with her because it feels like he's betraying Ingo since after everything he would still be hanging out with Elesa without him. And it just feels SO wrong. And he feels guilty with Drayden because it kills him inside to see what losing Ingo is doing to him. It deeply disturbs him to see Drayden so upset. And all of this is on top of missing his brother who everyone, including himself, reasonably assumes is dead. Things will get better somehow but i havent hashed everything out yet! Im not sure exactly which direction im planning on taking it but i dont want it to be pure misery forever lol. As for Ingo, I did just post a followup comic about what happens to him immediately after the first comic ends which you can find here! I am a bit sad that he doesnt have his iconic outfit but theres not much that can be done about that. Hes just looks a little bit more boring i guess. He does still become a warden! It may not happen right away though. For the most part Ingo's story will follow a canon adjacent track, just a bit more in-depth. And as for who takes him in, as of right now I think Gaeric is going to be a big part of that. He becomes a sort of older brother figure to Ingo which Ingo will have some complicated feelings with. Its nice to feel wanted but its rubbing salt in an open would he doesnt even know he has which is really hard for him. And finally if you feel inspired to write something based on this idea go ahead! Im not even sure where i want to go or how far ill get so i dont want to hoard the premise to myself lol.

[afluffyfriend]

2am Glitchy rambling after watching c2bc

I think Glitchy is a really interesting character as they judge others like Princess Hat and Pound for using others for their own benefit while also doing a similar thing? They only really “befriend” Beer Keg just to secure another vote in the game while also slowly turning into a ruder, arguably worse person of themself after Tape Measure’s elimination. Maybe it’s like a defense mechanism? They’re clearly distressed, pinning all the blame of her elimination on them solely, which leads to them lashing out and more easily able to manipulate (AKA Beer Keg’s bread and butter). 

I’m just saying, the Glitchy who judged Princess Hat for using Beer Keg probably would not use Pound’s relationship with Fireball against him.

They’ve always been a little prickly, but it’s especially showing up now. With both Pound and Glitchy going through a whole bout of turmoil, I feel like it’s either gonna end in another blow out like the Fireball incident… or them connecting based on their current stressed states.

sorry if this isn't anything, im not really one to do a lot of character analysis (but maybe ill delve deeper into this later if i think of more?? idk lol)

[herzlak]

Tatort Dortmund: Made in China

glaub ich hab noch nie eine dortmund folge so bald gerewatched, sonst wart ich immer ein halbes jahr, bis ich emotional bereit zu bin

"MEIN FREUND JAN"

"wie weihnachten im august" und die ARD so haha lasst mal den im august gedrehten tatort zu weihnachten senden

omg wie sie die hand auf den tisch legt. wie jan und ella im verhörraum.

average netto experience

würd gern wissen, wie lange nach cash die made in china eingeordnet haben

NEIN DU BIST NICHT SO ABGEBRÜHT FABER

und selbst wenn, dann sei nicht so kacke! jemand (rosa (und ich)) trauert hier um jan!!!

faber and his lack of entlassungsperspektive

ich hätt dieses fliederfarbene polo an jan geliebt, aber an haller hass ich es

"ein sehr gebildeter mann" eingebildet vor allem

was hat faber da eigentlich für n gross gerahmtes bild stehen

chat, do we think faber went to a psychiater for real or is he playing?

rosa schiebt auch wieder mies ptsd, sah wahrscheinlich nach liebe mich! genauso blutig aus in ihrer dusche

tatort der um 90° gedrehten tische

jan hat sich halt den verlauf der dinge leider wirklich ein bisschen selbst ausgesucht...

ich bin viel zu wenig klasnic hater, she's much too slay

DIE SZENE MIT DER HAND! WIE JAN IN GIER UND ANGST! I'M SO NORMAL ABOUT IT!

rosa was glaubst du eigentlich? dass hier gleich die selbstschussanlage losgeht?

"was is passiert?" "aaAAGHh" mood.

faber braucht keine fortbildung, er ist einfach gott

und ein philosoph

wahrscheinlich war er mal römer oder so

"deshalb hamse doch mich" <3

"ausrufezeichen"

ich LIEBS dass in dem tatort immer so hinterhergemault wird, eine figur geht ab und meckert trotzdem nochmal was hinterher

"multifunktional" sag doch einfach, dass du ihn fickst

"erster enkel kackt in die windel" faber please

"wir mochten uns. immer noch. sehr." "das müssense mir erklären" DAS IST LITERALLY WAS DU MIT JAN HATTEST, ROSA

die dortmunder haben recently auch so n ding mit fehlenden leichen, nh?

okay, also ist rosa in brackel aufgewachsen? hat aber davor nicht in der MK im dortmunder präsidium gearbeitet? und ihre mutter ist gebürtige münchnerin? wild.

"wollense vielleicht eine rauchen gehen? auch wenn Sie keine rauchen?" slay mausi

schön auch, dass rosa immer mehr den pott schnack annimmt :)

passt aber nicht dazu, dass sie anscheinend in dortmund aufgewachsen ist

SIE IST SO ZICKIG

wo ist meine softe rosamaus hin DIE HIER MACHT MIR ANGST

rosa hat auch einfach n persönliches problem mit u-haft (can't blame her tho)

LEG DIE TASSE WEG, BITCH

"JAN FEHLT" AAAAHH

hehehehe wie schön sie die tasse inszeniert haben

finds toll, dass sie endlich mal wieder essen, das passiert viel zu selten

liebs, dass faber unfähig ist seinen döner zu essen lol

"so ist das vorgesehen, so macht man das" schlechtester manipulations versuch ever

hach die klasnic ist schon so... slay...

rosa gibt die tasse jetzt auch deadass nicht mehr aus der hand

"das weiss sie halt" hach die references :)

nicht cool, dass sie so ein bönisch-likes outfit hat tho

"warten wir jetzt?" "auf keinen fall!" die zwei haben auch so viel kriminelle energie, liebs

wenn die mal alle aufhören zu zicken, wird das safe n badass team

that girl hat duolingo premium

es stresst mich unnormal, wie scheisse die ihren pool keschert

hehe rosa hat wieder so n gefühl <3

"Ihr gefühl in gottes ohr"

"ich glaub nicht an gott"

"hauptsache gott glaubt an uns" NIEMAND GLAUBT AN EUCH!!! GOD LEAST OF ALL

"eine chinesische ärztin, die sehr gut deutsch spricht" ok rosa, das ist bissl rassistisch jetzt

jan hätt sich gefreut über die zigaretten

rosa freut sich auch tho

rosa nein

rosa lass das

rosa aus! pfui!

HÖR AUF ZU RAUCHEN

die findets kacke, die muss husten, ABER DIE RAUCHT TROTZDEM WEITER

ihre jan-werdung (ich hasse es)

"von was?" "von das" haller auch nur unlikeable comedic relief

"von hinten, von vorne, von überall" wenn ich jetzt nicht wüsste, dass die übers erstechen reden nh...

rosa mit ihrer sonnenbrille <3

oooh das nervöse rumzucken mit dem fuss

"dass Sie sich ganz unmäßig aufregen und an ner herzattacke sterben" lol

die sind schon ein tolles team :)

ich wünscht, es hätt mehr solche szenen für jan und rosa gegeben tho

wieso ist der besprechungsraum jetzt eigentlich mit tagesrollen-cops vollgestopft?

frau klasnic, das ist massenmenschhaltung

so edgy wie rosa die kerzen ausdrückt und sich dabei die finger verbrennt <3

EXCUSE ME HAT DER DA KONDOME IN SEINER SCHREIBTISCHSCHUBLADE-

ich dacht ich brauch nen "arschloch" counter, aber ich brauch einen "es ging nicht besser" counter (wird sind bei 5)

rosamaus nicht weinennnn

die szene tut so weh :( faber too caught up in grieving is dad und rosa too caught up in grieving jan :((

kann mir niemand erzählen, dass sie da nicht an jan gedacht hat.

paralleluniversum, ok sind wir bei life is strange jetzt?

muss demnächst noch eine tiefere bedeutung in dieses sonne-mond gelaber reininterpretieren

die putzkolonne :))

was waren jan und faber gleich? aufzug mechaniker?

rosa sure uses her gun a lot in this tatort for someone who has supposed to have a gun trauma

"war das the walking dead?" chat, do we think rosa ist auch the last of us fan? hat sie mit jan gebingewatched, bevor er sich verpisst hat?

blutkonserven! we're waiting for a theo von greifenstein appearance!

endlich darf faber beim bettenmachen helfen, nachdem er in love is pain abgewiesen wurde

they were at the club

schön, dass sich die damen einfach dazu entschieden haben, queer auf dem tisch zu hocken und nicht mehr fertig zu ermitteln

rosa mit ihren familiengelaber lol she's so biased wegen jans gedöns

weisst das mich feddich macht? tatort dortmund, junge

stirbt er nächste folge oder erst übernächste folge, chat?

all in all mehr als solide, love it, 10/10, aber rosas freund jan fehlt

[cameleonvermillon]

read mdzs about a week ago and Wei Ying got me thinking about Koujaku and personal responsibility again (and how modern audiences tend to ignore or misinterpret those themes)

I see it in both fandoms for wei ying and koujaku for their crimes to be written off as not their fault, completely ignored, or justified. I'm not gonna pretend both characters weren't dealing with outside influences and circumstances outside of their control that contributed to, or lead them down the path they ended up traveling... but those things don't really matter?

