#in all seriousness don't be weird about it

[gafellique]

"do I have to watch the Twilight movies?"

KYLE NO. IT'S HONESTLY NOT WORTH IT... Except the first one. The first one is a masterpiece. It was before they realized just HOW big twilight would be, and is an awkward, weird, indie movie I genuinely recommend to everyone bc of how fucking ridiculous and perfect it is to me. (Also highly suggest the extended cut bc it includes one of the most wtf conversations I only learned about last year when I watched it.)

Unfortunately the rest of the movies are so long and tedious and take themselves so much more seriously, it makes it hard to watch. Don't get me wrong there are some hilarious bits in all of them, but unless you know what bits to scrub through idk if it's worth the hours of your life. Once the first one made money, the charm of the first one was stripped away for more Hollywood friendly mediocrity.

addicted to sending this clip from twilight to my friends whenever they are in a situation where i think they should lie

[norrisainz33]

debut || gr63

☆ summary: y/n makes her indycar debut and her biggest supporter is there with her

☆ pairing: george russell x driver!reader

☆ fc & warnings: none

☆ a/n: smau mixed with writing

masterlist

ﾟ. ✿ ୨❤︎୧⠀✿ . ﾟ

ynuser has posted to their story

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yourbff: jumping for joy! i can't wait to see you in st pete and i can't wait to cheer for my best friend

ynuser: i can't wait to see you!! ive never been so nervous but never more excited. i can't believe my dreams are coming true

yourbff: i can believe it!! you are my inspiration bestie

ynuser: stop it 😭😭😭😭 i love you

yourbff: i love you endlessly 🤍 see you in a couple of hours

patriciooward: oh putting me to shame i see

ynuser: not possible patty

user1: can't wait to see you this weekend!!

georgerussell63: is it weird if i admit that i downloaded a countdown app to countdown the minutes until we're back together?

ynuser: 😭😫🫶🏻 no ?! you're so cute its sickening

georgerussell63: phew ok good

elbaoward: ive never been more excited for a season opener (don't tell pato)

ynuser: EEEK! you're my favorite person in the whole world. i can't wait for dinner tomorrow

user2: first ever indycar race for me and its bc of u ms girl

arrowmclaren: our girl 🧡

ynuser: 🧡

nolansiegel: us rookies are gonna rock it this season

ynuser: YES WE ARE BESTIE! papaya rookies for the WIN

✿

a smile spread across your face as george stepped through the golden doors of the restaurant. his hair was wind swept and he wore a perfetly tailored outfit that accentuated all the right areas. in his right hand, he held a bouquet of roses and in his left, a small gift bag. he scanned the room and when his eyes landed on you, they lit up and a butterfly-inducing smile played on his lips. he moved toward you quickly, his voice soft as he greeted you, “my darling.”

“georgie!” you exclaimed taking the flowers from him and allowing him to pull you into a warm embrace. he sighed contentedly and kissed your temple.

“I missed you so much, y/n/n,” he whispered before settling into the chair across from you.

“the feeling’s mutual,” you sighed, taking a sip of your wine as the waiter filled george's glass. “but I’m really glad you were able to make it. honestly, I didn’t think you’d be able to so soon after bahrain.”

“are you kidding?” he grinned. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world! supporting you means more to me than anything, baby.”

the sincerity in his voice nearly brought you to tears. “i love you.”

“i love you more than anything, y/n,” george replied, sliding the gift bag across the table. “open it, gorgeous.”

you rolled your eyes with a smile, pulling a small box out of the blue bag. carefully you opened it to reveal a sleek silver necklace with a ‘g’ pendant. “george…”

“it’s for when I can’t physically be here which will unfortunately be more than i’d like” he said softly, “so this to keep me with you even when i’m not.”

✿

deuxmoi has made a post

liked by user1, user2, user3, user4, yourbff, user5, user6, user7, f1gossip and 24,947 others

deuxmoi: we received an anonymous tip about a certain f1 driver out on a date very far from home 🤨

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user1: f1?? what are you doing on deuxmoi

user2: f1gossip any leads on this?

f1gossip: we did get a tip that george was spotted in the tampa airport.. seems we should have taken it more seriously

user3: george???? i was thinking lando bc at least he has a connection to indycar with mclaren.. george has no reason to be there ??

user4: could the mystery woman be y/n? she’s making her indycar debut and it would make so much sense if he was there for her

user3: user4 how would they even know each other though?

user4: user3 y/n is best friends with pato who is the mclaren reserve driver and she went to mexico city when he drove in fp1 so like she could have easily have met him there! she’s been to a couple gps with pato and elba

f1gossip: now this is quite and interesting theory user4. would be a pretty logical explanation for the 20 hour flight he had to have taken

user12: didn’t expect to find my next hyperfixation through deuxmoi but i think i love y/n and now indycar?? she’s so sweet and endearing and chronically online?

user4: welcome! we could always use more y/n/n fans 🫶🏻

yourbff: oh goodness gracious

user33: thought this was supposed to be celebrity gossip.. tf is f1

ynuser has made a post

liked by arrowmclaren, patriciooward, mclarenf1, davidmalukas, nolansiegal, maxfewtrell, lando, georgerussell63, and 46,342 others

ynuser: words can’t describe how good car #7 felt on track during practice these past 2 days. bring on qualifying 🧡

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user1: that’s my goat going 6th fastest in practice let’s go

user4: user3 & f1gossip noticing who is in the likes

f1gossip: mr. russell we see you

user3: he ain’t slick!

arrowmclaren: we 🧡 car #7

ynuser: i 🤍 arrow mclaren

user5: mclaren rookies are my favorite ppl on the grid

yourbff: wow that girl is fast 😍❤️‍🔥

ynuser: the fastest (and only) girl on track thats for sure

quadrant: let’s get it!

user3: what in the world are you doing here

user6: i can't wait to watch you race this sunday!!!

✿

the clock in your driver's room ticked relentlessly, each click a sharp reminder of the dwindling moments before you had to head out to the track.

"you’ve got this," you whispered focusing on your breath as you worked through calming exercises. you glanced at your phone willing george to hurry up even though you knew he had media obligations that mercedes had insisted on before agreeing to let him come to the st pete.

finally a soft knock at the door echoed with only a few minutes to spare. you rushed to open it and there george was, "thank god you're here," you exclaimed before collapsing back into your chair.

george raised an eyebrow while taking in the sight of you. "sorry it took me so long. you know how those things can be," he said taking a seat beside you on the couch. "come here," he murmured opening his arms.

with a reluctant sigh you stood and joined him on the couch. "you're not even ready yet... what's going on in tht beautiful head of yours?" he asked gently reaching for the hair tie on your wrist. he started to untangle and work on your signature braids—the ones you always wore on race days. It was one of the many thoughtful things he did for you, always paying attention to the little details like learning how to do your hair to making your favorite drinks to keeping track of each months new hyper ixation.

you let out a shaky breath. "i'm just... really nervous," you admitted tugging at the sleeve of your black fireproofs. "i’ve done all the testing, practiced these past few days, but this race... it just…. i don’t know."

"that makes sense, darling," he nodded, his fingers still working through your hair. "but you're ready. whether you believe it or not, you are."

"but what if I’m not? what if I prove all the critics right?" your voice trembled.

"baby," he said softly, lifting your chin to make you look at him. "what have I told you about listening to the critics? there will always be someone with something to say no matter what. whether you go out there and win the championship or not, someone will find a way to criticize. what matters is focusing on what you can control. and you? you can control your actions and your car, and I know you’ve worked harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. you deserve that seat. you deserve this shot. and you're going to make everyone proud."

✿

✿

you sprinted through the paddock as your heart continued to race from the adrenaline of your debut. you quickly found george with his arms were wide open waiting for you.

"P8!!" he exclaimed voice filled with excitement as you jumped straight into his embrace.

“I did it!! I even finished in the top 10!!” you nearly screamed barely able to contain the thrill of your achievement. a light laugh escaped george as he spun you around with joy.

“you did!! you drove an absolutely incredible race y/n,” george said with pride as he carefully returned you to the ground.

“you really think so?” you asked looking up at the handsome brit in front of you.

“I know so,” he grinned giving your shoulder a playful nudge. “i was analyzing your every move out there and you were nearly flawless. a top 10 finish in your first race? i’m so bloody proud of you.”

you couldn't help but blush, “I honestly didn’t think I could pull it off but like you told me,, i focused on what i could control which was me and the car and the car felt so good today.”

george beamed with pride, “you showed everyone what you’re made of out there. you’ve got a lot of talent y/n/n and you’re only going to get better from here. I think this is just the beginning.”

the warmth of his words made you smile and for the first time since the checkered flag you felt like you could breathe. you had done it. and as you stood there talking to george you realized that the recognition from not only someone you loved but a fellow driver was just as important to you as the race result itself.

“thank you, george. for everything… for never giving up on me and for pushing me to be the best version of myself,” you said sincerely.

“no need to thank me y/n/n! just doing my job! plus you’re the one who is really doing all fhe hard work,” he was smiling again. "now let's go celebrate!”