Like they do. They give necessary context and provide character motive — I'm not saying they're irrelevant. Its that these things explain their actions, but they do not exscuse them.

With Wei Ying im unsympathetic to the victims and what he's done during the sunshot campaign because god did i think they deserved it, but those things are still undeniably horrific. Wei Ying used methods of torture and the abuse/disrespect of human corpses on his crusade. He used dark cultivation frivolously and killed impulsively, his arrogance lead to the entire cultivation world becoming his enemy.

He was also unfairly persecuted and blamed for things he didn't do and was clearly mentally unwell as a result of his cultivation methods. None of those things have to be mutually exclusive. Hell we don't even have to argue if he was right or wrong in anything he did, because regardless it all still happened.

Wei Ying killed thousands and those deaths will continue to ripple outward and have an effect on his life. As long as those people had families and loved ones he will be causing generations of pain. And he owns that because, especially with a clear mind, he understands the weight of his actions and the effect it has on others. Whether he wanted to or not, he is undeniably responsible for the death of his sister's fiancé

With Koujaku its a little different because the things he's done have all been under the influence of his tattoos, and frankly I think its up for debate if he could realistically be held even legally accountable — but whether or not anything that happened was his fault matters even less.

I can't believe I have to explain this but Koujaku's tattoos are a metaphor. What he carries on his back is the pain and trauma he endured throughout his childhood and their "control" over him is just how the mental scars and psychological damage left untreated all these years effect him. Koujaku's beast form is not him literally being "controlled" by his tattoo's, it is him giving into his rage. Ryuuhou himself says the tattoos feed off his anger to consume him, they are not the cause of his anger (not in the sense they directly manipulate his emotions. The tattoos in part are the root of his trauma).

Koujaku willingly gives into his rage throughout his route despite how it hurts and upsets Aoba. He can't simply fix his anger issues at the drop of a hat but he doesn't even try to control himself when he starts acting out, it's all Aoba and scrap that pull him back from the edge. Koujaku's pain and torment runs deep and with the provided context of his and his mother's abuse, her death, and everything he endured on the mainland, he is undeniably a sympathetic character. Aoba even is able to move past the near miss rape at Glitter because of said provided context, because he understands the connection between his past and mental state. If you listen to Koujaku during the Glitter scene you can even hear how absolutely out of it he sounds. Its not uncommon for victims of trauma (especially sexual trauma but i won't dive into Koujaku's backstory as a rape allegory here) to deal with psychosis, acting out of character in reaction to distress or as a defense mechanism. I don't think Koujaku, whether it was the scene in Glitter, his mothers death, or Ryuuhou's murder, was ever in his right mind.

With that said, it doesn't matter — least of all to Koujaku.

Koujaku shows clear regret for his mothers death and his assault on Aoba and its obvious he didn't want to consciously do those things. However that exact framing of "it wasn't my fault, I didn't mean to, I didn't want to" is what causes Koujaku so much grief. Koujaku obsessed over these thoughts so much it left him trapped in the past unable to move forward. Regardless how true it is, they have left him in a state of suspension unable to move on from what happened. It's not until Aoba uses scrap can he move forward.

Aoba's emotional intelligence cannot be understated. Aoba does not hold ill will towards Koujaku or think of him differently for what happened, but he knows he cannot possibly judge Koujaku or be The One to decide what's right or wrong especially about his past. All Aoba does in scrap is state the facts and destroy the part of Koujaku that clings so desperately to his trauma. Koujaku killed his mother, he has to accept that. Regardless of the tattoos and Ryuuhou's involvement it was Koujaku who held the sword. He killed his mother with his own two hands. It happened, nothing will undo it he can't take it back (its the same with his assault on Aoba).

But no matter how much of a monster he thinks he is, Aoba believes he can still move on and do better.

Aoba never outright gives Koujaku direct answers. He asks questions to lead Koujaku to his own conclusions to decide for himself — not Aoba, not the audience — if he is still worthy of living. (Only Koujaku can decide, no one he's hurt is left alive to matter as influence.) Koujaku has so much agency in his scrap, and it's what makes his character feel so alive.

Koujaku has done horrible things that cannot be ignored. You cannot come out of his story without understanding that, but I get why people tend to avoid this message.

Koujaku's route (and Wei Ying's story to a lesser extent) confronts the uncomfortable topic of the cycles of abuse. It deals directly with personal responsibility and how, just because someone is hurting or caused pain in the past, it does not erase the pain they cause others. In the current climate of online discourse this is really difficult to discuss because of the obsession with the "perfect victim" and black and white thinking, destroying all nuance. To say Koujaku or Wei Ying hurt people doesn't equate to treating them as irredeemable abusers. Sometimes people do bad things and they are not evil monsters. But they still had an effect on others.

I think this is often uncomfortable for people because it reflects their own reality. No one wants to think they've hurt others like they have been hurt. They want to be perfect and never inflict on others what was done to them, in any capacity. So we ignore it and find ways to excuse the actions of these characters to find absolution for ourselves without actually confronting our own behavior.

The fact of the matter is, you will always hurt others, whether you mean to or not. You are human and you will never be perfect and you won't always be right. Being a victim or suffering from trauma does not put you on a higher pedestal to be or do better than anyone else. People make mistakes, people do some really horrible shit out of spite. You cannot be the one to decide if you deserve forgiveness, but you can take a look at yourself understand what you did wrong, and strive to do better.

There are two things in this life you inevitably have to say; "I'm sorry, and thank you." and I think thats beautiful

[no-nic]

im sooo intruiged by the konoha spin-off of that kakasaku au... and also by the actual au tbh. are sasuke+ naruto still in konoha? what role does rin play in konoha's politics? is she a jounin sensei? what was the team minato dynamic like without kakashi? how do sakura and kakashi's lives go? how weird is rin being about interpersonal relationships (if she has any)? and id be interested to hear pretty much anything about this au lol feel free to infodump :3

⭐️ i have. a lot to say ⭐️

point of divergence?

at first i wanted to swap sakumo with a kiri shinobi. then i realized, nothing ever changes. one man doesn't start or stop a war. he didn't change the system. fandom misconception: apparently sakumo gets blamed for a mission that started a war? what are timelines? who said that? i know that when one is writing a fic it's easy to conspiracy-brain this & say something like "root sabotaged the mission" to keep sakumo like... "perfect"? or that danzo for some reason staged his death? we're just adding crimes to the old man's portfolio huh sakumo's kiri existence leads to sakura's parents -- in this they are civilian merchants -- settling in the land of water and having a child earlier. let's say they are originally from around wave. they are fairly shinobi-positive: "our bloodthirsty little girl wants to learn to stab people? okay sweetie :)" ...sakura may or may not have younger siblings (who remain civilians) i'm keeping some fun sakumo & kakashi material to myself for now ^^

topics to explore in the future:

[story] sword legacies, expectations

[meta] girls with big weapons

[meta & story] lack of tragic backstory for sakura

meanwhile in konoha

let's be real, you're here because of rin. some of this is just my unwillingness to derail canon too much. rin follows canon kakashi's path: anbu, maybe a short stint in root, jonin, some more anbu work alongside visible jonin missions, and finally jonin-sensei! she doesn't spend hours staring at the memorial stone; she carries everything on her. she stares at people. all the time. sometimes hidden with genjutsu, sometimes just standing there like a statue. blink goes the sharingan. don't mind her. canon kakashi came to meet his new team late; rin was standing in the (ceiling) corner since early morning

don't worry, she still has terrible identity issues; the shared eyeball stuff really messed her up. "i will see the future through you" but twice. she is team 7 now. there's a monologue about team roles brewing in her head, you can bet edo tensei'd minato will hear it as soon as he leaves the coffin! hiroto (our hyuga oc; born to rage and die) & obito bring major "fuck the clans" energy.

rin sees the aftermath of eyeball politics:

fact: obito voluntarily gave a body part to an allied combatant (who previously lost an eye)

was obito's body his to give away? or does it belong to his village? or his clan?

decision: hiroto can keep the sharingan but he's on thin ice

fact: hiroto later gave the same body part to another allied combatant

fact: rin was part of the original team, obito's other friend, so she's someone who could have received the eye then if the situation was a tiny bit different

suddenly it's all "would obito want rin to have the sharingan?" and "we don't know that", obito's decision is now the law, not hiroto's, so please give it back to the uchiha

thankfully obito's dying words weren't "go be hokage"; she would burn the hat

decision: rin can keep the sharingan but can't even think about gifting it to anyone else, since her original team is gone (and minato doesn't want it)

when the uchiha die, rin's first thought is "who gets to keep the eyeballs?"

(answer: danzo. probably)

rin has a complicated relationship with being a medic. as in, she refuses to be called that anymore. when she meets tsunade it's going to get messy -- whether it's upon waking from the itachi mind torture special or not. “no medic ninja shall ever die until they are the last of their platoon” <- all-consuming Rage 🔥

most of rin's relationships are... weird. people think she's weird; she agrees, but their reasons are so wrong. (someone misunderstanding rin? never seen that before...) however she has a best friend, who deserves a whole separate post. who is it? not that hard to guess, but very hard to describe what they have going on. that relationship is built. they could feature in any "siblings or dating?" game. the answer is obviously neither. (most adult interactions to be fleshed out later)

topics to explore in the future:

[meta & story] seals & flying thunder god jutsu

[story] what to do with a sharingan

[story] Not A Medic

[story] from terrible misunderstandings to mutual character growth

next generation

rin-sensei gets team 7: naruto, sasuke & third character (anime only, so not quite an oc). sakura is very lucky to Not Be There yeah, this too is getting its own post later. not much material yet

#pink tsunami au; the konoha spinoff is taking form

[forestdivinity]

Blitz & the Full Moon Episode & autism

I am once again talking about autistic blitz and just the Full Moon episode and this is a ramble but hh stick with itt?? I have so many thoughttssss but there are Spoilers so don't read if you havent watched the episode yet!

I'm thinking of how Stolas like walks out when he thinks Blitz is rejecting him and how Blitz takes that as a rejection and blows up in return. Like if they'd both just taken a minute to breathe it wouldn't have ended in such a disaster

From what I've seen, Blitz is someone who needs time to process especially in interpersonal relationships, and he's so sensitive to rejection & blames himself as soon as it happens but will self protect by externalising and projecting those feelings onto the person who's hurt him. Not saying this is a healthy mechanism btw!

I feel like if he had time to think past his initial gut reactions he would have been able to at least talk without screaming because we see he can be emotionally vulnerable like when he talks to Fizz in Oops! but rejection and feeling unworthy hit him haaaard, (like Fizz's birthday), and he reacts with anger first to hide how upset he is He's quick to cover up but I don't think he's someone who's that great at reading social situations as he projects himself to be, even with the candle shopkeeper he struggles to describe the mood and vibe hes going for. Blitz projects himself as outwardly confident because it's easier for him to have this facade than admit when he has difficulties in certain situations. In 'Oops' he totally misses Fizz's sarcasm when he's talking about Stolas and their relationship while denying that Stolas could like him. I think this comes from both a place of self-loathing & denial but also him missing that Fizz isn't actually agreeing with him. Emotions & words relating to them dont come easy to Blitz because he's autistic but also he rarely got the kind of support and emotional teaching in childhood he needed from the people around him. Like im sure Tilla tried but we know she was ill and that Cash is a dick who uses this to exploit Blitz (such as forcing him to steal from Stolas as a child) and I think that man has the parenting ability of a teaspoon. He's manipulative and even from a young age teaches Blitz that relationships are transactional (selling Blitz in the first place) which I think was ten times more impactful and traumatising for Blitz as a child seeing how he approaches relationships as an adult and that's even not getting into his self worth issues surround Fizz and the fire and Barbie. And like with Verosika happening… I want to know how old he was when they dated, how long it lasted. She has his name tattooed on her there must have been some emotional connection, but what happened between them to lead to Blitz blowing up again. What was their relationship like. It's said (implied? I don't remember exact words) that Blitz was her bodyguard first so that's another relationship that started out transactional! I think Blitz is emotionally a very immature character and he clings to structured relationships that he can push the boundaries of. Loona is his adopted daughter. Millie and Moxxie are his employees. There's structure and expectations to those relationships and he's the one who pushes for more and tries to develop them. It freaks him out when someone turns the tables because he doesn't have the rules and scripts in his head I think?? Stolas is changing the structure of their relationship and Blitz panics and tries to retreat to what he knows works (sex) which isn't what Stolas wants and we see the aftermath of this! But if what the 'you royals always do this' line implies is true he's been thru at least something similar before and is maybe falling back into old patterns and hurts when he perceives Stolas as rejecting him & his advances (putting his hat on, disparaging the roleplay, and leaving the room). Beyond the class issue and fear of losing his business when Stolas asks for the book back permanently the first spot where things go wrong for their personal relationship is when Blitz goes 'oh this is a roleplay' and I can just see the gears turning of him like just trying to fit this new information into the established framework of their relationship. Sex is comfortable for Blitz, the transactional nature of their relationship is comfortable and scripted and easy (he says this at the start of the episode!) and when pushed out of that comfort zone he panics. We see him panic!

I think part of him probably liked that there were certain expectations and structure to the contract before even if he complained about stolas being horny and like Stolas baby, I know things changed in you but the very start of your relationship is you calling him while he's being shot to like talk about how you want his cock. I love Stolas too don't get me wrong but your whole relationship is based around sex. Blitz has said to you in the past that he feels like he's only used for sex (Ozzie's!) and that's the expectation he has of the relationship. And like we know Stolas has tried to gently reach out especially since Ozzie's but Blitz is autistic doesnt do subtlety, like we can see that in how he treats people around him. He's brash and open and doesn't know how to read a room (like the first CHERUB episode he texts the client that they fucked up because he thinks people can't get angry over texts??) IDK people go on about how Stolas is autistic and yeah I can see that but to me Blitz is the epitome of the 'bad autistic' who is too open, too rough, too liable to blow up and meltdown and react with anger and violence. (MOOD BABYGIRL)

Blitz is terrified of change unless he initiates it and even then he struggles (see him trying to confess to Fizz). And like there's just so much about him that screams autistic to me. Like his meeting with moxxie when they're in jail and moxxie is crying and blitz is like :D HI WANNA BREAK OUT! Blitz doesn't get the social code and I think he's worked so hard to come off as this blasé 'idgaf' person when in reality he doesn't know how he should act in certain situations but it's better if it seems intentional because then people just think he's an asshole instead of a freak. The like 'haha we are laughing together' instead of 'you are laughing at me' (in a bad way). Like just, the whole scene with him trying to tell Jokes in The Circus episode and it falling flat and falling back on his special interest (horse facts!) but the audience finding him just strange vs how they react to Fizz. He decides to adopt Loona but he still struggles with connecting to her and respecting her boundaries as a neglected young adult and treats her more like a younger child in a lot of ways because that's his idea of like the perfect father-daughter bond and he doesn't know how to course correct. Even in Full Moon we see how he like goes overboard in telling Moxxie how he's horny and wants to fuck Stolas and Moxxie is like TMI don't tell me that.