✿

ynuser has made a post

liked by arrowmclaren, lando, patriciooward, nolansiegal, georgerussell63, elbaoward, davidmalukas, yourbff, and 50,244 others

ynuser: p8 ain’t too bad of a start. thankful for all of the support from the best fans in the world - you all made this an unforgettable weekend 🧡

[tagged arrowmclaren, georgerussell63]

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user3: running to tell all my non f1 and indycar friends that y/ngeorge is canon like it’s my own wedding announcement

arrowmclaren: only driver to have run all 100 laps in the top 10!!

ynuser: no way 🤭

georgerussell63: yes way 😉

patriciooward: IMPRESSIVE MI AMIGAAAAA

user8: congratulations on a strong start 💪🏻

yourbff: p8 for the gr8test

ynuser: 😭🤍

user12: I LOVE WHEN WOMEN!!!!!

georgerussell63: blimey you are incredible

ynuser: crikey you are the best

user8: i love them your honor

elbaoward: my goat my goat my goat

patriciooward: ? this isn’t my post

ynuser: elba likes me more patriciooward

elbaoward: it’s true patriciooward

patriciooward: i’m speechless frankly

nolansiegel: oh boy… pls don’t tear my family apart

ynuser: no one can tear us apart noly don’t worry

user9: not even bothering with a soft launch just going straight for it

mercedesamgf1: looks like the flight was well worth it ✈️

georgerussell63: yes it was 😘

user63: ok lover boy…

user10: this is gonna be such an incredible season i can feel it already

georgerussell63 has made a post

liked by arrowmclaren, alex_albon, mercedesamgf1, ynuser, patriciooward, lando, lewishamilton, and 432,038 others

georgerussell63: the best 24 hours trip i’ve ever taken. y/n - i am forever proud of the racer you have become. here’s to an even better rest of the season 😘🧡

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alex_albon: impressive drive y/n!

ynuser: thank you alex 🤍

user63: chat we’ve lost him

mercedesamgf1: our favorite racing couple🤍

georgerussell63: 😍🏆

user98: if he wanted to he would!!! george took a 20 hour flight just to see his girl for 24 hours i mean come on

ynuser: thank you for making the trip. you are sincerely my rock and the best cheerleader in the whole world 🧡

georgerussell63: no need to thank me darling. you deserve the world and nothing less 🤍

user44: vamos y/n!

nolansiegal: i was a pleasure getting to meet you!

georgerussell63: right back at ya mate! keep up the good work

user24: need someone to talk to abt this

ﾟ. ✿ ୨❤︎୧⠀✿ . ﾟ

a/n: been working on this one for a little while now - hope you enjoy!! i simply love driver reader! likes and reblogs appreciated 🤍

ﾟ. ✿ ୨❤︎୧⠀✿ . ﾟ

disclaimer: pictures are not mine and everything i write is fiction

© norrisainz33 || please do not rewrite, translate, or copy any of my works posted here on to any other platform

[bnyf]

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤnocturnal ♡

╭﹕୨୧﹒ yandere! creepy eldritch monster x female reader

┊ warnings : female reader, dark content, yandere content and themes, unhealthy behaviors, unhealthy relationship and relationship dynamic, sexual content, noncon, obsession and possession, cult, monsterfucking, finger, squirting, size difference, creepy as fuck, tentacles, mentions of death, sacrifices and heavy topics.

╰﹕୨୧﹒authoress note : i lowkey hate this

your soft body laid out on the hard concrete platform, barely conscious but conscious enough to know that your fate had been long decided. your pulse raising, hearing their incohesive impious chants echo in the hallow halls of this cave-like labyrinth. you could only softly sob as your final moments neared you.

skin red and sensitive from the ropes that bind you together intricately, like a turkey, a meal to be served. luckily, you were blind folded, you didn't want to witness them in their black cloaks, faces covered with scary masks, and worst yet, the fire in a circle accompanied by the polygon star as you laid on the blood stained concrete altar... stained with blood from previous sacrifices.

you may just die of heart attack rather than these idiotic fools worshipping some demonic entity they call their 'god' due to how irregular your heart is beating, and so quickly too you can't even breath. you'd been kidnapped and forced to perfume a series of rituals including bathing in milk, eating nothing but fruit and honey for days, dressing in a really pretty all white bridal gown and veil to then be killed here. and to say you've been on edge these past few day was nothing short of a understatement. you were going insane with fear. this was something straight out of a horror movie, it was so surreal... and you definitely do not mean that in a good way.

being locked up in a rusty cage in this brutalist place that seems like a huge maze that's never ending. like you were already in the entity's realm and you could sense it's presence, it's eyes lurking at you. you felt so naked, you felt like time in the outside world versus here was different: one day outside here was one whole week, or at least that's what it felt like.

and these crazed fucks. seriously, what was wrong with them? they didn't hurt you, they kept saying you were the chosen one. that your heart, your soul, was over ripening with purity. you'll bring their god great satisfaction and give birth to half human offsprings who'll be even stronger and take over the human realm, you'll save and redeem them and other bat crazy shit you've never heard of and don't understand.

after a while, the chanting slows down and goes quiet...

you didn't know what to expect, you were sure they'd kill you by now but... something's strange, and it makes you so uncomfortable, not knowing or being able to see. only able to hear your heartbeat amongst the other noises. and boy oh boy, you almost peed yourself when you heard that strange sound, a grotesque cry. whatever made that sound is. not. a. human.

and right about now? can they please hurry up and kill you. you wouldn't wanna be around for when this 'thing', this entity that you're starting to believe isn't just their imagination gets here. you couldn't even tell if they were still around, everything had went silent. fuck. did these fuckers ran off while leaving you here to get savaged by this beast?

and so with each movement, the ominous entity's presence became closer. you'd only realised that the cult members were still there when they all said some weird thing in a language you couldn't recognize,? you pressum it's a greeting or something to their god, you could imagine them bowing straight down to the grown with their heads on the concrete floor like their lives depended on it.

at this point you were trembling despite how badly you tried to keep you composure and stay calm. a wet, long appendage, something akin to a tongue? licked your neck, then your thigh, and by the time it licked your face, you'd realized it was multiple of appendages? you couldn't help the scared whine that left your lips. just what the hell is this entity? and what is happening right now?

slimey drool is left where the creature had licked you. now, so close you could feel it's warm breath tickling your skin. a pair of hands now placed on your body? they're strong, calloused, roughly groping you in a perverted manner. you've never been so flabbergasted and scared in your life, seriously what's going on? you thought you'd be dead by now but instead seems like your capturer has other plans.

you didn't even wanna complain out of fear of aggravating this... person? or thing and end up dying. maybe if you're complaint, you might just be able to plan an explain somehow somewhere or at the very least, learn to adapt- actually escaping would be good cause hell no where you gonna stay in this weird place like a sitting duck.

you're going to get out of this one way or another, no matter what. and just as that thought passes your mind, things only get weirder when it now feels like six arms, 3 on each side, groping you. one even undoing the binds from you but your legs are weak and you dare not run when you could just sense this... thing is wayyy larger than you.

you can't stop the soft whines escaping your lips though and 'it' can't stop making a weird grunting noise, almost like it's heaving from excitement? at this point your guessing this and that but your guessing isn't too far off you think. it really isn't.

two hands holding your legs open, two kneading your breast, and one circling your clothed clit and the last holding the side of your cheek as it sticks its thumb and index in your mouth, resting on your tongue. it tasted weird, like a mix of ashes and metallic, like something dirty that doesn't taste quite dirty but it is? whatever it was, it was feigning human intimacy. this was simply horrid. you could couldn't believe what was happening, this had! to be some sick prank but you really didn't want to take your blind fold of because this shit was too scary and if it wasn't? then you'd had to probably confront a monstrous nightmare and you weren't ready for that!

it was foul. your body is responding quite well to 'it's advancements thus far, creating a damp spot which 'it' gladly soothed with 'it's plush appendage and rough digits, gliding over your clothed pussy like 'it' knew exactly what human girls liked. strange.

your beautiful pure white dress is abruptly ripped into a new fashion which allows your legs to show and for great movement, your panties are also thorn to threads and before you can properly process what's about to happen next, your velvety walls is being comforted by one of 'it's thick, rigid digits. first a confused mewl slips your throat then followed up by an embarrassingly lewd moan. the wet sounds and your ambrosial voice only sounds so loud due to this place being so eerily quiet and spacious, your moans are otherwise soft but rings like a bell in everyone's ear in this concrete brutalistic place.

it's even more embarrassing when you remember the cult members are most likely still around, watching or listening to what's happening.

but it's seriously becoming difficult to not let loose and let your full voice out when your arousal continues to heighten, your hips are shaking like a dog despite your reluctance. your body disobeys you and subconsciously accepts all this pleasure without your control or admission.

so what are you to do next? what can you do next? other than comply for your dear life, for your survival.

when another finger that seems like it belongs to a being no shorter than 7 feet enters you and your clit being rubbed into a pace that alters from rough to gentle enters you, of course it's inevitable that you buck your hips, gripping the fabric of your ruined, now dirty white dress. you can't even reason with yourself anymore, it is what it tis. all the more excuse to ride 'it's fingers like a little merry-go-round.

but... it's seriously not what you want! trust if you were to pick between being fucked by some weird cult entity or resting in your bed safely at home or literally anywhere else you'd picked the safer option. no questions asked. you don't like this one bit, don't want this, you hate that your body's making you look like a liar.

you've been lamenting this whole time, both tears of fear and overstimulation but tears nonetheless. your mind is going numb already and all your g spots are being meet, not before long a feral, low growl, something you'd hear in a horror. it sent chills up your spine as your own voice mixed in with the mesh. girl screaming and shrieking? you'd almost think a murder happened, the thought of a girl squirting on her assailant's appendages and fingers wouldn't cross any oblivious minds.

you're subconsciously grinding onto 'it's fat fingers, breast swaying with each movement and your perky nipples are being teased and tasted by 'it's tentacle like body part, suckling and nibbling on, not only your breasts but all various parts of your body. eyes rolled back and lips slight agap you feel like your seeing white, eyes all teary and drooling like a dumb slut. this is way worse than being brutally killed, cause in a way, your spirit is being weakened.

one thing that caught you off guard though was... your blindfold had slipped a little. like so small, so tiny, it's only so little for you to try and make out one or two things. it was dark and gloomy, you could barely make out anything. especially with your tears being teary and your mind going numb with pleasure.

huh? what... is that...?

you panicked and clasp your hands over your mouth, shutting your eyes but the image still imprinted in your mind making you gasp and hold your chest. now this was just a whole new level of creepy and fucked up. that thing... it really is an entity. it looked you right in the eyes for a split second, 'it's eyes the darkest black you ever seen, you could of sworn you saw literal souls in it, trapped. from what you could make out, it's torso mimicked a male's. it had six arms and tentacles like suckors coming from somewhere in the back. and... the most uncanny valley appearance, with wide dark orbs, a ridiculously sharp pearly white smile, and even darker long hair.

it saw you saw it. and only smiled.

right about now, you were too scared to even move an inch. and your squirting? might as well be you pissing yourself.

everything about this entity aims to mimic humans but fails in the most horrendous and terrifying way possible. this isn't a prank. you don't even think you can escape this nightmare. whatever foolish hope you held in your heart faded into dust. you held your breath and started praying in your head, the only way you know to get out of this at this point. even death would be okay right about now.

surely, this amount of fright wasn't good for your health. you were hoping your heart gave out or something.

'it' removes it's fingers from your soaking wet pussy. suddenly your being rubbed by something even thicker than before, girthy, veiny and your heart flares up again. how's that supposed to even fit? 'it's cock slides up and down your jello-like folds, coating itself in your juices. you can't even protest, too scared to utter a word. you instantly go ridged when you feel 'it's hair tickle your skin, bending 'it's lanky frame down for 'it's lips to meet your earlobes. it's voice a unappealing melody, making you irk at it's distorted speech.