JUST for me Blitz is just so relatable in a lot of ways. He is a person who craves connection but struggles with how to make that meaningfully so he has dropped himself into certain molds to try and fit what people expect of him but even then he does it in the wrong way. He tries to be what he thinks Stolas wants (based on their OG deal and past interactions) by saying oh this a roleplay and its a sex thing but fucks it up because Stolas is asking for change and he doesn't know how to do that especially in a sudden and unexpected situation. And he's someone who is highly competent but struggles so severely with emotional regulation and timing and social contracts and just idk. So so many of my meltdowns ended in screaming because I neeed space and time to emotionally process when something is Happening and if I don't get that (like Stolas assuming things are over and leaving when Blitz is realising Oh This Is Something I Need to Process) my first defense mechanism is to reflect my struggle outwards in anger and Blitz is exactly the same!! And again this isn't healthy but we know Blitz isn't healthy right now (in the trailer he legit says he doesn't want to be like this forever)! And don't get me wrong I know why Stolas threw him out when he started yelling (Stolas has his own PTSD triggers from Stella) but goddd boys you need to sit down and work this out calmly with processing time!! Like sooo many people see Stolas as autistic because he's quiet and socially awkward and nerdy about the things he loves which is a valid interpretation but Blitz is just my CPTSD undiagnosed autistic who has learnt the worst coping mechanisms because he was never allowed anything else and always expects things to turn out badly. Isn't it easier if you're the one to ruin things? At least he knows what to expect!!

Ughghg I have so many more thoughts but this post is already a mile longgg so if you want to yell more about blitz just come into my asks lmaoo

(Btw I love Stolas too and this is not anti stolitz, they are gonna work this out but Blitz is just my scrunklyyy)

[shhh-no-ones-home]

confections confessions

timmy!wonka x reader

+++++++++

im not back for good but i saw wonka and now its all i can think about so enjoy this i guess lol

Not a request but for my love 😘 @hotchaosemporium

prompt: Every day is the same. She comes to the shop and greets him, he greets her, they pass each other with no other words. About the second week of that he starts to take notice. 

Song: strange love by karen o

+++++++++

I walked up slowly to the brightly colored shop. There was a large cursive w on each door. I could do this. It wasn't much more than a crush but I needed to go in. I needed to face him. And I needed to try one of his confections that I had heard so much about in the past few months. It was stupid to admired him from afar. All I have to do is introduce myself. But somehow. Someway. That just seemed so hard.

I could feel my heart beating against my ribcage as I stepped forward. The bell on the door chimed and my eyes went wide. The entire shop was wonderous, booming with life as people ran around, paying the man at the register before shoving their faces with various sweets. And the smell. My God was the smell intoxicating. It was sweet but not too much, a little musky but also like a clean bakery. It was fresh. I breathed deeply as I stepped further in. Then I saw him, puple coat, brown top hat, curls popping out everywhere, and the most beautiful green-apple-eyes.

"Mr Wonka."

I said, loud enough for him to hear but still fairly bashful. He smiled and tipped his hat as he walked past me.

"Ma'am."

I held my breath as he left me to talk to the little girl at the front door. I just kept moving, letting my feet take me. To make it seem casual. Not so forced. But also, now I was inside. I had to buy something. But I was never one for sweets. Other than him of course.

°°°°°°°°°

I couldn't believe myself. I was just here yesterday. I had only bought one chocolate and left. Avoiding all eye contact but thanking the lovely man at the pay counter. But of course I was back. Because so would he. He was always here. He refused to not be, to miss the magic that could be had. ThE joy of someone tasting his chocolate for the first time. I took a deep breath as I stepped inside again, trying to calm my nerves. There he was, off to the side but walking towards me again. I made a point to pass him.

"Mr Wonka."

I repeated same as yesterday. He tilted his hat the way he had before, a smirk on his lips.

"Ma'am."

I couldn't help smile a bit as I passed to the far end of the shop, faking interest in the shelf full of popping candies and things that looked like butterflies. He had for real seen me this time. And I made a point to notice it. It had ran through my mind all night, keeping me awake. Had he actually seen me? Was he saying something because he felt he had to? Was I just another sovereign in the drawer?

°°°°°°°°°

Two weeks. Two weeks of going into his shop. I always greeted him, passing him by to fake shop, him tipping his hat to me followed by a smile. No other words had ever been exchanged. I always chose one thing, rung out, and handed the candy off to someone on the streets. I still wasn't one for sweets. But I couldn't help it. I had to see him. So I stepped inside. For the fifteenth time. And there he was, eyes bright, smile wide.

But something was different. He wasn't fashioned in his coat and hat. He still wore his patterned scarf and vest but he had skipped the formality. It was refreshing. A small change to our usual. Was I listening to myself? Our usual. Like he had a hand in this delusion. And then it dawned on me. It was just him and I. Alone.

"Ma'am."

He said softly, a half smile creeping to his lips.

"Mr Wonka."

I said strongly before swallowing hard.

"Same time as always."

I nodded slowly, never looking away from his gaze.

"I wanted to thank my most devoted customer. Finally meet you. Officially."

I held my breath. Devoted customer. Right.

"Well mr Wonka, can you blame me?"

He laughed a little and I wanted to melt into a puddle.

"Please, call me willy."

He stepped forward and offered his hand for me to shake.

"Yn."

His hand was soft and warm, but his handshake was light like he was scared to hurt me. Unlike the business men I'd worked with before whose handshakes could break you.

"Well y/n I think it would be rude of me not to offer you anything you desire in this room."

My face went flush, I could feel the heat rising in me and could only imagine how splotchy my neck and cheeks were getting beneath my jacket. All I wanted in this room was him.

"I couldn't possibly -"

I stuttered out but he held his finger up to stop me.

"Surely there is something in here you want. Why else would you be here?"

I took a deep breath.

"Mr Wonka -"

"Willy."

He interrupted.

"Willy... I have a confession to make."

He raised a brow.

"I don't care much for sweets and chocolate."

He looked confused.

"I come here everyday to see you."

He drew his brows.

"But you come in here everyday and buy -"

"Mr Wonka-"

He held up his hand. He looked, angry?

"Y/n why do you come here everyday?"

I could feel tears stinging my eyes. I guess if I'm gonna confess it to myself finally he might as well be here.

"Because I am enamored by you. Mr wonka. You make this town seem so happy and bright. Something I haven't seen in a long time. And then I saw you and I wanted to do good. so I come in, and seeing you makes me smile, so I buy something. And then I hand it off to someone in the streets, someone whose had a bad day or a bad week. And it makes them happy. And then I think of you. And I'd be lying if that feeling hasnt turned into something more."

I wrung my hands out before shoving them in my pockets. I looked down to the floor, shoving my foot deeper against the sparkling pink floor.

"You're beautiful."

He said softly and I snapped my head back up, wide eyed. He was stood in front of me now, merely inches away, hands in his own pockets. I laughed for a second, wiping away tears that had fallen.

"Don't patronize me Mr Wonka, please."

He shook his head and stepped forward, placing his hands firmly on my arms.

"Tell me what it is that you would like."

I sighed, looking between his candy apple eyes.

"You Mr Wonka. I would like you."

I stated blankly and he cracked a smile.

"Now was that so hard?"

He asked and now it was my turn to draw my brows.

"Mr Wonka?"

I could feel his thumbs rubbing against my arm through my jacket.

"Willy."

He said and I laughed.

"I admire you y/n, and I would be grateful if you would keep coming around. Not to buy things, but so we can get to know each other."

I smiled and nodded quickly.

"I would like that a lot."

He dropped his hands from my sides and offered to shake again.

"Then I believe we have a deal."

I shook back, a smirk on my face.

"It would seem so."

[firefly--bright]

strangers.