"̵s̴c̷a̸r̵e̷d̷?̷ ̶y̴o̷u̴ ̷s̴h̸o̷u̴l̸d̴ ̵b̵e̷.̴ ̴i̶'̵m̵ ̷y̶o̷u̴r̸ ̶g̵o̸d̷ ̴n̸o̸w̴.̸ ̴a̷n̵d̵ ̸y̷o̶u̵ ̷m̶y̵ ̵g̶o̷d̵d̸e̸s̷s̵.̴ ̶i̷t̴'̷s̷ ̵i̴n̸e̴v̵i̵t̴a̴b̸l̵e̵ ̶t̸h̵a̵t̸ ̴y̷o̵u̴'̵d̶ ̷e̴n̵d̷ ̸u̸p̷ ̵i̴n̶ ̵m̸y̸ ̴g̶r̴a̶s̴p̶.̴ ̴i̸ ̶l̵o̴n̴g̶e̷d̷ ̷f̷o̷r̶ ̶y̸o̸u̴,̴ ̸f̶o̵r̷ ̶a̸ ̸v̷e̸r̸y̷,̴ ̴v̴e̷r̸y̵ ̸l̷o̷n̵g̴ ̶t̵i̸m̴e̵.̸ ̸f̶r̸o̸m̵ ̷n̴o̶w̶ ̵o̷n̵,̷ ̸w̵e̴'̶l̶l̸ ̴c̷r̴e̶a̷t̶e̷ ̶o̴u̵r̸ ̵o̷w̸n̷ ̴w̵o̷r̷l̴d̸ ̵o̶f̴ ̴d̷a̵r̸k̸n̸e̴s̷s̶ ̷a̷n̸d̴ ̵r̸e̴j̵o̸i̵c̸e̵ ̴i̸n̷ ̴i̴t̵.̴ ̸o̵n̴c̴e̶ ̴t̶h̶i̸s̸ ̶r̸i̵t̴u̴a̵l̸'̵s̴ ̴w̷e̵'̸l̴l̶ ̴b̸e̵ ̸t̸o̵g̶e̷t̵h̸e̵r̶ ̵f̷o̷r̵e̷v̷e̴r̶.̴"̶

translation : "scared? you should be. i'm your god now. and you my goddess. it's inevitable you'd end up in my grasp. i longed for you, for a very, very long time. from now on, we'll create our own work of darkness and rejoice in it. once this ritual's over, we'll be together. forever."

[mystycalypso]

Venomous Rant PART 2 BABY!

Hoooo boy, weren't expecting this were you? Unless... Unless you saw my post from earlier about uh, about a video that might be cause for a rant. In which case...hi.

ANYWAY time to talk about Venomous' parenting, with the help of notes I took on a video titled "The WORST Dad in Cartoon History" And unlike them, who avoided details about him in order to keep things in more sequential order, I will be bringing up spoilers as needed. Alright let's get into this. (Cob, Kaydin might be right...maybe I should just make a video about him wheeze)

Now to get something out of the way, god I hate clickbait titles like this. My autistic ass will think you're genuinely trying to call him the absolute worst when that clearly isn't the case.

I also can tell they don't fully understand him from the get go, because despite calling him their favorite, they seem to miss some rather obvious character details, such as his calm and cold demeanor being- his actual personality.

They even mess up his backstory which I didn't think was possible to the extent they did. I'll get this out of the way as quickly as I can, because it's important to some things that will get brought up later, especially if you didn't see my first rant, and even if you did some of this is new info from further analyzing this show like a psycho. (Shoutout my Boyfriend @benisbeaaaaans for tolerating my insanity)

Laserblast's issues were not just as general as low self esteem and power hunger, it's heavily implied that he had severe imposter syndrome about his powers and his place in the team. Aside from his helmet, his powers limited him to a support hero, and the way his death was treated outside of P.O.I.N.T implies that he was beloved not for his actions and heroism, but for his looks. Even the newspapers describing his death state "Hot hero will be missed" And while yes he is objectively one of the most attractive characters in the show, vanity is never a point of contention for him. He cared about how people saw him as a hero, and being seen as a pretty face rather than an actual valued part of the team can hurt anyone's mental health. Especially people with issues already.

Also, hearing Carol say he wasn't strong enough to survive the blast did not flip a switch from hero to villain in him immediately. That's not how people work. Even people with issues like Laser had. It DID cause him to go into hiding, because he knew at least he thought he knew, how she'd react, and that it would be even harder to do anything about his new disability if he went back to P.O.I.N.T. It's very likely he had a sort of lie planned for when he returned if he succeeded. But as far as he knew, he didn't. And so despite his failures, he found villain's not only cherishing his work, but practically worshipping him over it. And that, turned him to super villainy.

But getting into their actual points, Fink is addressed first. (For some reason they have this very odd need to call out how Fink is not related to him while K.O is, despite that not being really relevant to parenting? It's weird imo) They believe Venomous' parenting style for Fink while not as awful as they see it with K.O is still awful and seriously damaging. And i simply can't agree.

We'll start with the part I took the screenshot for this rant from, All in the Villainy, struggling to find a way to get their children to get along, Venomous comes up with the punishment to... get them presents. This is not a healthy way to punish your children and proves that Venomous simply caves to his daughter at a moments notice. ...Well except-

Something their video didn't mention is that this isn't the first thing they tried to help Darrell and Fink bond, even in this episode. Matching with the theme of the "Voxy Bunch" opening, the idea of making kids share a bedroom to get along is very sitcom tropey, but usually works out in the end. However this isn't a sitcom and things...don't go well.

And to give them credit, he does disagree with Boxman's punishment idea only to offer presents. It's honestly a great showing of his softer spot for things he finds cute (a detail I'd like to thank @theromanticscrooge for pointing out) But I also think why he cares so much about Fink in particular goes beyond that.

This episode is the first time we see baby Fink, and also assumedly around the time Venomous first found her, and she's small, weak and powerless in a sewer.

Remind you of anyone?

Now honestly you could use this comparison as why he adopted her in the first place. Hell for all I know, it might be the canon reason. I don't stalk Ian on twitter for all those little questions that got asked after the cancelation.

You could even go an extra step forward, and say that a third reason he has such a bleeding heart for his daughter is the fact that she doesn't see their relationship as a parental one. She's adopted, and with the type of villainy her father does, I wouldn't be surprised if she sees their relationship as more transactional than anything else. (They use this idea as evidence that Fink is abused, but you really can't expect a child to immediately accept her adoptive parent as that, especially given Venomous' line of work. Like a lot of real kids, she's defensive about those overly personal terms just in case it doesn't work out and she loses him. And we didn't get enough episodes to know if this ever changes)

But alright, even if he's got a soft spot for her, that doesn't make gift giving a proper form of parenting. But in this case specifically, there's more to it. These gifts are just another bonding exercise, and one that worked on PV himself. Every time he's fed up with Boxman's actions, attacking the plaza reminds him of what's more important, the fun of destroying heroes. So it's not surprising he uses that same method to encourage his daughter and step son. And it works! Hell, after the merge is when we start to see bot combinations where they don't spend most of the time attacking each other, because it's way more fun to fight the heroes than each other!

Now, they do also discuss PV's gift giving as a parenting tactic in K.O. vs Fink, but it's a very... surface level understanding of why she's upset and the sadness of that whole situation.

It's important to mention that Shadowy Figure has become a slowly more consistent and persistent issue in the story by now. And in this episode especially we see him lurking around the sewers basically the entire episode, and we see the toll this takes on PV, as he starts the episode rather normal looking, reading something off his phone as he listens to his daughter rant about how much she hates K.O, to the end where he's practically laying across his desk, sweating and a visible mess.

Due to being shot by a love beam, and well, her general attachment to her father, she wants to spend time with him and asked him to bake her a cupcake. Now obviously they can't just have fink say she knows why her father is so drained and weak suddenly, but that doesn't change the fact that she definitely does know where this change comes from. (She even calls back to it in Let's get Shadowy) and like a lot of little kids, instead of just wanting to let it sit, she tries to offer her own solution. We can just bake it together! And like me with a migraine, he gets a bit snappy. (If you want to make this sadder, the whole "I'll call you if I need you" before she slumps off could definitely link to that fear of being in a transactional relationship, rather than a familial one.) But we see her go into her room which is now flooded with gifts from PV, she ignores every one, and crashes into her bed. Now, if this was the only context we had for their relationship, I'd totally agree, PV is terrible for ignoring his daughter and trying to make up for it by just giving her dozens of presents. But, this isn't the only context we have. And everything else we have shows that this is very much not the norm.

In "villain's night in" (One of my favorite Fink and Venomous episodes honestly) She goes on about what her and Venomous' relationship is like, grinning proudly as she goes on about how much her boss loves her and all the things they do together. And her gifts from the time seem to be a lot more personal and aimed towards her likes, like the movies she enjoys like lord of the loot.

After his meeting in "Boxman Crashes" she asks to drive the car for him, which means not only did he teach her to drive, something he clearly has an enjoyment of himself, but likely has a special setup that allows her to do so (Or maybe it's something similar to what Carol had to deal with with K.O, where she'd climb on him enough while he drove that he just decided to teach her to steer while he handles the rest) It's also in this scene where we learn he has he learning piano, which like other details show an active involvement in her life. He encourages creative hobbies like any other parent, attends her concerts even when it's just the Boxmore family and hell, and doesn't typically push her away. We also know all the gifts in that room are new because well, almost everything from their old lair was blown up. So... what gives with this scene?

Well Fink and I's arch nemesis that's what. Shadowy figure. Like I've said before, Shadowy has become more of an issue and more active. Even when he's not manipulating K.O. He's running his own work as a glorb dealer and assisting antiheroes like foxtail. Which means against his will, Venomous has been very active, and much less stable as himself. He doesn't know why he's become so much weaker in his day to day, all he does know is how it's impacting his ability to spend time with his daughter. And he's clearly trying to make up for this failure on his end with gifts. But while his presents used to be something special, something for her to be proud of and show off to her new step siblings, now all she can see is a reminder that she is slowly losing her father to this stranger. Sure by not telling him, Shadowy technically still let's him come back, but is it even worth it if the man that remains is a shell of the man he once was?

Now for the...less sad and more, annoying misunderstanding of relationships when it comes to his kids. K.O

This is something I had to explain to Kaydin when writing my- sorta OC for OK K.O as well, because it seems like people don't really get it at first, like, seriously most people don't seem to get this aspect of the show.

Villains and heroes in this world, are not just like the typical antagonist and protagonist in other shows/worlds. The correlation I like to use is, it's more like a job. Just about everyone in the world is either a hero or villain on some level. Doesn't matter if you're on this world, or planet X, or somewhere in between. That's why everyone (now that Kappas are allowed) can have a pow card. Because well, everyone has a special something that they can use to be a hero or a villain. People without powers are treated much like those with disabilities (Like Greyman after his accident)

With that being said, I think it's extremely stupid that people expected Venomous to be a saint towards his son.

"Oh but the K.O. Trap-" Yes yes, torturing your kid mentally isn't cool. And I'd agree more, if it was JUST K.O. he targeted. But it's not. It's never K.O. he target's alone. Sure he made a second round of goo clones for his son, but his son is also the strongest hero at Gar's, and making your enemy too shocked to attack you can only do better to protect yourself in a fight. The video brought up Boxman's attacks on the plaza as a comparison which, I find kind of funny because the show itself talks about how Boxman's villainy is treated more like a joke than ANY other villain's. PV is a SUPERvillain. When he's involved in fights against the bodegamen, theres's a chance they'll actually lose because he's stronger. And I'm going to be fully honest when I ask this, what did they want him to do otherwise? Would people have preferred Venomous to only attack Rad and Enid and just- give K.O a pat on the head every time they met? Wouldn't that be way more suspicious than, I dunno, treating your hero son like any other hero?

This is going to be a weird comparison, but he's there as a very similar lesson to Chameleon Senior. (Stay with me here, I BEG)

Chameleon Jr is hero aligned, and we can assume his father is the same from how close they are, and yet Chameleon Jr. is a rude bully of a kid, and his father picks fights with other parents over basically nothing. Good aligned people, who do less than good things. PV is an villain aligned man, capable of some of the most evil things K.O.'s ever seen (Minus the planet eating Cosmas did really-) and yet despite it all, he's capable of good. He tries to do good for both of his kids. (And yes, he did ACTUALLY try to get rid of Shadowy, but that's basically what my whole last rant was about so we won't go much into that again. Seriously the only reason people believe that he didn't is because Shadowy said so, and WHY WOULD YOU TRUST SHADOWY ON THAT?!) He does his best to bond with K.O. despite still being evil. Because what K.O. is too young to really understand, (But these reviewers shouldn't be) is that not everyone is meant to be a hero. The stress of being a big hero made Laserblast seriously depressed and tired of the life he had. So did big name villainy. Sometimes people in this world are destined to fight a few heroes, getting blown up, and run with the constant back and fourth of classic evil because that's what's most fun for them.

And honestly? I think the fact that in "Carl" K.O believes he was wrong about Venomous and that he was only being manipulated and TKO took over only to ACTUALLY get used and manipulated by Shadowy, only makes me believe further that Venomous did try and actually get rid of him for his kids.

And sure, while everything that happened with Shadowy hasn't made K.O and his father's relationship better, it's also silly to me how the video acts like K.O hates him after simply because we don't see them hanging out together after it.

I mean, even after making his wish and meeting with the president of the universe, he asks what happened to them, and when he sees them laughing and destroying together, do you know what this kid says? "Good for them!" Because K.O. understands what happened after a lot more than most people will. And seeing that just like himself, even after literally coughing out Shadowy, he takes responsibility for the damages. And while they might never see eye to eye alignment wise, they still have a lot in common.

Is PV meant to be the perfect dad? Obviously not. Part of the arc he never fully got to complete due to the series' cancelation is the downside of healing while raising kids. But saying he's this awful abusive man to his kids is erasing all that he is, and all that he has done.

Maybe that's part of the reason I enjoy drawing him and writing what could've been so much. Seeing a person trying to heal so badly get cut off right as he truly starts to is devastating, and knowing that that arc never fully got to be explored means that some people will never fully understand this character is even worse. I love this old man and his family. And I hope some day, despite the odds of how media works in this shitty capitalist world, he gets his wedding, and his family gets the fully fleshed out ending they all deserve.

[jumpsplat120]

SERIOUSLY

People were complaining about this episode AND Gemma's episode and it just had such a smell about it. "I only care when the show is about Man! Don't bring in all these other interesting characters noooo"

You're trying to tell me the episode recontextualizing every weird interaction we've seen from a character since the beginning is bad? The answers we are given are so obvious in retrospect, and yet it still feels like a twist, because even as a viewer, you get caught up in the propaganda of Lumon; of Kier and his cult of personality!

At the end of the day, this is a story about corporate greed, about misogyny, about the perpetuating cycle of abuse. This episode so perfectly continued that theme, AND gave us a bunch of time with the character we'd only gotten snippets of! This is just good storytelling, and I'm blown away that people could be bored during an episode like this. Jfc

"television" "fans" be like ugh I can't believe this episode was a chilling look at small town America's dependence on major corporations for employment, substance abuse, childhood trauma and intellectual property theft 🙄🙄 BORING!! it only furthered the storyline of a woman who has been a mystery since the first episode and revealed more abuse by the company who's abuses are central to the plot 😒

[mer-acle]

Snippet: Slipping Through My Fingers

Playtime (Pt. 3)

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Olympus, the green meadow. Athena as an owl is gliding silently over the grass, Ares chasing after her a lot less silently. He takes long playful leaps, always just a short distance behind her. Whenever he thinks he's getting close to catching her, his tail wags harder. Sometimes he barks excitedly. Athena is flying low to give him the illusion of a chance, sometimes dodging suddenly to keep him entertained. Her mind is calm, in truth, she's needed this break for days, and she doesn't use her animal form for fun a lot. She flies a sudden arch, forcing Ares to skid to a halt and turn around to resume the hunt. He barks loudly, but the joy rings through. She is enjoying this more than she thought.

A gust of wind presses into her side, threatening to push her out of her path. Ares's paws hit the ground hard as he accelerates even more. Athena dodges the gust low. Ares, seeing her within his reach, takes an ecstatic, powerful leap to finally catch her with a triumphant snarl.

His body slams into hers at full speed, claws ripping through feathers as he throws her to the ground, pinning her small form under his.

His pants echo way too loudly in the stillness.

Athena lies still, stunned by the impact, her chest heaving. That's when Ares sees the blood seep through her feathers and his heart sinks as the realization hits.

He shifts back in an instant, helplessly hovering above her. His eyes are wide with shock.

Ares: Athena!

Athena shudders, then shifts back too, instinctively pressing her hand to her ribs and doubling over.

Ares, stammering: 'Thena, no, I'm sorry, I didn't... you said to catch you I didn't kno- know it would hurt you! At- Thena I-

Athena groans softly, pulling herself up into a sitting position. Blood stains her chiton at her shoulder, the wound now hidden under her clothes.

Athena, through her teeth: I am here, Ares, I can hear you. It's okay.

Ares: No, I... I didn't wanna hurt you, really, I didn't think about... I'm sorry.

His eyes are welling up. Athena offers a tight-lipped smile.

Athena: No, it was my fault, I was distracted. And I told you to catch me, and you did. It's no big deal, I have had worse than this.

Ares: B-but from the enemy! Not from me! We were- just playing...

Athena: It was an accident, Ares. You'll know for next time you're much stronger than you think and have to be mindful of that, and I know to take it more seriously and not get distracted. You don't have to feel guilty. It's all good.

Her voice is breathy with pain, her breathing shallow and strained. Ares looks at her with wide, scared eyes.

Ares: You're breathing... you're breathing really weird, Thena.

Athena: It's fine, it's probably just a broken rib. It stings a little is all.

Ares: No, I didn't... that's really bad, I didn't... Thena I really didn't know I was that strong.

He's crying openly now. Athena's fingers twitch, almost as if she wants to reach out, but decades of physical isolation hold strong.

Athena: You didn't mean to do it. I'm not angry with you. I should not have played that game with you, it probably messed with your prey instinct. It's not your fault, and the rib will heal in no time.

Ares has only half-listened, his eyes darting back and forth between her bleeding shoulder and the uneven rise and fall of her chest.

Ares: I'll get help... I'll get Mom, she'll know what to do, just wait here.

Athena, tensing: No, Ares, stay-

She reaches out to hold him back, but he's faster, shifting back into his dog form and bolting off before she can stop him.

Athena: Ares!

She grimaces at the sharp sting in her torso. She thinks it might actually be two broken ribs. And Ares is long gone, to get, out of all the gods on Olympus, Hera. Athena looks up toward the sky, breathing out carefully through her nose.

Athena: Fuck.

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Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 (upcoming)

@sarnai4 i hope you weren't hoping for pure fluff or some such nonsense lmao

[couldeatthatgirlforlunch]

Hello!! Can I request dating hcs of Rex x hypersexual!reader? With him helping them heal from their trauma and fear (and longing) of intimacy and being touched? Thank you, i love the way you write fics 🫶🫶

Thanks baby😘

This is based on my own experience with hypersexuality and the topics you described

Rex Sloan X Hypersexual!Gn!Reader

I think Rex is also hypersexual, or at least has some tendencies, so he'd understand a lot. I also think he would learn more about himself while trying to help you

He knows how sometimes your mind is buzzing with bad thoughts and stress, and the only thing that seems to calm it is by thinking about sex, especially when you're trying to sleep and just can't 

He knows sometimes sex feels like the solution to all problems

And that hipersexuality is a problem because it’s prejudicial to your life, in the sense that maybe you're trying to focus on something else, like studying, working, or a hobby, but your mind just. Won't. Stop. 

Sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex

But he's still learning to think before talking, and he just came to terms with the fact that he's actually very empathic 

So he might ask how you feel and what you're thinking from time to time, and what do you think that made you be hypersexual 

He doesn't want you to commit the same mistakes he did, so he makes sure your sexual dynamic with each other is very healthy, obnoxiously healthy, to the point that it's even funny how he’ll just stop in the middle of it to ask “do you want it or do you enthusiastically want it?” with the most serious expression, one it's even weird to see on him, because he's just so goofy

Because if the bar is high enough, you never will accept anything less, just like people with healthy families usually don't accept other people treating them like shit 

He's scared shitless that he’ll accidentally or indirectly hurt you, either because he didn't make sure how you felt, or because you were too good at pretending

He's ruined so many good things before, he doesn't want to do it anymore 

You might have intrusive thoughts, like really, intrusive thoughts. Not the ones most people are used to like “what if I threw my phone out of the window?”, but the real ones. If you have it you know what I’m talking about. 