✩‧₊˚☾

masquerade chapter one.

jean kirstein x fem!reader, regency a.u.

chapter summary ; how it all began.

chapter warning ; familial issues/abandonment, running away.

a/n ; im trying out a different writing style to match the theme of this au!! :') I don't think it's going that well, so constructive criticisms are always welcome. also lmk if I should continue in this style or just go back to my normal one!! :)

taglist ; @mrsnobodynobody @jeanscremebrulee @holding-infinity-and-a-book @happxme

☾ series masterlist ☾ main masterlist ☾ enter my taglist ☾

✩‧₊˚☾

the ackermans, despite their precedence, were kind to you. as much as they could find it in themselves to be.

their name was attached to authority and harshness; something you hadn't been a stranger to since birth, despite not being one of them yourself - a reality nobody let you forget. but then again, you wouldn't want to forget.

the late january nights were cooling on your cheeks, even as you were stationary, sat on a bench that was illuminated solely by one lantern. it would've been dangerous if you weren't cloaked, hiding your figure from the eyes of the rare strangers that crossed your view from time to time, no doubt for a smoke break, trying to escape their realities.

you didn't blame them. you were doing the same thing as well, sketching out the picture in front of you - a sleeping ginger cat. peacefully, it's belly heaved upwards, then down as it dreamt. your pencil glided across the page, trying to capture its fur. you were, by no means, exceptional. not as great as the artists you would see when you'd sneak out to go to galleries with artists that were recognized, unlike your own pieces. marked off as "anonyomous", without a home but with a creator that painted like it did have one. a home, a place to go back to.

you rub the eraser dust away with your fingers, sinking into your seat, looking back up at your subject who was peacefully unaware of your observation.

"you're here again." a voice remarks.

you know this voice. you look to your right, where it's coming from. his own figure was hiding with a thick long coat, buttoned up till the top. a brown hat covered the top of his head, furling up and away from his forehead. the apples of his cheeks were tinted pink with the cold and his ash-brown hair peeked out from under his hat. his eyes were a halo of gold with the light of the lamp above you. you smile up at him.

"interesting subject tonight." you say, looking back at the cat. he turns to look at it too, humming. he takes a seat right beside you, keeping his own sketchbook in his lap, methodically, neatly. he looks into your sketchbook.

"you've made progress without me," he says. complains, really. it's endearing and you find yourself smiling.

"it's just practice, don't worry."

he scoffs. "I'm not worried." he says, lying straight through his teeth, flipping his sketchbook open to an untouched page.

his first mark is just like him - precise and calculated. you've noticed it, through the weeks you've known him, that his first line always remains. he may go back and erase other strokes, adjust some others, but the first one remained the same, unchanging. he hesitates before drawing it, however, twisting his pencil between the fingers of his left hand before his decision, like he's marking off a territory.

it's routine. you pretend to be asleep in clothes that you're still not quite used to, watch as Mikasa lights a candle, helping Eren up from her balcony windows, making sure that she is distracted with whispered, secret conversations with the man before sneaking out, heading to have your own whispered and secret life at night. most nights it's this - meeting this stranger with honeyed eyes and cleched jaw. he spoke only when prompted to, but it was worthwhile. if you were brave enough, you'd ask for his name. but you werent, and it seemed neither was he. he must be too recognizable in this place, too hard to ignore.

he's too hard to ignore right now as well, when you sit in silence and the only sounds you hear are the gentle scrapings of hard and soft led - the stranger liked more feathery charcoal - against rough parchment paper. your shoulders keep brushing with every stroke, as they did every time. it sends warmth through your body against the cold night, but you don't mention it in words. you're not sure you can, even if you were allowed to, you couldn't dare put it into words and let it be known and tangible.

the stranger sighs. "how did you do it?" he asks. his voice fogs up the air around his mouth.

you look at him. maybe the mystery around his being is why you feel the way you do around him. maybe if you know him, you'd feel less. but how much power can a name even posses? you know everything he'd allow you to, and for now it was enough. you knew that his favourite scent was that of the lavender oil that he'd dot on his collarbone on special occasions only because his best friend had told him to. you know that he did not care much for sweets, except those that his mother rarely made for him and his company, you knew that he had a scar on his ankle after having it be broken running away from a horse as a child, too scared to brave the act of riding one. everything he'd tell you, you'd hang on to like it was your purpose.

he's your friend. the first one you had made that you did not owe anything to.

"do what?" you ask him, tilting your head to one side. his eyes trail down to your unfinished sketch.

"make it feel alive." he asks, again, as his left hand sets his lead down on his lap in favour of feeling your page. you hum in thought as he touches your drawing's fur.

"do not think over it too much. layer, keep adding until it feels right." you say. you don't have much advice to give after doing art for so long. it feels like a muscle memory and not like the power that people would try to convince you it is. it doesn't feel like something you wield to create but something that you had known since you were born.

maybe you were born with it.

he shifts in his seat and his left hand rests on the back of the bench, behind your arms. not touching you, but enough for you to know that he is persistently there, and you resist the urge to roll your eyes at his obvious attempt at being a flirt - another thing you had noticed. "it never works the way you make it work."

"blind flattery will not get you far," you tell him, looking at him in his eyes, and he stares back, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

"i do not need to go far."

"clearly," you mutter.

he scoffs, falsely offended.

the night continues and so does the light banter and shared smiles.

he feels light. despite your surroundings being dark and clouded, despite there being several thousand things you should have been worrying about, he makes you feel like you are floating in the gently blowing wind.

you were a thing meant to be kept this gently. you were satisfied, greatly so, to be in his presence while doing the one thing you had truly enjoyed. a space that could not be destroyed, understanding without any transaction being made.

if only you could spend more time with him, like this, without his name, without your name, only the small differences that set you aside from everyone else. the two of you existed as mere symbols of each other, mere faces that knew and saw each other despite your last names, the people you were supposed to stand for.

--

you might've regretted spending all these late nights with the nameless stranger, considering the ungodly hour at which you had to wake up. just before the sun rises, you were required to do the same tasks that concerned your scarce colleagues. helping dry the clothes, helping make sure that everything was set for when Mikasa would eventually wake up to her own morning regrets, setting the soaps for her bath and ironing her dresses, laying out the jewellery she was to wear.

it suited her. you smoothed over her deep wine coloured dress, ridding it of any of its wrinkles, admiring how the colour would bring out her eyes that looked at you kindly under the guise of being indifferent. you'd been glad the day she found you - you were a teen, looking desperately for somewhere to belong to and you found her. crashed into her, really, because she was running away too. you still hadn't asked her what she'd been running away from, but one thing was for certain - taking a single look at her that day told you everything you needed to know - she was just like you. in the sense that she had the same, undeterred resolve of removing herself, finding escape in whatever obscurity she could find it in.

you had crashed into her, dropping the measly amount of bread in your hands on the ground on impact. it became dirtied with the heavy raindrops and mud almost immediately, and you would've berated her. you would've yelled and let out all your pent-up anger if it wasn't for the clothes she was wearing. they were wet but you could tell they were made from heavy material - a material that you had seen only important people wear. even if she tried covering the bottom half of her face with a washed-out red scarf, she looked like how she was supposed to look; the look you had decided to grow out of after running away. like a child.

scared and shivering, you led her to your meagre shelter with an arm around her shoulder, lighting up a small fire to keep her warm for the time being. you spent three days with her there. she left on the fourth day, and even though she hadn't told you about her decision to leave, you knew it would be inevitable.

what you didn't know was that she'd lead her cousin there, too. in your shelter - into the basement of an abandoned shop - the floors of which were scattered with paintbrushes and charcoals and empty tubes of paint. her family took you in and provided you of a newer, better shelter.

but you could not call it a home. it was not home. you never had one, you were sure of it.

the only drawback of this temporary... settlement, you should call it, was that you'd have to work for them. yes, the Ackermans weren't as harsh and cold as their reputation claimed, but that did not mean they were the kindest. surely a stranger could not be of the same rank as their own daughter, a fact you very well understood.

and Mikasa's spirit was as you had expected them to be after you had found her that day. she was stubborn over her softness, and made it abundantly clear that she did not wish for anyone else but you to be her handmaiden.

she is your best friend. but she is also your employer, a line you have to remember to tread lightly and carefully every day.

her drowsy voice calls you into her room from the bathing chambers.

wiping your hands on the skirt of your dress, you make your familiar way to her large room. you greet her squinting eyes with a smile, opening up the curtains to let the morning light in. the sun had made its way up into the sky as you finished your chores with its rays boring into the morning as it did every winter day. Mikasa didn't seem to appreciate it as much as you did, however, her hair unruly and unkept after tossing and turning all night.

"you'll feel less tired once you warm up a bit. i've already ran a bath for you," you tell her, and like clockwork, she lets her feet down on the ground from the bed, rubbing her wrist against her eye. she nods while doing it, letting you know that you are heard.

you strike a smile at her tired state, one that you relate to a little too well. you make your way towards her.

"here," you say, plucking up the hot cup of tea into your hands from her bedside. "this'll help you wake up. it's something new. Sir Arlert brought it for you. something about Doctor Yeager's remedy?" you say, knowing exactly what words to speak to bring her out of her dreamy state.

"Yeager?" she asks, her voice raspy. she takes the cup from your hand.

you know too well about her relations with the two boys. even if his post dubbed him to be "Sir", Armin Arlert was a man who could convince even the stoniest Ackerman to let Mikasa talk to him. even after the Yeager family was left desolate, the two boys never lost their nature, especially with Mikasa herself.

you hum at her question. "i think he called it...coffee? something along those lines. if it's bitter, I'll bring the sugar."

she takes a tentative sip and nods. "it's alright." she says. "thank you." there's a slight grimace on her face and you know what it says even if she doesn't say it; it's bitter, but it's tolerable.

Levi Ackerman wasn't as prude as people made him out to be. yes, he did have the look of a scoundrel who might've had daggers strapped into the inside of his coat, but you had wormed your way into his heart. you knew that for a fact because you had spilled milk on his cotton shirt and had, somehow, gotten away with it. all he did was mumble something under his breath, shaking his head before dabbing it away with a rag.

if it were anyone else, he would've led them to unemployment, but he didn't do so with you. he could have, it was within his right, but he didn't.

of course, you did make up for it. you went out into the darker parts of the town and purchased a small pouch of tea that helped with sleeplessness to help him ease his dark circles out. you knew of his issues with sleep, how he stayed awake into the wee hours of the night, roaming around like a ghost in his robes, reading a book that no-one knew the name of. you didn't know about what nightmares plagued him, but the tea you gave him seemed to help with that. instead of hearing his footsteps creaking on the wooden floors, you heard his sound snoring when you passed his room in the morning.

maybe it was because it was him that found you in that dingy basement along with Mikasa, helped coax you out of there, crouched infront of you and told you that you'd have a house to live in and a bed to sleep on if you follow him and Mikasa. maybe it was because he saw you grow up just like he saw his cousin grow up, from where you came to where you've reached. from wearing clothes that barely fit you, paint marks all over your face from pigment that wasn't safe for skin as sensitive as yours, to here. to clothes that you kept clean and ironed, pigments that you didnt let come near your face to prevent the rashes that you'd eventually get due to them.

you prepared his morning tea just the way he liked it, which was to say, only a dash of milk and no sugar. he wanted to taste as much tea as he could without diluting it, placing the cup on the tray along with all the other assortments.

you snuck a taste of the batter that the cook - Mr Berner - had prepared in advance as he frets over the cook of the eggs. Lord Ackerman, mikasa's stern father, deeply disliked uncooked yolks whereas Lady Ackerman disliked yolks that were solid throughout. thankfully, Kenny Ackerman bad gone hunting, and with any luck, would not be back until later in the evening. his hunting expeditions always extended to something else entirely, sometimes he'd return a little intoxicated. again, thankfully, he somehow managed not to raise any suspicions from anyone else.

"can you help with the juice if you can spare some time? Mrs Ackerman seems to be preferring it now-a-days." Mr Berner asks, turning his head to glance at you. you hum in agreement, helping the poor man by getting started on the orange juice. he has too much to do every day, with the kitchen being short staffed and new hires being dismissed due to silly mistakes that anyone in their shoes would make in their first week. Lord Ackerman had to be the cause of the hushed rumors that surrounded his family because of his last minute decisions made due to mild rage. if it weren't for his only child being on your side, you also would have met the same fate as the maid that left after not being able to remove the clothes from the rack fast enough before a thunderstorm.

in some ways, he reminded you of your own grandfather.

you finished up squeezing the juice our of the fruit as fast as you could before hurrying over to mikasa's bath, getting ready for her to get out.

luckily, she seemed more awake now as she accepted the towel being wrapped around her figure, heading to the closet.

"is there any more of that coffee?" she asks as you brush her hair.

"yes. it's kept aside just for you. was your talk with Mr. Yeager to your satisfaction last night?" you ask her, smiling at her through the mirror as she evades your eyes.

"it was. er- Mister Yeager is... nice." she says, small smile gracing her face that anyone else would've missed but you latch on to quickly.

"you might want to sleep earlier for a little while. so as to avoid suspicion," you say as she hums, playing with a string of her silky black hair. "i just miss him sometimes. after living next door to him for so long...." she reminisces.

"you got used to him?" you ask. in truth, you did not know much about the Yeager boy. all you knew was creditted to what you had gathered from over-hearing. something about his father running away, something about the legitimacy of his birth or lack thereof, something else about his brother forcing him and his mother to move to a more rural part of Paradis. what ever it may be, his life and his secrets and his stories, you hope he could find it in himself to be content. even if everything you heard was false, you knew all too well how a teen felt after being removed from their home with or against their will.

all you knew was that he made Mikasa happy. it didn't matter much to you about where he came from or how much wealth he possessed, all that mattered was that after the day was done, Mikasa could sleep with a smile on her face because of him.

Mikasa nods as an answer.

"his mother was kind to us. she'd make our favourite meals when we were tired after playing." she says, her smile more visible now. you smile back as you apply pigment to her cheeks, blending it out to be more natural, holding her cheeks in your hands after you were done. "beautiful."

she smiles and averts her eyes. "all thanks to you," she says, whispering.

you shake your head. "Lord Ackerman wants to see you." you tell her, remembering what he had asked. "seemed to be important." you say.

she sighs, getting up from her seat at the vanity. "sometimes I wish we could...live in a cottage." she says, smoothing out her dress with her hands, dusting off any stray hair or pigment. Lord Ackerman much preferred it when his family was well presented, even in the confines of their own home.

you smiled wider, indulging in her thoughts. this wasn't something new.

when you were only just getting accomadated to your living situation as a mere fifeteen year old, she'd find you, restless and preparing hot milk to rest better, trying to do the same for herself. you'd look at her with understanding, carrying two cups of milk and some cut up fruit up to her room, hiding under her covers, talking about an ideal life and why you'd like to lead it.

"I could steal some books for you from Smith's library," you tell her, and she breathes out a laugh. "and I'd steal you some good paints from Armin's parents." she says. a compelling case.

"and we'd have a cat. with a ginger coat."

"you know we can't possibly handle it,"

"two cats."

she laughs, a proper giggle this time, her hand coming up to cover her mouth with a fist. "alright. two cats."

"we'd grow catnip in our backyard."

"...I do not think that would work. as long as I get to read, I'll be alright."

Mikasa asked you to stay near the doorway of her father's study. you obliged, knowing that these 'talks' Lord Ackerman requested were more of a lecturing than anything. he prides himself in not being aggressive, but the passiveness of his voice and the looks he shoots his family over dinner for stepping out of an invisible, imaginary line prove otherwise. regardless, he doesn't raise his voice in spite of his anger or lack of it, and his presence in the house made you stand with your back pin-straight and chin bowed down. not because of the respect he so clearly demanded, but because of fear.

even now, standing right outside of his dark wooden door, his voice was nothing but a low hum, interrupted by mikasa's higher pitched voice. you could not eavesdrop even if you wanted to with the thick doors and his voice barely penetrating through them. sometimes you think that this house was built keeping in mind of this fact only - that the Ackerman family needed to keep any and all of their secrets locked up behind doors.

you played with the hem of the waistband on your skirt, digging it under your thumbnail and removing it before doing it again - a trait you had habituated since childhood. you used to do it with a silver necklace chained across the base of your neck, but now that necklace sat in a closed closet along with your other, more valuable belongings.

Mikasa steps out, opening the doors with ease, sighing after they're finally closed. you don't crowd her immediately; you know better than that. you know she needs space, so you keep your distance at a safe arm's length. but today was not like the other days this occured. no, because today, you felt it. the tension in the air, more so than usual, the back of your neck covered in light swear not due to working in the kitchen but due to being here, in this wide, cold corridor that held no windows, the air stiff.

and because, instead of asking for space, Mikasa opens her mouth to speak, as if it's a death sentence. you're sure it is.