I’m not sure he has them, because if you have them, you probably hide them, but he surprises you when he takes it seriously, not just thinking you're a freak, or a creep, or a weirdo. He understands right away they're not something you want, you don't condone those actions, you think they're the worst thing the could happen, and yet, your mind is so broken that it throws those thoughts at you, trying to make you hate yourself, and it might even work, and Rex makes sure you know it's not your fault, it's just a mental illness, there's nothing wrong with you, it's common, just talk to him baby, talking will make you feel better

He also becomes clingy, even performing PDA if you're into that. Just because your mind is thinking about all the different sexual scenarios you could do, doesn't mean you want sex, half the time you just want to be held, kissed and feel important. Just receive some attention and love. And he’ll enjoy doing that

Especially in the beginning of your relationship, he understands you might be confused on how to proceed, overthinking, and you might even try to distance yourself from him

Jokes on you, he's not gonna let that happen

I mean, see how his relationship with Rae started on the 3rd season, bro really worked for her

If he didn't like you as much, he would give up, honestly. Rex from the 1st and 2nd season would just offer himself to be your booty call

If you're touch starved, he understands that maybe you feel insecure about that, that the simple act of holding hands and rubbing your thumb on someone’s skin just isn’t second nature to you, isn't your first instinct, when you do it, you're actively thinking about it, afraid to move and disturb the peace, or make him stop touching you

Like one of those videos of abused animals who freak out at the simple mention of someone getting close to them, and when someone does, they need several minutes to get used to it 

He won't judge you for maybe being somewhat socially awkward on that aspect, he actually likes that you aren't used to just throwing yourself at anyone who gives you crumbs of attention, and ruining yourself in the process, almost like he did. It's not worth it, it's humiliating, it changes you so much that you can't recognize yourself in the end

It takes some time, but you get used to having him clinging to you at all and random moments of the day

He wants your first time together to be especial, and when you truly want it, so he doesn't even takes the first step, you have to do it 

I see you just sleeping in the same bed, fully clothed, every night, for several weeks (even months, if that's your thing), before actually having sex

Doesn't mean he won't make out with you, when you're comfortable with that. And he tries not to be the old him that would just grab your ass right away, instead, Rex learns that he likes to just… Explore 

He squeezes your waist, he touches your hair, your scalp, he breathes your scent. He rounds his arms around you and just has nice, quiet conversations. He lays his head on your chest, stomach and lap, closes his eyes, and his mind is suddenly empty, while you take initiative and run your fingers through his ginger locks. He holds your hand when he takes you out

He spoils you, he was never the type of guy to do that, he liked being spoiled instead

Now, he just thinks he needed to meet the right person

He cooks, it's not good, but he's trying to impress and make you happy

He learns your hobbies, and spends quality time with you. You have to know he's not with you just for sex, just for your body, your mind is just as sexy to him babygurl~ (in a gn way)

He shows you his home magazines and you talk about your future home together, despite how surreal it feels, how impossible it seems, how scary, not only to you, but also him. But he wants this. He finally has something good. A purpose in life

And even if you express some negative thought, he’s surprisingly good at comforting and reassuring, on his own unserious and abrasive way

Suddenly, your mind is a lot more peaceful

General masterlist

Like, comment and reblog 🥰

[petersasteria]

Ew! - Daesung/D-Lite

Pairing: Daesung x fem!Reader Summary: you meet through a mutual friend during brunch and both of you just say the darndest things

Today's the day that you're going to meet your best friend after a year of not seeing each other. Adulting really is difficult when it comes to social interactions. You excitedly texted her saying you were on your way and you fixed your hair before leaving. You hear your phone ping with a text notification from her.

Y/BF/N: Y/N!! I'm so excited to see you!! I hope you don't mind, but I brought someone with me. Don't worry: he's just a friend. Both of you are two people I wanted to meet so I figured I'd bring him for brunch. We're on our way!

You were slightly bummed because you wanted to spend time with your best friend alone, but the more you thought about it, the more the merrier, right? Besides, you needed another friend to hang out with and you didn't want to keep hanging out with your work friends.

You arrived at the venue and your best friend was already there with a guy that she told you about. You walked over and gave her a hug and she introduced you to the guy, Daesung was his name. All three of you ordered and Daesung started the conversation.

"So, what's up? You brought us here for a reason." Daesung said, sipping his water.

Your best friend sighed, "So, it's about a guy..."

"Oh no, here we go." You groaned. As pure as your best friend is, she's always been unlucky with romance. You pitied her, truly.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Daesung sighed, resting his chin on his palm. "What now?"

"Hey, he's not that bad. He's my new boyfriend." She smiled a small smile.

"But?" You and Daesung said at the same time, causing both of you to giggle. Your best friend looked at both of you with a weird expression, "But he's.. just too much!"

"What do you mean?" Daesung asked.

"Like, he always loves me..."

"Huh? Isn't that what a boyfriend is supposed to do?" You questioned. "I don't get it."

"Like, he wants validation all the time, he wants us to move fast, he wants me to commit to him, he's so clingy, he gets jealous all the time, he ignores all my boundaries, and he keeps saying that we're both good together. It's sickening!"

"My god, and you're still with him??" You shrieked.

"Yeah, why are you still dating him?!" Daesung exclaimed. "Drop that man!"

"Well, he's kind and generous. He's caring too." Your best friend said, smiling at the waiter when he brought your food.

"Girl-" You and Daesung said at the same time again, shaking both your heads.

"So, he's a love bomber." You confirmed, and Daesung nodded.

"I'm surprised you're even here." Daesung said, taking a bite of his salad.

"Actually, my boyfriend wouldn't let me go." Your best friend confessed. Both you and Daesung dropped your utensils and covered your mouths as you loudly said, "EW!!!"

"Get away from him!" You screeched.

"Thank god, I'm single!" Daesung scrunched his face. "I can't imagine saying stuff like, 'I can't go because my girlfriend won't let me'. That's so controlling. Leave him!"

"Is that why I haven't seen you in a year?!" You turned towards her and she nodded. "He's jealous of me?!"

"Well, he's jealous of everyone." She said as she ate.

"And you're comfortable with that??" Daesung asked, clearly bothered. "Girl, follow the 5G's."

"5G's?"

He nodded, "Yeah: Good God Girl Get a Grip. Like, seriously. Get the fuck outta there! You don't need him."

"Yeah! There are so many men out there who would treat you better." You agreed, giving Daesung a high-five.

"The world is a sea and we are fish. There's the right fish for you. I just know it. That guy... IS NOT it." Daesung said. "Trust us, girl."

"But I love him." Your best friend said, pouting.

"Ugh, give us a break." You rolled your eyes. "You say that about every guy!"

"Yeah! Remember that gamer guy you dated who only wanted you to fund his Fortnite skins or something?" Daesung reminded.

"Mhm, or that one guy who just used you to closer to your cousin." You added.

"Or that guy who-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Your best friend waved you guys off. "Why don't you guys date if you're just going to say the same stuff. Seems like you two are so alike."

"If we didn't know better, we'd think you're trying to set us up." You snorted, and Daesung nodded as he continued eating.

"What if that was my plan all along?" Your best friend asked.

"Girl, your boy problem is too real to be fake." Daesung said without looking at her. Clearly, he was tired of all her boy problems like you.

"Well, that's real." Your best friend said shyly. "But what if I also planned this thing? I mean, both of you are single and you seem to get along well. Maybe you guys should get married at this point." She was so excited.

You and Daesung looked at her like she was crazy.

"We'd have to date first." Daesung chuckled. "I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to the idea."

"Me too." You said. "If we do go on a date, we'd talk trash about your dating life and how we weren't introduced before."

"Yes." Daesung said casually. "We would've thrived as a couple."

"Yeah, so why now? Why not before, Y/BF/N?" You asked, giving her a playful suspicious look.

"Oh, shut up!" Y/BF/N groaned, as both of you laughed.

-

A/N: thought of this fluffy daesung fic... who wants pt 2?

permanent taglist: @redhoodedtoad @billiesiousji @hayd3n8 @sherrayyyyy

buy me a coffee?

[miri-tiazan]

New transcript of unhinged 00Q chatfic declassified now!

A collaboration between me and @cicerfics! In which Bond and Q are soulmates, and Madeleine Swann Deserves Compensation for dealing with these idiots.

tags: soulmate AU, fluff and angst, Madeleine Deserves Compensation, non-explicit references to canon-typical torture, Madeleine lives happily ever after

teaser:

cicerfics

Oooh, new 00q brainworm: I am thinking of one of those 'your soulmate's first words to you are tattooed somewhere on your body' AUs. Except!

This time: 'the first words your soulmate uses to say 'I love you' are tattooed on your body!

And most people get generic stuff like 'I love you', 'You're my favorite person', 'I care about you so much', etc.

But some people get stuff like 'Do you want another cup of tea?' or 'I can pick you up from the hospital after your surgery', because there are a lot of ways to say 'I love you' and some folks are acts-of-service types!

cicerfics

And I was thinking about what Bond or Q might have tattooed on themselves in this AU, and what their words might be. And I'm so obsessed with the idea of Bond's words being 'I really, really hate you right now'. From the scene in SPECTRE where Bond just wrecked the car and Q has chased him to Austria to beg him to come back home and Bond is NOT coming back home and ALSO asking for Q's help chasing down a lead.

And I'm so interested in what it would be like for Bond to go his whole life knowing that his soulmate's 'I love you' is actually 'I hate you' and wondering what the story behind those words is. And then it happens, and it's the WORST POSSIBLE MOMENT to discover the identity of his soulmate, and then???

I don't know what happens after that! I don't know if he still leaves with Madeleine, or something else happens, or if we get that deleted scene where Q gets kidnapped and Bond has to rescue him all of FIVE MINUTES after discovering that Q is his soulmate.

I am just Thinking About This Concept.

Continued on AO3:

00Q Chatfics and Assorted Headcanons (15029 words) by cicer, miri_tiazan Chapters: 6/? Fandom: James Bond (Craig Movies) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: James Bond/Q Characters: James Bond, Q (James Bond) Additional Tags: Omegaverse, Mpreg | Male Pregnancy, weird omegaverse hormone nonsense, Menopause, Fluff, Crack Treated Seriously, Bond and Q are So Normal About Each Other, Just Coworker Things, Retirement, magical spontaneous conception, Infertility, Unplanned Pregnancy, Fluff and Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Memory Loss, Accidental Bonding, dubcon (due to being hormonally compromised), Mating Cycles/In Heat, Bond loves Q's cats, Domesticity, the MI6 rumor mill, Presumed Infidelity, (No Actual Infidelity), POV Outsider, Comedy of Errors, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, non-explicit references to canon-typical torture, Madeleine Deserves Compensation, Madeleine Lives Happily Ever After Summary: Lightly edited chat transcripts between cicer and miri_tiazan: some live-written fics, some random headcanons, some plot-free fluff, all 00Q! Each chapter can be read independently.

[dazzling-raven]

Full Company doodles, perhaps? 🥺.