"he has decided to marry me off."

[my-castles-crumbling]

Hi Cas

First off, please don't feel any pressure to answer this. I'm not heavily relying on this and would seriously prefer it if you put yourself and your mental health above mine

Second off, how are you?

Third off, I need advice :(

Little backstory so you understand, I'm a queer indian that shifted to London 12 months ago for my year 8-9, and when I first joined the school I was best friends with four people including the girl im talking about lets call her Saoirse cause she's Irish. 6-7 months later we've all drifted apart except Saoirse and her best friend. During class we talked occasionally and bantered as friends, until one day she insulted and laughed at me with a couple of friends about my Indian three letter name and when I called her out for it by mentioning her own name, she got into a strop and ignored me for 3 months, as well as trying to one up me with my supposed best friend who I ahwv a shaking relationship with. Admittedly, I did grovel a bit until she started talking to me randomly one morning. A month and we're good friends and then she gets caught doing something and when she gets a detention blames it on me. The next day the teacher asks me and I deny it, it becomes a whole thing for three weeks in which I promise myself to not let her into my life. But one day Saoirse just starts speaking to me again and since we're in the same friend group and it just felt so good I let her. For a week she dotes on me, pulling me to sit with her, and just something about the way she acts and speaks makes me wanna compliment her every time I speak to her. The second week, she unnecessarily touches me whenever she can, compliments me, and when a friend asked her if she was straight (a question she continuously replied yes to and she had a bf) she looked at me, smiled, and said her minds been changing lately. Throughout the week she flirts with me and calls me 'pookie', which whatever everyone does but before we had more of a love language: rude relationship. Finally on the last day, she pulls me aside and applies her lip balm on my lips slowly and constantly, leaning into close and then abruptly leaving. On Monday, peek a boo, shes a bitch. She continuously love bombs me, and whenever another girl who liked me looked at me she would put on an act and make me confront that girl because she called Saoirse a dick for everything. On Wednesday she just acts like she subtly hates me, but I can't speak to anyone cause all my friends are her friends. And also, shes so so so addicting so I can't use my remaining self respect and move away

What do I do?

(sorry for the long ask)

Hi hon! I'm good!

Well, it sounds like you already know what to do, it's just a matter of doing it:

You know Saoirse isn't treating you well. You know you deserve better. And you know she's the type of person hat keeps drawing you back in.

And trust me, I know those people. They're - like you said - addicting. But addiction never ends well, does it? So I think you know that the best idea is to take space from her.

I know it's a lot easier said than done, I know. But you deserve to be treated with respect. And it's okay to take space from people who aren't giving you what you deserve.

Think about it. Message me again with updates or if you need encouragement!

Naming you self respect anon <3

[a-sad-mage]

TOXZON MY BELOVED

Toxzon, Dr, Tytus Octavius Xander's was royally screwed over by both N-Tek, THI and basically everyone in his life.

[Click for full rant]

The man literally has a mental illness(im not even going to try and figure out what it is, because there are many possibilities). What he needed was support from both his jobs and the people around him, both past and present.

I mean you would think a military base like N-Tek would invest in a psychologist for its operatives to talk to, and THI, after Molly took over, would have encouraged and payed it's employees to seek therapy after what happened with Naught and Dredd.

Because honestly, if I found out my boss was an evil android, and worked for an even more evil guy that lived in the roof, and all the tech that was made was to be used as a siphon to turn people into a power source for the super villain guy in the roof who is effectively immortal(a rant for another day) I would need so much counseling, because WTF I was technically apart of harming so many people!

Also, I blame Molly for Xander's becoming Toxzon.

Like girl, the man was used to not being supervised because of how Naught and Dredd were running the company. Instead of firing the clearly mentally ill man that you yourself acknowledged was talking to a plastic fish, put him on unpayed suspension, have him supervised by someone you trust like an N-Tek scientist. Tell him he needs to seek professional help so he can keep his job.

Not publicly humiliate him by having security drag him out of your office(and the building) as your son and his friends walk in.

And at the very least, if you did have to fire Xander's, have a conversation that lasts more than five minutes about it, even if that means rescheduling with Max and his friends.

Because yeah, he did kinda make a tentacle monster that almost killed and traumatized an intern.

Also, how the hell did Molly not know about the huge lab under the building with toxic waste?

I'm just-

I'm not saying Molly deserved what happened to her when Toxzon infected and mutated her in 'The Secret Admirer', but like it could have been avoided.

On top of that, Fishy is clearly the evil one here. That bow tie, top hat wearing, uneven eyed, plastic fish is straight up the inner most, and quit frankly most toxic thoughts and traits of Xander's personified.

In 'Gone Fishin' Toxzon pollutes the whole damn ocean just to get Fishy back, and the moment he does, and sucked up all the contamination, it's Fishy that's like 'use that goop to kill some mofos', the thought did not cross his mind till Fishy was back with him.

I am willing to bet Fishy is the reason why he keeps making such destructive choices.

Now I'm not going to sit here and make a diagnosis, I'm not a doctor, but from everything I understand, my beloved mad scientist/eco-terrorist needs counseling, and needed it from a young age, but never got it.

According to the MaxSteel(2013) section of the FandomWiki, he is canonically 33 years old, and if we're assuming the show takes place is 2012 as according to the date of issue on Max’s drivers licens, Toxzon was born in around the 1980's. And back then, mental health wasn't taken seriously. And because Xander's was a bright kid, since you know the guys a freaking genius, it was most likely overlooked as a 'smart kid' thing. See Seldon from BBT & YS.

He was failed, by pretty much everyone in his life.

And much like the Decepticons from Transformers, Dr. Tytus Octavius Xander's became the villain people saw him as and not the misunderstood man that just needed professional help and a friend.

And I will forever defend him.

Jason Naught, Miles Dredd, and Troy Winter's can all kick rocks because they are genuinely bad people who take pleasure is hurting others and taking advantage of people.

Two of these three actually sided with an alien race that was going to consume the earth killing every living being on it and the other committed identity theft, and that's not a joke.

{@treeships, because you so kindly listened}

[zagreusbutgayer]

The Jeynes

Wanted to experiment with a more painterly style and wound up with these two Jeynes; Jeyne Swann and Jeyne Westerling! They haven't made their official debut yet but they're Cassana's two ladies in waiting, and both I and she love them :)

(This Jeyne Swann is NOT the canon Jeyne Swann who got kidnapped by the Kingswood Brotherhood, just a distant cousin who happens to share the same name. Likewise Jeyne Westerling isn't exactly the same as canon since this version is PROBABLY not Sybell Spicer's daughter, cause fuck Sybell)

Also wanted to experiment with different regions' styles + some funky medieval headdress references I've had saved for ages, and I had fun doing it! For Swann I mainly went with the 'bridgerton' era fashion but tried to incorporate heraldic dress elements, while Westerling gets the Cersei-esque kimono style wrap dresses, and a similar head wrap thing to what I gave Jeyne Farman. Her 'hat' thing wound up looking unfortunately like a pie (I mostly blame the colour) but we vibing. I'd like to push concepts more and incorporate a wider variety of historical references in future, but for relatively quick/easy sketches I then decided to finish up, I'm more than pleased with it :)

(I gave Swann blue eyes on a whim + to contrast with Westerling, but they wound up so vibrant I decided its just canon that the Swanns are descended from Baratheons via the daughter Prince Duncan refused to marry. The black hair gene faded but the blue eyes are still going strong)

(and yes i am aware that i've somehow wound up exclusively drawing jeynes, at this point im honestly contemplating just leaning into it lol)

[panic-and-procrastinate-writing]

Red Hood Solo Series

Volume 2

jason and numbers become roomates, with jason showing numbers around the neighbourhood and introducing him to everyone, helping him settle in. Numbers actually introduces himself by his real name (im calling numbers Rhys George Evans from here on out), which shocks jason, but he goes along with it for the time being. jason and rhys follow along jasons daily activities of helping the community, filling leslie in on everything that happened, and fixing up the damage done by circe's part of the society.

when the day is done they head home to talk about rhys's behaviour and his wilingness to talk about his name. he seemed lackluster, and rhys confirms that he feels like its all pointless, and that he's not a good person, jason had to blackmail him into helping him. rhys feels he doesn't belong with jason or in park row, or deserve jason protecting him. protecting his real name feels unimportant. jason gives him a pep talk, and relates numbers to himself, and tells him about how he's also done bad things he's not proud of, but he's here now and trying to make up for it. they end up talking the entire night catching up on what their lives have been like since they split from ma gunns.

once it gets late enough, jason heads off to patrol and finish cleaning up circe's crew, and raiding her hideout where she had them captured before. there he finds all her electronics and such, which he brings home to investigate. on it he finds a lot of information about their past plans, but also her banking details, where he finds A LOT of money. he keeps that for himself, but doesn't know what to do with it all.