Was meant to be a doodle, turned into a full drawing

[backpackingspace]

Okay but have we thought about how scary odysseus interacting with the gods /his knowledge about such things it must have been for his crew?

Its well known that odysseus is Athenas favorite, even before the Trojan war. But what does that look like from the outside? Are their conversations in some other plain? Does odysseus sometimes just glaze over and you just have to trust its a god speaking to him and not aome other fit? Out in the open? During the war odysseus was frequently doing really bizarre things on Athena's say so. Bit you also know your captain is a freak and lier so which is it this time? The gods will or odysseus just tucking with you? There's a little wariness there. But it's well known. And been like this forever.

But then you start encountering more monsters. More gods. They all talk to your captain. Your captain stops sleeping. Your go between for you and the captain starts committing crimes against the captain, starts bad mouthing him. More of your friends have died then in ten years of war. And every other day there's a new god talking to your captain. What mortal man has the interest of this many gods? What mortal man can get up in the gods faces to yell at them. What mortal man has the powers to overcome the witches they encounter the power to over turn gods spells? What mortal man's tongue is so gilded he convinces these powers to help them? And doubt comes creeping in.

[honig-dachs]

there it is

[imjunebitch]

okay, this is a very interesting ask for a whole bunch of reasons! i know that my first instinct on reading it is assuming that it's a troll ask but honestly im not sure! i think, whether it is or not, it's really indicative of a serious issue in TRF ideology! which is, in short, that they would be terfs if they were cis. which sounds terrible to say, of course, but it's true! ill explain kinda!

the end goal of this take on feminism, and on liberation in general, is that it can only be at the expense of someone else! it's "our side or no side!" the scope of their empathy, the amount that they want to advocate for and care about the oppression of people extends as far as... themselves. and the people like them. if they were not transfem, would they care about transmisogyny? absolutely not! i mean, ok, im a trans woman, obviously, and do you know why i care about transandrophobia? because I have deep, deep love for trans men and mascs in my life. and i see what they suffer through, every single day. and i see how it is similar to what i experience, and how it differs! and i don't shit talk minorities for suffering a different kind of oppression from me! loving trans men and hating trans women is not synonymous, im sorry to say! neither is the inverse! I have trans men i absolutely love, my best friend is a trans man and i adore him, he's my favorite person, he's like family to me, genuinely! and there are trans women in my life i absolutely love as well! why would you feel a need to prove your love for one group by hating another? well... that's terf logic.

so, the second anon ask Lilith received was, and I quote: "Ok, so you like trans men, that's clear.Do you at least hate cis men? I mean, you gotta, there's a lot of bad that they've done (they're the main ones trying to take away your rights, and are the biggest risk to you sexual violence and murder wise). Do you at least hate them?"

that's FUCKING FASCINATING. and you might read it as blatant trolling, but whether or not it is... it's not something someone is trying to say just to offend... there is a weird sort of logic at work here! warped, terf-y logic, but... you get the sense that to this person, activism is essentially "tearing down the enemy." to this person, progress can only be measured by bringing down someone else. that's how we improve ourselves! hurting others, so we're comparatively better off! it's a lot easier than, say... uplifting the people we want to help? and oppression isn't something that we can bond and grow in love and understanding over! it's a tool to wield!

to these people, it isn't enough to be one of a bunch of groups suffering, who can join together, support each other, love one another and lift one another up. they have to be suffering the most. they have to have points over the other sides, so they feel justified in hating entire demographics of people. you can feel the anon's desperation! "you don't hate this group... well, who do you hate? I mean, you have to hate someone, right? how could you help a cause without hating and hurting some other group?" and it doesn't even occur to them that Lilith might be acting out of genuine love for trans men and a desire to help a group that's currently under fire from every direction, even their own community. Lilith couldn't possibly truly love trans men with no strings attached to that... she must hate trans women! oh. she doesn't. so, who does she hate? it must be someone! activism doesn't work without hate!

... it's genuinely such a depressing outlook on life, it makes me feel weirdly empathetic to whoever sent these anons, because There Is A Better Way. that runs in love, and doesn't require a scapegoat. trans men are not your scapegoat, okay? hell, neither are cis men, but trans men are especially not. with all we have in common? seriously?

(lastly. Lilith im a trans woman and id absolutely love to be friends! that feels kinda cheesy to tack on at the end there lol but regardless it is true!)

All the posting and thirsting you do for trans men really shows how much you dislike trans women. Why?

Why do you hate trans women? You're a trans girl yourself, why do you hate yourself so much that you feel like you need to grovel and be at the knees of trans men?

There's an entire group of trans women on this site that you could talk to and make friends with, why would you hang out with men?

Plus, you're pan. A good portion of us would fuck you too, if you wanted. So why not come hang out with the girls for once?

Me thirsting for trans men and showing love to a population that is shit on constantly from both society and this site in general, doesn't mean I hate trans women, Anon. It's just me showing that these men can and are loved by people who aren't like them, and that trans guys who aren't gay have women out there who will love them for who they are, and not try to keep them from transitioning, or forcing them into a subby/femboy/bottom role.

I love trans women, don't get me wrong. If a trans woman interacted with my blog and flirted with me, I'd treat her exactly like I treat any trans guy who would do the same, but it never happens, so you don't see it.

Also, I'm not groveling at anyone's knees. I'm simply posting how I genuinely and honestly feel. I'm sorry that my thirst seems like prostration. I'm more than happy to make friends with any trans girls who want to, but, again, nobody approaches.

I'm more than happy to hang with the girls, I need to be invited first, given that I was kicked out of my previous trans women friend group because I said that TME/TMA isn't a good concept, and that trans men do face oppression.

[fumifooms]

Do you think Kui retconned Kabru and Rin as a couple? It seems so strange how Kabru treats her if he views her as a sister

Rin & Kabru relationship analysis

Skip to the keep reading cut if you only want my Kabru & Rin thoughts. Tldr of the preamble is that I don't think Kui retconned anything but I don't think Kabru and Rin were ever meant to end up as a couple, but that doesn't mean that there's no way anything deeper or more complex is happening here. Under the keep reading is my pretty full analysis of Rin & Kabru, which I'll still cover in my full Kabru party analysis eventually.

1) People do debate about wether or not Kui changed her approach to a lot of her characters halfway through the story, Kabru, Thistle and Chilchuck to name the biggest ones. I've heard it be an explanation for the shapeshifters even, that it's a meta joke on how characters' old behavior and appearances have now become out of character. I personally believe nothing has been retconned, that all the characters are coherent and, perhaps more importantly, that regardless of later intent the early writing makes the characters more interesting and layered. Not that the idea of there being or needing retcons has no merit at all, for example forest goblins are in-world common knowledge to be found on the second floor, but we also learn later that goblins is a slur against half-foots, and knowing Dunmeshi's philosophy about humanoid monsters it's odd that they never ever come up again if they exist. The anime -and iirc adventurer's bible- kept there being goblins on the second floor of the dungeon, so much like Thistle's early appearance I have to believe it's a part of canon that's not meant to be retconned, ie that's canon and accepted as such, with some degree of intent. We do know that the climax of the manga was going to happen differently with what Kui was planning in the earlier manga days, with demon king dunlord Laios, too. Regardless of all this, for better or worse we hae what we have now and we must take it all into account as the whole picture of the work's story, world and cast- starting to pick and choose what's actually canon from the canon story is just giving up and letting the world burn lol.

2) Kui is fearless when it comes to presenting us with complex layered relationships without feeling the need to explain themselves or offering full closure. Marcille canonically sees Falin as a friend. Laios' succubus was undebatably Marcille. Mickbell sees Kuro as family. Were the touden parents bad parents? Is Maizuru? Is Milsiril? Ambiguity in Dunmeshi's case is a feature and not a bug, and perhaps this short story of Kui's shows why she prefers not to cast moral judgement as a narrator on various acts and characters. There's this very neutral approach to her writing where the cast does its own thing and she just tells us what happens, and as I said closure isn't a given. I've talked about the matter of wether or not Chilchuck's wife accepts him back before, something that bothers and lingers for a lot of readers, but an example that haunts me is Mickbell and Kuro. It's explicitly stated that Mickbell continues to "still being worked hard by Mickbell" after canon, and though we have one hint of how it might get better with Kuro learning common slowly but surely, there's no 1) conclusions as to what their relationship is exactly and 2) discouraging or encouraging framing for it, there's chiding but ultimately wether the relationship is more healthy than it is unhealthy and more salvageable than unsalvageable and worth it isn't answered. What happens will happen, and we just have to come to an answer that satisfies us on our own :') Or hey, how Falin only starts finding herself at the post-canon! It offers a nice end to her arc in canon of having a very malleable unpresent identity, but it starts another of self-exploration growth that is left open-ended. So, it's not because a relationship feels wrong or unfinished that it wasn't well-written or intended.

3) Kui doesn't lie but characters can. Characters can be unaware of things or even wrong, even with their own feelings, like Chilchuck saying he doesn't care about the party etc etc, or more widely Marcille thinking orcs are scum, or people at large in Dunmeshi believing in a modified truth of history, a version of it without the demon. These can be wrong objectively, but furthermore they can be disproved by the text, the way that Dunmeshi shows us orcs can be communicated with and peaceful etc etc and every character's racism ends up narratively or implicitly discouraged and disproven, kobolds included. The story is told by us through the characters and their actions, so it's their flawed perspective and incomplete information we have.

So, okay. Relationships are very complex but Kui doesn't tell lies, there's no info or moments that really have been retconned. The reader is left to make their own interpretation of canon.

... OKAY LAST TANGENT but we have to acknowledge something about canon quick too: This is gonna sounds ironic considering what I said earlier but while all extras are made to be in-character they're not all canon to the storyline, so to speak. There are sort of three types of extra comics context I can think of, there are comics set in pre or post canon, like one about the way Marcille was welcomed into Laios' party, or Falin's answer to Toshiro's proposal, which we have no reason to not believed happened in the canon timeline. Daydream Hours extras are exceptions because they're usually looser than Adventurer's bible extras, for example the comic about Milsiril visiting Kabru has a "what if" phrasing to the blurb. Then there are extras set vaguely in time that if during canon could simply happen off-screen, like Chilchuck's extra about hearing the party members going to the bathroom, a lot of monster tidbits also fit into this, which again I have no reason to assume hasn't happened. But now we get to the last type, the one set at a precise moment in canon that is impossible. My go-to example is the tidbit about werewolves, it's set during the Laios vs Lycion fight with Kabru present, and those chapters in the story had quite tight plotting, it makes no sense to consider that extra within the reality of that moment, it breaks the tone and story continuity and timespan of the scene, it can't be canon to the canon storyline. This is to say that again, although in every extra the lore is correct and characters are in-character, some extras are not "canon" to the story's timeline and can't have happened. And since it happened with one extra, that didn't have anybdisclaimer of being different than any other, it does put other extras' canonity into question a bit too. Ultimately, what we get in the actual manga is above everything else in both relevance and credibility. This is about extra comics, but I don't call into question all the extra info through text we get in character blurbs and about the Dunmeshi world within the Adventurer's Bible at all, especially since it was spexifically made to inform us more about canon. This is all just something to keep in mind, when talking about Dunmeshi canon.

Okay, now. In terms of rin & Kabru's relationship, as for what we see of it...

The quickest summary of how they see each other:

Rin's line reflects how she follows him out of worry, thinking that his ambitious manipulating ways will fail him and get him in trouble eventually, and how that worry is out of care and love. Kabru's line... Is more ambiguous, but we'll get into it.

We don't see Kabru and Rin interact a ton, but we do see her bring her up or think of her unprompted this time, which reveals a bit of how he sees her/feels about her and what his priorities are.

He "wants to help her get away somehow", and this out of what? Duty? Charity? Care? The companionship they once shared? Sympathy, knowing how it feels like to be under inadequate care by elves? Kabru is empathetic and wants good for people, cares about people and community, is rather concerned by the greater good instead of individualistic gain etc etc, so this attention isn't necessarily uncharacteristic on its own.

What makes their bond unique is the history between them.

It's implied they spent a lot of time together growing up, which led to Rin wanting to stick with him. Perhaps as some trauma-fueled-bond hero, but in her own words mostly because she's worried he'll get into trouble if he's left alone. She expicitly loves him romantically, started presumably before canon and presumably hasn't stopped by the end of it either.

We see his priorities here. It's notable that besides Rin being the sort of by default second most important kabru party character, she's also the one he thinks of first, understandably since he knows her best. Like above, he speaks very matter-of-factly and coldly about it though, and he seems surprisingly apathetic. It's not the thought of hostages that drives him to eat those monsters and keep strong, it's the thought of learning the mystery of dungeons and how to prevent Utaya tragedies

This moment below may seem like nothing, but it's also pretty telling of their dynamic:

Rin in the moment negatively assumes he's only frivolously interested in Namari, and although Kabru doesn't shut it down instantly with a "this isn't about personal interest" he does imply clearly with "friends" that his intent isn't to woo her (the fantranslation uses the word lovers instead iirc, so the original japanese word might be more revealing. Considering how Kabru sometimes teases Rin and provokes her jealousy on purpose like with the mermaids, it's not impossible the word was an euphemism). Rin ambiguously disbelieves this and/or disapproves. It does feel like Kabru keeps this sort of persona air when answering her, so it's not entirely hard to understand- it's true he was keeping his real reasons and intent secret: only later on does he give his party the "Laios party" spiel and mention Namari was part of it.

This can also be seen as an example of the chaperone "big sister" effect of her nagging, and of her recurring bad faith towards him. Rin chastises Kabru for behavior and stances that are understandable, like telling him he shouldn't just smile and gloss things over when being belittled, but she does have the habit of being easily jealous and lashing out because of it. But again, if you see it from her stance, your childhood friend always thinks he an handle everything alone and acts like he has the fate of the world resting solely on his shoulders, and he keeps shutting you out and leaving you to guess for his intentions, and being someone under his leadership on top of a friend makes this more alarming and frustrating. Loving him as you do, knowing him for as long as you have, you'd wish Kabru was open with you and that'd create frustration.

Yet despite everything there's trust here. There's familiarity and a degree of comfort, even when Kabru always refuses to fully open up. A promise from Kabru means something to her, it's worth something, she does trust his word and morals even when she knows he can be dishonest. She's used to Kabru, and through thick and thin she wants to be there to support him in his goals and look after him.

But below, his priorities are reaffirmed. He literally pushes her out of his way in that first page, to get to laios who represents his goals, and then figuratively by brushing her off. I think it's very interesting that the look her gives her feels alike to the look he gives Laios shortly before, those sort of empty eyes. They make me think it's his mask-on "business mode" look, and when it's a matter of business things have gotten serious and he will not entertain irrelevant matters. Like Rin's feelings. My first instinct's always been that his look at her meant a resounding "shut up", but it's true it could also easily be a "come on, catch up", especially since he goes on to explain that they mustn't have meant harm in the first place.

It's not only the look that's cold though, because you'll remember, "catching the culprits" was the promise Kabru made to her, the one she trusted that made her agree to their party's plan at all in the first place. Even though the phrasing wasn't precise on that front, by giving up on confronting or punishing Laios' party at all he's breaking his promise, and doing so very dismissively.

It's the distance of it, in how cold he is to her, how distant from him and pushed away by him she feels. It seems to say that yes, the teases he does are meaningless bones he throws at her, the moments they share are below him and below his goals, this is what's important to him and this is how Kabru wants to treat her when push comes to shove. With harsh chiding of his own and then calm explanations, as if while she's heartfelt with him he's indifferent with her.

Although, like how in the end he doesn't want to kill Laios despite it being the safe choice, there's much to say on wether or not he would actually throw her under the bus in the end even if cornered. He always steels himself for the worst, but he's also more talk than bite when it comes to truly being effortlessly ruthless and he prefers to find peaceful and humane solutions. In the end though, the hostage situation more or less tips the scale both ways, even if it'd be easy to say he was simply hiding his concern.

Okay and now to quicken things up this is where I start dividing interpretations as "good faith" as in believing Kabru's explanation that he has a strictly sisterly attachment to her, vs "bad faith" where there is potential for considering romantic interest on his end.

To start with the least questionable:

"We're talking about how cute your smile is, Rin." Good faith: He's complimenting his friend, wants her to not feel insecure, wants her to feel more confident and likeable desirable, because he's nice or because he cares about her. It does make her happy in the end, after all. Knowing it would, he might even have said it just to demonstrate his point to Mickbell with her reaction. Bad faith: You know she likes you, isn't this weird to go out of your way to say? He's not lying exactly, but they were moreso talking about her attitude around smiling, and he could just as easily have deflected or said "Oh, nothing much". Bringing up her appearance or how cute she is could also have made her self-conscious, she's not really the kind that likes public attention- but he knows her the best and it shows, after all. In the end, it doesn't sound like something you'd just tell someone you know pines after you that you want to turn down or discourage from pursuing you.

"When she furrows her brows, I assume she's smiling inside" is also weird to me. Sure she does have this weird situation with emoting going on, but claiming Rin is never angry is factually wrong and always dismissing that anger feels belittling. But this approach to reading Rin and interacting with her would explain why he always teases her, I suppose.

But this is kinda what I mean when I say they are close, in a way, the way he knows how she is with smiling, the way he's comfortable saying things like this to her despite not being someone you just have to interact with occasionally. There IS familiarity there IS intimacy, it's just odd and inconsistently applied.

Kissing her: Good faith: This is an urgent dangerous situation and kissing her is the quickest and most direct way to shut her up, which in his situation he does not have the luxury of time or ressources to think through solutions better. We don't fully know the details of incantation magic's workings, had he slapped his hand over her mouth maybe her lips could have continued moving and chanting so she could have still finished her spell, compared to kissing where it stop both lip movement and sounds from coming out. Plus, kissing her has the added effect of heavily shocking her. In a 'what if' bluray bonus comic Kabru's party faces shapeshifters and he suggests everyone get naked as a quick solution, so it is implied there too that physical intimacy and privacy aren't something he puts above practicality. Bad faith: Gag her. Hell, shove your finger down her throat. 'Master of human anatomy and psychology' here decided he had no other choice than kissing her. In that 'what if' extra I mentioned, Kabru did find another much less practical way to deal with the shapeshifters and went through with that instead, knowing no one would be happy getting naked. Also "It's too bad she looks like a monster", hello what? Neutral: Perhaps he chose, because either way in any case he did choose to, to kiss her precisely because he's mr. master of psychology, because knowing it was Rin he decided kissing was the best approach specifically because it's her, knowing it'd shock her etc etc, regardless of it being tactful or not or if it'd hurt her or even encourage her love for him.

"It's too bad she looks like a monster." Good faith: It's a neutral enough statement that he could mean a couple of different things with it, including wishing he could see her reaction better or speak with her more easily. If we go with the "I wish I wasn't kissing her as a fishman" angle, well, he really hates monsters to a traumatized degree so pseudoincest may be preferrable over monsterfucking. Fair enough. Bad faith: The fantranslation translates it as "it's a shame" instead of "it's too bad", which does lend itself to a less neutral reading, but wether that's reliable and telling or not would depend on the original japanese sentence of course. He could have meant "I wish she looked like anything else but a monster", but "I wish she (at least?) looked like herself when I kissed her" is the most direct interpretation, and then, well. That's pretty damning. To me it sort of feels odd that'd have been the phrasing if that was the case, especially since Kabru especially has noticeable reactions to monsters like shaking, horrified faces and dramatic thoughts. This is his internal thoughts and "Too bad she looks like a monster" feels very casual- the same type of casual that he has when deflecting not being interested in Namari to Rin, aka him being more playful. "I wish she looked like herself when I had to kiss her", like man. Okay. There's a lot of leeway you can give him but it's still odd.

Good faith: ??? I do struggle with this one. A friend of mine has the interpretation that this is an epic own of sorts, that by "always like this" Kabru meant "unable for me to hear you" so he likes not hearing what she says. Reardless, wether his assumption is accurate or not, Kabru is taunting/teasing when he says "look at me, not the mermaids", to what could have very well been just Rin noticing his staring and telling him to focus, and "You'd be cute if you were always like this", and like always he's very casual as he does it, says it like it's nothing, so it could mean nothing deeper. Bad faith: Why do you have to say any of this, what do you think it accomplishes, this counts as flirting in most books. It doesn't make her mood better, it doesn't shut her up, so I can only imagine Kabru simply enjoys doing this, it entertains him for one reason or another. Why do you keep calling her cute why is this a pattern that is forming. Neutral: Presumably, Rin is also unable to hear him since they all wear the earplugs. This would mean that beyond his gesturing, his words aren't meant for her to actually hear.

So.

My honest reaction:

Kabru what is this............. Huh. Kabru. What do you mean

The issue

It's less intimidating when analyzing each piece of interaction one by one to slowly form a wider picture, but it's still quite the puzzle. Because ultimately, what he feels for her aside, he is both pushing her away and encouraging her crush on him. He is both keeping her out and leading her on. He is both trying to keep a distance and throwing her bones to latch onto. And huh. Why though.