Rhys suggests that he buy property, as jason and rhys are currently staying in a less than ideal apartment, and they have enough money to make themselves a decent home. red hood also needs a place to work, as his living room isn't the most secretive place. jason agree's and suggests that they also buy more than one so they can fix em up and sell them back to the community/make community spaces. they end up making plans to start a real estate business and becoming business partners.

over the next couple of weeks jason continues his work for park row, and red hood continues to patrol, with rhys sorting out the application for their business and property buying. theres a small bump where jason has to legally come back from the dead, but its smooth sailing after that.

one day when jason is working at the library, a lady and a small kid completley covered up comes in - shes even wearing a hat, sunglasses and mask indoors. her mother explains that she has a skin condition that makes her extremely sensitive to light, and because of that she has to remain completley covered up. but this condition means shes unable to go to school, as the schools nearby aren't accessible for her, and her mom doesn't have the time to take her further or to home school her, as shes working all the time. but the library has started giving out english tutoring, and she was hoping to sign her up. jason agrees, and even promises to teach her some math whilst he's at it. her name is anise and she's younger than junk rat (who i've called piper.)

time continues on, with red hood checking in on piper occasionally to make sure shes not made anything too dangerous (she ends up giving him his grapple she stole that she modified - she wont tell him how tho.) jason teaches anise, rhys ends up becoming a temp secretary for leslie whilst they wait for the forms to finalise. in the mean time, black mask blames red hood for circes death, and plans to kill him.

one day whilst red hood is patrolling, batman joins him. Jason feels tense, but wasn't suprised to see him. if anything their meeting is overdue. batman questions about circes death, and redhood tells him that she killed herself trying to drive a get away vehicle she didn't know how to drive. batman tells him that he believes him this time, what with the last time they accused him they were actually wrong, but he will still be watching him closely. batman also warns him about black mask going quiet, but red hood assures batman that he can handle him, that it wouldn't be their first fight.

"A Shocking Sound" Arc

the next night jason is patrolling again when he hears a scream, and goes to help them, but gets ambushed by a bunch of black mask goons. this happens mutiple times a night, and for the next couple of days. jason knows this isn't right, that theres something more to all the goons repeatedly attacking him through the week, but everytime he finishes them off he can't find any clue as to why they would. its not black mask trying to off him because he'd know a group of goons would never be able to take him out. jason feels like he's being tested...

and then one night, jasons gut feeling was confirmed. Onomatopoeia attacks Red Hood, and its a serious battle. jason concludes that onomatopoeia is working for or with bmask, and that the goons were a test to see how much effort or planning ono was going to need. its a tough battle, one jason barely gets away from as ono had been preparing for a while. he ends up going home barely alive and passing out, where numbers finds him and takes him to leslies to get patched up. leslie hates to see jason so hurt, and wants to call bruce, but jason assures her he can handle ono.

with jason hurt he can't go to volunteer at the library or help out as he usually would, so rhys takes over for him and lets everyone know that he's got a "cold". as jason is healing up, he can't exactly patrol well, so he asks piper if her rats have noticed anything off, or if they can find ono, and she reports back that she has. he's got a temporary base in an underground subway station in park row. that particular subway station was the only working one in park row until the joker war. usually the wayne foundation would repair the damage, but the company had no money, and so it remained blocked off and partially flooded. that is where onomatopoeia has made his base.

now that jason has the element of suprise on his side, he makes plans to stop him. He has Junk rat send her rats to watch over Ononmatopoeia the next couple of nights and report back, giving jason information whilst he heals up. batman ends up taking notice that red hood wasn't patrolling. batman patrols park row in his place, and meets with leslie who fills him in on the situation despite knowing jason wouldnt want that. bruce is understandably upset that jason didn't tell him what was going on, especially considering that batman has history with onomatopoeia, and could help.

he drops by jasons, and scares numbers. jason tells him numbers is his roommate and numbers gives them privacy. bruce thinks jason has a roommate bc he's broke, and offers to give him some money, as he had gotten enough money from failsafe. jason likes the idea of scamming bruce, so he accepts. batman then brings up ononmatopoeia which causes them to disagree about jason accepting help even though bruce knows onomatopoeia. bruce leaves, but not before putting a tracking chip on rh's mask.

jason's upset by bruce just coming in without warning, but rhys calms him down and suggests that when they get their own place and a proper hideout they can add an actual defence system other than jasons dog. jason likes the idea of it and gets ready to go out and stop onomatopoeia.

the pov then switches to numbers and him heading off to get groceries on a bus. whilst on the bus it gets hijacked by onomatopoeia who takes the bus hostage, hides it in one of the societies old warehouses, and starts tying people to the seats whilst attatching bombs to them. just as onomatopoeia is connecting the bombs to the detonator batman shows up and crashes through the bus windows and into ono. they have a nasty fight, and numbers nearly dies but is saved by red hood when he finally shows up. red hood lets the hostages go before joining the fight.

however, he's reckless and angry, and sets batman on edge with his extreme violence. red hood pulls a gun on ono when he's nearly beaten, but batman stops him by throwing a batarng at him and onomatopoeia gets away. batman and red hood end up arguing and fighting, which aggravates red hoods wounds, so red hood looses. batman tells jason to go home, and that he will follow onomatopoeia. as batman leaves, rhys asks jason is he's okay, if he needs to go back to leslie, but jason promises him he's okay, that his stitches havent opened, he's just sore. he tells him to stick to the plan and head home. red hood goes off in the opposite direction of batman.

red hood calls junk rat, and asks her if her rats have sight of batman, which they do, and she tells him that he's lost ono. red hood thanks her and tells her to update him if anything changes, hangs up, and heads down the closed subway entrance through the loose boards. when he gets there, its obvious that he lied to rhys, as he's bleeding slightly, but continues down the stairs and into the station. as he's standing on the platform, he see's onomatopeia patching himself up in the train car he made his base, who see's him and curses.

jason stands his ground on the platform, and lets onomatopoeia come to him, but as he's wading through the water, jason pulls out his own detonator and presses it, which lights up the water with electricity, killing onomatopoeia.

jason sighs and turns off the electricty, stepping into the water to pick up ono's body and drag him onto the platform. jason pulls out a heavy duffel bag from a dark corner, full of knives and saws, which he then uses to dismember onomatopoeia's body. it doesn't show him doing it, but rather the sound effects are graphic and prominent across the next few panels of flashbacks.

it shows him telling junk rat to have her rats watch and report ono's behaviour and plans, and red hood discovering the tracker from batman. red hood gives the tracker to numbers before he goes off to get kidnapped on purpose, leading batman to finding onomatopoeia early before he can enact his plan. whilst numbers is getting kidnapped, red hood was setting up the trap and hiding his equipment. once he was done he went off to join batman in the fight, and acted violent and reckless on purpose so batman would try to stop him rather than work with him. the fight between batman and red hood led to onomatopoeia escaping batman, but not red hood.

once the flashback is finished, red hood has a barrel with onomatopoeia's body parts in it, which he fills with gasoline and sets it on fire. he lets it burn as he raids ono's base for some medical equipment, and restitches himself up. when the barrell is full of ash, he tips it into the water, and heads home.

rhys greets him with a warm cup of tea, and tells him he got an email that their forms have finalised and that they officially have a business, Todd and Evans Real Estate. when numbers doesn't get an answer, he turns around and finds jason's crashed asleep on the couch.

end of volume 2 (and the shocking sound arc.)

V.1 / V.2 /