He's too socially savvy not to know Rin likes him right? Right? He even teases her about being jealous. He has to. He hassss to. And then obviously he has no intent of reciprocating. Especially since he's a huge flirt with anyone and Rin makes it clear she feels jealous.

Then, it feels kinda cruel...? You don't have to flirt, or taunt her because you know she likes you, and blow her off like that without ever having a serious talk. And like I said, shove your finger in there instead of kissing her. Did he do it because he prefers her being kissed over her puking? Was it out of pity? Throwing her crumbs of attention? Is him wanting her out of the elves' grasp just pity? Is it soooo easy for Kabru to tease her and kiss her despite having no feelings of his own, borderline mocking how deeply she loes him and what it means to her? Is doing all this "for her sake" too, like bringing her along was? Just. Free Rin. Free Rin of this.

In the end, what side of "does Kabru like Rin or not" you fall on pretty much depends on wether you favor a consistent "good faith" reading or a consistent "bad faith" reading, which impression you got while reading. But I hope I was able to show that both sides have reasons to think it and both are coherent interpretations of canon, neither are just being dense or difficult for the sake of it. A Kabru interpretation differs almost person to person. Personally I think the ambiguity itself is telling, which is why I usually land with a weird ambiguous situationship characterisation with them, they're a third secret thing and Kabru's feelings for her are complicated imo. He doesn't love her but he doesn't not love her etc. Dungeon Meshi largely lets the reader come up with their own interpretations of details, Kui herself said interpreting characters however is readers' freedom, and the story also avoids romance in general.

Although, there's debate as to wether he even leads her on at all, and personally I think it's pretty undeniable regardless of his intent, if anything even just going by effect.

All I can safely say is that this is not the behavior of someone smartly turning someone down.

Potential 'why's

BUT you could almost say he's purposefully trying to hurt her by being jokingly flirty and casual about it all, which could be to push her away and discourage her from pursuing him, wether it be for her sake or his own. It is a ship post, but I explore this stance a bit in my previous kabrin post if you're interested and unafraid of shippy brainstorming.

Or, inversely, maybe to him leading her on is a way to spare her feelings. Maybe he feels guilty about her liking him, or maybe he feels like he has to repay her somehow. Where his behavior when teasing her in early canon is rather provoking, most often I'd call his demeanor towards her placating if anything. We do see that Kabru prefers letting people down easy, except when shit is serious in the dungeon I guess, and he tries not to rattle people.

Personally, my favorite niche reading is I think it's his way of avoiding confrontation. He doesn't want to lose her, so he gives her just enough hope to hold onto so she'll keep following him, unknowing that Rin follows him out of a sense of duty of her own rather than romantic hope, because he always underestimates people's like of him like Laios does, assumes that people like him less than they seem because even when they do it's a version of him that's tailored to be likable. So he does this to keep the status quo going and keep her interested without having to reciprocate or commit.

I do think he also takes her for granted a bit. "Whenever she frowns I imagine it's a smile instead" what are you talking about. Like I said earlier, it feels weirdly dismissive and belittling to treat her anger as if it was something else, even assuming it to be joy- and there's merit to calling the anger Rin often shows a misdirected feeling, because yes, it's out of worry and care and love and she has a hard time emoting outside of a harsh-seeming scope etc, but is this what's going on here? His words leave me equally intrigued and concerned.

And like, her caring anger coupled by her nagging and scolding and looking after him unconditionally, I'm sure she does frustrate him sometimes and makes her feel stifled especially with his background at Milsiril's, making the big sister comparison understandable... ... BUT THEN WHY LEAD HER ON.

What he could feel

Okay so first of. "She sort of feels like how it'd be like to have a big sister" and "I see her as a sister, i strictly see her as if we shared family ties and she was the blood of my blood" are different. Kabru being like "Man, I wished she looked like herself when I had to kiss her" does not feel like a brother-sister thing to me, personally.

But hey, going with the opposite angle too- "She's like a sister to me" can be an easy shorthand to say "I care about you but i don't see you romantically or sexually at all" and it can be "you are deeply important to me and our bond would remain no matter the distance or time we are apart" and even "I can't imagine my life without you (no romo)". In many languages like french, the word soulmate instead literally translates as 'sister soul', as in a twin soul etc etc- a husband and a wife too are family. This is to say that both familial love and romantic love can run very deep, with a similar intensity just in a different nature, platonic or romantic. Kabru doesn't necessarily feel very strongly towards Rin even with the sister angle, but what i'm saying is that if it isn't just a catchphrase to let Rin down easy, wether something he would tell Rin or just something he tells himself, then it's not entirely out of the question Kabru would mix up the nature of that affection he feels for her. Maybe being childhood friends, he thinks it makes sense for it to be what he feels for her. I don't think this is necessarily farfetched because we see that Kabru neglects his own needs heavily for the sake of his goals, he doesn't recognizes or acknowledges his needs for social connections or things like sleeping, cooking and keeping his living quarters orderly. I think it's in character for him to dismiss outright that he could be in love with someone, and even for him to suppress it, because he can't let anything be more important to him than preventing more Utaya tragedies. If you subscribe to the idea that Kabru wanted to be Laios' friend at the back of his mind, this is in line with that.

Regardless of the "truth"/intent, I agree Kabru treating 'his sister' Rin the way he did in canon is really mega major weirdo of him though.

He sees her as a sister, or he believes he does. With a romantic angle, it could mean: Denial, repression, having a bond that feels as deep and immutable. Leading her on because: wanting her near but still pushing her away, being interested and scared to admit it, thinking he shouldn't let himself have this, not interested but still wanting the safety net of her.

Again with my own interpretation, I think he loves her the way one loves a safety net. What I and others may mean when we say that we think Kabru doesn't love her but he also doesn't not love her. I think this is why he's both taking her for granted and caring, dismissive and considerate, her "brother figure" but also the guy who will flirt with her without a second thought. A safety net the way one is comforted by a big sister mayhaps, who's disapproving yet always unconditionally there to help. But family and comfort are so closely tied together, it's unsurprising they get entangled sometimes, a lot of behaviors can be seen as both romantic and familial and it's just a matter of the facts and perspective because in the end what they are both is loving- and canonically, Rin loves Kabru romantically and Kabru cares for Rin like a sister.

Conclusion

I've said before that I think you can call them each other's best friend and that that's sad, and I stand by it. I think it's easy to argue that Rin is the one who knows Kabru best currently in his life, and the reverse is true for Kabru knowing Rin best. It's lonely, for both of them I think, Rin's kind of tough love is not working for him and Kabru is not filling Rin's emotional needs.

The reason why Kabru might feel like he has to get Rin out of the elves' grasp is because she has no one else, at least no one else that was deemed important enough to have been referred to or implied at all. And Rin calls him out for his shallow behavior and his unhealthy habits. They're close enough and weirding others around them enough that people like Mickbell notice when they heatedly do their song and dance and argue but hey, this is just another monday, and how Mickbell asumes she cleans his place up for him because that's what intuitively makes the most sense- it's the first thought, the most intuitive. Rin would do anything for Kabru and devotes herself to helping him, after all.

Reminder that this is the guy we're talking about:

I think her concern is worried tbh, he doesn't know what a DUST CLOTH is and he's pretty unhealthy, forgetting to eat and drinking to go to sleep, overworking himself. He'd easily work himself into an early grave. He neglects himself. I've said before in my Kuro x Kabru post that I think Kabru focuses so much on the bigger picture and saving the world that he forgets that he himself is important too, that he's truly special to some people, that he's even some people's hero, not just the world's, and I think to a degree it's good that Kabru has someone there to ground him and scold him when he's being thoughtless or overthinking, to try to show him that he's loved and valued, in her own way which he claims to understand so well like he does her smiles.

Kabru's a character where fan interpretations especially differ, he's hard to read when it comes to the details, so his relationship with Rin is very much a grey zone, especially when trying to precisely pin it down. I think though that it is a mistake to say that Rin isn't special to him in some shape or form.

I talk about human connections as a big theme of Dunmeshi sometimes, as this thing everyone needs but may deny themselves or deny that they do need and want, and Kabru and Rin are part of that theme, to me.

Post-canon, Rin and Kabru continue to see each other, presumably semi-regularly, which is an implication from an extra that we don't get with the other Kabru party members. They stay in touch, because what tied them together was never work but a personal tie.

This ask took long af to write up but it's gonna make my Kabru party analysis easier later yay. Little preview of the chart i made.

I'll remind that Mickbell and Kuro's relationship is also stated to be of a familial nature. Contradictions aren't always mistakes, people are made of them! Just like how ambiguity can be a narrative tool, complexity and dissonance can be a feature and not a bug.

[roomba-mangga]

thoughts on thistle and yaad's dynamic that i vomited in the tags of another post but will now try to articulate here: they're not actually family, or at least they shouldn't be. not in a conventional sense anyway. framing them as uncle and nephew (even in a non-literal, silly fantasy world way) rides more on technicality than anything concrete.

what i mean by this is yaad calls thistle by name and says he and delgal were raised "like" brothers. he talks about thistle like he's an outsider imposing himself into the melinis' space, and it's clear that thistle was never legitimized as a member of the family. for thistle's part, though we don't know how he would treat yaad pre-demon brainrot, it's safe to assume based on the way he punishes him—turning him into a doll—and how little is shown in the way of any sort of relationship between them that thistle only cares* about yaad as an extension of delgal (otherwise i'd expect something like kabru and milsiril, because it's not like another complicated interspecies family dynamic would be out of place, yet there's next to nothing on them even in bonus content, just their scant interactions in the main story).

in essence, they're strangers to one another. thistle's desperation to preserve the illusion of a family, a model where he doesn't even fit, was the snare they were caught in for the past thousand years of stasis. yaad-as-nephew is a prop to uphold that illusion, and thistle is playing a role he's unfit to play. in the context of post-canon interactions, attempting to reconstruct that facade would only be a reenactment of trauma for them both (in a deeply compelling way i'd love to watch unfold, tbh), as that "uncle and nephew" framing places thistle in an implicit position of power over someone he's already traumatized through misuse of authority in the past, a role which also perpetuates his adultification and yaad's infantilization in turn. it'd mostly be an obstacle to any real connection.

best to burn the melini family bridge, i think, and if there's still anything salvageable left in the rubble, let something different supplant it.

[greyedian]

MAN I'm seriously so sad about season 2. Bc I wish act 2 had the same emotional impact on me as it appears to have on so many others. But rn I'm just somewhere between unable to care and actively annoyed by some of those writing decisions. Seriously the more I think about it the less I like it.